More daffodils of a different kind:
More pictures of flowers will be coming. I love walking outside everyday to see how they have changed!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
More Springtime Flowers
Here are some updated flower pictures I took today. The tulips have started blooming!
More daffodils of a different kind:
More pictures of flowers will be coming. I love walking outside everyday to see how they have changed!
More daffodils of a different kind:
More pictures of flowers will be coming. I love walking outside everyday to see how they have changed!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Springtime!!
Spring has hit the Rockies! This means we get a snow storm about once a week, wind, rain and beautiful sunny days that trick you into thinking we might get a real spring. What does this mean for us? Blooming daffodils that are occasionally covered in snow.
Last fall I planted 125 bulbs - crocus, tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. They got planted shortly after my foot surgery on a VERY windy evening when the last think I wanted to be doing was getting up and down from my knees while being outside. It has been interesting to see how they come up - I had tried to scatter them so it was very random but I definitely have clumps and bare spots. Oh well, my thought is over the next ten years they will multiply and fill everything in so much you won't even be able to see the ground. If they don't do that on their own, I'll just plant another 125 bulbs. :)
Here is a little clump of crocus - they came up first.
Here is my clump of daffodils and you can see a bunch of tulip buds that are going to open soon.
A lone little daffodil but it is so perfectly formed!
A view of the whole row on one side of the sidewalk. There is another row on the other side.
Please do ignore the irrigation line. I need to put sprayer nozzles in it so it will water my flower beds and then cover all the beds with mulch again. My hope was to do that this weekend but the forecast is calling for snow....
The best part is I took these pictures a few days ago and the beds have really exploded with blooms since then! I plan to go out tomorrow at lunch and take some more recent pictures to post - the difference is astounding. My tulips are so close to blooming and all my hyacinth are barely out of the ground. I'm surprised the hyacinth are last - I wasn't expecting that.
Spring time has also brought on some other adventures like Spring Cleaning and Siri Blowing Out His Coat. Not surprisingly, Siri is greatly increasing the need for the cleaning. I seem to always forget how much he sheds in the spring and fall. I have seriously contemplated stuffing some throw pillows with his hair but I thought that might be weird. Last weekend I spent some serious time doing deep cleaning in our living room. This involved vacuuming for longer than I thought possible, dusting EVERYTHING, including the wooden slat blinds (blech), washing the walls and fixing all the little paint chips. My living room looks fantastic and no one is allowed to pet the dog in the living room. This weekend will be the kitchen/dining/laundry room. Based on how long it took me to do the living room, I assume I will be cleaning for about 12 hours straight. It's amazing how two people, a dog and a cat can make a house so dirty in just 14 months.
Ewww, ewww, ewwww. I spider just crawled across my desk. Ugh. Where's the cat when I need him!
Stay tuned for more of my springtime adventures like Sealing The Deck and Cleaning Out The Garage! Sure to be stimulating reads. In the meantime, expect many more pictures of flowers and I'll soon be posting all about Siri's agility class!
Last fall I planted 125 bulbs - crocus, tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. They got planted shortly after my foot surgery on a VERY windy evening when the last think I wanted to be doing was getting up and down from my knees while being outside. It has been interesting to see how they come up - I had tried to scatter them so it was very random but I definitely have clumps and bare spots. Oh well, my thought is over the next ten years they will multiply and fill everything in so much you won't even be able to see the ground. If they don't do that on their own, I'll just plant another 125 bulbs. :)
Here is a little clump of crocus - they came up first.
Here is my clump of daffodils and you can see a bunch of tulip buds that are going to open soon.
A lone little daffodil but it is so perfectly formed!
A view of the whole row on one side of the sidewalk. There is another row on the other side.
Please do ignore the irrigation line. I need to put sprayer nozzles in it so it will water my flower beds and then cover all the beds with mulch again. My hope was to do that this weekend but the forecast is calling for snow....
The best part is I took these pictures a few days ago and the beds have really exploded with blooms since then! I plan to go out tomorrow at lunch and take some more recent pictures to post - the difference is astounding. My tulips are so close to blooming and all my hyacinth are barely out of the ground. I'm surprised the hyacinth are last - I wasn't expecting that.
Spring time has also brought on some other adventures like Spring Cleaning and Siri Blowing Out His Coat. Not surprisingly, Siri is greatly increasing the need for the cleaning. I seem to always forget how much he sheds in the spring and fall. I have seriously contemplated stuffing some throw pillows with his hair but I thought that might be weird. Last weekend I spent some serious time doing deep cleaning in our living room. This involved vacuuming for longer than I thought possible, dusting EVERYTHING, including the wooden slat blinds (blech), washing the walls and fixing all the little paint chips. My living room looks fantastic and no one is allowed to pet the dog in the living room. This weekend will be the kitchen/dining/laundry room. Based on how long it took me to do the living room, I assume I will be cleaning for about 12 hours straight. It's amazing how two people, a dog and a cat can make a house so dirty in just 14 months.
