latest craft project

These are those metal stars that you see people hanging outside. They are covered with different colored papers, and photos of us with friends and family. They turned out really cute, you'll have to stop by to see them!

Hope you all had a good week! I know I did! I am off this weekend; tomorrow its Jazzercise, and Blakes (Ashleys rock star 4 year old) soccer game. Sunday my gf Kela is having a Pure Romance Party, for those of you who dont know what that is, click this link I am so excited, needless to say, I've bee budgeting for this party for a few weeks! ;)

Talk to you soon!

Birthdays, crafts, running & a little bit of everything else

Hi guys! To avoid having a MAJOR run-on paragraphs, I'll just put the hi-lites in bullet points:

I left you with the last post that Amber (Denver sister) and Chris got engaged. We are all so happy for them, and excited for ourselves that they have elected to have a destination wedding, so family vacation here we come! They are looking at next spring, but nothing is set in stone yet. And if you know Amber, this all could change 100 times before spring gets here...(sorry Amber, if you are reading this, but its true ;) This picture is in Hawaii, where they got engaged!

• My very best friend Ashley's fireball daughter, Addison, turned 2! She was PRECIOUS at her birthday party, she sat there and was genuinely interested in each gift she got, it was so cute, and she looked so stinkin cute in her Hello Kitty get-up and piggy tails! I dont have any pictures though because I was working, and only got to stop in to say hi, so I didnt have my camera

• My girlfriend Kela started Jazzercise, and has been VERY successful with it!! GO KELA!! So, I decided to join her one night, and although I am sure I looked like a robot with 2 left feet, I had a really good time, and joined! I have been loving it, and on days I don't go (because I have want to run instead) I sure miss it.

• I have been selling more stuff on Craigslist..the washer/dryer, a tent I had (hell will freeze over before I sleep outside) I just love it! I'm not sure how I keep finding things to sell, but I do! I have 5 doors on there now if you are interested! (Cam replaced all bedroom/closet doors)

• I met up with a couple girlfriends from work, and we rode to Lawrence to eat sushi at this yummy place..Yokohama, if you have never been, and like sushi..go!

• Girl's Night out this month was at Kikus, and it was soo good!

• Our front loaders finally arrived, and Cameron is more obsessed with those things than I am! By the time I got home from work on the day they came, he had every piece of laundry done! I have to admit..they are pretty awesome! I am anxious to see how much they cut down on our water bill

• I turned 27. (No exclaimation point..) but, it was fun, so no complaints (other than I dont want to turn another year older) Cam & I both worked on my bday, but were off during the evening. When I got home, he had an ice cream cake, my present, 2 bottles of wine I love, and goodies for a movie, as we were heading out the door to go see No Strings Attached. It is cute, you should Redbox it.

For my present Cam gave me windshield wipers (lol, I needed them badly) and I got SURE CUTS ALOT2! Oh yea baby!! If you don't know what this is, God love ya.. No, just kidding. To explain it quickly, it allows you to cut any shape/letter on your cricut without a cartridge. I have spent my days off putting this AMAZING program to good use! I've already called my scrapbooking partners and warned them that our next crop day just got a whole lot better!

Here is a little something I made using the surecutsalot2. Its an antique window (thank you dad/Brenda for FINALLY finding me one at an antique shop) It will hang on our bedroom wall, I really like the way it turned out!

You know those coupons all of us girls get in the mail for the free undies, and $10 off a bra at VS? Well, I always cash in on the free undies (who wouldn't?) and I got to looking at bras while I was there, (I was the proud owner of 1 single VS bra, the rest were Target cheap-os) well, the sales girl told me the Incrediable was comfy. When she told me it had a racer back,and closed in the front, I didn't even want to waste my time,but I tried it on anyways, and fell in "lurve" (as Lindsey would say) And as much as I wish I could say this was me in the pic below....lets be real. Anyways, this is the style...go try it on..you'll love it! Friday night a group of friends/family got to gether for my birthday. Cameron was unable to go, he was working, and I didn't want to ask him to use vacation time for one night, when we have so many other fun things coming up that he will need the night off for! (like 7 of them when we go to Ambers wedding, or the 4 weddings we have coming up this year) Anyways, we met at Quintons for a quick dinner, then went to Laughing Matters. Only 4 of the 16 of us had ever been, and its safe to say that they all loved it! Scott, Ashley, Emily, Brandon & me

