Before and after pictures, garage

The garage is another space we wanted to work on when my parents were here. Our place is AWESOME but we have no drive-way (so aren't allowed to park in it) and have a TINY 1-car garage. We have comfortably fit the Mustang into the garage but were having trouble getting the van in without hitting side mirrors on the garbage can. In fact, we discovered that I had been mildly denting a strange place on the van with the garbage can (I was pretty annoyed when we discovered this). No matter how things fit/don't fit, the passenger still has to get out of the car before we pull into the garage, but we have that routine down pretty well.

Making our garage space more functional was pretty important. So here are the before and after pictures...

Amazingly, when this picture was taken our garage was already 25% more organized than it was before and you'll see on the far right, that Mark's bike was hung (which it didn't used to be).

This is the view from the front of the garage, you'll notice that we conveniently have parking spots right across from our garage. Although parking at our place is in high demand and we occasionally get lucky to get one of these.

Dad and Mark did a BRILLIANT job at organizing this space!! You'll notice in the last picture how Mark even got a work bench ("man space" is what they called it) out of the deal. Mark was pretty excited about that!

This is a better shot of the new shelving we now have. LOVE IT!! We're now proud to open our garage door when pulling in and out and show off our cool shelves and organized space! And it's fantastic to have a place for some of the things we needed to get out of the house.

2 Year Wedding Anniversary!!

The picture is a little dark, but I think it's cute!!

We celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary on Wednesday, but didn't "do" anything to celebrate until today (it's hard when the day lands in the middle of the week). We had decided to nearly recreate our first date and go to dinner and a movie downtown. So this afternoon we took the MAX downtown and had dinner at the Macaroni Grill and then went to see a movie at Pioneer Square. We killed time before the movie by doing one of our favorite things, people watching. It was especially interesting tonight because of some convention going on that required people to dress up in strange costumes. We think it was somehow connected to something nerd/gaming related (not that those things always go together). We had a wonderful night and can't believe it's already been 2 years!!

Other than being tighter than we might have imagined financially, we both feel like we've come a long way in 2 years. We have a house, are happier than we imagined possible, and are excitedly awaiting our first child.

By the way, this is me at 29 weeks pregnant. Wow! It's going by fast and slow at the same time. I'm getting pretty excited to welcome this little one into the world and am curious to see how it will feel to have her out. Seems hard to remember what it was like to NOT having a growing child in my body. I also wonder what it will be like to have a flat tummy again... except that I realized the other day that it may never be flat again. Minor details ;) But the excitement to have her out and around is outweighing the fear of the process to get there. At least until the time comes, then I'll probably be scared out of my mind ;)

Before and after pictures, living room

A couple months ago we were blessed with a little cash related to property taxes and being in our house for a year. So we decided to fulfill something we'd been wanting to do and purchase some new living room furniture, namely, something that fit into our space a little better. We had previously been blessed with hand-me-down (free) furniture from friends and family. Although we were more than grateful to have these pieces up until now, we looking forward to getting something that fit with our life a little better. And since we hoped to not get anything else for a long time, especially since baby stuff will probably always trump other uses for cash in the future, we decided to get a new sofa. So here are the before and after pics...

By the time this picture was taken, we had already rearranged our sofa and chair. They were normally in the opposite positions. Either way, it was crowded. And of course, the ottoman was paired with the chair and coffee table with the sofa (unlike their positions featured in this picture).

Our sectional took a while after we purchased it to get to Portland and then delivered to our house. We gave our previous furniture (except the coffee table) to some friends who were able to pick it up right before the sectional was delivered. We were glad to only live a few days without living room furniture. We sure missed it!!

My cousin Alysun said the best way to re-decorate is to go shopping in your own home. I love that idea! We brought a shelf from up in our guestroom downstairs into the living room and swapped the dining room rug with the living room rug and got the look we wanted! The tv stand still needs to be updated and the pictures move around (we'll do that in the next few weeks).

Although it's taken us time to adjust to the new sectional, we LOVE how well it fits in our space and how comfy it is! We even had a couple friends over and comfortably fit 4 of us on there for a movie. We also love how much extra space is now in our living area so that we have more room for the baby and accessories. The only final piece we might add is a rocking chair, but the jury is still out on that one.

