{14/52}: Cody's Graduation...finally!

What has seemed like an eternity to me has finally come to a close...I bet it felt like an eternity plus infinity to Cody, but none the less he did it--through hell and back he has completed the dental hygiene program and is only a few tests away from getting his license!!!!

I am so so proud of him for pushing through all the crap that came with the program, I can honestly say that if it was me I probably would have had a breakdown and quit after 2 quarters!! But, he didn't. He's a bigger person than I am in many ways and I'm happy to call him mine : )

I got to know a few of his classmates (all females in hygiene school? go figure : P) and I know that these girls will be life long friends of ours. They were a big part of why Cody has finished, not to say he wasn't capable of it without them, but their adoption of him as their "little brother" was probably the best thing to come from the last two years...aside from his future job : P

Only 3 more years and we will both be done with school for good!...I think. There's talk of him wanting to be a chemistry teacher part time at some point...we'll see.

We can only go up from here--very much looking forward to what our future together has in store!

Ended the day celebrating with some good friends on the Olympia waterfront : )

{13/52}: Little Miss Lucy

May 20, 2013

Lucy Elizabeth Lynn Callon,

Your uncle Cody and I are so excited to have a niece to love on now! We love your brothers dearly, but are excited for the color change! :)  You, like your brothers, are an absolutely beautiful little baby. You had us all a little worried at first, but we stayed positive and knew everything was going to be great in the end. That being said, no more drama from you until your at least 13 little miss! :) I am starting pharmacy school in a couple months and that means I won't get to see you nearly as often as I will want to. I love taking pictures of your brothers every chance I get and I definitely want to do the same with you, it just won't get to be as often for a few years. But hopefully your momma will come visit us in Portland every now and then, and FaceTime will be a must! 

Uncle and I can't wait to watch you grow up, and hopefully your future cousins won't be too much younger than you ;)

We love you very much miss Lucy!!

{12/52}: Leavenworth

This week I took my first trip to Leavenworth with my mom for our church's annual women's retreat. It was a great few days of laughter and fellowship with some great ladies, I think we all came away feeling refreshed and energized. It was fun to have a girls weekend with mom, and of course that would not be complete without good food and shopping :)

The weather wasn't as nice as we thought it was going to be, but it didn't rain on us while we were out and about so that's all that matters! This little Bavarian village has lots of little shops and a nice trail along the river, and of course awesome 360° views of the mountains. I'm going to be talking Cody into going there when there's snow on the ground!

Biggest mini golf course EVER. We got a putter, that's it! lol

I mean really, who chips with their putter?! Guess I need to work on those putting skills.... ; )

We had fun racing sundown and doing our best to stay out of the water! : P

Our hotel had an alphorn play each morning at breakfast--kinda cool!

Some photos from our morning walk by the river..

The view from a balcony at the hotel

All in all it was a good few days away :)

Next up on the list of exciting things happening around here: Baby Callon #3 arrives tomorrow!!!!!!!! SO stinkin excited to meet her and hear what the final verdict is on her name! Get ready little girl, auntie's camera is awaiting anxiously! : )

{11/52}: Down to 8 weeks!!!

I've been a busy little bee lately...and feel like we have so much more to get done!

At this point I feel like a broken record always saying I'm busy....but I'm BUSY! : P

The projects that I've finished thus far have turned out great though! I am painting frames for various wedding displays and boards for signs and thought it would be a lot harder than it actually was, and I am in love with how they turned out! Some aren't quite complete, but they are close to getting there!

For all of these I painted with more than one layer of paint in two different colors. I first sanded the wood, painted my base layer, let it dry completely (thank goodness spray paint dries fast!), painted the top layer color, let it dry, and then sanded to get the desired wear/vintage look to it.

What I used:
- Rustoleum spray paint
- Acrylic/craft paint
- 120 grit sand paper (can use less if you don't want as much damage/distress)
- Open back frames and boards from Michael's craft store (50% coupon advantage taker right here!)
- Push pins to hold up the frame/board, from the ground so it didn't stick (thank you, Pinterest!)

For this frame I used craft paint because I liked the gray color, but it definitely needed 2 coats!

Same frame after the spray painted top coat and distressing with sand paper

This board game me issues at first...or rather I put WAY too much white paint on it! I didn't like how it was sanding at all, leaving obvious lines instead of scratches. So I put it down for a while and tried again the other day--LOVE how it came out!! It's going to look great once I get it ready for the ring bearers : )

This one cooperated the first time: spray painted teal for the base coat and black as the top coat, really really really like the look of this! Just needs some vinyl lettering for use in some wedding pictures and it will be done!

My mom spray painting beans for vase filler....unless you have LOTS of time and patience, I suggest not doing this. It was difficult to get the beans fully coated (original idea here--Pinterest fail? lol) She ended up buying beads for the vases to save her sanity!

Another little project--spray paint and Gorilla glue to put these two vintage frames together--going on the gift table!

Lot's more projects to share--I just don't want to give it all away before the wedding! ; )

{10/52}: A long overdue game night

Game nights...I've been organizing these with my group of friends for a while now and they are always a great time!

This particular night involved a group of friends new to game night (it has been quite a while since we've done one!), and Cody and I were so glad everyone enjoyed themselves. Good food and good company always make for a good time....throw in Apples to Apples on margaritas and Bahama Mamas and the laughs don't stop : )

My dear friend Kathleen!

Playing Apples to Apples

Blurry, but I love it none the less : )

{9/52}: Wedding Invitations

Ooohh wedding invitations....

I've had them printed since last August. Yes, I have a problem ; )

I made/designed them myself, with inspiration from various sources. I very much enjoyed the satisfaction of having done it, making them completely custom for us is just fun!

April rolled around and started steam rolling through the days, which had me saying crap! I need to start addressing the invitations soon!!

I had this brilliant idea to print the names and addresses onto the envelopes along with the little love birds from the invitation off to the side. Unfortunately, that idea was only good in theory. This was the result of said printing....11 ruined envelopes later, I couldn't figure out if it was Word, the printer, user error, or an unfortunate combination of all three!

So, I gave in to the "proper" way of doing things (proper schmoper, this girl is digital...) and hand wrote addresses. I had a custom stamp made for the wedding favors and whatever else I felt like putting it on, but the first go around it was too big for the paper tags that I had already bought. So, the gal who made it gladly made me another smaller one at no extra cost to me (she does awesome work--http://www.jessicalynnoriginal.com/). I now had an extra stamp and decided it was the perfect size to dress up the envelopes a little. I used clear embossing power and a heat gun (craft blow dryer lol) so the ink was raised up and stood out. I love how it turned out, even if it did take a little bit longer....and even if nobody else really cared *lol* ; )

Stamp...

Sprinkle embossing power...

Shake off the excess...

Heat 'em up and voila! Cuteness : )

{8/52}: The Mariners::Happy Birthday, Thomas!

My mom and I took Thomas to a Mariners game for his birthday--one of my favorite things to do in Seattle! Cody does not share my love for baseball even the slightest bit, so he chose to stay at work instead of going to the game with us : P

Even though they lost, it was still a great evening. We had killer seats in right field, right next to the foul pole. I was hoping for that home run catch, but no such luck.

I love everything about Safeco field, and while we froze our butt off in the 40° air, the garlic fries, cheeseburger, and hot chocolate run made it bearable : )