Just Life

Matt put a ton of photos into little folders on my computer yesterday. I had so much fun viewing all the cell phone images - I had forgotten that he had taken so many of them! Here are a couple of my favorites:
I don't remember at all when we took this one, but I love the photo. He is so sweet.
This photo has a story - it was the day that Matt got laid off. We felt that instead of staying home and sulking, that we would dress up and go have fun. Sure, Halloween was still two weeks away at the time, but we made some folks smile that night :)
And THIS is a picture for mom - Matt's new hiking boots. Our house guest is staying another two weeks, and insists on paying us for his stay = unexpected income = new boots, on sale. They match mine, and we are so ready to get to Montana this weekend.

It's almost Friday...

Matt's Camping Trip

Here are some pics from Matt's cell phone of his trip with his brother to Cora and Granite Lakes near Mt. Rainer:




We put these up for Matt's dad to see. Enjoy :)

Girl Time

What a great weekend! Matt and I drove over on Friday night and stayed at my sisters near Seattle. He left bright and early on Saturday morning for his camping trip - I left for a run along Lake Washington.

It was a wonderful day! My dear childhood friends, Veronica and Renee came over. Here is Renee with my sister and her new little one, London.
Veronica's precious little girl, Zoey :)
Oh teeny tiny babies! 3 weeks old here:
Veronica and I with her daughter:
And my Mama with baby London:
It was a delightful day - laughing, eating, coffee drinking good times. I had to steal all these photos from my mom as I have yet to get the pictures I took off of Matt's camera...

Speaking of - I had the hardest time being away from my hubby! It was like, 58 hours of no communication as he was out of reception out by Mt. Rainer with his brother. They had an awesome time and he had some great photos too, so maybe I will talk him into doing a blog post :)

We feel so blessed by the second car, too. It runs wonderfully and the A/C is freezing cold! Thank you, Lord :) My sister is so generous...

We have a busy week ahead as we prepare for the upcoming trip to Montana. I am so excited!!

Happy Tuesday, all :)

WOOO!

I am really excited about our trip "home" this weekend. Matt is all packed for his camping trip with the guys - he is really looking forward to it. I am giddy to be able to spend a day with dear girlfriends and my sister and mom! Matt picks me up from work this afternoon and awaaaay we will go!

We leave for this trip really hopeful for what is to come. Matt had an interview this morning with a solid company and it went great. Pray for this job - he really wants it! It would work well with his school schedule too.

I will be driving back by myself on Sunday night as he will drive separately on Monday. My sister is graciously letting us use her old Camry. It will be strange to have two cars again! :) Pray for traveling mercies for both of us!

My camera is going to get repaired, so I am bringing Matt's point and shoot. I hope you all have great weekends. I think we may be the only folks from Tri-Cities that are leaving on "boat race weekend" here. It is insane with the crowds and heat here, so I am happy to go where it is cooler...

Woooo I love FRIDAYS!

Confession

It was 95 degrees out last night and I did not feel hungry.

After a tough day, we decided on Dairy Queen Blizzards for dinner.

(I'm SO bad!)

Georgia Mud Fudge for me, Oreo Cheesequake for him...and we used a Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupon.

Tonight: salads for dinner. (maybe)

;)

Busy, Busy

Whew it feels like there is a lot going on right now! Also, a lot of answers to prayer. I am so grateful and hopeful for the things to come.

God has a sense of humor. We go and buy a little car to share, and then my sister says we can also use her Camry that they don't need anymore! So, we will be making a trip to Western WA this weekend so I can pick it up, and so Matt can get some camping time in with his brother. He is really excited for the trip, and I am really looking forward to some family and friend time!

More provision: for the past month, we have had a house guest. He is an old friend of Matt's that started a new job out here, and will be moving his family here next month. So for all of July he has been looking for a place to rent and found the place recently. He also insisted on paying us for his stay. This gift will translate into a little getaway for us to Montana next weekend. I was not sure we could go because of car issues and a lack of funds and now we have both! Thanks God!

