Happy Holidays!

After 4 years, we finally had professional pictures taken again. This is what we will be sending as our holiday card this year.

Thanks Jessica.
(photo courtesy of www.jmphotomn.com)

Fall in MN

This afternoon we went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. It was a little chilly, and some of the trees were already past their prime, but we still saw quite a bit of fall beauty today and I also got to play with our new camera a bit.

Deer Friends

This evening our wildlife friends of the summer returned.

We first "met" the baby deer the first weekend that we were working on the fence. Someone was here who had worked at the Dallas Zoo and said from his experience, the baby was probably only a couple of days old.

Due to the steep incline and chain-link fence around the edge or our property, the baby couldn't get out. First thoughts were that momma had abandoned the little one. But then we started seeing her with the baby again. The momma was looking very weak and thin. She didn't look like she could take care of a baby. So we decided to get some corn and nurse her back to health so she could take care of her baby.

We haven't fed them in a while and now this evening I noticed the corn bucket has been tipped over. You think they are trying to tell us something? It's a good thing we have the new Willow trees' trunks wrapped.

Momma is the closer one here and the one keeping an eye on me as I shoot a few photos.

Take that Rabbits!

We finally won the battle with the rabbits. Every time the Hostas would finally get a little growth on them the darn rabbits would come and eat them down to the ground again. This went on most of last summer and into this summer as well. Finally we decided to outsmart them and put up a little 6" fence. Ha! Now that summer is over they are finally looking really healthy. Hopefully by ending the season like this will give them a boost next spring.

Now what can we get to prevent them from eating down the Barberry and Potentilla bushes again over the winter?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Remember when we were younger and we thought 35 was SO old? Now that I am 35, I don't really feel old at all. I guess age really is just a number.

I had a nice weekend, got to have dinner with a good friend yesterday, Shane and I went out to eat tonight and we have more fun things planned for next weekend.

It's hard to put a feeling on 35. Hitting 30 never really bothered me, and this one hasn't yet either. I think I'm dreading the big 4-0 more than anything! (At least as of today!)


No, this is not really my cake.

Finally Getting With the Times

Yes, it's true. We just got a Wii.

For the last few months, I've been looking every time I go to Target. Well, Monday was our lucky day. They had 3 of them on the shelf...and we had a 10% discount to be used!

It's going to take me a while to get used to this, but it seems like it could be a lot of fun, and something that we can do together.

This makes a good gift for our anniversary and birthdays combined. What perfect timing!

Four Years Ago Today

We became Husband and Wife.

Today was just as beautiful as the day we were married. Temps in the lower 80's, sunny with just a bit of a breeze.

We'll celebrate with a nice dinner out tomorrow evening.

These Shoes Were Made for Walking

At least that's what I'm hoping.

Now that fall is coming and it's getting cooler, I have to retire my flip-flops.

For several fall/winter seasons now I've been wearing ankle boots with a little bit of a heel. Not exactly comfortable for long walks or hours at the mall.

Today I went shopping and these little flat casual shoes jumped out at me. I tried them on, and they are actually really comfortable. They are Skechers, so they have some support to them.

It feels so weird, in a good way, to not be in those heeled boots. I think I over did the flip-flops with daily wear this summer and my knee is telling me it needs a better shoe. Okay fine.

So, what do you think?

Joey's Play Date

After the rainy day moping last week, we set Joey up with a play date with Tess the Cairn for this weekend.  Luckily the weather was perfect for a couple of little pooches to run and play.  Tess is a little smaller and whole lot quicker!  She definitely gave him a good workout in chase.  

Kind of funny, but after the pups were good and worn out, it rained.

Here's a link to some more of the action pictures from the day.  Joey was really good about sharing his favorite green ball with Tess and didn't even mind when the little human wanted to play with it too...although he never took his eyes off the ball.  He was probably expecting her to throw it for him to chase after.   

Rainy Day Fun

This is Joey. He suffers from SAD. Or more like CAD (Cloudy Affective Disorder). He is generally such a chipper happy pup. A cloudy day comes and all he does is mope around the house. For some reason, the rain this week really hit him hard. I couldn't take it any more. I had to pull out a little green ball therapy.

This is like puppy crack. He loves this ball so much, he chases it around and "plays soccer" with it. It seriously wears him out, but he just can't stop playing with it. We have to limit his green ball playtime and only allow it with close supervision.

Here he is after playing with this ball. Look how happy he looks.




If you want to see the series of pictures, you can find those here
Watch it as a slideshow.  You can almost see the action in the shots. 

After playtime it was naptime.  :)

Got Tomatoes?

Can you believe these are the same plants?

