We had a great Thanksgiving visiting my parents on the coast! Casey and Jenn were there, and we had lots of good family time – eating tacos, seeing a play at the Newport community theater, watching the new “Murder On the Orient Express,” and taking many naps. We drove home on Sunday and went out to the farm to check on the chickens, and found a big surprise! A bear had gotten past the sliding barn door and into the big plastic bin holding the chicken feed. The empty bin was in the yard with some big bite marks on it! The door had some scratches as well. Aaron even used a “peppery” feed that’s supposed to repel animals. But all the chickens were safe in their coop next door, so we were thankful for that!
We adopted three chickens from the B&B – Lady, Gardener, and Tweet Tweet – names courtesy of our nephew Little Aaron. They are very sweet! Aaron and I have a history with one of them – about a year ago, a possum broke into their pen in the middle of the night at the B&B and was munching on the tail of Lady! She was in shock – it was the strangest sight, seeing her (by flashlight) standing in total stillness while this possum, face covered in blood, was attacking her! While Aaron ran to get a shovel, the possum jetted off. Lady recovered, and she’s now happily living her best life at the farm, shortened tail and all!
Aaron’s going to do a blog post at some point about this (he’s working so hard right now – got up at 3:30 this morning to do Cyber Monday sales for The Fruit Company) but I wanted to post a few pictures of his handiwork. He constructed an amazing feed and watering system for the chickens. For the water, they peck in the little orange bowls, and water comes out. He rigged it up with a weight that comes through the mesh windows of their coop and goes up/down based on how much water is in the PVC pipes, so we can see how empty or full it is without going in, unscrewing the cap, etc. Handy!
Another hiccup on our way – after setting up our mailbox at the top of the driveway where there was already an existing mailbox post and newspaper box, we were told the mail lady doesn’t drive down one-lane roads (which ours is) and we would need to put one up at the top of the hill in front of our neighbor’s house. So after meeting our neighbors and asking their permission, we put together a new mailbox post. Aaron did most of the work on this, and it turned out great! My do-it-right-and-by-the-rules hubby looked up all the USPS specifications for our specific location and built an apocalypse-ready mailbox post. Here’s a photo of him and his handiwork!
We are now living full-time at the farm! It’s been a big transition, but we are glad to be in one place and not having to drive back-and-forth so often. The last haul in getting the RV ready was a long one. In summary, we ripped all of the old carpet out, put down Pergo floors  (we so appreciated Aaron’s dad’s help on the trim – he had all the right cutting tools to make it easy!) and tiled the tiny bathroom. We cleaned everything top to bottom and then moved in on a Friday afternoon a few weeks ago.
The tiny space hasn’t actually been the hardest part of the move – it’s been all the problems we’ve run into along the way! The little refrigerator stopped working, so we bought a used full-sized one on Craigslist for $150. It took us most of a day to go look at that, get it loaded, unloaded, take the doors off to get it into the farmhouse, and then get everything moved over from the old fridge into the new one. Then we were having problems with the heater, so we bought a space heater. Then we had problems with the water pump, so Aaron’s working on replacing that. Each of these issues has taken a day or two, and when we are trying to work on these on Sundays on the weekends, it’s taken quite a while.
Since we moved in, I’ve been trying to make everything feel more homey. I added some little bulb lights to the bedroom, and put a bunch of peel-and-stick hooks around for towels, keys, etc.
It was so fun to get our wedding photos back yesterday – we sat on the couch together and got teary thinking about what a special day that was. Thank you to Megan Holloway who took such beautiful, light-filled pictures for us!
Some of my favorite things as I look back through them:
- The wooden ring box Aaron made, with the inscription on the inside that matched what my great-grandpa wrote for my great-grandma when he gave her the same ring.
- The bridesmaids dresses, flower girl dress, and ring bearer’s suit my mom made. I loved the colors so much!
- The beautiful cake Aaron’s mom made. It was just what I envisioned.
- The garter and little white Bible that my mom and grandma both wore/carried at their weddings.
