things like this

make me laugh and laugh and laugh.

it really is a tragedy when you spell assets wrong on a test, dear.


[I love the question mark from his professor. hilarious.]

piece of [frustrating] cake

I got this patio set from my sis-in-law emily and I thought it would be a piece of cake to re-do the cushions and re-paint the chairs and table.
Boy was I wrong.
Really it should have been a simple process, but everything either fit wrong, wouldn't pull tight, wouldn't staple in, etc. etc.
After more trips to Hobby Lobby than I care to admit, I finally got 'em done. Just in time for crisp fall weather and eating dinner on our balcony. :)

before




after!






Even the chair-backs look nice on this GORGEOUS day in Tennessee!

watch your back

Fall semester has brought out the ninja within.
I can thank MTSU phys.ed. 1400 (aka: beginning karate) for this recent entertainment.



Obviously he takes it very seriously:


Also, if you're wondering what Joel's karate teacher sensei looks like, Joel has described him as this:

Apparently he is pretty hard core. The other night he made everyone (even the girls) do 70 push-ups because they kept doing their "moves" wrong. Also, he makes them learn Korean.
HARD. CORE.

pretty pillows

thanks for attempting to teach me how to make these, emily! you are the pillow-making master. hands down.



p.s. can you find the "monster" in this pic? my nephew is sooooooo cute! love love love.

branson day 2

we woke up early saturday morning to catch our train!
arkansas, here we come!
it was a 2 hour train ride with breakfast on the train. Neither of us had ever been on a train so we loved walking through all the cars and exploring.

all aboard!




Obviously we were in good company.


Some of the cars were completely empty


there were two huge tunnels that we went through. It was cool because the whole train went pitch black while we went through.
And then, the light at the end of the tunnel! Hah, hah.






After our train ride we went to the water park. Remember how we had those free tickets and drove all the way to Branson for the water park? Well it was TOTALLY worth it. I had a blast. I think I laughed on every single water slide. And I also laughed because you could hear Joel in the water slide tubes WAY before he actually splashed out. Apparently he has this notion that screaming on water slides makes them more fun. I concur.

I loved it all except the super tall one (on the left) that somehow Joel talked me into going down. It was pretty much like falling to your death in a swimsuit.

I screamed louder than I think I've ever done in my whole life. It was horrible.
Needless to say, we only did that slide ONCE.

The end.

branson bound

Last weekend Joel and I took a road trip to Branson, Missouri (8.5 LONG hours away). We had free tickets to the giant waterpark there, and we were curious about this "family vacation hotspot" that so many people talk about. Also, we recently watched She's Out Of My League and their entire family go to Branson with dorky shirts. So obviously we were sold on the idea. Minus the shirts.



Its always my job to get the road trip snacks. I'm usually really good at picking out fun snacks to surprise Joel. This time, however, I failed on one particular item.
Introducting the world's nastiest chips....EVER. ever ever ever.


I don't know why I thought that chips that are flavored "screamin' dill pickle" would be a good choice. It seemed like a great idea at the time. HAHA.

We planned to go to the water park on Friday all day to avoid a big crowd. On our drive down Thursday night I called to check what time they opened, and the lady told me that they were only open on Saturdays now. OOPSIES.
It was too late to turn back, so we just decided to find stuff to do on Friday and go to the park on Saturday. We ended up having SOOOO much fun and doing a bunch of stuff within two days that we hadn't expected.
Good planning on my part. Sort of.

We went to Branson Landing (aka: a nicer version of Old Mill in Bend) and ate lunch at cantina laredo.


We ate outside and there were these water spurting things that were coordinated to music:


...and next thing I know the national anthem is playing and there is fire coming out of those giant pillars. It was very funny to me.


The massage chair at Brookstone...he would probably still be there if I hadn't found him:


Then we walked around and drove to a giant lake and layed in the sun and went home and took a nap and played mini-golf and long day short, we ended up back at Branson Landing. It just happened to be "fiddle fest" weekend. Which meant a free concert for us!

Minigolf:


Fiddle concert:




We ate dinner here and I was slightly worried that I was going to catch on fire at any given moment. But it was delicious and fun fun fun.




Then we found a game store. This pretty much ended our night because the guy at the game store became Joel's new bff and he taught Joel a new game, which they played for a long time while I looked at toys. Then he tried to teach me cribbage for the millionth time and I STILL didn't understand it.


To be continued...

in case you were wondering

what my genetics professor looks like



worst. class. ever.

note to self: don't sign up for an online science class given by a man who probably already had his birthday featured on on the smuckers part of the today show