Friday Favorites {Birthday Edition}

I'm linking up with the following ladies for a little late Friday Favorites! 

{One}

It was my birthday yesterday and I turned 29. Let me tell you, some may think that is young, but man it was hard on me. Don't even mention next year. I really thought it would take longer to get to 30.  I mean didn't I just graduate college 2 years ago?! I did however score some adorable presents. My two favorite:

These shoes:

This dish towel:

It just so happens home sweet home is right around where I live :) I love me some Minnesota!

{Two}

Seriously I have been a die hard HP fan for such a long time. I have dreams of reading the HP books together with my girls then watching the movies after we read each book. I got this as well for my birthday and you better believe I'm reading it this weekend!

{Three}

One of the reasons I love blogging is "meeting" new moms and seeing how they parent and fun things they do. Well one of those mommas just sent her little boy off to kindergarten and packed this in his bag to give to his teacher. A GIANT PENCIL COOKIE. I mean come on. Its ADORABLE. You better believe I snatched up two of those for Elliot's preschool teachers :) 

{Four}

Next Saturday the hubby and I will be married for five whole years! Unreal to say that! We are taking a little four day trip sans kids to soak up some peace and quiet and enjoy this view every night!

{Five}

Right before we take off for our trip we are having Elliot's 4th birthday party! Here are some food ideas I'm thinking for the mermaid party for the kids

along with a few different SHELLS and cheese for the adults. I'm thinking these three kids:

Bacon Pesto

Jalapeno Popper

Chili Mac and Cheese

We have no plans this weekend and I'm so excited to kick back and relax!

xoxo, 

Kristi

Weekend Recap {spoiler alert: my hubby survived}

{Friday}

Friday I ditched work early to head off to the water park to meet my lovely little girls there and then from there we were heading to my sister's cabin. This small town had an AWESOME water park. Where I live there are no outdoor pools, which is so disappointing. I get that I live in the land of 10,000 lakes, but I'm such a pool girl vs. a lake girl. We had so much fun then we took off to finish off a relaxing evening at the cabin. We were watching them Olympics, first of all Michael Phelps. I used to swim, seriously what a beast. I just love watching him (swim that is....). Also Kerri Walsh-Jennings. She was dominating beach volleyball that night like she always does. She is fierce! The girls were exhausted after a full day! 

{Saturday}

Saturday we got up and headed to the local zoo. This farmer decided to start buying exotic animals along the way and opened the most adorable little zoo. It was so much fun! The town was having their town festival that weekend so we browsed some small little pop up tents and ate lunch then headed in to swim the rest of the afternoon! My parents came up and we headed to dinner and man it was SO delish! Then we headed out to the street dance (yes a dance in the street:for real) to listen to a fun band and have some adult time! 

I may have sent this following picture to my hubby when I hadn't heard from him in 12 hours and I was slightly concerned he may have not survived the bachelor party. 

Just so you know, he did get back to me after that picture... I don't know if it scared him, but it worked ;) 

Probably my absolute favorite picture from this weekend was of my Dad. Jason had asked my mom to make some cheesy potatoes for the bachelor party. So she made them up Saturday morning and dropped them off at my house on the way to the cabin. After they dropped them off this is the picture I got from my Dad....

yup. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. 

{Sunday}

Sunday morning we had some swimming in the lake again and then us girls headed back home. I was pleasantly surprised the house was still standing after a two night bachelor party and only the outside area was destroyed. Our garage looks like a college frat party happened. That will need to get cleaned up today. Instead of doing the responsible thing and cleaning, we took the boat out to do a little swimming and fishing since it was SO beautiful out. 

Right before we headed in I snagged this big walleye :) My biggest fish I've ever caught. I was pretty impressed with myself and even touched it.... I probably won't do that again. It was nasty. 

One again it was a weekend for the books. I don't really want to wish away summer, but I'm ready for some weekends that we don't have a whole lot going on and we just stay home and relax! 

xoxo,

Kristi

Friday Favorites {Part Three}

I'm linking up with the following ladies for a little late Friday Favorites! 

{One}

YouTube 

I'm not  big Cole Swindell fan. I think his music is "ok" but I swear his recent song "Middle of a Memory" was written about my hubby and I! True story I met Jason at a country bar. He came up and asked me for a dance to which I gladly said yes because I thought he was cute. Half way through our dance my friend said we needed to leave because the other girl was sick and I was the DD. So halfway through the song I left him on the dance floor. Thank God for modern technology and he was able to get a hold of me and the rest is history :) But I always smile at this song because it reminds me SO much of how we met.

{Two}

This weekend my hubby is hosting a bachelor party for his best friend. This is a two night binge at the house with 15-20 guys. Insert wide eyed emoji. Last night right before bed he showed me a YouTube clip of a game they decided to play of a homemade slip and slide with tippy cup at the end.... Lets just say I couldn't sleep after having nightmares about him getting hurt and before I kissed him goodbye this morning I said please don't break a neck, please don't break a limb that keeps you from working, and please just survive. Lets say I'm slightly concerned for them. Also slightly jealous he gets to play this game ;) 

{Three}

Clearly our house won't be suitable for two girls over the next 48 hours so they are on their way to the zoo and then I'm taking a half day of work and meeting them up there to go to the water park! Super excited. I'm so glad I have a flexible job that I still get to make these memories with my girls. 

Then after the water park I'm heading to my Brother in Law and Sister's cabin. This was the sunset I saw there earlier in the summer. IT IS AMAZING THERE. So peaceful. We just so happen to be relaxing there for Friday and Saturday night :)

{Four}

I came across this picture of Elliot that a friend had taken of her at gymnastics. I just giggle every time I see it. This girl has a mind of her own and is such a free spirit. I hope she stays that way forever. I also can't help but think of Kenny Chesney's wild child when I think of Elliot either.

"You were born to dance to the beat of your own heart; to roam without cages; with the innocence of a child, and the free spirit of untamed horses; I hope you laugh without stopping, live with abandon, and love like that's all there is; stay wild, my wild, wild child" - Kenny Chesney

{Five}

My friend went shopping for some new clothes and sent me a picture of this outfit from Old Navy. I am DYING over this outfit. It was SO adorable. I told her I really hoped she didn't mind we would be twinsies cause I'm definitely picking this one up! 

         Top                                 Pants                         Sweater

Well that is all for this Friday's wrap up! Oh and P.S. say an extra little prayer my hubby survives this weekend! 

xoxo, 

Kristi

Thoughts on Thursday {Randomness}

This is the first time I have seen a thoughts on Thursday post so I thought I would give it a chance.

{First Thought}

I don't know how everyone is doing this whole back to school thing. My heart just breaks for all these Mommas. My oldest girl will start her second year of preschool which is three times a week and in Minnesota we don't even start until after Labor Day and I'm already starting to get so sad. I don't know how I will handle Kindergarten. I swear she was just my baby not that long ago and now she is reading (making her own stories) to her baby sister. 

{Second Thought}

Can you not be ready to send your baby back to school but still be ready for fall? Is that allowed? I'm usually not the type to wish away summer but this one has seemed to be such a busy one and I miss the calm! Two weeks from now the hubby and I are doing a little get away up north to celebrate our 5th anniversary and I'm so excited to relax! 

{Third Thought}

Right before we are leaving to go up north we are celebrating Elliot's 4th birthday! I think I finally have her on board for a mermaid party. She had her heart set on a minions kitty party.... I don't even know if minions come in kitty form? Personally I can't stand minions so I might of persuaded her else where for a theme. I won't be able to do that much longer. One of my favorite blogs is Little Baby Garvin and she did an adorable party for her daughter Harper. I think I will copy find some inspiration from her :) Here is a pic! 

{Final Thought}

Why is it so impossible to have your house picked up?! Where does everything come from?!!? I'm pretty sure I could get rid of half our toys/blankets/nick knacks and still have a full house. Someone help me de-clutter!!! 

That is all for today! So excited tomorrow is Friday! 

xoxo,

Kristi

Show and Tell Tuesdays {School Pictures}

I'm linking up with Andrea for show and tell Tuesday.

 I love these posts! Let me pre-warn you I am not good at planning. So this morning I had no idea what I would do since I didn't take any picture of my old pictures before I started this. I decided to see if I had any on Facebook, well turns out I'm obsessive  really good at posting pictures, including past ones that I found a bit there, and then my mom sent me some. Let me tell you it was HILARIOUS to see these pictures again. Brace yourself for these! 

Lets start with my "cute age" I think I was actually a super cute toddler. 

OK OK, this isn't my cutest one... but I had to put it on because check out that hair. Man I was cool. 

This is when I thought I got super cute! I mean  really, those pigtails? My mom took way more effort with my hair back then than I have ever taken with Elliot's. Whoopsie! 

See I was way head of my time, duck face and all ;) 

This year we got to take a picture with our favorite item. Of course I chose the gigantic stuffed dog my grandparents got me for Christmas my Kindergarten year. This is also the phase where my mom thought she would perm all of our hair. I slept with that stuffed animal until I got married. Lets just say it doesn't look like that anymore. 

Then my parents decide to move to Arizona. I feel like this was an early midlife crisis for them as we had really started over in life and they were working long hours. Apparently they missed the memo on school picture day and all three of us girls looked ridiculous in this year's picture. I do have to say it probably is one of my favorite pictures though because it shows how we probably looked on a daily basis ;) 

Sweet headband Kristi. 

I redeemed myself the next year with this super awesome red jumper. 

Arizona was short lived and we moved back to the Midwest. Safe to say I still was a little bit of a struggle at this age. Don't worry I did eventually get braces in high school and stopped with the slicked back hair. 

I went through a little bit of a chunky phase and improved through high school but here are some pictures along the way. 

This was me in 7th grade. Tommy Hilfiger was all the rage. Honestly I still smile like this most the time. 

This was summer before 10th grade. Oh man to go back to the crunchy gelled hair, raccoon eyes, and hemp necklaces. I was too cool. 

My sisters wedding with all my best friends before 10th grade. This summer we pretty much LIVED together. All the time we were together. The girl all the way on the right was my best friend since I moved back to the Midwest. When we were 17, Kelsey died in a car accident. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her. 

Right after my sister's wedding and before I started 10th grade I hacked all my hair off. I mean if Reese Witherspoon could do it anyone could right?!

Next are two of my formals. One I wore a nightgown silky dress and the other it took both my sisters to zip. My senior year I got a little small.. probably too small and just so happened to gain some of it back between buying my prom dress and actual prom. Lets just say both sisters had to zip it up, one told me I looked like I had a butt crack on my back (sisters are the best), I couldn't breathe all night, and I ripped the slit up to my crotch trying to dance that night. Live and learn. Thank god for flowy styles now. 

Now to end off I'm going to do some comparisons... 

Me vs. Elliot at a similar age. Not seeing any resemblance.

Me vs. Elliot same age. Now I see the resemblance. 

Don't I look just like Dixie?!?! That's actually my middle sister on the left. Everyone tells me Dixie looks just like her Auntie Tara :)

Hope you had fun digging through all these pictures. They got a tad bit longer than they actually needed to but hey, its a good walk down memory lane! 

xoxo,

Kristi