Summer 2012

June 1 always feels like the beginning of summer to me.  Even though I know officially it doesn't start until the 20th and besides the fact that it is actually raining today, which doesn't feel very summery at all.  I still get into summer warm-up mode once June 1 rolls around.

Last summer I really liked my to-do list that I made for myself.  It was a great check-list that kept me honest.  This year I have made another list and I am looking forward to crossing items off one by one as the warm weeks go by!

So here goes my summer 2012 to-do list:

1. De-Clutter my House.  I feel like the chawtch-keys are swallowing me alive!  I want some more clean lines!

2. Get my bike fixed.  At the very beginning of fall last year, Nora and I took a bike ride and I popped both tires, officially ending my biking season with a bang! Now I want to get that fix and hit the road again.

3. I want to go some place new.  I know this is somewhat nebulous but I have some time off this summer and I don't want to be at home the entire time so I want to get creative, find a new, fun, inexpensive place to go and see.

4. Make curtains for the dinning room and/or play room.  Both areas need new curtains, Dodger chewed up the gross plastic vertical blinds, all the more enforcing the point that new curtains are needed.  Whether I can get to both rooms remains the question.

5.  Visit our friends the Slagles.  They recently moved to beautiful Redding, CA and have extended the invitation numerous times to come visit so I totally want to pick a weekend and point the car north!

6. And most importantly, eat as much ice cream as possible! A summer favorite!

Once in a Lifetime

Last weekend I made Overnight Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread.  The only reason I blog about this is not to boast but to remind myself in years to come about how there was one time when I did something nice for my family on a Saturday morning!

She doesn't usually eat shirtless but this was too sticky, messy and wonderful to eat with a shirt on!

8 is Great!

Last month Paul and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary!  Unlike last year we thankfully had no life threatening events or marriage busting circumstances.  We stayed in Morro Bay, visited Hearst Castle, were tourists in San Luis Obispo and ate lots of good food all along the way!

Uncharacteristically, I only took a few pictures of our weekend away.

Here they are!

 Hearst Castle

 Ocean views for miles

8 is oh so great!

A Little Whimsy

On a less spiritual note...I had to show our visit from the Easter Bunny!

He left huge foot prints all throughout our house!

Leading to Nora's Easter basket.

As you can see, she was very excited about what he left for her!

He Has Risen!

He Has Risen Indeed!

Happy Easter to you all!

What a wonderful day of celebrating what Jesus did for us so many years ago!

Our hope and prayer is that Nora will understand and appreciate this day not only for the people we celebrate with, parties we get to have and peeps we get to consume but also for the true significance of this day and what it means for our eternal life.

Praying before eating our Easter feast!


The hunt!

Oh how big they are getting, not that long ago they had to be propped on the grass next to us to get a good Easter photo, now we have to pick them out of trees!

To be honest, Nora had to be placed into this tree, she wasn't a willing participant but I bribed her with chocolate and she went with it.

I'm sure Jesus was proud!

Tuckered out after a long day of celebrating!

The Bunkie!

Ever since we saw an episode of Sarah's House where she convinced her husband to build her a bunkie on their vacation island, I have wanted a bunkie in our backyard. A bunkie is a little room for overnight guests that is simple, no plumbing, just a beautiful place to sleep. We had a shed in our backyard that I would go out to, examine and then come back inside and tell Paul that our shed could totally become our bunkie! He would look, we would talk, I would beg and then entered Father Paul. Father Paul (Paul's dad) has been living with us during the week while he is doing a house remodel nearby. I told him my vision for our shed, he shook is head, said it would always be a shed but that it could be done. Thus started our shed to bunkie remodel which started in October 2011 and now I am happy to say is 99% done!

Take a look at the progression...

The clean out

Interior

Insulation

Sheetrock

Tape & Texture

Painted blue

New flooring

In action!

We decided to make this space Paul's office, which in the long run really does make sense.

I still need to accessorize, hang pictures, get an office sign etc. but it is definitely functional in the meantime!

Exterior paint and our bunkie (office) is no longer a shed. The part that makes this job only 99% finished is that, down the road, we would like to get a new door, one that would help the exterior look more like a dwelling place.

Thank you Paul for making this space so beautiful! Even if it will always be a shed in your eyes you did an amazing job transforming it into something special in ours!

An All-Around Lucky Day!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

What a fun day we had making an Irish feast, spending time with good friends and feeling all-around lucky all day!

Sporting our green!

We made homemade rolls, Irish stew and potato skins!

And I say "we" loosely!

Our good friends Liam, Aaron and Carrie came over.

Carrie brought all the kiddos presents, it was such a surprise, so lucky!

The table was set.

We all got Irish names.

We all ate until we couldn't eat anymore!

And a story before bed.

What a great day!