House Updates....It has been awhile

So we know we probably bore you with our house updates and the pictures when we are really the only ones that care, but just in case one of you out there gets into home improvement here are some of the updates we have made and/or things we are working on.

The kitchen before....

The kitchen after....(although the floor is still in the works, we are peeling off the linoleum and refinishing the hard wood underneath, but is testing our patience.......
The bathroom and closet in the bedroom upstairs are still a work in progress. Here is a before.....
Here are a few current photos....
Crazy huh - Jon went upstairs one day with a sledge hammer and the bathroom was history.....now he has been working hard to build it back up. He is doing such a great job!!! I love having a handy husband!!

Here are other pictures of our living room and dining room in the present state..
Our house will always be a work in progress, but we have enjoyed seeing the positive changes so far and look forward to all that is ahead!!

Yard Sale - WOO HOO

So we are had a yard sale. Our neighborhood association is awesome and does a yard sale every year. The even advertise for it and stuff. Cool! Anyway I usually have a hard time parting with things, but if you have seen our basement - wow - we need no let go of A LOT of items. Since we bought our house our parents bring boxes of our things that we had stored at their homes. My mom brought totes and totes of old pictures, high school awards, old clothes, etc. and our basement is out of control..........

We are planning on finishing the basement to have more living space (hopefully within the next year) so we are really did our our best to put things on the yard sale. Now...for those of you that know me, you know that I like to be hyper organized and disorder stresses me out a bit - so trying to get ready for that yard sale was a major stress - but I have to say it was worth it in the end. About half of our things sold and we made more money that we anticipated. Plus all the neighbors that live on our particular street are doing another sale again in June so we may just put the things out that didn't sell again and see what happens!

Here are a few pictures of our stuff all out at the yard sale......

Here is the aftermath of what we didn't sell to be back on the market in June for round 2 of the yard sale.

Cardinals

Do cardinals mean that spring is officially here? I was out in our backyard watering our sad excuse of a lawn (we planted grass seed instead of sod to save some $$$) and I noticed we have a male and female cardinal that like to frequent our yard. I haven't figured out where their nest is, but they are so beautiful to look at and I love when they come to our house. The sad part is my camera can not zoom in far enough for me to get a good photo of them. I will keep trying, but for now I had to cheat and just show you a picture of one of the relatives of the cardinals that frequent our backyard.

CRAFTING

I love crafting - it makes me feel so free inside - so creative - and so inspired. It is also very different than the science work I do - so I enjoy the escape and taking time to exercise the other half of my brain a bit! Anyway - I haven't had much time to do it in the last few years. My fabric, buttons, ribbons, paper, and tools are all packed away in our basement - or should I say they were.......tonight I got them out and brought them upstairs into our "office". I am going to try and make a crafting corner where I can keep my things out and work on things at nights and on weekends without having to haul tote after tote out of the basement organize and then put everything back at the end of the day. I am totally inspired by Kelly Mccaleb - if you haven't checked our her blog you really need to do it. She also sells her artistic marvels on her ETSY page She is so talented and somedays I wish I was her!! Nicole and I love her!! Anyway - I am going to start taking some time to do crafts again - I will keep you posted on this, but for now....here are a few photos of two of the baby quilts I made before we left Oregon.

One was for my sister's daughter Rita......


and one was for Jon's sister's daughter Ava........


Hopefully more quilts and other fun crafts come!!

The Story of Stuff

This is a thought provoking narrative about consumption in America.
Happy belated Earth Day everyone, enjoy!
Link to STUFF VIDEO....

GOT IT TO WORK

We finally got the video Jon put together from our visit to the Radke's to work. We have just loved thinking back to all the fun we had with our dear old friends! Please pray for their family right now because their youngest son Samuel Jon is in the hospital being tested for SCID "severe combined immunodeficiency". WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!

A weekend of fun - SDSU and RADKES

Last week we took off for Brookings SD on Wednesday after work. On our way to Brookings our hit the 100,000 mile mark - and yes....I took a picture.....
I was asked to come back to SDSU and give the "Robinson Lecture" at SDSU. It was a great honor and felt so good to be back and see so many of my past professors, friends, and family. I had the opportunity to speak to 3 classes of students while I was there, but due to 6" of snow my talk on Thursday night was canceled and rescheduled to the next day in conjunction with a class I was scheduled to talk with. I am sad to say I didn't get my camera out and get a picture - but here is an image of the building I had all of my classes in as an undergrad.

We stayed with my parents and and had so much fun. My mom and I went through the cedar closet in the basement and sorted through old prom dresses and bridesmaid dresses to decide what to keep and what had to go. We also went to a movie shared a lot of laughs.

On Saturday we drove to Beresford SD to visit our friends the Radkes. Jon went to middle school and high school with Mike we feel lucky to still be close to them. We had a fun day with Mike, his wife Danielle, and their three kids: Will, Katelyn, and Samuel. We through there kids a little bit out of their normal routine and riled them up a bit - which produced great fun and some low moments for the kids. In any regard - it was refreshing to see them and spend time with old friends. Although Jon likes to claim that I am the "blogger" in the family (and sometimes writes as if it is me writing) he crafted the video from our time at the Radkes. You will all be able to tell this based on his play on Star Wars - (My first star wars movie was Episode I and jon is enamored and slightly embarrassed to say that I am probably the only person ever to have watched the series in chronological order).

