Cool Guy

Found these old sunnys of Jer's. Jack Henry thinks he is pretty cool in them. So much so, they took a bath with him tonight and are in his crib with him sleeping as I write this.

The Oven Mitts

So Jack Henry has a new favorite thing these days. He saw this clipping of Sesame Street about 6 months ago about one of the monsters trying to explain the word HOT. He had oven mitts on and so JH goes to the drawer and asks for them to match what he sees on TV. We were pretty amazed at the time that he put it together and ever since they are one of his favorite things to wear around the house.

Afters

I have decided there have been wayyy enough "remember when" entries being posted by me. If you are all wanting to see pictures of my kid, and keep waiting to see when and if there will ever be another posting on him again rest assured there will be soon. Many thanks for letting me drag you through these lengthy descriptions and sweet memories of our life together. Why I am sounding like I am writing this to people who actually read this stuff, I don't know. So, last remember when entry for awhile. Here are the afters of our trailer. I didn't grab any exterior shots which is kind of a bummer, but at least you get to see what we made for ourselves. Not too bad. It was comfortable and kept us dry (for the most part:) and some where in the whole thing we got really comfortable living there and had things like my mom's big birthday bash there and even a baby shower and a bunko night (did i really just admit I tried to be on a bunko team for a while in my life? i was really trying to branch out and be open minded about it being fun and it died off rather quickly). People came to stay with us and it was well, home. We never really wanted to move from there, but thought it was time to see what else we could do. We practiced on the trailer and then got to redo a real house that didn't have wheels attached. I still don't know what is better. Love where we live now, but definitely not the end of the world to go back to square one. As long as I have my family it is all ok with me.





Yes, I did have Jer build a cover for our fridge. Somehow I thought it was less of a presence in the room to have it covered. It was a total pain to use, but it looked kinda cute. We found that cute little stove on the side of the road one lucky morning going to Costco. Jer figured out a way to hook it up so we could use it.












Our mess of a bedroom. The only picture I could find.

A Harsh Reality (or is it even harsh?)

So here we are in the midst of befores. I think I need to explain a little on the trailer itself before I give you the afters. SO we get this idea, ask my dad and he says, "well whatever" and now we are in the market for a trailer. I don't know anything about them and like where do you even start looking for trailers for sale? My dad eventually puts us in touch with someone who had a few (of course he does. for those of you who don't know my dad "a.k.a. grub", he is mr. connections. he has lived here his whole life and knows everyone under the sun in this town). We end up getting this one for free and it is disgusting. I don't think I went inside for the first month we "owned" it. Jer's dad was gracious enough to come out right away and help us hook it up, get the electrical set up and he was just so supportive. We took out all the windows, replaced them with old big cooler windows, plastered the whole inside, put down wood floors, tiled the kitchen and bathroom, added decks instead of those nice fuzzy astroturf stairs and landscaped our backyard. We continued to work, until it started to feel like home. We lived there for 3 years. Jer's parents came out multiple times to help us along the way (infact, Jer's mom did that whole walk way herself for us) and my parents became incredibly supportive. My dad loved having us live out there. It was a beautiful life for us. I remember taking walks after dinner through the raspberry fields and our kitties would follow us like they were our dogs, all over 124 acres of land we had around us. There was a creek beside us that would roar in the winters. More than anything else, I realized how rich it was to live in the midst of growing fields like we did. My drives to work and home consisted of me looking out my windows noticing the slight changes of growth in the apple trees through the seasons and it would inspire me to paint them and learn from it all. Such a treasure no money can buy. I have grown a deep appreciation of my hertiage, knowing that my great grandfather came over from Croatia to farm apple trees, and that he handed it down to my grandfather and then my dad. And that now, we in our tiny life out here, are living off of what my family's hands have made. Anyway, moving here was the reason that would could start things in our life. Starting Blue Apple Studios is a big one. Jer building is another. We had room to breath and space to roam. It truely was a beautiful time and someday, we hope to go back to that place of simple living again.


Ha! No, Jer doesn't really kick his foot up like we are in The Sound Of Music every time he kisses me. Funny capture though, us being the proud "home owners" we were. We always threatened to have a wine and cheese party out there and serve velveeta cheese and good old boxed wine. OK, really I will stop. I really hope I haven't offended anyone. I really think trailers are cool!




This is when our very dear friends came to visit us in such a vulnerable state. We had a vision for it all and had worked on the place so hard until they came. Thinking it was going to be beautiful soon, we laugh looking back on this picture b/c we ended up making it look SO much better than this. But at the time, we thought it looked 100% better on the inside than when we first got it.




And yes, we added this fence from old apple tree props that my dad has stacks of out at the ranch. Our house here in Santa Cruz today has the same wood fencing, and we use this same wood for all art projects made out of the studio which needs frames on them. It has sorta become our trademark wood and I love every bit of the splintery goodness.

