Yard Clean up

When we moved into our home, the back yard was cluttered with 15 years of underbrush, leaves, dead trees, stumps, vines, etc. I didn't take "before" pictures but this is after a full weekend of cleaning up yard debris which resulted in over 30 bags of leaves and huge piles of branches. But the results were exactly what we were looking for. We have big plans to hang a hammock and have a shade garden, bird feeders and bird houses, and just a shaded serene place to relax.

The pictures below are the one corner of the yard we cleaned up. There is plenty more to be pruned in other parts of the yard, so this is just the beginning.

This is the back corner of the yard looking up to the house which is slightly off to the right. Before we cleaned it out, you couldn't walk through it.

Our property is nearly 0.8 acres, and only a small part of it is fenced off, so the picture below shows the rest of the property beyond the fence that we plan leaving natural.


This is the debris we still have left to take to the curb for the garbage men. we are trying to place it out there in stages so they don't get completely overwhelmed. We have met more neighbors with all our clean up b/c they keep commenting on all our trash! It has become the common conversation piece.


Dad- this is for you... Matt has been chopping wood and even seeking out more dead trees on our property in order for us to build fires and stay warm while our heat is getting fixed. He even tried to stack it like you although I don't think I ever saw the measuring stick and not sure the dimensions are quite right for making a proper cord, but none the less, we are working hard to make you proud :)

And we even have kindling...and a few pencils- my specialty when chopping wood into splinters instead of logs.

Autumn colors and another Hike!

The fall colors are starting to appear here in North Carolina and so we took a hike over the weekend to check it out!! Matt came home this past weekend to surprise me and our friend Thomas is staying with us- so the three of us spent Saturday afternoon enjoying the beautiful autumn weather.
Matt and Thomas took time standing a top the giant rock for the ultimate view. My lack of grace is enough of an excuse to keep me from climbing too high upon rocks in which the only thing between me and and the ground is a couple thousand feet.

Thomas is deep meditation or maybe just trying to find the easiest way back down!

It was awesome to have Matt home this past weekend. WHAT an awesome surprise. We enjoyed our time outdoors and can't wait until his traveling slows down a little.

As you can see from all our pictures on our blog- our favorite past time is hiking the mountains in NC.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is nearly here and Matt and I ventured out to the local pumpkin patch to find ourselves a perfect pumpkin for carving. We walked through rows of pumpkins to pick out the one that we wanted.




And well, pumpkin carving would not be complete without first utilizing the pumpkin as a workout device.

The finished product!!! bOO- scary, huh?

UNPACKING!

I have heard horror stories of movers and how your belongings are never quite the same after the move. WELL, I haven't gotten through all of the boxes, but at least in the kitchen the packers took NO chances that anything would break and here are pictures to prove it. All this stuffing came from this small box and the second picture is me trying to put the stuffing back into the box after I unwrapped everything. I stood on that stuffing and couldn't get it back in there. It was overflowing. I couldn't figure out how they had gotten it all packed in there much along with kitchen items. I even found myself laughing at times as to how I would unroll layers and layers of stuffing to uncover tupperware or pens. Can't say it is environmentally friendly but I am sure when it comes to that or broken china, they error on the side of the china.

Our New Home

This is our new home. We absolutely love it. Below is a little tour of what it looks like inside...without furniture. The furniture will be coming tomorrow.


This is the foyer. to the left is the dining room and to the right is the formal living room and den.The room below will hold my piano, the bookshelves and some seating. The room in the back will be Matt's office.
This is the living room which looks out to the backyard and a side entrance to the deck.

This is our kitchen that is going to be one of our first projects. It needs remodeling...if you couldn't tell from the island put in backwards by the original owner!

All the bedrooms are upstairs. I am standing with the master bedroom to my back, a room to the left at top of stairs and bathroom directly across from it. The washer and dryer are upstairs as well as 3 other rooms down the hallway.

This is Matt's garage that he is very excited about. The high ceilings are perfect for hanging rings and ropes for his CrossFit workouts.

The deck overlooks the wooded backyard. It is so quiet and serene. It goes a little while back into the woods so one of our projects will be to clean up some of the "natural" setting by picking up tree limbs, leaves, etc. The wooded part of the yard has some boulders that make for some great landscaping. I am planning for gardens and hammocks while Matt is going to be busy chopping wood for the fireplace.


We have plenty of room for visitors so we are looking fwd to friends and family coming by to say hello. We miss you all, but God has been good and we have been blessed above and beyond anything we deserve through this entire process. Thank you for your prayers.

Marcia came to visit

Marcia came to visit this past weekend for a twofold purpose. The first being, to transport my remaining plants from Florida to North Carolina. In the move, we had to leave a few of my plants behind and I couldn't bear to part with them. Secondly, she came to hang out and do some hiking. We definitely did both and below are pictures of our hike at Pilot Mountain State Park. Notice I didn't say our hike OF Pilot Mountain b/c as you can see below, getting to the top of Pilot Mountain will be more than an novice hiker such as us could attain to. Don't get us wrong, The hefty hike to the top to view this spectacle was quite challenging.






As you can see- hiking, yet again, brought out our most photogenic sides- notice the sweat drenched tank tops.

We were able to climb a trail to the base of Pilot Mountain and walk around it. The above two pictures are standing at the base of Pilot Mountain looking up at it. Quite impressive.

Overall we hiked over 7 miles and did it at a pretty hefty pace. I have tried out 3 parks in North Carolina so far- only a couple hundred more to go.

It was nice to have Marcia come to visit as with Matt gone, the weekends can drag by. Visitors make it much more exciting.

Our First Hike in NC

On Saturday, Matt and I went to Crowders Mountain State Park for our first hike here in North Carolina. we wanted to take advantage of our time together before Matt's training up in Massachusetts. The hike was in the "strenuous" category which of course was right up our alley. I was definitely struggling to catch my breath by the time we got to the top. I successfully ruined the serene environment with my huffing and puffing. Matt raced up the hill and he seemed as calm as ever, while I was keeled over trying to catch my breath.

Despite all that- the weather was absolutely perfect for our trek and the rocky trails helped with my agility and coordination- which most of you know- needs a lot of work.

Of course, I can't be blamed for all the lack of serenity, while people were meditating on the top of the rocks, Matt's water bottle full of ice rattled in rhythm with our step- just in case anyone wanted to know we were coming.






This is us at the top- Matt looks somewhat refreshed after his run up the steep trail to the top...and I on the other hand, as seen below, look like I have been bowled over by a semi.