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poulsbo

Family, Farm

Happy New Year!

January 6, 2019

It’s been a busy last couple of weeks for us, as I’m sure it’s been for everyone! It seems like the holidays came and went so quickly this year. 

Farm Updates:

We had some pretty stressful events unfold at the farm before we left for Christmas. One morning, we drove out to let the chickens out (we do that at least every other day), and immediately saw that someone had turned around in the driveway as there were muddy tracks off the path. Aaron quickly went and looked in the outbuildings and saw that a door had been kicked down and quite a few of our tools stolen. We were so frustrated, because we’d unhooked our security cameras a week or two earlier when taking out the flooring and siding from the farmhouse, and had moved some things out of the more-secure house to the outbuildings as we are getting ready for demo. This was the third break-in we’d had since buying the property, which was disheartening. We filed a police report, but knew there wasn’t much they could do without video or other evidence, even though we had a few serial numbers from the items stolen. 

Later, we went to Costco and picked up some wireless security cameras and set those up in different spots around the property, and then ordered a shipping container that we will rent month-by-month until the house is redone. We decided to go ahead and leave the gate unlocked just in case they decided to come back. And then two days later, they did! The new cams picked up a truck driving into the property at 9:00 AM on Monday – I immediately called 911 and Aaron and I were able to give a good description of the thieves to the operator. We went ahead and set off the remote alarm, which scared them, and they left quickly (they were only on the property for four minutes, but were still able to grab more things). We quickly rushed out to the property and met the police there – we reviewed our video footage with them, and they were able to get a number of very specific details about the truck, even though the license plate was fuzzy. We went home, thinking they probably wouldn’t be able to find them, but were so surprised an hour later when the police called back and said they’d located the truck and wanted us to come down and ID the suspects. We met the detective at a gas station and he put us in the back of his car with the shaded windows so no one could see us and then drove us over to the truck a mile or so away. They had three suspects get out – the first two, we couldn’t ID for sure, but the third was the one we’d seen on the tapes and had described in detail to the 911 operator (we later ID’d the second one after watching the videotapes again, in which their faces were more clear). They also asked Aaron to come over to the back of the truck to visually ID our stolen items. After that, they dropped us off at our car again and we went home to fill out the statements and stolen inventory list they’d given us. We got another call later that day letting us know that they’d been able to recover quite a few of our stolen items, which we were very thankful for. 

It’s been so interesting to see this side of the justice system. We thought that would be the end of everything, but received notice by phone and mail that we have a court appointed victims advocate, with information on the defendants, their pleas (both pleading not guilty, which I’m confused about since we have clear video evidence that we’ve given to the police department), and their trial date. I hope we don’t have to testify, since this has been scary for us. The trial is set for February, so I suppose we’ll know more in the weeks between now and then. 

In better news, the chicks are growing so quickly and are almost as big as Lady & Tweet Tweet now. The older birds are so funny – since the one night, months ago, that we tried to integrate them into the same coop, L & TT won’t return back to their home to roost at night. Instead, they are trying to roost on top of some old cabinets stacked under the carport, so we always have to go find and collect them and carry them to bed. Silly birds. 

Aaron “wrapped” the bees for the winter as they were getting pretty lethargic in the cold. We bungeed a sleeping bag and tarp around them and they are doing better! Aaron also made some homemade sugar “cakes” for them and put those in for them to enjoy – they didn’t make as much honey as they needed this first year. 

We had fun visiting our home designer’s farm in Puyallup recently – she has a miniature horse named Chance who has the cutest bangs. It will be fun when we are settled at the farm and can take care of more animals! 

Poulsbo Update: 

Before Christmas, Aaron and I took a quick trip over to Poulsbo for just one night. We’d had a super stressful week, and wanted to get away for a little bit. We stayed at a sweet farmhouse AirBnB, walked around downtown Poulsbo during their Christmas festival, and read and went to bed early. The farm there had the cutest little miniature goats (why is everything cuter in miniature?) – adding those to the wish list for our farm someday. 

Christmas Update:

We spent about 10 days with my parents on the Oregon coast for Christmas, and had a great time. Casey and Jenn came up from Fresno with their two dogs, Hobie and Yuma, so along with Sadie and Fenn, we had a full house! We did lots of relaxing, playing Balderdash and Hugger Mugger, watched the first season of Making a Murderer, ate loads of good food, did a six-mile hike (challenging at almost 6 months pregnant!) down Cummins Creek Trail (helps that it was all downhill), played music together, and enjoyed being at the beach. The sunset last night was so stunning – wild, beautiful colors. And after that, dozens of boats lined up across the horizon, lights bobbing across the water – this morning at 8:00 was the start of crabbing season in Newport, so everyone was out to stake out their spots. 

