resurrection day

Easter morning began in a tent. More on that coming soon. 

I woke up before Carson and took that time to make his Easter basket and hide eggs. 

I hid them in easy spots because otherwise, I wouldn't remember where I put them.

The chocolate bunny is a tribute to my childhood because I always got the ones that looked like this. 

The other chocolate just looked good. 

The Peeps were so cute on a stick (and we kind of love them).

And the puzzle was because we don't have any, the $ store did, and it looked like fun. 

Carson woke up to this on my pillow. 

Told you they were easy to find...

Before church, Carson ran out and grabbed milk for later. 

...and an Easter basket for me. 

We exchanged them after church. 

Which, by the way, was so great. He had to work in the nursery, so I enjoyed it without him. The sermon was convicting and good, and the church was packed. 

A Peep kabob 

I made oreo balls for our Easter dinner that afternoon. 

A package of Oreos, an 8oz package of cream cheese. 

Dip them in chocolate and cover with sprinkles.

I luckily already had springy sprinkles.  

(thanks, Becca!)

They look a little strange, but they taste so good!

After church and after dipping in chocolate, we took pictures on the porch. 

The Bays

Rachel, Isabel, Lindsay

eleven months

In April of 2010, 

I was living in Olympia

I was packing for South Carolina

I was addressing wedding invites

I had lots to do and a brain that thought "WEDDING" 24/7

I was enjoying cherry blossoms

I was experiencing a need for rain boots

I had my first bridal shower

April of 2010 was my last full month sans Carson. 

I saw him twice that month: once for Easter and once the day I left to go home (he took me to the airport)

A year ago today, I had thirty days to go until I was his bride. 

whew, he had some shaggy hair! he was kind enough to cut it for the wedding

Today, I have thirty days left before I've been his wife for twelve months. 

We've learned a lot. 

Grown a lot.

Fought a little. 

Loved each other more. 

Being engaged was great. Planning a wedding was great. But having that behind us and being married? So great. 

Plus, no stress about it raining on the wedding day this way :)

our table runneth over

Our living room is a long room that's essentially three in one - office, dining room and living room. Four, if you count the fact that it's also our foyer.

Anyway, with the room being so multifaceted, it's become something of a habit of ours to let things pile up on the table. Papers to grade, mail, books, keys.... 

I've been wanting to make the table look a little prettier. The hope is that things won't pile up but since we all know that's not going to happen, the fact is, I just wanted a pretty table. 

So this weekend, I made a table runner while Carson was away. 

I planned to use these three fabrics but stuck to the green and orange ones.

I ironed (on the floor because our ironing board died and was thrown away)

I sewed

I made a really long runner (yes, I did know it was uneven)

And somehow broke a needle in my machine

In the end, the living room looked like this:

(that's Singing in the Rain in the background. I watched two movies while sewing, pausing them when I ran the machine so I could hear.)

I cut and sewed and lined up and reinforced 

It was this time when I finished

But here it is in the morning, underneath my glass bowl

(yep, those are gumballs. they make this apartment popular in the building)

This was the time consuming part: the other side is a bunch of random fabrics stitched together.

So here's to hoping the pretty will make a bad impression on all keys, papers and books that try to hang out on the table.

company

Two hours after we got back from Sandpoint, Carson's parents drove into town for a visit. 

They've been here before, but the last time was actually the day of our first date, so I wasn't there.

We went to the Wall Street Diner for lunch.

We drove around Spokane

And to a spot where you can see the whole city

(and the bad weather took a break for the weekend!)

We went to a fabric store (guess which "we" I refer to)

while the other half of us went to Bowl and Pitcher

I now have a nice collection of beautiful fabric!

Then we rented a couple of movies (one was a backup in case the other was lame)

And got two pizzas

And went back to the house we were staying at (we were housesitting)

And watched the movie that we weren't sure about. 

It was okay... but really long so we didn't finish it that night (carson and I did the next day)

The next morning, we were going to have Abelskivers, but the pan didn't work, so we had pancakes instead

And then we went off to church

After that, drove downtown for lunch (Panda)

And Carson and Mike went to walk down to the Falls

While Danita and I made the more fun decision of going to Madelines for coffee and hot chocolate.

And that was pretty much it. 

A really short visit, but great. We're glad that they made the long drive for a short stay!

getaway

Spring break fell on the last weekend of March. I got the last three days of the week off to have a break for spring break, and we went on a little trip!

We went about 1.5 hours away to Sandpoint, Idaho. I'd been there before for a little daytrip with friends, but it was new to Carson!

The first thing we did was take a nap. I woke up first... 

 This was the view from our balcony room

I took a similar picture to this one when I went two years ago and Dad asked if I was going to take another. I did!

