In Which We Announce:

Baby! 

It's been super fun telling all our friends and family over the past weeks about the little tyke who will be joining us come spring. It's been really exciting to talk to God about the little one that He is sending to us. And truthfully some days it's just been a little overwhelming and scary to think about having a child join our lives... Our lives that are so not baby oriented, but still, ones that can be baby oriented with a little revamping. 

We are excited. I am thrilled beyond words to think of being a mom. 

Some times when I think about prayers that God has answered, I am overwhelmed. I specifically remember, soon after we got married, praying that God would allow us five years. I just really wanted to have five years to grow up before we would have children. Some times it seemed a little too long, and some times five years seemed to be coming too soon, but I am oh so thankful that he answered that prayer for us!

We went to NC just after those two pink lines showed up so clearly and we spent long hours on the beach, discussing our little one, discussing the realities and the happinesses. 

That little babymoon was the best fun ever!

One evening while sitting there, a little family arrived and started walking slowly along the beach. Their free spirited daughter, who was probably about four, started running, her long dark hair just blowing beautifully along with her. Both of us were captivated by her adorable style and after they left, we walked along the water to where she had run on her own. Her footsteps ran through totally touched-only-by-water sand. You could tell that her little legs had been running at full tilt, just so that she could feel the wind on her face. I told Blake that that is what I hope our little one is like. Just totally willing to walk where no one has walked, not afraid to be bold and daring, free spirited and full of life. And my prayer is that all that energy that I hope my child has will be fully poured out on God, who is the giver of life.

I cannot wait to meet this baby. April seems so very, very far away!

Of Mice and Mouse Traps

I'll admit that we have a serious problem with mice here. Enough that I might consider a cat. 

Key word: Might.

Blake found an awesome tutorial for a super cool mouse trap on youtube. It was way more fun than a cat or a conventional style mouse trap. He told me that it involved a 12-gauge shot gun and that scared me, until I realized that it only might involve one, considering that there are also other ways to kill live mice. 

There is actually a lot of fun stuff about this mousetrap, including the drilling and setting up and peanut butter spreading.

All you need to make one yourself is:

 a five gallon bucket, 

a stiff piece of wire, 

a pop can, 

a board, 

and some peanut butter.

You will want to spread peanut butter on the board randomly on the way up and it's so yummy that that little mouse will taste it on the board, run to the top and see all of that on the can and Mmmm! 

It will be more than it can resist, so it will just jump and land on that pop can. What it doesn't know is that it's not stable and so the thing spins really fast, knocking the little mouse into the bucket.

He made this one day last week and to date we have caught:

0 mice.

But try it! There is always the chance that will work. 

If it does work for you, I'll let you just figure out the best way to kill the mouse at that point. 

Maybe you enjoy using shot guns just that much.

Meet Jeff

Some of you already know Jeff, some have heard of Jeff, or you are just going to meet him now.

He is a popular figure around our place. In fact, he comes every day. Most days he has a new idea. Some of those ideas are really good ones. Some days he brings donuts. Some days he sits and reads the paper. And a lot of days he just sleeps.

He has an old Ford into which we are going to put a motor for him, so that is how he originally found us a couple years ago. For some reason he decided that he really liked us and we hit it off, so we are a stop in his day under all normal circumstances.

 Some days he realizes that there is a birthday for one of us and he brings a chocolate cake. When he realized that we had been at our new shop for one year, he brought a cake for that too.

 You see, he feels quite responsible for us finding this place and he is rather pleased with that fact. He told us about this place. As I mentioned, he has lots of ideas and this one was a good one. He notices things that everyone else takes for granted. Like the For Sale sign that had been in this front yard for 10 years. Only difference was that he actually called the number and found out that the man who had had the sign here for ten years had recently passed away and the family actually needed to sell this now to pay the estate taxes. Jeff is cool like that.

He was the one who exhausted all options in trying to find a way for us to get a loan. We actually were able to get one with a bank that we had talked to, but he had a list for us of bankers with whom he had spoken and had strongly encouraged to give us a chance. He was the most excited of all of us when our loan actually went through.

He owns a business that builds timber frame barns. They have sent crews all over the country to build these high-dollar, high-class barns, often ones that are used as wedding barns. Timber framing is gorgeous and his buildings are no exception.

If we don't see him for a few days I actually worry about him and have even found excuses to call him. Just to check on him. I've invited him to family events or activities and he always appreciates the invite but says he's not a people person. I've introduced him to certain friends and he always keeps track of them and remembers to ask me about them. Even thinks of someone specific when he is at an estate sale and sees something that he thinks maybe my "sister with the baby" could use or my "missionary friends with the kids that might get eaten when they go overseas" might need.

So there. You too have met Jeff.

Vacation

*Sigh* That was blissful!

We went to Outer Banks for a week and did simply nothing.

We rented the nicest little condo.

The perfect part about a condo is that the kitchen comes fully stocked and you can go for a week of vacation, but really not have to eat out at all if you wish. And we're weird like that so we mostly packed our own food. Including fruit loops. Just like our first honey moon.

 Except we skipped the chocolate milk this time.

Maybe that is the real difference between 19 and 24 yr olds.

The beach was awesome but the highlight of our trip was the segway tour that we took. Segways are fantastic and if you ever get the chance to ride one, take the opportunity!

The tour was of a historic village and our tour guide told stories of the family who built this house during the prohibition. Apparently they were a wealthy family of duck hunters, the wife of whom was a fairly outspoken woman!

