Dog Pile!!

sometimes i come home from work stressed. even though i LOVE the fact that i now am working my dream job, the traffic, and long days at work, and laundry not put away after hours at the laundromat simply stress. me. out.

then the hubby calls me in from what ever i'm huffing about for a dog cuddle pile!







and then everything is better.

(and yes, i have the best hubby and dog ever. and yes, winslo smiles for the camera.)

Geocaching Adventure One

Matt and I went on our first geocaching adventure last night. For those of you unfamiliar with geocaching, it's where you follow coordinates to find cache left behind by someone using a GPS and a compass. (More information here: http://www.geocaching.com/)

With his rusty trusty iPhone as a guide, we set off!

We left a little later in the evening, and follow the directions to a near-by cemetery. It was dusk when we arrived and began our search!

This is my first find. Cool, but not the geocache we're looking for. Winslo sure was curious, though!

Oooooo... it's getting darker!

After much searching around and using our phones as flash lights, Matt found what we were looking for! Look how excited he is...


Inside the box was a scroll of paper to record our names and the date, and lots of little goodies left behind by others.


Here's what we took... a pin with a very necessary message on it.


And we left behind a Get Out of Jail Free card. Everyone needs one of those, right??


Look how dark it was when we left! Yikes!


So glad our first Geocache was a success. Much easier than my old experiences letterboxing with Angie. I'd have to say that any time you get to follow clues to find a treasure as a grown up is a good time with me! We will definatley be geocaching again... hopefully sooner than later.

Wedding Pictures!!

Our wedding pictures are officially done. There are 900 in all for us to choose from, and I really don't know how we'll go about narrowing it all down.

I can hardly believe it's been over a month since the big day. Looking at these pictures reminds me of so many little moments of the wedding day. So much time and work and stress and emotion went into this day. And now I can look at the beautiful pictures to my heart's content!!

Pictures can be seen here:
Paul Carlson Photography

I'll post more once we have the digital copies!

The Waiting Ends

Merely 15 minutes after my last post, I received a call offering me the job of my dreams.

That's right, I am now officially a teacher of babies and toddlers with disabilities. As in, a school district will finally pay me for doing what I love. I will be doing home visits three days a week, teaching parents and working with young children on meeting different goals. Then, two days a week I will teach in my OWN preschool classroom for children who are 30 to 36 months old.

That's right, I get to get paid for playing with babies. Oh my, oh my, I am so excited!

And if that weren't enough to make my day perfect, after a celebratory dinner with my parents and celebratory drinks at our favorite micro brewery, I came home to this:

That's right, my best-husband-ever finished the shelf and transfered all our books and records to it while I was at work. Doesn't it look awesome!?! I love the blue on green combo!

(oh, and a very naughty puppy who broke into our bedroom and chewed up my favorite mail organizing basket is now sleeping in the coop for the night. he had just earned house privileges while we were out, too.)

The Waiting Game

Sitting on the front porch with Winslo, waiting for the phone to ring. Still haven't heard back from what seemed like a promising interview on Friday for my ultimate dream job. They said I'd know by tomorrow, but each hour that goes by makes me a little less hopeful. Summer is winding down, and if I'm going to be teaching this fall, I need a job soon. Like this week. Especially because it's my last week of nannying before the girls go back to school.

On a lighter note, a few pictures from some fun goings-on from the past few days.

Baking party with Laura and Ally... great conversation, wine, and amazing food!


The table where the magic happened!
The chunky peanut granola that I made and have been eating for breakfast every morning. So good.



The bookshelf Matt and I rescued from the side of the road on Saturday. I painted it bright blue, and Matt add some supports to make it more steady. Finished project pictures to come...

Farmer's Market

I love visiting the Farmer's Market each Saturday. Our favorite Italian Herb Pitas can be found there, as well as farm fresh cheese, and the best eggs around. We also stock up on fruit and veggies for the week.

Despite the fact that it's been unseasonably cold lately, the market was full of color yesterday. I couldn't resist the bright purple eggplants or the quart of vibrant cherry tomatoes, in oranges greens and purples.

Matt harvested the onions and potatoes after a service project on Friday. Yay for fresh vegetables!

Love

What a perfect Friday night. Dinner with friends, then home for some quality time and Corona with Lime. It may be sweater weather here, but we'll hold onto the summer as long as possible.

It's been an eventful couple of days, with a baking party last night (pictures to come), a HUGE and hopefully successful job interview today, and general craziness of life.

Now, off to cuddle with the men in my life.

Amor y Paz

Today, Matt and I paid a long overdue visit to the Boys and Girls Club. We brought red reusable bags and tons of tempera paint and spent the afternoon creating.

Matt is going to sell these colorful bags at the farmer's market. Half of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross's Measles Initiative, the other half will provide much needed funds to Steph's art room at B&G.

We had the most hilarious and interesting conversations with the kids about what the bags are for... words like vaccinations, pre-cycle and green were tossed around. Plus, the kids were so excited to see 'Mr. Matt'.

So if you are at the Farmer's Market anytime soon, buy a bag - you'll look really cool and support two awesome causes. Although save the one with the words paz and amor, as well as a really awesome soccer ball for me

Tuesday

The hubs and I had a great conversation about this town on the long ride back from Kansas.

We made a huge pros and cons list, one for Grand Rapids and one for Toronto. Very unlike either of us... but it helped us visualize why we would want to move, and what is holding us back from taking the dive.

We ended by concluding that when we were dating and engaged, all we wanted was to have an adventure. Now, we're comfortable and secure (albeit jobless) here. And if we want to actually embrace an adventure, it's time to commit to diving in.

Kansas

Here we are.

Coffee in the morning.

Kings on the deck.

Swimming all day.