They were started from seeds just about a week before Easter in March. This first picture was taken April 13th. There were 12 of them, we gave 4 plants away.

Now, almost 6 months later, they are just going crazy. It's September and they are still blooming.

Every couple of days we're bring in at least a couple of ice cream pails full.

What do you do with so many tomatoes? Can lots of Salsa Ranchera and Spaghetti sauce for use during the winter.

These are about to be stewed to go into the Spaghetti sauce.

What's cookin'?

This is Shane's pride & joy smoker. He's had it almost 3 years now and the cookin' just keeps getting better.

Today was a good day for smokin'. It was a hot day, around 90 degrees, which makes for easy temperature control. Keeping it as close to 250 degrees without any major temp spikes or drops.

On the barbecue we had a 9lb Boston Butt, pulled and topped with our favorite Memphis style barbecue sauce. Yummy!

(Too bad it takes 10 hours to make one of these.)

Happy Birthday Katy!

Today we celebrated Katy's 7th birthday (it's really tomorrow, Sept 1st). I don't know how it's possible that this little girl is already 7 years old.

Here are two pictures. One from our wedding in Sept '04 just after she turned 3 and then one from today. My how she's grown. Our littlest niece isn't so little anymore. Her smile has changed a bit. Her big teeth are coming in now.

Our Summer Project

Memorial Day weekend. The unofficial start of summer. The official start of our fence project.

The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend we started digging post holes. 43 of them. Thanks to the help of some friends, a rented power auger, and some meat on the smoker, all the holes got dug in one day.

Over the course of the next few weekends and many evenings, the posts were all set and many cross pieces attached.

We were getting so burnt out doing only the cross pieces that we finally started on some of the vertical slats and trim pieces. And viola! we had the beginnings of a very fine looking fence.

These pictures were taken one month from starting. It's a big project. 300 linear feet of fence is hard to put it into perspective. Way bigger than I can squeeze into one frame.

With stain and everything, we finished up the second weekend of August. So what is that? 11 weeks? Yeah, safe to say. Our summer project.

Now that it is 100% done, I should try to get a few more pictures...including the gate.

**edit** more photos of the completed fence

This last photo is taken from the easement part of our yard, about halfway point. We have the strangest lot on our block.

Finally!

It only took 4 years, but we finally agreed on a wall color for the bedroom. I can not believe I lived in a white bedroom for 4 years.

The new paint color matches nearly perfectly to the downstairs family room, and that wasn't even planned. Different brand, from a different store. I guess we just really like this color.

These were taken right after we painted. The comforter was fresh out of the bag and hadn't had a chance to straighten out yet. I love the new color!

Emerald Isle

What started out as a simple painting project turned out to be yet another remodel project. All we wanted was to get rid of the white!

When you're working with an emerald green floor and a green sink, the paint color choices are a little limited. Staying in theme with the basement colors, we picked a dark chocolaty brown. Well, that just looked like reverse tree with the green floor as the leaves.

So, after the walls were painted, we clearly saw that just wasn't going to work. We made a trip to our favorite local tile shop and picked out our new floor. We were able to find a vanity at Lowe's that matched the style of the new cabinets in the kitchen and the upstairs bathroom and on a trip to Menard's, we found a vanity top on sale. And from there our new lower level bathroom remodel began.

Seems to always be a project around here.

Here are some pictures before and after:

From Drab to Fab!

The kitchen was our first really big project. The before images are from when we looked at the house. None of the accessories were ours, but we did get to be the proud owners of the yellow & blue make green flower wallpaper border.

We had actually ripped down the border and painted the kitchen our first winter in the house. It wasn't until the 2nd winter that we really dug in and put our stamp on the kitchen.

In the Limelight

We started small with our first home improvement project. At least small in that it was one of the smallest rooms in the house. The bathroom was glow in the dark lime green. (Okay, maybe not that bad, but it was bright!) And, it had one of those wall phones that you can see all of the insides of. (You can see it in the reflection in the mirror.) I'd rather not take phone calls in the bathroom, thank you very much!

We tore up the old tile and the mesh covered poured cement base that was under it. I've personally never been a fan of the dual sinks in a bathroom, and it was really cramped between the toilet and the vanity.

I love the look of the new cherry finished maple vanity on the natural maple floor and the single sink is so much more practical. The on vanity tower was a nice addition as well. So much extra storage space.

It's hard to tell, but the finished color is a much more muted tone of green.

His, Hers, Ours

Spring of 2004.

He had His place, She had Her place, We bought Our place.

Of course this current picture of Our house does not actually reflect how it looked when we bought it. We've done a lot with the place in 4 years.