More answers to prayer: Matt decided on a grad school! I am so excited for this journey of his. Once he gets things all squared away with the school, we will share more about it. If things go as planned, he will start August 23rd. Matt is still looking for a part-time or full-time job too, so please pray for all applications that he has out there right now :)

So we are gearing up - for his grad school (overhauling the office to make it a place he can really work in), our yard project is in full swing (fixing some finicky sprinkler issues and hauling out more weeds and such) and we are getting the Bronco fixed to sell it. It feels good to take action with all this stuff.

Still trying to work on the details for a marathon. Since it will be Matt's first we want it to be a special one, and we want to register for one soon so that we have a goal in site. The only drawback to the DC one is that we would have to do some fund raising for the charity partner (which should not be a draw back at all - it is for Africa, but I do worry about how much time and effort it will take....)

So, that is the update. I am giddy with joy over the upcoming trips home and to MT. I really need a vacation!

Happy Tuesday, all ;)

Yard Progress!!

I loves this face of Matt's:
We made some great progress on the yard yesterday - and have the mild sunburns to prove it!
Our good friend, Clint, helped us haul some rock to outline the yard.
I weeded when I was not taking self-portraits of myself :)
It was A LOT of work, but oh so worth it.
Go Matt!
To be continued...
I hope you are all enjoying your weekends. This post was primarily for Matt's folks in Germany to see, as it is their lawn we are working on :)

Next: Some indoor chores and a coffee date. Woo hoo I love the weekends!

Friday Reflections

Where did this week go? I have meant to write often but it just got away from me. I also really really miss my camera working. Pictures tell stories much better than I can write them.

Things are pretty crazy right now. So many things are swirling around my head it is hard to write about it all in one post, but here are a few thoughts...

I was saddened to hear about the bombing in Uganda's capital during the World Cup game last Sunday. A young American was killed who was working for Invisible Children. I have spent time in Kampala, and when I saw the images on TV of some familiar places there, it broke my heart. Please be praying for Uganda.
I can't believe that I came home from my trip there two years ago now. How time flies. I would love to go back to Africa someday - what an amazing place!

The heat here means quieter evenings at home in our air conditioning, it seems. I have enjoyed cooking fun dinners this week - last night we had zucchini corn cakes with feta:Matt and I talk a lot about life stuff, trying to figure out some of it. He is looking for work like crazy, narrowing down his school selections, and we hopefully will decide on a marathon soon. The big issue with it is the cost, location, and whether or not we will be free that time of year. You have to sign up months in advance and that can be hard too.

We have talked a lot about justice issues this week. We are appalled that some places make hiring decisions based on your credit report. In THIS economy? Completely unfair! I have great credit but this still ticks me off. People still want to work. I really appreciate how Matt addresses issues as he can - for example, a young driver in our neighborhood is always flying by our house waaay to fast. So, Matt went over and introduced himself to the parents and expressed his concern. I admire his initiative there - and it could potentially save a life.

We are eagerly looking forward to the weekend - date night, some chores, and rest. Bring it on!

Have a great weekend all!

New Things

Yeah so Friday night - the car broke down! I was SO grateful that we had some cars lined up to look at, because our Bronco needs some work. Too bad it was 103 degrees out when it did. I was so irritable, so grateful to get home to air conditioning and an ice cold coke with my hubby. We sipped our cokes - the real sugar kind, in the glass bottle - and just prayed that something would work out.

Something did: we got to borrow a car all weekend, which meant we got to go to a wedding. We danced our socks off! I found this on Facebook of us; I had a total blast with my dancing partner!We had a blast Saturday and Sunday was great as it was fun and relaxing. A productive but restful day :)

I took today off. We had to take care of some car stuff, and it was a blessing to have some more time to just rest.

We got a package in the mail today from Matt's folks:
A dagger, yeah!! Hee. Matt loved it. I got some cute goodies too. Such a treat!

OK are you ready to meet our new car, a 1995 Subaru Legacy with 77K miles on it:
Uh oh. It came with a Jesus fish on it. We need to be good drivers now! Joking...the guy we bought it from was great. He cut us a sweeeet deal. We are so grateful!
So we just feel really blessed. We have one big thing on our list figured out. Next: picking Matt's grad school...

