{view from the back door}

I can't help myself...the backyard is just beautiful! With all of the rain (and a lot of help from Tim's green thumb) the backyard has been growing like crazy. I can't even imagine what it will look like once all of our annuals are in bloom. Sometimes I get home and feel like I am walking in to a cute little B&B. With a view like this from our back door, it happens more often than not.

{happy birthday dylan}

We had the most wonderful time in Linn this weekend. We practically had to drag ourselves home - we just didn't want to leave. We were there for Easter and got to see Mamo and Papo and the whole Mellen gang (minus a few). It had been so long since we had been back to Washington, and it was so nice to see everyone. After our Easter dinner, we went back to Linn and celebrated Dylan's first birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DYLAN!! He's got to be the cutest one-year-old I know. Nick and Tessa make pretty beautiful babies.

{trolley run 2011}

Tim and I ran the Trolley Run last weekend. We had the whole thing planned with our favorite people - Sara, Carlos, Mom, Katie and Zach. We were going to run together, cheer each other on, and then go get breakfast together. Great plan, right?! Well, when the time came, somehow we all lost each other. Tim ended up running on his own (which I think he enjoyed). I couldn't find the crew, so I ended up running on my own. Mom couldn't get a hold of anyone, so she ended up running on her own. Sara and Carlos were subjected to terrible organization by the shuttle bus and didn't get to the starting line when they were supposed to run, so they ended up running with the strollers! Finally, Katie and Zach came on two hours of sleep and ended up in the heat of walkers. Needless to day, we didn't even see each other until breakfast, and even then it was only half of our crew. All in all, the run was great - Tim totally rocked it with a time of 24:57. I was about 20 seconds from reaching my goal with a time of 36:17. I think, though, from now on we're just going to plan our own runs. There is no stress that comes with that! Hmm....I'm thinking a run from our house up to Broadway Cafe. Who's in?

For the sake of our friends and the fact that no one looks good running, I'm only putting pictures of Tim and I up. Guys - If you want me to put your pictures up, let me know!!

 

{happy anniversary, love}

Minute by minute

hour by hour -

I get the sweetest kind of 

love and happiness from you!

Tomorrow I will love you more than I do today, which seems impossible, 

but I've witnessed it myself. This love has grown to be the best kind of love - our love.

{greenhouse}

e}Last spring Tim started a greenhouse in the basement. He planted and grew everything from tomatoes to petunias to angelina serina. This winter he began planting again. He started with cabbage, which is now planted in the planters outside. He has now moved on to the flowers that will soon bloom all over the yard. Early March he seeded petunias, vinca, coliosis, potato vines, angelina serina and all of our herbs. Six weeks later, everything is up and ready to be planted.

 

It's amazing what you like after you just try it. I'm sure Tim never thought that he would enjoy gardening as much as he does, but he can't get enough of it. I think it's the process of creating. Whether it's starting them from seed and watching them grow or creating the landscape of the backyard, it's just a fun challenge. The best part is being able to sit back and relax once it's all done. Our backyard is all us - we started it from scratch, we are continuing to modify it, and we are constantly enjoying it.

{swope park trails}

How on earth we've never made it to the hiking trails in Swope Park is beyond my imagination. We are always looking for new adventures, exploring places, and craving the outdoors and we found all of the above this weekend in Swope Park. I know I am going to sound like a Parks and Rec spokesperson, but honestly, it was like leaving town, but not really going anywhere at all! We felt like we were on a weekend getaway. Some might say, "We took a trip, but never left the farm." Saturday afternoon we decided to go to the Nature Center, which has a 2 mile trail behind it. Unfortunately, the camera didn't capture the beautiful landscape very well. We ended up in a hollow with streams winding throughout and trees blooming. It was gorgeous and CLEAN! It was like we were in woods back in Osage County. The next morning after church, we headed straight back to Swope park for another hike. This one was right off of Blue River Rd. We just pulled the car to the side of the road, and off we went. I think it took us about two hours to complete the hike. Again, this one was beautiful, too! We went winding around the trail, finding huge boulders, streams, really interesting trees...the whole nine yards. We even found a great spot for lunch.

The whole time we were hiking, Tim kept saying "Man, I love this stuff! We are coming here every weekend..." and what-do-ya-know, he's headed there again tonight for a trail run. Looks like he's found a little bit of country in the middle of the city.

