summer days & new floors

We had a fun family weekend at home this weekend. Sammi and I spent a lot of time running around the back yard while Dan spent time (THANKS, DAN!) ripping the old abused carpet out of our two bathrooms and installing vinyl tiles which look amazing!!!! Sam and I cooled off with the sprinkler, baby pool, pudding pops, and bubbles while Natalie napped and Dan worked on the floors! Once the finishing touches are made, I'll have to post another photo!

For less than $40, we got a whole new bathroom!!! (This was in the middle of his project.) And, he kept all 10 fingers in tact!!!

such fun days

We've had a lot of fun things happening this last week! 

For months and months we've had Dave Matthews tickets and I can't believe the concert has already come and gone! We had so much fun with Stephanie and Tim! We hung out at the studio before the concert then headed to Verizon for the awesome concert! Thanks so much to my parents for taking the girls all night for us to have a date night out!!!

We had seats this year, which made the concert even better!

Dan and I are planning the 2010 Brand Family Reunion in Brown County, so last week Kathe and Orlie came with us to visit & start planning the reunion. We had a great, fun, long day & we got so much planning done too!!!

Last week my dear friend of almost 30 years, Jessie, came to visit from Texas with her adorable baby!!! We met at her brother's house for some good play time with the kids and catching up! It's always good to see Jessie's parents too & I was excited they were there! Sammi LOVED Brennan's sandbox!!!

Jessie with Natalie. Love you, Jess!!!

After our visit with Jess, my friend Megan spontaneously called me and asked if we wanted to join her at the zoo that eve for jazz night..so fun!!! We girls left the boys at home and took all 5 kids (all under 3) to the zoo. We had the BEST time!!!!

We loaded the kids up... 

We fed all 5 kids while listening to live music, then headed through the zoo to see any animals that were still out. We felt like the whole zoo was ours to explore!

The elephants were so close and it was so quiet. What a neat experience!

Natalie was all smiles!

All the tots got measured at the pony station. :)

Natalie was just chillin' with her feet up during our walk around the zoo! SO cute!

Thanks to our parents, Tim & Steph, Jessie & Co, and Megan for making this week so fun & special!!! This week was also weird with many sad moments, as we did find new homes for the dogs, but our friends and family have been there to support us and we are so glad that the dogs now have the opportunity to be with fun & loving families. When Tucker's family sent me photos of their 7 & 10 year old kids playing with him that night, it made me cry tears of joy. Thanks so much to our friend, Amy, for helping us with the search.