Projects, before and after pics, and preg pictures

My parents and Christina were here a couple weeks ago and we made BRILLIANT progress on some updates to our place. Mostly some re-organizing that we wanted to do before the baby comes. Mark and I LOVE the improvements and still have a few small things to do before we can post all our before and after pictures. Here are the projects we got done:

- office addition to kitchen nook (pictures below)

- updating the dining room with furniture pieces that no longer fit in the kitchen nook and new pictures

- setting up the nursery including furniture and some decorations

- re-organizing the garage with shelving and some "man space"

- spray painted some frames and selected pictures for about 15 frames that I hung in the stairwell

- put and organized an armoire in our guestroom with all my craft stuff that used to be stored in the nursery room. Although Barb helped me do this a few days before my parents arrived.

- a bunch of other small things

Enjoy the pics!

Kitchen Nook

Before, view from the hall door way.

View from the kitchen.

View from the entry way.

Tall view from the hall door way.

AFTER view from the entry way.

View from the kitchen. Love the new valance!

View from hall door way.

Side view from hall door way. I LOVE my new office area! Love the cube shelves, the desk, having my filing downstairs, a space for my computer (it fits in the desk drawer with the charger going directly into the drawer) and just having a space to take care of things. It's also fun to have a window right there. I keep the blinds and window open during the day. We also got a charger/holder for our phones so they no longer rest on the kitchen counter. In fact, many of these things used to be on the kitchen counter, including mail that needed to be sorted or filed.

Mom sewing the curtains for the nursery.

Dad and Christina hanging the curtain rod in the kitchen. Sadly, these are the only 2 pictures I took the entire time they were here. We had a great time with them!! It was fun to have more people in our house for a week and although we thought we were ready to have our house back to ourselves, we really missed everyone the first night we were on our own again.

Me before heading out to coordinate a wedding on 9/14. 26 weeks exactly! Thanks to my friend Adri for the fantastic maternity loaner clothes! They've helped me out a ton! In fact, I think I dress better now that I'm pregnant than before and I've been thankful to not run out of cute clothes for weddings and rehearsals this summer. I coordinated a wedding yesterday and have only 1 more to go before I break for the baby.

The belly. Mark thinks it's quite cute and entertaining. Especially the fact that my belly button is quickly losing it's "inny" quality.

The beginning of one dream normally means the end of another

I sat in a meeting at the end of my work day today and realized that with this beloved child I'm excited to welcome into the world in 3 months, (which is absolutely a dream I've had forever!) it means the end of another dream.

Being a mother is probably the only most consistent dream I've ever had. I'm scared to death but thrilled to be entering this phase of my life. But as I sat in this meeting tonight I realized that it means the end of any career dreams I may have had for... a long time (by choice, of course, I realize I could be a mother who also works a full-time job, but I really don't want to).

The reality is that I've almost never had career dreams. I've never known what I wanted to be or had any real aspirations. Which might explain why I never really made it very far ;) The only thing I ever imagined being while growing up, was a wife and mother. When I hit my early twenties and began to realize that dream may not come true very soon, I started thinking of some other options. I clung to Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourselves in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." And nearly fell over when I finally realized that the "desires of my heart" may not mean what I thought they did. So I started re-examining my heart looking for other desires God may have put there (I was otherwise quite focused on my desire for a husband). I found a huge desire to serve, work with students, and plan events. All of these desires had a perfect piece in my life during the past 9 years (although I didn't realize the truth about that verse until probably 5 years ago).

A little over 3 years ago, after I turned 25 and bought myself the Mustang that I claimed was my substitute for a man, I met my husband. A year later we got married and have been married for almost 2 wonderful years! One of my greatest desires (although not filling everything within me, as it shouldn't) was beautifully met in a way better than I had dreamed!

One and a half years ago I got what I had thought was my dream job... coordinating events for a church which combined my love for event planning (still not sure where this came from) and my love for the church. However, 6 months later the job ended with the first of several rounds of budget cuts. I found myself in a part-time position with the same church that I dearly love, doing something that I'm reasonably good at but doesn't satisfy nearly any of my passions or gifts (although I'd like to think you can learn to be passionate about some things you wouldn't have otherwise).

So I sat in a meeting tonight realizing that I don't contribute in many ways to what is happening in the ministry I work with. Although I do my job well and I'm highly valued among my team (I never doubt this fact, they are fantastic people!), my role is 95% tasks. I don't doubt that it serves people, frees others up to focus on volunteers and relationships, but its not "me". I'm thankful that God has given me an opportunity to serve in this role because I accepted it, embraced it, and have not looked back, trusting that this is where God has placed me. I love the people I work with, enjoy my job, and take delights in things as simple as completing a task more efficiently than the week before.

