Summer Vacation

Ok, it's already the 2nd week in July and I'm finally writing my first post of the month. I need to get on it! But I've been busy and on vacation for part of those two weeks. I went back "home" to TN to see some family and friends over the July 4th week. James wasn't able to take time off and come but I still managed to have fun without him. :) Check out some of the photos below from the trip!

I flew in early Sunday morning (thanks to two delayed flights due to bad weather) and didn't get to bed til almost 3am. I haven't seen my best friend in sooo very long so I found it appropriate to get up at 6am, after only 3 hours of sleep, and meet her in Asheville, NC (about an hour away) to have breakfast. My mom, sister, and I were going to Charlotte for the day to see my nephew as well. So we took a quick pit stop and had breakfast at Ihop with Bethany and her mom. It was so fun but way too short.

My very best friend Bethany and I

After having a fun and yummy breakfast mom, Michelle, and I hit the road again and headed to Charlotte to meet up with my adorable nephew James. We had him for a few hours so we went to a local park to have a picnic, play on the slides, and swim in the lake. It was so good to see the little kiddo and I couldn't get enough of him! Sad to say goodbye...

Check out this cutie!

 
                Feeding the ducks

 

Chasing the ducks!

 

Silly Aunt Jenn

 
                                          Aunt Michelle and Jamers

He was pretty excited about drawing his name

 
            Fun day at the park!                                        Grandma & James

Beautiful view on the drive back home.

I love those gorgeous Smoky Mountains!

Monday and Tuesday of my trip Michelle and I drove down to Chattanooga to see some friends. I had a blast catching up with my close friend Abby and her husband Kevin (back in May I did a post from their wedding weekend!). It was a short trip but we had so much fun and got caught up on life. Abby, Kevin, and I went over to Barb's house for dinner and hung out (Barb's our 2nd mom and is an amazing cook!). I had to stop in and see Barb and her family and do our traditional Monday night dinner. It felt like I never left! Sorry Abby for the picture I'm about to post. I know we both look pretty busted but I had to share :)

We had a lot going on Wednesday. My dad's birthday, picking up Michelle's and I's childhood friend Corryn from the airport, and an evening in Gatlinburg, TN to celebrate my dad's birthday and the 4th of July. Corryn and Michelle have been best friends since forever ago and she's like a little sister to me. Michelle and I are both in Corryn's wedding in December and since the three of us live in three different parts of the US we decided to meet up over the 4th and do an early celebration for Corryn's wedding. Here are some pictures from the last few days of the trip.

 
Dad's birthday dinner at a family favorite Italian restaurant




Overlooking the lights of Gatlinburg after a fun dinner celebrating Daddy-o's birthday. Don't even ask what we are doing!

The clouds moved in while we were there. It was awesome!

 Midnight parade celebrating the 4th of July

Birthday boy with his favorite pie to celebrate. Chocolate pudding!

 

 

 

 

 This is my dad for ya! :)

One thing I did not appreciate about my vacation was that it rained literally like 98% of the time I was there! I've never seen it rain some much in TN in July. So strange. So yea, it rained most of the 4th but it stopped in time for the fireworks. 

 

 

Yes, we are ridiculous together!

I've missed this countryside!

Home sweet home...

Like I said, it rained a lot, thus the umbrella! :)

As I mentioned before, Corryn is getting married in December. Saturday night we celebrated with a pre-bachelorette party. Friday we had gone out and picked up some new dresses. Before going out for the night we took some pictures downtown and than had a blast until the wee hours of Sunday morning :)

 

 
                 My sexy Momma!

It was a fast paced trip with a lot going on but I had so much fun. Just wished it hadn't rained as much and I could have stayed longer. 

Look for a big announcement in my next blog post! :) I should be putting it up sometime later today!!

Fields of Gold

As promised I am putting up several pictures of the wheat fields behind our house. It's a pretty amazing sight with the sun setting over the fields and the breeze rippling across the top of the wheat. The pictures definitely do not do it justice. And of course the one time I finally take my camera, the sunset isn't that great. But none the less it was breath taking.

Other updates on life: James is up at Broken Arrow Ranch, our conference's summer camp. He gets to work as the camp pastor this week and have a complete blast. Me, on the other hand, I just get to enjoy good old Southeast Kansas by myself once again. Thankfully the weather is good and no tornadoes this time. A few weeks ago when the tornadoes rolled through, James was out of town for work and that was not a fun experience for me and the cats...

Work is keeping me very busy and when I get home I barely have energy to do my evening work out. Depending on how tired and hungry I am, I usually end up working out about 8pm instead of right after I get home. It's been surprisingly cool this May/June. According to the locals it is usually in the 90s by this time of year. Yesterday was the first time it reached up into the 90s. Don't get me wrong, it's been high 70s and 80s all through May and June, but having to be out in the heat and trying to track down people to investigate all day long is exhausting. Doing interviews in a client's home with no air, with sweat dripping down my back...Yea, it's been fun. :) But I can't complain. I would take the heat over the cold any day. The cold will come soon enough!

