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Summer Days

July 26, 2017

It’s hard to believe it’s been two months since our wedding! Time has flown by. Some of the things we’ve been up to include:

  • A trip to Detroit the week after our wedding for my cousin Annalena’s wedding
  •  Me on my “busy” summer teaching schedule. Every other summer I teach an extra four-hour class, and this summer was the busy one for me. Next summer will be easy-peasy!
  • Getting our house ready to sell. We are going to try to move in August. We rented a storage unit and have about 30 boxes or so loaded up there
  • A trip to Seattle with some of my gal pals – we stayed in one huge room at the Hyatt and stayed up late talking, doing face masks, and eating banana bread
  • We hit some roadblocks with our bus… Aaron did tons of research making sure we’d be able to hire out for some help getting the plumbing and electrical done, but it turns out that all the places we’d looked into are booked out AND way more expensive than we were estimating. So we are going to try to do more of the work ourselves, but it will be a slower process
  • So in the meantime… we bought a $5000 RV on Craigslist. It’s a 1989 model but was owned by one person – a Boeing exec – who kept it in one of the hangars in SeaTac and only used it occasionally as a secondary office. It only has 40,000 miles on it! Aaron says the engine looks more clean than some that are five years old
  • We finally got the bathroom fixed up from the cave-in of Winter 2017. We chose a paint color that I love – not one of the original ones we were looking at – but one called Hazy Trails. It’s a really soft greenish color. I’ll post some photos of that soon

Our wedding photographer (Megan Holloway) sent us a few early photos while she’s still working on the rest – I just love them. Her style of photography is so beautiful and soft. One of my students asked the other day what suggestions I’d tell someone who’s planning a wedding. I told her to do it her way! When we were planning ours, everyone said it was crazy to make the food ourselves. It wasn’t, and it wasn’t even the most challenging part of the wedding. I actually really enjoyed planning the menu with Aaron – we wanted it to be “family food” that we’d grown up loving… soup, salad, homemade bread, homemade jam, etc. We had fun shopping for produce together, and had lots of help preparing food that weekend at Aaron’s family’s B&B. I’m glad we stuck to our guns and did that the way we wanted to! The thing I would do differently is take some time AFTER the wedding to catch our breath – we left for Ireland right away, and the next week was a whirlwind. I would’ve liked to have had a day or two to just relax.

Next up this summer is a trip to Sacramento area to visit my Grandma. My parents got her something called a “Pixstar” which is like an iPad that we can all send photos to via email. It’s unbelievably easy! And they just pop up on her screen. So she sees daily pictures of us, the farm, the dog, etc. Such a neat product!

Until the next update…

Lindsey, Aaron, & Fen (aka Peanut)

Family

A Love Letter to my Hubby

June 8, 2017

Our wedding has come and gone! That’s hard to believe. It felt like we were counting down the months – 6 months, 5 months, 4 months, and then all of a sudden that Sunday was there! It was such a special day for us. Some of my favorite moments were:

  • Our first look. Aaron cried when he saw me, and of course I cried too.
  • The little white Bible I carried that was also carried by my mom and grandma at their weddings.
  • The vintage blue garter I wore that was also worn by my mom and grandma at their weddings.
  • The stacks of old books on the reception tables.
  • The fun folk band – I loved them!
  • The cold bottles of San Pellegrino – it was toasty that day!
  • The love of friends and family who came from near and far to celebrate with us.

I’m so happy to be able to call Aaron my hubby now. He is truly the man of my dreams – so kind and thoughtful, so non-judgmental and open-hearted. God knew I needed someone just like him – he was worth waiting for.

We had a wonderful honeymoon to Ireland. We were so tired by the time we got there, we slept most of Tuesday and then started out on our driving adventure around the southern and western halves for the next few days. The best part of the trip was our one-night stay at a gorgeous castle – fancier than any hotel I’ve ever been in!

Our other big news is that we bought a bus that we’re planning on living in for the next year while we fix up the farm. Being out at the farm will make it so much easier for us to get things done. It’s been a challenge to drive 45 minutes each way for many, many appointments to which other people often show up hours late!

We are off to weddings in other parts of the U.S. for the next several weekends – I will post some photos of our bus-home progress as we get going on it! Our inspiration is the couple behind “fernthebus” on Instagram.

