the backyard...

We can't wait for spring, it's been a long cold winter in Idaho. Idaho is the best place for summertime in our minds out of the handful of cities we've lived in (and so does Sunset magazine!). Plus in general summer (to us) is the best time of year... we just get to work full time, no school, warm nights, biking everywhere, farmers markets, floating the river, BBQs in the backyard with friends, gardening, sunshine, fresh vegetables, lawn games- bocce ball, ladder ball, croquet, fires, camping, fishing, and warm days with all of the windows and doors open to take in the fresh air. Can you tell we can't wait?! So this spring break we want to work on readying our yard for summer because its such a huge part of our seasonal happiness. And we want to see if you guys have some ideas for us and our small yard because we are kind of stumped as to what exactly to do...

::Colors::

turquoise, green, wood, burnt orange/rusted iron, white

             (the house is khaki colored, garage is white)

::Already Own::

string lights from our wedding (free)

wood bird feeder from target ($14)

firepot from home depot ($19)

iron chimnea (a wedding gift)

2 Adirondacks, little turquoise painted table, grill (all re-purposed) in our backyard

outdoor clock/thermometer at home depot($10)

::Projects/ To buy/Questions for you::

-plants? sod?: we could plant new sod in the whole yard...to be determined. Last year we had lighter grass under the huge oak tree, because its heavy shade so I'd love to have thicker, fuller grass to play on. We also need to landscape the yard a bit, with a few more supplemental plants in the crevices of the yard. I like the over-grown-super-green, lush-yard look. Should we plant grass seeds or just put in all new sod?! What do you think?!
-pots: I want to mix some potted plants in with some plants that are placed in the ground...add some color and height. Where should the pots be placed? Any suggestions?
-patio table: we will be going to IKEA in Utah to look for patio tables. We like the modern look mixed with rustic things, but we will see what we find. We want something not ordinary, a little quirky or homemade?!
-chairs: we have 4 chairs that we could use, 2 painted white and 2 plain wood ones to place around the patio table. Not ideal, but they could work.

::Our Yard::

...my journal sketch of the yard for you to get perspective...

Disclaimer: these outdoor photos go from being very lively full of happiness, greenery, family, friends, growth, life.... to very dismal, wintery, browns, and one could even say backyard sadness. Be ware. You were warned. Summer is coming however.

...view from the back door of our house out into the yard now...

...view from the patio/porch during our wedding week last summer. my dad, matt's friends, and matt all playing sports toss (aka "corn hole" which I do not prefer to call it) on the mediocre grass...

...view from the porch now...

...view from the big oak in the middle of the yard...

...view from the back patio now...

...this is our crazy, over-grown veggie planters last summer....

...these are the barren-planters right now :( at least chewy likes them...

...our patio with the old table, full of friends and family, oh I miss last summer. Why can't we get married again this summer?!..

.

...our patio now, with the old table and what is left of the chairs...

::Inspiration::

I love this yard/ patio table look from West Elm .... unfortunately the table alone is $499!

love this look as well...makes me want to curl up in the sunshine with a chilled glass of chardonnay... west elm of course... i need to really stop looking at their site. ($499 for the chair... however on a happier note the pillow is $24, I could afford that)

bountiful baskets

Has anyone heard of this wonderful thing called bountiful baskets?! This co-op is only offered in a handful of states as it turns out but its all as local as possible, fresh, and affordable baskets of fruits and vegetables. So you go online, on Monday register for you basket which is $15, and it is one laundry basket full of a vegetable assortment and one basket full of fruits. Then you go to a certain location Saturday morning...like a high school in town...and pick it up. Easy! You never know what you will get, some crazy items like mangoes, swiss chard it all just depends on what is in season. So I love this (obviously). We got our first basket and it was incredible.

You also have an option to choose other assortments every week.... like we chose the italian pack which is onions, mushrooms, garlic, herbs- basil, parsley, oregano...that was $10, then a 2lb bag of homemade granola for $10.

$35 for all this?! Phenomenal. It was so much fun to decide how to use all of this bountiful food with new recipes that were super healthy. What an awesome opportunity.

