Sunny Winter Work

Chris and I had the weekend off together (only his second weekend off this year so far--poor guy has been working a ton!) and the weather was beautiful! Sunshine and 50 degrees which I will take in the northwest! We both got some projects done outside and Chris installed the pellet stove inside. We are loving having some fire to heat the house instead of electric heaters!

With 5 acres there is plenty to keep up on and I'm sure it will be a several year project to get things how we want them--things in our yard are a little bit crazy with lots of birdhouses and figurines from circa 1975. So I'm just trying not to worry about it all at once and tackle little things here and there. First thing on my agenda was to trim the apple tree. We have two old apple trees and only one produced fruit for us last year so I knew some pruning would be in order to see if we could get some fruit this summer or next. I don't think this guy had been touched for years and after hours of chopping off 10 foot high branches that were 2 inches thick, I still wasn't finished. But it was a good start! Here's hoping for some apples!!

Before:

After: Still more to be done but its looking a little more cleaned up.

So nice to see blue sky in February!

I also tackled an area that was covered in old gross beauty bark and pine needles. It has been so brown and ugly since we moved in and I've just been trying to ignore it. And look! I found this nice little brick path under the inches of beauty bark/needles that I raked away. This photo was just the beginning of the project so it all looks cleaned up and a nice earthy brown now--sorry I forgot to take an after shot.

Do you like my little donkey and cart figurine? Its too heavy for me to move but I did get my little sombrero wearing boy out of there for now. The donkey will live on for another day--for now.

And underneath all the ugly bark I found several patches of crocuses (I think?). It made me so happy to clear away the ugliness and find life growing underneath. Yay for spring!

This guy came out too--we're not Norwegian so it had to go. (Well, I do have a little bit in me but not enough to have a sign...). Thankfully it came out with a little bit of yanking on my part. Anyone want it? ;)

Have you tackled any outdoor projects lately or are you waiting for summertime?

Two Years

Chris and I celebrated two years on January 29th. It's been a lot of learning, growing, and loving and through the good and the bad I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Thanks Ali

Since I didn't take the tree down until this week, your sweet London ornaments made it on the tree for a couple weeks--they can't wait to be back up again next year! :) Glad we have so many fun London memories. {We sure rocked the young and single life together. xoxo}

One of those Meals...

...that you just keep thinking about.

(I'm going to brag a little bit about this one so bear with me *side-note: I just had to google whether it is "bear" or "bare" and apparently to "bare with me" means to ask someone to get undressed with you, so I'm glad I looked it up!*)

It all started with a trip to Costco where I splurged on a purchase of a leg of lamb. Chris and I both like lamb a lot and since it looked like quality meat at a decent costco price, I thought it might be a fun dinner to try. Honestly, I'm still really learning to cook (and buy) meat and often resort to chicken just because it is my safe go-to, but I wanted to expand my horizons a little bit. On the same trip, I penny pinched on buying apples that were packed in December and were greatly reduced in price. I figured the price was worth a try to see if they were good apples.

So after some research, I ended up deciding to use this simple recipe for our Lamb. And what do you know, it was AMAZING! Seriously, it was some good meat! And honestly probably easier than cooking chicken. I mean it really was super easy! I roasted the potatoes under the lamb (I also added carrots which are not a part of the original recipe) and these may have been the best potatoes we've ever eaten. I think because they collect all the juices from the yummy lamb while they are cooking. The only difference I made to the lamb was that I marinated it in the fridge for a few hours before I cooked it and I cheated and used my lemon essential oil (which comes from the peel of a lemon) instead of the lemon zest.

I didn't make mint sauce, but instead made mango chutney which my husband told me he prefers with Lamb. We all decided that this lamb actually was best by itself but the chutney was a fun side and also the leftovers could be used as a salsa. I got a recipe from a cookbook so I can send it to you if you care to know. It was really simple though, made out of mango, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, and salt/pepper.

Since rosemary was a key ingredient in the lamb, I decided to whip up some of this Rosemary bread which is super easy to put together. This is the second time I have made it for company and the secret is that it is super simple to make but everyone loves it.

And then to top it all off I had tried the apples and rejected them as suitable for apple snacking--I'm picky when it comes to my apples, maybe from being born in Washington and always having such a variety available? So I decided to see if a little cinnamon and sugar might help make them taste a little better. So I made a pie. I never make pies. Maybe because my memories of pie making with my mom involve making several and this was back in the days before we had a kitchen-aid mixer so they were always very time consuming. But with my mixer this little baby was mixed up in no time and I found this dough very easy to roll out. I again did a little research and used the William Sonoma pie dough recipe which used a lot of butter and tasted oh so good because of it! For the innards, I used this random apple pie recipe that I found but I replaced 1/3 of the white sugar with brown. Baked it at 425 for 15 minutes and then 350 for about 35 more. The result? A delicious bit of heaven that tasted like cinnamon rolls (thanks to the brown sugar) mixed with apple pie.

