Yard Work Weekend

This weekend my Mom, Dad and brother Andrew came down for a weekend full of yard work. Our beautifully landscaped yard takes A LOT of maintenance, luckily we had beautiful weather for it. They brought mulch from home and took a whole trailer load of yard debris and moving boxes back for me (saving us $$$ by not paying the city to haul it all away). Some of the highlights were purchasing a lawnmower, raking up tons of bamboo leaves, trying to figure out the wiring to the ponds and lights in the yard, putting up a small-dog-proof fence for Max and mulching. I tried to take a few photos, enjoy!


Back yard after pruning and mulching


Front yard after LOTS of pruning, mulching and waterfall work


New chicken wire attached to the bottom of the fence so Max can't escape


After photo of raked up bamboo (it killed all the grass)


Before raking bamboo (4 large garbage bags)

I think I owe them cookies and a few cherry pies after all this free labor! Thanks everyone, it looks so much better!

Saying Goodbye (for now)

Hiding the Chewie

One of Max's favorite games is to hide is rawhide sticks (which we call chewies). Here are a few photos of some of the hiding spots he has found. He has also put them in our suitcases, behind chair legs, next to the bed and under pillows on the couch. As soon as Chris or I notices them/moves them/touches them he has to find a new hiding spot.

Moving into the new house!

Over the past week Chris and I have loaded up all of our worldly possessions and moved them to our new home in Ohio. It has been a whirlwind few days! We are very grateful to all of our wonderful friends and family who helped us. Everything is in the new house and most of the boxes are unpacked. It did rain and thunderstorm while we were unloading the moving truck on Friday and we couldn't fit our box spring up the stairs but other than that, no problems! Tim and my Dad deconstructed the box spring, took it to our room and reconstructed it so we don't have to buy another one. Stay tuned for more photos of the changes to the house over the next year!












Obviously, we still have some work to do to make it a home but I think we got a pretty good start for only being there for a weekend!

Last fun weekend before deployment

Chris and I spent the weekend in historic Charleston, SC with a few friends before their deployment. On Friday night we had dinner at 39 Rue de Jean, our favorite restaurant in Charleston with Grant and Ben (both deploying with Chris) before meeting up with Bob and Bridget for the weekend. All three of the guys ordered the special, roast quail, and I ordered the salmon. No one was disappointed with our dinners, all were great! Once we picked up Bob and Bridget, we headed to Tommy Condon's for some Irish music and drinks.

We started Saturday with a walk through the outdoor market and then to Ft. Sumpter,where the Civil War started. We really enjoyed the tour and I learned a lot about the Civil War and Charleston's role in it. Chris seemed to be well versed in history of the Fort from his ROTC days. Then we had lunch, spent some time walking around the city and shopping. We spent the evening checking out a few local bars and found one with a live blues-type singer. Enjoy the photos of our trip!

Ohio Visit

Chris and I spent most of his pre-deployment leave in Ohio with family, going to a wedding in PA and looking for a house. Here are a few photos of our trip!

We bought a house!

Currently, Chris and I are in the process of finalizing the purchase of our first home! Our offer was accepted (after a couple of rounds of negotiating) and we’ve had the house inspected. The next step is negotiating repairs. We are closing on May 1st before Chris leaves for Afghanistan.
Our new house is located in Berwick, a neighborhood just south of Bexley in southeast Columbus. We will be able to walk to Capital University and Chris will have a 15 minute drive to OSU. Here are a few photos from the MLS listing, enjoy!