Merry Christmas 2014

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Do you like the gold confetti background on the blog? Just thought it would be a nice festive touch.

One of these days I will actually send out cards. This was last minute and I was experimenting again with yet another print design project. I've seen some really cool Christmas letters and wanted to try and make our own. I know the print is small. It would have been more readable if I actually had them printed, but oh well. I emailed it to family and friends who will be able to enlarge and read it. 

I am grateful for this time of year where we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. My church came out with a video that is very touching and a great reminder of the true gift of Christmas. This is the whole reason we celebrate this holiday. Check it out! :

There have been some awesome tunes that have come out as well that I have absolutely come to love! Pentatonix came out with two that I can't stop listening to. 

Mary Did You Know?

Silent Night

I thought this one was cool too. It's not Pentatonix, but by some guy I never heard of. 

This last one is old, but very entertaining. I really like a capella groups if you can't tell.

This one is Straight No Chaser's "12 Days of Christmas."

We are going to Ohio on Saturday! Woohoo! It's going to be great because everyone will be there and we get to talk to my missionary brother-in-law on Christmas! And this will be our first Christmas with my new sister-in-law! So we get to break her in with lots of pranks and jokes and find out her deepest darkest secrets.

I kid. Seriously just kidding. I would never do that. Ben would kill me.

I am super stoked though. I'll get to share my enthusiasm about girly things with her.
Caleb is gonna love her a lot.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

showering of babes

Hello! So it's been crazy (as it always seems to be during these months) so now I'm finally able to write a little bit about what's been going on. The baby shower I planned was last Tuesday and my friend had her baby last weekend! It's been a really exciting couple of weeks. Caleb and I were able to visit them at the hospital and their baby girl is seriously adorable. For blogging purposes, I will call their daughter Calebella. Guess who thought of that? Caleb was trying really hard to convince them to name her that, so I guess he is getting his wish on our blog. :) Or I might just call her Bella for short. Anyway...I've got photos of the baby shower, but not of her. I'll leave that to the parents.

One really great perk of having a father who makes photography a serious hobby: he gives you his old equipment. My dad recently gave me his old Nikon attachable flash. It makes a huge difference. I've really been wanting to work on my photography skills, so I made an effort to produce quality pictures of the event. We didn't go crazy on decorations, nor did we play any games, but we had great company, great food, and great fun. I am indebted to the other women who helped in making this happen!
  

i like me some good design

Hey there, I think it's about time I blog some more. To say the very least, I've been busy...which is good! Then I can tell you all about it. I have a lot of projects going on right now, but there is one I'd like to show you. It's hot off the press. Come see. 

I am throwing a baby shower (why do you say "throw?") for one of my good friends here. I am collaborating with some other ladies in the ward to make it happen, but I'm basically in charge. So far so good, but there is still a lot to do. 

First things first...the invitations...

I have discovered that I am a lover of beautiful writing, fonts, print design, fancy paper, and even fancier pens. Anything that involves paper and ink, it somehow attracts me. So I made a project out of the invitations. Normally in our ward at church, someone sends out a mass email to the entire ward inviting everyone to the baby shower, but I decided that I wanted to go more traditional. Karissa liked the idea of inviting women that she knew personally, so all the more reason for me to make the invitations and use my design skillz...

Here's what came to fruition:

 I'm pretty proud of them, I'll just be honest. But don't they look so good?!

I gathered some ideas off the internet, but made some changes here and there and I chose the colors, fonts, and paper.

I'm just having way too much fun with this. I'm going with theme colors of cream, blush, black, and gold. Pretty classy in my opinion.

I then proceeded to address the envelopes using my calligraphy skillz...

I'm not made of money, but if I were I would have had these professionally printed. I bought the cardstock and nice envelopes from a store called The Paper Source. When I'm in there, I feel like a child in a candy store. It's a really fun store, but really expensive. However, they have a good selection of paper, and I have yet to find another store with this same variety. There may be a better store further into Ann Arbor, but I've only been there once and parking was atrocious...so I never went back. Maybe I will try to go again sometime.

