Oh Boy!

Yes it is true - we found out that baby Meendering is a boy! We actually found out the first of December - I have just been horrible at posting lately. It was funny because I have felt like it was a boy ever since my sister Julie and my friend Nicole said they thought it was a boy. Jon and I had a great time at the ultrasound appointment. Baby boy Meendering was moving around like crazy so it was difficult to get any really great images but it was still surreal to see him and all the progress he has made since our last ultrasound. It actually looked like a human this time! We didn't get to do a 3D ultrasound which was a little dissapointing - and irritating because they didn't tell us this until we were at the ultrasound, but their other ultasound location they let us choose from does (pehaps this would be a good thing to tell expecting parents when you ask them the locaiton they want to do the ultrasound). Anyway, it is back to the drawing board for us to think of names. We have three girl names we just loved and NO boy names. I feel like boy names are so much harder for some reason. If you have good ideas feel free to leave them in the comments. We can use all the help we can get.

Floor Transformation

So, we sucked it up and paid for the wood floors in the kitchen and upstairs to be refinished. If you remember Sue and I ripped up the first layer of lanoleum off the kitchen floor and pulled out hundreds of staples. We were left with a second layer of pink lanoleum that jon had to chip off piece by piece to reveal the original wood floor beneath. To be honest I didn't even believe it was wood becaues it was so covered in lanoleum glue that had turned back and was all sticky and gummy. Luckily the floor guys we hired were able to sand through it (they were not happy - but they did it). It feels awesome to have those floors done - it would have taken us forever to do that job. Here are some shots of the transformation....

After the 1st layer of grey lanoleum was ripped up....(the second layer that you see was pink - Awesome!)
The floor is back to the original and the kitchen is almost done...just baseboards and we can quit working in the kitchen!
It has made big progress since the day we moved in... (this picture was posted when the house was for sale by the previous owners)

Landscaping in Retrospect

So a few weekends ago we took a break from working upstairs and we ordered what seemed like a ton of mulch for all of our planting beds around the house. We spend a lot of time this summer pulling weed after weed out of those beds (although our neighbors may beg to differ because we just couldn't keep up)! So, we decided to invest a little time and energy to mulch the beds and hopefully prevent so many weeds from coming up and requiring our attention in the spring. I can't believe how much better the planting beds look now with the mulch - it totally pulled them all together and made them look so much more polished. Although I am sure the pictures won't do it justice because all of our plants have died because it is so cold here already - hopefully you can get the idea. Funny think was that we had to shovel the mulch from the big pile in our driveway into our recycling container and carry it load by load to the different beds around our house since we don't have a wheel barrow. To bad a didn't get a picture of that!

Two Become Three....

I know most of you who regularly check our blog know already - but we figured it was time to make our blog announcement that we are expecting a baby at the end of April/beginning of May. We are about 16 weeks right now and really excited for our family of two to become three! Here are pictures from our 12 week appointment. If you double click on them you can seem them a little bit bigger...
We have an appointment this week so we will keep all of you posted if we learn anything exciting. We are trying to decide if we are going to find out if it is a boy or a girl...right now we are thinking we will find out Although I really feel like it is a boy at this point. Thanks to everyone for all of your love and support over the past few weeks. We are so excited and feel so thankful to have so many family members and friends who are excited too!

A day at the farm

The MORANS made the long trek to Omaha last weekend to hang out with us. We went to a farm outside of Omaha that had a pick your own pumpkin patch, a huge apple orchard with a ton of varieties of apples, and a corn maze. We picked to our hearts content and laughed our way through the corn maze on what turned out to be a beautiful fall day. The whole weekend made me think a lot about the importance of family. My sister drove all the way from Minneapolis to get here, which is no small task with 4 kids. I love that she values family too and I love my time with her because we are similar in so many ways. It meant a lot to both Jon and I that her, Joe, and the kids made the trip. We love you guys! Hope you have you pumpkins out on your steps ready for trick or treating!

The New Ride

Ok - so I promised a post of our new car and our Malibu's destruction, but I just haven't had time and plus I feel like a dork taking pictures of a car, so I thought I would just link you to a picture of our car online....Enjoy! If it doesn't show you the right color - we got the deep bronze metallic (that is a fancy name for brown).

