Squirter Guns

If Lizzie goes along on my weekly shopping trip to Target, I use a bribe to keep her controlled while I do my shopping. I let her go to "Mini Target" ( the dollar spot at Target) to choose one item. She gets three chances throughout the store to keep her it. If she disobeys 3 times, the treasure from Mini Target gets returned. So far it has worked really well!! This week she chose "Squirter guns" and her and daddy had fun playing tonight!

My little white church on the corner

I grew up in the iconic "little white church on the corner". Zion United Methodist Church is home to me. Almost the entire church is made up of my Hadler family from Mom's side. Everytime I visit my home church, I think of all of the Summers of VBS, Falls filled with hayrides and "weenie roasts" (yep. that's what we called it!), Christmas and Easter plays, Family Nights, and Youth Group with all of my cousins. Great memories were made in this little white church on the corner. :)

Catching up with friends

I was so blessed to have time during our extended vacation to spend catching up with two of my very best friends!

On Thursday, I drove to Indy to spend the afternoon/evening with Breanne. We had a great girls day out spent watching a chick flick, eating frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf, picking cupcakes from The Flying Cupcake, a trip to The Container Store, and for dinner... The Melting Pot! Even though I wasn't feeling the greatest by the end of the day, it was quality time with my bestie and memories were made!

On Saturday I met Michelle At her home in Batesville. We were planning to go to the lake and take their new pontoon boat out, but it was raining and she had a patient in labor. Turned out that she needed to deliver the baby while we were there, so we watched Jessie her 2.5 yr old all afternoon for her. 

We had a blast!

Wednesday was our second attempt at playing at Lake Santee. It was a beautiful day when we arrived at Michelle's parents house on the lake. We had a great time visiting with the Bowman's! I have spent many many days and nights at their house when I was in High School and college. We took the boat out and docked at the beach to swim. 30 minutes later the sky turned dark and we heard thunde so we high-railed it to the boat and back to the Bowman's house. We visited and the girls played all afternoon. So thankful for a great day filled with reminiscing and stories with the family. Even driving to her house brought back so many memories of fair weeks of the past. Two teenage girls without a care in the world driving through the country and blasting Deanna Carter on the radio. Talking about boys and wondering which movie we will watch that night in her basement and who we will invite to watch it with us... Ahhh... The good old days!!

"Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up..."

The Ataris

Decatur County Fair 2012

We always try to plan our Summer vacation to Greensburg so that we can attend the Decatur County Fair!
This year we went three times!

Friday night we took Lizzie to ride rides and somehow Mommy got talked into taking her on the ferris wheel! The entire time I was on the "contraption" I kept thinking to myself " oh my goodness, this is NOT Disney!" Especially when I could feel the whole ride sway in the wind at the very top!

Sunday afternoon we took Lizzie back to the fair to do 2 of her favorite fair activities... Visit the livestock barns and  climb on the farming equipment! Second year in a row, we almost got trampled 

by a runaway hog!

One of my favorite things about the fair is that you never know who you will see. I love catching up with friends and family that I have not seen for a while. Sunday night while we were all eating dinner at one of the booths, we ran into 2 of my cousins that I have not seen in years! Love that! We were all there with our kids and we decided to all take the kids on rides together. The kids had a blast! It was so fun to create memories with them all!

The last night we went it was "ticket-a-ride" night. All the Hacker/ Engelhardt nieces and nephews were in town and all of Lizzie's first cousins were riding rides together (except Ben, waiting for Baby Logan to come!) I also ran into Michelle and Carrie and rode the carousel with Michelle,  Jessie and Lizzie

The Decatur Co Fair holds a very special place in my heart. I have so so many wonderful memories from 

4-H and the fair and the very special year that I got to reign as 4-H Fair Queen and spent almost every waking moment at the fair! It is fun to share this special time with Lizzie so she can start to 

make her own memories. :)

Now THIS is vacation!

