Salmon Fishing

Brandon and I spent our weekend on the Columbia River Salmon fishing with my father in law, and some family friends. We got up there Friday night with our trailer in tow and found our camp spot. Saturday morning we were up bright and early (like before it was bright) and bundled ourselves up in all of our long johns, thermals, insulated pants, coats, hats and gloves that we could find. We headed down to the boat ramp and were on the water by 6:30am. We went up stream a bit and found our spot in a 'hog line' (I had NO CLUE what that was until Friday night when I had to be the dummy and ask). oh, you want to know??? It's a row of boats stretching across the river anchored up waiting to catch a fish. There, now you know and you didn't have to sound like a dummy! =) The boys got all of the lines ready to go and then we sat back and waited. And waited. And waited. We watched others catch fish, and we even watched sea lions catch fish. We didn't catch fish for a long time.

So I looked at the scenery.

And I watched the other 'hog lines' and boats that were 'back trolling'. (I know, I sound smart, but I'm really not). =)

And I looked at the scenery some more.

But really I watched this man. This man that I have the privilege of calling my husband. I watched him maneuver on the boat, with his father, his friend, his dog, and his wife. He balanced us all so well, taking charge of the boat, helping with the lines, watching the weather and helping me land my first big fish. And he did it all with grace and patience. He did it without tiring, getting cold, or complaining. Thanks for the great experience babe, I loved it.

And now for the most exciting part of all.... the fish! And, to my mothers horror I'm sure, me holding/touching the fish! =) My family would be so proud of me. haha

Finally, our garden

OK, here are some pictures from our yard last weekend. We worked on building our first garden, pulled weeds in the front yard, and mostly just enjoyed the sunshine. However, these pictures are from the following day. =)

The one and only pink tulip in our front yard.
Some tulips around the tree in our front yard.
The tulips around the tree in our backyard.
The spot where our garden is. Brandon made all of the pavers for us, and laid them out. Then we did the rest together.
The peas are planted and will hopefully grow nice and tall!

Cool place

I think this is what I have been looking for. I'm always eager to join book clubs, but then never make it work. This might be the ticket! http://www.goodreads.com/

Happy Birthday to me!

Ok, so I have the best husband ever. He has treated me so well the past few days, knowing that it is my birthday weekend. =)
My husband:

• mowed the yard Friday night while I got to stay and drink wine with some girlfriends.
• made paving stones and then lined our new garden with them- it looks great.
• made lunch on Saturday while I just watched and enjoyed the sun.
• got our trailer from the job site so that we can use it this weekend.
• took me out to dinner Saturday night.
• let me take my time going to a Pottery Barn class on Sunday while he did chores.
• did all of the dishes Sunday night after cooking dinner for me.
• ran the dishwasher.
• baked me a great cake today and even put frosting on it.
• cooked dinner for me tonight while I baked cookies and then he did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.
• washed the dog.

It has been so wonderful! And it lets me rest as I am preparing for conference time/report cards. What a great guy!!!

**the cord for our camera has come up missing, so no pictures for now. Although I did actually take some this afternoon of our yard. That was right after a huge hail storm though, so it doesn't quite have the same effect as it would have had if I had taken them on Saturday when it was sunny and 82 degrees. Better lighting today though, for sure.

***oh, and did I mention that it SNOWED today at school?? Crazy!

82 degrees

Yes, Saturday was a WONDERFUL day. Brandon and I got up and went straight outside to work in our garden. We didn't actually have a garden yet, but Brandon had spent Friday evening mowing the yard and laying patio pavers in part of our back flower garden, laying the foundation of our soon-to-be vegetable garden. I was so thankful when I got home that night at about 8:30 and saw that all of that hard work had already been done for me. I digress... back to the story. We got up and went straight out to our garden to start shoveling away the beautiful bark mulch that we had so carefully put there last fall. Brandon then cut away the black fabric away, and we hauled that off and uncovered the dark soil that will hopefully nourish our little plants. I was a human rototiller for about an hour, turning the dirt and loosening it so the roots can work their way down. We then installed a little piece of fence so our peas have a support system to crawl up and then we planted our peas. They are the first of several types of vegetables. It has been so fun to look outside our windows and see our new garden and little plants peaking up above the dirt.

