Christmas Pictures

Cassy Berry Photography. She's amazing and lovely and wonderful. Please do check out her site.

Cassy took our Christmas photos again this year and I love them. 

Below are my favorites:

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Road Trip

In October Jeremy and I left our home with our two dogs and a very full SUV to finish celebrating Jeremy's 30th birthday with a week-long roadtrip. We, thorougly, enjoyed ourselves. Here's the short of it.

Scenic pictures: OR to WA to ID to MT

First stop: Big Sky, MT

Second stop: Yellowstone National Park

The drive from WY to SD

Third stop: Keystone, South Dakota

Fourth stop: Salt Lake City, UT

Fifth stop: Home :)

The drive from UT to NV to CA to OR

I tried taking pictures of all of the places that we visited. I thought that I would have had way more time to be doing nothing but take pictures, honestly though, we had so much fun during our long drives that I just lost track of where we were. There's not one other person on this planet that I could have spent that much time in the car with. Truth.

On this trip we: visited with friends along the way, visited monuments, national parks, zoos, famous architecture, war hero resting grounds, battle grounds and one of the biggest snow resorts in the world. We experienced temperatures from 5 degrees to 70 degrees. We saw black bears in the wild and watched Old Faithful explode right on time. We made almost every meal on our camping stove and bonded over working as a team and enjoying the countryside. We've seen the sun rise and set behind the Black Hills. We've seen the beauty of Mt. Rushmore in the evening and in the morning, both are truly separate experiences. Jeremy and I learned more about this country than we anticipated and developed a deep love for it. We met some amazing people with some incredible stories. I can officially say that I've sung for a crowd in South Dakota. And so can Jeremy. We drove 3,500 miles in 8 days and saw 9 states. I am so encouraged by our character and love for each other. Seriously, the worst thing that happened was running out of gas and a chip in my windshield on the last day. And for the record... these two:

are the BEST road trip dogs of all time. I couldn't believe what angels they were. 

I fell in love with them all over again.

This is the last big trip that we will be taking for at least a full year so it's definitely a good thing that it was such an amazing success :)

It's all in the little things

Today, I was able to work from home and check some things off of my list of to-do's. Typically, I have two types of lists for myself: 1. my daily lists that are created and achieved every single day and 2. my on-going lists that are for myself but are not time pressing projects or chores that can get done when I can find the time. Amongst the phone calls and email correspondence, I had laundry and the crock pot going, I got the house cleaned and the dogs bathed. I did some organizing and other general productive items on my list. In the middle of the day, I started noticing that there are elements of my home that made me smile. They are small but smile worthy. And if you're anything like me (quite particular and OCD in many ways, tidy, clean, etc), and are living in, what seems more of a project than a home, it is important to take note of the things that you truly enjoy about the project home that you live in.

 1. A pretty and small bouquet of flowers in a mason jar on the table (even though they're roses, not my favorite)

2. All of the laundry is done :)

3. I got to spend the entire day with my Jeremy's puppy. (he's normally with Jeremy on his job sites while I'm working)

4. I have been wanting to break up the sterile look of mostly cream on the guest bed and found this couch blanket at Costco. It's perfect and I'm totally going back to get one for the couch. It's super warm and cozy.

5. The entire day was over cast and very intro-to-Fall-esque. Which inspired me to browse for sweaters. I found these at TJ Maxx. They're perfect.

6. I, recently, found a way to organize all of my batteries and light bulbs. I can't tell you how much more enjoyable it is to reach for a replacement bulb or battery, knowing that they aren't unorganized or messy in their wrappers, but instead, in bins.

 7. As I was taking a break from the inside chores by throwing the ball around for Peter, the puppy, I noticed that our gardens and fruit trees could use some harvesting. I love eating the produce from our own yard.

8. I planted some dwarf curry and several different kinds of lavender plants in our front flower gardens and they are spreading and growing like crazy. The combination of the two are so beautiful and smell heavenly.

Our New Baby

Let me introduce you to "Windsong's Sweet Treat Pete" aka Peter. He flew home with us from Georgia last week. We picked him out of one of my mom's Boxer litters when he was 4 weeks old. He is an AKC registered, reverse brindle and white flashy stud muffin. He will eventually be a job site dog to keep Jeremy company. He had his first day on the job yesterday and did wonderfully. This little guy is a very quick learner. He is learning "no bite," "potty outside," "off,""quiet," sit and lay down. He has also picked up the game of fetch! An over achiever at the age of 8 weeks and 5 days. He also gets along well with Jesse, our 6 year old Basset Hound/German Short hair.