Saturday, April 30, 2011

Still no babies

I am still waiting for those baby birds to hatch. I hope they do because I want to take pictures of them again. Everyday I go out and check on my plants and the eggs. It's always the same. I've seen the parents at least once a day and the nest was a little messy theother day so I know they have been sitting on it. Hurry up little babies.....PLEASE!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Loving the sunny weather!

The past two days have been great. It has been partly sunny with hail at some times. Today I took Xander to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens and it was so beautiful. The flowers are in bloom and the waterfalls are awesome! Being a nanny for a sometimes hard headed two and a half year old isn't easy. He loves to talk back and tell me "NO" a lot. There is the occasional meltdown in the store or house. Plus he screams when he sees me, which really doesn't make a great impression. I am thankful for moments like this that make my job worth it. I remember all the good times I have had with Xander. The tickle fights, walks in the park, reading books...the list goes on. Life is good!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

I love my car again!

For the past few months my car has been making this bad screeching noise. At first it wasn't too bad but has gotten a lot worse over the last few weeks. Yesterday I took my car in to get it fixed and I am so happy now! I don't have to wake people up when I turn my car on and I don't have to have my music up loud to mask the noise. YAY! I have fallen in love with my car all over again.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Seussical

Saturday when Louis and I needed a little break from working in the yard we went to go see the Woodinville High School production of Seussical. We had planned ahead of time to go see it so it really was a nice break.


It was really good. I would have taken pictures but they didn't want photos or videos taken. The people chosen for The cat in the Hat, Horton, Jojo, and everyone else were perfect.

There was also a raffle that you could enter for gift baskets with different prizes in each. During the intermission Louis paid $5 for 2 tickets and we both decided which baskets to try for. The winners were picked right after the intermission was over and posted for people to see after the show was over. The second half of the show was also great and I had so much fun. It gets even better though!

When the show was over Louis and I were heading toward the door and he noticed that he won one of the baskets! It was for a night out in Woodinville. It came with 2 Movie Tickets, Coupons for Popcorn and drinks, $25 Barnes and Noble gift card, $25 Red Robin gift card, and a $10 Cold Stone gift card. The total value for the basket is $95! We have already decided when we are going to use each gift card. More to come on that later.

Here he is with the winning basket


More of the basket


Monday, April 25, 2011

So Delicious Organic Ice cream = BEST EVER!

The title says it all. This stuff is the best! If you have not tried it, you should. It is so creamy and chocolatey! I want to eat the whole container but I did limit myself. That way I could save more for later. There really isn't much more I can say about it other than it's fantastic!

Garden Planted

Saturday was by far the best day of the week! Louis came over in the morning to help out with the garden and we had so much fun the whole day. We laid down bricks to make a border for the garden area. It seperates the plants from the walkway. He also helped me mix the soil with the plant mix I got at Costco. I planted my vegetables and strawberries yesterday. Now I just have to wait.

Then Louis and I helped my parents put gravel into the dog potty yard. The gravel was in the driveway and we had to haul it around the house to the backyard. It was a lot of hard work but totally worth it. Here is a picture of me while working hard.


We got done around 8 pm, had dinner, then watched some of "The 10th Kingdom". If you haven't seen that movie it's really good. It's 8 hours long so you had to be ready to either watch it on a day you're not doing anything or watch it in parts. Louis told me he really liked what he saw so far.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

I found WHAT in the Garden?

Yesterday I was out working in the garden pulling up weeds. Since I plan on planting on Saturday, the whole area needs to be cleared out. I was moving some wood out of the space(I didn't put it there my father did) and I lifted up a large wood board. I expected to find lots of bugs, slugs/snails, worms etc. under it, but I was shocked at what I found. Here is is:
That's right-it's a bird nest! I am really happy and excited, but at the same time a little sad. Now I will only be able to work in half the garden and I will have to wait to do the other half until the baby birds are out of the nest. I can't wait to see them grow again. I say again because this happened once two years ago but is was in front of the house not on the side. I will post daily updates once they hatch!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Getting ready for Easter

I'm getting ready for easter this week and I am super excited for it. This year I am doing my mom's and brother's baskets. This should be super fun!

I have also been gardening some more too. It's actually been good weather the last few days, but I would still like it to be over 60 degrees at least once this spring. Oh Well- you can't always get what you want. At least I have been able to get outside! WOOHOO!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Down and Dirty

Yesterday was the first really sunny day for the past two weeks so I couldn't help but take advantage of it. I decided to work in my garden area because I am going to be planting soon. I usually start earlier in spring(around the middle of March) but the weather has been so crazy and wet. It's been hard for me to find a day where it wasn't raining.

