Sayonara Summer!

School is back in action! Tomorrow I get the pleasure of meeting most of my new kiddos! I'm really looking forward to this school year and you can check out my teacher blog here where I have been and will be posting about all things school related!

Unfortunately with the beginning of school I'm lucky if I can get a blog post done a week. That's pretty much my goal, but I know the past two weeks I've been pretty bad about it. I like posting frequently so that when I'm old and gray grayer I will be able to look back at my printed posts and be able to remember all of the fun, sweet times and blessings life has brought. And I can't forget bragging about all of my projects. :)

To send the summer out with a bang, I thought I would share the highlights of the summer!

The summer started with the end of school, and the end of my messy lab closet!!

The day school ended, I needed some serious stress relief, so Josh was very sweet to let me spend the rest of that week up at my mom's house. When I got back that Saturday- he had the most delicious cheesecake EVER waiting for me!

Soon after I got the 'project itch' and scratched it by painting over the black vinyl decal we had painted around when we first did our accent wall, creating more of a stencil:

Before

After!

I really enjoyed meeting up with friends throughout the summer, and one of my best buds Kayla ordered an Iced Vanilla Chai Tea Latte with soy from Barnes and Noble. I called her a hippie. Then I tried it a few days later and have been addicted hooked ever since!

Josh and I were so excited finally join Newspring Church! Perry Noble is an incredible pastor who speaks grace and truth and we love being a part of a church that is changing lives on a daily basis! We began volunteering as greeters every other week and really enjoy serving in that role.

June 18th, 2012 marked our very first wedding anniversary! The first year of our marriage proved to be 365 days of choosing to love each other and learning very quickly that life as newlyweds isn't always as glamorous as it's made out to be. We learned so much about each other and learned to truly embrace working as a team and with, not against, each other. We had plans to find a fancy restaurant and break the bank on a classy meal; but you can't deny what you love and we ended up eating at our favorite pizza place- Mellow Mushroom!

Forgive the crappy iPhone photo.

While there we looked back over our wedding photos, reliving a day that went by too fast. In the back of our photo book we agreed upon the most valuable lesson learned of the year:

We further celebrated our first anniversary with a long weekend road trip to Tennessee, where we spent our honeymoon. We rented a sweet little cabin and had a wonderful time! You can read more about that trip here.

We brought home two postcards and I turned them into this little souvenir for our home:

July 4th brought a day spent making apple pie and partaking in the second annual installment of the Atkins boys and their fireworks!

We were delighted to take a 'grown up' step and purchase Josh a truck! He'd been borrowing his parents' extra vehicle for a year and a half, and we feel very blessed to have our ole fixer upper!

I had the pleasure of redoing my younger sister Emily's bathroom for her as a gift for my upcoming nephew!

Before

(Dim) After!!

In keeping with the 'redoing' theme, I tackled the last room that's needed tackling in our home- the office!

Before. Yikes.

After. :)

After. :)

Then came my 25th birthday! A sweet friend bought me the prettiest flowers and took me out to lunch and hubby took me out to dinner with his family and bought me tools! He knows me well!

My mom graciously bought me a sewing machine for my birthday, and I have had a blast doing lots of little projects with it. My first one was a dog bed for Scooby, and he loves it! The second was a set of curtains for my kitchen. :)

Then came the showers for my twinsie getting married in September. With two other wonderful ladies I threw her a couples shower and my mom hosted a bridal shower where I gave her a hanger with her new name written in wire.

My husband is truly somethin'. I love the little surprises I get every now and then. One day, after going to get gas for the lawnmower, he brought me back something I'd never had before: Mt. Dew in a glass bottle! Boy you just don't get better than a glass bottle drink!

My last trip for the summer was so much fun! My mom and stepdad graciously let me tag along and spend some awesome quality time with my baby sister in Pigeon Forge (Gah I love that place! Can't you tell?!). We enjoyed shopping, go karts, and the aquarium!!

I pretty much have the most awesome relatives. Ever.

This fella is straight outta Jurassic Park! Look at those gills!

I found Nemo!

I shall call him Squishie and he shall be my Squishie!

Silly Mama!

Anna and Glen. He loved her.

I finished up this amazing summer with one last little project. A combination of this pin and this pin gave me the creative juices (along with some stickers and scrapbook paper and Goodwill frames) to create this:

Wow! I am so very thankful to have such incredible opportunities. Going through all of these pictures and seeing all that God has blessed me with makes me so excited for this new school year and the adventures that await!

It may be a little bit before I get the time (and energy) to post again, but I will try!

Until then,

Souvenirs

Tonight I am type-typing away in my new, sooo cozy, comfortable bed and surrounded by the incredibly beautiful (pictures will come!) mahogany bedroom suit Josh's wonderful parents bought us. It was a surprise wedding present for me. Josh knew about it. We came home from our honeymoon- I was anticipating a dreadful clearing out of junk from the bedroom floor left due to my hurry to be on time for my own wedding. Instead, I opened the door to my our bedroom to find a stunning new queen sized bed with brand new furniture. All I could do was look at Josh and cry out of surprise and happiness. I could go on and on, but tonight's blog post is about some very special souvenirs we brought home from our honeymoon.

One of the most exciting stops for me was at The Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge. I was hoping to find a special ornament that could serve as a memento of this special time in our lives. What we ended up choosing was better than what I could have ever hoped for; because they are the beginning of not only our little family, but a tradition. :)

We could not resist this sweet paw print for our babies. We missed them for sure!

We decided on a girl moose and boy moose!! Plus, our wedding date on the bottom!

With the names and years on our new little ornaments, I'm hoping they will become a yearly tradition that will cover our Christmas tree years down the road. And who knows, maybe in a couple years we will have to upgrade to 3 or 4 moose instead of just two. :)

While we were waiting on my favorite souvenir from the trip, Josh left my side with 51 cents and came back with this! I've always loved flattening pennies as little souvenirs and it's super cool that the first one I ever got as a child I did in Gatlinburg; which is where we were when he made this one. It will stay with me forever.

Finally...

Call me sentimental, but I have ALWAYS wanted one of these! I gave Josh my sweetest smile and asked him if we could have one. He was more than obliging and we picked out the shape of wood and I got to tell the nice (albeit scary-looking) wood carving man what I wanted it to say. Now, I'm not so sure we are going to be able to hang it on our vinyl siding, but I'm hoping we can figure something out to hang it near our front door. It really made me proud and helped me feel like an Atkins! (Cause trust me, this name change thing is weird!)

We have lots of pictures that I can't wait to cherish and look back on as we remember this very sweet time of our lives, but these are the souvenirs that mean the most to me. Since they are so special I thought I'd share them with y'all. Enjoy!

Until next time,
-Mrs. A :)