So if you are feeling inspired, I would recommend trying any of these recipes. And even though I already prefaced that I was bragging, this actually came together very quickly and I even had time to go out and walk the dog. The dishes on the other hand were a mile high and were left for the next day (I don't have a dishwasher so I think I'm excused, right?).

Halfway through the day I texted Chris and told him he needed to invite someone over from work because there was going to be way too much food for the two of us so we were delighted when Joel and Jill and their two boys could come over and join us. Oh and Wolfie was delighted too because it meant is girlfriend Zara came too. She is also a long haired German Shepherd and he loooooooves her.

There were no potatoes left at the end of the night, but we have been enjoying lamb gyros and I'm sure I will make this little feast again. I was just excited that all these new recipes came together so easily and they worked! Don't you hate it when you try something new and its just a flop? Well these are now tried and true in my house so let me know if you have a chance to try any of these recipes too!

27

I turned 27 last week and Chris made sure that I had a very special day. He started out by surprising me with getting the day off work so he could spend the whole day with me. That would've been enough for me but he continued to spoil me with:

A matinee to see Les Miserables at the nicest theater on the planet.

There was only one other couple in there with us and we got to lounge on the comfy couch.

We splurged on the nachos. Yes, that is a big pile of sour cream on top. :) This theater is so fun because they come in to take your order before the movie begins with a full lunch/dinner menu. Then they deliver it before the show.

We both loved the movie. I have seen Les Mis three times in person before so I did have high expectations going into it but the movie did not disappoint. Perhaps another blog post would be a better space to write out my opinions, but we did come away thankful for the mercy of God and also noticing the similarities to the Prodigal Son story which I had never connected to Les Mis before.

After the movie we drove into Portland to run a few errands and actually enjoyed some sunshine on my birthday which is a rare occurrence in my life. Can you see Mt. Hood in the background?

In the afternoon we went for a hike at our nearby horse trail with our Wolfie. There was still some snow on the ground so it made for a beautiful winter hike. Just as we were heading back and it was getting dark, Wolfie darted into the woods after a baby deer and we spent the next half hour calling him and looking for him with no response. We were just about to give up when he came bounding up to us--completely soaked and the most tired I have ever seen him! Poor guy must've fallen in the river while chasing the deer and then spent the next while sprinting around looking for us again. We were relieved not to have lost him for good! Crazy dog!

In the evening we met up with my dear friends Talitha and Jesse for a dinner out on the town. We had so much fun that I forgot to take a concluding picture of the day. All this plus many messages of love from friends and family made it a wonderful way to start my new year. I think 27 will be a good one!

Piano Move

A little over two years ago my parents moved for the first time in my existence. They were discussing just leaving the piano in the house or giving it away so they wouldn't have to move it. I was far away in Germany at the time, but I told them that if they would move it, I would gladly take it someday when I had my own place for it. Now they must really love me (or maybe the brothers-in-law who moved the piano really do) because at the time I was not even engaged yet, let alone planning to get a house of my own, but when I came home, there the piano was--all moved and waiting for me! Well, now I finally have a place for the piano (Our last home had about 20 steps leading up to the main floor and would've been a nightmare to move there!) and so we decided we would bring it home with us after our holidays in Tacoma.

Here she is sitting pretty in my mom's house--not all the keys work anymore but that is to be expected for a piano that is more than 100 years old.

Kyle, Jeff, Mike, my dad, and Chris hefted it out of there! So heavy!

The empty piano spot behind us--my mom is going to have a ton of new space once the Christmas tree is out of there!!

We arrived home to a few inches of snow at our place on New Year's Eve so we decided to store the piano in the garage for a couple days until it melted a little. As it was, there were still some icy patches the guys had to walk over to get her inside last night.

And now here she is in her new home--Thanks to Jonathan, Jason, Joel, and Chris for bringing her inside on this end!

Handmade Christmas

For the past few years my family has drawn names for Christmas gifts, but this year we decided to not put any restrictions on Christmas giving and just give as we were able with an emphasis on handmade Christmas gifts. I really liked doing it this way and the gifts we received were really special and fun since I knew there was time spent on each one. We now have a family tree for our wall, pumpkin syrup to put in coffee, spice mixes and special butter blends for our bellies, Brazilian ingredients for some special treats, a new book to read along with a shopping spree to Costco from my parents and some fun stocking stuffers to boot. We came home feeling very blessed!

And now I can reveal the fun things I've been working on over the last few weeks. I pulled out my sewing machine again and got to town on some fun little projects.

Sammy modeling his new crocheted beard that each of the nephews got. (photo taken by Justyne).

I made two baby rag quilts. One for a shower for a little girl that our friends adopted, and one for my cousin's baby Kevin who I got to meet this Christmas. 

Peppermint Lip Balm made using this recipe.

Capes for the nieces--I never got a photo of all 4 of them together but maybe that can happen later. :) I used this pattern to make them from Simple Simon & Co.

And this I made in the summer! All the families received grape and blackberry jams and apple butter that we made from the fruit harvested from our property this summer. It was nice to have some of the gifts made a few months early this year for a change! Every year in December I think, "next year I'll start working on gifts in January." But now that it is January, December seems a long way off doesn't it? :)