I got about half the garden space done but now I have to wait until Wednesday to do anymore. Why Wednesday? That's our garbage day and the yard waste bin is full. I just have to wait one more day, that's not to bad.

Once I get the space cleared out, Louis is going to help me get vegetable plants and plant them. This is going to be so much fun!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Spooky or Cool?

I took this picture of Gollum the other day. Well actually I took several and this was one of them. I decided to play around with photoshop and I came up with this. The effect was called "Spooky" and is it ever. At the same time it is actually kind of cool! I love the way his eye looks with all the detail. So which is it- spooky or cool? That is the question.

Not much sleep last night.

First, I have to say that last night was great even thought it did not go completely as planned. I was planning on having Louis over for a dinner with my family so he could meet them and see how crazy we all are. Well, My mom didn't get home until about 6 pm which was okay because I had enough time to make dinner. My brother Dan and his girlfriend couldn't come because they have a group thing on Friday nights. My father didn't get home until really late last night(like 11 ish) so basically is was just the three of us and our dogs.

I was going to make Chinese Hash for dinner but decided to do my mom's homemade macaroni and cheese instead. I have had a really rough week and I wanted to make a simple dish that wouldn't take too much time. It was really good and I showed Louis how to make it too. He brought dessert this time and it was fudge. It was so good and I probably ate more than I should have, but it was so good (yes, I did repeat myself because it was that good)!

After dinner and fudge we started setting up for the Easter Egg coloring. I bought two different kits the other day and I was interested in seeing how the eggs would turn out. Let's just say it was a process of trial and error. We ended up with some interesting color combinations but we had so much fun. I kept 6 and Louis took the other six.

Then came the games. First we played the Disney Edition of Scene It. It was a lot of fun or maybe I'm just saying that because I won. No, it was totally fun! Next came several rounds of a game called Pass The Pigs. My brother and his wife introduced this game to our family several years ago and we got hooked on it. I won twice, Louis won twice, and my mom won once. We then went on to Yahtzee which is one of the best games of all times. We played two games of that which I believe my mom won both times, but it was all in good fun. We wanted to play Apples to Apples, but there just were not enough people to play (that's partly why I was sad that my father had to work).

In closing: It was a lot of fun. Even though I didn't get to bed until about 2 am and I had to get up for work at 6:30. Woohoo...4.5 hours of sleep! I thought I would be really tired but I'm not. When I get home I think I am just going to want to sleep. I was hoping to pick up some vegetable plants on my way home from work but I think I may have to do it another day. I just don't think I can make it.

More to come soon!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

A day in the park

Last friday was such a beautiful and sunny day and I couldn't help but take advantage of it. Since it has been rainy almost everyday for the past three weeks I just really wanted to get outside! I was working in the afternoon that day so I thought it would be a good day to take Xander out to the park. My mom went with us so that she could take some pictures of me and Xander together. It was so much fun even though Xander did get a little cranky toward the end. Here are some pictures from that day.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Hiking Tiger Mountain

Louis and I did end up hiking Tiger Mountain after all. It didn't rain until Saturday night so we were pretty much in the clear all morning. I called him up in the morning around 8:30 to let him know that I was ready to go- don't worry, I talked with him the night before to confirm everything. I asked him if would mind if Oscar came with us and he said it would be fine so he came too. Louis picked me up and we were off. It took about 45 minutes for us to get to Issaquah and by the time we did get there, we were so ready to get going.

The hike was great but we didn't get to the summit as planned because there was too much snow on top. We were kind of bummed but it gives us something to look forward to in the summer. We already talked about it and are thinking maybe June? Anyway the scenery was absolutely beautiful and we saw birds, a squirrel, and a newt. It was so much fun and I can't wait to go again in a few months! After we dropped Oscar back at the house we went to the Cold Stone Creamery in Woodinville and had some really good cake batter ice cream. I had mine with chocolate chips, a kit kat, and M&Ms mixed in. It was so yummy! After we finished he took me back home and I was so tired. I went to bed early that night and slept like a rock! Yesterday at church Louis told me that he took a long nap when he got home. It's a good thing we didn't do anything else that day!

