Potato patch kid

Each year we've expanded our garden, this year was no different. This time we tilled up a strip just along the outside fence to put in potatoes. We've got fourteen mounds back there with three different kinds of potatoes. We put in a few potatoes last year and had great success so we went big this year lol.

What's funny is that our little potato patch looks like a pet cemetary doesn't it?

Right now we've got peas, onions, garlic, and pototoes in. The strawberries and raspberries from last year are doing well too. We've had such great weather I'm tempted to plant the rest of the garden, but I think we'll play it safe and wait a few weeks.

Two years in Dayton MN

Two years ago today Jason and I moved into our three level split in Dayton.  We don't know where the time has gone.  We've made some good changes.  We've updated the kitchen, which is still a work in progress, and torn apart the basement, which is also a work in progress lol.  We've done quite a bit of landscaping outside as well.  This was our first day here...if memory serves me it snowed later that day. 

The first night here we didn't have many groceries in the house.  I whipped up some hot dogs for our first meal, but we didn't have any ketchup so Jason had to ran to the gas station and brought back ketchup packets because the gas station was out of ketchup lol.  Yup, this was our first meal lol.   

At least we have groceries now lol. 

A weekend to remember! Part II

While we were back in NY we had a chance to show everyone 'The Boathouse' where we'll be holding our wedding reception.  It got rave reviews.  It really has a unique feel to it, one Jason and I really like. 

In less than 72 hours we flew to Buffalo, drove to Watertown for my bridal shower, had dinner that night, went to church early Sunday morning, drove back to Buffalo, and had about 5 hours where we all got to relax.  I was introduced to Kismet, a dice game that is a McEwen favorite.  It's quite addictive. Then Monday morning we woke up and got our marriage license, at East Aurora town hall, near Jason's home. 

Their town hall is an old stone building.  Even the inside is old school, it was very cool.  Then Monday evening we flew out.

We just have a few odds and ends to finish up now for the wedding.  June 5th will be here before we know it!

A weekend to remember!

It was a weekend to remember!  Last Saturday Jason and I headed back to Buffalo, NY.  My sister hosted a bridal shower for me at my parents house, so we packed two cars and made the four hour trek from Buffalo to Watertown.  Jason's parents, his aunt, and two cousins were kind enough to come all the way out to Watertown to be part of the shower.  Family from Albany and Syracuse came up too.

I had such a great time.  I was truly overwhelmed by the number of people, and everyone's generosity.

My sister had been planning this for months.  With a little help from mom, the two of them put together great food and games.  This is Ashley's staple at parties - fruit kabobs stuck into a pineapple.  Cool huh?

She had emailed Jason a list of questions that I had to answer at the party to see how well I knew him.  For every one I got wrong, I had to chew a piece of double bubble.  I only got 4 wrong, but trust me that is a lot of gum!  As you can see I was having a hard time chewing it!

I got all sorts of great gifts, including a nice tool set which Jason had registered for.  He was thrilled about that.
I had such a great time!  The time went by so fast.  Thank you to everyone who came out - it meant a lot!  We'll see you all in June.

A pleasant surprise

This weekend was a big one!  Jason and I were in NY for my bridal shower and to finish up a few wedding details.  While we were in NY there was a journalism awards ceremony in MN.  The 'Cold Case Special' I had worked on was up for an Eric Sevareid award. It turns out it took first place!  It was the cherry on top of a great weekend!

(More weekend posts to come!)

Busy little bees: Inside

Indoors we have another project - wedding invitations.  I really wanted to make our invitations so with a little help from a paper supply store, the production line began.  Jason did the design work, since he's a pro at that and I did the writing.  The invitations open like a book and has a pocket inside that holds three pieces of paper with all the 'need to know info.'  We started these in February when my mom came to visit and quickly realized they were going to be much more time consuming than we first thought.  But we had an early start so we just worked on one piece at a time...for awhile.  Then we lost momentum lol and since they have to go out in about a week we had to work overtime to get them down this week.  We've been up until midnight just about every night printing and cutting but I'm happy to report all 125 invitiations are done!!  Right now they are all over our kitchen table lol.  We have to get them into enevelopes yet, but other than that we're good to go!  Keep an eye out, you'll be getting one in the mail soon!

Busy little bees: Outside

I know, I've been neglecting our blog.  Time seems to be flying by.  I think its a combination of last minute wedding tasks and outdoor work.  Last weekend Jason and I rented a tiller and got to work on the garden. That weekend was a long one.  We tilled the garden, and got a few things planted.  I put in some peas and onions. 
Meanwhile, Jason planted new grass seed in a few rough spots, I raked a ton of leaves out of flower bed that is in desperate need of a remodel, and then we did some landscaping. 

We went to Menards (it's like a Home Depot) and bought 100 bricks, loaded them ourselves, and headed home to tackle this beast.  We laid down black fabric to keep the weeds out and put brick around three big pine trees in our front yard.  The picture really doesn't do it justice, it's about 40 ft long lol.  Once we got the brick down we spread 17 bags of red mulch!  Jason has wanted to do this project since we moved in.  He hates mowing under these trees.  It turned out really nice...but we're still a little sore lol.

Living up to the hype

The much anticipated Twins stadium is now open.  The team played their first exhibition game in their new outdoor ball park this past weekend and Jason had a chance to go to one of their first games with a friend of ours.  We've all heard about this stadium for a solid year and Jason says it lives up to the hype! 

Target field has about 40,000 seats, a great view of the city skyline, and food options far beyond hot dogs.  The new stadium boasts a ton of favorite munchies from stir fry to steak sandwiches. 
The $412 million dollar stadium was a source of controversy here.  The county approved a sales tax hike to pay for most of the stadium -  without asking for voters approval.  That said, I haven't heard one bad thing about the new digs.  It's a big change from the dome.

We'll see if the new stadium brings them luck this season.

Signs of Spring!

The early warm up has been a welcomed surprise in MN.  We've had a two week stretch of warm weather and that means we've been busy with yard work.  On Easter Sunday Jason and I were not in our 'Sunday best', in fact we were quite dirty lol.  We were out prepping the garden, cleaning up the yard, and demoting the snow gear from the garage to the shed. 

There are signs of spring in the garden.  The strawberries are starting to pop back to life and so are the raspberries.  And somehow weeds are already growing too, but we'll just till those under.  I even have a few spring flowers coming up.

We actually started off the garden season this year with a harvest lol...I had left some carrots in the garden last summer.  We just had too many.  Well, I pulled them out yesterday and used them to bake a carrot cake for Easter.  It was a good way to kick off the garden season!