second to last

best i can tell, this will be the second to last "in progress" house post we'll do. today we went, but the camera battery died as we got out the car, so we didn't get any pictures. so we'll just have to show you the new lights and light switches with the carpet, which happens to be the last thing they do before clean up and move-in. thus i think that will be the last "house in progress" post and this is the second to last (but even as i type that i remember that the door handles aren't on and the landscaping isn't done...hmmmm...)

but regardless, all last week they painted, so we have lots of those photos, and the plumber came! so without further ado, we'll begin with the paint:



there it is!!!! and this color looks completely different in different lights i'm realizing, so here's another look—



so the stone is in, and then the main color (obviously) and trim are painted! (that second picture is before the trim was painted, so that's why the little diamonds in the trim are still wood color)

and then it's not hung in the picture, but this is our door:



red!!!

so then as you move inside, this is the foyer:



so, yeah, the color's really hard to tell there, but trust me, every other picture of it was worse. it's called "blonde" and that's basically what color it is.

and then the dining room and the office are the same color:





which daniel's calling simply "martha stewart"

and then everything else is white. but seriously the prettiest white i've ever seen. and i love white. you wouldn't be able to tell from a picture but the white is great.

so that's all the paint!! then they did the backsplash in the kitchen and the plumber came. so we'll start with the kitchen sink...



we love, love, love the subway tile and do you see that disposal? a disposal!!

and then things like toilets and faucets





and of course bathroom sinks!



the guest



and the master!

plus, a couple of spickets



and a dishwasher!! yayyyyy!!!



almost there...

16 days and counting (or thereabouts)

what the heck is wrong with us? over a week?!? are we all regretting no more birthday posts? eh? anyway, i mean, we have a house to talk about for gosh sake!

sooooooo...without further ado....



we'll start in the bathroom linen closet (obviously...) look at those shelves! all that room!! seriously. seriously, what will we do with ourselves?!

more shelves in the guest bedroom closet (or possibly the office, i can't tell)



our upstairs hall closet (woo hoo isn't this fun!?)



our DOORS! ahhhhhhh we are SO obsessed with our doors!



the first window framed...but you can't really see because of the light...



this is the sink for the guest bathroom...



and these will go in the master bathroom



more doors!



hinges!!



hand rails for the stairs



and look! our "patio" yay!



and a DRIVEWAY!!!



the beginnings of the deck...





and look at all that trash! allllll of that is from our....





kitchen!!! gosh, i can't tell you how much this is my (and has become our) DREAM kitchen!!! it's unreal. UNREAL.











and a peek at our hardwoods...they've been all covered up since they were installed.



the downstairs bathroom (right next to the kitchen) floor!



and then only Labor Day weekend headed out and bought ALL of our appliances. labor day may be officially our second favorite holiday (christmas, of course). we got amazingly sweet deals. really, it was incredible, way more than we EVER thought we'd have in terms of household appliances.





a DISHWASHER! ohmygosh, seriously. i don't know how people live without dishwashers. that may be really, really snobby and lazy, but more so, i'm just entirely sick of such a messy kitchen. the truth is, we are lazy. and probably really snobby, too.



an amazing oven. maybe like 3 times bigger than the one we have now



a huge, huge, huge fridge. and look! ice on the door!! we don't even have an ice maker right now!!! and soon we'll have ice on the door!!!



and the washer and dryer of my dreams. of. my. dreams. i will do laundry all the time. anyone have some extra laundry i can do for them? i mean, right now it costs us $2 to do one load of laundry.


allllright, so that was long, huh? but there's more. see, the title of the post means that we move in in about 16 days. s i x t e e n days. sometime around the 5thish. woah. but i can't show you all the rest, have to save some. but soon, don't worry.

Last Days of Summer

Well, since it legitimately feels like fall, a bit of rain here and there and a crispness outside, even when it's 80 degrees; combined with the fact that the sounds of college football now fill the air (including one unmentionable game today) I thought I'd fill you all in on our last days of summer, before it's too late.

So, to begin with, around August 15th we hiked a trail to a mountain meadow that was pretty amazing. It was a fairly easy hike and the meadow was just flat out gorgeous. But, it was real wet. Like muddy and swampy. Apparently, too early or too late or there had been some rain or whatever. But, of course, Nickel loved it. Not so much her hose-bath outside later, however.









So then the next week I went to Cannon Beach with a bunch of ladies from church. Cannon is gorgeous, and apparently when you go out while it's low tide you see tons and tons and tons of these:



Isn't that amazing!?! I don't think I've ever seen a real starfish outside of the aquarium. They were everywhere...almost to the point of gross, actually. And smelly. Plus, bugs. But seriously, amazing. Sharon actually even picked one up. Uhhhh...





Then we saw one of these, which has like 18 legs and was just crazy. Plus, there were all sorts of caves and things we could walk through, so all of it was just incredible.



Then, as soon as I got home from the coast Daniel and I headed out for our first for real hike-in camping trip.



We have the equipment for it and have planned on it for a long time, but have just never done it. So we headed out for a hike in the gorge, that really we didn't know much about. But apparently it had some streams/rivers, so we could get some fresh water. Well...several, several miles later we were getting pretty despondent. The entire thing was uphill and we had on those packs and there was no water. But don't worry, we made it. Five miles, and eventually we found a "seasonal" stream that is very literally seasonal and had just enough water to put in our nalgene with a filter. Plus, it was very close to dark by the time we got there. But we made a fire just in time and set up our stove, and let me tell you, Daniel is much better at picking out freeze dried meals than I am. Last time I did they were questionable, but this time he got us some actually really good pasta, mac and cheese and granola with strawberries. Yum.



The views were awesome, and we spent much more time with them on the way back down the next morning. Through the trees you could see the river and the state of Washington and we were super high. Plus, could see Mt. Adams and got to just sit and stare at it. And of course, Nickel loved it.





So then last weekend we headed out to a lake at the foot of Mt. Hood to do a bit more luxurious camping. Timothy Lake is a pretty popular camping spot to people out here, and there are some good reasons for that, we found out. Our campsite was right across a trail from the lake, which we were able to take our kayaks out on and just stare at the mountain. It was stinking amazing. Amazing.





There was a super easy hike that took us around the lake and from it there was this unreal view of the lake and Mt. Hood.



Plus, we relaxed and played cards and cooked awesome meals, including s'mores, hotdogs, and these unreal sugar and cinnamon "donuts." And did I mention we went out of the lake in our kayaks and just sat there?!







Nickel didn't like this one so much. I mean, she liked it. But she had to be leashed up the entire time, and then there was the incident of us trying to teach her how to swim. We thought it would be interesting since we had the kayaks and could go out while keeping her on the leash. Plus, it helped that she really wanted to chase the ducks.





SO...she swam!!! She hated it. Like was miserable, freaked out and panicked. But she tried it one more time when she saw some more ducks, and she'll be better next time, don't worry.



And in addition to ducks, Nickel really took to hunting bees, which was really interesting. I think she maybe actually swallowed like 4 or 5, and she didn't appear to get stung. Daniel, however, was not so lucky. But good news! Daniel's not allergic to bees! They did hurt him, however.



So those were our summer trips! And fall's upon us, which means amazing weather, pumpkins and the scent of cinnamon, two very important birthdays, the start of school-year youth group and a new house!!!! Hooray!