I love boise.

UTAH!!

So we took a little mini- vacation to Utah... Park City to be exact during part of our spring break last week. It was soo beautiful...and still cold there as well. We stopped at Wasatch Brew Pub, IKEA, and Noodles &Company (quite possibly my favorite restaurant). We had the dogs watched, stayed in a hotel it was a real treat and very much needed this spring break.

...the real reason is we went there to pick up this for matt...

[a motorcycle from his uncle, that happened to be residing in park city...thanks uncle bud! bud also happened to be the one who married us here]

...this is excited matt, it took me about 3 years to agree to let him get his bike (I hate motorcycles, something about working in the ER and seeing death after death on those things, but do you see how happy he is?!)...

...this is what matt wanted to ride home in for 6 long hours, while I trailed behind in my car...CRAZY?! I think so, good thing we brought the truck...

...but we also got this for me...

[a wonderful and modern IKEA lamp... for only $29!]

...and this for our yard, which I will explain just what it is for very soon...

[a butcher block/kitchen countertop from IKEA...on sale of course]

sick days...

I have been sick this week... like hit-by-a-train sick. I missed my nursing clinicals today to go to the urgent care...turns out she doesn't really know what it is... not strep, not the flu (thank goodness my mandatory flu shot wasn't a total waste)...so maybe sinusitis?! Fantastic. So I am on antibiotics and Matt is asking me to at least blog today...do something besides sleep for the past 3 days. So here I am :) And I actually feel more lively after reading some wonderfully sweet comments you all wrote to me. So thanks for making my day!!

It was weird going to the doctor... I never get sick, but I now have to worry about not only me but a potential spud. It's too early to test if I am pregnant...so I just have to assume that I am and treat my body accordingly...take the vitamins, no alcohol, no coffee...and what about... fevers?! antibiotics?! motrin/tylenol? this bacterial or viral infection I have?! I am too sick to look through my maternal nursing textbook and drug guide...so I guess I just have to rely on the doctor, doing her job. And be pleased with my husband being ultra supportive and loving and putting up with my zombie-look... not to mention the cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping- usually all these things we do together...not this week.

However I have some fun DIY projects to post about, we were super busy over spring break (last week) in our backyard...so those are coming soon! We even had two days of warmth!! Real warmth! It was an amazing spring break.

...sneak peak at our spring break projects...

Nurse says...

I went to my nurse midwife appointment... like I said because of my freak-out seen here. And first of all...she is fantastic! I have never had an OB/GYN doctor actually just sit and talk with me. Usually you're on the table, super uncomfortable, half-naked, and trying to get to know your doctor before they run out the room to the next patient. Nope, not here. She was extremely attentive and thorough. I loved it. She was super comforting and pretty much told me... to be patient. It's all normal, and when it isn't normal she will take action. But so far, I need to try not to worry myself. I should be getting back to my normal schedule any day now, I am not pregnant- ectopically or otherwise...and once I haven't had my period for 3 months, then it can be induced. She also checked my TSH level... because I have a thyroid situation going on-which could definitely throw off my ovulation, growing a healthy spud...etc. So she will be watching my levels closely, which is nice. I feel like she knows me better in one visit than my ENT surgeon I have been meeting with for a year now. She also understood how stressful it must be to want to try to get pregnant...and we just can't even try! I am not sure if my experience was true for all of the practitioners in the office, or if this was the difference between nurse midwives and docs. But I'm happy with my choice. She said she'd love to be my CNM for when I do get pregnant... I said I'd love to be pregnant... she said we can do that. I think it will be a great relationship. So now I just have to have a little more faith in my body that it will do what it needs to.

modifying pants...simple & easy.

...have I mentioned how much I love my camera when once-in-a-blue-moon it takes pictures like this?!...