Happy Thursday to you!

Family, Farm

Photos by Bethany

April 29, 2017

Our sweet friend Bethany drove down from Seattle (braving Friday traffic – with her two month old, Ireland!) yesterday evening to take some pictures of Aaron and me at the farm! Bethany is one of the most creative, talented people I know – do you know anyone else who is piecing together a new quilt two weeks after having a baby? She throws floral arranging classes, does all kinds of sewing projects for her kiddos, bakes fancy things, photographs people, etc. – all while having a three year old and an infant! She is amazing.

For any of you looking for a florist or photographer for your wedding or special event, feel free to contact me for Bethany’s contact info!

Here are some of the beautiful photographs she took – ones we will love forever. Thank you, Bethany!

Family

Spring Break

April 18, 2017

Aaron’s nephew, “little” Aaron (named after him), came to visit us during his spring break! We had a great time taking him to the dog park, up to Seattle to see the space needle, and to our neighborhood treat spot – Ice Cream Social.

I’m also including a few photos from the work Dave did in our bathroom while he and Connie were visiting. Thank you, Dave, for all of your help! We bought some paint samples yesterday and are trying to decide between “sawgrass” and “campfire smoke.” We want something light and bright since the bathroom is tiny. I will post more pictures once we finish everything up!

Family

Dog Park Days

April 18, 2017

After many, many days of rainy, grey weather, we are enjoying a few sunny days! You know you’re in the PNW when it hits 55 degrees and you see people out on the streets in shorts and tube tops. We took Fen to the dog park and she had a fun time running around through the mud puddles.

Family, Farm

Yard Work

April 18, 2017

Last weekend, Aaron and I went out to the farm to trim all the brush and brambles from around the electrical cables. We are working to get electricity back on, and the company said they would be happy to come do the yard work for us – for $2500 extra dollars! We said no thanks – we can do it ourselves. 🙂 So we spent most of Sunday trying out our new buzzsaw on the end of a big stick (I’m sure there’s a more technical name for this tool). It worked great! Aaron worked hard cutting down limbs and branches, and I was the “hauler-away” person. He was impressed by my brute strength and said I am like Paul Bunyan. He is my Babe the Big Blue Ox. 🙂 Fen was “helping” by playing tug-of-war on the branches as I was trying to haul them to the pile. She LOVES life on the farm. I can’t wait to have her there full time.

Family, Farm

Connie’s Photos

April 18, 2017

Connie and Dave came up to visit us several weeks ago, and were helpful with things at our house (next steps in repairing the bathroom ceiling that fell through during the winter storms) and at the farm (trimming back branches around electrical cables). Connie took these beautiful macro photos around the property and I thought we had to share them!

Farm

Break In

March 19, 2017

We drove out to the farm this morning to check on things, and knew something was wrong as soon as we saw the gate to the driveway open. Someone cut the chain and lock with boltcutters, and kicked open the tool shed and the barn. Luckily, they didn’t seem to get into the house, and we didn’t actually see anything missing (there is so much junk there right now – nothing much of value to take!). It was strange that they likely drove in (why else break the gate – you can slip around it on the sides) but didn’t take anything that could’ve had SOME value – like the Crane sink, or the barbecue, or the riding lawnmower. We are grateful for that! We spent some time walking around to make sure everything was ok, and picked some spring flowers to take home before locking everything up again. We’ll be driving out more often to check on things – looking forward to having more happening there soon, so that it isn’t so empty!

Family, Farm

Books, Books, Books

March 18, 2017

One of the things I’m learning about Aaron is that once his interest in something is piqued, he goes 110% into research mode! In our efforts to get things going with the farm, he ordered about 40 used books on all aspects of home renovation and “green” living. He dreams of living completely off the land, wearing home-sewn clothes, canning, dehydrating pickling, and having as close to a zero impact footprint as possible! He now has a host of Excel documents detailing things like “planning out raised beds for gardening and researching companion planting techniques to maximize yield and repel pests and disease as naturally as possible.” (I just asked him to summarize this for me). 🙂

He surprised me with some books he picked out just for me as well – most on farmhouse style. He knows me well! One of my favorites is a book called “A Touch of Farmhouse Charm” by Liz Fourez – author of the blog Love Grows Wild. With all of the decor books out there, this one stands out to me because of the fun DIY projects inside! She has a whole list of things to make – from farmhouse signs, to pillow covers, to cake stands. Most of the projects are fairly simple, which I like – they can be done in a few hours! And the instructions are clear and easy to follow. Between work, farm, and wedding planning, there isn’t much time for additional things, so I’m looking forward to summer when life will be lighter and we can do some fun projects together.