Enough of my babbling. I need to go to sleep. Enjoy the photos!

Sad Cat Diaries

Ok, so I just had to bring some silliness to my week. It's been an extremely long, exhausting, and sad week at work so far (an it's only Wednesday!!) and when I saw this video pop up on Facebook I just had to share. James and I have watched the short video several times and can't help but laugh and point out which of our cats these scenarios describe. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did :)

 

Summer Date Ideas

So now that summer is in full swing and I haven't posted/linked anything to my "All About Love" tab, I think it's about time I posted something about Love. This is summer #2 where I don't get the joy of having a summer break and living the life of a student (though last summer I was still in grad school I had a job, internship, and school full time, so no break for me!). It's kind of depressing hearing from some of my friends who still get to embrace three months of time off and hear of the fun and "freedom" they have. But, none the less, I still plan to have an absolute blast this summer! So, for you with significant others (and those who have full time jobs and probably do not have a full summer off), here are some fun date ideas you can use, whether that's during a week you have off or on the weekend.

1. Go to the Zoo 

                                

We have a small (and free!) zoo in our town. It's a perfect place to walk around, feed the animals, and relax.

2. Watch the sun set 

Watching a sunset with your significant other can definitely be relaxing and intimate. We have a lake about 2 miles behind our house and James and I often go up there to watch it set over the water. But you don't have to have a lake to enjoy it!

3. Go for an evening stroll together 

This is another thing James and I often enjoy. Our house sits on about 2 acres of land and behind the house is just acres and acres of wheat fields. In the evenings we will go on a walk around our property and along the wheat fields. And of course our three crazy kitties will trail us and follow along like a pack of dogs. They are wackos! They rush through the wheat chasing each other and all you can see is the tops of the wheat moving. I will have to post a picture of the wheat fields sometime. It's beautiful with the sun setting over it. I just always forget to take my camera with me when we are out.

4. Get Froyo

I LOVE frozen yogurt. Such a yummy treat in the summer time. Our town is soon to get a frozen yogurt place called CherryBerry and I am psyched! Frozen yogurt places often offer multiple toppings and flavors to give you a nice variety of options. (If you're not into frozen yogurt, then hit up some ice cream stands)

5. Hit up an Amusement Park

              If you live in driving distance of an amusement park this would be a fun day trip.

6. Go to a fair or festival

This is another activity I just absolutely enjoy. Ever since I was a little kid my family would always go to festivals (Iris Festival, fall festivals, etc.) or go to our County Fair every August.

7. Enjoy a local landmark or museum

Here in southeast Kansas you have so many options and attractions..except...not. LOL! But we do have the Laura Ingall's homestead and famous Wayside post office and school house about 7-8 miles from our house. It's a fun place to visit and feel like a tourist. If you are in to the Laura Ingalls Wilder books/Little House on the Prairie movies/show then I would definitely suggest taking a road trip out to Independence, KS and check it out. But if you're not lucky enough to live in driving distance of the homestead, do some research and find some of your own local landmarks or museums.

8. Pack a Picnic


Whether it is the middle of the day or an evening, pack a quick picnic and enjoy nature. You could even enjoy it in your own back yard!

9. See a concert

Most towns offer concerts in the park during the summer time. This is a good activity to enjoy during a weekend.

10. Go swimming

This could include: a local pool, lake, waterpark, etc. Whatever the location cool off with some water fun!

11. Weekend getaway

Pick a random, fun location and take the weekend to enjoy the adventure!

12. Go to a ball game

There is nothing like routing for your local sports team and enjoying an evening outside. A good excuse to hang with friends too.

A Little Catch up on Life :)

So, I know it's been awhile since I wrote a post but life has been cray-cray! Here is a little snapshot of life with the Reynaerts.

Right around the time I was wanting to post (about 2.6 weeks ago!!) I kinda sliced my finger in two different places and it was a little difficult to type. Long story short, I was making center pieces with the large glass bowls and one shattered (yea, apparently I'm strong enough to break one with three fingers..) and it cut me pretty bad. Bad enough to leave a small chunk of my finger in what was left of the bowl, my finger bleeding for a few hours, me almost passing out (several different times), and for me to still be typing this very post without using my left pointer finger. It's been almost three weeks and I still have battle scars. But hey, I'm getting pretty good with this one hand+one finger typing thing...

Along with that drama I spent a week up in Topeka doing another training for work. It was lonely without James but I compensated by hitting up the local mall. :) Let me just say, it was nice having so much variety in department stores and restaurants. I haven't had options like that in quite awhile. But I guess that's the price you have to pay when living on the prairie...I think James is glad the closest decent mall is an hour or more away. Oh, and Red Robin?! I totally hit that up twice..in three days...than again the next week when I was up there for another training. Yea, a little addicted. But I probably won't be having that for a few months, so whatevs.