So in order to fit into pants, about 90% of the time, I have to modify them by adding length. I am 5'11...so when stores say "tall" on pants, its almost laughable...(or cryable depending on the day). They are almost always 5" too short. Usually pants "x-long" or "long" are 33" inseam, I have a 37.5" inseam. Buckle,  a store in the mall, usually carries two brands of jeans that do fit, which I love, but I can forget about fitting into dress pants, khakis...just not an option for me yet. So when capris came into fashion I got super excited... perfect right?! No, those are too short as well. Who wants knee-high capris?! They look just about as silly as highwater pants. Anyways, I live in jeans or my modified pants...such as these capris with a little extra fun fabric sewed to the bottom...

So needless to say I have a difficult time fitting into pajama pants and scrub pants, so I usually sew my own. But for capri pjs I like to buy a cheap pair of too-short-pants, then cut off about 5 " to make them into capris that fit.

...really not cute...

I'm always wearing bobby pins, so I stand in front of the mirror, roll up the pant leg, and place a few bobby pins where I want the hem to go, then copy it for the other side.

 ...getting better...

...my workspace...

I threw in a few pins, with the pants inside out and then removed the front portion of the machine so that I can work on only one side of the pant leg at a time. I like about 3 hem lines just for fun.

So I have to tell you... this machine...was $44 on Overstock. I used to have a super fancy, expensive machine with a ton of gadgets that quite frankly I never used and would frequently get jammed. I told my mom about my frustrations, and she bought this machine for me instead. Its simple, easy to use, and works extremely well for my simple projects. I love it. Reliably straight and zig zag...who needs anything else?! Not me.

...my new lounging pants, nothing fantastic, but they make me happy...

the in-between....

...there is something extremely definitive about a "not pregnant" instead of the lack of a red line...

So I kind of half-figured that it might take some time to be able to conceive. After all I had been on birth control pills for 8 years... but then the other half of my mind thought that perhaps I'd get pregnant right off the bat without much consideration. However, I never guessed that I'd be right in-between. Now that we have been preparing ourselves mentally, physically, and emotionally for the past 4 months... I have zero period and I am not pregnant. What the heck?! How does this happen?! 50 days sans embryo or period?! Just plain-o-lindsey. Let me tell you... it's mildly (ok, moderately) frustrating. Which I am sure doesn't help a darn thing. We are ready to get going with this spud-making...So I scheduled an appointment with my certified nurse midwife (that I ultimately want to deliver our potential spud) to have a gynie appointment, and as it turns out a pre-conception appointment all rolled into one. And hopefully we get some answers.

Now, I am proud to announce that I have a new plan... it's called... throw out the plan. No more plan, no more stress to adhere to our ideal plan, whenever it happens, it happens (and hopefully it does happen)...nursing school conflicts or not. Can they really hold me back a semester if I fulfill all of my requirements, clinicals, assignments?! Will they really not hire a qualified pregnant nursing grad?! No. That's discrimination... right?! (I hope) AND... I'm having a glass of wine with dinner until this alleged "monthly period" comes back!

lazy sundays...

Oh how I look forward to our lazy Sundays. We have a crazy busy life this semester of school. But Sunday we can sleep in, make breakfast, clean the house, and then just be lazy. This Sunday I learned how to use my camera... here is a sneak peak at our lazy Sundays, as I sit on the floor relaxing.

...Matt playing the guitar, it calms the dogs, we all love it.I can't wait for him to play to our little spud...

...I love it when Colby puts his little arm on my leg...I pretend it's him being affectionate... he probably just wants me to stop moving...

...my wonderful husband thinking I am silly for sitting on the hard floor for over an hour, but I couldn't imagine anywhere else I'd rather be...

logs!

When I think about toys for our kids to play with I think of natural- feel good, and ideally (but not realistically) not plastic toys. Of course this is not obtainable in today's world, especially with all of the adorable plastic toys out there, but I love the feel of real elements- like wood, glass, metal, ceramic. And I want to have less clutter in our lives, slim down the number of things but still providing wonderful learning and playing toys for our kids to enjoy their childhood...and just be kids.

