Did Someone Say Chocolate Cake?!

Nothing says LOVE like chocolate!  However, when it comes to chocolate cake it is sometimes difficult to find one that you absolutely LOVE.  In our opinion a good chocolate cake is super moist and rich, but not over the top sweet.  The frosting adds the sweetness and you can add or remove it based on how sweet you like it.  Anyway, since we have moved to Washington, Kristina has had several reasons to make something and bring it to a get together.  So, she decided to find a chocolate cake recipe and perfect it!  And indeed she has!  She is known in these parts for her chocolate cake.  Some of her co-workers didn't believe she had made it!  

Here's a photo of the finished product...up close and personal!

And here it is from a a little further back.  Doesn't it look good?  Take a trip to Washington to see us, and she just might make you one!  It would definitely be worth the trip!

Next she'll have to work on her frosting technique...each one gets better with a little practice!  :)

Shut the Front Door!

While this sounds like an easy task, it was no easy task for the front door in this house.  Ever since we first saw the house with our Realtor, we noticed that the door stuck.  You had to literally put your shoulder in it at times to get it to open, and on the flip side, getting it to close once you were inside the house was an equally daunting task.  That being said, Jared adjusted it and adjusted it without much improvement.  We found out that it would have to be replaced due to the fact that the door had a metal frame and didn't have any "give" in it.  That being said, over time, the house has settled making the problem what it is today.

So, we visited http://www.franklumberthedoorstore.com/.  The one located in Shoreline, WA was the closest one to us.  This place makes custom doors and if you choose, you can get local lumber from the Marysville, WA.  We thought that sounded like a great idea because we knew that we wanted something substantial, and what's more substantial than SOLID WOOD!

After several visits to Frank's, we finally figured out what we wanted, so we ordered it.  Since it was a custom order, we had time to find someone to finish the door and install the door once it arrived.  Jared found a someone, Jamie, and he did a great job.  When the door arrived at Frank's, Jamie picked it up, took it to his shop, and applied FIVE coats of urethane.  We had decided that we wanted just the natural look of the wood to shine through and we wanted it satin, not glossy.  They did a great job and they arrived today with the door for installation.

The new doors look absolutely wonderful.  Here's a shot of what they look like from the inside of the house.  The windows have a maple leaf glass in them, so people can't view in, but light can come in and brighten the entry way.

And here's what they look like from the outside.  You can really get a feel for the glass etching in this photo.

The front of the house looks completely different now.  We might have to paint the outside of the house sooner than we had hoped since the doors look so good!  :) 

Oh, and by the way...the doors open and close like butter!  Thank goodness!

Tulips in BLOOM!

It is that time of year for those of us that live in Washington...Tulip Festival time.  Every April in the Skagit Valley, the tulips come into bloom, and it is quite the sight.  Imagine fields and fields of beautiful, multi-colored tulips!  The sight is quite spectacular -- especially if you hit PEAK bloom.  In 2011, peak bloom never really happened since it was such a dismal spring!  However, this year, the tulips are blooming perfectly, as you can see from the pictures.

Here is one tulip field with Mount Baker in the background.  We happen to hit the festival on a clear, dry, and sunny day.

Kristina's loves this picture.  It is so picturesque with the farm in the background and you can see the fields of tulips...all a different color.

Here's another gorgeous shot of completely different colors!  Honestly, you should try and make the tulip festival some time.  It is a sight to see.

After we hit the tulip festival, we headed to a quaint little town nearby called La Conner.  It has a wonderful little downtown with lots of shops.  It was a great day just to peruse the shops and enjoy the weather.  We ate lunch at a really cute restaurant and pub.  The food was excellent and the atmosphere was perfect.

We ended the day by heading back to Woodinville.  It was a great day!

Two Dry Weekends in a Row!

Amazingly enough we had another dry weekend in Western Washington, and it was mostly sunny too!  The temperatures were just barely 60 degrees, but considering that Kristina's family was contending with tornadoes back in Kansas; we definitely didn't have anything to complain about with regards to the coolness of the temperatures.

Saturday morning we headed to Kirkland to checkout The French Bakery.  It is a cute little place in Kirkland that we had read good things about, so we decided to check it out for our morning breakfast.  We parked near the Marina Beach Park, walked down to the bakery, grabbed a couple of pastries and drinks, and the headed back to the park to walk off what we had just eaten.  We had Indy with us as well, and it was great training for her.  The area of Kirkland that we were in is a very "walkable" area; there are quite a few people, dogs, and other distractions to keep us and her on her toes.  She did very well; she really doesn't care about people at all and dogs are only interesting to meet and then she merrily goes on her way.  Nonetheless, it is always good to put her through some tests.  It was a nice morning.