After that project was over, we worked a little on some tomato planters and then Brandon BBQ'd a great lunch for us. We cleaned that up and I did some quick house cleaning and then it was back out to enjoy the sunshine. We dug out our lawn furniture and snuck in some reading/napping in the sun's rays. The unfortunate part of this is... I ended up a little more pink than I was hoping for. The sunscreen was put on about an hour too late, and I ended up pretty red on my shoulders, the back of my neck (where my hair USED to be) and my chest.
We headed back inside to shower and clean up and then it was off to look at houses. We decided to head up into the West hills of Eugene to look at the fancy houses. It's always fun to dream, right?! Then it was off to Wal-Mart (Ironic, I know) to buy a few groceries and the like. We headed home for a few minutes and then we were off to the Olive Garden to celebrate my upcoming birthday. The fun part was that we ran into some of Brandon's college buddies and they ended up seated right next to us.
Today I got myself up and headed over to Pottery Barn to learn about buying couches (nope- not yet, but hopefully soon) and then Brandon and I picked up our camp trailer so we could clean it up for this weekend. Friday we are headed to Troutdale to go Salmon fishing with my father-in-law and some other friends. Today wasn't quite as nice of a day, but it was about 65 or so. Pretty nice for this time of year.
Well, that is about where my story ends. We finished our night by washing the trailer inside and out, washing my car, paying our taxes, doing some quick housecleaning, lots of laundry, Brandon cooking dinner, me folding clothes, and spending some quality time with our dog. See we were dog watching our friends dog this weekend and I think Duke felt a LITTLE left out. =)
Pictures hopefully to come soon... check back soon.

My husband is home!

Yea! Brandon is home from his guys weekend in Idaho! It sounds like he had a blast, and I'm so glad he had the opportunity to go and do this. I have seen the pictures and heard some of the stories and I'm jealous I coudn't be there with them. Although I will say.... 5 days is maybe one day too long for me to be home alone without Brandon.

Here is Brandon with his best friend Scott.


And here he is with his brother Luke.

So glad to have him back.

Weird weekend

OK, so I promised to get the pictures of our work from weeks ago on this blog... and I haven't done it yet. So here is the picture of our make-shift china cabinet. =) Isn't it beautiful! Brandon is gone this weekend and he has the camera with him... so I can't add any pictures of the whole room put together. But believe me, the house looks much better with all of the work we have done. Last weekend we had a surprise birthday party for Brandon and we had about 20 people over to our house. I felt much more comfortable having all of these people over knowing that our house was beginning to look a bit more put together. Next on my list is some painting, but I think I will wait until the weather improves before I start that.

Since I am actually blogging... why don't I teach you how to change a flat tire? =) I had to learn a couple of weeks ago (actually I already knew- my dad taught me how- but I couldn't tell my new husband that!)

First: You have to take the spare out of the trunk. In this case I actually didn't need the spare, we were looking for the jack.

Next: You use the tiny little jack to lift the car up enough so the tire isn't resting on the ground. In this case, the jack is so small you would have a higher likely hood of catching a butterfly in the time and effort it took to jack the car up. Note to self... steal Brandon's good jack from his pickup to keep in my car. Either that... or keep a really revealing shirt in the trunk as to lure a handsome man into fixing the tire for me.
Third: Use the wrench to loosen the lug nuts so that the tire may come off. Again- does anyone think I am really ever going to be that strong? Seriously.

Fourth: Remove the flat tire and set aside.

Fifth: Inspect tire for leak. No thanks. It's flat, that is all I need to know.

Sixth: Put the new (fully inflated) tire on along with the lug nuts.

Seventh: Tighten said lug nuts. Remember to stagger how you tighten the lug nuts. Tighten the top one first, then the bottom right, then the one next to the top one you tightened already, then the bottom left, etc. There is a system here. Do not stray from the system.

Eighth: and the job is done. Ahhh... four inflated tires.

And since I'm here, and my husband is gone in another state doing Lord only knows what while I'm stuck here job hunting and working on school stuff... let me just have a pitty party. I am so bored... and I have had way to much time to think. But what else have I done this weekend? I need to have a report for my husband so he doesn't think I just sat around and ate ice cream all weekend (although I did eat ice cream).

Laundry- LOTS of it

Made our bed with clean sheets.

Vacuumed our entire house.

watered our little seedlings in the window

Folded laundry

RAN at the GYM (yep, it's me. )

went grocery shopping

Bought Duke some dog food

Finished three job applications

Called my mother in law

Called a friend

Finished and packaged a belt.

Graded papers

Watched a movie

took several naps

tried reading a couple of different books. Wasn't interested.

Cleaned kitchen counters

blogged

RSVP'd to a baby shower

I'm sure there is more.. but that is a good start. =)