Spring Break Shenanigans

When you work for a school system, and all your children are BEGGING for a little vaca 

for SPRING BREAK.....why not?

Last year, it was just me and my girls heading off to Chicago. What a fun experience that was, and a huge eye opener that we needed more little get-aways in our life!

So, this year...we took the whole fam-bam to Minnesota. This was a little closer option and more appealing to the boy-folks in our family. The lure of an indoor waterpark/ hotel and a mall that had a amusement park inside was too much for all for us to deny! 

{the all-too-original family selfie}

I left the ol fancy camera at home for this trip, and so all pics were taken with cellphones.

But sometimes the stress of worrying about taking pictures and keeping a close eye on your camera is not my idea of vacation....so not-so-good-pictures it is!

First stop: CABELA'S

Giving the kids a small budget each could use helped in moving things along faster....

I think they enjoyed the taxidermy animal displays more than anything :)

We stayed at the Radisson Hotel which has "The Waterpark of America" attached to it, for an additional fee of course. But well worth the money paid, endless hours of play for all of us! 

{Took this image off of Google, this was a much better photo than any I took}

My kids didn't really play in the "Kiddie" area too much, they have graduated to the big kid areas, and so have I, hence the NO PHOTOS AT ALL OF US ON ALL THE FUN STUFF! :(

Except the surfin...my boys all tried it, but Baileyhusband doesn't want his photo posted :)

{Gunny}

{Wyatt}

Our hotel room was perfect for a family of six. We slept on a queen size bed, and there was a bunk room for the kids...I highly recommend bunk rooms, so much entertainment to hear them all together in one room....there is a little sarcasm in that comment, but it was a perfect setting! And better than someone sleeping on the floor and having to share our bed. 

Us country folk, staying in a big city, is something to behold! And getting to shop at all the places that I only see online is something else entirely!! My dear Baileyhusband amused me in a little couples therapy time in IKEA! People, I felt like the Mothership was calling me HOME!!

I am going to do another blog post about all the fun things acquired in that round of shopping!!

The Mall of America, aka the MEGA-MALL was our next stop. 

I felt a little guilty of all the fun home-decor-y stuff that I was fortunate to purchase at Ikea....so the mall was mostly about the kids getting to play.... and eating......

Getting away with the whole family is a very rare occurrence once one goes off to college, so even though this was only for 2 1/2 days, this was much needed!!

The other days of our break have been alot of movie watching....hello?! Frozen anyone? Seriously the cutest movie ever.

And craft making: 

A great friend came over, and we made these barn wood beauties for her sister. I forgot how fun and relaxing that crafting can be! And this big D is going on a new gallery wall for my friend. Can't wait to see the final result, I love a good gallery!!

And one night we heard lots of giggling and general girl-y loudness coming from the basement....and I am so impressed with the result....made from crayons, ya'all!! So impressed with my daughters!!

Now, I am going to spend my last day of Spring Break in my sweats, making cookies, and watching Frozen....again! I hope spring shows up soon, it snowed again this morning.....UGH!!

~Kim

A dream come true: Bailey Barn Sale

ahhh, DREAMS, they are tricky little things aren't they? 

Since I was a little girl, I have dreamed of having a little "shop" of my own. As I have grown older, and life's responsibilities have taken over, the dream was forgotten. Then the internet happened, and I saw bloggers that I love and that I follow, pursuing their dreams by opening little Brick and Mortar shops ( like Shaunna did), hosting large sales (like Layla did), or even writing a book (like the Nester did). This sparked something in me that was long forgotten. 

So, along with my sister-in-law, and a lot of research....we hosted a BARN SALE! 

You see, I am married to a very creative man, and my mind is ALWAYS busy thinking and dreaming up all things decor. 

Our family business has a "barn-like" shop that is quite large, and was the perfect space to house all of our displays. We worked as busy little bees for several months....building, painting, gluing, staining, buying, styling, wood-burning....and hosted a ONE-DAY sale in October.

A few of our family members and friends also contributed some of their homemade or antique goodness to the sale. Which made for such an amazing day! All of these pictures were taken the night before, when all of the setup was complete. I so wish that I had taken pictures during the sale, but so much was happening, and we were having so much fun, sadly, none were taken! (insert sad face) 

The husbands built us these large pallet walls, which I LOVED! Our old shop had put on it's party clothes and looked dressed to impress! 

Along with homemade items, antiques and furniture, I cleaned out a lot of my well-loved decor items. And most of it sold! 

The things we contributed that didn't sell, (i.e. the amazing Queen-sized bed Baileyhusband hand-made) look great in their new home....ours! Actually that bed now belongs to our daughter, Sierra. She is one lucky girl. We joked that she secretly told everyone that looked at it during the Barn Sale, that it was already sold. 

I did happen to take one quick photo, this was my first customer....who arrived early, before the doors were officially open....and she snagged this barn-wood cross picture frame. I loved it and knew it would sell quickly. Actually all of our barn-wood frames were the first things to go!

{sorry, bad photo, all of these were taken with my phone}

What a fun day, what a fun DREAM this was. It was a ton of work, but well worth it. 

I think I would rule it a success, over 300 people came! When you plan these things, you kind of have to have faith. There was a FACEBOOK page, flyers made and distributed, signs made (I wish there was a picture of those, they were barn-shaped) to direct the way....and all the fun displays!

I honestly don't know if I will have another sale, or if this was a once in a lifetime thing....

but I do know that it was a dream come true to have that feeling of fulfilling a childhood dream of mine! 

I love these shirts that Layla from the Lettered Cottage has designed and will be selling to help with the adoption of their little Sweet P. 

 "Don't Quit Your DayDream" is a perfect quote for the ending of this post! And hopefully soon, I will be sporting that shirt....and I am so glad that I got to live out my daydream! 

It's almost SPRING people!! We are so close to seeing some new calves here at Irishman Acres...we are garden planning also, YEAH!! Can't wait to mow, get out our deck furniture, and even pull weeds....yes, it's been a long, cold winter if I am looking forward to weeds! :)

~Kim