Parents' Visit

My mom and dad got to come spend some time with us in our new place. It was fun to show them around Redding. We tried to find places to cool off and only go outside late at night. My dad kept saying, "Yeah, it is hotter here."

Andrew trying to scare the geese away.

We tried to cool off by having lunch up at Manzanita Lake near Mt. Lassen.

We took them to the Sundial Bridge but we had to do it at 10:30pm. Good thing we are night people!

The Herd

Andrew decided the youth group needed a name. So going with the whole cow theme he decided to call it the Herd. We have really had a good time getting to know these kids during the summer. We have had a few Summer Sunday nights where we go over to a families house and swim and play games. We have also had one of our summer day trips and that was going to the local lake and hanging out and tubing. We have one more big trip planned to Eureka in a few weeks and we are excited to go to the beach up here.

Visiting Erin

A few weeks ago I was able to visit Erin while she was staying with her sister Ashley. We had a fun time together and I enjoyed the cooler weather. I even had to wear a jacket at night! It was so exciting. Thanks for letting me come down during your sister time! Notice how the sisters are used to posing in pictures together-such naturals!

The Kitchen Table Drama

My mom was up here to visit us last week and I warned her before coming that our little project would be to paint our kitchen table. It was a table that was given to us by Andrew's sister-thanks Joy-and just needed to be touched up. I like to think that I can handle these kind of projects but this is the second one to be a little dramatic so I am going to take a break from my painting projects, well at least for a little while. The drama makes us all laugh (during the fiasco made me want to cry) so I thought I would share it with you to get a good laugh as well.

We started off early one morning sanding the table down. That took a few hours but we got to use muscles we didn't even know we had to so that fine. That night we put on the first coat of paint. We decided to use a roller to do the top of the table and that worked out great. We figured we should do a second coat the next day and then do some kind of varnish. The next night I completed the second coat and right when I was done with the last little part I looked down on the whole top of the table and saw little fuzz from the roller throughout all the paint!!! I was in denial that it was really happening but hurried and got my mom and Andrew. They rushed to get wet towels and wipe off everything we had worked on so far. I stood there covered in sweat and paint thinking this is not happening and then why do I talk myself into these kind of things??? So after they wiped everything up we were all exhausted sitting on the couch them laughing about it all and me trying to decide whether to laugh or cry. Andrew says, "I can't believe the roller did that! Where did you get that roller?" Then it hit my mom and I that we had made a very poor choice on where to find a decent roller and said softly together, "The Dollar Tree." He then was in shock and could totally understand why it fell apart in the second coat which gave us all another good laugh. Side note**never buy a roller at the Dollar Tree! So then the next morning with renewed energy and a good night's rest we started sanding again. This time we didn't have to sand as hard so that was good. I did another coat of paint and then we figured we would wait until late that night to do the varnish. We go to the good people at Lowe's and get advice on what varnish and brush to get. They recommend one and then tell us we can do it with a roller. So late that night, already exhausted from the early mornings and late night work for the past 2 days, I attempt to do the final step, the varnish. I paint the ends with a brush and it goes on fine, not as smooth as I anticipated but okay. Then I pull out the special roller we bought and proceed to do the top only to find that the roller makes it bubble all over! So I toss that aside and start using a brush to fix the problem but it is just not going on smooth. At this point I was want to throw this table away but know that it can be fixed so my mom helps me yet once again get wet towels and wipe off the varnish. At this point, I am just scared to touch the table. I feel like anything I do, no matter how hard I try to do it right will go wrong. So we decided I should just do one more coat of paint and be done with this table. I did that and the table project was complete, well at least on my end, everyone agreed I should not touch the table anymore! I just figured God was using this to humble me and if the table was not perfect that would be fine becuase it would be a daily reminder to me of how imperfect I am. So now we got our chairs to go with it and now that there have been a few days of rest I have grown to love our new table. I would advise all of you to never ask for my help to paint any kind of furniture:) Here are some pictures for you to see how it turned out.

What We Have Been Up To

It's been a busy time ever since we moved here. We are getting more settled in but I still feel very behind in things, like blogging:) We have had 2 youth group meetings at our house now which we love and are having a great time getting to know the kids. I have been to the lake 4 times now and we love having such a beautiful lake so close by. Andrew has joined the church softball team and I am sure he will hit me a home run some time soon. Andrew also got to preach in church for the first time last Sunday and was excited to be given that opportunity. My mom was up here for a few days and we took on the big project of painting our kitchen table. We had a harder time with it than we thought but we will now have great memories as we can laugh about all the drama that one table could bring. Tomorrow we head off for our church's family camp up in Oregon. We are excited to go try to be campers and to get to know our church family better.

Here are some pictures from the lake for you all to see why you need to come visit us!

Our New Home

Here are a few pictures of our new home. We have worked hard to get everything unpacked but there are still a few things we are working on. At first it was just overwhelming with everything that needed to be done. Andrew thought it would be a good idea to do before and after pictures.
When we arrived here late Sunday night we walked in and found our counters covered with food and supplies to get us going in our new home from our church family. Thank you everyone who contributed to that! It was such a blessing to walk in and know we had all the essentials.
Here's the view from our backyard. It's so crazy we have a backyard.

Moving Day

I am finally back at it trying to catch up with blogging. Moving just kind of sets you back for a while. Here are pictures of our moving day. We will always be fond of our first apartment and the lovely green color of the Californian Apartments. Thanks everyone who helped us move. You were all a huge help!