Summer activities...

Anthony built a table completely out of pallets for our bible study friends. Here is a picture before the stain.

And...the jalapeños are coming up!

New things

Couple of new things in the Nelson home. With Anthony working on the weekends, I've been spending the weekends working on home projects and sewing. This weekend it was landscaping and repurposing clothes! The garden is in and the first bean sprouted up tonight! Also found some good deals on plants and flowers and potted them in front of our home.

The other half of the weekend I spent searching thrift stores for XXL clothes to repurpose the fabric. Here is my first of many projects : ) A maxi dress.

Anthony and I also replaced the garbage disposal this weekend! Yay no more rotting smells coming from the sink.

Fire in Black Forest

This afternoon a fire started in the Black Forest Area. We are still about 8 miles away from the evacuation zone, but we have some friends that are packing their bags.

It about 95 degrees today and windy, so we're praying that it is contained soon. So far we are not in harms way, but we never thought we would have the discussion about evacuating.

Scary stuff. Here are some pictures, one from on my way home from work and the other is outside our house.

New Dining Room Table!

Picked up a barely used dining room last night! Found it on Craigslist but it came from a gorgeous home. After picking up the table, we found ourselves just driving through the 'mansions' in the Black Forest area. We have found our retirement neighborhood : )

The table looks great in our new space...and we can now fit up to 8 people! We are ready for company.

New pressure regulator

Today we fixed the pressure regulator! It's been a crazy process trying to find it. Lowes, Home Depot, and Amazon were completely sold out for 2 weeks! But it works great and the pink plumbers tape is a nice touch : )

Yesterday's project was finishing up the mirror in the bathroom. Thanks to Pinterest for the mason jar toothbrush holder idea.

We Went home to MN this past week and had a great time seeing all the family. Spent a couple days in Waseca seeing family and hitting the lake and a couple days in St. Cloud, being with Anthony's family and being apart of Brent and Rachel Schoepf's wedding!

Allison's Visit to my work : )

Allison came to visit me at work, and I had some fun surprises lined up for her. The pictures tell the tale.

 She got a close encounter with Kasai and Zambizi, two of our female hippos at the zoo. We were giving them apples, oranges, and the grand finally of the whole cabbage.

 Then we went to meet Sprocket, Mogley, Colorado, Fudge, Tasselhoff, Murphy, Joe, Decker, Sobe, and Sally, our ten Rockhopper Penguins. Then are super cute, and Allison helped me with their second feeding for the day.

 Colorado and Fudge like the camera.

Joe really liked the camera.

 This is Ramani, the Sarus Crane. She is big and scary, but really a sweet heart. For some reason I couldn't get a pictures of Allison and her together, could be the massive wings and scary long beak.

Snow in May

Well our projects have come to a bit of a halt with the blizzard like weather outside. Good thing we didn't plant flowers yet! To give me some hope, Anthony brought home some spring flowers today : )
We also finished the garage this past weekend and it looks so much better. More pictures to come of the work bench that Anthony is building.