nyc

Since I am so behind with blog posts, I decided just to take a picture of our schedules from our fall trips and post my favorite pictures instead of trying to recount every detail. Suffice it to say, we had a wonderful time exploring (and eating) in 2014!

the garage

This post has been a long time coming, but the project was a multiple weekend-er and then the garage was messy, so I delayed taking the "after" pictures. :)

Sometime in 2013, I was finally fed up with the 5 (yes 5) different colors on the walls of our garage. And Ryan was sick of the homemade wiring system which consisted of extension cords and power strips running all over the ceiling. So we picked out a new color, a nice light grey, read up on electricity and such and set to work.

(Per usual, I didn't remember to take actual before pictures, but these are from when we moved in. You can see the shades of pink and racing stripe down the right wall.)

Ryan and Jim installed 4 new power outlets (that are grounded!): 1 for the fridge, 2 for general use and 1 on the ceiling for the garage door motor. It wasn't until after they were done that they mentioned they could have been seriously electrocuted while connecting the new line to the fuse box... comforting. (I mean, I know electric work is always risky, but I didn't realize they were working with a live line until after the fact.) Anyway, they all work wonderfully and are so much nicer than trying to find a power strip and hoping you don't blow a fuse when you plug more than one thing in. While they did the electric work, I painted grey over all the nasty weird pink, coral, green, white and beige that covered the walls before. We really love the final result!

Then in July of this year, we cleaned out a lot of things and added some shelves for storage. So I finally got around to taking the after pictures.

And finally, we got a utility sink installed where the washer and dryer connections used to be. We patched up the sheetrock around it and painted it to match. I really never thought I would be so excited about cleaning up and organizing a garage, but we are very happy with the finished product!

dc

DC, the weekend of museums and monuments (and, as I'm looking back through our pictures, apparently the weekend of j+r/monument selfies). This typically wouldn't be my ideal weekend, but we had such a wonderful time. I was really excited for this trip because Ryan had never been before and I knew he would love this city. I think it exceeded all of his expectations! He loved all the history and getting to experience our nation's capital city. We also had some delicious meals thanks to several friends' recommendations. DC, we will definitely see you again soon.

msp

In September, we finally got around to visiting Kyle in Minneapolis (I can't believe he's been up there almost 2 years now). We had a juicy lucy (cheese stuffed burgers), fried cheese curds, and sampled some local beer! We saw a Twin's game, hiked at Minnehaha falls, and strolled around Loring Park and Lake Calhoun. We also got to see his apartment (with amazing view), fancy new car, office, and celebrate his promotion! MSP was beautiful, we can't wait to go back to see him again soon (in the spring/summer that is).

nola

For Labor Day this year we went down to NOLA to visit Alicia, Charlotte and beaus. We got in Friday night and went to Oscar's for some drinks and darts. On Saturday, we got up and had brunch at Elizabeth's, a great little place down on the Bywater. It was a rainy day, so after brunch we headed to the WWII museum which was huge and really cool. Our only complaint was that we ran out of time to see everything (which was really our own fault). We had a little happy hour at the museum bar and grill and then met up with Charlotte and Jared for dinner. Sunday, we got up and strolled around the French Quarter, looking at street art and enjoying the music. We had lunch at Cafe Pontalba (in the oldest apartment building in America) and then continued to wander around the FQ and Bourbon Street. Decadence festival was going on, so we got to see part of a parade and enjoyed some very interesting people watching. That evening, Austin's parents had us over for a delicious dinner, football and swimming.

Monday morning we got up and drove out to Marrero to take the Jean Lafitte Swamp Tour. It was so cool! We saw several alligators swimming around in the swamps. Our boat driver, Captain Dave, was very animated and knowledgeable about the swamps of Louisiana, and very cajun. He was hilarious and had lots of stories to share. He brought out a real turtle shell and alligator head for everyone to see. The third time he went back to his closet, Alicia said "I wonder what animal he'll bring out this time?" Much to our surprise/shock, we looked up and saw a live alligator writhing around in his hands. We jumped and flew black away from the very active gator. After a few minutes, he calmed down and Captain Dave taped its mouth shut and allowed us all to hold it. It was a baby, about a year and a half old, but it was still pretty intimidating. I was hesitant at first, but, I figured, how many chances do you get in your life to hold an alligator? This line of thinking did not convince Alicia, she would not accept the gator, even with a lot of coercing from Captain Dave and Ryan.

After all that excitement, we headed home to buy groceries for a quiet dinner in. (On our way we stopped for lunch at Pho Tau Bay for some delicious pho.) We made a very healthy dinner of knock-off chick-fil-a nuggets, baked fried pickles and sweet potato fries. It was really nice to spend the evening in and relax a little before our flight back the next morning. Definitely a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

grandma morrow

We said goodbye to Grandma Morrow, Ryan’s grandmother, in October. In August, she had her 79th birthday and we celebrated in style! It was a wonderful celebration where she was surrounded by friends, neighbors, and family. We all loved her very much and will miss her dearly!