As for the Malibu - I will be forced to take pictures soon for insurance reasons so keep your fingers crossed that I can get my act in gear and get them posted. On second though - who wants to see pictures of a ripped up car anyway! How depressing - scratch that - no pictures...lets focus on the positive!

Hobo Days at SDSU

Yes - I know...the posts have been few and far between lately. We have been swamped here and just doing our best to keep our heads above water. Work has exploded with to do's, we have been traveling or hosting guests for the last month worth of weekends, and busy trying to finish up the upstars (finally). We went to Brookings for Hobo Day (this is the homecoming of the school where I got my undergraduate degree. Highlights were getting to see dear friends Amber and Katie who drove to Brookings and hung out with my family for the parade, going to the football game with my nieces and nephews, and just spending time with the Gee fam. It has been a whirlwind of a few weeks but we have enjoyed every minute with family and friends! Thanks to all of you who traveled to see us and those of you who let us crash with you!!

The Malibu is stripped….

So, I haven't blogged about this event because I hate to even think about it – but I figure it was time. Our car got broken into a few weeks ago and the whole dash got stripped apart so that the intruder could take a ten year old radio and CD player. They probably pawned it for all of 50 bucks if they were lucky, but the damages to get our car fixed are going to be near the 500+ dollar range. I was so freaked out and pissed off all at the same time. To top things off – our car insurance people have been impossible to deal with, looks like our deductable is too high to get any money to fix things, and our car is probably only worth a whopping 1500 dollars if we are lucky anyway! So we are contemplating if we should fix it or just have a permanent cubby hole in our dash. Why do people have to do things like this? Can you feel good about yourself if you wake up in the morning after stealing from another person? Jon and I are just thankful that it didn't happen to our new car. That would have been an even bigger heart breaker. Speaking of the new car – I don't know that I have introduced you guys to it yet. That will be a happier post soon to come……

Wedding Pics Continued.....

The Wedding Weekend in Bend

Jon and I were in Bend Oregon for Grant and Nicole's wedding last weekend and I am just getting around to posting some of the pictures. My photos don't do the wedding justice so make sure to check out the professional photographer's blog (her photographs are amazing). I can't even begin to know what to write that would do the time we spent back in Oregon justice, so pictures instead........
We love you guys....
More pictures from the actual wedding day to come tomorrow......

The BIG 30!

Yes it is true. I celebrated my 30th birthday on September 18. Jon and I were traveling that day to Oregon for Grant and Nicole's wedding. It was such an awesome birthday treat to see the beauty of Oregon and be surrounded by so many of our good friends. Nicole and her closest friends and family had all gathered for the wedding in Bend and they surprised me by passing out birthday hats, signing happy birthday, and having me blow out 30 candles (I was horrible - perhaps this is because I can't even remember the last time I blew out candles). Thanks Nicole and Grant for making the day so special. People keep asking if it feels different to be 30 - not yet...but Jon keeps reminding me that I am now in my 30's and he is still in his twenties (but lets all remember he is 29 and will be 30 in a few short months).

Oregon Bound

We leave tomorrow morning bright and early for Bend, Oregon. We are flying back for Grant and Nicole's wedding and we can not even express our excitement to be back in Oregon and see some of our dear friends. It is funny how your idea of "home" changes as you move from location to location. The whole time we were in Oregon we always considered South Dakota "home" and we were eagerly awaiting to move back closer to friends and family. However, now that we have left Oregon we often find ourselves thinking of Oregon as another "home" of ours and missing so many wonderful things about it. This is a good reminder for me to live in the moment (something I have difficulty doing) and to enjoy and appreciate the things I love where i am living in the present and not just the past. Anyway - Oregon here we come. Can't wait to take in the beauty and to have a lot of good laughs with our friends from grad school.

Here are a few blasts from our Oregon past.......
Camping at Creator Lake..........

More camping....Enjoying the waterfalls....
Cape Perpetua...
This one is for Grant and Nicole - it is the Christmas party where it all started and on Saturday they will be married!

Could it be bigger?

