Our Idaho Home Tour {Before}

We had the hardest time finding a place to live in Idaho. At first we looked into buying a place but decided to wait a year (or more?) before committing to a certain area or neighborhood. The rental market here in rural, small-town Northern Idaho is very small and you wouldn't believe the YUCK Gary and I saw in some of the houses we toured.

The house we ended up in is one I originally didn't like. It's hard to live in a rental and not be able to change the parts you hate! We didn't seriously consider the offer at first because it's next to a highway, wasn't going to be available until late July (we moved here the second week of June), and we weren't able to see the inside of the house when we were house-hunting in May.

Then we got desperate! We kept in touch with the landlord and were super surprised when he called us in early June to say the house would be available in less than a week! What was supposed to be a 6-week stay in a borrowed trailer turned in to just 5 days!

Needless to say, we were pleased with the house when we saw the inside. Considering some of the filth we had seen in other properties, we were impressed with the cleanliness of this place and knew that the landlord would be a good one. While we don't like brown 70s paneling or brown 80s carpet, we know we are living in a safe place and we're very comfortable here. The highway is loud but not dangerously close, and the yard is very big with apple trees, maples and pines--perfect for little boys.

While it's not a house that we love, we are very content here. The main areas are all unpacked and just need their pictures taken so I can show you! Stay tuned!

Project #walk365 {May}

I know. May? Why bother? Well, cuz it's important to me. And I want to share.

I started walking shortly after New Year's Day. My original goal was to walk 365 miles in 2015, an average of one mile per day. I knew winter walks would be hard. I knew summer walks would be challenging. I knew we were moving but didn't want to let myself off the hook, so I added the additional challenge of walking every day. I think January was a week old before I started and I made it to May before it got derailed.

May in Nebraska is beautiful. There were so many pretty flowers, lawns and gardens to enjoy in our neighborhood!

May included Gary's graduation and a houseful of guests. That's when I inadvertently skipped a day. It was after 9, I was exhausted and finally sitting down after a busy day and realized I hadn't gone for a walk. :( I picked it up again after that and finished the month strong.

After graduation, we started packing up our house, then drove to Missouri to spend time with Gary's mom and leave the kids with her while we flew to Idaho to look for a house. Gary walked with me each day while we were gone! Some of the walks on driving days were pretty short, but I was intentionally walking!

We spent the last week of May back in Lincoln finishing our packing and taking the last few walks. In all, I walked 35 miles in May, bringing my year's total to 195!

Baby Girl's Nursery {Moodboard}

I'm just a little bit thrilled to be dreaming of all things PINK. For me though, I prefer pink as an accent color. Here's what I came up with as a starting point for our baby girl coming this December.

Baby J's Nursery by ellie1005 featuring Circo

My main goal in putting this room together is to keep it simple. I'd love to go all-out and create this perfect baby girl oasis that can easily grow as baby does! But we're renting with plans to buy in the near future, and baby's room is tiny! 

We'll see how things progress. For now it's fun to imagine the pink and lace!

Have a great day!

10 Big Updates

Wow! It's been a long time! And a lot has changed. I'll fill you in on more details later, but I wanted to share our big news!

1. Gary got a job as a full-fledged pastor!

2. Gary graduated with a degree in Theology.

3. Each of our boys had a birthday!

4. Gary and I spent 5 days without the boys (first time ever) looking for a place to live.

5. We moved to Idaho!

6. We took a very scenic detour to Yellowstone on our drive West.

7. We moved into a new (rental) home.

8. I'm still doing my daily walks.

9. We're going to have another baby!

10. And IT'S A GIRL!

Now that we've made it through all of these changes, I'm hoping to get back to regular blogging. Obviously there's a lot to share!

Thanks for reading!