Beach Hill

It seems this is the only photo we have at hand from our very first apartment. Let me just say this, it was tiny and we didn't know any better! We were so excited to finally settle into our own married life together and be out here at the beach again that we couldn't care less. Weekends were spent on foot all over downtown instead of in a car. We would go out for nightly runs together, walk to the movies or to the market with our little canvas bags, wake up to the seals barking on the pier, listen to the screams on the big dipper as the ride went down the big hill. Packed full of memories. And while my heart gets full as I think back on all the goodness it was, we still managed to grow out of the space. We didn't have our own yard, a big part of the way we live now, and we didn't have painting space for me. I distinctly remember Jer tripipng over "projects" on his way out the door some mornings (ok, lots of mornings). I think total the whole place was like 400 square feet. We painted the walls (did I really paint the dining nook yellow like that? not a big fan of yellow, but that's another entry entirely) even though we weren't supposed to. I was desperate to just make it feel at home. Jer was nervous at first, b/c his not breaking rules thing was there and he would come home to the smell of paint everyday after work, eventually he got used to it and would be beside me painting away. The only thing I am sad about it we don't have a photo of the kitchen. It was by far the best and my most favorite room in the house. This pic of us was from Jer's brother Josh when they both came to visit us on a surprise trip from Baja in January. (talk about a full house for a couple days, like I said didn't know any better) The chandelier hanging was form my mom for our wedding day. We had it hung outside from a tree over our wedding party table.
Anyway, as much as we loved our little life together there (and it was little), reality set in for us and we realized we had skill enough to branch out and do more with our lives than pay the amount we did in rent every month, and paint apartments illegally (btw, it all worked out in the end b/c our neighbor ended up moving into ours and wanted the walls exactly they way they were, so we didn't have to paint one wall back). So we did something well, I guess you would call very creative? Not any one of our friends were doing this at the time... we asked my dad if we could borrow some land of his (out at the ranch in Watsonville) and bring a trailer (yes, i mean total white trash single wide) out there to live for a couple years to save money, and sorta give us enough room to breathe and figure out what we were intended to do here in this community. And that is exactly what we did, and wait till you see those pics. Fantastic time of life. We managed to take that on like we did everything else in our lives: just another adventure in building our lives up together.

2 More Favorites

Just found 2 more favorites. First one was taken on our honeymoon and I crack up every time I look at it. So does Jer's brother, Ben, apparently b/c he has a copy of this hanging inside his car. It's all beat up and faded over the years, but still pretty funny. The other one was taken oh some 10 years ago in Baja where Jer and I met and were "just friends." I don't know, just looking at the photo now seems like it was a pretty good indication that we hit it off. We studied plants and animals down in Baja for 3 weeks over one winter break and had the best time. It is still such a dear place to us and we can hardly wait to take Jack Henry there someday.

Happy Anniversary To Us!!

And no, I haven't forgotten I have a blog. It's just been summer! Who spends time inside on a computer right in the middle of the best season of the year? I do envy my friends who seem to pull it together a little better than me (to say the least) and have these beautiful blogs to show. Then there is us, and all of you dear friends have had to look at my naked baby mooning you these past few weeks every time you log on, really sorry for that (kinda funny though). I really wanted that to be a passing entry and well, it has become more permanent than I thought it would be. So back on point. Here we are. Me and Jer. All of 7 years ago. My friend Erin had posted all these great wedding photos of she and Jason on their anniversary last month. So, it sorta carried on to me and I got this huge desire to dig through all our old photos and post some wedding and engagement shots. (btw erin, i don't think this is considered chiming b/c I am giving you credit here. And many thanks for all the sweet things you said about your trip up here to see us. We loved every minute of it) It was so much fun and I seriously went through time as I saw photos of Jer and I dating, of our wedding, our first apartment, our trailer, our cars, different jobs we had and so much more. I have realized that we have both grown up quite a bit, getting more of an identity in our community, jer teaching high school, me teaching after school classes, having a little pipsqueak, finally buying a house and just living day in and day out with each other. We know so much more on how we both work, what happens when we get tired, how to have a great date night, what to prioritize for our family around the holidays. Just so much growth happened to us that I am very grateful for. So with all this said, of course I got attached to all the photos I came across and this will be the first of many "remember when" entries I am attempting to drag you through these next few weeks. Hope you don't mind.



Ok, my most favorite pic of us ever taken.




The apple was blue (of course). Long before we ever knew Blue Apple Studios would ever be here.




This was the first time we saw each other that day. I knew I had to see Jer before I walked down the aisle, or else with all attention on me, there was a very good chance I wouldn't do it. And then I wouldn't get married and let's just say my dad would've been really upset. So here we are. Me totally nervously giddy laughing and he was trying to hold it together. It was very sweet. Our friend was the photographer (Ira Lippke, from college. He is amazing btw) and he was standing so far from us, we didn't even know he was there. Nice feature.









Our wedding location was such a mix of all the stuff we love. It was so down home, but very beautiful in a rustic and farming and edgy still, sort of way. Doesn't that make sense?? HAHA