kate & natie

the bark side...

2012-01-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

Thought this was funny :)

Overalls

2012-01-20T12:57:00.000-08:00

When Nate gets a project in mind, he reminds me of a kid on Christmas eve, so anxious and excited he just can't stand it! He recently had the idea to build a wood burning stove for our garage. Well... here it is.

He also reminds me of a kid when he puts on these bad boys. Yes, my hubby wears overalls, with PRIDE. That's what growing up in Georgia has done to him. :) I never would have thought I could love a man in overalls, but I sure do! He's such a hard worker and so good at taking care of our little family (me and Mose, that is)!

Christmas and Farewell

2012-01-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

As usual, we had a great Christmas, with lots of family time! It was kind of neat to have it on a Sunday this year, it made it feel more special. We opened a few gifts from each other before church and then headed down to Brigham City afterward.

We had a nice afternoon with Nate's family. Grandma Joy got a guitar, she and Hallie were very excited. :)

Nate was pretty excited about his air compressor! "thanks mob"

Last night my parents were set apart as full-time missionaries. All the family that lives in Utah came and we had some special family time with them. We're sure going to miss them! They are at the MTC this week and then fly out to Croatia next Monday!

Ruffle Wreath

2011-10-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

I'm loving this felt ruffle wreath I made with my mom and sisters this weekend! I ran out of the gray when I was almost done, but I'm glad I did! My sister taught me how to make the cute felt flowers and I love it with a little yellow splash! It was a blast hanging out with the girls, I wish I had brought my camera. Thanks for the fun!

have a ssspooky halloween...

2011-10-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Saturday night listening to the Halloween station on Pandora (mostly The Monster Mash and The Nightmare before Christmas songs) while Nate carved a mean pumpkin and I made a new wreath! Check it out...

Also, we're so excited for my parents! They got their mission call yesterday and will be leaving January 2nd to the Slovenia/Croatia Mission (oddly enough the name was changed as of yesterday to the Adriatic Mission and now includes Bosnia).

Go Katie!

2011-09-18T15:36:00.000-07:00

Katie wrapped up her forth marathon(Top of Utah) yesterday. She and my sister, Malissa, both participated and had a great experience. Great job you two! -nate

OWL!

Came home this morning and Katie had spotted our new backyard guest. I think is is a Great horned owl. I compared with pictures of screech, Burrowing, and Barn owls but that was my conclusion. Any thoughts? He/she has been there all day. I think it is way cool! -nate

the progress

2011-06-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share the progress of our little garden I posted about a while ago.

The garden today.

I'm so excited for all this tasty stuff!!! We have raspberries, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach and broccoli in this box. We also have another little garden area where we are growing some of the same stuff as well as rhubarb, peas, bell peppers and strawberries.
There is just something fun about making a sandwich and pulling a fresh lettuce leaf off the plant to put on it. As usual, I can't really take much credit for all this goodness... aside from being really good at choosing a husband. :) I love that guy!

Online Warehouse Sale

2011-05-19T06:53:00.001-07:00

Since the JJ Cole warehouse sale won't happen like it used to, now that our warehouse is in IA, we've decided to hold one online! It starts this afternoon, but our Friends and Family sale is this morning from 8am-noon on www.jjcolecollections.com. This is an exclusive opportunity to buy before the general public. The discount will be 50% off select items + free shipping on the site Thurs 19-Mon-23rd. Spread the word, the product will go quick!

Pescando

2011-05-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

My friend Ben and I caught a few beauty catfish at Bensen Marina a couple days ago. May you enjoy looking as much as I enjoyed catching :) -nate

a little help?

2011-05-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

A good friend of ours is getting married on Thursday and we are drawing a serious blank on a wedding gift --don't worry, I'm POSITIVE he doesn't read our blog :)--! They are registered at BBB, but I wasn't excited about anything that wasn't already purchased for them. So, if you would be ever so kind as to share your favorite wedding gift, that you received, or that you love to give (and please keep it clean! :) ) it would really help us out!

birthday boy

2011-05-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

(Our camera takes horrible pictures, this is so dark!)

We celebrated Nate's 26th birthday on Friday, it was a little stressful, and a lot of fun!