Farm

Second Use

February 18, 2017

Happy Sabbath! We are enjoying a quiet, rainy day here in Tacoma.

Progress on the farm seems to be slow… there are so many questions that are constantly popping up, and they all seem to depend on answers we don’t yet have. The farmhouse is originally a two bed, one bath home – so, tiny! We’ve been working on drawing up plans for several months now (many, many versions of plans) that add several more bedrooms and bathrooms to make it more of a family home. We are fine with the rooms being small – that’s part of what we like about the original home. But the additions we want need approval from an engineer because they would significantly change the layout and weight of the home.

Aaron scheduled a meeting with an engineer in Lakewood for yesterday morning. We asked Aaron’s dad, Dave, and my mom to come up to be at the meeting with us, as both of them have a lot of experience in different areas of home building and design. We couldn’t believe it when Dave called us on Thursday night and said there was a huge landslide on I-5 and he would be delayed by several hours. He waited, and waited, and waited in traffic to get off of the freeway and try to find another way around… and after many hours finally decided to turn back home. We were disappointed that he couldn’t make it up, but understood that it didn’t make sense for him to keep pushing north when there were so many delays. Then we got another phone call about an hour later – Dave was in a car accident that totaled his car! We felt so badly that this happened, especially as he was making such an effort to come help us at the appointment. Thankfully, Dave is ok and doesn’t have any physical injuries from the crash, even though it shattered his windshield and deployed his airbag!

The three of us – Aaron, my mom, and I – met with the engineer yesterday morning to talk about the options for the house. It was a helpful appointment, but like the ones before, left us with more questions than answers! There are all sorts of things we have to consider now – if you change more than 50% of a house in WA, you have to update the whole house to current standards/codes. Of course we want the house to be safe – but that means a lot of things, like changing the staircase to be a bit wider on each step and less steep… something that could cost several thousand dollars with moving walls, etc. to accommodate the new  set-up. As Aaron says, “it’s one of those spiraling things…” Each change leads to more changes we have to make!

So our next steps mean that we need to assess for several things before deciding what changes to make on the house. Even though the original foundation to the house is in solid condition, we would have to supplement it to do the additions we hope for. This means having a crew come in and lift the house, pour additional concrete foundation around the post and pier, and then set the house back down. This is an expensive process, and can run between $10,000 – $20,000! So we need a quote on exactly what that would cost. We also need to have someone come out to assess the septic to see if we need to replace that with the new bedroom additions, and we need someone to check our spring water to see if it’s usable as is or if we’ll need to dig a well.

In the meantime, we are enjoying driving out each weekend to check on things… a few weeks ago, we planted several hundred daffodil bulbs that my dad gave us. It will be fun to see those spring up sometime soon. One of my students who knows we are working on the farm suggested we visit a store in Seattle called “Second Use Building Supplies” – we went last weekend and had so much fun! We will have. definitely be checking back regularly to see what they have. Some of the things that caught our eye were:

  • Fir flooring that would match the original fir floors in the farm
  • An old Crane sink – similar to the original one at the farm – for a hefty price! Makes us sure we want to clean ours up and use it!
  • An old, 42-inch front door salvaged from a 1906 Capitol Hill house in Seattle
  • Several multi-faucet trough sinks
  • A clawfoot tub
  • A gorgeous Viking range – it had already sold when we saw it, and had three “waitlist” tags on it!

The best news is that they just put a Second Use store in Tacoma – just a few miles away! So we’ll be checking in there regularly as well. I’m realizing that I’m kind of a “bargain bragger…” If someone likes something I paid full price for, I usually respond with a quiet “thank you.” But if someone compliments something I got a great deal on, it’s like “THANKS!!! You’ll never guess how much I paid for this?! It was such an amazing deal!!! Let me tell you about it!!!” I’m looking forward to what will be the most fun of this whole process for me – finding great deals on home things that I love! 🙂