Mother's Day Weekend 2015

Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all of the moms out there.  Since just buying our first house and having all those "adulting" things that go with that, I'm so happy to have my mom be my biggest cheerleader through it all!

Kevin spent the last weekend in Spokane for a friend's bachelor party, so it was happy timing that my parents wanted to come visit last weekend for Mother's Day and to see our new house. I'm always so happy to see them, and it is so nice to be able to cook whatever nutritarian thing I want and know it will be loved and appreciated.  No need to make any substitutions like I have to do with Kevin; my parents love every veggie and fruit under the sun!

On Friday, my dad had business in Seattle, so my mom and I enjoyed breakfast at home, then shopped around the area for a few new things for the home, including extra rugs and trash cans for two bathrooms and the kitchen.  While out shopping, Mom and I had lunch out at my favorite Indian restaurant in Puyallup.  That evening, we enjoyed my new "cabana" having some chips and guac and probably way too much wine!

The next day, we headed to Northwest Trek, a wildlife park only 20 minutes south of our new house.  We spent the majority of our day here enjoying the cat, wolf, bear, wetland, and aviary exhibits, as well as an hour long tram ride through 400 acres of protected natural habitat that housed 8 different types of herbivores and other small critters.  It was a beautiful way to spend a sunny, warm Saturday.

Saturday evening, we enjoyed a homemade dinner of corn on the cob, two different salads, and a quinoa red kidney bean burger I made (can you tell we love our food?).  Then, we all got to work on little things around the house.

My amazingly handy dad, with the help of my mom's coaching, tore apart pieces of our recently broken couch, reinforced it, and put it back together.  I couldn't believe it!  Kevin and I had bought this (cheap) couch with part of our tax return the first year we were married, after I begged for months for us to have real furniture rather than a futon.  About a month ago, a few weeks before we moved, a heard a clunk in the couch and the entire back cushion just collapsed.  It was still sit-able with a lot of pillows behind, but Kevin and I figured we would have to toss it for a new one soon.  Thankfully, my dad was able to save it, so when we do get a new bigger couch for our family room, it will move to the living room next to the fire place.

A few other things my dad helped me out with include fixing the tight door to the closet below the stairs, fixing the front door deadbolt so it slides into the lock position without pulling the door tight, hanging Kevin's United States map in the stairway, hanging our family room clock, checking what was malfunctioning with our new lawn mower, and changing the battery on my garage door opener.

While my dad was busy with his fixes, my mom helped me by making a curtain for my small pantry doorway, weeding a portion of my garden, figuring out how my garden soaker system worked, showing me how to use my sourdough starter, helped me set up my new hummingbird feeder, as well as drinking wine and mimosas! ;)

Here are a few pictures of all the fun...

My parents arrive Thursday evening and I give my mom her Mother's Day present.
Part of it was this bottle of merlot from Columbia Winery,
where one of my best childhood friends actually works at near Seattle.

On Friday shopping, we find a clock even bigger than the one we already have.
Kevin has an obsession with gigantic clocks for some reason,
so I assume we will get another one someday for our house.

Getting every scrape of Indian leftovers from my favorite Indian restaurant in Puyallup.
I love that we can always find beans/lentils at Indian restaurants.

In the evening, we enjoy too much wine, and my dad figures out how our lighted grape string work.

Mom and I getting ready to go into Northwest Trek.

On the tram ride through the wildlife reserve we see caribou...

One mountain goat,

Two mountain goat,

some elk, and much more!

Later on Saturday evening, my dad hangs Kevin's U.S. Map.
This is one that Kevin snagged from an alternative school he was student teaching at when it closed last year.
The map was made in 1969, and it truly one of our favorite things we own.

On Sunday we have steel cut oats for breakfast,
 and my mom poses with the small yellow rose plant I got her for Mother's Day.
My parents got married with yellow roses, so I always try to go for yellow roses for her when I can.

After my parents left on Sunday (after an already extremely productive weekend),
I started gardening in my front yard with all of the new garden tools my parents gifted to me.
I should have taken a before picture or two, because it was a BIG improvement!  

Out of this front yard bed I pulled out tons of weeks, some tulips, and daffodils.
Not sure why, but tulips and daffodils don't really ring my bell.
I'm saving the bulbs I pulled and thinking I will plant elsewhere come fall.
In this bed, there are hydrangeas in the middle,
lavender in a "L" that I transplanted the middle ones,
and day lilies (I think?) in the bottom that I left in place.

My first hummingbird visitor came when Kevin got home
and we were catching up in the Cabana on both of our fun weekends.

I mentioned that my mom sewed me a curtain for my small pantry door this weekend.
She also brought me this dress and one other top she had made me.
I can't believe how much talent (and patience) for sewing she has!  

Health and Happiness,

Amy