The story goes that they had a large party one Saturday night and everyone was there, enjoying the beverages that were offered, including the preacher who got quite hammered. The next morning there was the preacher, boldly preaching in church on the horrors of alcohol and how everyone ought to abstain from it. This Mrs. caught wind of what he was speaking on and although she never graced the doors of the church normally, she marched right in, still in her nightgown, to line him out for being a hypocrite. 

I thought the house was beautiful and unique.

 And the surrounding village that built up there was quaint and fun to see.The one room school house is still in use today by the few locals who live in Corolla county. 

 Lighthouses...

And Beaches...

Miles and Miles of beaches to be exact. And best of all, most of them had very few people. 

My husband does have a love for history, just like me, so we toured a ton of the islands, searched for a few old shipwrecks, and studied up on some of the fun history of the place. We were too late to watch the play of The Lost Colony but we went to Roanoke Island and toured the state park that tells the bits and pieces of what happened and what John White did when he returned to find them all gone. 

Roanoke Island was also home to a colony for freed slaves during the Civil War. 

The Wright Brothers Museum was intriguing. 

The monument:

One of the original motors that they used is on display.

 Or what is left of it because it is from one of their crashes. 

Those two brothers sure were determined! And when you think about the history of air travel and how quickly it moved, it really is amazing! Realize that 1903 was when the brothers finally flew 600 feet and in 1910-1915 range a few more people built airplanes of their own and by WWII bomber planes were used in war.

 My favorite of all the pilots recognized at the museum was Calbraith Perry Rodgers. He was the first man to fly across the country. In case you can't read his little plaque, I will tell you about him because I liked him. 

 

In 1912 a publisher offered $50,000 to the first person who could fly across the country in 30 days or less. Calbraith paid one of the Wright brothers' technicians $70/day to come along with him by train as his mechanic. He made thirty stops across the country, nineteen of which were crashes and the plane was virtually rebuilt by the time he arrived. Although he missed the deadline by 19 days, he still received the award for being the first person to fly from NY to CA and he landed in front of 20,000 spectators. 

A few months later, right near where he landed in California originally, he was making an exhibition flight and flew into a flock of birds, severely crashing his plane into the ocean. He died shortly, making him the 127th airplane fatality in the nine years of aviation history, but the first to die as a result of a flock of birds.

On our last night there, we sat on the beach till well after dark.

I am pretty sure that the ocean is the most magnificent force that God created. It is fascinating and bold, yet so relaxing at the same time. I'm pretty sure that Blake enjoyed sitting on the beach or walking through the waves as much or possibly even more than I did. :)

I'm so thankful that we got to go. It was definitely our the best anniversary ever! 

5 Years to Us!

 2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Oh how I like this guy!

 Love you babe!

Summertime

It has been wonderful. 

Short & Fast. 

Refreshing & Encouraging. 

 Fun & Tiring.

Seriously last winter was awful. Spring was fast. And now it's September, which means fair time, which means leaves change colors, which means fall already. It's ok. At least there is actually fall here.

We have spent so much time trying to clean our place up, but we've also done some really fun things so all in all, I'd say we've had one awesome summer. 

(Side note: I've only gone to one truck pull this whole summer and I'm not even very sad about that! There are so many other things to do on those Saturday nights....)

My friend Sandra lived with us for four months and recently moved to her own place. 

Blake has really enjoyed mowing the lawn with his big mower. 

I tried, but that day I needed a bit of an attitude adjustment anyway, so we just came to the agreement that as long as he has time to mow, he can take that job. 

Besides, he loves it because it's relaxing--- and he can't hear his phone ring!

We got our stumps ground after removing all those trees in May when Dad was out here. 

Slowly but surely I'm turning that back disaster into a back yard. There is still a section of it that I need to haul more dirt into and then just rototill the whole area. 

Josh helped me rip out all the half dead hedges in front of  my house. 

I planted a couple new plants and hopefully next year I can plant a couple more. Anything is better than what was there!!!

We've also burned lots of brush but there still is a lot to get to... at some point.

We've had a couple big fun birthday parties. I like those kind of things.

I've done a little corn and some berries went in the freezer, but I'm thankful that I didn't try to tackle a garden this year. There just was too much going on for me to try to add that one in too!

I got my ASE certification as Service Consultant. I'm rather proud of myself because a few years ago, I truly had no concept of holding a job, never mind managing a business and billing stuff about vehicles!

Side note: I've always thought that ASE certifications are a bit of a money making scheme, but we wanted to get on a Napa Auto Care program and that was the one requirement that we'd never met. Only one person in the shop had to have a number, so I got the first ASE number, but since then we sent all the guys to take the light diesel test. I'm not the only one with a certification now. :)

Some friends of ours rented a pontoon boat with us one Sunday and we spent the whole blissful day cruising on the lake. That was fun! 

I polyed my pantry and got it all shiny and useable weeks after my dad so sweetly built it for me! 

 (I still love it!)

I got to spend a little bit of time with my friend who I rarely see, even though I only live an hour away from her! Her kids are great though. :)

And one of the best things ever (Yes, I'm weird)... My husband got a dumpster for scrap metal! This.is.wonderful. Like big time wonderful. 

No more piles of stuff that I think might be junk but might not be. No more truck beds half falling apart and piled high with scrap, then the skid steer tipping forward while trying to load it on the trailer. No more loading the trailer like this,

using tons of straps, and still hoping that everything would stay on for the twenty miles to the scrap yard. No more A lot less unsightly stuff.  Just one big dumpster. I love it!

Summer is just wonderful!