Stressful because I decided to make dinner (which I RARELY do) and a cake, and didn't really have time to complete them both, let alone clean the house, wrap his gifts (one of which didn't get here until today), write him a thoughtful birthday card, or study for my finals...

Fun because he really liked the Clam Chowder (and so did I, minus the clams), the cake looked pretty nice, even though it wasn't the best, he was surprised/excited with the backpacking hammock I got him, and we got to go see the movie Hanna with his parents. ...and because he's just a good husband and even though he doesn't normally fold the laundry or make the bed, he did both of those things because he knew I had really wanted to get them done before he got home... it made me feel really guilty for a minute, but then I just decided it's okay that he is the sweetest husband I could ever ask for!

We're getting excited to go camping soon!! His new backpack came today, so hopefully we'll be off to break it in soon too!

FB?

2011-04-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

To "facebook" or not to "facebook"?

This is weird, but it's a real question I have. I have never had a fb account, and to be honest, I was REALLY against it when we were engaged and first married (I only cared because Nate had one... he was such a good sport to humor me by blowing it off for a long time). However, occasionally I run into an old friend or think about someone I haven't seen for a long time and would love to know how their life is.

For example: tonight I got a text message from a friend from about 6 years ago, that I haven't much contact with since. I felt kind of bad that I hadn't made an effort to keep in touch over the years, but I was really excited to hear from her!

I know I am probably part of the minority at this point, but I really haven't worried too much about it. Here are a few pros and cons I keep tossing around.

Pros:
-I could keep in touch with old friends
-I could be more informed about friends lives
-Hopefully avoid being one of those people that can't accept new (not new anymore... I know) technology. :)

Cons:
-I think I could waste a lot of time
-Should I worry about keeping in touch with people from the past when I should just be living my life.
-What if I become one of those people that is trying too hard to be involved with everything everyone else is doing.
-what if I look like a loser because I don't have very many fb friends? ;)jk

I'm sure there is more to add to each of these lists, what do you think?

I have a feeling this will be read by very few people that don't have a fb account... but I would still like to get your opinion. This blog post proves that I would waste time on fb, I've wasted 15 minutes just blogging about it. :)

Spring!

2011-03-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

One of the many things that I appreciate about Nate is his ability to start and finish a project in one day... something I am not always too good at. He has been talking about building a small greenhouse in the backyard for over a year (a desire that most likely came from the landlords of our first apartment, Davey and Summer, they are such awesome gardeners!). He threw this together a couple of Saturdays ago and has already got some plants sprouting. From what I can remember... we're growing broccoli, lettuce, spinach, a variety of peppers, dill and some flowers (they aren't all planted in the box garden, some are in the small cartons just to get started)... he is so proud of his little sprouts!!

This was right after he built it, so no plants yet.

Spring Break was a lot of fun, we had plans to road trip out to California with Nate's parents, but it didn't end up working out. So, we decided instead to take a trip to the Tanner Family cabin, in Oakley, UT. It was so fun! Here's one picture, but we need to get the rest from their camera, so we'll do another post soon!

We're so ready for spring weather... go away snow!!

2011-02-07T17:02:00.000-08:00

Funny one.

27.

2011-01-28T21:51:00.000-08:00

Well, I turned 27 yesterday. It doesn't feel too much different... if I don't think about it. To be honest, after 25, birthdays haven't been the same and I don't expect they ever will. Nothing to worry too much about, it's just kind of weird sometimes. :) Lately I have found myself wondering what age people that don't know would guess that I am, if I ever dress like I'm trying to look younger than I am, or if I'm having an early mid-life crisis worry about lame stuff like that.

It's funny though, I feel like I am still 23, until I think about all that has happened since I turned 23... I married my favorite person in the world, got a job that I have thoroughly enjoyed, made friends I hope I'll always have, taken a break from school to make a decision, made the decision, started school again, we bought a house, we got a dog, I lead the music in primary for a year (and LOVED it), am now serving in the primary presidency, we went to San Francisco, Havasupai, Portland, Georgia, and Kauai, sold my little gray civic, we got a Tacoma, and another scooter, among many other things.