Anyway - Enjoy the pictures from the weekend and the video.....
The video is still to come - it was processing for 24 hours and it is NOT THAT LONG - hmmmmm. Maybe my computer savvy husband can figure it out later tonight.....we are off to work.

Happy Easter

We went to my parents house in Brookings SD last weekend to celebrate easter. Both of my sisters came home with their families and we had a house full of fun for the weekend. We took the kids to an easter egg hunt, celebrated my oldest sisters 40th birthday by surprising her with friends and extended family, played darts and win loose or draw with the kids, and just enjoyed the comfort of family. Here are some of the highlights....

My cousin Shannon and I ......
Here is my cousin shannon, me, and my other cousin Roxanne at Easter a few years back.....

Alison, George, & Rita......

Rita caught in the act (she LOVES candy and literally took her basket EVERYWHERE)....
Jon practicing up on his gaming skills.....
My sister Jen and her kids Connor, Julia, and Ali.........

My sister Julie, her husband Joe and their kids Harry, Sophie, Rita and George........
Harry doing his Heisman pose in his new Vikings gear from the Easter Bunny...
A little video of some of the fun......

Meendering Wii Competition

Man - we haven't posted anything for awhile - we have been swamped with work lately and traveling on the weekends. So to catch you up, two weekends ago we went to Sam and Nick's house in Cedar Rapids Iowa for the weekend. Jon's parents met us there and we had a great time hanging out as a family. Jon's parents bought a Wii and so we had some friendly family competition. Other highlights included playing with our adorable niece Ava - this mostly consisted of her wanting to watch Lady and the Tramp or 101 Dalmatians - she is memorized by puppies!

Here are some photos from the weekend.
Ava making crackies (combiation of cookies and crakers) out of play-doh..........

Ava glued to 101 Dalmations.........
Still watching the movie - but cuddling with uncle jon (notice who has control of the remote).........

Ava dancing to Guitar Hero......


Jon and Nick battling it out at Wii Tennis......

Now I am it......

I was tagged for a survey by Jenni, a friend I went to school with at UO. S0 I guess we finally have something new to blog about (we have been boring lately). So enjoy learning some interesting facts about me and Jon.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Jess - In my freshman year of college at South Dakota State University

Jon - In his freshman year of college at the University of Minnesota

2. Five things to do/did today?

Jess - slept in (forgot it was daylight savings time - ooopps), graded papers & made a power point lecture on blood pressure regulation during exercise, did/doing laundry, went to target to buy baby cards - (I have 3 friends that are due in the next two weeks!), and tried to call quam - because I miss her!!

Jon - read the sunday paper, went to work, drove around to find a house to take measurements for an architecture project, had pizza for lunch, drove his lovely wife to school to get the papers she needed to grade.


3. Favorite snack?
Jess - can I just say I love all snacks and it is becoming a serious problem - I am starting to balloon. I am especially partial to cadbury mini eggs at easter - I know nicole doesn't like them because of their thin candy shell.....but they are sooo good!!
Jon - Cookies - but they have to be crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside. Especially partial to the peanut butter christmas cookies with kisses on top and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.


4. What would I do if I were suddenly a billionarie?
Jess and Jon - Funny you ask - just discussed this yesterday. We would buy a sailboat and sail from oregon to costa rica living for awhile wherever we wanted along the say. When we finished with that I would love to open a restaurant or a cute home/gift/crafty store. Jon would like to flip houses into green homes.


5. Name 3 of your bad habits.

Jess - worrying too much, being too competitive, being too logical sometimes - and not taking risks to do things that would make me happy
Jon - procrastination, introverted, fidgety

6. Five jobs I have had.
Jess - professor at a University, research and teaching fellow at the University of Oregon, lifeguard and swimming lessons teacher (this was a great job - soaking in the sun and playing with kids all day with all my friends who worked with me), research aid for the united states department of agriculture - sounds important, but I really just carried big cages into corn fields to trap bugs, collected the bugs, counted them, and then had to look at them under microscopes to sex them. Met friends I am still close to doing this job and had a blast. Last but not least, worked at Edgebrook golf course at the desk and drove the beer cart. Played golf every day with the 3 Spauldings and Matt Vaugh and had a ton of laughs.



Jon - architect at a firm in Nebraska, architect at PIVOT architecture in Eugene, research assistant at UO for the agents of change project, lifeguard and swimming lessons teacher, and landscaper.

7. Five things people don't know about me.
Jess - was born 2 months premature and only weighed 2 lbs, used to show sheep in 4-H, i am crafty - make my own jewelry and quilts, I love fishing with my dad, went to school in England for a semester, jon claims I like men with blood curly hair and high class southern accents, i love to play golf with people who don't know I used to play in college.....and then beat them!!

Jon - great at swing dancing, missing 4 teeth, all state football and wrestler in high school, dressed up as the crow for Halloween in college, went to school in Mexico for a semester, used to win hot wheels races as a kid and has trophy's to prove it!


Jess fishing as a kid....
Jon dressed up as the crow for halloween.......
Showing sheep in 4-H......

Jon and his hot wheels trophy's.........

Backpacking around Europe after my semester of school in England........

Jon's Traveling around Mexico after his semester of school in Oaxaca........

Hope you all enjoyed this....I am now tagging Rachel Sutherland and Rachel Quam.......