Down by the Corner

Getting our corner done has been a very long process, but we are finally finished! Here are some before pictures to remind you of the dead tree, ugly bushes, and lava rock that were there when we moved in:



Bryce spent several evenings after work loading lava rock, he could tell you for sure but I'm pretty sure it was about two truck loads to get rid of it all (just from this corner). Fortunately Bryce's uncle took it to put under his deck, otherwise it is very expensive to dispose of.

Here is the pile of roots and stumps that Bryce dug out by hand, he pulled the really big stump out with a truck, but he had dug all around it and cut off the big roots first.
And the after pictures! Brand new bark and no ugly bushes or lava rock!

I do have plans to plant new trees and bushes and flowers. But that probably won't happen until next year, after I have had some time to learn more about what will grow well in this spot. This has been a long project, now we move on to the deck...

The not-so great shovel...

This morning Bryce decided to continue working on the corner out front. After cutting down the bushes and trees there are a lot of stumps left behind. So Bryce chopped off the roots and started digging out around the stumps in hopes that he will be able to pull them out with the truck soon. While digging around a not very big stump the shovel broke, (of course it did, everything we use around here breaks) but not the way shovels usually break, no he didn't break the handle, he broke the actual shovel...

After Bryce left for the evening to attend an arena football game with his dad I decided to tackle re-doing this cute dresser that I bought at the big neighborhood yard sale a couple of weekends ago. This is the before picture, it's hard to see here but it's pretty old and the dresser was very dirty and dingy. I sanded it down and re-painted it to match the molding in the house:

Here is the after picture! It is in the little cut out in the "purple" room. Bryce would like to put a built-in dresser here someday, but in the meantime this $10 hand-me-down will work just fine. I was reading a friends book on how to be "green" and re-using furniture is a great way to be "green."

My Friend:

Back in May, Bryce and I visited our friends in Montana. We drove to Helena to pick up Shawna and Bob and then drove on to Billings to see our friend Angela act in Cabaret. Billings is about a 3.5 hour drive from Helena, but it took us 8 hours to get back! We had the greatest time stopping to see the sights and taking the long way.

This is me with my friend Shawna:


Check out the "natural bridge" behind us. The river literally goes underground for many feet and then comes out of that big hole. Super cool!

This is Shawna walking with the man she is going to marry in September!

Here we all are sitting outside a little bar in a little town having some dinner (okay it looks like we are only having beer but the burgers came out shortly after!)
Shawna is getting married and I get to be her Matron of Honor. I am so excited! We met the first day of Freshman year of college. We then lived together for three years after that. We know each other very well and have spent a lot of time together. I feel so lucky to be a part of her big day. We are planning a fun weekend-long bachelorette party in August and I made all the invitations for the party this week:


I am so excited that I get to be a part of her special day and I am especially excited that my very good friend is getting married!

Lobster Tails

When I got married pretty much the only thing I could cook were noodles and bagels. I'm sure there are a few other things I could manage, but I just didn't cook. When you live alone what is the point of making a whole meal when you can eat a bagel and be happy? Now that I am married I see that it is important to have at least a few meals you can make, especially when you have a big eater husband like I do! He also likes to cook and definitely helps me out sometimes. We broadened our horizons a few weeks ago with BBQ lobster tails. They were amazing, and I was incredibly proud of myself for moving on from noodles and making something really cool!


I especially love how Thisbe is in the background saying, "can I have some?"


Lobster tails are not something that we will be eating very often around here, most meals still consist of noodles, but usually they are in a casserole, which makes them much more interesting! It amazes me how I went from never cooking to making a meal every night, and I'm not too bad at it. I even had a friend tell me she wants all my recipes because she never knows what to make. I think what really cracks me up about that last sentence is how two years ago I would NEVER being talking about recipes for dinner with my friends, all conversations revolved around work, where to live, and boys. Oh how time changes things!