Kyle's 30th Birthday - Surprise!

Kyle turned the big 3-0 on September 26th and I was so excited that his day was finally here. I have never successfully surprised Kyle with plans because he either tricks me into telling him or I am too pumped to keep it a secret.  Either way I somehow didn't let ANYTHING slip, and everything was a surprise-- yeah!

On Wednesday, Emery and I drove to Mebane to meet my Mom and Grandma for her first over night stay with my parents!  She was so excited to help pack her bags, go see everyone and play with her Dew cousins.  We can't thank you enough Mom, Dad, Gigi, and Tara for taking care of her for us so we could have a couple days to ourselves!

Wednesday night, Kyle and I went out to a nice dinner & then headed to a movie in a theater.  We honestly couldn't remember the last time we've done that... 2 years ago maybe?  Thursday morning we were able to sleep in a little bit and then I spilled the beans about where we were heading for the day (all Kyle knew was that he needed to take Thursday off work). 

We were going to spend the whole day at the US NATIONAL WHITE WATER CENTER-- WOO HOO!

They have an all day "coolsport pass" that allows you access to everything there except the white water.  We had the best day doing tons of high rope courses, zip lines, picnics in our hammocks, kayaking and paddle boarding on the river, and rock climbing!  Such a relaxing (well some of it our hearts were beating pretty fast from adrenaline!) and fun day together and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.  Here's all the pics:

We had a reservation at the restaurant there at 6:45, so we both took showers and had about an hour left to string back up our hammock and take a quick nap.  Thank heavens I set an alarm or else we definitely would have missed dinner!

Every Thursday and Saturday, the White Water Center hosts "River Jam" which is where a local band comes and plays right on the water there.  Kyle had never been to one and I knew it would be perfect to go since his birthday landed on a Thursday!  What I didn't tell him was that I had arranged for all of his good friends here to meet us-- and I might have even lied to him earlier in the day and said "man I really should have invited some friends out with us tonight that would have been so much fun".  Needless to say his face was PRICELESS when all of our friends started showing up one by one while we were waiting for our table.  GOTCHA KYLE!

We had the best time catching up with everyone, while enjoying good food and great music from the band.  Love having all of our friends in one place together!  Thank you Mandy, Warren, Fowler, Cory, Marsh, Clint and Courtney for making his birthday so memorable!

Mom and Dad dropped Emery off on Friday on their way up to Black Mountain, and we were so excited to see our little girl!  That Saturday, Emery and I woke up and made Kyle Monkey Bread-- since that is his birthday tradition!

And blowing out his candles:

Such a wonderful Birthday, thank you again everyone who helped my plans become reality!  Love you Kyle, Happy 30th!

Pumpkin Patch & other fun

The other weekend we headed out for a fun morning spent at a local pumpkin patch.  They had a free kids corn maze (nice to not have to pay for the big one), tractors set up, hay rides and yummy food there.  It was a great morning, we all had a blast.

DIY: Quick Burlap Wreath

Ever since repainting the front door, I have been on the look out for a wreath to help add some color and personalization to the look of our house.  Thankfully, Pinterest to the rescue once again-- a burlap wreath was a quick and cheap solution!  I bought all my materials from Hobby Lobby on sale and had it finished in an hour or two--- seriously so easy.

Here it is once I had finished winding my burlap through the wire wreath:

And then I wound my striped burlap ribbon through it as well to add some dimension:

After a bow I was done!  I decided to keep my burlap wreath loops pretty small so I would have room in the middle for a monogram/letter inside... still on the look out for one that I like though!

More time in ATL!

While visiting Atlanta for Jeneane's shower, we decided to stay the whole weekend to catch up with friends.  Chris and Kathleen let us stay with them for the weekend and we had the best time.  Saturday morning before I had to leave to start setting up for the shower we spent some time on the Marietta square! Chris, Kyle, Myer, Em and I (Kathleen sadly was out of town) all walked up to look around the farmers market and let the kiddos play.  So crazy how that used to be our Saturday routine when we lived there-- that's one thing we do miss about GA!

So neat to see these college roommates with their kiddos:

Both kids would have jumped in the fountain if we would have let them :)

The guys then took both kiddos on a hike while I spent the rest of the day at the shower.  That night we all met up again at La Parilla with Taylor, Courtney and Gracyn and had such a great time.  Taylor and Kyle's birthdays are only a day apart so we had to embarrass them and get the restaurant to sing them happy birthday while they wore sombreros!

Gracyn and Emery got along as if they still lived down the street from each other-- too cute!

We headed back early Sunday morning to have a couple hours at home before the week started.  Thankful for friendships that have continued to grow even though we live farther away.  Great visit!

Baby Shower for Jeneane in ATL!

On Saturday, September 14th I helped co-host a shower in Atlanta for my good friend, Jeneane.  Her and Curtis are expecting a little boy this November and we had a really fun time celebrating her at the shower.  I handled most of the decorations, while Stephanie and Joy provided the food... it was great teamwork!

Close up of the favors:

 Joy's frame she painted for Jeneane to keep:

Holly made poms & the diaper wreath for the front door!

The mantle banner:

I looked up a sewing tutorial online and was able to make some bow ties for the decorations that Jeneane could actually use later on with her little boy.  Very happy with how they came out! 

And then I sewed some on to bibs for future use too :)

We played a baby trivia game too which was fun: 

 The sweets table:

 The main food table:

Opening gifts:

All the ladies who came:

The hostesses with Jeneane (Holly, Joy, Stepanie and myself)

The adorable gifts Jeneane made for us all!

Thankful for Jeneane, our friendship, and her sweet boy on the way!