oh the manual labor!

Sorry again for the slacking, but I blame the lack of a laptop for this. It's a poor excuse, but it's all I've got.

So June was the month for major house improvements. And by that I mean, the whole DIY movement--which equals lots of physical labor! So, what did we do? We (and by WE I mean Shawn and our neighbor) got the fridge out of the dining room. In order to do that, Shawn had to put the fridge on a dolly and take it around the corner to the alley, through our yard, and through the sun room window (which had to be completely removed). The window was replaced and now the fridge lives in our sun room. Next to the washer/dryer, which we had to stack. I happened to be out of town when this took place, so when I asked how it looked, Shawn replied, "like a damn Samsung showroom" (you can deduce that all 3 appliances are by the same manufacturer and are of the same color). Made me chuckle!

We also tore up the entire front yard and redid it. I don't have a good 'before' picture but this will give an idea:

Notice the flagstone and the flower box. We tore it all up, put in a new walkway, new sod and got rid of the huge hump of grass by the curb. Here is what it looks like now (minus all the people):

It took a few weeks but it's done! Just need to plant a couple things and decide how we want to pretty-up the porch.

I also painted the dining room, finished decorating it, and got curtains for the living room.

What else did June hold for us? Evan took swim lessons at the local rec center. He loved them--sang songs, played in the water...good times!

This month also included my solo trip to Mexico for my friend Jess's wedding. It rained the entire weekend but my BFF Erin joined me and we had a great time! There were a couple people there that complained about anything and everything--it made me feel bad for Jess and Jared, but also for them. You are in Mexico, on vacation, all inclusive. Really, you're complaining?? It's not like you can do anything about the rain. Just make the most of it, sheesh!! They were kind of the talk of the weekend because no one could believe that they had so much to complain about while on vacation! I was kid-free with no responsibilities--I had NO complaints!

So that pretty much sums up June. All in all, a good month. But that was just gearing up for July...