some finished projects under our belt

I took some pictures of our recent projects after I cleaned up this morning.

Our kitchen is finally done!  yay!  It sure took long enough...

that far wall is purple, but you can't tell in this picture

We also painted our hallway...(don't have floor molding on yet)

the hallway is kinda a steely grey

We painted the kitchen purple.  I really love it.  The lighter purple on the opposite walls (below) I created by mixing a few different colors we had.  I did that same lighter purple color in the bathroom.

2 kitchen areas, 2 diff colors

bathroom - very pale purple

We painted the dining room a gold color that I made from a $5.00 can of paint that I added some white to.  It turned out great!

dining room

wedding lantern launching

A couple of sweet pictures of Ryan and Denise. And one of Kyle and Hilary. Oh yeah, one of me with new hair cut. hehe...

Looks like a very fun night with friends.

So, we have been busy with painting again.  So far, kitchen, hallway and bathroom are done.  Tomorrow possibly starting dining room, and then after that, the laundry room needs painting.  After that Paul and Ken (and Michele) are coming out to help Darryl install heat so we don't freeze this winter.  Should be an interesting week.

our night in the tent

Sounds like fun, huh?  And it would have been great if Dana and I actually got any sleep last night.  For various reasons, neither one of us did, and so we both suffered with bad headaches, and probably crankiness too (at least on my part).   But here are a few cute pictures of our time together.

We weren't really sleeping here, but when the flash went off it was so bright we both blinked!

in the tent

makin s'mores

at Preakness

Preakness nursery

the Vegh's

I've been making mp3's of some of our songs and decided to call us "the Vegh's".

Yesterday was our last time to sing together at Preakness. Sad to say, the morning started out on a bad note. I wasn't used to singing harmony against 100 other voices and I completely lost it on the first song, which unfortunately was not a good way to start out when I was particularly nervous about it anyway. But as the morning went on and my nerves calmed down, I did do much better. Ryan said I was "spot on" doing the harmony to the chorus of his song "Oh How Wonderful Are You, Jesus". And about the last song of the morning worship (Always), he said I nailed it. Listening back to it on the recording, I do think we did it at least as good as the normal worship band at church (on the last song). So that was quite encouraging to me!

I am happy with the progress I've made this past year, and especially how much I've improved even in the past 2 months! It's exciting when Darryl and the boys tell me how nice I sound.  :) Ryan even said he felt like he was singing with a legit singer lately. That was an awesome compliment. So, even though I started out making a fool of myself yesterday, I ended it strong and victorious. I did a good job and I conquered many fears!  To God be the glory!

Maybe moving to Michigan to sing with Ryan wouldn't be such a bad idea...  because I know that as a professional music guy, he does respect me, and encourages me to continue.

The boys left this morning, and I cried myself a river.  The house is quiet and empty again.  It will take some time to get used to it all over again.  My life is changing again, huh?  Just as the boys are leaving I find I am about to have Dana and Ethan here as frequent guests.  More new things to get used to...

It will be nice having my daughter and grandson here (and the dog).

our wet Hacklebarney adventure

We had a super fun time at Hacklebarney State Park.  I can't believe I never thought to take the boys there before.  I forgot all about it.  What a great place.  I used to go there all the time before I got married.  Well, we are glad we finally went, even though it rained most of the time and we got soaked.  At least now we will remember to go there again.  The boys had a fantastic time.  It was so awesome.   Next time we will try to go when it is hot and sunny.  One cool thing, we were like the only ones there today.  haha...

We also partially celebrated Kyle's 20th birthday.  Pictures coming soon.

Tomorrow we are tubing/canoeing down the Delaware... Hope we don't freeze our butts off!!