We also found a great new baby store in Florence that had tons of beautiful, clean, barely used baby gear/clothing for $1-3/item. I bought $46 worth of things and left with a huge sack-full of things I loved (for example, we found a sweet pair of grey, cashmere leggings from Neiman Marcus with the tags still on for $1.99!). The store is called “Jawsome Kids Resale” in case anyone is driving through and needs good baby/kid clothing! We’re also super thankful for family members who’ve given us gently used baby gear from their own kiddos! We love hand-me-downs. Makes us feel very cared for – thank you!

Baby Update:

I am just two weeks from being six months pregnant now! I’m feeling the baby move regularly, which is fun. Aaron had his hand on my tummy the other night and she kicked so hard it startled both of us! He talks to her regularly and it could be in my mind, but I feel like she’s more active when he’s around and connecting with her. I’m so excited to see who she is when she arrives. I hope for so many good things for her, and have felt kind of sentimental lately thinking about all the things I hope she has in life. I am almost through making her a broadcloth baby quilt that I hand quilted (my first time!). I love how it’s turning out, and I hope it will be something special she can keep for a long time. 

Wishing all of you lots of peace and happiness in the year ahead!  

 

Family

Anniversary Trip

August 6, 2018

We have had a whirlwind summer. Lindsey has had extra classes to teach this summer, a book project with a colleague, and most recently a trip to visit her brother and sister-in-law in California. The farm has also kept us very busy, but more on that in another post. We did manage to get away for our one year anniversary on a fun road trip around the Olympic Peninsula.

Our first stops were the towns of Hoquiam and Aberdeen. We had seen some cute (and inexpensive) properties for sale on Zillow and were interested in the area. It is a part of Washington that neither of us had visited, and only occasionally driven through, so it was fun to drive around and see the sights. If you have followed this blog at all, you know that the last thing we need is another project, but it would be really fun to some day fix up a beach cottage or even a duplex and then rent or sell down the road.

We then headed North to Forks. The best way to get brownie points on your anniversary is visit the spot of a certain book and movie series your wife enjoys. The highlight of the northern part of the road trip was Lake Crescent. We rolled through right before sunset and the light bouncing off the water was beautiful. Definitely on the list for a future camping trip. After a stop for dinner in Port Angeles, we continued around the peninsula and south to a little town called Seabeck. Yes, we drove the entire peninsula in a day, which made for a very long day, but we were pressed to get to our Airbnb for the night.

The room we rented was a beautiful studio with a murphy bed, a small kitchen, and a huge bathroom (seriously, the bathroom was almost as big as the rest of the studio). It was incredibly well laid out and it got us thinking about how to utilize such a small space. This studio would make the folks at IKEA jealous! We also had a great note from our host wishing us a happy anniversary, along with a coffee coupon and a yummy muffin. We crawled into bed for the night… and let’s just keep it PG for our friends and family and move forward to the rest of our trip. The next morning we headed to Poulsbo and walked around all of the cute shops and stores. If you haven’t had a chance to visit, the neat Viking vibe and mix of antique shops, coastal stores, and food outlets make for a fun experience. For lunch we found a little Mexican restaurant in a tiny back alley. We were a few minutes early before they opened for lunch, but they let us come in and order and we had the whole place to ourselves. Not many things more romantic than having a private lunch in a sleepy little hidden restaurant in a cozy coastal town on a warm May day. The evening in Seabeck was peaceful and beautiful with the water right out our front door. There were several bird houses nearby and the sights and sounds of this place helped rejuvenate us for the busy summer ahead.

The next morning we headed home. We decided to get breakfast on the road but quickly discovered that several places were closed for Memorial Day and the places that were open were packed. We drove around Gig Harbor for awhile and then went to a late breakfast/early lunch at one of our favorite places, Moctezuma’s Mexican Restaurant. We drove past our old house in Tacoma on the way home and then headed back to our busy life. A short but relaxing and wonderful anniversary trip.

Lindsey wrote a Year One post awhile back and I having been thinking about what I could write in response. It is such a weird but wonderful feeling to have someone in your life that you feel is an extension of yourself. I have always been more of an introvert and typically need to recharge after spending any amount of time with people, but with Lindsey, she recharges me. I don’t feel tired of being around her or feeling like a need a break. I’m sure we will have our ups and downs as every married couple does, but after one year I can genuinely say that I am more in love with her than when we got married. She constantly makes me want to be a better person and yet is completely accepting of the person I am right now. In our first year of marriage we purchased a house, started a remodel, sold a house, bought a bus and RV, and moved multiple times; all things that could be crushing for many couples, but we made it to year one. As crazy as it has been, I wouldn’t change anything because I get wake up every morning with the love of my life. Happy Anniversary Sweetie!