The day after the wedding we went out to check out some of the sites in and around Charleston. We went to see the Angle Oak - this tree is old and huge. If I remember right they said it was about 1500 years old and the circumference of the tree is like 26 feet. Crazy! I had so much fun trying to take pictures of this tree and they don't even do it justice. On a side note - we got lost on the way - and man the back woods of the South are a little bit scary..... A special thanks to Shelly for saving us on that one by asking for directions - and for understanding what that guy said - I still have no clue!

Wedding Bells and Tropical Storms

We made it back from South Carolina with a new experience - we braved Topical Storm Hannah - and enjoyed a beautiful wedding during the heart of the storm. I need to stress the beautiful part - it was awesome. I don't know if I am the only one that does this - but whenever I go to a wedding it makes me think back to my own. I loved Jon and I's wedding day - it was perfect at the time, but now I think if I had to do it again I would do it completely different. Jon and I discussed this at the wedding and he totally agreed. It is funny how that works - how your taste and your perspective of what is important that day really changes. Jon and I decided we were just going to have to have a big bash when we hit a major anniversary and invite everyone we know to a big party to do it all again. Anyway - Sean and Liza looked amazing, the food was great, the company was great, and everyone had a ball - even with Tropical Storm Hannah blazing over South Carolina during the day.

Jon taking a stroll on the beach...
Old Southern Charm.....
Introducing the Bride and Groom......
Jon and I on the patio after the wedding....
Jon and Sean all dressed up......

Freaked Out

So....a friend clued me in on Hurricane Hannah today. Check out the projected path....then look at our previous post.......now FREAK OUT! We will keep you posted....

South Carolina

We are heading to South Carolina on Thursday for Sean and Liza's Wedding. We are really looking forward to seeing both of them and Jon is a groomsman - so he gets to get dressed up and everything. The rehearsal is in Isle of Palms and the wedding is in Mt. Pleasant. It will be great to be able to take in some of South Carolina while we are there and have a late anniversary trip. We are planning to go sea kayaking while we are there and take in a little time at the beach (we really miss the Oregon coast - and it has been almost 2 years since we have been at ANY beach). Can't wait to report all about it when we return!

5 years....

Friday was our 5th (yes I said that right), 5th anniversary! It really doesn't seem like 5 years ago that we were married. We threw our "TO DO" list out the window on Friday night and for the first night in a long time just enjoyed spending time together doing nothing! We made a nice dinner and just talked and laughed and the hours flew by. Reminded me of when we were first dating and there wasn't house projects to do or work that we needed to get done before Monday. It was the perfect way to spend the night.

Goodbye Old - Hello New

So, Jon and I have had these 2 stools from IKEA for quite some time. They are so functional, but I have never liked the way they looked in our living room. We finally decided to do something about it and so this weekend I sanded and painted them. I picked two different colors of green - the pictures don't do them justice (another reason I really am dying to have a nice camera)!

Before.....
After.....

I Heart ETSY

Have you heard of ETSY? It is a website where artists and crafters can sell their handmade things. It is full of amazing things and I just can't get enough. It is like your best modern day craft fair on steroids. My friend Jenni started her own shop, so when you guys go to check out ETSY you should stop by her shop.

Someday I would love to start my own ETSY shop. I will keep all of you posted - it may be awhile so don't hold your breath! A girl can dream right. Anyway - you should definately check out ETSY if you get a chance and delight yourself or a friend with something unique and handmade!

Fall Fashion for George

While we were at the lake my sister Julie and I cut out designs for two appliqued shirts for George. He is close to growing out of the onesies I made him for his birthday (see them here and here), so we made two new shirts he could wear for fall. We made another "G" design for a turtleneck (G is for George and our maiden name was "GEE") and a cute dog design for a long sleeved T-shirt. I think they turned out great - can't wait to see George wearing them - that makes them even cuter!

No More Ferns

When we moved into our house just a few weeks over 1 yr ago our backyard was completely overgrown and being taking over by ferns. (See them on the right in the picture below....the picture doesn't do them justice - they were horrible)

We quickly ripped out the ferns, and have since planted grass in the backyard (who would think this would be as hard as it is), and added planter beds for flowers. We are still a long way from finished, but we did have some success with our backyard plants this year....
I love working in the garden and watching things grow. It is so relaxing and fulfilling. We are hoping to get a few more plants from family and friends this fall as people separate things from their gardens and keep working towards that green thumb that both of parents have!