Today has been a TRULY lazy day! I am not even "pressed and dressed" (appropriately to leave the house) and it is 2:30! Now THIS is vaca!!

I have painted my toenails, played with Lizzie, eaten lunch, and updated my pics and blog.


After all the craziness of the weekend and getting Keith on his flight (after THREE trips to Indy and back... playin' the standby game) I was exhausted!

When I got home, I needed to get some exercise after being in the car for hours, so I put on my headphones with my favorite worship music and I took a walk down the old railroad track with Mikey. I can't think of a better place to worship God than in His creation on the farm where I was raised!!

Lizzie now has a "pet of the day". She has been catching insects everyday, naming and observing them, and then we release them the next day. Her first pet was a lightning bug named Brightley who did not survive the night, so her crafty Daddy came up with a story... He told her he let Brightley out to go potty and couldn't catch him again! They were going to try the next night, but Lizzie and Taylor caught a grasshopper instead named Hoppy!!

The Schwann's guy came this morning! Very exciting! I got to make out the order... Just like old times. I think there is a root beer float bar calling my name! :)

Shower for Baby Logan

Ben and his fiancé Brettney are expecting Baby Logan any day now.. We hosted a shower for them the same weekend as Daniel and Brandi's shower. Their theme was duckies!
As you can imagine, the weekend was pure craziness, hosting two showers 24 hours apart so things were overlooked... Like charging my phone! So I just got a few pics the night before when we decorated the room.
... And borrowed a pic from Ellen of the cake and punch!

Smith Family Summer BBQ

The annual Smith Family Summer BBQ kick-off was immediately after daniel and Brandis shower guests went home. Keith fired up the grill and smoked a Boston Butt (aka pork shoulder)

We played games of PIG and Lizzie wanted to play too. I love this pic of Daddy holding her up to make the shot!!

Then of course the 2nd annual Smith Family Cornhole Tournament commenced and Keith and Lincoln were victorious.

Uncle Daniel tried to talk Lizzie into doing a rain dance because Decatur County needs it badly!!!

... And he was successful!!!

... there may have even been a watermelon seed spit-off between the Smith siblings, but there is no proof (that has been published yet) ;)

Shower for Daniel, Brandi, and Katelynn

We celebrated the coming of Daniel and Brandi's baby... Baby Katelynn!

I can not tell you how excited I am to meet this baby bumpkin!!!

The most special moment of the shower was when Mom presented Daniel with a quilt made by our late Gma Probst. She thoughtfully created a quilt for each of her grandchildren to have for their babies. Daniel was the last sibling in our family to receive his quilt and he was full of joy when it was presented to him and Brandi.

Summer Vacation 2012

Our vacation started out crazy with travel plans changing by the hour, but the great news is that Keith was able to go with us! He was given the rest of the week off for all of his hard work over the weekend! Lizzie and I were going to fly standby later in the week and Keith come up next weekend, but our plans changed when he was awarded time the time off of work. But we couldnt find anyone to watch Mikey last minute... So we drove, all 4 of us, stopping overnight in Savannah, GA. After 16 hours in the car, we pulled up to this.. My all-time favorite view...

Day with the Kroghs

Keith had to work in Orlando on Saturday and so lizzie and I tagged along and played with Missy, Georgia, and Violet Krogh for the day! We were going to swim, but plans changed when their cat Zeus got sick and had to go to the cat doctor. So these are pics of us hanging out in Waterford Lakes while Missy waited to see the cat doctor at Petsmart.

Fourth of July

July 4th is on a Wednesday this year so many are celebrating on the weekend. Lizzie got a haircut and snazzy style, decorated brownies for daddy, and dressed patriotically for church!

Random Pics

These are just a handful of my favorite pics I have taken this month... Enjoy!

Fathers Day and Keiths Bday

Mom and Dad Shack were here for Fathers Day and Keith's Bday. We had ribeyes and king crab legs for fathers day and assorted dough/batter dips safe to eat without cooking bc they don't contain eggs. Keith was one happy birthday boy!