I've wanted to have a baby so badly! After my part-time position started I suggested to my husband that a baby would fit naturally into my now free life and schedule. We took some time to think about it and eventually got started ;) After 8 challenging months, we got our wish. A little girl, who even though I don't know her, wouldn't trade her for all the amazing careers in the world! At the same time, I know that I'm loosing a dream. Which is funny because I never would have thought my desire to "do something" would even remotely hold a candle to having a baby, but I think I learned to love these desires that I didn't understand. The ones God revealed to me when I realized that him giving me the "desires of my heart" may not be a husband and children.

Of course, I don't see myself living as a mother who spends her days tending to her children and home (not that there's anything wrong with that). I'm too social for that. I look forward to probably joining a mom's group and looking for ways to help organize events or something of that nature. Maybe not right away, but eventually, if the opportunity arises.

So back to the meeting. I sat there tonight and realized how for the past year I haven't been living out the dream or really any desire I thought I had. At least not the one that I might have imagined I might be living. Walking back to my office I thought about how having a baby is one of my longest hopes and desires and I'm so thankful that it's finally happening (even though I'm scared out of my mind, appropriately so), I have to acknowledge that I'm a little sad that this means a few dreams and desires may not be realized or at least put to the side for a long time.

I am curious about how God will weave together all I've done and what's ahead into whatever I'll be doing in the future. On some level I love the burn he puts inside me to ooze my creative juices. Wedding coordinating and event planning on the side have definitely helped to satisfy these areas when my career wasn't it. And the "burn" has definitely gotten less intense with the baby on the way. But I know that even that desire won't be squelched for too long before I'm looking for the next thing, constantly working to make sure it's not in place of God. Besides, isn't the burn supposed to help bring us closer to Him? That's probably the one thing I miss about being single, the burn was so intense!

I think I used 'dream' and 'desire' interchangably. As I mentioned, I never really had a dream of anything career wise, but did have other desires in my heart when I started looking around for them.

Home again...

We are home from our 8 days in Alaska. It was a super fun trip!! We got home this morning at 9am. In addition to the odd constant daylight situation, flights also depart at odd hours so we left on a flight at 2:30am this morning with a short layover in Seattle. Barb picked us up and we went to breakfast and then home for a long nap before transitioning into getting some things done. So far I've done a bunch of online price shopping for baby furniture and bedding (apparently I enjoy the "hunt"), have been working on laundry, got all my pictures loaded online, watched a movie while eating a pizza dinner with Mark and now... writing a blog.

Here are some pics from the week:

Breakfast the first morning. We all flew in after midnight the night before, slept in and then enjoyed a yummy breakfast at a local place before heading to the lake.

Mark on the jet ski. We all enjoyed a few spins!

I was the "spotter" on a ride with Sara as she pulled Christina on the tube so I rode backwards. It was fun!! The dog jumped on after we got back. She liked to ride on the jet ski. It was super cute!

BBQ dinner on the 4th up at the lake.

The gang working on the roof on the second day. They worked half a day on Monday and then all day on Tuesday and finished in time for the mandatory quiet time starting at 10pm.

Our roof completion celebratory dinner at Moose's Tooth.

Mark, Mom, Christina and I wandered around Anchorage the day after the roof job. Mom and I did a bit of maternity and baby clothes shopping. Before that we visiting the Captain Cook hotel that Mark remembered from when he was in Anchorage at 5 or 6 years old. This is a painting that was in the basement. Captain Cook was from the town in England that Mark's mom is from.

The day before we left JR, Molly, Mark and me went on a day long cruise from Seward, AK and saw sea otters, seals, a HUGE glacier and the big thing was a humpback whale. It was SOO cool!! And other than throwing up off the back of the boat, it was a great end to the trip! I'm really not sure why the throw up thing happened. I've never done that on a movie vehicle or boat before and didn't even feel that queasy. We are blaming it on being pregnant (even though I haven't thrown up from that either).

The last day we all didn't fly out until around 1-2:30am so we slept in, had a late breakfast, showered, packed, enjoyed a late lunch at Chili's and a small tour around town before going back to Jared and Sara's for a long nap and then just hanging out until we all left. It wasn't very dark until we were leaving for the airport at 1pm. Still so weird!

And that was our Alaskan vacation.

