43rd Monthiversary

Happy Fourth of July to those of you here in the States! Hope you're able to enjoy a nice long weekend!

Ryan and I hit another marital milestone over the weekend: 43 months of wedded bliss! The past couple of weeks have made me so weary, as we are powering through some unexpected home projects, and I won't lie: I am so over the home projects. I'm in writing and speaking mode and it's really hard to stay in that mode all day every day while surrounded by projects! I wanted to be a supportive and helpful wife, but I fear I did not always accomplish that objective. But even when I was stressed and tired and beating myself up for wife failure, Ryan was so good to encourage me and make me laugh. These are the things that make me grateful for this life we share!

Ryan worked most of Saturday, which was our monthiversary, and when he got home, we went on our standard monthiversary date: Starbucks and Lowe's. LOL! I am afraid to tell you just how many of our monthiversaries have included that very combo!

And then...we had an extra special treat!

You see pictures on here a lot of our fun times with Ryan's family, but my family is scattered all over {and there are not that many of us - quite the opposite from Ryan's family-for-days crowd!}, so we rarely see each other!

But one of my cousins recently graduated from high school {she lives out of state} and her parents threw a party for her at my aunt's house, here in Indiana, so the family could celebrate together. I was so excited because some of my cousins had never even MET Ryan. That's how rarely we see each other.

And I have to tell you that these cousins are ALL ABOUT hospitality. I knew it would be a fun night with good food!

The party was out on the lawn, with a little tent for the food and chairs covered in quilts that the guest of honor had made herself. Summer projects, they told us. I couldn't have made ONE of them if I worked on it every day for the rest of my life. Her talent is incredible!!

They had pictures and scrapbooks and all kinds of things to honor her, and then there was the FOOD. Homemade breaded tenderloins, fried pickles, pretzel breadsticks with cheese sauce, Caesar salad, macaroni and cheese, carrot cake, and a couple of pies. Not much on the clean eating list, but it was a delicious treat meal! OH! And the pop! They had these throwback bottled sodas in all kinds of flavors. I had root beer, and Ryan had a black cherry and some Shirley Temple drink. I'm sure it all looked questionable form a distance, but I promise it was all strictly POP! {Soda - whatever you call it.}

My parents were there, so of course we had to get pictures of them, too, and our official 43rd monthiversary photo!

We stayed until dark so we could watch the fireworks {because you know...I LOVE FIREWORKS} and it was the perfect end to the day! It was a shockingly cold day, so we were all wrapped up in the quilts, but it was still fun!

Oh! And the sunset was STUNNING!

 It was a good little fireworks show!

So that's not a bad way to celebrate another month of marriage, is it?

Thanks, family, for throwing such a great party and for including us! It was so good to see you!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday afternoon, Ryan and I went to an open house of a house in our neighborhood. NO, we're not moving, but they're just fun to go to! Fun to go get decorating ideas, right? And take shower selfies? Embarrassing but true fact. A pretty decent rainstorm came through Sunday night, of course right when we were trying to grill our dinner. 1000 points to Ryan for standing in the rain and cooking our food! And it turned out quite tasty...not soggy!

* Monday afternoon, Ryan got off work a little early and he and Braeya hung out with me in the office while I worked on some writing. Then it was BACK to Lowe's to look at carpet {again}. Our projects, people. They literally never end. More info on all these adventures coming soon. Meanwhile, enjoy Ryan riding the cart out into the parking lot. :)

* Tuesday...more writing! This was a heavy writing week for me, and I loved every minute of it. That night, we painted our garage floor with an epoxy paint treatment. More info on that coming soon too, but suffice it to say that it was the EASIEST part of the process. Prep work was way harder than actual painting.

* Wednesday, I gave myself a patriotic manicure, which was much fun to have, and then Ryan and I ripped apart the office: yes, the office we JUST put together a few weeks ago. THAT office. Here's the short version. As an act of rebellion against moving, Braeya peed in the closet in our office. Just a couple of times, and we worked to clean the carpet, but no matter what we did, it didn't get better and actually, in some ways, got worse. We realized we had no choice but to rip out the carpet and we decided to replace it with wood laminate. So we had to unload the entire office and Ryan began the super long task of laying the new flooring.

* Thursday, I went to visit Ryan at work for his lunch time, which was a free lunch for the employees. {He filled right up on hot dogs and nachos!} He ended up being able to take the whole afternoon off work - totally unexpectedly - and worked some more on the office. And slept. But we won't talk about that. He absolutely deserved that nap.

* Friday we had to unload the last part of the room that hadn't been done yet, and at that point, I had reached my saturation point on moving stuff. I didn't have a very sparkly attitude about it. Because my office was displaced, I had to work on the living room floor, which turned out to be perilous. LOL!! BUT Ryan got it all done - the flooring, that is - and we moved everything right back in where it belonged!

