My Bro-in-Law

CNN-WORLD NEWS!!!!

That's right, click on the link above to see my soon to be brother in law's story aired on CNN-World News.

Way to go Nate!!!! We're proud of you :)

HERE IT IS!!!

The end table is complete and all set up in the apartment!!! We should have been finished weeks ago but we were feeling a little unmotivated after waiting days for the epoxy to dry. Plus we do all our woodworking at Blaine and Shari's so we have to go out to Archer to continue working on our projects. It would be different if all of our things were at our own place, but I think the apartment managers would frown upon us using power tools in our living room. Anyways, I'll let the pictures do the talking from start to finish:

First we had to bundle up and search for wood. Yes you see snow and this is only one of the
wood piles we searched through.

I measured the diameter of probably 30 pieces before I chose the first batch.
Yes first... we had a few options to choose from when we got back home.

Love this man. He cut the ends off of trees so I could get a better feel of what the pieces
would look like.

Another reason I love Jake, when he was logging in Wyoming he brought these
juniper tree branches home for my project

Juniper is beautiful when you peel off the bark.
(He gets tired of all my picture taking)

Blaine and Shari were gone for the weekend so we brought our frozen wood in to dry by the fire!
Look how pale they are before epoxy.
Note: I watched the bark as it dried to super glue it back on once it started cracking off.
I'm a freak perfectionist about my projects... just ask Jake.

The epoxy is a clear liquid that hardens and as the wood soaked it in, it turned this pretty color!

Pre-drilling to put in the middle stand.

Checking the bottom pieces to see if they are even...

... and they never are,  so this is on my lap because we wouldn't want the top coat to get
scratched. We always get covered in sawdust while making furniture.  

Fastening the top piece.

This is our test drive... if it can hold a plant it can hold a lamp... haha.

Finally brought it home :)

Ta-da! 

It's getting a little outdoorsy in this corner!!!

This was my ray of sunshine during a "cloudy" day.

My supervisor has recently found out she has cancer and we are unsure when she might return. We hope she will be on her way to remission and back at work soon! I have been trying to keep up with all the testing that I do on a weekly basis along with all of hers. It's making things a little hectic but there are only 48 days of school left until summer vacation. I have a running countdown in my room right beside my desk...

But back to the ray of sunshine. I was doing some testing using writing prompts today and I asked a 3rd grader what his favorite thing to do during the summer was or what was something fun he did last summer. He answered me with, " I liked going on a plane to Moscow last summer." At first I thought he was making it up, but then I asked him a few more questions and he told me a little bit more about the trip. My final question was about the plane ride, so that was what he wrote his paper about. During the timed test I noticed that the little boy started drawing and since I know this particular young man likes to doodle I quickly said, " No pictures for this, just words!" He started to say something but I interrupted and said, "Just keep going bud :)"

Then the timer went off, he left my room, and I started grading his work. As I read over the paper, it made me laugh so hard I had to take a picture of it.

It says, "I'm on the plane and you push a button like this ____ and you have everything you need."

This is the button he drew a picture of.... it's a flight attendant with a cart!!

Too cute. I've never pressed that button before, but I gotta try it next time I fly to VA if you really get "everything you want" when you press it!!  

Behind the Scenes

I was going through some pictures on Shari's (Jake's mom) computer and I ran across these little gems.... They made me smile because they were of my wedding day!!!

Jake getting ready the morning of our wedding!

Mom helping me freshen up before the reception :)

precious moments...

And here are some pictures from the VA reception. The pictures from the ID ones are on my facebook I believe... These pictures are of some of the decorations indoors (the bouncy houses were outside)

The perfect cake.

The pie/cake table.

Picture Wall

Ribbons and flowers on the tables.

Fans on the walls.. thanks chels.

It was a great day and I loved being surrounded by my family and friends!!!

Decide what you want .. believe you can have it, believe you deserve it, believe it's possible for you

We just got done watching The Secret and now it's time to implement the desires and dreams we want in our lives so that they will become a reality. If you haven't watched it- maybe you should. And if you have an open mind: anything is possible.

First I will start with a short list of things I am grateful for: (using pictures)

The many adventures Jake and I have and the wonderful adventures we have ahead.

Being married to my best friend who understands me and laughs with me day in and day out. 

For our blessings. We are "richly blessed and highly favored" as mom always says.

For access to wood from Jake's dad's shop so we can make our own furniture.

I am also grateful for my very first power tool so I can be a for reals wood worker.

I'm also grateful Blaine found a bayonet for Jake's gun because when he holds it he looks like a southerner from the Civil War. haha. 

Anyways... all this is kinda random but you can't be happy with your life until you find the good in it. I am surrounded by love, laughter, good friends, and a wonderful family.

Mom- you'll be proud of this.. I put this display up on our bedroom wall and Jake and I are going to make a vision board. If we can visualize it: we can create it.

We don't know what a "normal" day is...

 Running into fires or logging? I don't know what's worse. Jake rolled this down an icy hill yesterday and I'm thankful he was wearing a seat belt. I don't really like thinking of Jake as a human ping pong inside of the cab of a skidder. These are the times that I wish he was in nursing school already or that Spring was here. I'm so tired of the snow and the ice. This week has been wicked on us. I smashed my car because of the ice and Jake could've ended up in the hospital. This is why we pray EVERY DAY- because we know we are ALWAYS being looked after. 

Three blogs in one day!

I wanted to show the final product to everyone.
Personally, I think it is awesome and I have to give credit where credit is due-
Jake did a great job arranging everything.

P.s. On our drive back home from Chelsea's yesterday I got out some paper and designed our new end tables... maybe they will be in the making this weekend!! They are going to be really cool!