Now back to real life, 4 weddings in 3 weeks, and a huge motivation to get cracking on preparing for the baby. Super excited about that part! She's kicking and moving a bunch and now that we've reached 21 weeks, I feel like I can start making progress on the preparations. Mom and Dad come out the first week of August and I hope to get mom's help organizing around my house a little so I can keep up with things better when I have a little one to care for.

Roofing in Anchorage, Alaska

Well, I'm not roofing. But the rest of the family is currently laboring on the roof of my younger brother's house. It's Dad, JR & Molly, Jared & Sara, Christina and my wonderful husband. They've been up there since a few minutes before the shingles arrived, around 9:30 this morning, and other than a break for a quesadillas lunch that mom and I made from leftovers, they have been hard at work!!

There are a couple good things about roofing in Alaska. For one, the weather doesn't get too hot. It's warmer than normal here but still pretty comfortable, unless you are working on top of a roof in the sun, in which case it's probably a little too warm. The other nice thing is that it conveniently stays light late into the evening. We can't work all night however, because there are mandatory quiet hours. So we wrapped up phase 1 last night right before 10pm.

On the subject of lighting, it's pretty crazy to have it light so late... it actually never gets completely dark. You go to bed at dusk and even in the middle of the night (which I know well since I have to pee once or twice a night), it's bright outside! Crazy! It's nice but really throws off your idea of what time it might be. We got back to my brother's the other night at 9pm and instead of winding down for bed, we made dinner and watched a movie. You don't realize the time until you look at the clock. It's a fun thing to experience though.

Mark and I are trying to figure out how to spend our last few days here in AK. We arrived around 12:15am Friday morning, 15 minutes before JR, Molly and Christina. We came back to Jared and Sara's and slept until we felt like getting up. We had a great breakfast at a local hot spot (which didn't "look" like the type of place you might call a hot spot in Portland) and then got ready to head to Sara'a family's cabin on Nancy Lake where we enjoyed 2 days of boating, jet skiing (which are called "personal water craft"), tubing, etc. You wouldn't think these are things you'd enjoy while in Alaska, but we did! Like I said, the weather was unusually warm so Sunday afternoon before packing up we all enjoyed a nice chilly dip in the water (without wet suits), which was extremely refreshing! And don't worry, I didn't tube or do the more rigorious activities. After all, I want to keep this child in it's currently location a little longer.

On the way home we did what is apparently the traditional stop at Millers for HUGE soft serve ice cream cones. I had quite the time with mine chocolate dipped and melting all over me. But it was worth it.

Yesterday the roofing started. Mom and Dad (who rode the Harley from Billings, MT) arrived at Jared and Sara's just after we finished cleaning up from a late breakfast. I think dad was surprised to see us all still in our pjs ;) We hung out for a short bit before breaking out lunch and then some of the crew started in on tearing off the roof while others of us ran errands. It was slightly comical as dad arrived ready to work (several hours ahead of what he'd communicated) and the rest of us, not having gotten the memo he would be arriving early, were far from ready to begin the roof work. So we had a funny half hour as dad, being very single minded, got started on the roof and the rest of us tried to mentally transition to the new task at hand, early though it may be!

Like I said before, I'm not roofing. Mom and I are designated kitchen crew. I'm (understandably) not allowed on the roof in my pregnant condition. And Mom brought too nice of clothes to work in. Well, not really. She's good in the kitchen and manages to stay busy doing things around the house, even though there isn't much to do around the house. Personally, I can't say that I mind being the inside crew as I'm near the bathroom and I hate heights, even if it's only 1 story and not overly steep. We go check on the roofers regularly and make sure they have water, gatorade, or whatever else they may need.

Like I said, Mark and I are trying to figure out how to spend our last few days as the roofing project is estimated to finish late this afternoon (there is a celebratory dinner scheduled at Moose's Tooth) and then we're free to spend the last 3 days as we please. We all leave between 1 or 2am on Saturday morning with Dad and Christina heading out on the bike Thursday afternoon. Apparently the most popular organized activities are day cruises to see marine wildlife and glaciers, or train trips to nearby towns. Both of which are reasonably spendy. So I'll hopefully blog again in time to tell you what we ended up doing.

Roofing may not the be the type of Alaskan vacation that people dream of but spending 5-7 days with family on a bonding activity like roofing your brothers house, with some play days thrown in, is sort of a Friesen type thing to do. And I like my family, so am enjoying my Alaskan vacation.