I hope you all had a great day!

Kisses

With the craziness we had this week, this is all I want to do all weekend...kissy kiss kiss!

It is no secret that I am indecisive. We have to figure out what to do soon about a marathon, a car, vocations, family time, and finding balance.

Matt and I have been talking, praying, researching, and reading all week on these things:

* schooling options for him to help the job search. We have pretty much decided on an online master's program - and now just trying to figure out how to pay for it and pick the program. Matt is really excited about it, so I am happy for him :)

* running a marathon. We both can SO use some success in our life. A marathon is great for runners, as the feeling of accomplishment carries over into every area of you life. So far, we have some great connections to do the Marine Corps Marathon on Oct 31 in DC. We have flight passes we need to use up, places to stay, and know our way around. We would run with a charity partner, so it would mean some fund raising, but we are up to the challenge! We will know more on this by next week, hopefully...

* a car. This is news to many, but our main car is having troubles :( We need to find something smaller and more gas efficient, and soon too. Not sure where to start. We hope to find a "Dave" car locally... (cheap cheap!)

* vocations. My winery contract is through August 27th, with potential to renew. I would like to find something closer to home, Matt would like to find something at least part-time while he is in the MBA program. We are trying to stay positive, and humor it - but sometimes we are like, "what gives?! We are fun, educated, talented, hard workers!!" boo. We have to remind ourselves that we are not what we do - we are not "doings" but "beings". Amen.

Anyhoo, so that is what is on our plate currently. It is pretty overwhelming sometimes. That is why all I want to do this weekend is some laundry and cuddling with my hubby!!

Have a great weekend, all!

Family Fun

So I still am not really taking photos, but I ones from my mom and my hubby! I had to include a photo for Matt's parents of how BIG their granddaughter is getting! :)

We had *the best* time. Car rental, gorgeous drive over Chinook Pass, family time all day Saturday and Sunday, fireworks and food, baby-holding and happy sighs.

It seriously went by too fast.

I cried and cried when we got home. We don't have any family out here and four hours away from where everyone we love is hard. :(

I am bouncing back, little by little today - the weekend was such a gift but so sad it is over. We are planning another getaway at the end of July, so that will be nice.

I hope you all had a great Fourth!

The Happies of Fridays!

Isn't the happiest of all days of the week the one where you leave work for a few days and go spend some time with your favorite people?

I am REALLY excited about a long weekend. You see, I have not had a vacation since our honeymoon in November and not been able to accumulate any leave from work yet. SO - I will take a three-day weekend!

It was one of those weeks where we had a lot of fun but are just juggling so much to figure out. We did not get in to the San Fran marathon as we had hoped to, so now we are needing to find a fall marathon event to run in. Right now we are leaning towards running the Marine Corps Marathon with a charity - a great opportunity to get back to DC, and to make a difference. We are praying about what to do, we just know we need to do a marathon together this fall :) We have so much to be thankful and grateful for, life feels full to overflowing. God is so good :)

I hope you all have a great Fourth of July weekend - we are renting a car and heading over the mountains to where our families are this long weekend. I will back up on Tuesday with, hopefully, some photos...

...and I want to say thank you to the special friend that made going on this getaway this weekend possible!!

A Homemade Headboard

My husband and I like to sit up in the mornings and drink coffee while reading a devotional together. We've needed a nice comfy headboard for awhile now. I finally got around to purchasing some soft white fabric and a piece of foam. Earlier this week we purchased a piece of plywood, and had it cut to fit the foam.

So, Matt emailed me these pictures today - the finished product! He assembled a couple pieces of wood onto the back of it to prop it up and - now we have a headboard!
I will fix on some buttons eventually, but we were after comfort first...
Yippie!!!! Total cost: $19 fabric, $20 for the foam, and $15 for the plywood. = totally worth every penny!

Thank you Matt for installing it for us! And, for making our bed so nice. Wow it looks good :)

We are gearing up to drive home tomorrow night. I am writing out my packing list...

Welcome, July...and a special welcome to London Grace, a new 8lb baby girl born to my dear friend Renee this morning! I will get to hold her this weekend :)