Hannah Says...

Tennis

We had a fun new outing on Saturday morning.  Emmett and I headed to play at Kissel Park, which we had never been too before.  We met up with my aunt and cousins.  Emmett had a great time playing with my cousin's 3-year-old daughter Savannah.  And considering they hadn't ever played together, they did great!  After they spent some time climbing and sliding, it was time for a tennis lesson with my aunt.  I think Emmett really enjoyed it.  Hopefully we will be doing it again soon!

 

Whirlwind Week

You know how you have those weeks where nothing exciting happens?  And then there are those weeks that you feel like everything is happening at once?  Well, the former has been us the past few weeks (thus the lack of posts) and the latter was us last week!

It started off by the renters calling and telling us that the upstairs toilet was running.  No biggie.  So Brent goes out and fixes it.  Then they called the next morning saying that water was leaking in to the garage from somewhere, probably the bathroom with the newly fixed toilet.  Panic sets in.  Brent and the guy talk for a while, he finds some valve that wasn't properly opened (or closed?) and fixes it.  Leaking stops, no damage done.  (I guess the water pipe runs along the inside of the garage wall and the water seeped through, not a big deal.)

Meanwhile, Brent goes to work at the nursing home and they offer him a promotion.  A little more $, better hours, so great, he takes it.  The catch is that it's only temporary.  After a day or two, he realizes that it's more of a desk job than he thought it would be and decides he doesn't like it.  (We all know Brent, not a desk job kind of guy!)  No biggie since it's only temporary.  Another meanwhile, Memorial Hospital calls and says they have an opening in ICU and they want to interview him.  After two interviews, they hire him!  Yay!  This job will be similar in duties to the nursing home, but with just a few patients instead of a whole lot.  And he'll get to see a lot more medical issues.  Much better for his future.  He starts Tuesday!  And he can even walk to work.

Finally, as if going in two directions (for work) isn't enough, he's going in a third.  He's training to be an instructor for a motorcycle course.  This is the course that is required by the state to be completed in order to get the motorcycle endorsement on your driver's license.  It's only a weekend gig, about 10-15 hours.  He's doing it now so that he'll be ready to do it next year when he's in school and won't be able to work nearly as much.  Plus its fun for him, so I don't think it always feels like work.

Whew, that was a lot.  Big week, filled with ups and downs, panic and relief, all kinds of emotion.  And we made it through.

The Garden, Part 2 - Tomatoes

Our tomatoes are in full bloom.  Actually they are past blooming and into full on fruit bearing.  We have so many that I don't know what to do with them.  Last week I stewed a whole lot of them and froze them for the winter.  And one night I made these stuffed tomatoes for dinner.  So delicious and so easy.  I haven't figured out anything to do with the cherry tomatoes (or tiny little baby tomato, as Emmett calls them) other than salads and snacking.

And, if anyone wants any, please let me know!  Seriously.

Long time no blog...

We have been super busy lately, as usual I suppose.  I'll try to just hit some of the highlights, with a few pictures scattered in!

July 18:
A few weeks ago we went camping (yes camping!) with Brent's step-dad's family.  We were lucky enough to get to stay in Brent's mom and step-dad's motorhome.  We just stayed one night, but had a pretty good time.  Emmett was a little unsure, although he kept talking about "goin' campin'"

 
We don't often have the 5 cousins together on Brent's side, so we decided we needed a good group shot.  (Obviously Emmett wasn't feeling photogenic.)  Basically I told the big kids to be ready, then I threw Emmett into Kelsie's lap, pried his fingers from my hair and took the picture as fast as I could before he could escape.

July 23:
My sister Becky and her family got to welcome a new baby girl...Callie Jade!  (They opted not to find out the gender, so there was a lot of anticipation!)  She is super cute and sweet.  Almost makes me want another one.  Almost.

July 25:
We had a big family party to celebrate the summer birthdays.  He are all of the cousins from my side.  Thankfully Emmett was cooperating this time!

Callie(2days), Ella(4), Hailey(6), Emmett(2), Karis(4 1/2), Avery (almost 3), Sadie(3 1/2), Audrey(13m), Roc(2) 

July 26:
Brent and I got away to Bellevue for a night to celebrate our 6th anniversary.  We had a delicious dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and had a really relaxing evening.  Then we spend Monday doing our favorite thing...shopping!  Just a little though and a trip to our new favorite store, Trader Joe's for some snacks.   No pictures for this one, although I did drag my camera along just in case.