At least they give you a cool paper bag. :)

Pretty cool huh? I haven't used my calligraphy pen in a while, so it was nice to break it out.

And by the way, I absolutely love love love burning candles. 

The one in this picture is "warm apple pie." Love it!

Happy weekend!

<3 Jessie

a sure way into your mother-in-law's heart

This is coming a little late, but I'm still going to post it because I love to run!

I never thought I would say that. haha. 

I've truly come to enjoy running as an activity that is not only good for my health, but also as a way to clear my mind and free myself from the stresses of life. I love to run, but I wouldn't consider myself addicted to running. Well, maybe borderline addicted. It also makes me feel good and well...invincible. There is something about accomplishing a run, or a race, that energizes me, invigorates my mind, and continues to fuel my self-confidence that I can do incredibly hard things. Let's face it, how many people do you know actually like to run? And then how many people do you know who hate running? Yeah, it's pretty imbalanced. Running is a hard sport. I was never one to go with the crowd anyway, so I guess I found my niche.

the best decision I ever made

Caleb is by far the best choice I ever made. I am grateful to be married to him. He is the perfect person for me. Pretty sure I've said that a billion times. maybe two billion. :) You can learn more about him on my Bio page. Anyway, we celebrated his birthday the day I got back from my trip. We kept it pretty chill. I invited friends to the park for a game of ultimate frisbee and birthday cake (but not really cake, because Caleb doesn't like cake). I only took one picture of him on his birthday, here it is:

Those are his hands. :) I wish I took a picture of the fruit tart before we started cutting it. This was my first time making it. It was pretty easy. If you want to impress people, just make one of these and arrange the fruit nicely. I won't share this recipe though because I want to find a better one. But anyway, this is really called a fruit pizza, but I put it in a shallow pie dish so then it became a fruit tart.  Fruit tart sounds way more sophisticated than fruit pizza, don't you think? If you're thinking that I was smart for making that change, well, hate to bust your bubble but I'm not that smart. haha. Even though I wasn't a big fan of the crust, everyone told me it was very good. 

Here's a pic I took of Caleb the day after his birthday:

He got this t-shirt as a birthday gift from Josh and Shannon. If you can't read it, it says, "Never trust an atom, they make up everything." Pretty sure I made a valentine for Caleb that said the same thing. Doesn't he look great?

So you all must be wondering what I gave Caleb for his birthday. Well, I thought long, and I mean very very long, about a gift. I had some ideas, but I kept going back to this one gift idea that well, made me hesitant, and yet I knew he would have so much fun with it. In the end, I bought it for him, even though it goes against my very nature. I bought him a computer game. hahaha! I really don't like anything to do with video games or computer games because I feel like the majority of them are time-wasters. However, I do understand that people need to have some gaming fun once in a while. It just gets problematic when they spend too much time...I'm sure you have seen how easy it can be to get sucked into a video game. However, the game I bought for him is somewhat educational and you need to use physics to do well in the game. HOW NERDY CAN I GET? Well, I guess I'm not the real nerd here. The game I bought him is called Kerbal Space Program. It was created in collaboration with NASA. You basically need to design and launch a spaceship into orbit and plan your trajectories to ensure you will fall into the right gravity wells (what's a gravity well? dunno, that's just what Caleb told me) so that you can explore whatever asteroid/moon you need to reach, get data, and take it back to earth. You still with me? I'm not. Pretty nerdy stuff in my opinion. You're basically planning space missions. And I was right, Caleb is totally loving the game right now. He is definitely sucked in. At least I can feel somewhat good about it since he has to use his brain. :)

Overall, I think he really enjoyed his birthday. His parents took him golfing and to a Michigan football game at the Big House a couple days earlier. So he definitely had some fun, and our neighbors even had him over and sang him happy birthday!

