R is for Rain

"rain, rain, go away! come again some other day

 we want to go out and play!" 

Washington is very very wet these days. Pretty. But very very wet. 

I've always enjoyed rainy days when you're "forced" to stay inside in your pjs all day & be lazy & eat & watch a ton of movies...but lately, that's been everyday and the thrill is gone. 

But, the best is yet to come and it will so be worth our wait!

Here are some photos i've found (they help me get through the yucky, dark, rainy days) 

Enjoy Seattle!

i thought this was fun! 

Fresh Market & Puget Sound

the original starbucks!

sunrise in seattle

Elliot Bay

commuter ferry--imagine this ride everyday! 

Mt Rainier from plane

washington coast

orcas in the sound

ingredients

So a while ago I blogged about my slow cooker and a wonderful meal that I made with it-- Wild Mushroom and Wild Rice Bisque. The recipe was requested and I finally remembered to put it on! 

Here it is! Enjoy! 

just an fyi-- I have made this bisque twice & both times it was incredible & both times i've left out the dried mushrooms (too expensive!)

we are blessed.

Due to extreme homesickness lately, i'm going to spend some blog time bragging on all our nieces & nephews. 

Ben and I are crazy blessed to have such an amazing family(on both sides) and such perfect little nieces & nephews---perfect to us, at least!  

We have learned so much from all our siblings about raising children and discipling children & we are just so thankful to be apart of their lives and have the opportunity to watch them grow. 

Being this far away has literally broken our hearts and i'm not sure the aching will ever fade.. BUT we trust our sweet Savior and know that He is the one who has called us and led us to a life waaaayyyyy over here, so we have faith that He knows what he's doing & that what he's doing is the best for us (even we don't always feel like it is). 

So in the meantime, I find some bit of comfort looking at their sweet smiling faces in photos and long for the day to get to snuggle & kiss all over them again! 

From oldest to youngest...here are our sweet blessings! 

Ethan Gabriel- now 10 years old

Alexandra Renee- now 7 years old

Elizabeth "Libby" Jane- now 3 years old

Phoenix Anne- now 2 years old

Hudson Jude- now almost 2 years old

Annebell "Annie" Marie- now 1 1/2 years old 

Tyler "Ty" James- now 11 months old 

 AND, we have two more on the way, both due in September!!

"apartment sweet apartment"

We are finally somewhat settled in to our cozy little humble abode. It's been fun being able to decorate and actually unpack some of our wedding gifts (from almost nine months ago) for the very first time. But being in an apartment is still somewhat of a tease... Because it's just a "temporary" living space for us, Ben & I felt it was probably of better judgement not to go all out and paint a ton of walls different colors and hang a hundreds photos everywhere, even though deep down inside that's what i really really want to do! So I guess gradually my dreams will begin to come true, which is probably best on the budget anyways :) I absolutely love home decor and have dreamed about how I would fill the walls of my home one day, literally since I was a little girl. I have organized file folders with labels reading "master bed & bath" , "nursery & children's rooms", "kitchen", "dining room", "laundry room", etc. where i've collected magazine tear-outs and other forms of inspiration that i've come across over the years.. kind of like a "old-fashion" Pinterest! 

Anyways, welcome to our home! (notice the photos were taken in february but are just now making their debut!) 

our little living room--it was february which is why there's a valentine's banner hanging above the fireplace!

our bar--we spent some good $$ at ikea when were first got here so we decided to wait to buy a dining room table and chairs till a later date & to just get barstools for now. So the bar top is usually where we eat!

kitchen view from the barstools

my cookbooks!  

going into our pantry--highlight is our calendar! We didn't have one of our own last year so it's an extra special treat this year! 

so thankful to have a pantry!! We got one of the few apartments that have a pantry (and an air conditioning unit!) 

my sweet father-in-law got us all P-Touch labelers for Christmas--he knows me too well :)

more labels..

and more!  

our pantry is so huge that we were able to fit a dresser in it for extra storage! We do not keep clothes in the pantry dresser though. i promise!  

we keep travel mugs in there... and table linens, cookie cutters & other baking supplies, tupperware, and two whole drawers full of board games and playing cards!

kitchen sink with filtered water--credit to ben!

our bathroom

i love the granite counter tops!

our "laundry closet"--not quite a laundry room, but i love it!  & since this photo I have added hooks to hang the broom and swifter & an extra shelf 

our office area--i've recently added some things to this area, too but i'm still working on making it a neat, organized & efficient work place

our bedroom

we're still waiting to buy a headboard/bed frame

our dresser from ikea

finding space in the closet for two has been another adventure-- we added an extra bar so we could hang additional clothes on the bottom--believe it or not, my hubby has more clothes than me! (at  least more that hang..)

we got bed risers for our bed so we could use the underneath for shoe storage and for other clothing items that didn't fit anywhere else!

Well that's where we call "home"..for now at least! We have a great back porch, too with an incredible sunset view, but it was rainy and yucky outside the day I was taking pictures so I didn't include it. We'll save that for another day!