We could have had a REAL hole in our house.....

Yesterday jon called to tell me he was going to be picking me up at UNO to go home for the day. As I was packing up my bags I could hear the emergency weather sirens going off outside and not long after this the emergency lights started flashing in my building and we were all instructed there was a strong thunderstorm not far from Omaha. Jon and I made it home in the nick of time - when we pulled into the garage it was normal outside and when we walked upstairs into our house and looked out the windows it looked like it was the middle of the night it was so dark outside. The wind started to blow like crazy (reports say that there were gusts over 100 miles per hour) and we had hail and heavy rain. We could hardly see anything out our windows, but once in awhile we would see a huge tree branch pass by, then the grill and our lawn furniture slid across our porch. When all was said and done with this 5 minute storm we went outside to see the destruction - and we were lucky - we only had a few branches down out of our big oak tree in the front yard (granted one rather large branch landed on all of my flowers which were finally starting to fill in and look good - how sad) and the main branch of our peach tree in the back yard was completely gone so we are going to have to say goodbye to the peach tree. We went outside and got to work cleaning up our yard and all of our neighbors were outside cleaning up too and helping others. We were definitely lucky - I will attach other pictures from our neighborhood. Some people had whole trees uprooted or broken off at the base, some trees landed on cars and houses, there were fires from down power lines everywhere and well - it was a mess and we feel thankful to be one of the lucky ones.....

Our damage..........
Other damage in our neighborhood............

Hmmm....is that a hole in our house?

So Jon was back at it - hard at work on our house last weekend. I was downstairs working on a grant and went out to water the flowers and when I looked up this is what I saw......

We ordered another batch of windows for our house and he started replacing one of the windows upstairs. It proved to be quite the project that required multiple trips to the hardware store. Even one trip to the hardware store by me who frantically tried to find the right nails - thought I had found them - got home and of course they were wrong - then another trip to the hardware store! I think they are starting to know us by name there - is that sad or what.

We heart IKEA

When we went to Minneapolis for the twins game this Spring with the Meenderings we went to IKEA to look for a couple of comfortable chairs for our living room.....and as you can see from the picture we found some we really loved. The print is like nothing else we have in our house. Usually we go for very basic solid colors, but we both really liked the look of this print and the colors so we are proud owners of new chairs. Jons parents made a whirlwind trip a few weekends ago to bring them down to us because they wouldn't fit in our car and they were nice enough to haul them with their truck and store them for us for awhile until they came down to visit. Thanks mom and dad Meendering - we really appreciate it.

We also heart Nicole's Pasta

Thanks Nicole for the great recipe. Jon and I made it last night and I am still laughing because it was like 9:00 when we finished making it (because we had worked late not because it takes long to make - it is actually really easy and fast) and we were both famished. I was trying to get some food and get to the table as fast as possible and Jon says "should we take a picture"? So of course we had to take one and I am glad we did - it looked pretty darn good! We used a fun tri-colored pasta that has been in our cabinet forever and topped it off with fresh basil and oregano from our garden!

We love you Dads......

Happy Fathers Day to Dad Gee and Dad Meendering. We feel so lucky to have 2 amazing dads!
Here is a trip down memory lane.....

Proud parents.........
Fun Times......
Happy Fathers Day - We love you and thank you for being you!

G is for George

My sister just emailed me this picture of George in the onesie I made him for his 1st birthday. Isn't he cute peering through that long hair at the camera!

One more surpise......

We have a peach tree in our backyard! Who would have guessed a peach tree in Nebraska? The peaches are starating to get bigger and our neighbors keep stopping by when we are working outside and saying that the peaches from years past taste awesome. I guess there is a little pressure to produce some delicious peaches and share with our neighbors - hopefully we don't disappoint.

Summer Splendor

Ahhhh the smell of roses.....I have always wanted a rose bush. When we lived in Oregon I would walk past 100s of beautiful rose bushes on my way to school each day and I always looked at them longingly. Well, Jon and I were lucky that our house came with a rose bush in the back yard and we have been enjoying every minute of it this summer. It started bluming last week and is such a treat to see out the window. We just have to get a few other plants started back there to add some life to our backyard. I will keep you posted, but it is on our to do list for the month - hopefully we can make it happen.

Mosaic of Answes Take II.....

So Nicole did this cool thing where you make a photo mosaic by answering questions and then build a mosaic based on your answers from photos in Flickr. I had to give it a try....
1. Jessica-1046, 2. homemade berry ice cream, 3. SDSU campanile, 4. 021807 between the trees, 5. Owen Wilson, 6. Nothing Like Tea And Polka Dots, 7. Wooden Boat - Sailing - Port Townsend, 8. Everyone's Favorite!, 9. Happy Family, 10. Bon Jovi Concert - Jon, 11. Stress!, 12. 1DM35392

Here are the questions and answers:

1. What is your first Name? Jessica – the picture is not my style at all – but all the “jessica’s” were pretty trashy – not to say this one is classy – but I liked the tractor for some reason.

2. What is your favorite food? Ice Cream

3. What high school did you go to? Brookings High School in Brookings South Dakota – the town is so small that there is only one high school so it can just be called the name of the town. I searched for "brookings high school with no luck for photos. When I just searched for "Brookings" I got this image from SDSU - makes me think of great memories....

