One of those days

Some days, you just have to recharge.

Go Wildcats!

Kevin and I went to the KSU game this Saturday, and we had so much fun! The owners at his firm have season tickets, and they offered us two tickets for this game. The seats were in a perfect location.

We won! It was also band day, and there was a fireworks show at the end of the game.

After the game, Kevin and I ate at Houlihans (we wish we had one in Wichita), and then we made the short trek to Council Grove to spend the night. It was a late game, so it was much closer to stay over at my parents' house than to drive back home. My parents are in Canada for the next month, so we were able to check on the house, also. We left in time on Sunday morning to get to our home church to sing in choir.

Kevin's Aunt Julie watched Benton for us Saturday until after church on Sunday. She said Benton did great the entire time. When we picked him up, he was happy to see us, but he also looked like he was having a blast with his buddies! We love Julie and her dog-ters so much!

Best Friends Forever

Ivy
Mabel

Labor Day Weekend

Kevin and I ventured to Overland Park this Saturday after I got off work to spend some time with his family and celebrate his sisters' birthdays. A few highlights:

*The Wildcats winning in football against UCLA (we listened to it on the way)!

*An amazing painting Kevin's brother Kyle brought us from his China trip (blog post to come on that!)

* Seeing Nanette Roberts (the pastor that married us) in church on Sunday morning at Grace UMC

*Peachwave self-serve frozen yogurt bar - YUMMY!
My delicious coconut and pineapple swirl yogurt with fruit and gummy bears and Kevin's peanut butter yogurt with fruit and cookies


My yogurt (again) with Rachel and Robyn's very chocolate creations

A view of the yogurt station. It was a lot of fun (and tasty!) to try.


We got home late on Sunday evening. Monday, we installed our storm door, I went shopping with my sister, Kevin and I had a fun evening dinner, and we crashed early.

It's almost fall!

The changing of seasons is what I love about Kansas best. A few of my favorite things about this time of year?


Ripe, juicy peaches from Colorado



Sweet, gigantic vidalia onions
It's almost fall!

Bedroom Preview

Our bedroom is finally finished after two coats of paint! I am totally in love with the color (Neptune Blue by Behr in eggshell), but it was my first time ever painting a room anything other than a neutral. Yep, even growing up I always had a white bedroom. My father designed our lake home to be very minimalist in style to showcase the structural elements of the house, meaning even the paint color was minimal, aka white. I love how the house looks, but I always have yearned to use color in paint. So, what do I paint the first two rooms I ever have the opportunity to paint? Beige (in the house my parents bought while I was in college to live in) and gray (our house's guest bedroom). Needless to say, I broke through that trend with this room.


More pictures to come when all the wall art is finalized (we're doing black and white photos of our Europe trips), the curtains have been added (a nice ivory to balance the color a bit), and ivory accessories. I love it, and Kevin really likes it, too!

I really do like neutral colors, but it's nice to have one room that really pops. I think the ivory contrast will also bring out the subtleties in the color more, too!

On a side note, it actually was kind of nice to remove everything but our bed in our bedroom. Kevin may disagree with me on this, but it allowed us to edit everything we have in there instead of just keeping things exactly the way they were. All of our furniture is of course back in the room, but I'm slowly adding back decorations.

Upcoming painting

Here is a look at what we are pretty sure we will be using for paint in a couple of weeks! I know, we've almost been in our home now for a year, but I really like to know for sure that I like a color and it's not just based on a season (otherwise, every spring I would have all brightly colored walls and fall would all be brown and beige). I also really wanted Kevin to like the colors, and he doesn't get as excited and motivated as I am for picking colors. Without further ado:

For the master bedroom:

Neptune Blue - our bedding is light taupe and cream, and we will be using cream accents (lampshades, curtains, and photo frames) to brighten up the room to counteract the intensity of the color.

For the living room, hallway, and guest bath

Sandstone cove - just a bit of warmth. To be honest, this is the color most likely to change. If we get the sample and it's not the right darkness, we may adjust.


For the kitchen/dining and master bath
Koala bear - a grayish hue with a tint of green (in case monitors make it difficult to see the green). We have a sage green curtain in our kitchen, so this will be a nice neutral to go with that without making it too matchy-matchy.



For our front door

New brick - our house is ultimate beige and portobello (light beige and light brown) with a beige color brick, so we're hoping this will give a bit of color to the house. Again, we are definitely going to get a sample to make sure we like it.


And, just for continuity, here is the color we chose for our guest bedroom that we've already painted. We LOVE how it turned out.

Dolphin Fin Gray

Photo credits: www.homedepot.com

Let me know your thoughts!

Doggy Anniversary

Dearest Benton,

A year ago today, we brought home our bundle of fur. Oh, how you have enriched our lives! From a recently shaved shelter dog who was brought in as a stray and hoarded treats to a well-adjusted beautiful dog, you have grown so much in only one year! We knew immediately when we saw you that you were special.
And now, we couldn't imagine our lives without you. You are smart, sweet, and still the best cuddler we've ever met!
Happy "Anniversary" Benton! We love you more than we can put into words!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy