What a Weekend!

Oh y'all. This past weekend was wonderful and super-tiring all at the same time. We got to see old friends, spend quality time with our families, and celebrate a couple of milestones. It was a lot to squeeze in a few days, but I'm thankful for every moment!

On Friday, I helped with the Inauguration Ceremony for the new President at GHSU. Before the ceremony, I ran into my friend Neal from CBS News 12 and we got to snap this quick picture together. (Please excuse the grossly oversized blazer I'm wearing, all of the event volunteers had to wear them and they unfortunately had none in my size. So it goes!)

Neal and I worked as counselors at the same camp a few summers ago, so it was great to catch up with him for a second before we rushed off to do our respective duties. Meanwhile, Kyle and his classmates were relaxing by the pool to celebrate making it through the first Ortho exam of the summer. Oh the life of a student!

(Kristen I hope you don't mind me using your pictures!)
After being on my feet literally all day in high heels at the Inauguration, I was in no mood to cook anything Friday night. So I was very happy to hear we would be going out to eat for a classmate of Kyle's birthday. Gotta love Japanese hibachi grills! I always get at least two meals out of those places.

Saturday morning we headed to my parent's lake house so we could get a few things ready there for Memorial Day Weekend (yay!) and drop Doc off for his first dogsitting experience. We left Doc there with my parents while Kyle and I went to Rachel and Jason's wedding in Athens Saturday night (double yay!).

The wedding was like a college reunion of all our favorite people from UGA. It was so fun to catch up with everyone and see where life had taken them in the past two or three years. And of course we had a blast celebrating Rachel and Jason! If anyone is the epitome of patience, it's these two. They have been engaged for two years (they got engaged the same weekend Kyle and I did!), and they have remained 100% committed to each other the entire time. I know God will bless their marriage tenfold for that. Unfortunately we did not snag a posed picture with the new Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but I did grab these of Kyle dancing with the beautiful bride during the money dance:

I also LOVED how everyone was given a handful of lavender to toss during their grand exit. What a unique idea, especially for a wedding with a purple color scheme!

Sunday morning Kyle and I rushed home from the lake to get some last minute things ready at our house before his parents and my family came over for the White Coat Ceremony. Once everyone arrived, somebody thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and remove Doc's stitches from when he was neutered, since there were two veterinarians in the house. Bad idea. It took three people to hold him down, and Doc accidentally scratched Kyle's dad's chin and made him bleed pretty badly, getting a little bit on his shirt collar, and Kyle got some nasty secretion on the shirt he was going to wear to the ceremony, so he had to soak the stain and change really quickly. You would think with all the advanced degrees floating around in there that somebody would've had more common sense. Nope! Eventually we had everyone properly dressed and smelling normal, and we made it to the ceremony with plenty of time to spare.

I am so proud of all Kyle has accomplished in this first year of Physical Therapy School! He has been a hard worker and has taught me so much about what it means to depend on the Lord. I don't know how we would be getting through this without Jesus by our side!

After the White Coat Ceremony, we went out to eat for an early dinner at Boll Weevil Cafe in downtown Augusta. We were even lucky enough to score some free desserts! Anyone who lives around Augusta can understand my excitement with that. We actually got the free dessert to-go because Kyle's mom brought some homemade pecan pie for us to enjoy, so we went back to our house to eat her delicious pie and talk. There's nothing our family can do better than sit around and eat and talk! Before we knew it, it was time for everyone to say goodbye and our exhausting weekend came to a close.

I'm really looking forward to this Memorial Day Weekend and just relaxing on the dock at the lake. I'm predicting cold lake water, but I'm okay with simply soaking up some sun and reading a good book. I'm planning on stopping by the library tonight, I'm so excited because I haven't been since I finished the Harry Potter series back in March! I know, I'm a dork like that. Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday, only two more days until the long weekend!

**UPDATE**How could I forget?! There's gonna be another Fab Five wedding! Lauren, one of my best friends, got engaged to her long-time beau Caleb on Saturday! I am so so excited for them. We've basically been waiting for this to happen for forever. We can't wait until their big day!

P.S. Aren't they too cute? This kind of cuteness should not be legal.

Hello Hydrangea

When we first moved into the new house, we found a pleasant surprise in our backyard: a hydrangea bush! Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers, and I was beyond ecstatic to have a bush already grown and blooming in our backyard.