I'm so grateful to be where I am and excited about what the future holds.

ps... Nate made me a delicious dinner of tortellini soup, got some yummy cup cakes from Temptation Cupcake, let me choose a chic flick (which is big for him) :), and got me a cute shirt and some much needed shoes. I love that guy. Thanks Nate for a fun b-day!

happy birthday.

2011-01-26T18:38:00.000-08:00

my mom is one of the most selfless people i know, never talks bad about anyone, would do anything for her family, friends, patients, coworkers, or probably even a stranger... i have always admired that.
happy birthday mom, i love you.

Kid History

2011-01-02T17:35:00.000-08:00

Katie's cousins showed us this video. We thought it was funny.

Ice Fishing

2010-12-31T16:27:00.000-08:00

We woke up at 5:30 this morning and headed down to Manuta Lake to meet Nate's dad for some ice fishing. Nate has gotten really into it the past few years and this year he, his dad and his brother-in-law, Chris, each got some "essentials" for Christmas so now they pretty much have everything they need. His dad got a really sweet shanty, he and Chris got 'Mr. Buddy' propane heaters, and he and his dad each got sleds to pull all their gear.

My little fisherman...

They have been catching a lot of Blue Gill and some Trout.

Nate had a nice fish sandwich for lunch. I, on the other hand, had a ham sandwich... not a fish eater. I did taste it, and it was good, but not good enough to be my lunch. :)

2010-12-31T12:18:00.000-08:00

I think I will just recycle the plastic ones...

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-09T21:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a little Christmas cheer from the Hipp house.
So far we haven't really had enough room for a real Christmas tree (or maybe we just didn't want to clean up after one...), so we have borrowed these little trees from my mom for the past 3 years. They work great, we just pulled them out of the attic at my parents house, right where we left them last year... one with the lights still strung.

I think every house needs a nativity... we love this one we got from Nate's parents! Angie, this picture is for you, complete with lamp. (my $3 find at a garage sale this summer)

This picture might just look like a plain white house, with a plain white door (both need to be painted), with just a simple Christmas wreath... Well, I'll tell you why it's more than that. For some reason Nate has kind of a weird dislike for wreaths, but looky here --he surprised me when I was at my night class last week! I don't know why, but I have a secret obsession for wreaths... Thanks Love!

Feliz Navidad!! ...seemed appropriate since it's playing on pandora right now. :)

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

From "Elder and Sister" Hipp

jj cole fall warehouse sale

2010-10-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

Nightstand and Cinnamon Rolls... yum!

2010-10-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I was really excited about this little nightstand... We found it at the DI for pretty cheap and a little primer, paint and glaze and...
voila... (or however you would spell that)

We thought it would be funny if we put Mose's bed in it and could get him to sleep in there, but he wasn't having it. He would start to get in and then jump back all freaked out. We're not giving up... with a little coaxing I think he could really like it! Please ignore the empty frame on our wall, it's taken us over a year to even get this far with any decorations in our room. Now for a lamp for our nightstand...

I got ambitious this week and made cinnamon rolls for the first time in my life!!! My awesome mom pretty much coached me through it. I called her from the store to see if she had any good recipes and then picked up the items I didn't have while she instructed me on where to find them. Then when I got home and called her so I could write down the recipe, she was in the process of making her own cinnamon rolls! (I think she did it so she could help me while I did it!) I was pretty proud of myself for two reasons... 1. I used real yeast for the first time. 2. I kneaded the dough (not for the first time, but, well... it may have been a first too -I don't remember)

my dough...

Here they are before I put them in.

And taadaa...

They were pretty good, but I'm excited to try it again so I can do it a little different to hopefully perfect them! I'm not much of a cook, I pretty much avoid it unless it has to do with eggs or chopping vegi's. hehe! Poor Nate, I always tell him, 'you knew what I was when you picked me up'. (anyone know what that's from?)

until next time.

A New Table and a New Tree!

2010-09-20T19:27:00.000-07:00

We've been wanting something to fill the empty space under our picture in the living room. We thought either a sofa/entrance table, or a nice chair would be nice.

