Father's Day and Summer Fun

Saturday we celebrated Father's Day at mom and dad's with the entire Butler family! It has been years since we have all been together. It was definitely a HOT one but we had a great time. The kids LOVED the pool and the adults enjoyed cornhole. Yes, we finally got the bags made with the help of mom and her sewing machine. I had such a blast spending the day with Drew. He is so funny and has his little personality that is just the cutest. I just love him to pieces.


All the grandkids - Bradley and I were pulled
out of the pool for this picture - thanks Daniel
- I looked a drowned rat!











Happy Father's Day











All the great - grandkids. Where did all these
kids come from? We've never had this many
here at one time.












I had a little pool time myself.

Playing cornhole where Casey and Bradley
are UN-DEFEATED!












Drew had fun with Grandad's hat!

My Nose In a Book

I have done A LOT of reading here lately. I have never been much of a reader but I have really enjoyed several books here lately. I read best when I fly because I usually have at least 2 hours of reading time - plenty of time to get into a book and get the desire to finish.

I have read the Shopaholic series - which I can't wait to see the movie, "Confessions of a Shopaholic." It comes out on DVD Tuesday.

I have also read the books by Emily Giffin that I just love. I'm not sure I can even wait until next summer for her new book.

I have a few more books on my list to read but I also enjoy going to this site for recommendations and reviews.

San Diego on My Mind

Last week in San Diego we had some GREAT food. Since being back, I've thought about the food a lot. So I just wanted to blog about in case you are planning to visit SD in the near future. I would highly recommend these restaurants.

Fabulous Italian - Chianti
I had swordfish with potatoes and grilled vegetables with a side of Alfredo.

So tasty Roy's Hawaiian Fusion
I had Roasted Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi with asparagus and potatoes.

Tin Fish with great outdoor seating
I had great fish and chips, others said the fish tacos were very delicious.

Mmmm, now I'm hungry again.

How we're spending our summer

Several nights and weekends have included grilling out and playing corn hole. Mark has spent many hours building and painting his own set of corn hole. He has finally finished, now he's just waiting on someone else (not mentioning any names here) to make the toss bags. Look for a beating if you match up with me and Mark - we are pre-tty good at this game! :-)

Happy 30th Birthday, Mark!

Happy Birthday, Honey! I hope we celebrate many, many, many more together! I love you!

















Mark's favorite gift was the Bose Noise Cancelling headphones.













And of course, he had to try them out!

Mamaw's Vegetable Soup

One of my favorite things about being married is having somewhat of a routine and being able to cook dinner for more than just one person. I love food and I love trying to think of something new to fix. I get so tired of having/fixing the same old thing. Mark is somewhat of a picky eater but we are slowly changing that. Since we have been together he now likes chili, fettuccine Alfredo, green beans, and General Tso's Chicken (that's all I can think of right now). So I don't hold back - I just fix whatever and have a backup option just in case he doesn't like it. He isn't a big vegetable eater but I have been meaning to fix my Mamaw's vegetable soup. I thought he would like it but the first thing he said was 'where's the meat?' It's vegetable soup silly, it doesn't have meat. But guess what people, he loved it! And with cornbread he REALLY loved it!

And we even have leftovers - thanks Mamaw!

Here and There

The past couple of weeks have been filled with fun and business. About a week and a half ago we traveled to Knoxville to spend time with the family and also celebrate the wedding of a childhood friend. Amanda Thompson got married on May 30th. She was a beautiful bride! It was so fun to reunite with some friends from high school. Congratulations Pete and Amanda! We are so happy for you!

Last week I traveled to San Diego for a conference. We had a great show and the weather was great too. Part of our promotion was a play off the Blue Man Group with The Green Men (which goes with our brand and color in our logo). They were so funny - either people loved them or hated them. One passer-by even said "treat them like homeless people, don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact.' Poor guys - they get no respect sometimes. :) They definitely served the purpose of bringing people into our booth! We also gave away a Vespa - I think it would be great to be able to drive that thing to work. I bet you could go a full month on one tank of gas!