My Fun yet Productive Week Off!

This past week was my second, & last :( week of paid vacation for the year. My bosses are pretty much amazing and give me 2 paid vacation weeks a year: I get to pick the first one & they pick the second. I used up my first paid vacation week in February when we went on our cruise & they picked this past week as they decided to go visit family in Singapore! Stu and I had originally decided to go down to Wilmington, but the closer the week got, the more I just wanted to play things by ear and see what I wanted to get done in that week off. With the crazy summer hours I have been working, 60 hours in one week is my record so far...it seems I have a hard time getting things accomplished during the week. So I decided to take advantage of this week and boy, have I been PRODUCTIVE! Here was my week at a glance:

Fun Stuff:

-went to the beach with my mom for a of couple days

Us at the "Pirate Voyage" dinner show

-went to the zoo with a couple of good friends 

Ocelot kittens! SO cute! 

Me, Lara & Sarah in Sarah's PT Cruiser convertible...happy from our zoo day & 

loving the sunshine :)

-took our goddaughters out for the afternoon--had a blast!  

 Stu on the train in Concord Mills Mall with Skylar & Stella

Skylar on the zebra on the carousel

 Stu riding with Stella :)

At the play area in Concord Mills Mall--Stella loving the pineapple, haha

Skylar building a car at the Legos Store

-went to a baby shower for a long-time friend who just moved back to NC
-caught up on my reading! ("The Help" is so good!)
-hung out with my hubby in the DAYTIME :)

-spent the 4th (I also had this day off!) AM with Stu before he had to work:

We went to Cabo's Fish Taco in NODA...we've heard so much about this place.

          

We absolutely LOVED it! So yummy :) & then we went to Amelie's French Bakery, 

also in NODA. 2 New Favorites for us! Amelie's was absolutely adorable and SO good. We spent $13 on just THREE pastries but it was so worth it.

I spent the 4th PM with my Dad, Kathleen & my stepbrothers, Ezron, Jordan and my bff Jess (duh!). We just hung out and grilled out. It was nice to see Ezron, its been a couple of years! He has just moved out here for the summer before school. 

Productive stuff:

-got the car oil changed
-got the car cleaned inside & out
-got all of my college loan payback crap in order--starts this month! (so not looking forward to this)
-did my visiting teaching!
-cleaned & organized our life. Including designing a very detailed budget that breaks down each month & week. (I have been meaning to do this...). I am proud of it and can't wait to see the results of sticking to it! 
-did lots of laundy/deep cleaning/de-cluttering




Now just to get to the temple...I wanted to do this but didn't make it. But this is my goal for the next 2 weeks, to find time to get down there with or without Stu. His work schedule is not conducive to the weekend and my schedule is not conducive to the week! Ugh. It WILL happen though! 


Needless to say it was a FULL week. But, I feel refreshed and organized and ready to take on these last 6 weeks of summer. We are hoping we get to fit in a trip to Illinois in there somewhere to see Stu's family before the summer is over.


As a sidenote, we also welcomed a new nephew into the family! Chrissy gave birth to a beautiful little boy, Beau Christian Barnum! We can't wait to meet him and are happy to have this new addition in the family. We are so happy for ya'll! 

Hope everyone had a fun & safe 4th of July!