Insta-summer.

I made this promise - mostly to myself - to blog more frequently back in May, but dang it if life didn't just get in the way of those grand plans (isn't that always the case, huh?).  That said, we have had one of the best summers in recent memory.  I am honestly sad to see it go!  Last night, as the light disappeared a little earlier, I thought back over what has really been going on around here lately...and who better to ask than my Instagram account? Turns out we have been living it up this summer!

Swim parties with the youth group

Uh huh.

In July, Matt and I ended up with an empty extra bedroom.  After taking a convenience poll (which included himself and one of his other friends) Matt decided to fill the room with bunkbeds.  The bunkbeds that my sister and I slept on from ages 8-18 to be precise. Random. Matt had a multitude of good reasons for making this decision which included "fort building", and "super-funness".  After having a group of four kiddos over this past weekend, I have to concede that the man was right; this room is now fort-building-super-funness-approved.

My sister and I have been spending Saturday mornings at this spot. Beach running then beach brunching is the best way to spend a Saturday if you ask me!

A couple of weeks ago I started this little project. I honestly hadn't even given thought to our emergency kits since we moved into our house in 2010. Thankfully I did finally give it thought, 'cause we for sure would have been trying to live off a can opener and one package of batteries in case of emergency. No food. No water. Just batteries.

Empty jar happiness

Summer is not complete without Matt's ice cream.  Homemade truly is better than store bought anytime. There are a few things that I just will not make, and ice cream is one of them.  Thankfully, Matt makes this custard-like vanilla ice cream that is just so, so delicious!

I have also continued to throw random things in with random things and call it "baking".  The dough above is Biscoff pretzel white chocolate chip cookie dough. I have literally been baking four out of every seven days. Intervention needed over here. Or more mouths to feed. One option or the other.

One final push project was completed this past weekend wherein we scooped out all of our bark and plants in the front yard, pick-axed all of the leftover rose roots, put down some weird plant paper, and re-covered that jazz with new bark.  All in all it took Matt and me about five or six hours of manual labor. I won't plan to be doing that again. Our yard is looking really good, thanks almost solely to Matt's constant care and love.  

Needless to say, we haven't really been doing much of anything since we returned from our East Coast trip and my brother's wedding in June, but somehow we are staying really busy and having a blast doing it!