Well... last Monday Nate called me from the DI to ask if I thought he should buy a table he found. While we were on the phone he said there was another woman looking at the table while she was talking to someone on the phone... basically doing the same thing he was. I think that's what really helped him go for it. ;) So the 'before' pictures of the table are on his phone and we don't know how to get it off. But it had a brown top with matching wooden knobs, and the bottom was all black (cute, but not really our style). Saturday we went to every store in Logan to find the right color paint and some cute knobs and here is the finished product!!

It was a little scary to actually spray AQUA paint on it (Nate said he was worried it would look like we live in a Dora the Explorer house). We are really happy with how it turned out though... much thanks to this website www.allthingsthrifty.com for the idea!

We also found a little Honey Locust tree for 75% off, so we planted it in the front yard on Saturday (it's obviously the tiny one in the front of the picture). We have one in the back that we really love.

Oh summer, please never leave!!! We don't want to be stuck inside for 5 months!

The Garden Isle

2010-09-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

Nate and I got the chance to go with our good friends, the Wegeners, to Kaua'i!! It was a pretty short trip, but so so fun! We pulled out on Wednesday (August 25) morning at 8:30am to head down to the airport. After about 6-7 hours if travel time, and a four hour time gain, we got to Hawaii early Wednesday evening. That night we grabbed dinner and did a little grocery shopping, not recommended, everything was SO expensive! Then back to the hotel and to bed.

Thursday we went to a place our friends had recommended, Kipu Falls. We had to walk through a field like this:

...to get to a really pretty waterfall. There wasn't really a safe way to take the camera down by the water to get a photo of the waterfall though.

There was a sweet rope swing; here is Andy... mid-swing!
And we all took a couple turns cliff jumping off the side of the waterfall into the pool (for lack of a better word).After Kipu Falls we took a drive to the south-west side of the island to a beach my parents recommended, Barking Sands. There was probably 8-10 miles of beauiful beach with about 6 other groups on the whole thing, it was beautiful!

We all did some body surfing, I was terrible at it... It felt so good to get some much needed sun!

Thursday evening we drove back around the island to the north side where we camped just off the beach, it was an awesome spot! It did rain quite a bit while we were there and there were about 3 roosters that made sure we were all up by about 6:30 am, but we loved it anyway!

Friday morning we hiked part of the Na pali shoreline trail, we had wanted to backpack the whole thing (11 miles each way), but that weekend there just happened to be a goat hunt... so we just hiked what was still open and then up to a beautiful waterfall instead (total was about 8 miles). Didn't even see one goat either...

It was such a pretty view from the trail, after the hike we did a little snorkling on the reef you can see in this picture.

Hanakapia beach is claimed to be very dangerous due to strong currents. We counted 82 supposed deaths accounted for on the sign...

Still pretty though

The falls...

the locals...fishing

Steep trail back

I have no idea why this humongous sign was necessary... maybe it is because of the rain...

Na pali coast. Within seconds the view would change due to the clouds

Waimea Falls. Reminded us of Havasupai.

Thanks Hawaii for including Kauai in your islands -nate

Homemade Root Beer

2010-08-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

It was a very special weekend... so much that we got to have homemade root beer TWICE!! I haven't had the stuff since I was little, and for some odd reason it reminds me of the ward parties with the Brigham City 4th ward!

The first event was a birthday party/camping trip with my family for my dad's 60th birthday!! Here he is after a full day frying on the beach of Bear Lake on Friday, sleeping in a tent with a group of 26 Friday night (not all of which spent the night, but it was a big group none the less), and then back to the beach on Saturday...

He was just a little tuckered out from all the fun.

'Munga' was too... But who could blame them after all this fun!!

We all had a lot of fun! Saturday after Bear Lake, all the adults got to go to dinner at Cafe Sabor and then to the temple. Always fun to do with family.

The second event of the weekend we weren't totally prepared for... so we ended up making the root beer just before we left for the birthday dinner for Nate's mom, Joy. Here we are in the car enjoying the root beer fumes!
Grandma Joy is so nice to let Hallie help open her presents...

We're both so blessed to have such great parents and families. We really had a great weekend, and I think we had enough sugar to last us at least through another month!

