Saturday, June 22, 2013

The move!

Am I on a blogging roll or what???  I gotta say, I am pretty dang proud of myself :)
But anyways....
WE MOVED!!!
On June 1st, bright and early, my family showed up to help us make the move from Blackfoot to Parker, ID.  We went from the Rez to the Sand Dunes and so far we love it!  Dillon is starting to get the hang of the whole "working full time" thing and seems to be liking it so far.  Tuesday he took his licensing exam and now we just wait.  Wait, wait, wait to see if he passed.  I know he passed, he's such a smarty pants, but it is still kinda nerve racking having to wait for the official results.

We are getting all settled into our little farm house we are renting and I have just a little bit more organizing to do.  We really like our little house but sure miss all the extra space we had in our trailer in Blackfoot.  But, we now have a garage that has been SO nice to use as storage.  We have quite a bit bigger yard and are loving the extra space outside.  Up until just a few days before we moved we didn't think we were going to be able to have Skeeter and had fostered him out to stay at my sister's in Wyoming for the time being.  But, last minute, we were able to find out that the landlord was going to let us keep him here.  The first night for the poor guy was rough, he was SO confused.  He cried, literally, all night long.  When we woke up the next morning he had pulled his pillow out of his doghouse to sleep outside and pout.  He has since realized that this is now his home and he will have to come to love it whether he wants to or not :)  We did discover that he is very particular about where his doghouse is placed in his kennel. 
Last week he worked everyday, little by little, digging himself a little bed in the dirt.  I had noticed that every time I looked out the window before I would let him out in the mornings he would never be in his doghouse.  Instead, he'd be curled up in a ball in his dirt bed.  His makeshift bed just so happens to be right where his doghouse was in Blackfoot.  So, we moved his doghouse to the other side, over top of his dirt bed, and just like that he now will go in his doghouse.  Picky, picky, picky!

Our landlord has been awesome!  Not only did he agree to let us bring Skeeter with us, but he also agreed to letting us plant ourselves a little garden.  He initially said that he would have his son come over and use the tractor to dig us a plot.  We were in Shelley the weekend it was supposed to get done and were so excited to plant our garden for Family Home Evening when he got home.  Well, we got home and Monday night came and the plot was still not dug for us.  So...we pulled out the shovel, found a hoe/rake/thingy lying around, rolled up our sleeves and got to work.
Before
Hard at work.  Don't worry, after a few pictures I did start helping :)
After
It's not the most beautiful garden you will ever see but we are pretty dang proud of it!  AND, within just the last few days our corn, beans, cucumbers, and some pumpkins have all sprouted! :) 
Now hopefully these cold nights we've been having don't kill it all off, like they did my flowers :( 

(aren't those rose bushes SO pretty????)


 Yup, I got all these beautiful flowers (and our sad little cactus we brought with us, haha) planted just in time for us to be gone the one night we got hit by a hard frost.  I was so sad when we got home and they were all dead.  The hanging basket was a gift from the school district I just left and it was SO much prettier when I got it.  It has now partially frozen twice.  Since then I've been bringing it in every night and trying to love it back to its full and beautiful life.  Luckily my potted flowers have bounced right back but my little flowers in the ground have not been so lucky.  Hopefully with the warming temperatures they will come back, maybe?  If not I guess I'll be getting some more and replanting them. 
If you can't tell, my flower beds are a little messy with the wind blowing the rose petals and tree seed things all over.  Forget the weeds, it's a full time job keeping those little buggers cleaned out!  Oh well, I'm just excited to have some space of our own to attempt to beautify :)

The other thing we are in love with about our yard?

 Yup, a fire pit! 

Like I said, we really are loving living here at our little house here in Parker and are excited to finally stay in town this weekend and meet our new ward. 

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Seattle

Over Memorial Day weekend we made the last minute decision to go with Dillon's parents to Washington.  We were hoping that Dillon would have been able to start working by that time but, since ISU messed up on his paperwork that he needed to get his temporary license in order to start work, not once but TWICE, he was still not able to start work yet.  So, the decision was made, bags were packed and the L.O.N.G drive began!  I took off work on Thurs and we spent all day in the car.  We finally made it to Seattle that night around 9:00.  Friday we spent the day seeing the sights with our tour guide Landon (Dillon's brother) who is going to grad school up there.  

He showed us the University of Washington campus...





And took us to Pike Place Market...
The famous gum wall!
While at Pike Place Market we snagged us some lunch at the Crab Pot and couldn't resist taking our pictures :)
Dillon's mom and dad
The happy crabbers :)
After walking around the market for a few hours the sun was starting to come out and we were in need of some relaxing.  So, off to the beach it was :)  Landon took us to Alki beach where we had an amazing view of the city. 
We ended up just sitting at the beach, people watching and enjoying the sunshine.  It was so nice to just sit and talk and enjoy the beautiful view.  After a few hours, we piled back into the car, found some dinner and headed to Safeco Field to watch the Mariners take on the Texas Rangers.  

It was a really fun game.  Cold,  but fun!  Unfortunately the Mariners couldn't quite pull out a win, but they sure made the last inning an exciting one!  

The next morning we were up and headed out to go and see Dillon's grandparents that live about 3 hours from Seattle in Tri-Cities.  Dillon's grandpa has Parkinson's and has not been doing well as of late.  It was so good to go and see him and spend some time with him and Dillon's grandma.  We were also able to see Dillon's great-grandma who is just down the hall and around the corner from her son in the nursing home :) and spend time with Dillon's aunt and uncle and cousins.  I don't know why, but I didn't get any pictures while we were there :(  
But it was a great (quick) trip and so fun to spend time with Dillon's parents and see some of his family that we don't get to see as often!