Fall is here! I think Caleb's birthday was officially the first day of fall. We are blessed to have a beautiful maple across the street from our house. I love the changing colors.  

Happy Fall!

~Jessie~

hitting lots of birds with one stone

So I just got back from another trip. Yeah, I know, I keep going on all these trips. This year has just been an exciting year for people close to me. I went to San Diego for a wedding reception of one of my best friends since 5th grade. It was quite the event. I wasn't planning on going, but then when I found out our other best friend from 5th grade was going, I reconsidered. It has been years since we have been together, so I figured what better reason to get together than a wedding? It will probably be another long while until we are reunited again.

Dawn befriended me in 5th grade. She was a new girl. And she invited me over all the time. She lived just down the street from me.

I got these old photos from facebook. She somehow found them and posted them years ago. 

It was the beginning of an awesome relationship. Pretty sure this is 5th or 6th grade. I wish I had one of Mariana too, but you'll see her in a second. 

kimchi jigae

When I was a little girl, I remember my dad putting a bunch of nappa cabbage in a brine. I asked him about it, and he told me he was making kimchi. I didn't want to try it because of the strong smell. Little did I know that I would fall in love with kimchi in my twenties. Kimchi is a fermented spicy cabbage that plays a huge part in Korean cuisine. Its a perfect combination of spicy, salty, and sour. And I guess I feel okay eating exorbitant amounts of it since its a vegetable. But anyway, back to the point. Caleb and I hadn't had Korean food in a while, so we went to a Korean grocery store in Ann Arbor to get the goods. We really needed two main things: kimchi and red pepper paste. We decided to make a kimchi stew called "kimchi jigae." It was to die for. Caleb and I almost finished the whole pot. We ate it with white rice. 

Caleb looked up several different recipes online to get an idea of what we were supposed to do. Here's what we did:

1. Saute several cloves of minced garlic and one finely chopped medium onion in oil. 
2. Add 1-2 pounds of sliced pork. Saute until pork is fully cooked.
3. Add two cups chopped kimchi
4. Add water until ingredients are covered
5. Add 1 tablespoon of red pepper paste. If you like it really spicy, add a little more.
6. We put in small white stringy japanese mushrooms. not sure what it's called. 
7. We then added sliced up andouille smoked sausage. This is not Korean whatsoever, but it really added a nice flavor. Caleb's idea. 
8. Bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer for 25-30 minutes.  
9. Add cubed tofu and let simmer for 5 minutes. 
10. Turn off the stove. Add in sliced green onions. Serve over rice. 

If you're not a huge fan of kimchi, you may still like this dish because the strong flavor of the kimchi is watered down and mixed with other ingredients. Caleb prefers this dish over straight kimchi. If you're not a fan of spicy flavors, I'd try some other Korean dish like beef kalbi or bimbimbap. 

Happy Cooking!

Jessie

mend dem jeans

It happened. The moment had finally come when Caleb's favorite pair of jeans ripped in the knee. For me, I was initially thinking this would be a great opportunity to go shopping with him for a new pair. It was quite a large rip. But then, unexpectedly, he asks me if I can somehow repair them. He who does not care for clothing whatsoever, surprised me with his affectionate bond with this particular item of clothing. And believe me, I was very much surprised, but I jumped at the opportunity to learn a new sewing trick. Once again, I pored over the internet looking for different methods. I personally didn't want to use a patch. This pair of jeans is gray in color and so it would be difficult to match. And this is just me, but patches aren't my favorite look. Some are nicely done, but I would rather try to mend his jeans so that you barely notice it. I found just the article I had been looking for. And guess what? It was written by a guy who is always mending his own jeans. Cool huh?

How To - A Simple Guide to DIY Denim Repairs  

In order to understand the instructions above you need to be familiar with Warp, Weft, and Twill. He suggests to read the article below first.