Saturday Projects

2010-08-07T18:12:00.000-07:00

The headlights on our Civic have gotten so cloudy (it been driving Nate crazy). So, today he went and bought a refurbishing kit and went for it. Here's the before...

And after!!

We're both really happy with the results (especially Nate)! :)

...you can see I was in the process of cleaning out the garage while he did it (notice all the junk along the side of the garage).

Relief!

2010-07-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

These are a few of our favorite things...

Our trumpet flowers, the humming bird feeder (not so much the feeder, as the cute little birds it attracts) and... our new WINDOW UNIT!! We both had Monday off work and after switching from sitting in the house to out in the shade in the back yard most of the day, we decided it would be worth the money to have somewhere to keep us from going insane from the heat!

We're finally getting some color in our yard! I wish I could say I had much to do with it... but I don't. Nate is outside every night watering and planting flowers. My contribution is pretty much pulling weeds and complimenting him on how great it's looking. :)

We put a little patio area in the back of the yard in the shade; it's been nice to have somewhere to eat and relax out there.

Mose LOVES playing in the hose water!

We are trying out a new spot for another garden area this year, it gets a lot more sun so everything seems to be doing really well. We had a bunch of peas a few weeks ago, the lettuce has been great, but the season is coming to an end... as you can see. We should have a plethera of peppers and some strawberries, we're really excited!

Brigham City Temple

2010-07-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

"At the temple the dust of distraction seems to settle out, the fog and the haze seem to lift, and we can 'see' things that we were not able to see before and find a way through our troubles that we had not previously known." —Boyd K. Packer

I thought that was a neat quote... We were so excited about the announcement in General Conference last fall of the temple coming to Brigham City!! I grew up in Brigham and both Nate's and my parents live there currently. I found this picture online (http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/brighamcity/) and it made it seem so much more real! I can't wait for it to be built, it's going to be Beautiful!!

Base Camp

2010-06-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

We decided to head into the wild with one of Angie and Devin's wicked, simply rugged, Mig trailers (www.simplyruggedtrailers.com). We headed up to Porcupine Dam Saturday night. We set up camp and Mose and I took the kayak out on the lake while katie sat on a stump whittlin some animal figurines with her new pocket knife. He refused to stand anywhere except the front tip of the kayak...he also fell off twice while we paddled around...nerd. We got up there kinda late so we cooked some hot dogs, played some cards and went to bed. Bacon and eggs for breakfast and a little fishing time, then back home to church. Good time. -nate
By the way, just kidding about katie whittling, Im not sure what she was doing while we were gone.

Wasatch Back 2010

2010-06-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

For the past 3 years my work has participated in the Ragnar- Wasatch Back Relay, from Logan to Park City (190 miles). Here is some of our team at the starting line.

We lucked out to make it to Jordanelle right as the sun was rising, it was so pretty!!

We met up with the other car of our teammates at the exchange in Liberty (also a really pretty place). We kept talking about how pretty the course is, I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful area!! It's always a blast, but after the 3 legs of the race that I ran that totaled 21 miles, 3 hours of sleep, and about 30 hours in a car, it was really nice to be done!

Spring is here

2010-06-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

I love the spring!! It's been so fun to be able to go outside and play with Mose, go running, bike riding, work in the yard, see all the pretty blossoms, have campfires in the backyard and it's not too hot yet! Since the most entertainment in our life right now is our dog... here are some cute pics of him.

Cousins... :) Hallie tells Mose when she doesn't want him in her space, it's so funny! But she did let him ride with her in the wheelbarrow at Nate's parents house. That girl is a little cutie!

Nate has been taking Mose over to a park around the block a lot lately. Mose loves riding in the bike trailer, in the back of the truck, or on the scooter. People we pass always seem to get a kick out of seeing the three of us on there!

We got some bubbles for this funny dog... he loves chasing and biting at them, it's so funny to watch.

funny commercials

2010-05-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

Couple videos that we thought were funny. Proves that cheering someone on improves their performance... :)

Just a good one. I dont believe it was banned, just not shown.

Bountiful Baskets!

