Healthy eating

Ok blogger, you win, I have no idea how you decide what order to upload pictures in, you used to cooperate but now you are random.  So girls, here is a random assortment of pictures from the last few weeks. 

Paul and I have trying to eat more healthy.  Well, Paul is kinda along for the ride since I do the grocery shopping and cooking, but he is doing well with it!  We drink green smoothies all the time these days. Hungry for a snack? Green smoothie.  Too lazy to think of what fruit or veggie to go with lunch or dinner? Green smoothie. Now I know we are late hopping on the green smoothie train but they sounded and looked gross, but after making my first one I am a true believer in them.  Not an ounce of unhealthy anything goes in them.  I mix it up but here is what ususally goes in, sometimes all of this, sometimes I leave stuff out.  Anyway: bananas, costco frozen fruit mix (pineapple, payapa, strawberries), frozen banana, fresh pear, handful of spinach, some frozen yogurt cubes, a scoop of frozen orange juice concentrate and some water and voila, smoothie. 

We have also been eating more salad and fresh veggies.  I like balsamic vinegar with olive oil as my dressing, but below is poppyseed dressing on a salad that has romaine, spinach, and costcos kale mix that also comes with a mix of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and cranberries. Super yumm with strawberries on top. 

A few weeks ago my  mom and I went to visit my grandparents for 4 days to get a feel how they were doing with my grandpa living in the assisted living/nursing home area.  My grandpa was hilarious and each time when the two of us were hanging out he would say "would you look at all those old people over there, I am not one of them" Haha.  He is turning 90 this year, I love that man! 

 My other grandparents are living at their farm house still, which should come to an end too, but it will be hard finding an assisted living or independent living that they would enjoy. Prayers are always appreciated.  They rented out their cherry orchards this summer (praise the Lord) but my grandpa is still mowing the grass areas and my grandma planting tulips and trying to keep a house clean.  They live in 40 acres...

When I got home I had so much energy from doing nothing (though doing nothing and talking about yourself is it't own kind of exhausting) that I couldn't wait to get our garden ready.  We weren't even going to have a garden this year, but I decided why not try some tomatoes again...and so we are.  There were soooooo many weeds in the garden bed, it was the only place left that I hadn't weeded this spring yet.  Three buckets later the garden bed was spotless (don't look too closely tho). 

A few days later I decided our side yard needed an improvement.  I laid landscaping fabric and bought fake bark (made out of old tires and painted) to lay out.  It is not my favorite but I am excited it will be low maintance.  The top picture is mostly our neighbors side yard, the tree rock and lillies are our, but I weeded a bunch of their yard and raked the bark so it looked all fresh.  They had their kids weed the whole side yard but they missed areas and I knew they wouldn't care if I spiffed it up a bit.  

A friend is helping one of her friends get ready for a wedding.  The maid of honor backed out 20 days before the big day, and was supposed to make a thank you banner among other things.  She asked me if I would be able to help and with my handy silhouette I was able to whip these out in about half an hour before dinner one night.  

And more healthy eating, just so you can see the before and after of smoothies.  I use my stick blender so clean up takes about 30 seconds.  

Costco is my friend when it comes to fresh produce, though I think I am going to sign up for bountiful baskets this summer,  I am 95% sure I just need to take the plunge.  It's $15 a week for tons of fresh fruits and veggies, you just don't get to pick what you get weekly...and you can choose to only get stuff every other week which is what I will do. 

I ended up getting mandatory standby on Monday and having three days off in a row this week (mon-wed) I have been doing insane amounts of yard work.  On monday I think I spent 4.5 hours outside weeding, mowing, edging, sweeping, spraying, laying mulch and borders, and planting grass.  I think I am done with major yardwork for a while.  I am loving our new yard look though!  Oh and I cut a ton of branches off the pine trees in our front yard island so they now look like two separate trees instead of one. 

And on a not so healthy note Paul and I went out to Indian food the other night.  We had never tried this place, we think it is "new" but it looks kinda ghetto inside and we were the only customers. But the servings were huge and reasonably priced.  Paul got two meals out of his tikka masala and I got three!  I think it is more of a take out spot though because the service was slow and the "waitress" was the lady owner and she had food all over her pink t shirt.  But man, can Indians cook!  (We still love our Indian restaurant in Renton the best but this place is 1/2 the price and wayyyyy closer to our house). 

