Turkey Track

This weekend I went back to my roots, y'all.  Have you ever heard of Waldron, Arkansas?  Its near Booneville, Arkansas (not helpful?).  Both towns are where my mom's side of the family originates (for as many generations as we know).  And, if you read this blog frequently,  you may recall that our family has a "cabin" in between these two towns.  Last weekend was the Turkey Track Bluegrass Music Festival, "one of the largest bluegrass festivals west of the Mississippi"
We loaded up with the Grandersons after the men folk finished up work on Friday, and headed to the cabin.  The festival started on Wednesday and lasted through Saturday, but we only went Saturday evening- we thought about going during the day, but it was 96 degrees out there!
The festival was packed with senior citizens staying in RVs, and we had a great time! I love bluegrass music!
Sunday, in addition to Father's day was my mom's birthday.  I was glad to celebrate the day with both of them.  I even thought ahead and brought a birthday cake for my mom, it was mostly melted (the icing was droopy)  by the time we ate it on Sunday, but it was good anyway.

This week I started a class that only lasts 2 weeks! Its a lot of work to squeeze in 3 hours of grad school in two weeks.  I might be MIA for a while...

This is not the best picture of us.  But we had been basically camping for a full day at this point.  And it was hot! 

Who needs a lawn chair when you have a golf cart?  Lazy lazy.

In baby news:  I had  Dr. Appt. today.  All is well.  Apparently they think I have gained way less weight than I have.  Even though it isn't accurate the number they have on record made me feel awfully good.  I'm 28 weeks.  This is flying!

Fresh picture, taken today.  28 weeks. Big belly.

My current craving/ obsession.  I have eaten almost this entire watermelon single-handedly, in 3 days. Good thing they are healthy!

And last random update:  

This is Goldie Locks, our new pet.  He lives in our bamboo vase.  He is an impulse purchase  Michael made last night.  Actually, he was free, but in all of the free fish excitement, Goldie made it home without any food.  If there is algae in the vase with him, do I still have to feed him, or will the algae be enough?  This is a legit question, if you know anything about fish, let me know! Otherwise, he may not make it very long.  

Fifth Honeymoon

Michael and I celebrated four years of marriage this past weekend.  But we like to call it our fifth honeymoon.  Each year we have gone on a trip for our anniversary.  This year was definitely the smallest, lowest distance traveled, and shortest yet.  But it was still perfect.

We decided to go small this year for several reasons:  I am six months pregnant, traveling sounds ok, but we are limited in some activities ( i.e. laying on the beach usually sounds fun, until you feel like a beached whale), we just got back from a week long vacation with my family, Michael is going to China next month for a week and a half.

So we decided to spend a weekend near Eureka Springs, on Holiday Island.  Apparently lots of people have heard of this place, we have not.  It is a small community a few miles outside of Eureka, on Table Rock Lake.  I'd say based on my observations it is a retirement community.  Which was great! Nice and quiet.  We rented a house from vrbo.com (vacation rental by owners).  Shout out to Heather for telling me about this website!  I've looked at it before, but knowing someone else who had actually used it made me feel better.  So I searched on this website for a place to stay on Holiday Island.  The place we picked said it was near the lake, and looked nice by pictures, but it still felt a little like a gamble.  Your jaw is going to drop when you see this place!  I thought we had the wrong house because it wasn't clearly marked (and I thought we were staying in a condo).  But Michael decided to try the key, just in case.  I thought we were going to be arrested for attempting to break in at this point, I was so sure we were not at the right place.  But, the door opened!  I had to check for myself that it was the key that opened the door, and not that the door was just left unlocked.

So here it is- huge, but only 1 bedroom!  One enormous bedroom, and bathroom.

This is what we saw when we drove up. Yep, wrong house.  

Back porch, where we ate all our home cooked meals. 

More pack porch. It has a lake view. 

All things summer.  

Our view of the lake.

Bathroom

Kitchen.

Living room. 

Bedroom- please note I was standing in the middle of the room.  There was another living space and t.v. watching area behind me.  

Here was our agenda for the trip:

Friday- Michael took the day off, we made it to Eureka for lunch.  We ate at Local Flavor.  We love this place!  We ate there the day Michael proposed.  Then we checked in and found our house.  We spent the afternoon at the pool.  Then ate dinner at Ermilio's in Eureka.  They make everything from scratch, even their noodles.  Its wonderful.

Saturday- Slept in, swam, made lunch, swam, played games, made dinner, watched a movie.  It was the perfect relaxing day.

Dinner: Grilled steak, bacon wrapped grilled asparagus, caprese salad, and some leftovers from Ermilios

Sunday- Made breakfast, packed up.  We had to be out by 10.  We went to Eureka for massages.  Then ate lunch at Mud Street Cafe.  It was our first time to eat there.  We loved it!

And that sums up our fifth honeymoon.  I didn't take a single picture of us, but you can just imagine lots of fun, swimming, and relaxation instead.  

In other news, I start the third trimester tomorrow.  Yikes!

Project Nursery

Friday through Tuesday mom came into town and project nursery is now under way.  I needed some help and a creative mind getting started.  It is no where near finished.  But here are some pictures that will at least give an idea of what the end might look like.  The walls were already green, I am undecided about painting them.  I am painting the furniture white, which might brighten up the room and look fine with the green walls.  Did you know that we have painted every room (including hallways) in our house since we moved in a little over a year ago?  Some of them twice?  I don't have a lot of motivation to paint another one....for the second time.  Plus, keep in mind the nursery will also be a guest bedroom, we don't want to go nuts making it look like a baby's room.  

Also, I registered yesterday! It was so much fun picking out all of the cute little accessories for Lucy Kate's first few months of life.  I told Michael how long we were at the store- his response "it sounds like you had a terrible day" ha! Men don't get as excited about choosing which color bumbo or which theme for a play mat.  I loved it!  PS- Shout out to Callie for coming with my mom and I!  Registering for a whole new world can be overwhelming!  Its nothing like wedding registry where you know what a towel is and how it is used, you just pick the one you like.  Its all new, never before experienced products.  

Crib skirt.  Very wrinkled.  

Crib Sheet. And Inspiration fabric for everything else.

Quilt.

We actually haven't even purchased this and may not.  I don't really like pink, but if we add any more to the room, it will be this.   I like this pattern a lot! Maybe for an accent pillow.  

This blue fabric is the curtain material.  They are now hanging up almost completely done thanks to my mom's great seamstress skills.  I am waiting until they are completely finished to show them off.  

We are covering the rocking chair cushions in this.  

Construction zone.  

Parts of the crib are missing because I am sanding it to paint it.  Have you ever sanded a crib?  It takes forever- look at all those slats!

There is the guest bed tucked in the corner.  It will look much better when I actually have bedding and decorative pillows for it.

In other news our 4th wedding anniversary is tomorrow!  We are going out of town for a long weekend to celebrate.  What a blessing marriage to Michael has been!  I'll post about our trip and how much I like my husband when we get back.  

My how time flies!!!

Our honeymoon. We are such youngsters.