Crazy busy

Things are finally starting to slow down at our house. We had family in town from August 11-23rd. It was great to see my mom, Dave's mom, my sister and her husband and my dad and step-mom, but it was BUSY! We had Dylan's birthday party on Saturday, August 14th at the Cove at Concord Park. It was a great morning and not too hot. Dylan had a great time running around playing and chasing the ducks. His friend Tyler also came to the party so he had fun playing with him too. Dylan was a big boy and blew out the two candles on his Elmo cake all by himself! He also had a lot of fun opening his many presents.

The rest of the time the family was in town we just took it easy and hung out at our house. We did put my mom and Dave's mom to work painting our kitchen on Monday and it turned out great. It's called Cabin red (thanks Chad and Meredith!) and we like it much better than the green that was previously in the kitchen. Now we just need to find time to paint our bedroom and the hallways!

It was so nice to have help with Dylan during the time that we had our family in town. We are pretty self reliant most of the time, but when we have family in town we pawn Dylan off on them :) Luckily they don't mind. Unfortunately Dave came down with a nasty sore throat so our week of date nights didn't happen. We did make it out one night for drinks which was nice. Mom and I also went to Chez Guavara one night and had a great time talking and catching up.

This week we have been catching our breath and getting a few things done around the house.

Tomorrow night we are heading over to Bob and Melea's to help them pack for Savannah. Bob got an awesome new job as the Director of Golf at Savannah Quarters Golf Club, so sadly him and Melea will be moving to Savannah soon. Bob is actually starting work on Monday and moving most of their stuff down there on Saturday. Melea will be staying in Knoxville until at least the wedding or longer depending on if she can rent or sell her condo (so if you know of anyone looking to rent a condo in a great location let me know and I'll pass it on to her!).

Saturday Dylan and I are heading to the Zoo to see "Big Trucks". I'm not sure what big trucks will be there, but it's been forever since we've been to the zoo since it's been so hot so I am really looking forward to it!

Two-fer Tuesday

Dylan and Melea

Dana, Mom and I at Dylan's birthday party.

Bob's Birthday

Last night we went to dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants not to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but for our friend Bob's 32nd birthday! It was great to celebrate Bob's birthday and catch up with him and Melea and also our friends Jesse and Amy. The margaritas were excellent as usual, the salsa was super spicy and Bob even got free dessert. Dylan on the other hand was a handful, literally. I don't know if he was just tired or what, but all he wanted to do was sit with Dave or I (mostly me) and not in the high chair. He even had the perfect vantage point and could look out over the entire restaurant from his spot in the high chair, which is usually enough to entertain him for a while. But that was not the case last night. He was good other than that though and he didn't cry when he saw Bob which was also good. Bob was one of the first people to visit us in the hospital after Dylan was born and the first person to hold Dylan other than Dave and I and the hospital staff, but Dylan doesn't seem to remember that :) He did give Bob a hug and kiss good bye last night, so maybe he is making some progress.

And maybe next time Dave will agree that we should get a babysitter...and I will remember the camera.

Dusty blue

Last night Melea and I went bridesmaid dress shopping. I am lucky to be one of the chosen few to be bridesmaid in her and Bob's wedding this September. The first issue we had to tackle was the color of the dress. Melea has a very specific blue in her mind for the color of the dresses and other aspects of the wedding. For a while she wasn't sure it existed, but then she found some ribbon in that bluish gray color and realized that it was indeed something that maybe a dress or other wedding related paraphanalia could be found in. After looking through a few books of color swatches we finally agreed that dusty blue was indeed more of the correct blue than cloudy or any of the other blue variations we saw. After finding the color it was time to try on dresses from Forever Yours, since that is the designer who hold the perfect color of blue. The first dress I tried on was in taupe, really taupe, who has bridesmaid dresses in taupe and friends that look good in taupe? It did have pockets though, but as Melea commented the pleats on the front looked like garage doors, maybe in another color it would have been better. Here's a photo, obviously not of me, or the dress in taupe because then NO ONE would buy it.

The second dress I tried on was another strapless dress, sweetheart neckline in clover. I love green, so the color was much better and I think it would look good in dusty blue too. The dresses below are two-tone, which we wouldn't get, but the pleating is cute around the middle and bust and the dress looks good on. Luckily we all don't have to get the same dress, just the same color and fabric.

This dress dress was super cute on the hanger and black (really because most dress look good in black as we all know). But when I tried it on it looked like a city skyline on my chest. I think you need to be really skinny and have big boobs for this one. Unfortunately I have neither...

I tried on a few other dresses, but kept coming back to the green one with the slight pleating. I think there are some other stores in K-town that carry the Forever Yours line, so we're going to have to see what they have to try on as well. I'm hoping that I have another month or so at least before I have to order the dress. My weight loss is going along pretty good, but any additional pounds I can loose before I have to order the dress will be great and hopefully lead to less alterations when the dress comes in!

All photos from http://www.foreverbridals.com/

Thanks a lot Home Depot

Dave picked the D-man up from daycare today and I met them at Home Depot so we could get plants for our garden. I was hoping to get a few varities of tomatoes, a red pepper, jalapino, basil, asparagus and seeds for peas, cantaloupe, lettuce and spinich. We had no problem finding the seeds, but there were no jalapino, red (or green for that matter) pepper or asparagus plants. Also, there were only a few varieties of tomato plants. I was pretty disappointed, I would have thought the Depot would have had quite a few different plants. Usually we go to Mayo Garden Center, but they close at 6pm (I know, who closes at 6pm? in a retail business) so we couldn't make it. So if you are planning on still getting plants this year I wouldn't recommend the Depot for your plant buying.

In other news Melea and I are going bridesmaid dress shopping on Wednesday after work, I'm pretty excited about that although I have some work to do if I want to look decent in the dress...