Sunday we decided to head to Marymoor Park in Redmond.  Marymoor Park has a HUGE off leash dog park where dogs can be dogs.  There are several trails around the off leash area and many opportunities for dogs to go swimming in the river.  Indy had a good time.  She went swimming -- always a good thing in her book -- and did lots of bottom sniffing (you know, that's how dogs meet each other).  She never strayed too far from us, and she was too distracted to play with the chuck-it, but she seemed to have fun anyway.  After we left the off leash area though, the fun stopped.  The park has a self-service dog wash area, and Indy got a much needed bath.  Not one of her favorite activities.  Knowing this though, we were in and out within 10 minutes.  To say we have giving a dog a bath down to a science would be an understatement.  Of course, we just toweled her off because Indy does NOT do blowers.

Sun and a clean dog!  Now that's a good weekend!

Spring has Sprung?!

Well, it looks like spring has finally sprung, or at least it did for Easter weekend. Our spring has been pretty much non-existent (just winter prolonged); however, Mother Nature made up for this by making Easter weekend very nice. The daffodils look happy at least.

Jared was lucky (or unlucky?) enough to have Good Friday off.  So what did he do on his day off?  He de-thached the yard to get rid of the pesky moss, and then he aerated the lawn.  After doing all of that, he followed up with spreading some grass seed and fertilizer.  Now if we get a some rain this week followed by some sun, the lawn should be on its way to a great start!  

You may be wondering what was next?  Well, he was extra ambitious and attacked some of the thicket in the backyard, and when we say thicket, we mean thicket.  The entire perimeter of our yard, especially the part of the yard that runs along the Tolt Pipeline Trail is thicket.  We have been slowly whacking away at it, but with so many other projects and since it isn't a lot of fun, clearing thicket is always last.  Anyway, Jared decided to hack away on it a bit.  Here's the section that he cleared away -- we can't believe how much better it looks.

In addition, we also planted some flowers and cleaned up some flower beds as well. Below is a shot of our peony plants.  Last year, we only had one flower.  However, we think that is because we moved them late in the season. This year we are hoping for many more!  We just cleared out the weeds to give them more room to grow.

This is our new flower bed with various flowers and plants.  We could probably use a few more, but we decided to go with sparse and see how the plants grow.  The sunlight in our backyard is limited because of all of our Big Leaf Maple Trees, so we'll start with these plants first and see how they do.

We also put a few plants in containers so that after the summer is over, we can bring them inside the house.  Here is a shot of our Meyer Lemon Tree. We're not convinced it will survive, but it sure smells nice -- and we really miss our citrus trees we had in Arizona.

Here's a shot of our Mexican Orange Tree.  It is supposed to be able to survive outside, but we put it in a container just in case.  It is supposed to blossom in the fall -- it doesn't produce any fruit, but we're okay with that, we just want the smell of the blossoms! 

Indy's New Yard

Good Friday turned into a Great Friday for Indy (and for Kristina too)!  While the house we live in resides on a lot that is over 3/4 of an acre, Indy's yard consists of a 20' x 24' dog run.  When we moved in, the yard was not fenced (unlike in Arizona, most houses don't come with fenced in yards) so we just fenced off a portion and allocated it to the dogs.  Honestly, we also didn't want to try and keep up with dog poo on 3/4 of acre either.  :)

That being said, it has been a constant struggle to keep grass growing in the dog run with all of the rain we receive in Western Washington, and then when summer comes, it takes us all summer to get it back into shape and before we know it, the rain is back.  This creates a constant "mud" situation for dog paws.  Here's a few examples of the mud hole...

The mud drives us crazy because it is constantly in the house.  By design, we have a mudroom, but it doesn't catch all of the mud and more often than either of us would prefer, the mud makes it into the other rooms of the house.  That being said, Jared found an artificial turf that seemed perfect for our application and today it was installed.  Here's a shot of the yard after the grass was removed and the fine gravel was added and leveled out.

And the finished product...

It is definitely Dream Turf (http://www.dreamturf.com/pages/applications.htm).  We specifically got the one for dog applications, and it looks super realistic.  It is pretty maintenance free (especially since it rains so much here), and it comes with a warranty!  We are sure Indy will put it through its paces.  Here she is looking like the good little dog she is... 

And, everyone will be happy to know that as soon as we let her out after it was installed, she sniffed around and took care of business immediately!  Woohoo!