Following my week in the big old city of Topeka, one of our close friends Scott Kabel flew in for a few days. Our five church district planned a Sabbath in the park and Scott was the guest speaker for the weekend. We had a beautiful Agape Feast and vespers on Friday night at one of the churches, then Saturday we did church in the park with lunch, a photo scavenger hunt in our zoo, and then Scott did a small concert for everyone. It was a gorgeous day and we had people come from 11 different churches! It was awesome. Here are a few pictures from that weekend.

 

The middle of the following week was our second anniversary. Yep, the big two. I still can't believe we've been married for two years. Time sure does fly, especially when you're having adventures. We kept it pretty simple since it was the middle of the week and we had a lot going on the following weekend. I was in charge of making dinner (Enchiladas!) and James was to make the dessert (a graham cracker, strawberry, whipped cream dessert that was so tasty!). It turned out so good. Then we drove to Elk City Lake which is about 2 miles behind our house to close the evening with a nice sunset. It was pretty perfect. Check out some of the photos.

Like I said before, the following weekend was busy, busy, busy. One of my closest and dearest friends (Miss Abagail!!) got married and I was in the wedding so we flew to Orlando, FL for four days. It was a gorgeous weekend and we had a blast catching up and finishing the wedding details for the big day. I wish I had taken more photos but I was pretty busy and enjoying spending as much time with Abby and the rest of our friends and family as I could get. James's mom, step dad, his brother Robert, and our nephew came up to see us while we were there too! Such a wonderful weekend. Here are some photos from it :)

 My mother-in-law and my 6"4' nephew. He's only 16!

 
 Mama Barb and my little sis from another miss--Bri!
                                                              So glad to see them :)

The Beautiful bride :)

Random shot!

They're married!

Gorgeous table settings

Bird Snatcher

So...I had the best of intentions to write this post about 4 days ago but life happens. Ended up having to travel and work out of a different office for my supervisor Thursday and Friday of last week because they were down an employee and I was sick...thus exhaustion and no motivation to open my computer when I got home. I actually fell asleep on the couch at 7:30pm Thursday night because I was wiped out. Slept for 11.5 hours. Haven't done that since...well, probably a few years..

Anyways, a pretty funny thing happened Wednesday morning while I was getting ready to go to work. When I get up in the morning I usually go to the kitchen door that leads into the garage and let the kitties in. For some reason, that morning no little fuzzy faces were by the door waiting to come in so I jumped into the shower. While getting ready in the bathroom, blow drying my hair, etc. I kept hearing something in the hall leading from the bathroom into the kitchen. I didn't think much of the thumping noise and proceeded to finish getting ready for work. I walked into the kitchen to fix some hot tea and put it in my thermos and opened the door again to see if the kitties were there. Neo and Indy dove immediately in and went into the bathroom. Finally, I walked into the master bedroom to give James a kiss goodbye. As I walking through the bathroom into the hall I heard the noise again. Neo and Indy were sitting in front of the laundry room closet doing their own investigation. I called out to James and said he needed to get out of bed and figure out what was in the closest because I needed to go to work. He must have heard the urgency in my voice cause he jumped right up and may or may not of had the right "essentials" on. I stepped into the kitchen thinking I was at a safe distance as my husband grabbed a broom and slowly opened the door to the closest. As the kitties looked on I stared down at the ground expecting a mouse to run out at any second. But instead...well, the last thing I saw was something flying at my face!!

Yea, it ended up being a cute little birdie. After ducking and having a slight heart attack I opened the back door into the garage so it could fly out. It was perched on the window in the office next to the kitchen. I felt so bad as it kept flying into the window trying relentlessly to escape. But it gets better...

Finally James comes in with the broom to try and push it out of the room. Well the bird had a melt down and kept flying into the window and finally hit the window and dropped to the ground stunned. Leave it to little Indy to try and be the hero. He comes dashing in, snatches the bird up in his mouth and splits from the room.

Now I'm mad. I start chasing him around the house as he gallops through with the bird in his mouth, James following close behind (yea, he still has the broom and is missing some of the "essentials"! LOL). Of course Indy spies the open door into the garage and runs out and goes under my car. James is chasing him now  with the broom. He's trying to knock the cat so he will drop the bird. Indy flies (no pun intended :) out from under the car and tries to dash back into the house. I grab him at the last second and pin him down. Sometime in between dashing from the car and me grabbing him the bird, thankfully, had been able to escape. Needless to say, the bird was safe and flew out of the garage and Indy learned his lesson and hid, scared, under the couch for a few hours.

What can I say, life is exciting, even in the middle of no-where-land Kansas.