Understanding Raw Denim: Warp, Weft, and Twill

In all honesty, this will take time to read, but once you get the concepts down, it will save you money in mending your jeans. This method is not a quick fix like an iron on patch. You mend the actual tear in the fabric. In my opinion, it also looks cleaner and not as grungy. The gentleman also gives tips on how to spot minute tears before they get too big. Following his tips can really make our jeans last a lot longer. I love buying new jeans, but just like everybody else, I've got a budget too. 

You can just barely see the stitching on the knee. It was a long rip. Sorry I didn't take any photos before. I also did some mending around the pocket area. 

  

These are my jeans. I was devastated when I saw small tears at the knees. So they definitely got mended.

You basically use your sewing machine and buy matching thread. The article I'm referencing gives really good step-by-step instructions. For being a novice seamstress, I thought it was an excellent article and help.

So go mend dem jeans!

Happy Sewing,

Jessie

Moab

After Ben and Whitney's wedding, we took a family trip to Moab, Utah and went to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. I just went through all of our pictures and there are a lot! This will be a long one. This post is more for family, but hey, if it convinces you to go to Moab, then great! 

Here's Josh :)

ben and whit 2014

Over the weekend, Caleb and I went to Utah for a much anticipated wedding. Ben and Whitney were married on August 14, 2014 in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful ceremony. Everything was perfect. Before the wedding day, we went around visiting friends and relatives. It was a really busy day, and we were very exhausted, but it was worth every minute. I was grateful to see so many old friends. And a big shout out to my friend Allison for being so loving! I love you Lew Lew! I was also glad to see Ben, even if it was for a little bit, he seemed to be pretty calm and relaxed. I know he'll rock this whole marriage thing. :)

The wedding day went perfectly. We rode with Josh, Shannon, and Phoenix and had time to spare before the actual temple ceremony. With our extra time, we went to the temple square visitor center and saw the famous Christus statue. It was so peaceful. I just stood there looking up at the statue for a few silent moments, and feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for my knowledge of the Savior and His love for me. I am so grateful for the faith I have in Him. Because of Him, I've had the strength to do hard things and to change for the better. 

So I had been talking with Caleb about planning some sort of camping trip to the Great Lakes. He's so busy these days though that we haven't really been able to plan a real trip, but then last Saturday we decided to just go. I had sent an article to Caleb about the wonderful beaches at Lake Michigan, suggesting maybe we could go on a Saturday. When Saturday rolled around, we slept in, and I didn't really expect to go anywhere, because we're kinda boring like that. But lo and behold, he suggested we go to a beach. So we did. :)

It was AWESOME.

And it's not like it was the most beautiful beach on the planet, but the stars were aligned just for us. Perfect weather. Perfect water. Perfect sand. It felt amazing to be outside. That morning we didn't even know which beach we wanted to go to. We just chose the one that was closest. Tiscornia Beach was about a two and a half hour drive. Not bad at all. 

The water felt really good. It's also really shallow, and so we ended up throwing a frisbee while standing knee high in the water. That was really fun. I told Caleb before that I know how to swim the butterfly stroke, but he didn't really believe me. So I took the opportunity to show him I could do it. He was quite impressed with my swimming ability. Why would I lie about something like that? :) 

The sand was so fine that they would make these little peaks on your toes. Caleb thought is was really cool. 

We walked out onto the pier. The view was really pretty. And the skies were so clear. It was beautiful. We had a nice romantic walk.

Because this is a lake, it was fresh water. No salty water in the mouth. No smelly kelp. Love it.

A view of Tiscornia Beach from the pier.

It was such a lovely day. If there's anything awesome about Michigan, it's got to be the beaches on the Great Lakes. If any of you come to visit in the summer, I'll take you to one.

sew i need to move on with something new...

