Painted Kitchen!

With Kenton being at work all weekend, I kept myself busy and painted the kitchen! I was inspried by a Phi Mu alum's kitchen - I "cubed" the kitchen. Two walls I did in the cubes and the other three will be solid - 1 peach, 2 yellow (there are 5 walls because the pantry creates an extra corner). See my progress and finished product below! Yay for Aunt Chris giving me her creative genes!

Done! I had Kenton put the fuse box cover back on today and the kitchen looks great!

Kenton's First Day

Kenton's first day with the Evansville Otters was Friday. He went at 8am and worked 15 hours! He goes to most of the home games in addition to working normal business hours. They had three home games this weekend and he racked up 40 hours. Wow! He loves it though!

He gets to work outside all day which he loves... even though the heat indexes were over 100 all weekend and today too!

Kenton after his first day - 15 hours - very tired

Golf-Filled Week

This week we did a lot of golfing. Kenton went by himself on Sunday, we went to the par 3 course on Monday for 9 holes, we went putt-putting on Wednesday, and just got back from golfing 18 holes at the par 3. Whew!

Putt-putting was a lot of fun... even though I did horribly! The video below is of Kenton's ball running into one of the course obstructions, but he did beat me by quite a bit. Boo. I'll get him next time. After Putt-Putt we went for a late dinner at Texas Roadhouse - ordered two kids meals and ate a bunch of rolls and peanuts - yum!

Kenton messes up a putt - too bad he still won

On Monday when we went to the par 3, I had my best round ever and my most consistent round - every one of my drives went up in the air instead of rolling 25 yards on the ground. But when we went today... it was rough again. Golf is so difficult to be consistent at! No wonder Tiger Woods is the highest paid athlete in the world (mega-endorsements don't hurt).

I did have one great putt (too bad we didn't get it on video) - I drilled it into the hole, it bounced about 2 inches off the ground and dropped in... awesome. I'm determined to get better, but it will probably take me a few years.

Anna driving the ball

Kenton sinking a putt

Anna angrily misses a putt - it hit the hole!

Sunday Free!

Kenton and I decided to take some time for us individually on Sunday. It was a great day. We went to church together and then after I came home and took a LONG nap... and he went out golfing. Crazy guy went to a long course and didn't get a cart.


Aerial of the course Kenton golfed at

My idea of fun was waking up from my nap at 1:30pm, setting up the travel DVD player with a good chick flick at my scrapbooking table and staying inside in one place all afternoon. It was fantastic. I worked on Josh's (Kenton's adorable nephew) scrapbook - I'm making him one for each birthday for the previous year (this one runs Dec. 2006-Dec. 2008). His birthday party is on July 26, so it's a good thing I'm almost done, just 3 pages left to go. Pictures of my favorite pages below.


Bathtub and backyard pool - Summer 2007


Around the house - July 2007


3rd birthday party - July 2007


Learning to shave - July 2007


Too cold to go outside - November 2007

Matt & Dria's Wedding

On Saturday, we went to see Matt and Dria (two of our friends from UE) get married at Crossroads Christian Church. It was a beautiful wedding and they used the same brass quintet we used with special preludes and all - it was really neat. Dria looked absolutely gorgeous.

The reception was at the Auditorium at the Vanderburgh 4-H Center. The Dollar Dance went on forever (I'm sure they got some good cash) - Kenton and I danced with the Bride and Groom which was really fun. A lot of people danced way longer than $1 worth! Matt told me they got the wedding music idea from us, which I thought was pretty cool. One day, maybe I'll be a wedding planner like Jennifer Lopez.

The most impressive part of the evening was their array of wedding cakes! The wedding cake had a bunch of tiers topped with fresh roses, all set-up over a water fountain. Then... after Matt and Dria cut the wedding cake, we found out there were five flavors to choose from: peach, raspberry, white, german chocolate (IU groom's cake), and one more that I can't remember. I had the white, the german chocolate, and about 8 chocolate covered strawberries.

The incredible wedding cake!

No cake smashing involved, but Matt just said Dria wouldn't want to try the chocolate cake his mom made for the reception... "it's not any good"

After the wedding we were going to go to Mesker Amphitheatre to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but it started pouring during the reception. So we stayed and danced on!

They played American Pie and the FIJIs threw BOTH Matt and Dria in the air. It was great to see a bunch of people again - it was like a college reunion!

Kenny Chesney in Concert!

