Busy Weekend!

What a busy weekend we had! Rusty and I went with my family (mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and nieces) on our annual camping trip this past weekend. We left on Friday and got back Sunday morning in time to get ready to go out to Rusty's grandma's house for their family's annual reunion. Like my family, he has a lot of relatives from California. It was good to see many faces again and meet new ones. Here are a few pictures from our weekend:

Gage/Tate Family:



Sitting by the bonfire...you can see the rays of sun in this picture...


Skinny (left), who is still here from our wedding, and his son Molly (right) from California


I thought this was a cool picture I took of the kids playing on the hay...


The whole group who came to the reunion


Just a few camping pictures:

Canyon slept part of the night in our tent but then we let him out at one point...then I woke up to about 10 coyotes howling so I made Russ go out and get him.....well, as we were waking up that morning he decided to climb into "mommy's" bed .....LOL

Can't you just hear him saying..."MOM!"



Dutch oven chili on Saturday night


Playing fetch


Sawing wood for the fire...


Cute kiss


Feeding him part of my sandwich. Notice he is using my hands because his hands were dirty...


Isn't he handsome!?!?

So...on a side note...I went to a bridal fair a few weekends ago with my cousin Kinlee who is getting married next July. There were tons of photographers, videographers, bakery's, florists, D.J's, etc. Anyways, we came across our photographer for our wedding, Artistry Portraits http://www.artistryportraits.com/
They immediately remembered me and the wedding and mentioned they used a few pictures to show off their work! I thought it was the coolest thing they had chosen pictures from our wedding to display...I had to take a picture! I was tempted to ask them if I could have the picture or buy it for a cheap price after they were done using it...

Rusty and Canyon

As I stated in an earlier post, Rusty and I recently got a dog, Canyon. Some may/may not know but they are great swimmers because of their webbed feet. On a side note, we are going camping with my family this weekend and Canyon is going with us. This morning, Rusty mentioned giving him a bath since he has that common dog smell that might get a little overwhelming since he will ride in the cab of the truck on our way there. Anyways, as I was giving him bath I realized how Rusty and Canyon have the same hair texture....coarse and water resistant! LOL Rusty has the oddest hair for a Caucasian.....really "wirey" I guess you could call it. His hair, like Canyon's, repels water too. If he were to jump into a swimming pool and be completely submerged his hair would still look dry when he came out of the water. Weird! So, when I was spraying Canyon's coat with water before I actually put shampoo on I noticed that the water was just rolling off hiscoat like it would on Rusty's hair.....LOL Like father like son!

Hairstylist?

So, over the past 2 or 3 years, I have done hair for proms, weddings, pageants, semi-formals, etc. I think I really enjoy it! After graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Kinesiology, I think I might go get some more education in the hair department....I think it would be a great job to have once Rusty and I start a family in 5 years. I can be a stay at home mom and make my own schedule~ and if I happen to not like it or when our kids are all in school then I can maybe fall back on my Bachelor's Degree and teach P.E. Here are a few pictures of recent hair I have done...

Decorating!

I wanted to paint at least one room in our new house green. I finally decided on a color and which room to try it in. I love how it turned out! The color is City Chartreuse (semi-gloss) by Valspar brand. For the accent wall, I taped off 10.5 inch stripes with the blue painter's tape and then painted a touch darker but in flat paint. I found the comforter @ Target for $13 and the wicker dresser at a garage sale for $25 that I painted black. I dressed up the plain black pillow on the bed by stitching a red feather boa and adding a green button in the middle. The curtain is just black taffeta material I bought for our wedding a year ago and didn't end up using it. I folded over the top about 15 inches then clipped the rings on. They aren't hemmed or anything but I kind of like the look! In the picture above at the top right hand corner you can see a stick on the wall that I painted gold. I found that last year while camping and thought it was cool how flat it was and how it branched out. It made it through our move and everything! As you can see, I accented with black, red, and leopard print. I think every house needs something that is carried throughout....that would be leopard print in mine...I have it in both bathrooms, our bedroom, the living room and the spare bedroom. Just a touch here and there....

Poor Rusty...

For the past couple of weeks, Rusty has been at school at least 1 if not 2 nights a week working on a project for school. It makes for a stressful night for him and a boring night for me.... I can't wait until we are both out of school! I know I say this now and 5 years down the road I will be wishing to be back in this phase of life.

Rusty's New Side Job/ Hobby....

This football season, Rusty started refereeing football. He has always mentioned doing it but never thought he would seriously ever get to take part in it. He loves it! He always enjoyed playing football and missed being on the field on Friday nights. He loves the fact of being back in the game, in a different way, and it is a way he can get back into shape. He has so many stories already and enjoys being with the other crew members.

Our Family...

Rusty and I got married last July 2007. We aren't planning on having children for several years but for now a dog will be our practice until we are ready. We purchased Canyon 2 months ago, August 20th to be exact. He is a full-blood Chocolate lab. We found him in the newspaper and he was one of two puppies left. Like with the house situation when we found it online I insisted on calling the Realtor and in this situation I was the one who pursued to find out more about the dogs...registered? full-blood? What are the parents like? Any history of hip dysplasia? etc.....

Two months later, 10 bags of Purina One Puppy, vet visits to get "snip-snipped" and shots, countless bones, and torn up things all throughout the yard....and needless to say several holes dug....Oh...and we can't forget his cozy comforter fluff he decided to decorate the yard with...other than that he has been a blast. We try to take him on a walk every evening and some mornings I take him on a walk around our neighborhood. He has the sweetest personality but he is a little timid of strangers.

Practice....

I am just practicing on how to beautify my blog! I am kind of getting the hang of it.....

Hello! I finally decided to create a blog. After visiting several other blogs I started to feel a little outdated since everyone else has one. So....I decided I would give it a try~ What is there to lose? I feel like my page is a little boring right now since I really have no clue how to navigate and make it look all stylish and pretty like everyone else's....but I will catch up soon!