* Yesterday was our 43rd monthiversary, and we spent the evening at a graduation open house for my cousin! She has lived her whole life several states away, so I've not been able to watch her grow up right before my eyes, but her parents threw a FUN open house party for the family at my aunt's house. Homemade tenderloins, fried pickles, classic sodas in bottles, and even fireworks at the end of the night! It was a great party and a fun way to celebrate 43 months!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday, Ryan and I made the grand tour for graduation open houses. Tis the season! Our first stop was for the daughter of one of Ryan's co-workers, and look what made an appearance at her party!?!? One of our chalkboards! They really do pop up where you least expect them. After that, we stopped by the party for the daughter of good friends from our old church. We enjoyed seeing old friends and celebrating!

* Well, you thought our home projects were done, didn't you? Nope. After moving Mommapalooza 3.0 inside unexpectedly on Mother's Day, we decided we needed a space to accommodate a group of that size when we entertain, so we're finishing off our garage to fit the bill. Monday, a crew came to blow some insulation into the walls, and that night we went to purchase the rolls of insulation to put over it. I felt my #shiplap shirt was an appropriate fit for such a trip. Oh! And I made coffee for the two of us at lunch and learned that this mug holds EXACTLY 1 large k-cup!

* Tuesday, I worked on some scrapbooking {trying to meet a sale deadline} and I had a little help on my project! That night, Ryan and I worked together to hang the insulation for the garage. My job was to measure and cut, and Ryan did all the stapling. Want to guess who messed up on her ONE JOB????

* Wednesday morning, I spoke to the senior adult group at a church, and they were very gracious and welcoming. Thoroughly enjoyed that opportunity! I also got to have lunch/hang out with one of my blogonymous friends while I was in the area, and that was fun! It was a gorgeous day, and we had a great time together! That night, Ryan brought home a whole bunch of strawberries gifted to us by one of his patients, so we cleaned and froze a bunch of them!

* Thursday, I alternated between scrapbooking and doing home chores, including changing the sheets on our bed, made a bit more difficult by SOMEONE who thought this was a game! I watched a webinar for an event I'm helping with at church later this year, and that night, Ryan and I attempted a workout while utterly exhausted from a long week. The warning seemed especially meaningful that night!

* This weekend, we had so much fun right in our hometown, and I can't wait to tell you more about it, but we kicked it off Friday night with our first ever trip to watch the Kokomo Jackrabbits play baseball. Ryan won tickets to a game last fall when we ran that 5k race, and this was when it worked out for us to go. It was a blazing hot night, but we had SUCH FUN at that game. Full story coming soon!

* And yesterday, to round out the weekend-o-fun, we took our first trip to Kokomo Beach {which is - for those of you not from here - NOT a beach, but rather a pool/water park}. It was packed, because again, a blazing four million degrees in Indiana, but we had a great time. And we ended the day by taking in Rib Fest, which was Ryan's happy place. MEAT!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday afternoon, I got a little caught up on my scrapbook. I was behind!!  {And I still am...but less so now.} We took long naps and I made peanut butter cookies right before a HUGE storm rolled in. Have I mentioned how much I love Sundays? So thankful we've enforced a day of rest on those days.

* Monday I started cleaning off my desk. I knew it was going to take me a while to sort through everything and cart it home, so I started early. Looks so naked without pictures!! Ryan and I went for a run after work. Looks like I'm still chasing him! :) And after dinner, we cleaned up our garage. It was a MESS. We still have a lot of sorting to do, but at least we can stomach it now. And walk through it!

* I loved this picture from Tuesday morning. Braeya likes to sit on the bed and watch Ryan brew the coffee every morning. And Tuesday she wanted to play games while they waited. So darling. After work, we grilled out, and ate in the pirogi. And I gathered up all my work clothes and bagged them to return them. Is it weird that my two favorite coats were from work, and I would have found them capsule-worthy? I will miss them!

* After some pretty nasty weather this week, the drive in to work Wednesday was STUNNING. I won't miss the commutes, but I will miss pretty drives. {I'll still be up early enough to see the sun.} This day, I also did my final interviews {short ones} at work during my last Spots and Spotlights show. They went well, and I'm thankful those two guests made the last day great! And that night, Ryan and I cuddled up on the couch to watch our DVR'd shows from the week.

* Thursday morning, our office was so muggy, my water bottle was POURING sweat. That is just WRONG. I got a sweet, sweet, sweet letter and gift box from a listener named Shoshannah. She sent me Cadbury eggs. THANK YOU!!! And that night, Ryan and I lost a few hours of our life in cell phone stores, trying to get my post-work plan all straightened out. So long and mentally maddening that it drove us straight to Culver's for dinner!!

* Friday {to conclude the longest week ever, I'm convinced}, we got pizza and breadsticks and spent the evening at home. My friend Brent Vernon was in concert in Atlanta, Georgia with the fabulous Babbie Mason, and the church where they appeared streamed the concert live online, so we hooked the computer up to the TV and had a great, free Friday night date concert. Brent did such a good job. Proud of him! And while we watched, Ryan put together my new office chair, which I got with my birthday money. It's an exercise ball chair. I love it!

