Gallery Wall

I decided that I wanted to make a gallery wall, but I didn't want to spend a ton of money.  I decided to go to some thrift stores for some frames.  I bought all of these in one day, and even found a shelf for something different as part of the wall.

 I used two cans of satin black spray paint to make them all the same color.  Then I traced tissue paper in the shape of each frame and used painter's tape to place them on the wall to decide on a layout.

 My first attempt did not pass muster, so I tried again.

 After I decided that I liked the arrangement, I hammered in the nails.  When I traced the frames onto the tissue paper, I marked the nail placement, so it went really quickly.

 Then I hung all of the frames and it stayed like this for a while until I could decide which pictures I wanted to print and what layouts I wanted in each frame.  To save money I didn't buy mats, I just used poster board behind the pictures and then meticulously measured and remeasured to make sure everything was parallel and perpendicular the way it needed to be.

I am so glad to be finally done with this project!  It took me five weeks, and I spent about $80 on the whole project including pictures.

End of Summer

 These yahoos thought it would be funny to put undies on their heads.

 They were right.

 This past Saturday the girls did the Good Sam Wild Run, which is an obstacle course.

 They had swag and face painting that the kids enjoyed before the run.

 Grandpa and I watched Henry hula hoop and jump rope while the girls ran the course with Jer.

On Sunday night, we decided since school started the next day we had better end summer with a night at the beach.

 There is a new play structure for the kids that they loved.

 It was super windy and the weather couldn't decide what it wanted to do.  It would be cloudy, then sprinkle, then sunny, then cloudy again.

 We enjoyed checking out the waves.

 It was a beautiful night.

 We stopped by to see Uncle Ken and Aunt Sue after the beach.



First day of school!  I do not know where the summer went, but here we are.

 The girls had a great first day back.

I chose Stella's clothes (her shirt says jump your (heart) out) and she said it was the perfect shirt for her first day because she is going to jump in love with her teacher.

40th Anniversary Surprise

We surprised mom and dad with an anniversary party for their 40th.

 We told them nothing but the date and time to show up, then did a progressive dinner.  Appetizers with Kari's family, dinner with Lindsey's family, and they expected dessert with our family, but we had also invited some of their closest friends, Dennis & Shar, Donna & Jerry,

 Rich & Barb.  And Kari and Lindsey's families came too.

 They were quite surprised.  We had a great time talking and kids showing off for all the extra honorary grandparents.

 We even managed to take some decent family pictures.