{firsts}

Spring is the season of "firsts." The first new grass to sprout, the first lawn mowing, the first leaves on trees, the first flowers to bloom, the first Fire Friday, the first BBQ with nice weather, the first race, the first breakfast on the patio, the first sunburn - they are all the signs of Spring. I would have to say, though, that one of my favorite "firsts" is the blooming of the tulips! 

The first fall we lived in our house we planted tulips. Like 200. Our favorite old-lady neighbor (who, mind you, checks on our plants while we are at work, scares away birds and squirrels from our growing grass and so on...) told us that the tulips we planted would be eaten by the squirrels and they wouldn't bloom after the first year. Apparently she had bad luck in the past because three years later and the tulips are have multiplied into a huge bed of red. We call the spectacular event "the blooming of the tulips!" They are our first flower to bloom, and I'd have to say, our favorite.

{brew to brew}

The Brew to Brew was this weekend and we had such a great time. I am still waiting for our final race results, but considering the terrible wind, I think we did AWESOME! If anything, we are all sore from our sunburns that we got! Thanks for such a wonderful Sunday, guys! 

Let the race season begin....ya Brewsers!!! 

{st. patrick's day}

{ah, that's going to be so much fun!}

Tim and I were walking Mason through the park and a woman with a stroller walked by. Tim immediately said, "Ah, that's going to be so much fun!" in the softest, sweetest voice.

I am so thankful for the wonderful life I have, but a part of me feels like it's missing and the hole is getting bigger as each month passes. Sometime last spring, my mind switched. Before that I had been so happy living my fairytale with Tim - just the two of us, enjoying each moment together. That's what we had turned our life in to and it was amazing, for a while. As soon as we decided we were ready to start our family, our life hasn't been about us, it's been about what is to come. At first, that was really fun. We would talk about our future family all of the time - how long we would take off of work when the baby came, ways to visit Carrie and still go hiking in CO with an infant, how we were going to put a car seat on the scooter, where my dad's baby bassinet would go, how we shouldn't plant grass because we will be too tired to wake up early to water it, and every other thing you could imagine us saying. We already began adapting our lives to our new family. We imagined our new family to be coming sometime this year, but we're not even close.

I don't know how Tim does it, but nine months later (I know, in the realm of life, it's a second! It sure feels like a decade when you're living it, though) he is still as excited as he was the day we began trying. He's the only way I am saying sane during this process. Inevitably, I cry at least once during each period. I keep telling myself that the longer we have to wait, the sweeter it will be. It's hard sometimes, but I truly believe it! The day we find out, I will be in tears more than the last nine months combined. That time, though, not from frustration or feeling sorry for myself, but because I know that Tim and I are about to experience the most exciting and love-filled moments of our lives. I imagine in those moments, Tim, Mason, and I will be walking with a stroller through the park and Tim will look over at me saying "Ah, this is so much fun!" in that soft, sweet voice.

This is one of my favorite photos of us and it's exactly why I shouldn't get frustrated. 

I already have everything I will ever need - 

my love at my side and the wind blowing through my hair.

{jamesport}

The video says it all...Jamesport is happenin'!

In all seriousness, though, we had a great time road tripping!

{SPRING}

Spring is, by far, our favorite time of year. It is the smell of worms, the tulips breaking through the frozen ground, and the wonder of things to come. We just love watching things thaw out and get their color back. It is when everything comes alive again - including us. Whenever there is a hint of sun outside, we are there. We have already cleaned our flower beds, put in a watering system for each garden, and had a few dinners on the patio (under the heater, of course).  Spring just makes us feel good.

Last summer was the first year we really had a lot of gardens. I guess once we got started, we just couldn't stop. In general, we have many flowers that are natural to the Midwest, so they grow fast and like our hot summer days. The only thing is, we (actually, just Tim) spent so much time, money, and effort keeping our gardens watered. Whenever we went out of town, we had to either ask the dog sitter to water the plants, or rig up some hoses to reach everything. We decided this year that we would put soaker hoses throughout the garden. We have spent the last few nice days doing just that. It didn't take much time and the pay-off is going to be huge.

We are definitely learning as we go. I think that's the most fun part. It's just trial and error - each year we learn from the one before and it gives us so much more to look forward to.