Carson has said that if he could be any animal, it would be a lion. So here he is embracing his alter-ego.

...and his inner child

 Yes, he's taller than me but not that much... I held the camera at arm's length and shot up.

Stormy

Sunset 

(there would be a sunrise picture but we were on vacation with black-out curtains... no light = more sleep)

Morning

Dinner. This sounded better to us than the nice meal we'd planned on. 

We watched a lot of TV because it was raining and because we don't have one of our own. 

Really cloudy

I remember buying these but not eating them... it was right after the pizza.

Things we did on this trip:
-walked around and looked in cute little shops
-ate mexican (I wasn't feeling hungry so I had a salad... I hate having salads at restaurants because I feel high maintenance)
-made Carson's maiden voyage to a dollar store that was well-stocked (he didn't want to initially but ended up finding so much stuff)
-ate stuffed-crust pizza
-ate gelato
-walked around the beach
-visited a fun little shop with danish and finnish things (that's Carson's heritage)
-went to a yummy cafe for breakfast and ended up with lunch food

a $400 bad decision

Nearly three years ago, I was in Ukraine, in the back of a van that didn't have seats.

We thought it would be a really bright idea to stand up and "surf", making a competition over who would be the last to be standing without touching the walls. So we surfed, the entire time we were there.

I think something gets in our brain flow during mission trips to make stupid things happen. Like bus surfing.

Anyway, on this day, I was not surfing. I was sitting in the back, right on the front lines of the surfing. As we were riding along, the van moved a little too fast and someone came down on the right side of my face, really hard. I hard a "pop" and it hurt a bit but my only real thought was "How big will this bruise be?"

As the morning progressed, so did my face. My left cheek gave me an attractive chipmunk look, and I began to realize that my teeth no longer touched in the back. Problem.

Later that day, it popped back into place, after having people try to pop it back in and trying to eat bread to make it work. Since then, my jaw makes super loud popping noises when chewing and has occasional pain. Nothing horrible, just reminders of the "incident".

After our honeymoon in June, I got an ear infection due to sand in my ear (from violent waves that kept throwing me to the ground. I am a wimp.). My jaw began to ache on the side where my infection was, and I thought it was related. A dull ache that brought headaches (that are maybe migraines? I'm not sure... again, I'm a wimp). And the occasional lock of the jaw. Not so normal. So we shopped around for doctors that do that kind of thing.

At the beginning of March, we realized that the ear and the jaw weren't related, so I went to an orthodontist who diagnosed it as TMJ, which is a jaw-joint thing. A slipped disk, like in your back (but not that bad) in my jaw. Not a big thing now, but it could be.

So he referred me to a specialist to get a nightguard. I had the impressions made for it this week and will get it in a couple weeks. It's supposed to help and I'm hoping it will!

So $400 later, I'm regretting that whole bus surfing thing. It was fun while it lasted but it looks like I'll be constantly reminded of it for a long, long time!

rest

I'm sitting in front of a window looking at the sky, painted  with watercolored shades of blue and yellow. The sun gleams over the edges of clouds (I always think it looks like heaven when it does that). It's a peaceful Tuesday night sunset and yes, I'm enjoying it with a computer in front of me, but I'm pleased to be enjoying it at all. 

Things have been so busy lately. Nothing out of control or awful, just little time for the quiet. 

Lately, I have discovered that I need the quiet. I need the downtime it provides, the rest and sleep, the ability to get things done that are just background, small things... quiet is something I crave without realizing it. 

{And when I do realize it, it's only after I've gotten really cranky.}

I think we were created for these down times. To enjoy a sunset in a quiet house. To sip coffee or tea when no one is around. To spend time digging in a garden for some, reading a book for others, and perhaps even taking a nap. These times of rest can be worshipful as we enjoy the creation we've been given. 

We can also enjoy the Creator through the fact that we get super tired (and yes, cranky) when we don't have those moments. We were made not just to be alone but to take time off. God Himself worked for six days and then took a rest on the seventh. I'm pretty sure God doesn't get tired (He's invincible!) but He made that space in time to rest for a moment. 

As Christians, it's a little hard to argue with the fact that since God rested, we should follow that model. 

Yes, that was the excuse for a nap that you were looking for. To cancel what you weren't looking forward to doing tonight because you've been DOING for as long as you can remember. To let the dishes soak while you go enjoy the sunset. 

Maybe rest is just what you need... a little focus on Him, a little breath of air in the middle of your 9-5? 

Along with all that He created, I'd agree that is is good.

:)

NOT what I'm looking at right now... this was taken on our honeymoon. If you need to, click on it to make it big and soak up the peaceful feel of this picture :D