- The ladder from our farm that Bethany used to put such a beautiful backdrop for the ceremony site together.
- Our fun getaway bus – Luna. We realized that the initials in the laurel of our programs spell out most of Luna’s name… so she was meant to be.
I can’t believe it’s almost September. It feels like summer flew by! I start another school year at PLU tomorrow, and can’t wait. We have a fun new cohort, and I get to teach them their first class – always a good time. If there’s anything I wish I’d known four years ago when I started here, it would be to trust that IT WILL GET EASIER. I thought I’d drown in my first year of teaching… I remember working 10-12 hour days every weekend trying to get my lesson plans ready. My goal was to stay two weeks ahead of the class! Now I’ve taught some classes 7 or 8 times, and others 4 times… it’s so much easier now that I’m tweaking the material I’ve already worked on for several years.
Aaron and I have been working hard on the RV over the last few weeks. We’ve been driving out to Buckley after work and putting in several hours before the sun goes down and we lose the light. We are only a few boards away from finishing the Pergo floors we put down after ripping out all the old carpet. It wasn’t until after we’d made quite a bit of headway that we realized the RV was constructed by nailing down all the fixtures on TOP of the carpet. So pulling it out with pliers, boxcutters, etc. was a task. We are thankful for my parents who came up and spent a long weekend helping us! We were also surprised at how long it’s taken us to put the flooring down… pretty much every board (with the exception of a select few down the center) has custom cuts. For reference, it’s taken us about 50-60 hours to do the flooring. But we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now! The bathroom was also carpeted (ew!) and we’ll put down some white penny tile in there. Then I want to deep clean, maybe paint if we have any energy left, and then move in! I’m hoping we can do that and get the Tacoma house listed within a month. It will be so good to be out at the farm – I don’t think I’m going to mind being in the RV… I’m kind of looking forward to being a minimalist and having less to clean/maintain. Let’s see if I change my tune in 6 months. 🙂
Other happenings over the summer:
- My mom and I got rear-ended in a pretty bad car accident that totaled my mom’s SUV. We were waiting to turn left and the driver in the truck behind us was distracted – he rammed in to us without any breaks at about 45 MPH. Thankfully, no one was hurt, although it was pretty scary.
- My mom got diagnosed with shingles the same day we were in the car accident. It’s been really painful for her – she has chronic pain from the car accident that crushed her foot about 8 or so years ago, and she doesn’t complain about that – so I know when she says she’s hurting, she’s really hurting. She’s on Neurontin now, and says that’s made a lot of difference. We are praying for a quick recovery.
- Aaron and I watched the eclipse from the farm. We were in about the 98% zone, and it was so fun to see if get dark enough that the outside lights came on.
- We found an amazing heritage blueberry bush on the farm that is still producing delicious little berries, even without any maintain for the last 10+ years!
- Today we came back from a great long weekend in Sunriver with my parents, Casey and Jenn, and Jenn’s parents George and Becky. Casey and Jenn are thinking of moving to Bend area, and we had fun driving around and looking at property with them, visiting Sparks Lake, throwing the ball way out into the water for the pups (my parents brought Sadie too), having peaches and ice cream, and staying up late playing Balderdash.
I’m so excited for fall. The hot weather here has me down! PLU is very connected to it’s Scandinavian Lutheran heritage, and one of the things they celebrate is “hygge” – trounced “hoo-gah.” It’s a Danish word that means “cozy,” “connected,” “content,” etc. There are 10 principles to hygge:
- Atmosphere – turn down the lights, use candles and lamps, etc.
- Be here now – turn off your phone.
- Pleasure – bake cookies, have a piece of chocolate, etc.
- “We over me” – share the tasks and air time.
- Gratitude – take joy in daily life.
- Harmony – no need to brag, it’s not a competition.
- Comfort – put on sweatpants, curl up in a quilt.
- Truce – strive for peace and no drama.
- Togetherness – build close relationships and narratives. “Do you remember the time we…?”
- Shelter – this is your tribe and place of safety.
Isn’t that a good manifesto for the end of 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
- Â 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)
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!
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!
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!