Backyard Blooms

Here is another tour of our yards and the many plants that are blooming and coming to life. I'm sorry if you're not really into plants, but most of my family and friends won't get to see my home in real life so this blog is how I can show them. I will eventually post some inside pictures too, I promise, but the outside is so much more interesting these days :) 

This canopy plant just kind of exploded into this size one day!

I know it's hard to believe, but there are over 12 trees in this one picture. I counted.

Chives in bloom

I went out to take pictures of the yard and Sky felt left out. He wanted his picture taken too.

This tree turned orange and then red...looks almost like Fall.

The smallest tree in the yard...taken out later that day.

Mint has taken over the garden! That stuff is everywhere.

Grape vine growing on the fence.

Hopefully you can see the tree in the corner of our yard is HUGE!

Horse chestnut tree; one of 2 in the yard.

Roses are finally blooming. So pretty!

Pretty flowers thanks to my Mom!

Who will join me for a picnic? This is under the trees in the back of the yard.

Literally didn't know this tree existed until I went to take pictures last weekend.

More flowers on the back deck.

Strawberry plant. I'm ready to eat some strawberries!

Skywalker

Today was a great day for our family because...we got a puppy!! :) His name is Skywalker, but we'll call him Sky. He is 5 months old and though he's pretty big, he's still really playful and a little wild at times. Thankfully, the previous owner started training with him, so he's really good at sit, stay, lay down and working on catching frisbees. 

I came home from work really sick today, but a new puppy has a way of making you forget how crummy you feel. What a fantastic way to wake up from a drug-induced nap!

Mr. Sir kept hiding from Sky, while Kabie growled and hissed.

Going for the treat in my hand.

He wouldn't come down from this post.

I was starting to feel sick again, but I like this one of Sky.

He desperately wants to be a lap dog. It's precious and painful.

He's got SO much energy. Sitting still is really hard work for him.

He was yawning, but I like to think this is his excited face :)

Sweet puppy dog, we love you already.

I never dreamed that I would have 3 pets at this point in my life. Looks like my animal-loving husband is really rubbing off on me. I'm looking forward to feeling better so I can go on walks and play with this guy soon. 

Oh, funny story...Kory texted his family telling them that he just posted a video on Facebook of the newest Mereness. This lead to some confusion about us having a human child instead of one of the canine variety. Oops! :)

Spring is in the Air

I am posting this from my Blogger app on my phone for the first time, so I am not really sure how this will look once it is posted.

I just want to share some pictures of the trees and flowers in bloom all around our house. Spring was the perfect time for us to move in here!

April Update

Here's a quick update on life in Oregon:

1. We moved into our first house! There were over 20 people who helped us and it was really a fun day :) We had so much help that the moving went really quickly and people ended up unpacking a lot of our stuff too. By the end of this week, we should be totally unpacked and settled. I'm hoping to spend this weekend doing some outside garden/yard stuff, and I am really excited for that! I keep getting giddy about the little things...like parking my car in a garage for the first time.
2. Tonight, I'm starting a Beth Moore Bible Study with our women's ministry. My two best friends from church are doing it with me too, so I am really looking forward to it. Most of my church activities are focused on teenagers, so I'm thankful for this opportunity to focus on my own spiritual life. It is at the same time that Kory has a guys Bible study at our house, so that works out perfectly where we don't have to spend more nights apart than we do currently.
3. We got some sad news yesterday at the vet's office when we found out our cat, Kabie, has feline leukemia. This is a virus that attacks the cat's immune system and leaves it unable to fight off many diseases and other viruses. Our other cat, Mr. Sir, has not contracted it and the vet doesn't believe he will since Kabie has likely had it for over a year and she hasn't given it to him yet. Unfortunately, this means Kabie can't be an outside cat, like we hoped. We don't want to risk exposing other cats to this virus and her weakened immune system means she would probably pick up other dangerous diseases if exposed to them outside.
   
   It isn't likely that she will die soon, but the vet did say this will ultimately shorten her life span. This is probably part of the reason she is so lethargic and fat...she just lays around all day, because she is sick :( I feel really bad now that we haven't been very nice to her--we just thought she was lazy and fat! haha She really isn't very friendly, but now that we know she's sick, I have much more compassion towards her. I still really want Mr. Sir to get to be outside as much as possible. I know he'd love the trees and animals and grass in our big backyard!
   
