Hello, Fall

September means the start of school. Literally! September 2nd was the first day of school.

everyone loves picture day, right?

The start of school comes with its ups and downs. Ups? I love connecting with a new group of kiddos and working hard to make my teaching practices even better than the year before. Downs? Grading papers!!! Seriously, if I had a personal secretary to grade papers for me, life would be 100x better. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a little. But seriously, grading is such a time sucker.

But Brodie made the first day of school a breeze! I came home to a bouquet of flowers and a "menu" of our evening's activities. He had it all set up with my favorite dinner (spaghetti!), favorite ice cream, favorite movie, and even complete with a back massage. Living with your best friend that understands you inside and out definitely has it's perks!

Now that we are in a new house, we have been working on house projects on the weekends. We love spending a Saturday to make the house our own (or even just make it clean enough to live in!!) The best part is these projects can get us a reduction on our monthly rent. I took on a shower caulking project, while Brodie tackled the yard. I think both turned out better than I thought!

BEFORE

yeah. . . so gross, I can't even talk about it

DURING

I had to cut out all of the old caulk which took foreverrrr

AFTER

yay!!! no more mildew stains

BEFORE

 not terrible, but the path was falling apart and why is there a bush in the middle of the arbor??

the weed tarp was coming up through the bark dust

there were just as many dead patches as there was grass

DURING 

Brodie dug up the yard & leveled it in order to lay new sod.

I'm probably not using the correct "yard terms", but it went something like that

AFTER

Isn't he a miracle worker?? He used the pavers from the old path to make a patio, created 2 gravel flower beds on each side of the yard, centered the arbor, relocated the lavender bush and rhododendron, and then laid new sod for the final touch!

We love our little home! :) We are settled in, have everything set up, and have completed all of our projects on our to-do list. At least for now! I'm sure more pictures will end up here sometime soon. 

Happy Fall Y'all!

So Long, Sweet Summer

Summer is over and I already miss it. Is that bad? As much as I love the beginning of the school year, there's nothing that can beat warm summer nights, long walks, days at the river, and trips to Seattle. And that's exactly what we did this summer! It was definitely a warm summer and we spent almost all of our days outside. And since I refuse to miss anything too important, now matter how far behind I get with blogging, here are some summer highlights.


1. moving into our new rental house :):):):)

2. trips to Seattle -  time with family, boating, & Ragnar

3. Taylor came to visit - Wicked and hiking in the Gorge

4. Oregon coast with the Fish Fam

5. Hiking near St. Helens and Ape Caves with the Mellor Family. One of my students  was visiting all the way from Utah. So of course we had to meet up and spend the day together!!