Lindsey, Ashley, Me, Katie, Emily, Chelsey, Kela & Ashley

Dad, Brenda, Desmond, Jini, Jay & Laura

Today, Cameron and I ran our 4th 5k together! Laura and Jay were going to run it with us, but Laura sorta procrastinated registering, and it was too late. They closed registration when they reached 6400 people! Holy smokes it was insane! Laura and Mom came down to root us on though, and then we all met up with Jay for breakfast after! It was really neat, during the run, there are always random people holding up signs for their loved ones, and I passed this one girl, about my age, holding a sign that read "HEY STRANGER: I don't know you, but I'm proud of you!" I am not an emotional person at all, but I was genuinely touched by that. Also, there was this girl there before the race started wearing a shirt that said "Its not a miracle I finished, its a miracle I had the courage to start" seriously, how cool is that?!? I think we could all use one of those, even if you aren't a runner, it could apply in so many other places in life too. Here we are before the run, it was cold!

We came home from the race, and registered for our next one..

This is Sunday, April 17th. Laura and Jay said they will run this one..lets cross our fingers, it will be fun!

Also, Laura and I decided for Mother's Day, we wanted to do a 5k with our mom. (I have no doubt mom would rather have a root canal than do this, but, never the less..) So, we told mom at breakfast, and promised we would walk the whole thing with her, if she would do it, because it would mean so much to us. Well,I came home and called Amber to fill her in on what was going down, and she decided, on the spot, she is coming back for Mothers Day to walk it with us!! How awesome will that be!

Thats about all that is new with me. I have a babyshower to go to tomorrow afternoon, and I'm excited to give her all her gifts I made her/the baby!

Hope you all have a good week!

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!

AMBER (Denver sister) IS ENGAGED!!! They are in Hawaii and Chris asked her last night! She said they will plan a spring wedding (next year) and its still up in the air if its destination or going to be in Denver!

Congrats Amber & Chris!!

you know you're an adult...

Hey guys! I apologize (again) that my blogs are so random...truly, we are pretty boring lately, so there isn't much to report (except work stuff...which involved a semi and the side of my patrol car this week...yes, I was in the car, and yes, that pair of undies is toast ;)

Anyways, onto the fun stuff..Cam and I have been quite the movie crtics this week, we have seen the following 3..

The Dilema...don't waste your time, matter of fact, don't even Redbox it (and I love Vince Vaughn, so I was pretty disappointed)

Hall Pass-cute, but not $9.50 cute....either $2 movie it, or Redbox it

The Adjustment Bureau...good! And normally Matt Damon doesn't do it for me, but he is pretty foxy in this one, and Emily Blunt is pretty!

I finished Black Heels to Tractor Wheels....I LOVED it!! I cannot tell you enough to read it!! Soo cute!! I just downloaded Heaven is for Real this week. I am only a few chapters in, and so far it is a quick read. Click on the link to read what it is about..sounds really good. I'll let you know what I think of it when I'm done. And a side note, One for the Money movie release date has been moved UP TO JUNE 3rd!!! BOO-YA!

This is kind of random, but I read in one of my magazines that Rimmel Lash Accelerator mascara works AMAZINGLY. Normally, I am pretty loyal to the MAC counter, but I bought this stuff, and it works good! Its says "117% longer lashes in 30 days" so, we shall see!

Cameron bought a new mower, with a bagger!! So, I got to post our old one on CL tonight! I love that site!

Reference the title of this blog...you know you're adult..when you are PUMPED about your new washer and dryer! We went and bought these babies today (pic taken with my phone..kinda blury) they will be delivered on the 28th! (free delivery? yes please!) However, we REFUSED to pay for the pedestals, so Cam has time between now and the 28th to build boxes for them to sit on, so they aren't on the floor, and I don't have to bend over getting into them. How do 2 people dirty so many clothes?! I am frightened to see what the laundry area looks like when kids come along.

I am super excited for Wednesday, I have a laser hair apt,

and then Laura is taking me to see Little Big Town at Upton in KC, and we are going to go eat the Blue Grotto before!! I hope everyone has a sister, because I sure don't know what I'd do without mine!

We are preparing, dragging our feet, preparing for the 5k on April 2nd....this will be ugly, but either way, we are excited! Im such a weenie running in the cold, so on warm days we run, but if its cold, we elect to just visualize ourselves running..lol

Update...not even kidding, in the time it has taken me to write this post...I have had 2 hits on the mower! Woop-woop!

