May

Let's see...having moved into our new home at the end of April, May was pretty much a blur. We worked around the clock (or so it seemed) to unpack and decorate. We painted the master bedroom, laundry room, 1/2 bathroom, guest bathroom, and the bar room. FYI- that's a lot of painting! (FYI#2- we still have a lot of painting left to do!) I realize that now would be a perfect time to post pics of our completed painting projects. Unfortunately, I haven't taken any yet, and Scot won't be back until tomorrow with the camera.

Memorial Day weekend was also a lot of fun, because we had some great friends come visit us from Columbia! My best girls, Heather and Sherry, and Sherry's hubby, Charley, came to spend the weekend with us, and we had a great time. We started out by going to a local winery on Friday afternoon. Nothing too exciting as we were literally the only ones there. OK- so it was 2:00 on a Friday afternoon, but still! We were hoping it would be more like Les Bourgeois in Missouri. Unfortunately, it was, well, nothing like Les Bourgeois. Well, I guess they both do sell wine. Nonetheless, we enjoyed each other's company (and the wine.) We'll have to try out some of the other wineries in the area next time.

Kim, Heather, and Sherry at the winery

After the afternoon at the winery, we headed to a musical festival down on the riverfront. I wasn't able to get any good pictures of the riverfront, but it really is a pretty place. Here is a picture I found of the downtown Peoria skyline. This is actually taken on the other side of the river, looking back at where we were.

Scot and Kim at the Riverfront Music Festival

After the festival, we went to a karaoke bar in Bartonville. Bartonville is a suburb outside of Peoria, probably comparable to Mexico, MO. It was quite the experience, to say the least! We had lots of fun, and Heather and Charley were quite the karaoke stars! Get this- the bar was having a "Bartonville Idol" contest the following week. Could you imagine a bigger honor than that? :) Well, the bar owner was so impressed with Heather and Charley's singing talents that he excitedly announced to them- "You're in! You're in Bartonville Idol next week!" Charley tried to explain to him that they live 4 hours away, and that they would not be around to compete. But the bar owner would not take "no" for an answer and kept proclaiming, "No, dude- You're in! You're in!" We got quite the kick out of it and kept referring to them as our celebrity Idols the rest of the week. The paparazzi were everywhere!

On Saturday night, we all headed out for dinner on the riverfront and then out for dancing.

Heather, Kim, and Sherry at dinner

Sunday was spent relaxing, and we had some other friends from Peoria over to the house that evening. The following picture was taken Sunday night when we were winding down from the weekend. As you can see, Harli took quite a liking to Charley and Sherry. The story behind this picture, though, is that Charley has some Bailey's in his glass. Anyone that has been around Harli knows that she is automatically your best friend if you have anything to eat or drink. She kept climbing up on Charley's shoulder so she could be close to the glass when he took a drink. She went crazy for the smell of the Bailey's! She is such a beggar- but they look like a happy little family together!