   Kabie doesn't seem to be suffering at all right now. If she starts to, we plan to end her pain peacefully before it gets bad. When talking to the vet yesterday, she told me she doesn't think it's a good idea to let the cats outside because there are dogs/bigger animals and cars could hit them and it's just really too dangerous. I think she's lost perspective on the fact that they are animals! I would be SO sad if either cat was killed, but I think their quality of life would be so much better playing outside rather than spending their life indoors looking out the window.
4. One more thing about Kabie...that chunky girl is over 21 lbs now!! haha She is huge! Sadly, she can't really groom herself or jump much at all, so she's going on a strict diet ASAP.
5. Things at my work have been really busy for about the past 3-4 months, and it's just now starting to slow down a bit. Any time I'm tempted to complain about how much I have to do or how I don't want to do any of it, I'm quickly reminded by our lobby full of customers that there are a lot of people here who would gladly take my job in a heartbeat. It doesn't always motivate me, but at least I realize I need to keep my whining to myself :)
6. We had a beautiful winter in Roseburg this year...lots of sunshine and mild temperatures. Spring, however, has been crazy crazy rainy!! The month of March set a new record for the most rainfall in one month here. I still love the rain after spending most of my life in a drought, so you won't hear me complaining about how wet it is...I am always thankful to fall asleep listening to the rain. I do look forward to some summer sunshine though!

...a new car!!!

I hope you read it in Bob Barker's voice (from the Price is Right) like I did when I typed it :)

God has really blessed us and provided the means for us to get a new (used) car yesterday! 

Ideally, we wanted Kory to have another SUV or pickup, but this was a more affordable option for us since we're also buying a home in the next few days. 

It is a 2010 Toyota Camry and our youth group kids have let us know that it is officially a "mom car." That's especially funny since this is what Kory will be driving. 

Now the plan is to sell Kory's 4Runner and get moved into our new house! :) We should sign papers Monday and move in later in the week, probably Thursday. Kory is off work all next week so it will be perfect timing for him to clean and pack our apt and get his car clean and ready to sell. Normally, I think I'd rather be at home than at work, but this week, I think I've got the better deal. haha

New Years Goals Update

Since we are two months into 2012, I thought it was about time to give an update on my life and goals for this year.

I just finished book number 3, The Last Juror by John Grisham. I love all of Grisham's books that I have read so far and have another one I found recently that I will start in the next week or so. This means I have 10 months left in the year to read 9 books. I'm feeling pretty good about this one.

I made my first baby sewing project for Jacinda and her son, Judah. I saw the idea online to make burp rags out of cloth diapers since they are super absorbent already. When I found this great baseball material, I knew I could make these plain cloth diapers look cute. The lines aren't perfectly straight by any means, but I am really pleased with the way these turned out.

Last night, my friend Florence came over and taught me to crochet again. I am just practicing the stitches right now but it is going pretty well so far. She has a great book with pictures to teach you every single step, so I am hoping to find a copy of it for my own use. Here are a few practice rows I made last night.

I guess our big goal for 2012 was to buy a house and we are getting really close to finalizing that! The house is being appraised this week, we have given our 30 days notice to move out of our apt and hopefully we will be official homeowners in just a few weeks!

Menu Planning

I am attempting to become more organized in several ways this month. The first is that I have started meal planning for the first time in my life. I am on week #2 now where I plan the entire week's meals ahead of time and buy all the groceries in one trip. Here are what the last two menus have looked like:

Week 1

Sunday: Youth Group Super Bowl Party

Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Lemon Garlic Chicken with Roasted Green Beans and Potatoes

Wednesday: Pizza and Salad (We host the High School Boys Small Group at our place every Wed. so this is a constant each week for a while)

Thursday: Creamy Pork Chops with Roasted Veggies

Friday: Ginger Strip Steak, Rice and Vegetables

Saturday: Date Night/Eat Out

Week 2

Sunday: Roast, Carrots and Potatoes

Monday: Creamy Pork Chops with Roasted Veggies (Kory ended up hanging out with high schoolers last Thursday and I ate a PB sandwich, so we still had these ingredients left over)

Tuesday: Stuffed Pasta Shells, Garlic Bread, Salad, Cheesecake filled Strawberries

Wednesday: Pizza and Salad

Thursday: Fajitas, Chips and Guacamole

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Broccoli and Cheese Soup, French Bread

This has been great for several reasons: 1) We have not eaten out (except when planned) because we've already had the groceries at home. 2) I've tried several new recipes and am learning to be a better cook. 3) I don't have to stop by the grocery store or come up with a meal after work when I'm already tired. 4) We only have to cook 4-5 nights a week, and since I have a husband who loves to cook (Thank you, Jesus!), he does at least half the cooking.

It hasn't been perfect though: 1) I haven't really picked super healthy meals for us, though there are a lot of salads and more vegetables than I've ever eaten in my life.  2) The second week was pretty expensive because almost every dish was meat-based and that made it pretty pricey.

I am taking baby steps. Eventually, I'd like to base this around what food is on sale that week or what I have coupons for, but I'm not quite that advanced yet. I'd also like to add some recipes that are healthier (maybe even some vegetarian meals?), but that will also come with time. So far, I'm just excited to be taking this big step.

My plan is to keep better track of these recipes by printing them out (almost all were found online), attaching a picture of the meal, and then making notes about what we liked or what we would change the next time we made it. I'll do a blog soon with some of the new recipes I've tried…and some advice on how to make them not turn out like mine did! :)