Next posting...old washer and dryer for sale!

Sunday is my best friend, Ashley's baby girl's birthday party!! Addison is turning 2 (I swear it was just a few months ago I was patiently waiting in the waiting room for BLAKE to get here...so Addison seems just the other day! Speaking of growing up too quick...we were scrapbooking (Ashley, her aunt Shelee, cousin Kayla and I)and I was picking up the kids toys, while miss Addi stood on the stairs yelling "oh no you didn't" lol...can you say she is her mother's child?

Hope you guys have a good week!

must read

Hey guys! I haven't blogged in a while it seems like!! We are kinda boring right now, just working a lot. When we are off, we are trying to finish projects around the house, so that we can start our kitchen remodel SOON! We are both very excited...I will take pics along the way!

We registered for our 4th 5k this week http://www.rocktheparkway.com/ if you wanna join...they are always fun, and rewarding!

Anyways, I wanted to tell you about a book you have to read! It is called Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. A dispatcher at work told me aobut it, and it is such a good love story! AND they are making a movie out of it! So, read it, then lets go see the movie! Don't be one of those that just goes and sees the movie...put a little work into it, to make it all worth it! And, for those of you who are Janet Evanovich FANATICS as I am, is it too soon to start the countdown to July when the FIRST MOVIE COMES OUT!?!? CAN.NOT.WAIT!! A little bummed, because I will be on a canoe trip that weekend, but don't you worry, it will be the first thing I do when we return!

Heading to work now...have a good day!!

"Little Big" SUPRISE!

Laura had asked me a week or so ago to try to get March 9th off work..she had a suprise for me. So, clearly, I did what I had to to make sure that I was off! She e-mailed me today telling me that we are going to The Uptown to see Little Big Town as a suprise b-day present for me! I'm so excited! We had been talking about wanting to go to a fun place for a concert together, and now we get to!

Hope you all are staying warm...I'm getting ready to put on my 10 layers and head to work..but that is ok, it is my Friday, AND I think I get to ride partners with my friend Caitlin at work today!

I will carry you

A while back I was told about a blog that I should start reading, Bring The Rain. I read quite a bit of the blog, and cried a lot too. I later was told that the girl who had the blog, had written a book. It wasn't until our recent loss, and talking about it with a friend, that I decided to buy this book and start reading it. I started the book Saturday evening, and I am over half-way done with it! It is amazing. If you have ever experienced the loss of a child, or even if you have not, you should read this book. Not only does it find joy in such a bad time, it truly makes you think about how Christianity plays a role in your own life. (at least it did to me anyway) I have read some of it to Cameron, and we talk about how we felt in December, and how we will strive to raise our children with faith and values.

Anyway, thats all..just wanted you to check into this book if you have time. It is only a couple hundred pages long, so it won't take long..and you'll be so happy you've read it...and don't forget your kleenex.

Weekly Weigh-In

I lost 7.4lbs this week!!

Cam lost 4.2lbs this week!!

Don't get me wrong, I am very proud of that #, but until I lose another 4lbs something, to get back to my lowest, I won't be jumping up and down. O-well, 18lbs away from my goal!!

Cam and I set a mini-goal this week. Whoever loses the least this week has to walk Frannie every morning for a week. Lazy...we know, but its freezin out there people.

Tuesday

Hi guys, hope you had a good Tuesday...I sure did, it was my day off!

I headed to KC this am for my laser hair treatment (only 6 more to go!) while I was there, I stopped by my beloved...Charming Charlie!! If I'm being honest, I went there for 1 item..slippers like I got Amber for Christmas. Well..little did I know I would be walking into a MEGA sale! They had a TON of stuff marked 50% off, then it was an ADDITIONAL 75% off the already half off stuff! I got that sweater on the left (kinda like a vest, but a tad longer), the fuzzy slippers on the right,6 bracelets, 8 earings, 2 rings and a watch with 7 fun bands (for momma-cita) all for $40! I practically skipped outta there! It was fun buying stuff out of my "norm" because I thought, hey, whats to lose for $1 and $2!

On my way home, I stopped by my friend Melisa's house to see her sweet new baby, and pick up GS cookies I definitley DON'T need! (but secretly excited about) Then it was home to get ready for our date.

Dinner was good, I had a wedge salad and crab cakes, Cam had a pizza he is still talking about (says its the best pizza he ever had) While I was at Melisa's, she had mentioned 3 spoons, a new yogurt place in Larryville.. which is just like Yogurt Inn we found in Vegas, or Yogurt-tini that Laura and I always go to. And I don't use "always" lightly...seriously, every time we are in KC. Anyways, 3 spoons is good! And wouldn't you know it, it was "2 punch Tuesday" so even more the reason to go back to get our punch card filled up ;) Then we stopped by the liquor store to get my new favorite wine, Pacific Rim Sweet Riesling. Thank you Laura for this introduction!

Doesn't Cam look foxy? And my nugget look abnormally large?

Stay tuned for our weekly weight loss update...

Suprise from Cam

Got my hair did Wednesday, and I really like it! It is definitley dark! I will have to take a pic and post it for you. Sometimes I miss my blond, but I know this was a healthy choice for my hair for a bit.

Yesterday Cam came home from work and asked me what I had planned Tuesday night (day off) and I told him my evening was free..whats up? He pulls out a groupon for Tellers! I thought it was so cute that he had signed up for Groupon for one (I talk about it enough) and that I have always wanted to try Tellers, but never have. So, Tuesday night we will be using our Groupon at Tellers! It helps that we have weigh in the next morning, so we won't go crazy with our eating.

Tuesday, before our date, I have my second session of laser hair removal in KC (a previous Groupon purchase that was put on hold when I became preggers) Not gonna lie..love that this place is within walking distance from Charming Charlie, I'll definitley be stopping in there!

Off to work..hope you have a good Saturday.

Tuesday

Hi friends! I have really enjoyed my last couple days off! Sunday I suprised Cam by coming home early and suggesting we go see Life As We Know It at the $2 movie. It was really cute, and made us want a baby even more! (Despite how much that little baby cried ;)

Monday I went with Ashley up to her Aunt Shelee's house and we scrapped all day! I love doing that with them! I got caught up on several pages in my Vegas book! Cam didn't do anything nearly as exciting..he went and helped dad with rental properties.

Tuesday Cam went and worked on the rentals again, and I stopped by Chelsey's house to pick up a couple of vases that she gave me that go perfectly in my living room! After that,I had my 1 hour massage (thank you Groupon!) which felt like HEAVEN!!

After that, I came home, got ready, and Cam and I went out to dinner with a gift card we were given for Christmas, and to see The Fighter. It was ok..if you are dying to see it, you'd be safe waiting until it comes to $2..pretty slow moving movie...but decent.

Tomorrow I am GOING DARK! I repeat GOING DARK with my hair! I am so excited! I am trying to step out of my comfort zone. Here is the darkness I am going for, maybe with some red-hilites. I understand I am super blond now, so it will take a couple sessions to get this dark, but thats the goal. *Disclaimer..no clue who these women are..they popped up on google image search for dark hair. Lol, if you are reading this, and you know one of them..I assure you Im not a creeper ;)*

So, incase you haven't seen us in a while...we have packed on a few lbs...which we are not happy about. I have gained 10lbs, and Cam has gained at least that. The holidays hit, then our horrible news, and it just kinda snowballed from there. I am not trying to make excuses tho. Tomorrow we start back on the bandwagon...HARDCORE. We are going to weigh in every Wednesday morning in front of each other, and if we gain we have to go..sometime during that same day, to our mutual savings account and deposit $5. I don't much care about the $5, but the inconvience of having to go to the bank and look like an IDIOT depositing $5 is reason enough for me to not gain! haha! So, please help keep me accountable. I will post every Wednesday how we did. I have 24 lbs to go until my goal, Cam has 30. We have yet to decide what we get WHEN (not if) we reach our goals. Do you have any ideas?? I'd love suggestions...and no food reward please...obviously we've had enough of that..;) Not to mention,we have 3 (that we know about) weddings to go to this year, and 2 of them, Cameron is in the wedding, so this weight loss is a MUST!

And a total change of subject..but here are a few songs I LOVE LOVE LOVE right now:

Colder Weather- Zac Brown Band (I have listened to it probably 25+ times today ;)

What Do You Want- Jerrod Neimann

Don't You Wanna Stay-Kelly Clarkson & Jason Aldean

Bad Company-Five Finger Death Punch (great workout song)

From Across The Room-Sunny Sweeney

Welp, its bedtime for me (which is about 3 hours earlier than usual) gonna go to the gym before I get my hair did! Hope you have a good Wednesday.