Last night we went to a Kenny Chesney concert that was absolutely fantastic! It's been a year or two since he last came to Evansville (caused a huge uproar that he didn't come back even though he said he would - lots of talks about a new stadium). My concert experience is limited, but he moved around more than anyone I've ever seen. It was what I imagine a Garth Brooks concert would be like.

Kenny Chesney on the move

Gary Allan opened for him - I was actually really impressed with him. He's got more hits than we thought. I might even go buy one of his older CDs.

Gary Allan

When Kenny Chesney came out on stage, the crowd went absolutely wild and every seat was full. He did a lot of his hits including "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem", "Summertime", "Never Wanted Nothing More", "Shiftwork", "Don't Blink", "Road and the Radio", "Living in Fast Forward", "Beer in Mexico", "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy", and Kenton's favorite "Back Where I Come From"! During "Back Where I Come From", they had images from all around Evansville including Ellis Park, UE, USI, CMoe, Four Freedoms Monument, LST, and downtown. It was incredible.

Kenny Chesney

Kenny during "No Shoes..." - he let the crowd sing the chorus and just danced around - the crowd probably could have sang almost every song without him, it was amazing

One of the best parts of the concert was complete improv. Kenny said he met a fan during the Meet and Greet before the show and wanted to play a song for him from the fan's favorite album - he barely remembered the chords and fumbled over the words quite a bit - it was great, the crowd would have cheered if Kenny hummed.

Kenny continued and played short excerpts from other songs he hadn't played all year with just him, his guitar, and the keyboard player. At one point Kenny and the piano player had a miscommunication and started playing different songs - it was very genuine, awesome. I was so glad he played part of "I Lost It" which is one of my favorite songs.

At the end of the concert, Kenny signed an acoustic guitar and gave it to a kid in the front row! Bet he has no idea how valuable that guitar really is. Unbelievable! How neat would it be to have that guitar? Guess we'll just have to settle for a keychain.

Fourth of July in Michigan

For the Fourth of July weekend, Kenton and I (well, mostly Kenton) drove up to Michigan to see Kenton's relatives (they all live within an hour of Detroit in suburb areas): Steve and Char (Uncle and Aunt), Jeremy, Tammy, and Baby Jackson (Cousins), and Jeff, Susan, Lucas, and Zach (Cousins).

On the way up we decided to eat dinner at a sit-down restaurant, even though we had packed sandwiches - and what popped up? A PERKINS! When I was in Key Club we used to eat there at every District Board meeting. At one meeting there was a creepy guy sitting with a life-sized doll... and he ordered a meal for the doll. Moving on... we had a fantastic meal, their famous muffins are still as good as ever.

Over the weekend we spent a lot of time with Jeremy, Tammy, and Baby Jackson (8 months). Baby Jackson is very long - still long, not tall because he can't quite walk, but he's working on it. He must have inherited his dad's height. Jeremy and Kenton cut the hedges in the backyard while Tammy, Baby Jackson and I took a load off.


Jackson "hanging" out


We had the privilege in seeing a Clarkston, Michigan, tradition - the Fourth of July parade. It was the longest parade I've ever seen (not counting Thanksgiving ones on TV), lasting over and hour and a half. There were a ton of classic cars (being part of car manufacturing history and all), tractors, people running for political office, and fire trucks. One of the best features in the parade was a goat dressed up as a hot dog!


Hot Goat


Steve and Char have a wonderful backyard for entertaining - we hung out all day after the parade was over. Steve managed the grill and the cheeseburgers were fantastic. The best thing there was the lemon bars - best I've ever had.


"Mrs. Hargises"


"Mr. Hargises"


That evening, we went back to Jeremy and Tammy's and were able to watch as Jackson experienced fireworks for the first time!


Fireworks with Jeremy, Tammy and Jackson


On Saturday Kenton and I went to a Thai restaurant (hopefully the new one opening up in town will be fantastic and I won't have to wait for vacations to eat Thai!). Later that night, Jeff, Susan, Lucas, Steve, and Char all came over and we ate Mexican take-out (which was fantastic!) and a camp fire outside in the perfect Michigan summer weather.


From Left: Steve, Char, Lucas, Jeff, dog-Maggie, Susan, Anna, Kenton, Jeremy, Tammy
(Jackson was already asleep and Zach was with the grandparent's up North)


Before we started the drive home on Sunday, we went to IKEA because Kenton had never been to one. We found a fantastic storage unit we could put in the apartment which was reasonably priced, but wouldn't fit in the car. We figured we could order it online, but it's over 200% of the purchase price just for shipping - they must ship all the way from Sweden!