Paul is in the midst of woking 15/16 days and he has been kinda tired to say the least.  We have been trying to go on short walks down by the river to enjoy the awesome weather though and it has been so fun.  Our typical evening consists of a walk, dinner, mario kart on the n64, and bedtime. I know, we are super exciting. 

Another walk, it has just been so stinking gorgeous!!

And that's the end folks, until next time. 

A heavenly unplanned mini vacation

So I uploaded all these pictures to the blog on April 3rd, the day I took my computer over to my MIL to completely wipe everything off of it and start new, in hopes that I would again have a functioning computer.  And then life got in my way and I never got around to posting!  

I got mandatory standby (weeks and weeks ago) and Paul and I decided to go to Port Townsend since it gave me three days off.  He was amazingly able to get three days off too at the last minute, and it was a much needed vacation.  We stayed at the Palace Hotel in the very same room we had stayed in almost a year previously

We drove around Port Townsend, walked around the docks, drank coffee, took naps, read books, watched too much tv, took shadow pictures, and enjoyed life. It was awesome. 

We then took the ferry over to Seattle so we could visit Mr. Foutz and his wife (Paul's bible teach in HS and he did marriage counseling for us and married us).  They have moved up to Seattle and actually live just minutes away from my brother.  They are starting a ministry called Ratio Christi (kinda like campus crusade) on campus and it was fun to hear about their new lifestyle and how God is providing for them month to month as they continue to raise support and follow Gods calling. 

We had the most amazing Mexican food before we met up with the Foutz's (and then pizza for dinner, definitely not a health conscious day) . We got to wait in the rain (in the car of course) for Mr. Foutz to get home, and then when we finally got home that evening we had some more kitty pee to greet us on our couches. And this began the very long journey to try and train ourselves and rehabilitate our cats into knowing the couch is not for peeing.  I have been reading an amazing book (The Cat Whisperer- Amber I think you would like it, it has chapter about how to make your cats get along and not fight) and we have been implementing a lot of her strategies all around the house to help with Erics peeing problem. I never knew cats could be so high maintenance   

Pathetically these are the only two pictures I took when I was helping Becca paint their old bathroom and bedroom. Hailey was a doll and played in the hallway and was as content as could be as long as she could see either Becca or I in the room at any given time (since we barracaded her out there with the ottoman). 

Paul turned 26 and requested two different cheesecakes for his birthday.  I personally don't like cheesecake so I asked Kathy to make one of them, since making two in one day sounded like a lot of work....even though cheesecakes are easy.  They were both good (according to cheesecake lovers) and I enjoyed the crusts. :) One was chocolate and the other was caramel truffle. 

I was having the laziest day and wasn't feeling good all day and was super proud of myself for making the bed and putting "real clothes" on.  Becca, ever since you mentioned wearing leggings with shirts, but the shirts have to be a certain length I have been addicted to this.  (though this was a month ago, so now I am loving wearing shorts sometimes too!)

More Port Townsend because blogger uploades pictures super weird.  This coffee shop makes the best lattes I have ever had.  I am pretty sure they are made with whole milk though...so good think I only got an 8oz-er. 

We seriously lounged on the coffee shop furniture forever.  The sun was streaming in the window and it was heavenly. 

We finally got our roof done (about a month ago as I write this post), got the rotting board on our entryway replaced, and finally have a microwave that has a handle and looks awesome in the kitchen.  

My two friends at work had a baby and they brought her in to share.  Oh how I love holding squishy little babies.  I will never take my non-existant child into work though, they are kinda crazy to be taking her around all the nastyness we deal with, but since it wasn't my kid, I loved on her as long as I was allowed!!

And that folks is my life, a month late.  New post coming very soon with current updates, because I am just that interesting (not). 

just what you wanted - more about me.

Finally.

Sitting in the quiet with a cup of tea.

today has been a long day.

Actually, it has been a long and crazy week and I don't think I've ever admitted to feeling as stressed out as I am right now.  But...I am trying to take it all a day at a time.  And God has been so very good to us.  I am all around and in so many different ways overwhelmed.

We got the house we were looking at.  And a series of God events have taken place, I feel.

