time flies when you're having fun....on the river

Did anyone else look at the date yesterday and have a small panic attack?! It's JULY! Where has time gone? It does not feel like life is going at normal speed right now. We have been here, there and everywhere lately. We started June in Seattle/Port Angeles, Washington and ended in Steelville, Missouri. We made a lighting fast trip to Ikea, got a fire pit and made lots of s'mores, killed my lavender plant, revived some flowers, installed a new door, hired our first employee, spent time with friends & family and we managed to work a lot too! It has been 7 months since I started working with Alex at AW Insurance....SEVEN! It has been very good and challenging (in a good way). It took a while to get in the swing of things but I really do enjoy it and it's a bonus to get to work right alongside Alex.

Somewhere up in that paragraph I mentioned that we went to Steelville. Alex and I, along with my parents, Jared, Becky, Ethan and Nora headed down to the Mermac River in Missouri for a weekend away. We stayed at Cobblestone Lodge which was like stepping back in time, in a good way. We each had a little cabin (ie: bedroom and bathroom) ours was like a mini duplex, so we shared a porch with my parents. It was all inclusive and the food was fantastic (Alex said it was one of his favorite parts). After breakfast and lunch they would take a us down to the river where we could either take a raft, canoe or tube down the river. We chose to raft and canoe. It was a lot of fun and we would love to go back.  After we checked out on Sunday, we stopped by the Mermac Caverns.  We all enjoyed the cool 60 degree tour, the kids did great and I left triumphantly with my rock candy!  After lunch we all headed home to catch up on laundry. We had a great weekend and are thankful that we got to go. Also, we are very thankful that Alex's parents were willing to watch Moose- Thanks Eric & Sue!!

Rafting down the river

We almost tipped over, but Jared hopped out of his canoe and rescued us. After that Alex was a master steer-er and did 99.99% of the work. 

I want to be a cool mom when I grow up....

If I only I could be this cool when I have kids......

Check out their blog here. 

twelve hours + basement update

What would you do on a lovely Saturday for twelve hours? Well, here in the Williams' household we think a quick trip (4 hours each way) to Ikea sounds fun. On Thursday of this week, we are excited to be bringing on our first employee, Ryan. But, he'll need somewhere to sit. Therefore a trip to Ikea for a desk and some chairs was in order.

We woke up bright and early and headed north. We found everything on our business list, family member request list and personal list...or so we thought. We rounded the corner to the check out lines and were almost in line, until I realized we forgot the "as-is" section. So we wheeled our cart over to check it out. AND there she was, the couch of our dreams....and our budget's dreams, it was 45% off!
We talked about it for about two minutes and decided we would be foolish to leave this little gem behind. So, we told the as-is dude we'd take it! He and Alex loaded it up on a cart and we then headed to the checkout.

Why was it in the as-is section you ask? It was the showroom model and has a teeny tiny little hole on the bottom by the leg.

Fitting Ikea furniture in any vehicle is like a tricky game of Tetris. But, we got it all to fit and the ride home was very cozy. And now, what you've been waiting for: the couch in it's natural habitat! 

Why, yes! Those are our new floors...very observant of you!

Our lovely grey new couch. I need to make some cute pillows and re-cover the ottoman (or as we affectionately call it: The Turd)

and in case you want to know what it looks like to sit on our new couch: Tada! Regarding the red spacers in front of the fireplace, we still need to put the baseboards down, Alex's deadline is my birthday (in September) so we have a little time. 

Thanks for stopping by our basement and checking out our new couch. I'll post pictures of the other side of the basement that we've been working on putting up walls, drywall and the same flooring. It's all coming together very nicely!

Seattle + Port Angeles, Washington

If you follow my Instagram feed or Facebook, you may have noticed that my parents, Alex and I headed out west for a bit of a Seattle and Port Angeles, Washington adventure. We started our trip in Seattle and spent all day Friday exploring. We did a quick 90 minute bus tour which was fun and we got to see the highlights. After that we headed to lunch, explored Pikes Market, found some local wine to take home and headed up the Space Needle. It was a great afternoon but we weren't done with Seattle yet! We ate dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant to carbo load (more on that soon) and then we headed to Safeco Field to watch the Seattle Mariners play the Detroit Tigers. It was fun to go to a different stadium and cheer on a different team. But, no worries, we're still Cardinals fans at heart!

If you look reeeeeeally closely, you can see Bill Gates' home

The troll under the bridge

We enjoyed watching the fish fly

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to the ferry to wind our way north to Port Angeles. Once we got there (after my dad's wonderful detour....) we checked into our hotel, went downtown to pick up our race packets and t-shirts and then headed to my sister, Sarah's house. It has been almost five years since we've last been together, so it was a much needed reunion. She and Patrick have two lovely little girls: Lily (4 (almost 5)) and Leah (2) and a handsome little man, Will (3). We played, talked and had a great afternoon and evening. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get some rest.

Aboard the ferry

Hanging out with miss Lily

Dad and Will playing

Not quite the ocean, but just as lovely; enjoying the view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca

It was windier than I expected...

Mom and Dad packed a bit more appropriately than I did. 

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early, donned our running shoes and race bibs. We ran our second half marathon along the North Olympic Discovery Trail. We did great and Alex pushed through with his knee injury (which shouldn't have any long term side effects, but to be safe, he's resting for a while). After the race, we ate lunch and headed up Hurricane Ridge to see the Olympic mountain range. It was beautiful and worth the trip up the winding mountain. We ate dinner and said our goodbye's to the Lovejoy's. Monday morning we headed home and re-entered the real world.

Before the Race

After the Race

Our time was 2 hours 22 minutes

Bear Hug

Mama and Lily

Will attempting the figure out the binoculars

Leah playing in the snow in June

Where we roam, our Gnome roams

We had such a great trip and race and we are very thankful my parents let Alex and I tag along. Thanks Mom and Dad! As always thank you to Greg, our chauffeur and Moose sitter, we're going to miss you so much in August!