Home, Sweet Home



Mazatlan at dusk

We are back home after an amazing trip.  I am happy to report that we are well rested, recharged with Vitamin D, and our pants are fitting a bit tighter ... well, the last part is not so "happy."

I have many many many more photos from our travels but that is for another post.  Stay tuned!

P.S.  Can you believe that Christmas is T-Minus 12 days?  The ski slopes at Whistler are calling our names!!

Holiday Cheer

Holiday Cheer!

Is it just me, or does everything taste better in a holiday cup?!  Decorations are up, minus the tree (which we will get when we return from the cruise) and Christmas lights (which Caleb will put up when he gets home from work on Tues!) and Christmas music is blasting ... it is definitely feeling like the holidays!

Thankful.



I am thankful for Love. God. Family. Happiness. Support. Laughter. Health. (Snow!!) to name a few ... 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! 

White Paw Prints & Cold Noses

I am normally not a morning person, but don't get me wrong, I also don't like to sleep the day away so it is a constant battle with myself in the morning.  This morning, however, I woke up like a kid on Christmas morning - jumping out of bed to see if it had snowed ... and IT HAD!!  Ok, not a lot, but a dusting none-the-less.  And it totally counts cause even my puppies got excited when I let them out to do their morning business.  It is so cute cause they do this funny prance around the yard, like they have a kick in their step (just like I do when it snows!)

I needed some updated pictures of them (yes, I do have current pictures of them, but not in the snow!) so I took them outside this afternoon for a doggie shoot and they did great!  Whats my secret?  Doggie Treats!!  They are so darn cute and I love them both to pieces. 

My lovies - Koda & Miley

When I came inside to upload the pictures from my camera my lil' lap kitten joined me to keep warm and then decided she wanted to check out what all the fuss was outside ...

Happy Sunday!! I'm making homemade Beef Stew and homemade mini cornbread muffins ... YUM!  It sounded so yummy since it is cold 'n snowy out!

Love & the open Sea

Love!

In just a couple of weeks, Caleb and I will be celebrating our 3rd year of marriage in style - a cruise to the Mexican Riviera.  My parents thought it would be fun to get 3 generations of my family together for a cruise to celebrate life, marriage and family.  Mom and Dad celebrate their anniversary just 2 days after ours (December 11th) and my grandparents anniversary is January 6th.  Getting married in winter is not the 'norm' but apparently in our family we seem to think it is the best time of year!  I am looking forward to all the memories we will make, all the delicious food we will eat, and all the photo's that will be taken :o)

Ellen & Joel Tie the Knot!

A great time was had by all - El got married at Univ. of Virginia's Chapel and then the reception was at Stonewall Jackson Hotel.  I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking ...

Painter Plastic & Exotic Hardwood

During the month of October, Caleb was busy building a deck for Skip, a Medic he works with at the RFD.  This was his 3rd deck of the 'summer' but about as different from the other 2 decks (both in previous blog posts) as you can get. 
For Skip's deck, Caleb used Ulin which is an exotic hardwood from Malaysia.  Other than this being a very nice wood to work with, it was prestained (which I was particularly excited about because it saved us so much time!)  But because it was a hardwood, Caleb had to pre-drill each hole and then counter sink the stainless steel screws, which I then came back and filled each hole with epoxy.  I honestly should have had Caleb take a picture of me doing this because it was tedious work!  I was down on the deck with a syringe dripping between 2 to 5 drops of epoxy into each hole trying not to get any on the wood itself.  Oh, and funny story, Caleb makes up a batch of epoxy (which does harden quickly so time is of the essence) and I get about one and a half rows done and sky opens up ... RAIN!  And I'm not talking your typical Seattle mist ... Big Huge Rain Drops.  Thanks goodness that painters plastic was on hand because we made a mad dash and covered the entire deck and all of Caleb's tools.  Luckily, we were successful and the deck was pretty dry the next day when we came back to finish up.  Skip and Caleb did end up throwing one coat of stain on the deck after the epoxy and it really did make the Ulin pop. 

Here are pictures ... enjoy!!


Work in progress - ready for decking!





Oh rain, go away! ;)



thank goodness we had a box on hand!



Skip's deck - Completed!



custom touches

hidden hatch for access to the crawl space & vents



the custom detail on the stairs was my favorite part



oh so many holes to fill with epoxy