When I had my own Montessori classroom I had very limited amount of plastic items. The philosophy behind it is that when a child picks up a clear, glass-looking drinking glass they feel the weight of glass, there is no misconception with light plastic that looks like glass. You give your child real pure items, that they enjoy, love, and learn to respect. Glass breaks...great! Let's work together on cleaning it up! And it probably won't happen again. They then know glass is heavy, it's breakable, and we go on with life...it's not a disaster. Lesson learned! So when I stumbled upon this adorable wood block set, of real logs I just about died. How perfect. I loved it. So when I showed it to Matt...he just didn't get it. Who wants to play with logs?! Boring!

...my idea of playing with adorable logs...

...Matt's idea of playing with logs...

3 year anniversary...

...the adorable card matt made for me, in a 3D camera shape...

[photo taken by my canon rebel]

We like to celebrate the first day we met... its kind of a big deal :) So that happens to be February 20th, 3 years ago. We will still celebrate our wedding day, but this date means even more to us. On our very first date it was a blind date at a sushi restaurant in Boulder, CO. We stayed all night until we noticed them putting up the chairs all around us. It was a fantastic first date, nothing ordinary. So each year we go out to sushi to celebrate our Feb 20th and to top it off matt gave me a very much wanted (but not needed) 50mm f1.8 lens for my new camera, even though I don't quite know how to use it yet I am very excited! Thus the camera-shaped card. And I gave him a very much needed 90 min. massage at a local day spa- this will be his first professional massage ever, so we will see if this was a good or bad gift.

saying goodbye to wine...

...the invitation I made for our wine tasting party and the picture was taken with my new camera, that I absolutely LOVE...

So in honor of saying goodbye to wine for a few years we decided to throw a wine tasting party with our Idaho friends in January. It was a blast! Each couple brought their favorite wine, at the door I threw it in a bag with a number on it and lined them up. We then tasted (who am I kidding...we devoured...) about 10 wines, white and red...without knowing the names of the wines or seeing their cute labels. We scored the wines individually then unveiled the bottles... we were shocked. Our favorite wine was...Carlo Rossi. What the heck?! Matt and I could have sworn our favorite wine all of these past years was a nice old vine marietta. Nope. Surprisingly the ol' carlo jug is our palette's wine of choice.

So as we all drank into the night, my girlfriends told me about how some of their pregnant friends were told by their doctors that they could have a glass of wine every night. That these pregnant women were so stressed out, that if a glass of wine mellowed them, then perfect. Seriously drinking during pregnancy?! Interesting. Pregnant women are incredibly hard to do studies on, how much alcohol is okay? At what point do you have the risk for fetal alcohol syndrome? Not that I will be drinking alcohol anymore, but its an interesting idea... how much do we really know about that prenatal period?! I am sure there will be a whole slew of items to avoid 20 years from now.

it's february.

You know what this means?! Spud time! How did these months fly by so quickly? Unreal. So of course I have utilized those ovulation calendars. We aren't super stressed out- if it happens, it happens...if not...we had fun. I know stress can effect many things, including spud arrivals....so we will be stress-free. I looked up WebMD's ovulation calendar, and according to Dr. Web, I could give birth December 4th-ish 2011! And if no luck this month, then maybe the next month. Unbelievable. I actually feel like we are ready. I have started my OB/mother/baby clinical and I feel good about what we are attempting to embark on. I know whats coming, and I can do it. And I found out my hospital offers tons of baby classes- one of which is hypnobirthing! Fantastic.They won't look at me like a granola-tree-huggin' gal (that I really am not). Awesome!

To Do's that are DONE:

• go to the dentist, cavity free! They did over 20 xrays! I was so happy to have this done with.
• go to the dermatologist
• limit coffee to 1 cup or less a day (this is hard, but doable...warmth with spring will make this easier to just drink cold healthy things like milk and water)
• debt free... we owe nothing (besides school loans) and we are sitting pretty to be able to be saving. yay!
• prenatal vitamins still going strong.
• eating healthier....fruits and veggies, less eating out.

Still To Do's:

• schedule a pre-conception apt. This I am having a hard time with. Do I really need this appointment?! I think we read enough to know whats healthy and whats not. We have very few risks. I think I want to forego this apt. I kind of want to save up our money/insurance costs for the real-deal prenatal appointments. Bad idea?! Maybe.
• figure out how to incorporate exercise into my already super busy schedule.