We met with our new landlady, Robin, last Saturday.  She is a sweet, sweet lady.  And she is so absolutely excited to have us in the house.  And she is only charging us $500 a month !!  Not only is that unreal for anything in this area, but this house is nicer than ours, has a garage, and on like 9 acres of land.  I was speechless when I heard the amount.  On top of that, she is giving us the first month free for painting.  Now, I wasn't really excited about painting, but turns out I may have to do very little or none.  We also found out that our current landlady is coming back early - on the 27th - so we were kind of worried about getting the new place painted and everything done before then.  Add into all this that Jeremy has been getting a lot of hours at work (praise God, but its hard to find time to do things!), there is a huge rummage sale going on at the church the same weekend we have to be out (which is also requiring a lot of work from us), and I go back to Mora to work this next weekend.  Which I really wish I wasn't, since now with our rent being so low, I don't have to work anymore!

Anyway, Jeremy and his boss and a few other guys were up painting the ceiling tonight.  Robin mailed some samples for us to check out for the wall color and hopefully we can get that by tomorrow night.  A man who decided out of the goodness out of his heart to paint the outside of the church, also told Jeremy's dad that he felt a real burden to help us paint our house.  So once we get the paint, he is just going to come and spend a few days painting.  I am just amazed.  I don't know why, is anything that far-fetched when God is orchestrating our lives?  But I just feel so blessed, and I'm so happy because Robin feels so blessed by it all too.  She is a single lady.  Her dad died three years ago, and the house has been vacant now for some months since her mother passed away.  This house has all of her childhood memories wrapped up in it, and she is so happy to have people in it again and having life back, and now she doesn't have to worry about doing all the upkeep on it.  There is also a family cabin on the property, so she is excited to have tenants in the house so she isn't afraid when she comes to stay in the cabin.  I guess in a way this all feels like a big confirmation that we are in the place we are supposed to be.

This tea is so good.

My new favorite treat before bedtime is a cup of stash mango passionfruit herbal tea with a teaspoon of honey mixed in.  Mmmm.  I read something recently about having honey before bedtime helps your body not produce as many stress hormones while you sleep.  I don't know if there is any truth in it (seemed like it when I read about it) but I did sleep a lot better the other night when I did it.  Any excuse to have honey is okay with me.

Anyway.

I have been spending my afternoons scrubbing down the new house.  I actually have almost the entire kitchen  cabinets full of our kitchen stuff, so it will be nice to just move over the last few boxes and have that all ready for our first day there!  The kids kept busy playing, and I was able to get all those boxes unpacked from the kitchen!  Oh and the last picture is of our backyard - we have an amazing patio and deck and that little black thing sitting on the planter box (kinda hard to see) on our deck is our puppy. She curled up and went to sleep on it, haha.

Hailey is growing and getting bigger and bigger!  Her newest thing she does is plays a game with me where I shake my head and say "noooOOoo" and she does it and then she tries to nod but she can't really do it, so she just does this funny jump thing.  Now when I feed her, some times she'll pretend she doesn't like the food and smile and shake her head and giggle.  But then she eats it.  Silly girl!

This is just my life.  Surrounded by boxes. 

It has been beautiful out lately!  I try and get up early enough in the morning to take Kaia for a good run, but lately I've been sleeping late (because the kids have!) and so the kids come with for our morning walk, since Jeremy is already at work.  Let me just add here that it is no small feat to take a 13 week puppy, a 9 month baby in a front pack, and a three year old on a walk.  It is getting easier as Kaia is learning to not jump up quite so much now though, and does pretty good with most commands.  

Shea insisted on bringing the umbrella the other day, but of course after a while he got tired of holding it and I had to carry it.

Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble.  This next week is going to be incredibly busy, and then my sister's wedding is around the corner, which I'm trying not to think about too much until we get into the new place.  I'm really looking forward to mother's day, because then ALL of this stuff will be over and hopefully life can resume to its old pace.

life lately

 Oh dear.  It has been a busy past few days.

I survived the bridal shower on Saturday, and am glad it is done with so I can move on to other things!  Friday I had a play date in the morning, and then spent 4 hours baking and cooking for the shower.  I was then up until 1:30 making a few decorations and printing out things for the games (I pretty much had nothing planned until that night).  I was sooo tired after it.  I had to leave at 7 the next morning to go pick up my mom in Port Orchard on the way so I could get to Kaitie's by 9:30 to set up.

