On the culinary arts...

So as I mentioned in my previous post we didn't really do anything for Valentines Day. So yesterday I decided to make a dinner.

I decided to do a pork loin in the oven. It turned out pretty good, maybe a bit overdone, but still pretty tasty. I also did twice baked potatoes and some asparagus and mushrooms sauteed in garlic and butter. All in all it turned out to be a pretty good meal.

Valentines Day!!

So on Valentines Day Christina and I decided to do something really romantic. Painting!!
Well it wasn't romantic but it was a bonding experience I suppose.






This is the living room. But with the brown furniture we decided there was too much brown. So we went with a warmer earth tone green color. It really brightened up the room









Here is the bathroom, it was white which was a very boring color. So we went with a warmer yellowish beige type. It is subtle but nice.












Finally, here is the kitchen, we went with a light green. We thought it was an improvement on the white, but we're not entirely sure if we should have so much green in the house.












As promised here is the picture of the guest bedroom (all that stuff on the right is on the bed). It is also currently doubled as a craft room. So, people can actually visit us and have a place to stay.

House (inside)

Here are some more pictures of the place. Kimba and Koko are helping us move in this picture. Cats are pretty worthless when it comes to lifting heavy objects.











Here is part of the basement. That is an egress window, so when I begin the process of finishing the basement this is going to be a bedroom. Right now it is being used as storage.










Here is my den/office area. This too will be sensationalized and finished.












Here is the laundry/weird lone shower area.












Upstairs we have the kitchen, one of the big sellers of this house. It is very nicely updated and has a very nice tiled look.












Here is the bathroom, it will probably be painted pretty soon. We were thinking like an earth tone green.


















This is the spare bedroom that is attached to the master bedroom. It works great as Christina's study.

Also, for some reason I did not take a picture of the other spare bedroom. There is actually a full bed in it. It is also the only room in the house that is carpeted.






This is the living room.












The dining room looks back into the yard and deck.













Here is the master bedroom. We just have the bed and dresser set up in it. It is a very nice color, so luckily I don't think I'll have to repaint it.










Well that concludes the tour for now. Hopefully everyone got a pretty good idea of how the place looks. It is my hope that is 4-5 years that this house will have proven to be a wise investment.

Finally!! House Pictures

I know everyone has been patiently waiting for me to put some pictures of the new house up. So, without further ado, I present to you all: The House.

This first picture is of the front of the house. It is white. It is also a pretty simple design with a large tree in the front yard.








This next picture is of the back yard. I plan on putting a vegetable garden right behind the garage.

Here is the front of the garage; this view is from the deck.












The deck is one of my favorite parts of the house. Maybe in the future put a grill on it, maybe some outdoor furniture. A guy can dream I suppose, but for the time being our little 18” charcoal grill will have to suffice.

7 random facts about me

This being my (Kasey's) first post on here I guess I can start with some random facts about me.

1. I am not traditionally a "cat person" per se, however I must admit that when Christina brought her two black cats (Kimba and Koko) to Des Moines I was at first apprehensive, however they are very well behaved cats and I do enjoy their company.

2. I sell paint!! I know I know but in all honesty it's not as exciting as it sounds. I do really enjoy my job and am fortunate to have stable employment in these tough times.

3. I am in the Big Brother Program of Central Iowa, next week I take my little brother on our first outing, we are going to go bowling.

4. I am currently watching the movie "Sliding Doors" with Gwyneth Paltrow. So far it seems like a very thought provoking movie, we just watched "Mama Mia" which despite my former thoughts on musicials was a pretty entertaining movie.

5. Since the weather was so nice today we decided to go for a run, we got to see the surrounding neighborhoods. I also found out today during our run that I probably don't have a future in hurdeling as I could barely clear small puddles.

6. I just bought a house, it is pretty exciting. I plan on finishing the basement while I am here to try and raise to value of the place. It feels odd though because this is really the only time in my life I have lived in a bigger city (population more than 30,000).

7. When I get married this summer I will have a total of 3 neices and 2 nephews. Clint, David, Hayden, Sandra and Shelle and Dan's baby.

Second love of my life

This is my nephew David. David thought it was the funniest thing in the world to sit in the driver's seat. We got such a kick out of him.

Last summer we spent some time with him and his Sister Hayden. We took a family road trip to McCarthy. It was tons of fun, we had a large crowd: My sister Deanna, brother-in-law Scott, brother Aaron, best friend Wendy, Kasey and Me. We did a lot of driving, sight seeing and hiking. We even climbed on a glacier.

Kasey was supervising to make sure he was safe. He had a great time, it was so cute to watch David laugh SO hard. He was very intent on learning what all the button in the hard did, Kasey was a great teacher!

Here is David learning how to blow on dandelions, he was very fascinated with this.

Here we all are after a long hike up to a glacier and BBQ. McCarthy - Kennicott is an old abandoned mining town. We are standing in front of the old mining building. It was very intriguing. The drive to this town is about 8 hours, and lots of dirt roads. The population is very small, something like 50 or less, and you have to park your vehicle and walk into the town on a foot bridge. It was unique and fun. I am glad we have this memory.

Our Summer in Alaska

This is a picture of the McCarthy-Kennicott. It could not be more beautiful. We camped at the base of the glacier, it was gorgeous to wake up to!

We are hiking up to the glacier.

We made up the glacier without ice grips! It was tricky, but the way down was even scarier.

This is on the hike as well. It was such a beautiful day, the scenery and nature were great.

This is a bridge on the way to McCarthy-Kennicott. We climbed up to get our picture taken, David was not big enough to come. He had to wait at the bottom with Deanna, he was very sad.

Here we are in front on another glacier. This was a stop we made on our way to McCarthy-Kennicott.

We went on a costal bike ride in Anchorage. We were able to rent bikes and ride the costal trail as far as we wanted. It was a beautiful ride.


We took a hike up Angle Rocks in Fairbanks. This is one of my favorite hikes in the area.

Look at Mt. McKinley in the Background, this is a once in a lifetime experience. The mountain never shows this well! The picture does not do the the mountain justice.