10 things I love about the Couv

10. Our church. I LOVE going to the main church service. I haven’t felt that way about church in a couple of years, so it feels nice. The message always speaks to me and I feel convicted without feeling guilty about whatever I am trying to get away with that week. The service also usually fills me with hope.

 

9. My mom’s house. My mom lives across the street, two doors down. When I am outside, I usually get to see her working in her yard or returning in her car from somewhere. I get to borrow kitchen items and we’ve always got someone eyeing each other’s houses. It’s nice to have her that close.

 

8. Esther Short Park. Michael and I got engaged at that park. He proposed on one knee, holding out the ring, and I said absolutely. We also got our first set of photos taken down there and every time we walk thru the park, I remember those things.

 

7. Clark County CASA. I am a CASA and have been trained in Clark County. I love volunteering at the YWCA. CASA’s office are in the building and that is where I go to meet with my mentor and supervisor.

 

6. Craig’s List Clark County. I know that this is everywhere, but we’ve met some pretty cool people thru Craig’s List. We’re remodeling our St. John’s house and have a met a great contractor who lives in our school district and gave us the 411 on the local schools.

 

5. Our small group. Throughout the last year, we’ve been part of a small group that met on Thursday nights. LOVE IT. It just has very cool, down to earth people in it.

 

4. Vancouver Father’s Market. The best tomato’s in town and we buy all our veggie plant starters from there. I like it rain or shine on Saturday mornings.

 

3. St. John’s. We’re almost ready to rent it out. Michael has painted most of the inside of the house and we hired someone to remove the mold. Michael also found some great kitchen cabinets for the house and the floors are finally in. Hopefully it will be rented on August 12^th.

 

2. Our house.  It is really has become our home, cheesy as that sounds.

 

1. Our ‘married with no kids’ group at our church. I LOVE this group. I look forward to it on Saturday nights and I miss it when we cannot attend. It’s so fun to enjoy church. I feel like’s it been years since I’ve felt that way.

my two babies

While I was in the kitchen making apple pie, Hester got into the garage and fell asleep on top my my mustang. She woke up when I got the camera out and her eyes kind of glow, but she was so cute. 

I love my two babies. 

quick garden update

Things are growing! It is much better than last summer, even though there is so much I will do differently next year. Here is my cantaloupe. It has a few flowers, but nothing growing on them yet. I have watermelon too but no flowers on the watermelon. I also have pumpkin that I bought by accident (I thought it was honey-melon darn it). It's growing and we should have our own pumpkins by Fall.  

Here are my raspberries. They are delicious, although I don't have a lot of them. The strawberries aren't doing as well. I think they might be a lost cause. 

And then there is my tomato plant that is taking over my yard. The plants are 4-5 feet high and I have about 40 tomato's growing. That includes my mini sweet tomato's too. Last year my plants never got bigger than a foot, so I'm feeling pretty good about my tomato plants this year. I also have onions, peppers, and cucumbers. I would have taken pics of them but the camera died. I'll try to get more pics later of those. Maybe when I actually get the fruit... 

the cutest kid in the world

We finally had Marla and Lucas over for dinner tonight. It's been too long and we really enjoyed their company. They made it to the Couv in 17 minutes from Beaverton. Owen just turned 1 and he is adorable. I totally fell in love with him. 

Stacey and Owen

Stacey and Owen 2

This was the first time that Hester (upper right corner) actually preferred being in her aquarium. She wanted to be let out until she saw Owen and then she made it clear that she was quite comfortable in the office with the door shut. 

latest quilt

I LOVE to quilt! I finished my latest one and I think it is my absolute favorite. It didn't photograph very well so your going to have to use a little imagination, but here it is. For those of you who don't quilt, here's quick lesson. 

This is stippling.  There's no start or end to it, just a large quilted curvy circle. I used the light thread on this dark color so so it stands out more. Also, this color was the only bold color on the fabric and I needed to calm it down a bit. 

Here is my star. I got almost all of my points perfect on this quilt. They look good! This doesn't usually happen, so it's kind of a small miracle that it happened. 

More stippling...

Here is the full quilt. It's a lap quilt for Sarah Dougherty. She is the Valedictorian at Centennial High School and this is her graduation gift. CONGRATULATIONS Sarah!!!!! You rock.