Goodbye Ugly White Birch Tree!

Today we got a massive project done! The project was to cut down our nasty overgrown, ugly white birch tree that’s in the front west corner of our house. With a little help from a friend and our neighbor we got it cut down within about 2 hours. Steve and I cut up the smaller branches and stacked every thing in the back. Dad’s utility trailer is over flowing with small branches that I personally cut off the larger branches, hauled and jumped in many of times to get it all to fit. I’m very trilled to see the tree gone, it was an eye sore that created a large mess and would not allow our grass to grow. All we have left to do if grind the stump and then come spring I can plant my little heart out. The plan is to add a lot of color and to cover up most of the dirt. Here are some pictures of our process.

Cross County Skiing

I never remember cross county skiing to be so hard, the last time I went I don’t remember sweating so much or so fearful of breaking a bone. This past weekend Steve, my parents and I went cross country skiing. This was Steve’s first time and the rest of us just had not gone for many years. The conditions we against us all day, between 45 and 50 degrees once we pulled in to the parking lot, bad snow with a thin ice layers over it and chewed up trails because of hundreds of snow shores (we only say one other cross country skier all day), with that all against we still had fun. We tried to go back down the easy way (open space and no trees) but the river cut us off so after sliding down a very steep hill side we had to climb back up. Further down the trail we were able to drop back down to the treeless open area, off went Steve and my Dad flying back down to the truck while Mom and I snow plowed, fell over and walked down with skis in our hands. While Mom and I walked, we were talking about wanting to try snow shoeing and to bring our dogs with us. So that’s our plan, try out shoe shoeing (Dad says he will still ski) next month.

Multnomah Falls

Steve and I like to avoid the falls on nice days since we all know that everybody and their brother goes out for a “hike”. So with that in mind, yesterday we set out for a morning outing in the rain, we wanted to check out how much ice had built up on the falls. We load up the boys and get all of our layers on and headed out, when we got there, there was just a light mist and like true Oregonians it’s not a big deal. We had not even made it to the first main viewing area and the rain just starts to come down. There was a lot less ice on the falls then expected. Due to the poor weatehr we only saw about 10 other person entire time, thankgoodness there was one other couple that come up to the bridge behind us, they took the pitcure for us. Here are some pictures of our wet day at the falls.

Our newest home addition

This past weekend all our hard work came to an end with the insulation of your new wood brining insert. We had been talking about and planning to get this insert and it is finally here. The hearth had to be built and so this was the first time for Steve and I to do any tile or staining of wood. We are pleased with the out come but know what to do better next time we have a home project. I have loved the extra heat and look forward to lower natural gas bills this winter. If we have a cold winter with snow (I hope we do) we will be ready with the fire going all day long!

Mary Kay

This will be my first week as a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant. I was offered to join a Mary Kay team a few weeks back from a close friend and her mom who sell Mary Kay as well and I thought I will never do that but here I am, now selling Mary Kay. It is a lot to learn but one day I hope to work my way up to a free car perhaps. The hard thing is I’m still working full time and now adding this in, hard to meet people when they are free since I still work. Overall I’m excited for the new business adventure ahead. Wish me luck!