Hello 2011

Hi guys! Sorry I have been absent for a while, had to take some time away and re-group if you will.

A lot is new with us, I don't even know where to begin. Cameron and I lost our precious baby, but we are holding onto faith and trust he/she are in Heaven and that this has happened for a reason, although we will probably never know why. I don't really want to go into detail on blog, but I do want to say thank you all for your prayers, we need them!

For my birthday last year, Cam gave me a necklace with our names on it, and after we lost the baby, we got 2 charms to add to it, a baby bootie, and the word faith. That necklace means THE WORLD to me! We have used the word Faith sooo much throughout all of this (as have so many other people, which I think is so neat) But we even found a cool wall hanging at Hob Lob that says "Fatih the hope for things that are not see, but which are true" and then I hung a cursive J and C on each side of it..looks pretty awesome. Then under it on the dresser is the glass vase with the dried out first dozen roses Cam ever gave me, and the vase has dried rose petals in it from other boquets he has given me.

I honestly can't remember everything that has happened in the last month or so, but I'll hit some of the positive hi-lights!

We got an espresso machine!! Safe to say it owns my life now :) I tease Cam that he needs to become a barista..the boy is good at makin drinks! Anyway, we justified buying one of these because we were going to Kaner Coffee every Sunday for our coffee/muffin/newspaper reading date, and spending $10+ bucks a week, so this will help save $! (And I wont have to brush my hair before we go! Oh wait..I can't say I did when were going to Kaner either..woops ;)

We have FINALLY started getting things on the wall! Slowly but surely we are getting projects done around here! Cam wants to start the kitchen remodel this spring/summer, but I said everything else must be done before we start that..no unfinished business! So needless to say, things are getting done around here..Cam is kickin butt! Lol, here is a pic of Cam being a NERD. He went downstairs to get something to hang pictures, and came back up with those on, and was being obnoxious with "safety first in our house" of course said with a true Osage County accent ;)

Here are some picture frames that I made for the hallway. I took the plain 5x7 frames in the wood isle at Hob Lob, spay painted them black, sanded them up for a rough look, stapled some ribbon to hang, and glued on a flower. Pretty cute, huh?

We had our family (my dad/brenda and all the kids) pics taken while Amber was back. There wer 16 of us..holy cow. It was kinda hard to find a place that would hold all of us, because outside isn't an option in December, but I ended up finding out we could get into the Capitol Building, so we had some pretty sweet pics! Here is a sample of a few..

With some of my Christmas $, I bought a bracelet. Now Amber, Laura and I all have matching bracelets, they are so cute! I have to tell you this about mine though, it gave me major goosebumps. So I order the bracelet, when I did, I talked to the seller and told her that I wanted the charm to have a J on one side and the word faith on the other. I told her it was totally open to her interpertation, but that I liked color. So, it came in the mail, and remember, Faith is the word that we've been using so much in reference to the baby. Ok, so the bracelet comes, and the colors on it are the EXACT colors we are doing the nursery in. Goosebumps? Yea..me too. (Kinda hard to see the colors in this pic..)

I'm sure I'm missing 100 things that happened that were fun, but evidently my ADD is kicking in.

So, Im going to copy my friend Allison's blog. She posted her "2011 bucket list" so I decied to follow suit..

In no particular order

Miss Lechner's 2011 Bucket List/To do list

• Give more compliments instead of assuming people know how I feel.
• Be forgiving. Afterall, I'm not perfect, how can I expect others to be?
• Start running again. I've never felt as good as when we were jogging 5+ days a week. (Come on warmer weather..I need you!)
• Finish spare room, and start kitchen remodel
• Have $ withdrawn from each check and deposited into a savings account. DONE!
• Get 100% caught up on scrapbooking. *so close I can see the light!!*
• Pray more
• Get all my photos backed up incase of a computer crash
• Read all of the books on my Kindle wish list. -At the rate I'm going, one a week, this won't be a problem at all!
• No tanning beds. I don't need any help looking older (Amber & Laura will be proud ;)

I will definitley be adding more to the list as the year goes on!

Well, I better go get some things done, but I hope you all are doing well!

Talk soon!