Here is the banner I threw together - it turned out so cute!  I was glad.

I can't believe how old my sister is getting!  She looked radiant.

The tuxes with the heads were from this funny door prize game called "who has the groom?" where everyone got an envelope and whoever had David inside won a prize.  I just used random celebrity heads.  Kaitie got Hugh Laurie.

So after that, I have now been in packing mode!  Here are the pictures from the bedroom (I still haven't taken any of the bathroom, since I haven't cleaned it yet, but I will!)

I made the duvet cover from some sheets, and the nightstands used to be red.  I also made the wooden signs above the bed.

This was my dresser.  The flag banner was something I had, and Angela helped me cut out the letters for the wooden sign on her silhouette and then I mod podged them on with some other paper.  Oh and thats a jar of coconut oil which I left there after putting some on a diaper rash. Not normally part of the decor.

This is Jeremy's corner.  I had a lot more pictures to hang - it was going to be sort of a picture collage wall, but I stopped working on it once I found out we were moving, of course!  It kind of looks like a shrine of maternity me with only these ones up, ha.

Anyway, we have been kind of trying to relax the last few evenings.  I have been super tired by the time the kids get to bed, so we have just been sitting on the couch drinking homemade cocoa playing Wii, or I have been crocheting an afghan while Jeremy plays.

Here are some recent pictures from my phone of the kiddos!  Hailey has started sleeping so much better lately, and has just been so much fun to watch grow!  She is busy, busy playing and has starting balancing on her own for a few seconds at a time while standing.  I know it will be no time at all before my little crawling girl is walking.

Oh yes, and we got a puppy last night.

Yes, we are moving, have a million and one things to do, and we got a puppy.  I know we are crazy.  We have been talking about it for a while though, and our friends recently got rid of all their puppies but two...they decided this week that two was too many and offered one to us.  Her name is Kaia and she is such a sweet puppy!  Last night we had her inside in her crate, and she didn't whine at all.  She is already used to being outside a lot, but still whines a little.  We took her to the beach twice today and Shea and I played with her in the yard for a long time.  I love it!  I will probably go for a run with her tonight when Jeremy gets home.  She is a mutt, but mostly lab we think.  Her mom isn't that big either, so I think she will just be a medium sized dog.  Shea LOVES her and I think it will be really good for him to have her.

We should find out about the house soon.  It is looking good.  I can't believe we are moving in only like 2 1/2 weeks though!  YIKES.  I start work on the 19th and think I might lose my mind this month if I'm not careful.  I also just somehow accepted the church councils proposal of me taking over the every day bookkeeping for the church (instead of me and the treasurer sharing it so it will be more consistent).  That is a lot of work, because I have to basically reset up everything since their quickbooks is way off.

Anyway, here is what my house looks like right now.  I still have so much to do, but it feels good to see how many boxes I have gotten packed up.

Hope all is well with you ladies!

another development...

...so there is a house nearby that Jeremy recently mowed the lawn of.  I think someone passed away who was living there, and they want to rent it out...Jeremy's parents started talking about it when we were applying for the job in Renton, so we weren't that interested in it then, but now hopefully they are going to try and see if its something we can rent.

The yurt won't be available until at least the end of June, possibly later, and apparently it has a lot of mold and stuff.  Which can be fixed, but being there just depends on what happens in the meantime.  We still think it would be cool to be in that community, but we also don't know if the owners are going to rent or sell it, they haven't decided yet. But we need a place to stay in the meantime anyway.  And I really like this other house.

Its just up the street from where we live now.

I went and looked at it today (just the outside, but you can pretty much see everything in it, there are so many windows) and it is really nice and and cute and exactly something we would live in.  I really am trying to not get my hopes up, because I really love it.  The yard is amazing.  There is a deck.  It doesn't really have a bedroom (its small, not tiny, I think perfect) - but a big loft and a nice office space too. and garden.  and just tons of yard for the kids to play in.  It is lovely.  We might even get a dog if we move there.  So, have faith with me?  It feels a little bit like when I saw the house in Port Orchard that seemed so far fetched to get, and it all worked out (even though we only lived there for a few months).

And that's all the time I have right now.  My sister's bridal shower which I am throwing is on Saturday, and I have a million and one things to do for it and am trying to start packing.  I still need to take pictures of our bedroom before I pack it up too.