New Dining Room Table

The previous owners of the house left us with their dining table, after they tried to sell it to us for $500 (if I recall correctly) and us turning them down. Presumably they weren't able to find anyone else interested in buying it.

We used it because it was free and we didn't have anything better, but we never really liked it. The chairs steadily breaking didn't help matters at all.

On Saturday, we met up with Brianna's parents at IKEA for an easy dinner while they were up in our part of the state. Afterwards, we were browsing, and came across a really cool-looking table, and Brianna's parents wound up buying it for us!

That split down the middle is evidently the current style. It is permanent and cannot be altered. I could do without that aspect of the table, but otherwise we love the look of the bare wood.

And check out the under-table!

There's no skirt or other protuberances to bang my knees on! Heaven!

Life Changes - New Daycare

Link started a new Daycare today!

It's an in-home daycare in our neighborhood - a 15 minute walk from our house, and much more convenient during our commutes.

We're only taking advantage of a 9-month opening the day care had currently, but it sure would be convenient if a permanent spot opened up.

So far, Link seems to be enjoying the new environment:

Edit 6/2/16: One more - "looking for birds"

Second Annual Bultema Get-Together

Brianna and I hosted the Second Annual Bultema Get-Together (it's a thing, now) at our house again!

Aside from being great motivation for spring cleaning, it was really pleasant to have a relaxed afternoon and evening with Brianna's side of the family, including an Aunt and Uncle in town from California (the impetus for this gathering).

Brianna did a fantastic job cooking, navigating around multiple different dietary restrictions, and everyone was very complimentary of the food.

I don't have any photos this time around - Brianna and I were having too much fun hosting!

Visiting the Bultemas

We spent Sunday with Megan and Jarred!

Link and Torsten did pretty well together, practicing group hugs

Splashing:

Sharing:

and just playing nicely:

It was a very pleasant day!

Fourth of July Camping

We went camping over the Fourth of July weekend on some land Brianna's parents own in the mountains.


It was quite the drive to get there.

Brianna's brother Sven came out and joined us for the over-night portion, and a few other Bultema's were around during the day.

One cool feature of the area: you can pick up garnets straight from the ground!

With some help, I collected a small pile, which I'm hoping to get polished up in the near future.

Visit to Washington

Phew, I got out of the habit of blogging.

Brianna, Link and I flew to Seattle on Thursday evening. The flight took off after Link's normal bedtime, and he pretty much slept the whole flight.

It was great to see so many friends and family again, and to introduce Link to everyone!

Four Generations!

Brianna and I left Link in the care of his grandparents and went out Sunday night. We got to check out the Puget Sound and visit a Sushi place we enjoyed early in our marriage, when we lived in Marysville.

Link was a total pill on the flight back, but I guess you can't have everything.

De-chickening

After many back and forths with our HOA, they have decided to adopt rules of a municipality that we do not live in... Where chickens are only allowed if there is more than 200' from the chickens to the nearest neighbors house.

As we are considering getting solar passed, we want to be on the good side of the HOA for at least a short time. We will fight for chickens next year. 

So Jarred and Sven picked up our chickens today and some awesome compost! I had also started some vegistables from seed that they picked up (snap peas).

Link and Torsten had some fun playing together. I'm now very impressed by my mom taking both of them on every Tuesday!

Brianna's Birthday

Mini golf...

Followed by sushi...

And wrapping up with home made chocolate cake!

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Brianna and I did some chores in the morning, then played with Link. He has improved a lot with sitting up!

Later, we packed Link up and went down to Colorado Springs. We dropped Link off with Brianna's parents (free babysitting!) and then the two of us went and saw the latest Marvel movie. We happened to hit a 3D showing, and the theater wasn't even a quarter full (which meant we walked straight in and got great seats!)

Afterwards, we had a great dinner with the Bultemas, and I took one of Brianna's sisters on a craigslist hunt to pick up a keyboard (the instrument...I originally thought she wanted a computer keyboard) as a belated birthday present.