Ewww, ewww, ewwww. I spider just crawled across my desk. Ugh. Where's the cat when I need him!
Stay tuned for more of my springtime adventures like Sealing The Deck and Cleaning Out The Garage! Sure to be stimulating reads. In the meantime, expect many more pictures of flowers and I'll soon be posting all about Siri's agility class!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Adventures in Baking
This week I made my first ever cake from scratch all by myself! A friend of ours had a birthday which I took as a convenient opportunity to satisfy my craving for chocolate cake. I usually make cake from a box but had decided to make homemade frosting. While looking for a frosting recipe, I found a cake recipe and discovered I had every ingredient but cocoa. I thought I would try my hand at a little baking and I must say, it turned out wonderfully!
I was messing around with flash settings and couldn't decide which picture looked better so I put them both up.
I have a new found respect for people who put frosting on the sides of the cake. That was much harder than it looked!
I was messing around with flash settings and couldn't decide which picture looked better so I put them both up.
I have a new found respect for people who put frosting on the sides of the cake. That was much harder than it looked!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
A General Update...Heavy on the Animals
So I know I haven't updated in a while but that's because not much is going on. Henry went back to school in the middle of January and has been extremely busy. I've been working and trying to get into a routine of working out. It's pretty sporadic but I guess that is better than nothing. I'm also trying to be a better dog owner and spend more time with Siri playing at the park. He went in for his shots a few months ago and has gained about 10 pounds in the last year. The vet said he's not overweight but he doesn't want him to gain anymore. Siri is definitely loving the extra attention and exercise. I'm looking forward to summer so we can go hiking and exercise both of us at once instead of going to the park with the frisbee and then I have to go home and work out myself!
Minke on the other hand, has gained two pounds since his summer misadventure when he was stuck in an abandoned house for nine days. That's great news for him since he had gotten down to eight pounds and he should be a twelve pound cat. He's never been a twelve pound cat...but he should be. I've never been able to get him over 10.5. I wish I had his problem...
Oh! We did have a tiny adventure this morning when I opened the front blinds and about nine grouse had been hanging out under our porch and were emerging into the front yard. Both Siri and Minke found that extremely interesting and were very vocal in their desire to go outside and examine the grouse. I'm sure Siri had only good intentions; he loves to chase things and would never know what to do if caught something. Minke, on the other hand, I'm pretty sure there was murder in his eyes. He loves to kill things. I'm not such a fan of him killing things so both animals stayed inside.
Valentine's Day will be the one year anniversary of us living in our house! The year has gone so quickly and I still don't have anything on the walls. I just don't know where to start decorating so nothing is getting decorated. I would love it if we won the lottery and I would call some people from HG TV, go on vacation for a few weeks and come home to a beautifully decorated home.
I guess since this post is all about the animals I will post some recent pictures of them.
Kitty is pretty obsessed with sitting on laps, even when I am on the computer.
He also likes to climb under the covers before I have a chance to make the bed and make himself quite comfortable.
A little drowsy from being awakened by me laughing and taking pictures.
Snoozing on my lap ... he's so photogenic!
Siri got a new collar...comparison of the old and the new. I guess almost four years in the same collar will do that...
What you can't see in this picture is my other hand holding his head down because he thought something exciting was happening and could hardly contain himself.
The drowsy face of the cutest dog in the world...in my opinion.
Minke on the other hand, has gained two pounds since his summer misadventure when he was stuck in an abandoned house for nine days. That's great news for him since he had gotten down to eight pounds and he should be a twelve pound cat. He's never been a twelve pound cat...but he should be. I've never been able to get him over 10.5. I wish I had his problem...
Oh! We did have a tiny adventure this morning when I opened the front blinds and about nine grouse had been hanging out under our porch and were emerging into the front yard. Both Siri and Minke found that extremely interesting and were very vocal in their desire to go outside and examine the grouse. I'm sure Siri had only good intentions; he loves to chase things and would never know what to do if caught something. Minke, on the other hand, I'm pretty sure there was murder in his eyes. He loves to kill things. I'm not such a fan of him killing things so both animals stayed inside.
Valentine's Day will be the one year anniversary of us living in our house! The year has gone so quickly and I still don't have anything on the walls. I just don't know where to start decorating so nothing is getting decorated. I would love it if we won the lottery and I would call some people from HG TV, go on vacation for a few weeks and come home to a beautifully decorated home.