In the last couple months I made more baby blankets. This is like my go-to baby gift because it gets me sewing and I enjoy shopping for different prints. JoAnns was having a huge sale a couple months ago so I bought a bunch of discounted flannel for baby blankets. "But Jess, who are you going to give all these baby blankets to?" Well friend, if you don't know already, I'm Mormon and we believe that we can be with our families forever. It is a sacred privilege to rear God's children in love and righteousness and well...would you like to learn more about why we believe in the importance of families? Yes? Then click here. In my church community, there is no shortage of awesome women taking on that sacred calling of motherhood. Want to know how to make these adorable blankets? Click here.   

I made another robot one. Seriously, love those robots.

Apparently owls are all the rage these days. My hand embroidery ain't great, but it'll do. It's the thought that counts right?

So...I gave this to a family who just had their first boy, and the father just ran his first marathon. I couldn't resist. I even bought extra of this print because I secretly want my future child to have one as well. Gotta start'em young. :)

I made two more tubular infinty scarves out of this fabric I got a while back. I'll be giving one to a friend. For some reason I'm just so attracted to floral prints. They add a little pizzazz to my boring wardrobe. Want to make a scarf like this? Click here. 

Oh and you all should be proud of me. I took this selfie on the first try and was satisfied with it. I was just telling someone the other day that I don't ever take selfies...because it just feels weird. One of my young women from church said that selfies are in fact associated with a mental illness. I chuckled and told her, "Yeah, it's called vanity." I don't think she got it. I thought it was pretty clever. 

So I think I've become somewhat a pro at making these baby blankets and scarves. I think it's time I try something new. I really have been wanting to try my hand at making some cute clothes, but I've always been a little nervous about it. I think it's time I start trying instead of delaying. 


I bought some patterns at a garage sale thinking it would be good practice. I might as well get started. I'm thinking of making a cute midi skirt from the pattern on the right... 

Happy Sewing!

<3 Jessie

A Picturesque Summer

Hello there. It's been a while, but luckily I have some photos to show you. I have been absolutely loving my summer here in Michigan. My hostas are in full bloom. So beautiful. 

 

We have some other beautiful flowers popping up as well.

Lessons Learned from a Chinese Tiger

So funny story...I was too young to remember this, but from what I gathered this is what happened.

My father was asked to speak at church. When that particular Sunday arrived, he was ready. When it was finally his turn to speak, he started out with an incredible story. He shared his experience of hunting tigers in the jungles of China with his father. I don't know all the details, but I think he accounted one experience in particular and he related all the crucial details of one specific hunt. It was riveting. It was tense. The congregation gave him their undivided attention. After he finished the story, he used it as an analogy for the topic of his message. To be honest, I don't even know what that topic was. After the meeting, friends told him how much they enjoyed that story and thanked him for his spiritual sharing.

This is the funny part...my dad made the whole thing up! Yes, he fabricated a fake experience to fit the needs of his gospel sharing and told it to probably a congregation of at least 100 people. What?! Later on I asked him why he would do that...he just smiled and explained that nobody would question its authenticity. He was right too. At that time we were the only Chinese family in the stake. My dad was the only man from China. He could make up anything he wanted and people would believe it. China was an exotic country that nobody around here really knew about. That might be different now, but back then, China was a mysterious place, and my dad knew it. Clever man.

I imagine my mother rolling her eyes as all of this unfolded. If I could go back in time, I would sit with my patient mother at that meeting while my dad was telling lies to the entire congregation. That would be a priceless experience. I smile just thinking about it. 

Later on my dad did tell people in church that he made up the story. I bet there were some people who were disappointed, but I'm sure they enjoyed the story anyway. Everyone got a good laugh out of it. There were others who still believed the story to be true and my dad had fun with that. It became a mystery whether the story was true or false. And years later, people would still talk to him about his tiger hunting experiences. 

This post is dedicated to my Dad. It was his birthday yesterday and I wanted to do something special for him. He can afford everything he needs and wants and so I figured it would be more valuable to share with him my thoughts and some lessons I have learned from him. Some are funny and silly, but all are meaningful. These lessons aren't in any particular order. If anything, it is chronological. 