We got home late, but it was a very pleasant day!

Wednesday at Home

Today was my first day off due to going down to 80% time at work!

I had a pretty good time! Link and I played "MECHA-LINK: Destroyer of Worlds" and bothered Brianna while she was working from home (which is what she normally does on Wednesdays right now):

Later Link supervised while I changed the air filters on my car and fixed the car stereo (which involved removing the stereo from the dash, frowning at it, replacing it in the dash, and it working properly again):

And in the afternoon Link and I drove down to Colorado Springs to wish Uncle Jarred a Happy birthday and give Brianna's Grandparents (who had just arrived from California) a chance to meet Link, since originally Link was scheduled to be in Colorado Springs with his Grandma today, before I suddenly had the day off.

All it all, it was a pretty good day!

Visit from the Stokers

Uncle Andrew and Aunt Nevonne were driving through Colorado on their way home from Vegas, and asked if they could pop by Friday night. We said "Of course!".

We got to show off our house and our son! It was after dinner, so Link was his normal pre-bedtime grumpy self. As far as he was concerned, company was not appreciated (but Brianna and I appreciated it!)

Family Gathering

Brianna's Aunt and Uncle were in town from California this weekend, and Brianna and I had the privilege of hosting a family gathering at our house! There were 15 people in the house at one point. Link is his father's son, and got overwhelmed by all the people and conversation a few times, and had to leave for a quiet place to calm down on occasion.

It's the Bultema Boys!

Torsten showed off his new trick, now that he has teeth.

Link inherited a new play-seat, nicknamed "The Circle of Neglect".

Torsten and Link practiced playing nicely.

Oma Medema

My Mom was able to come out and visit us for a few days this past week! It was great to see her and great for Link to spend some time with his "Oma" :-)

Home

This is our home and family. We like it a lot.

Doggy Door

Patrick came up this afternoon to help with some house stuff. His dog Otis hung out in the back yard. Well, most of Otis was in the back yard.

Merry Christmas!

It's hard to see it all, but that's Lincoln's first baby hat and his hospital tag inside the plastic sphere. I should probably add a copy of the hospital bill.

We had a pleasant Christmas! Christmas Eve was spent avoiding traffic and trying to get some sleep. We were very successful at avoiding traffic, but only partially successful at getting the sleep.

Christmas morning we opened presents with the Medema grandparents:

Doing a video chat was nowhere near as good as being there in person, but still much better than just a phone call.

One of Brianna's presents was a piece of metal artwork from Pike Place Market in Seattle, specifically chosen to fit above the stove:

And I got an awesome new drill, answering the hints I've been dropping about my old drill dying!

Later, we put Link in his Christmas outfit and drove down to Colorado Springs for Christmas with the Bultemas.

Brianna received some custom artwork to hang on our bare walls, 

and I got a pretty awesome computer tool roll. I'm still in the process of putting together the best selection of tools:

It started snowing in the afternoon, and traffic got so bad we wound up staying the night in Colorado Springs, driving back home on Friday morning.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree

I bought a Christmas Tree yesterday, and tonight we decorated it!

The tree skirt is hand-made - an early Christmas present from my Mom. It looks awesome.

And yes, we can turn the Christmas Tree lights on and off from our phones.

Brian's Parents are Here!

Brian's Dad and Mom arrived from Seattle last night. Very glad to have them here!

Cabinet Crown Moulding

(Is "moulding" British? Google returned both "molding" and "moulding")

While I was at work today, Patrick showed up at our house (as arranged earlier) and installed crown moulding on the kitchen cabinets, hiding the duct work I installed this weekend, and generally making the kitchen look much much fancier.

I really wasn't expecting this step until well after Lincoln's birth (due date is December 2nd!) but it sure looks nice to have it done. As nice as it is to have a functioning range hood, the duct work sure was ugly. And now you can't see it!

Thank you very much Patrick: it looks beautiful.

Thanksgiving Prep

Nothing like a combination of nesting instinct and knowing relatives are on their way for dinner to inspire some clean-up: