My Dad

With it being Father's Day weekend, I thought it would be fun to share another story from my creative writing class. You can see the other story I shared here. We were asked to write a description of someone we know, and I decided to write about my dad. 

My dad is strong and can be intimidating at first glance. He is very tall and broadly built. He is a farmer, so he spends many hours each day working in the fields or on equipment. Traces of his hard work appear on his strong hands. There are scars and scrapes from the demanding manual activities that he does each day. I don’t think he is afraid of anything. My dad is kind and generous. He would risk his life to save anyone. He has taken special care of calves that have been born shivering in the cold snow, and he as nursed to health kittens and goldfish because he knew we would be devastated if anything happened to them. He is always looking out for his children. He wants to give us a great life and to keep us close. He is dad, the man who stayed up late with us when we were sick, the man who walked me down the aisle, and the man that will someday be the grandfather to my children.

My dad may just be the best ever...just sayin'. Anyway, Happy Father's Day to all of the fathers and father figures out there! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

-Britt

Wedding Pictures...FINALLY

Well...I FINALLY ordered a book of wedding pictures! I have been putting this off for a long time (a year and eight months to be exact)! For some reason the thought of putting it together exhausted me. I have used several photo book websites, but I wanted to go with something different this time. I remember reading a post by Young House Love about their yearbook, and I decided to give MyPublisher a try! Let me tell you...I am SOOOO glad that I did! I am in love with the book! 

The quality is really outstanding, and I LOVE the layout options! Plus, it was extremely easy to put together. I cannot stop showing it off to anyone willing to look at it! I was able to fill the pages with pictures from our wedding day and a special shoot that we had at later date. The next step is ordering canvas prints! No more bare walls! 

AND...I am definitely going to start making Fletcher Family yearbooks in the future! Thanks for the great idea, John and Sherry! 

-Britt

The photographs in the images above were taken by Kevin Zimarik of Kevin Zimarik Photography. 

Happy June

I am bringing back my monthly recap! I know you are all excited!

What happened in the month of May? A LOT! There were road trips, picnics, photo shoots, and family gatherings! It certainly was a busy month, but that is exactly the way I like it. I did manage to squeeze some DIY projects in...I hope to share those with you soon!

Summer is here, and we are going to have lots going on! I cannot wait for 4th of July festivities, all of the birthday parties and baby showers, and VACATION! I am dreaming of whole days spent on the lake! BUT...those dreams won't be a reality until August, and I have a lot to do before then! I can tell that it is going to be a great summer! 

What do you all have planned for the summer? 

-Britt

Garden DIY

I have really been planting up a storm this year! You may remember the succulents that I planted earlier this spring (one of them did end up dying...BUT I refuse to believe that was my fault). I have planted four more, and they are now on the sunny front porch. I really think they like it out there better.

Dane and I have also decided to try to plant some veggies again. We did this last year, but it didn't turn out very well. This time we took a different approach. Instead of buying seeds and waiting for them to grow, we just purchased plants...now we just have to keep them alive! Wish us luck...so far gardening hasn't really been our thing. Anyway, I have really enjoyed taking care of our little plants, and I decided to make some little DIY labels for them.

This project cost me $0! I love it when I have all of the supplies on hand.

Supplies:
Small Dowel Rods
Mini Clothes Pins
Paint Stirrers
Chalkboard Paint (or black paint)
White Paint
Detail Brush
Hot Glue Gun

This project was actually pretty simple. I just cut the stirrers to the size that I wanted and painted them with chalkboard paint. While those were drying I used a hot glue gun to attach the clothes pins to the dowel. Make sure you line the top of the clothes pin up with the top of the dowel to add support.

I had originally used chalk to label the boards, but it was kind of difficult to write on such a small space. So...I erased all of the chalk and used some white paint instead. It looked much cleaner and I won't have to rewrite them every time it rains.

Once all of the paint was dry I just clipped the board to the dowel! Super simple, right! I also decided it would be a good idea to clip the original label behind it...just in case I need to reference it!

What do you think?

-Britt

Weekend Recap

I LOVE long weekends! My holiday weekend kicked off around noon on Saturday. We usually spend Memorial Day weekend at the lake with my family, and this year was no exception. However, IT WAS FREEZING...unlike usual! Everyone was bundled up and sitting as close to the fire as humanly possible. We had a blast (as always), but it was nice to come home to our nice warm bed! 

Sunday morning Dane and I went to church with some friends for their beautiful daughter's baptism. Dane was asked to be her sponsor, which he was thrilled to do! Little Macie did such a great job! 

Then it was back out to the lake for some more family fun, some much needed napping...and you know I didn't make two trips to the lake without enjoying a s'more! It was delicious and VERY messy! (So messy that I had marshmallow in my hair...but we don't judge at the lake!)

The weather was much nicer on Sunday...perfect for a bags tournament and grilling out. After some fun in the sun cloudy, great outdoors, Dane and I went to town for a movie date! (Basically we tried to pack as much fun into this weekend as possible!)Monday, I relaxed at home and did some DIY in the garden (blog post coming tomorrow), but it was last night that I was super excited about! Cookout with our great friends (and family), Josh and Val AND The Bachelorette season premiere! Val and I were pumped...probably way more than the guys! It was great, but we were there WAY to late (like usual). 

It was a wonderful weekend filled with fun, family, and remembrance of those who have fought for our freedom. I hope you all had a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend! 

-Britt

A Stormy Night

Monday night was not a night that I would like to live over. Dane and I were visiting my parents, and probably should have left long before we did. Anyway...as we were getting ready to leave (I seriously had my purse on my shoulder and was getting ready to walk out the door) the wind started to pick up. The tree outside the dining room was blowing so hard that I thought it was going to blow away. I had never seen anything like it. 

The wind suddenly got very loud, and my mom made us take shelter...about the same time the power went out. As we were piling in our hiding place we could hear cracking. For a moment I was sure that a tree was going to crash through the roof. As quickly as it started the wind seemed to slow down and get quiet. When we felt safe we decided to take a look outside. What we saw brought tears to my eyes. It was difficult to see anything in the dark, but when the lightning flashed we could tell that there were only about two trees left standing in the back yard. It was a scary image. However, I was SO grateful that trees were the only thing we lost, and I am incredibly thankful that my family and our neighbors were not harmed.

There were not one, not two, but SEVEN trees that came down in the storm. One of the trees completely crushed the wooden play gym that was in the backyard, but I am just thankful that it didn't fall on the house instead. There was some damage to neighboring homes and yards, but there were no injuries. 

My heart aches for those impacted by the tornados in Oklahoma. I cannot imagine experiencing something so devastating. Please remember to say a prayer for them tonight. 

-Britt

Summer Dreamin' and My New Favorite App

Warmer weather has me dreaming of summer fun, and this summer I plan on having A LOT of it! I am longing for countless hours in the sun with my husband and our friends. I am hoping to go on picnics, take a trip to the zoo, hang out at the lake, and of course...go support my hubby at some of his truck pulls! I have a whole list of things that I want to do! (I also have a few things on my list for the winter, but that is for another time) This summer is going to be filled with some Fletcher family fun! Plus we will be welcoming a sweet new nephew in August, and we just can't wait! There is a lot of excitement to look forward to! 

Okay...that is enough wishing time away (after all, I do love spring). It is time to tell you about my new favorite app! A Beautiful Mess is one of the coolest photo apps I have ever used! Trust me...I have used a lot of photo apps! There are some pretty awesome features that you should really check out for yourself! Plus the app was created by the girls from one of my favorite blogs, A Beautiful Mess. I am sure you will see some pretty awesome pictures in the future! 

-Britt