Lessons Learned from a Chinese Tiger (the tiger is my Dad...obviously)

Don't be a Picky Eater. When I was maybe four or five, I absolutely refused to finish the veggies on my plate. We had that veggie medley on our plates of peas, carrots, and corn. When I was young, I loathed peas. So naturally, I didn't want to eat them. My father struck me a deal. For every pea I didn't eat, I would have to take a slap on the hand for it. I didn't think that was a bad deal so I immediately accepted and held out my hand for the first slap. To make a long story short, I only lasted two hand slaps and I ate the rest of my peas. I didn't take my dad up on that offer ever again.

Kisses are a form of currency. Growing up, if I needed help from my dad, he would always ask, " What do I get? " When I was really young, I would shrug and then he would immediately suggest, " how about ten kisses on the cheek? " And of course I would give him the kisses, alternating cheeks so that it was even on both sides. As I grew older, I caught on and didn't have to wait for him to suggest. I would offer my price on how many kisses I would give. I started having a running tab of kisses that I owed him and a lot of the time I would whine and be reluctant to give him more kisses. I'm pretty sure I owe him more kisses than I can ever pay back. I know this lesson seems silly, but I think there is something to be learned. This is a great example of parental love to a child. This mirrors the love Heavenly Father has for each one of us. I don't think I will be able to truly understand this kind of love until I have a child of my own. My dad only asks for kisses, and when I am reluctant to pay, he helps me anyway. I am truly grateful to my dad for doing this. It not only lets me know he loves me, but also teaches me of Heavenly Father's love for all of his children. I plan on continuing this practice with my future kids.

If you're wondering, I'm the little baby in my dad's arms. :)

Being bald is not the end of the world. My dad started losing his hair in his early twenties. Really young. Imagine what that can do to a young man's self esteem. But if it ever bothered my dad, he never showed it. never. Life goes on, and if life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I've only known my dad as a bald man and quite honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. I think he looks great. I'm pretty sure my brothers and I have made jokes about his baldness and that never got him down. Plus, he has a lovely collection of hats, and I think he looks so cute when he wears beanies in the winter. 

taken from thewoksoflife.com

The secret ingredient is the green onion. 
So my dad loves to cook. He doesn't like baking so much, but cooking is where it's at for him. For a time there was this one chinese dish he would cook all the time that required green onions.  A picture of this dish is on the right. It's one of my all-time favorites. He went through a phase where he cooked this all the time. And always, without fail, at the dinner table he would say, " the secret is in the green onions." Pretty soon he started saying that for other dishes and it became an inside joke for our family. My dad always enlisted our help to prepare dinner. My father-in-law recently complimented me on how well I chop vegetables. I owe that one to my dad. Because of his insistence that we help him with dinner, I have learned many of my cooking skills and repertoire of asian dishes. I'm also going to put a plug in here for my mom too. She has also taught me a ton about cooking and my childhood is filled with happy memories of her savory dishes. Thanks Mom.  

 Don't mess with Asian Pride. In my senior year of high school, I ran for student body president. The previous two years, I had been class vice president for student government, so it was pretty much expected I would be student body vice president. I could have ran for student body VP and easily taken the position, but oh me...I didn't. Instead I ran for student body president against my good friend who had been president since 6th grade. Why did I do that? Honestly, I think I was just curious to see what would happen. There have been many who have run against her, but she has always been victorious. We both ran a good campaign, and it was close, but I did not win. And I really didn't have any hard feelings. I had a good experience being in student government, and I knew our student government would be in good hands.  But anyway, the lesson I learned was during my campaign. I used slogans with Chinese characters that represented honor, virtue, and truth. I don't remember exactly the sayings on the posters, but throughout the entire process, my father taught me more about our Chinese heritage and it made me realize how proud he was to be Chinese. Ever since I was young, he has been involved in the Chinese community, volunteering his time to organize events and share with others about Chinese culture. He loves learning about Chinese history. His example has taught me to be proud of who I am and the special heritage that I have. I hope I can carry on that Asian pride to my future kids.    