4. What is your favorite color? Green and Brown - it is such a had choice between the two

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Owen Wilson – I just asked Jon his name (because all of you know I don’t know names of famous people and jon claims I have others – like Matthew McConaughey, and Josh Lucas.

6. Favorite drink - Oregon chai tea latte

7. Dream Vacation – to buy a sail boat and sail with Jon from Northern Oregon all the way to the southern tip of South America stopping and taking our time wherever we wanted along the way

8. Favorite dessert – hmmm so difficult – I love nearly anything sweet, but my favorites are molten chocolate cake, key lime pie, and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.

9. What do you want to be when you grow up – I like grants answer on this one – HAPPY – This definitely includes being a great mom and wife, having a job I truly enjoy, and making a difference in the lives of others.

10. What do you love most in life? Jon, our families and our friends – I typed in Jon Meendering and got nothing in flickr so I typed in Jon – when I saw who came up I couldn’t stop laughing…”Going down in a blaze of glory…”

11. One word that describes you. STRESSED

12. Your flicker name? Don’t have one – I searched my whole name like Nicole – and I got nothing so I just searched my last name and race car pictures came up. I guess there must be some famous race car drive with the last name Meendering.

STAY TUNED FOR JON'S MOSAIC OF ANSWERS.....

Severe Weather

Jon's good friend Sarah (who went to UMN for her undergrad and to UO for her masters in architecture with Jon) visited us on her move from California to Minnesota. Last night was not quite a warm Midwest welcome as tornadoes barreled through Nebraska. They were anticipating Omaha would get golf ball sized hail - so Jon and Sarah ran outside to put a tarp over her car in our driveway. They succeeded but were soaking wet when they came back inside. I don't think they were that pleased with me, but I made them pose for a picture before they dried off. We had a few good laughs over it when we didn't get any hail in the end!! Welcome back to the Midwest Sarah! It was great to see you and meet your mom. We look forward to getting together with you in Minneapolis!

Where have all the comments gone?

So, what is up with the drought of comments lately? We miss your comments - please don't be shy. Perhaps we have been boring lately - and our posts are not comment worthy. I will do my best to give you some comment worthy posts if you do your best to let us know you are checking our blog! It keeps our blogging spirit up and lets us know that our friends and family are actually checking our site!

Onesies

I had so much fun making these for my nephew George. They are belated 1st birthday treats - so Jules if you are reading this look away (they are in the mail).

It was the first time I appliquéd onto clothing and really the second time I have ever appliquéd anything! It is so easy though and so much fun. I had the hardest time trying to decide what to put on the onesies - but I stole the idea of the G for George from Jenni (she has made the cutest L onesies for lilly) and then I decided on a tie for the second onesie from a webpage nicole linked to on her blog. I hope he likes them!! He will be so cute!!

Jenni Tagged Me

My friend Jenni tagged me to answer the following questions:

4 things i was doing 10 years ago:
1. Finishing my first year at South Dakota State University
2. Working as a lifeguard and swimming lessons instructor at Hillcrest Pool
3. Working in the club house at Edgebrook golf course
4. Golfing nearly every day with the Spauldings and/or Matt Vaughn

4 things i was doing 5 years ago:
1. Finishing my first year as a grad student at the University of Oregon
2. Moving from Chase village apartments to Spencer View apartments with Jon
3. Planning our wedding
4. Started making my first quilt

4 things i did yesterday:
1. Finished the reviewer comments on a manuscript
2. Kissed my husband
3. Walked around our yard and looked at how much all of our plants grew while I was in Indy
4. Watched the finale of lost on the computer while eating Chinese take out with Jon

4 shows i like to watch:
1. Lost
2. Top Chef
3. Desperate Housewives
4. The Office

I tag Rachel Quam, Nicole (I think Jenni tagged you too, but oh well), and Lacy.

Who Dislikes Cell Phone Companies.....

So - just as Jon suspected, AT&T is not willing to do anything for me about my broken phone. They told me I have to either buy a new phone from them (which requires you renew your contract with them for another 2 years to get any deals on their phones), switch carriers, or get the phone fixed. After this disappointment we took my phone to a repair store which just proved to me more disappointing when they told us it would cost 140 dollars to fix the phone. NO THANKS!! Now we are going to be searching to see if we want to switch carriers or if we have to suck it up and stay with AT&T. I will keep everyone posted - for now Jon and I can both just be reached on his cell. Arrrrhhh to the cell phone companies - why do they have to make things so complicated!

Broken.....

Yep - my cell phone finally broke. After being dropped by me nearly ever day the screen went out. it actually happened while I was in Indianapolis, which was quite the hassle because I could not see who was calling or if I had messages. I also could not use my address book to look up phone numbers - and I do not have anyones phone numbers memorized anymore. Needless to say it was interesting trying to get a hold of everyone while I was in Indianapolis. It made me realize how much I rely on my phone - and I am not sure if this is a good thing. I am taking it when I have time this week so I will keep you posted as to if i have to get a new phone or if they can just fix the screen. Until then - remember that my phone is acting a little strangely so if you can't reach me via my phone you can call Jon's phone. Dropping your phone is normal...right?

Thinking outside the box.....

I love doing artistic and crafty things when I can find the time and lately I have been taking the time to do more of these activities. I love the instant gratification you get from competing a project and having something wonderful to enjoy at the end. Here are a few photos I took about a week ago to frame for our hallway. I am not quite sure how I want to mat and frame them yet, so if you have any good ideas please let me know....