Here are some pics from the hike.
This is the little newt we saw. Can you believe I almost stepped on him! I didn't see him at first and then I had to hop over it to avoid killing him. I would have felt horrible!
Some of the snow that started appearing as we went up.
A little bird I caught a picture of. He was hiding in the tall grass.
Oscar walking alongside us.
Just one of the waterfalls we saw. Oscar kept trying to walk in the water but I had to stop him because the water was way too cold for him.
More of the hills on our was up.
The swamp/marsh that is at the base of the trail.
A robin we saw in a tree.
On the side of the mountain where there is a clear line where the snow ends. I think the sun may have melted it a little.
The little squirrel we saw. It was so cute! I think it may have been a young one.
This is about the point where we turned around because it was getting too hard to walk on the snow anymore.
I think Oscar thought the tire tracks were made just for him.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Maybe not

So, we might not be going up to Tiger Mountain tomorrow after all. If the weather is too cloudy we won't go because we want to enjoy the trails without worrying about whether or not it's going to rain. Even though the weatherman says that the clouds should hold off until the evening I have to ask myself "Do we really want to chance it?

Today has been a wonderful day so far. There has actually been a blue sky for most of the afternoon. I am going to Xander to the park when he wakes up from his nap and I am going to also take my mom with me so she can get some pictures of us together. I've been wanting to do it for a while, but everyone was usually busy so it was just me. I'm crossing my fingers that everything will go smoothly this afternoon.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

This Weekend

I am hoping that the weather decides to be good this weekend. Partly because I am really sick and tired of the rain and partly because Louis and I have already made a date for that day to go to Tiger Mountain and I would hate to have to cancel that trip. Even though we do have a backup plan if it does rain, I would really love to get out of the house and back out into nature. Plus I also want to try out the new camera too! The last time I went to tiger mountain was over ten years ago when I went with my brother Steve. It was so much fun and the view was amazing! We even ate McDonald's food when we got to the top (back when I still ate meat). I can't wait to go back again, but this time with a guy I really like. Here are two pictures from last time.



Wednesday, April 6, 2011

New camera

Well, the title basically says it all. Yesterday I went out to Best Buy and bought myself a brand new Nikon digital camera. The Olympus camera I got several months ago just is not as good as I would like. I've had really good luck with Nikon so I stuck with that brand. This camera is really good and I love the Macro mode because I enjoy taking close-up shots. Here is an example:


I decided to try a close-up of my Leopard Gecko Gollum and I have to say that the picture actually makes him look kind of cute! I can't believe he is 8 years old. I have a feeling that I am going to have way too much fun now and I don't have to worry about changing lens when I am out on a hike. I also don't need to worry about breaking a $1200 Nikon D90 either.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Great Weekend!

I had a fantastic weekend! I was not sick when I woke up on Saturday, so I was able to get things done in the morning. Since I didn't have to worry about working, I was able to make some really yummy No-Bake cookies that I brought to Louis's house that night. I got to his house around 5:45 but I called him right before I left the house so that he could get prepared. I brought my laptop so I could show him more of my photos that I haven't printed out yet. The dinner was great! The curry and rice were cooked perfectly. Right after dinner we ate some of the cookies I brought and they were so good! Next, Louis, his sister and I all watched Tangled together. I had never seen it before and I have to say that it was a super cute movie. I wasn't sure what to expect but I really liked it. After the movie was over I took out the laptop and showed him some of the photos that I had taken over the last several years. We had some laughs about a few of them (which was fun in itself). When we were done looking at my pictures he took me downstairs to show me some pictures on his computer. They were mostly pictures from his mission in Japan but there were also some from Germany, and here in Washington. All I can say is WOW. Japan looks amazing! There are so many parks there and many have beautiful waterfalls. I can't really put into words how good they were because they are hard to describe. Time flew by really fast and before we knew- it was 1 am! I have never in my life stayed out that late.....ever. I got home around 2 am but I had the best time. I'm going to invite him over for dinner next week (this week was really busy for my mom) when I see him at FHE tonight.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Bad Timing

I made a date for tomorrow evening with Louis. It should be really great but there is a chance I may not be able to go. I had the last two days off work which have been really nice....until last night. I couldn't wait for the new show called Mobbed- with Howie Mandel and right before it was about to start I got sick! I couldn't believe it...I was thowing up so bad (at least lunch and dinner). I didn't even know that much food was in me. This went on for about an hour before I finally felt a little better and by then I was totally exhausted. I first texted my boss to let her know that I couldn't come in to work today (I couldn't talk because I was in between throwing up), then I went to bed. I ended up waking up about 3 times with nausea but there was really nothing left in my stomach at that point, so it wasn't that great of a night. I feel a little better today, but haven't eaten anything that would be too harsh on my stomach (really didn't want it to come back up again). My boss called me this afternoon to let me know that I didn't need to come in to work tomorrow because she thought I should have one more day to rest. I just hope I feel better tomorrow because I want to go on this date tomorrow night- and want to watch Tangled while I'm at his house too (I haven't seen it yet). If I don't feel better I will have to call him up and tell him that we'll have to do it another day. I hope I don't have to do that.