* Yesterday, I got up early and went to work with Ryan so I could be in Kokomo to take pictures for Michael's graduation open house. {He was the one whose graduation I photographed last week.} I hung out at Ryan's work for the morning, and we ate leftover pizza together in the hospital dining room at lunch. Ryan even scrounged a flower from another table so we could have ambiance. :) When he got off work, he came to the open house to be with me, and after we were done working, we went out for dinner at Applebee's! Long day...but a good one!

Graduations and Such

I mentioned this a little yesterday, but I wanted to tell you more about it.

Several months ago, my friend Kari came to me and asked if she could reserve me to serve as her official photographer for a few events during her son's senior year. She is a scrapbook lover just like I am, and she wanted {of course} many pictures from his senior year...but she didn't want to sacrifice being a mom on those nights and the chance to enjoy watching him be a senior.

Honestly, I think it's a perfectly brilliant plan. We don't have kids, but if we did, how great would it be to have someone there to photograph the stuff we really wanted to just enjoy?

So I was really excited about it - until I realized she was handing me her son's one and only high school graduation and completely trusting me to get good pictures. This is like childbirth. There's no backing up and doing a take two. You get it or you don't. Those are the options.

But having said that, I did successfully photograph four childbirths, two of them before the age of digital cameras, so this should have been no big deal. Explain to me, then, why I was sweating it big time when the ceremony rolled around? {And it wasn't all because of the temperature in the gym.}

I was doing okay until I realized that with the exception of a few phone pictures, no one in his entire family surrounding me had a camera in hand. This thing really was on me! EEEK!

Praise the Lord {no, SERIOUSLY!!! Praise the Lord!!!} for good lighting and slow moving graduates. Between the two, and the spare memory card I THANKFULLY packed, I got through the ceremony. {Yes. I filled up one whole card before the night was over. How AWFUL would it have been for that to run out while he was walking across the stage???}

Okay. So this is not the graduate. But I had to take practice shots to mess with lighting...

This guy gave the opening speech. HILARIOUS. Actually, all the speeches given at this graduation were superb, in my opinion, and those 18 year olds delivered with poise in front of FAR more people than I've ever addressed. I was truly impressed. They had character, great pauses, funny lines, meaningful lines, and good diction. Nice job, graduates. {And thanks for keeping me entertained since I knew none of you!!}

Whew. Got it. {Actually, even though some were blurry, it was funny to scroll through all the pictures taken in such rapid succession that you can actually watch him walk across the stage.}

The mess of confetti and streamers in the air....it's a Where's Waldo adventure in finding the graduate of your choice.

Thanks, Kari, for trusting me with one of the biggest days of your son's life. It was an honor to share the night with you - and a bigger honor once I knew the pictures turned out!! :)

After graduation, the family went out to celebrate with dessert and coffee, and they invited us to go along. We rarely turn down dessert and coffee, so we went!

 Three cups of coffee each and one piece of cake each later...we headed home, happy campers!!

 Ryan's....

...and mine. Delicious.

It's a Date!

We just came off the fullest, most exhausting, most wonderful weekend! Never good to start out tired on a Monday, but that's okay!

Ryan had to work on Saturday, so I got up early, packed all my bags and went with him! Of course that means...Starbucks on the way!

While he worked, I got caught up on emails and scrapbooking and Bible study. It was a great morning! He actually got off work at noon and we made a beeline for Indianapolis so we could get his car serviced. It took them about an hour and a half to work on it, so we {duh!!} had to use that time to get lunch!

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings, since it was right next door, and it was so beautiful outside, we just sat on the patio to eat!

We were also partly in Indianapolis because we needed to go to his cousin's graduation open house...but we had some time to kill between the car appointment and the open house...sooooooo...we went to a park down in Noblesville! It was a hopping place...the pool was open {and full}, there were tons of graduation parties scattered around the park, and several ball games as well. We parked and found a trail to walk just for fun. It felt like the country in the middle of town!

We encountered a train museum on our walk, so of course, Ryan had to climb up and investigate. :)

We were walking around, and this little guy jumped up on the fence beside us and...well...we nearly made a puddle. He scared us to DEATH!

We walked along one section of the trail that was behind a housing subdivision. A few were having graduation parties in the backyard, and Ryan said it took everything within him to NOT crash one of them. He said one day - he will. Just saunter in, offer congratulations and have some cake! HA! But since yesterday was not that day, we just took a picture. :)

It was a perfect day outside - and we enjoyed our walk! Then we headed on to the graduation party, which was a lot of fun! We played with Ryan's niece quite a bit, ate some nachos, and talked for a while with the graduate!

On the way home, we were driving back through Noblesville and found a hot air balloon coming in for a landing. BEAUTIFUL!!

We may or may not have ENDED our day with a stop at Starbucks, much as we began it...and got home late, but very happy! Loved our date day!