2010-03-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

I have to share this sweet thing my sister introduced us to, it's a food co-op called Bountiful Baskets (www.bountifulbaskets.org). The way it works is, on Monday you go online and choose a location where you want to pick up your order and pay for it. The drop offs are on Saturdays at that location and time you selected online, and the cost $15 + $1.50 for handling. We've only done it twice, but it's just such a good deal we have to share with all our friends! You don't get to choose what you get, but you're guaranteed 5-7 various fruits and the same of various vegetables. This week we got the following:

Strawberries (1 carton)
Blueberries (1 carton)
Apples (bag of 10)
Bananas (9)
Kiwis (6)
Cucumbers (6)
Celery (2 stocks)
Cabage (1 head)
Lettuce (2 heads)
Acorn Squash (1)
Radishes (3 small bags)
Asparagus (2 bunches)

We've been pleasantly surprised both times with the quantity, quality, variety,and price (of course). Check out the site, they have drop offs all over Utah, and in a few other states.

Oh yeah, here's a funny shot of Mose too. We opened the front door this morning, after we noticed we had filled the house with bacon smoke. It was like we were letting him hang his head out the car window, he just kept running over and watching out the screen door! He's still such a puppy, except bigger and potty trained (usually)!

What's up

2010-03-10T18:41:00.000-08:00

We have been so busy! It's a nice feeling, getting things done. Nate has done so many little projects on the house in the last two months. He remodeled two closets and built shelving for them. He built a shelf for me to put pots and pans on,above the stairs (we have to be creative with the little storage space we have). He put new doors on the bedroom, office, and bathroom (and a back door, last fall), and got the casing up on them. He put recessed lighting in our living room and hall! And I'm sure there are more that he'll remind me of when he reads this. :) I don't know if it's fair for me to get a feeling of acomplishment when I helped with none of these projects, but they all have made such a huge difference! I'll have to post pictures later. Anyway, aside from projects we're both in school and working and just keeping really busy. Speaking of which, I have to go catch the bus back to Logan (my classes are in Brigham City)!

Birthdays/Mom

2010-01-31T16:14:00.000-08:00

This is my cute Mom and Dad, at my brother's wedding. They are hunched over for two reasons... one, Hallie, my 6 year old neice, was taking the picture (I guess they could tell they weren't going to have heads in the picture). Two, the day before the wedding, my mom tweaked her back and she couldn't stand up straight for weeks. It's sad she was in so much paid, but I just love this picture for some reason!

January is a big month for birthdays in our family, I think we have 6 total (including my sister in law, two neices, little bro, mom, and me. On my birthday, I worked all day, and then went to class in Brigham. I got home around 9:00, needless to say, there wasn't a lot of celebrating. Nate was so cute though, he was swamped with homework, but he paused to make dinner for us, before I got home. He made one of our favorites, Honey Lime Encheladas! I was also surprised to receive about 60 text messages, mostly from people not listed in my phone, wishing me a happy birthday. I guess at about noon, Nate sent a text to almost everyone in his phone, to text me and say Happy Birthday. So, even though I could spend much of the day celebrating, it was really funny to keep getting messages up until the next day around lunch! Thanks Nate!

This weekend we threw a surprise party for my mom's 60th birthday! It was so fun to see all of her great friends (many coming an hour or more drive for it) that came to support her. She really is an amazing person, and it helped me see how she has touched so many people in her life. I wish I hadn't wasted so many years thinking she wasn't cool enough to spend much time with... Love you mom!

Winter Excursion

2010-01-24T00:16:00.000-08:00

Camping Hyde Park Canyon

2010-01-23T13:51:00.000-08:00

fishin hyrum res.

2010-01-20T20:07:00.000-08:00

We fished for a while before putting up the hut and had caught a few trout. Later we caught a few more. Good time.

the mawage

2010-01-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

Robbie (katies brother) and Ali at their wedding. Saturday the 2nd.

2009-12-29T21:42:00.000-08:00

a new one...

2009-12-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

Back to the blogging...Katie said i had to start up a new blog because i blew up the last one. oops. so... it begins again. not that we kept up with it that much anyway, but, she feels better about having one so she can stalk in her free time. :)