I know that was only five lessons, and there are plenty more and counting, but I think I will stop for now. I know my dad is not perfect and he has his weaknesses, BUT he is still my hero. I am so grateful for his love and patience throughout the years. Happy Birthday Dad! I hope this year is a good one filled with awesome adventures. 

I love you!

Jessica

my awkward years if you can't tell :)

NC...another long post

I must say this year has been an awesome year of trips for me. A couple weeks ago we went to North Carolina for a week to celebrate my brother's graduation from Wake Forest Law (go Cheston!). The graduation festivities were only two days long, and then the rest of the time we rented a beach house on the Outer Banks, which is off the coast. I loved every single minute of it. I kept telling my parents this has got to be one of my top favorite family trips ever. 

one more post for hong kong

Hey there friends. I still had some photos from my Arizona/Hong Kong trip that I wanted to share. So this post will just be a bunch of pictures with some captions with short explanations.  It's long so brace yourselves. Enjoy!

I first flew to Phoenix to meet up with my parents. I found this lovely collection of unfinished baby blankets. My mother is so cute. 

we're getting ready for summatime!

Wow, sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've been too busy with other projects. 

Caleb has finished his second semester at Michigan. Woohoo! I am so proud of him! It was a lot of hard work, but he managed to pull through with some stellar grades. He will be doing research all summer and resume classes in the fall. Yesterday we talked about some of the research he is doing and I was actually able to understand some of it! Research is hard work. I commend anybody who decides to go into it.

I got busy with church right after my trip to Hong Kong. I now help in the young womens program. They are ages twelve to eighteen, but I'm specifically over the twelve and thirteen-year-olds. They are so cute! I am also helping with their girls camp preparations, and we only have about a month left before camp. So I'm being kept super busy with that. 

Now that the weather has turned warm, everything has begun to bloom. It is sooooo purty. I've been enjoying the plants and seeing what surprises our garden beds have for us. There are a bunch of perennials on this property, and it's been fun to see them return. I have a lifetime supply of hostas. I think those are my favorite out of all the plants I have. My mother-in-law found some bleeding hearts in one of the beds. They're so unique.

My mother-in-law came for a day and helped me with splitting plants and transplanting. It was a lot of work, but totally worth it. She has taught me so much about plants and gardening. I don't know what I would have done without her. In our front yard we extended the beds further out away from the house and transplanted daylilies.

Before of one of the beds

After

 I just ordered some limelight hydrangeas that I will be planting behind the daylilies. It will be a while before they get tall, but I have time. We'll be here at least five years anyway...

We also started a garden! I have a picture here of the seedlings before I planted them:

I couldn't plant them all because our plot was not big enough, so I gave some away to family and friends. Starting seeds is so much fun. It's fun to see them grow and get big. We've planted tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, lettuce, radishes, onions, broccoli, basil, and some other herbs like sage and culantro or something like that. I think we were a little ambitious for our first garden, but since we have the space and a gazillion seeds to try, we might as well, right? 

Another thing about summatime....grilling. Caleb and I knew we wanted to buy a grill. We have this amazing backyard deck; it would be a shame not to have a grill. So Caleb went on craigslist immediately and found one for forty bucks. What a steal! It's a really nice charbroil charcoal grill and smoker. Caleb said its priced over $200 retail. Could I say no? I guess not... The seller also gave us his leftover charcoal and smoking chips. Man we're lucky. We grilled some wings while my mother-in-law was here. They were sooo good. 

I know these aren't the greatest food pictures, but man....they were amazing. The first picture was of our hot wings. The second what just without the hot sauce. Caleb is getting pretty good at grilling. 

Well, now that the thunderstorm is passed, I think I'll go out and work on my yard. Hope you all are having a good week!

<3 Jessie