Unfortunately this bush was the victim of a little neglect (and this before photo is the victim of harsh afternoon light. Oops!), so while Kyle and I were doing yard work this weekend, I gave it a little trim:

Much, much better! It's amazing what a quick pruning can do.
But the party doesn't stop there. There's more on the way! I can't wait to have a bush full of blue blooms this summer.
In other yard news, we (as in Kyle) finally got around to cutting the grass. This is only a big deal because it's the first time we've had to cut the grass for our own place. And yes, I made sure Kyle applied plenty of sunscreen. I think his paleness is cute! ;)

There was a whole lot of this nastiness going on in the front yard that was driving me crazy. It had to go. Everything looks so much better now, but you would never know since I was a goof and forgot to take an after picture.
And for the first time, we've needed to know a thing or two about grass. There are a bunch of bare patches in the backyard, which in turn makes Doc track in dirt to the house, so we wanted to plant some grass seed and see if it will help. We consulted my cousin who was a Turfgrass Management major at UGA (Yep, that's a major. What else can you expect from a big football school?). After asking us a few questions, he suggested laying out Centipede grass seeds.

So this is Kyle laying out the Metro-Mix growing medium pictured above, which is actually step three in the process. We hope this will be the perfect temporary solution we were looking for.

When I wasn't taking pictures or eating ice pops, I tackled the daunting task of clearing off the patio, which I know doesn't sound too difficult. But when you factor in heaps and heaps of dead leaves, pine straw, and icky creepy crawlies, you'll understand why it basically took me all afternoon. And nope, no before or after pictures of that either. I'm #winning with these before and after photos! Anyway, Kyle and I really enjoyed working in the yard together this weekend and hope to get everything somewhat presentable by the time our families roll into town on Sunday. We're really excited about their visit!

Life in Transition

Settling in to the house is coming along slowly but surely. My two new favorite things are shelf liner and Magic Erasers. They are must-haves when moving into an old house! For those who are curious, here's a little peek at the exterior:

This photo was actually taken about a year ago by our landlord. I can't believe I haven't grabbed one of my own yet! Once we polish up the landscaping a little bit an updated photo will definitely be in order.

Thankfully our rooms don't look like this anymore, but for a while this is what the office looked like:

ICK!
And this is what our guest bedroom looked like:
Laundry really piles up when your dryer has a four-pronged cord but the socket only has room for three! :D

Since moving into the house, we've built up quite the list of projects we would like to accomplish. But we don't want to dish out a lot of dough for them, so we decided to hit up this mega yard sale on Saturday. The yard sale was a fundraiser for my best friend's brother and sister-in-law as they are trying to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. How could we pass that up? We got there around 11 a.m. and ran into my best friend's husband as well as another friend from my hometown, and they told us most of the good stuff had been picked over by 6 a.m. Guess we have a thing or two to learn about hardcore yard-saling!

I didn't come home empty-handed though, as I scored a candleholder and large vase for one buck. And while I shopped around, Doc found a soft and cool place to land:

He is too cute for his own good sometimes. Also while at the yard sale, Kyle and I met this couple who knew my grandparents and worked at the same camp I went to growing up. The whole conversation came up just because I was wearing my camp shirt. Isn't it funny how strangers can quickly become friends?

Unfortunately we were not able to spend Mother's Day with either of our moms this year, but we both sent them our love over the phone and can't wait to see them in two short weeks here in Augusta. Sunday afternoon we took Doc on a special trip to the Savannah River Greenway since we haven't been able to play with him a lot lately due to the move. As you can see from his tugging on the leash, he was really excited to get out!

Doc also had his first experience on a dock. Har har. He better get used to it because there will be many weekends spent at the lake this summer!

Hope y'all had a great Mother's Day weekend!

Stair Surfin'

This is how Doc clumsily went up and down the stairs in our old townhome (I can't believe I'm typing old), though in this video he wasn't as klutzy as normal. He must've been aware that I would show you. But you still get the point. Plus he's just so darn cute!

Doc Stair Surfing from Lesley Anne Fenton on Vimeo.

I think Doc will miss the carpeted stairs in the old townhome the most. His favorite thing to do would be to sprawl out on his favorite stair of the day. No joke. We couldn't ever keep him away from the stairs.

Now it's the complete opposite in the new house. The hardwood floors are slippery and therefore a lot more scary to him. But I'm kinda bored talking about stairs. I just wanted to share these two photos I snapped when I caught Kyle and Doc having some quality cuddle and kisses time.

On the stairs, mind you. ;)