Landscaping

This year we decided to take on the job of landscaping our yard. We started in April and just finished in early July. What a project! We dug up our yard, put down 6 yards of dirt, planted new grass seed, designed some plant boxes, and even a built a fountain! It was a lot of hard work but it looks great. We love to sit outside and enjoy our fountain and tiki torches. It's very relaxing!

The backyard at the beginning of our project

We started digging up all the old sod with a shovel, that is quite a workout

The next morning after all the grass and dirt was gone

The run off area between our house and our neighbor's house

We built a retaining wall between the houses to help level the area

Jenn after a long day...sitting on the wall she built!

Jason is putting down the pavers where our garbage and recycling cans will live

Working on the electrical work, nice smile;)

We started digging for the plant boxes

The fountain begins to take shape

The walls are starting to come together, those bricks aren't light

We're just about ready to start forming the fountain

It's looking pretty good so far

We have some color in the backyard now. The grass is coming in nicely, the flowers added some life, and the little Japanese maple fits perfectly!

Four pumps and 3 attempts later, the fountain is done, and it works!

Our House!

Labor Day weekend of 2007 we recieved the keys to our new home. We bought a cute little townhouse in Portland. We thought that it would be great to try and do as many stressful things as possible...plan a wedding, buy a home, and then try to get the house all painted and ready for our family to see when they were out for our wedding! We had 3 weeks to paint the house before we needed to move our stuff out of our apartments. We painted every room, even the ceilings, in the whole house except the guest room...we'll worry about that later. We moved all our stuff from our two apartments and began the long process of unpacking and setting up while still working full time. Jason stayed at the house for the two weeks before our wedding, after which, I got to move in! Now that all is said and done, we're glad we did it the way we did but it definitely was a lot to take on at the same time. Being a first time home buyer, we both learned a lot in the process. Although there are things we wish we could have done differently, we both feel very fortunate and blessed to own a home.

The story of us

It all started with a wink...an online wink! In May of 2006 we found each other on match.com...it really does work!
We spent two weeks getting to know each other through emails and phone calls and then went on our first date. It was love at first site! There I was...sitting in the Old Chicago lobby talking on my cell phone... Jason walked in, saw me sitting there, and got a big smile on his face. Maybe it's because I was talking on the phone, but I think it's because of the cute scrubs I was wearing! We proceeded to have dinner during which I was so nervous I made a fool of myself. I stumbled over my words, told him how cute he was, and dropped my piece of bread on the table! I guess he must have liked me though because he asked me out for the next night. He was the one nervous on the second date!
We spent our second date in downtown Portland where we had dinner and then took a nice walk around the waterfront. I do not recommend wearing new sandals for a 2 mile walk! We walked, I limped, our way to some grass where we sat down and continued talking. It was there that, under the stars and bright lights of Portland, we shared our first kiss! Hey, at least it wasn't the first date!
In July, Jason asked me to accompany him to Montana for his cousin's wedding. He must have really liked me to introduce me to his family so soon:) We had an amazing time and it was during that trip I knew I would marry him one day...I think he felt the same!
Valentine's day, 2007, I was told to be ready by 6pm. Jason showed up looking very handsome with a dozen red roses and a card. We headed out for our suprise evening which brought us to downtown Portland for a dinner cruise on the Portland Spirit. We shared some appetizers and then went up to the top deck of the boat. It was about that time that the boat left the dock and began floating down river. As the boat drifted past the spot where we had our first kiss, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! Although I had a feeling it might happen, I was still in shock so he had to ask twice!
We were married on October 12, 2007. The wedding was wonderful, everything we'd hoped for!