Below is a picture of the hoses. We still need to mulch over them

{window shelf}

My list of things to do around the house is quickly dwindling. Thank goodness! A few years ago we remodeled our kitchen - we tore it down to the studs and started from scratch. For the design and decor we tend to be on the minimalist side. Neither of us like things sitting out on the counters, cluttering up the little space we have, so we don't really "decorate" in the kitchen. Well, that was getting old and our minimalist style needed refreshed. It started with the vintage sign I made. That was actually the first thing we hung on the walls in there since remodeling. We couldn't imagine putting holes into the new walls until we found the right decor. Waiting pays off - it's perfect for the space.

In trying to keep things off of the counters, I decided to add a window shelf. My goal was country/clean with an airy feel. As much as I appreciate and enjoy modern design, I tend to lean toward elements that look like they've been around forever. I started my shelf with a new piece of pine and some brackets from Home Depot. I wasn't feeling the style of the brackets, but by painting them white on the outside, their shape was emphasized. Visually, they ended up falling into the wall, which I really liked. I also painted the edge of the wood for the same reason. I "roughed up" the wood with various materials and it took on a rustic look. Overall, I am really happy with the finished product. It doesn't stand out too much or interfere with any light coming into the kitchen.

{american red cross}

my original inspiration

On one of my many snow days I went to the Mission Antique Mall. One of my favorite places to go. I had been looking for "art" for the bathroom, but knew I wanted something very simple. I came across this American Red Cross flag - original from the '60s. I thought it would look great hanging alone in the bathroom. It was definitely a statement piece without saying "Hey, look at me!" I saw the price, though, and decided against it. When I showed Tim, he said "Samantha, you could make this..." LIGHT BULB ON!

Three snow days later...and I went for it.

After I had the flag sewn, I stained it in tea. This is what really made it look original.

Now it hangs all alone in our new bathroom.

 I am really happy with the way it turned out. Unfortunately though , it doesn't photograph well. The bathroom is too small for me to take a picture of the space as a whole. Ahh...small spaces. Gotta love them.

** Side note: Thanks to Grandma, I didn't even have to leave the house for this project. I used her sewing machine, grommets and grommet hammer. I have all of her art supplies in my basement, but hardly know what's even down there! Surprise!

{our bathroom project}

Tim and I are dreamers. We are constantly coming up with ideas, projects, prospective businesses and so on. Fortunately, only about 5% of those dreams actually emerge into reality and when they do, we have a great time making it "happen".  The kicker is, 99% of the time, the 5% that happen are things that together we think would be good ideas (are you getting a visual with all of the percentages?). Anyways, I admit...our bathroom project was totally my idea - and that little fact haunted me for the entire project (When you live in a one bathroom house, you kind of need the bathroom. There is no getting around it). I had always hated our previous bathroom. The blue walls, the cheap vanity, the disgusting linoleum tile - hated it all. For some reason, none of those things ever bothered Tim the way it did me. I would walk in there and cringe. After 3 1/2 years, I needed to change it. Michael (the most wonderful brother in the world) agreed to help and after six months of concrete board, grout, and tile sitting in my basement, we decided to tackle the project at the end of January. What else were we gonna do? Stare at the snow? Oh, I should mention, Tim and I have completely unrealistic expectations on how long construction projects should take. Actually not just construction projects, EVERYTHING. We are like Marshall and Lilly when they found out they were pregnant....(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvLnc69baAw) We thought it would take a week. Four weeks later...I feel like I am at a bed and breakfast every time I step foot in the bathroom. It's the smallest room in the house, but it sure does pack some "cute without trying too hard" personality.

Before:

During :

Michael and Tim pulled up two layers of linoleum and took it down to the bare bones.

 

I laid the tile and painted the room. I wanted a white on white look - very subtle.

Dad came over and put some pipes into the wall. He also built a bracket to hang the sink.

After:

I'm sorry, I just adore this sink.

Our cabinet got a make-over. I added crown molding and a little punch inside.

The bathroom will be topped off with the mirror above. It's on back-order.

{february}

Being a cornball, as my sister would say, is SO MUCH FUN (and totally necessary)!! Let's just say, for the entire month of February, we have really enjoyed going to bed. I think I'll keep it that way for a few more weeks.