Holly the Homeowner

(okay, Evan owns it too.  And okay, technically we don't really own it for lots of years.)

You guys!!  It's closing day and I am so so happy.  Buying a home is so ridiculous--I had no idea!  But we jumped though all of the hoops (just barely) and made it to the other side.

I was going to post some pics of the outside of the house, but after I thought about it, it didn't seem like a very smart thing to do.  I mean, this is the world wide web.  Safety first!



But I couldn't not post any pictures, so here is the road to our house.  It is maybe my favorite part.  It is a newer house nestled in a older neighborhood.  When we first started looking at homes we thought we wanted a charming older house.  But we quickly realized that all the older homes in our budget were not that charming, they were just old.  And would require a lot of work and fixing.  I mean, maybe we'll be up for taking on that type of project later, but for now we needed a functioning house to live in.  So a new house in an old neighborhood seemed like a very nice compromise.

I'm pretty sure this space is about to be overrun with home posts, so get ready!

P.s. Thanks so much for all your sweet comments about our baby news! We are so excited!

spilling the beans

Oh yes!  Baby bird is expected to arrive January 9th (it's a Wednesday), and we can hardly wait!
Aside from basically sleeping through the first few months, I have been feeling pretty excellent. 
In fact, the worst part so far has been abstaining from cookie dough (safety first!).  

walla walla visitors

This past weekend we welcomed our first visitors.  It made us feel really special!  My mama along my brother Nick and his wife Camilla (and their puppy Tosh) drove lots and lots of hours to spend a few days with us.

 

We did lots of onion related activities (you guys, I never imagined a town could have such an affinity for onions!  There was an onion festival going on while they were here.), spent lots of time outside (the weather was very cooperative with cool temps and evening thunderstorms--thank you mother nature!), and ate lots and lots of good food.  We are really loving this little town and it was so fun getting to know it better with some of my favorite people.

This little sweetie has a hyperactive firework phobia.  It is actually pretty heartbreaking, the smallest *pop* will send him scampering into the tightest space he can find (usually just his fat head under the bed) and then he gets the scaredy-shakes for the rest of the night.  Boo.  So we have started heading to the mountains for the fourth of July, as far away from the fireworks as we can get.  I know, big sacrifice!  

We went to the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon and goodness gracious--that place was alarmingly green!  Our backpacking trip got cut a day short after finding out the lake we were headed to was still iced over and so we spent a chilly night sleeping between giant snowbanks.

Family photo!  We had stopped for an m&m break and Gesso decided it was time for a nap.  Don't be worried that I have a tube sticking out of my head and that Evan is looking a little creepy.

And then our camera died...

 ...good thing my phone was in the car!  We had a lovely picnic at Wallowa Lake

This place was so much better then fireworks!  You're welcome Gesso!

july things

.....hello?  Are you guys still out there?  It's been awhile so I thought a little update was in order.  So.  We moved out of our house and into a vacation rental.  You guys!  It's pretty great.  I actually feel like I'm on vacation.  I was so excited to not have to unpack for just a few weeks and really it was kind of our only option.

Evan is in Maine visiting a blueberry farm (rude!), but we dug out my sewing machine before he left so I haven't been totally alone.



I realize this is a blurry picture but I had to show you my favorite part of the house--the skinny mirror!  Not only is it super skinny, but it is so incredibly flattering that I kind of want to steal it when we leave.

 

 This is Evan's favorite part of the house (can you blame him?).  He asked me if I could paint a replica rabbit for our new place  Of course I will darling!

We went on a fun fourth of July trip to Oregon.  Pictures soon!

The other night we had dinner at a friends house and they have 50 llamas.  Because when it comes to llamas quantity is key!  I wanted Evan to take a picture of me hugging this little cutie but then he pointed out that it looked like a giant dreadlock.  So then I didn't hug the llama.

I had to emergency re-open sweatshop HollyHox.  Since my whole life was still packed away it was a little bit tricky.  But it is tourist season, so you know, I do what I'm told.

The strawberries here are ridiculous!  I can't even tell you. 

We've been eating a lot of strawberry shortcake (p.s. this was my breakfast).

Ok!  I guess that about sums it up.