Is that Snow?!?!

Yes, we had snow in our yard today. My DH told me that isn't very typical but then again the weather has been different all this past year. The spring was late in coming and there hasn't been as much rain as normal for the fall and winter. (Believe me I'm not complaining at all!) This weeks weather has been much colder than this sunshine girl has been use to. On Monday it never got above 30 degrees and Tuesday it didn't get above 20 degrees. As long as I layered up it was no big deal. I didn't let it stop me from talking Callie out on a walk!

Here are a few more pictures of the yard with snow!

This a picture of our backyard.

This is the path leading up to our front door.

I wish I could say I was home to witness the snow falling but I was up with my DH at his job site hanging out with him as he cleared the roads of snow. We had plenty of beautiful snow to see. We took Callie along with us and she really enjoyed playing in the snow!!

Here is a picture of our drive up to my DH's job. Breathtaking isn't it!

Honestly I can't say I mind the snow except if I have to drive on it. :)

Christmas Decorations

As a newly married couple, celebrating Christmas together for the first time, I realized we didn't have that many decorations. We are pretty much starting from scratch, which I have to admit has been fun. My DH didn't have any decoration but then again there are very few bachelors that would decorate their home for Christmas. I did bring up some ornaments that were given to me throughout the years. As a couple we did receive a few Christmas things and the most meaningful one is the Christmas tree skirt that my Grandma made for my DH and I for our new home. If you look in the picture you can see it. It is beautiful and something I know we will treasure for many years to come.

Since we have few Christmas decorations it has been fun coming up with different things to decorate the house with. Here a some pictures of the different things that I have done to add holiday cheer to our home. The theme I went with is "all natural!"

This decoration sits on my kitchen windowsill. All it is a mason jar filled with Douglas fir, cranberries, water, and a floating candle. I then added some more greenery around the base.

These candles are on the windowsill that is next to our kitchen table. (I really love having windowsills!!)

I added this basket of greenery to the inside of our front door.

This pretty green swag is hanging next to our front door. I would have liked to put right on our front door but I wasn't to keen on putting a nail in the door.

The little Christmas tree was put together from a big Douglas fir branch and then I put some red berries that I found on my walk on the little branches. The tree is sitting on a table on our front porch.

I also made a garland for the front porch railing. I'll have to post a picture of that later because my camera battery died so I wasn't able to take a picture of it.

Our Trip to the Coast

My DH had the week of Thanksgiving off so we decided to take a little trip to the coast. One of the places we decided to stop along the way was the Tillamok cheese factory. We both found it absolutely fascinating. Upstairs is a viewing window that allows visitors to view the entire cutting and packaging process of their cheddar cheese.

These are the big blocks of cheddar cheese that have been in another warehouse where they are aged. The longer they age the sharper the cheeses.

Here you can see more of the assembly line. The lady right in front is making sure all the cut cheese blocks weigh the same amount and if not she pulls them off the line and adds a thin slice of cheese to make it meet its weight.

In the middle you can see the finished packaging of the Tillamok Cheddar Cheese Baby loaf. After view all this we went downstairs to their store and sampling counter. Might I also mention that they make their own ice cream! My DH had French Silk and I had Coffee Mocha. They were delicious!!!

We then headed to the coast and it wasn't until the next day that we really got a good view of the ocean.

We walked along a seawall and when we looked back that was the view.

It sure was a beautifully sunny day!

We had a lovely time driving along the coast and stopping to get out and take pictures! We definitely plan on going back for another visit!

How I was surprised!

Sorry it has taken so long to post about how my DH surprised me. My DH had last week off so we were busy doing things around the house not to mention we went away for a night. More on that later. Back to the desk...


My DH has been wanting to get a desk for me as I didn't have one and honestly for me I felt a little disorganized with not having one place to have all my stuff. Well, Monday morning of last week my DH and I were working on cleaning and organizing the upstairs. The room served as another guestroom, my DH office, and storage area. Our goal on Monday was to get the upstairs organized so that when we did find a desk it would be all ready to go. That meant we had to move a little loveseat into the attic and place the bed on another wall etc. We got well into that project and then my DH mentioned that he needed to go into another neighboring town and do a little Christmas shopping as well as go to Home Depot and a few other stores along the way. So off he goes!


I on the other hand am at home continuing to work a little on the upstairs and doing some resting as I was working on a bit of a cold. I even had some company stop by who hadn't seen the house since we got marriage so I had to laugh at the disaster they saw upstairs. After they left I was talking to my mom on the phone when my DH called and told me he wouldn't get back to town in time to pick up his pay check. Could I go get it and deposit it at the the bank. (And by the way its 5:35pm and the bank closes at 6pm.) So I jump in the car and head into town and than across town to pick his pay check and then back into town to deposit it. I'm happy to say I made it just before 6pm. (I have to admit I was inwardly wishing he had called me sooner so that I didn't have to be in such a rush.)


So back home I go and just a few minutes after I get in the house my mother-in-love calls and tells me she has some soup for me if I want to come down and pick it up. Soup sounded wonderful but I really didn't want to head down there. I was kindof hoping that my DH would get home soon so I could ask him to get it. I kept chatting with my mom who had been on the phone with me the whole time and after about 20 minutes I figured I better head down to my in-laws. But before I did that I called my DH to see if he would be home soon. He said he didn't think he would be home for awhile so it would be best if I just went. So I quickly went down to my in-laws and left my car running because it was going to be a quick trip but surprise, surprise I ended up talking with them for 15 minutes before leaving. By the time I get home my DH was back, cleaning upstairs. He did that while I got dinner going. I really didn't think anything of it since the upstairs was still a mess. It wasn't until after dinner that he asked me to come upstairs because he wasn't sure where something was suppose to be filed. I was so focused on his desk area that I didn't even look around the room for a while. When I was looking at some new pictures on his wall I noticed out of the corner of my eye something in the previously empty corner with a blanket covering it. I figured I wasn't suppose to notice so I avoided that area until my DH walked over almost next to it and I couldn't not notice it at that point. He asked me if I saw it and I said yes but I wasn't sure if I was suppose to notice it or just wait.


When I pulled the blanket off it revealed my beautiful desk, which I just love!


So the rest of the story goes that my DH was trying to get me out of the house so that he could get the desk in the house without me knowing it. He wanted until the last minute to send me to get his pay check for him but I got home right before he did so he had to come up with a second plan. That's why his mom called me to come down to their house and unbeknownst to me I wasn't cooperating. Apparently my DH and brother-in-law were parked in the trees waiting for me to leave and I was happily chatting away with my mom hoping my DH would get home soon so he could get the soup!!! That is actually where they were when I called my DH. When I finally left they pulled into our driveway backed the pickup right to the roofline, set the desk on the roof, then handed the desk through the window into the upstairs room. (We have a spiral staircase so there is no way the desk could go up it.) They did all this in the 15 minutes I was down at his parents' house!!


All that to say it was a wonderful surprise and I'm very much enjoying using the early Christmas present!!!