Summertime and the Living is Easy...

Wow, it's August already.  How did that happen?  Summer has been flying by here at the lake.  It's been very hot and my folks have been traveling a lot (lucky them) so our outdoor projects have slowed a bit until next month after my brother's wedding.  Progress has still been made though.  We completed the new fence on the entrance to the dog run (also known as Aria escape-proofing!)  I think it turned out wonderfully.

The Before.  Aria was escaping nearly every day.

Frame for new fencing up

Putting up the fence boards

The finished fence! (and modified taller gate)

We also finally got around to installing a keypad entry for our garage door.  Now we will no longer find ourselves locked out of the house!  Just as we were finishing up the keypad we caught a spectacular sunset.

Sunset

Can't wait to get the front patio done so we can watch them all the time!

I sewed my first ever blanket for a precious baby girl who recently joined a dear friend's family.  I had so much fun making this for her.  Even though being a novice it took much longer and included many more pinpricks than I'm sure experienced sewers have.  What a gift to be able to spend the time pouring love into an object of comfort for a special little one.  It was wonderful to simply think on well wishes for this beautiful baby while working on the blanket.  I am excited to begin my next blanket for another dear friend.

The top fabric

The completed top

The completed bottom

Tag

All ready!

We had a lovely 4th of July weekend with my in-laws visiting and even found time for cherry picking at the Bluff.  

Look at all those cherries!

My mom and I found some flowers on clearance so I decided to spice up the back yard and new walkway a bit.  

Pepper Pot on the Back Deck

Growing Peppers

I can't believe how well the peppers are doing. We've already harvested a jalapeno and poblano pepper and look how much more they have grown in just a couple of weeks!

We also spent a wonderful morning on the lake for my dad's birthday.  

An Island Upstream

A Beautiful, cloudy morning

Aria really, really wanted to jump in the whole trip

But she stayed in the boat until we stopped (a first)

Aria and Brandy love boat rides

Aria also loves checking out fish when they're brought in the boat

I'm also an avid craigslist watcher because I love to get good deals.  And guess what?  We've found some exciting freebies.  

Like my new canning shelves for the basement (and extra for the shed): 

Before we cut them down, they were too tall to even stand up in the garage!

In the basement

All put up!

And these lovely window frames just crying out for me to make something out of them: 

Very excited to start this project

Also found some wing-back chairs for the office, which gets us a step closer to the office/home library project I'm dying to do!  I plan to have these re-covered in different colored fabrics at some point, but we are thrilled to have found such a good deal on them. 

New chairs

And my brother found us a BBQ!  My hubby was very excited about this and we have used it many times!

BBQ

First meal to grill on the BBQ

I keep thinking that there will come a day when my loving husband will kindly tell me to stop "rescuing" things other people are getting rid of, as we don't really need them (and sometimes my creative eye about what things *could* be transformed into takes over and the logical part about cost, time, money, blah, blah, is pushed out of the picture completely), but it hasn't come yet!  So until then, I will keep bargain hunting and searching for free things for projects.

We plan to get back to our projects outside in a couple of weeks and will share our progress!  

Next up: Bridal Brunch

Crusin' Into Summer

It's been a busy few weeks here at the lake.  For Memorial Day, Aria and I headed to my Grandma's to help my folks and aunt & uncle paint the exterior of her house.  It was a beautiful weekend and Gram's house got all freshened up on the outside!  Aria, of course was a huge  helper and would wait until I was on the ladder to lay down right behind it (tripping hazard!) but amazingly she only ended up with a small bit of paint on her.

Scraping the front peak

Aria "helping"

Aria and Brandy helping my mom

I also had an evening with a dear friend at a local brewery & hotspot.  What a delightful weekend trip!

Memorial Day Sunset

The following weekend we went camping with my folks and some friends.  Our weekend was filled with sunshine, dutch oven cooking, paddling, games, and laughter.  It doesn't get much better or more relaxing.  We paddled and explored the whole lake (it's about 5 miles long) and the dogs did surprisingly well staying in the boats while we paddled.  Here's some pictures from our trip.

Cassie was very cold the first night

Afternoon clouds

Heading back towards camp

Panoramic of the lake

Cassie and Aria

After camping it was home to work on our many projects around the house.  We got our weeding done, and have made progress on several of our other projects in the back yard.  Touched up the stain on the shed.

 Got the giant cement block that used to be under the steps we took off the deck moved to in front of the shed.  Just one more of these to move when we take out the other set of steps.  This was a project as the cement is really heavy!  It's so much nicer to step out onto the cement pad than the always trampled grass that was there previously.

Half way there, just one more giant cement block to move!

Aria loves it when we're outside with her and really loves any project that involves water.  The hose is her favorite game.

We got the new steps built, put on the deck, and painted thanks to help from my dad and mom.  They look amazing!  Wow, what a difference it makes to step down on a path to the dog run instead of through the middle of the yard.

Finished steps, what a difference!

Cassie approves

We've made lots of progress on the path down the side of the house as well.  I think it looks rather amazing.  Couldn't be happier with the way it's turning out.  Only a little further to go.  Hopefully we'll be done soon!

In progress

Almost there!

We have other projects in progress of course.  For instance, our freezer is full of books.  Books?  Really?  Yes, books.  We were lucky to get several old books from my grandparents (some were their school books) awhile back and after doing some research into how to get mildew to stop growing and ways to help get the mildew smell out we settled on freezing them in bags with baking soda.  So, round one in the freezer and we are starting to brush them out as we have time.  We are excited to get them done and on the shelves in their respective homes!

Freezer full of books

Brushing the books out

We're also busily preparing for exciting summer events including my brother's wedding and dear friends having babies.  Fun projects are in process here too, but details and pictures will have to wait until we're done ;)  Very thrilled here to be heading into beautiful summer weather on the lake!


Next up outside: finishing the walk along the house and fixing the fence in the dog run so Aria stops jumping out.