I guess since this post is all about the animals I will post some recent pictures of them.
Kitty is pretty obsessed with sitting on laps, even when I am on the computer.
He also likes to climb under the covers before I have a chance to make the bed and make himself quite comfortable.
A little drowsy from being awakened by me laughing and taking pictures.
Snoozing on my lap ... he's so photogenic!
Siri got a new collar...comparison of the old and the new. I guess almost four years in the same collar will do that...
What you can't see in this picture is my other hand holding his head down because he thought something exciting was happening and could hardly contain himself.
The drowsy face of the cutest dog in the world...in my opinion.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Christmas and Such
After our amazing Hawaii trip, we came home to ever-welcoming Montana and a balmy -20 degrees. Having a 90 degree change in less than two days did not put me in a very good mood. For the first time ever, I actually considered moving away. It warmed up after a week or so as we came toward Christmas.
For Christmas, we went up to Henry's parents' house and spent a couple days with them and his sister Katherine and her boyfriend Logan. It was a nice relaxing time and we had a lot of fun.
Some pictures of cookies Hank and I made - I think we started a new tradition!
For New Year's, we went out with some friends and enjoyed a night on the town. We hadn't done that in a really long time and we had a blast!
Just before heading out for the evening:
Passing around the New Year's hat some very drunk people gave us.
My turn with the hat.
At the end of December, we put our truck up for sale and at the beginning of January, we sold it for our asking price! We are going to miss it very much - we loved that truck but it is going to free up a lot of money in our budget without the monthly payments and allow us to meet some financial goals we set for ourselves.
Our last days with the truck.
So far, 2010 has started off with a bang and we are anticipating our best year yet! Henry goes back to school tomorrow and it is really exciting to think about how our lives will have changed by this time next year. Happy New Year's Everyone!
For Christmas, we went up to Henry's parents' house and spent a couple days with them and his sister Katherine and her boyfriend Logan. It was a nice relaxing time and we had a lot of fun.
Some pictures of cookies Hank and I made - I think we started a new tradition!
For New Year's, we went out with some friends and enjoyed a night on the town. We hadn't done that in a really long time and we had a blast!
Just before heading out for the evening:
Passing around the New Year's hat some very drunk people gave us.
My turn with the hat.
At the end of December, we put our truck up for sale and at the beginning of January, we sold it for our asking price! We are going to miss it very much - we loved that truck but it is going to free up a lot of money in our budget without the monthly payments and allow us to meet some financial goals we set for ourselves.
Our last days with the truck.
So far, 2010 has started off with a bang and we are anticipating our best year yet! Henry goes back to school tomorrow and it is really exciting to think about how our lives will have changed by this time next year. Happy New Year's Everyone!
The Last Hawaii Post!
Our last day in Hawaii was wonderful. We went on a zip line adventure with Kauai Back Country Adventures and had so much fun! We got to go on eight different lines down through a canyon. It was a little scary the first few times but we soon got the hang of it and were running and jumping with the best of them!
At the top of the course.
Amanda going across line two.
A view of the stream below Henry's leg. He's wanting to show how high we were.
Perfect shot of Henry as he goes on line four.
We were extremely lucky and got to see Mt. Wai ale ale on one of the very few days each year it's not covered by clouds.
Henry was able to take a video of line five, the longest line. It was about 980 feet long and our average speed on all the lines was about 30 miles per hour. Enjoy!
After the zip line, we had some time to kill before we met my step-brothers for dinner so drove around and went to Wailua Falls and the Spouting Horn to watch the water shoot through the hole.
Wailua Falls:
Spouting Horn:
That night we met my step-brothers for dinner at the Beach House and had a wonderful meal and a wonderful time spending time with people we don't get to see very often.
Thank you Dad and Karen for a wonderful trip to Hawaii! We had so much fun and hope we get to do it again someday!
At the top of the course.
Amanda going across line two.
A view of the stream below Henry's leg. He's wanting to show how high we were.
Perfect shot of Henry as he goes on line four.
We were extremely lucky and got to see Mt. Wai ale ale on one of the very few days each year it's not covered by clouds.
Henry was able to take a video of line five, the longest line. It was about 980 feet long and our average speed on all the lines was about 30 miles per hour. Enjoy!
After the zip line, we had some time to kill before we met my step-brothers for dinner so drove around and went to Wailua Falls and the Spouting Horn to watch the water shoot through the hole.
Wailua Falls:
Spouting Horn:
That night we met my step-brothers for dinner at the Beach House and had a wonderful meal and a wonderful time spending time with people we don't get to see very often.
Thank you Dad and Karen for a wonderful trip to Hawaii! We had so much fun and hope we get to do it again someday!
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