It's Spring!

I planted the first half of my garden today!

I look forward to having organic veggies

thanks to Valley View Nursery!!

I have a mix of gourmet lettuce and spinach here.

And here is broccoli, carrots (seeds) and sugar snap peas in the back on the tomato cage. I've never done any of this stuff before but I had good luck last year which was my first try!
Here is a little more lettuce, another view of the sugar snap peas and right in front of the tree I have garlic!
I also have red onion planted behind the tree and a little to the right but you can't see them yet. In a few more weeks when it is time to plant the rest I will also have cherry tomatoes (sungolds), green pepper, cucumber and watermelon. Lance is going to build a shelving system so we can go vertical for the watermelon!

Re-Roofing... oh the joy...

We spent Thanksgiving weekend re-roofing our house. And by "we" I mean Lance and I plus our friend Ryan, my dad Paul, my brother Justin, Lance's dad Bill and sister Cameo. And thank God we had all the help we did because it was a LONG weekend! As you can see we had some holes... stick your foot in them sized holes... hence the re-roofing before the winter.

Who needs roof top delivery when you have a Case and two dare devils to stand there while Lance drives toward the house... Safety first! LOL!
We had to cover the majority of the roof with OSB to rid ourselves of holes and further issues. Here's Paul, Justin and Ryan laying down the felt or tar paper.
Here's Bill and Ryan laying down the rolled roofing. We did this on the flatter section of the roof to help with leaks and the possibility of sitting water.
Cameo moving the Case while Lance yells instructions from the roof since she had never driven it before. "It's like driving a tank" Lance says, like that means something. LOL!
We still don't have the ridge cap on but man does it look better. You might notice there is now an eve or overhang on the front peak. Nice added touch Lance thought of since we didn't have any overhang. It will be nice when the rain comes to stand at the front door and not get soaked while you unlock the door.
Oh and thanks mom for making us dinner 3 nights in a row since we worked so late. She "doesn't do roofs" but she knows how to cook!

Fireplace Surround

One more piece of the front room puzzle is now completed! Here's the project!

So you can see in the picture above there is a ledge at the top of the surround and if you look in the picture below you will notice it is no longer there. Apparently gravity doesn't allow concrete to stick on the underside of things. It was almost a disaster but we made it work!

Scroll down to see the finished project.
I think it turned out quite nicely!!
One more project down, um... I have no idea how many more to go!! LOL!

Entry Closet

To put your jacket on at the front door as you leave or hang it up as you walk in your home may seem like a simple thing but for the last 3 years this has not been an option, until now!!

Here's Lance framing the closet and cabinet for the soon to be saltwater fish tank to sit on.

Here it is finished!! And it looks like it has always been there! Gotta love that!

And a view from the front and the closet doors. I'll have to post an update of the fish tank when it is up and running!

4 Years Today!

How quickly the years fly by and how much FUN we have had! It's amazing to think about. Lance and I went from Kindergarten through 7th grade in a lot of the same classes. At that time of my life boys had cooties so I didn't have much nice to say about him, especially when he cornered me on the school buss and kissed me! My mom heard all about it when I got home. We actually became reacquainted through my younger brother. Lance didn't realize "Amber Stranberg" was Justin's older sister, didn't even know his last name until my brother told Lance "you should date my sister". My brother didn't approve of any of my ex-boyfriends not that I can say I blame him. LOL! Lance being the curious person he is asked my brother who his sister was and Justin casually says "Amber". From that point on they began scheming how to get us together. I got home from college and told my brother I would go wheeling with him, my brother and I are close which is good because if we weren't I never would have gone "wheeling" which is totally fun by the way. Yes I mean off-roading in big 4-wheel drive trucks. Anyone who knew me in High School would understand why this never would have happened! LOL! We went wheeling but I didn't end up riding with my brother, they told me it was because Lance's truck was more capable and safer... yes, I fell for it and it didn't hurt that Lance's 8 month old yellow Lab puppy was sitting in the back seat... Six months later we were married and have enjoyed the days ever since. It's crazy to know that the first person who kissed me will also be the last!

The Rubicon Trail

Here's the group! Lance, myself, Tawny, Gabe and Abby in the front. Abby wasn't paying attention and Morial is hiding under Lances s-10 Blazer. Here's Lance maneuvering the "Devil's Post Pile"!! This was basically a ravine of BIG rocks!
Here's Gabe in his Toyota 4-Runner maneuvering a one-way trail with a large cliff on the passenger side...
Both guys climbing a rock face along the trail.
We had a complete blast, it was hot and dusty but we bathed like bums in Buck Island Lake each night, nearly caught hypothermia while in the water - due to the elevation the water was NOT warm! It felt nice though to be clean before eating dinner and heading to bed. We camped along the trail during our trip which kept it interesting as we did not sleep in the same place once! I think this will be an annual trip for the 4 of us and anyone else who comes along!

The McGrew Trail (Pre-Rubicon Test)

Rock CrawlingCheck out that FLEX!
Here's "The Crack" on the McGrew Trail. Both our rigs made it through for the first time without carnage! Tawny & Gabe are with us on this trip! I can hardly wait for RUBICON!
One Aggressive Chevy S-10 with plenty of custom work built by our very own Lance Longiotti!
Believe it or not, Lance meant to put us in this crack and we drove right out once the guys were done oogling the suspension. LOL! Overall the trip was a success for both rigs, Lance and I found out the hard way that the gas gauge doesn't work so they had to syphon gas out of Gabe's truck and into ours so that we could make it to the tow rig and onto the trailer! All in all the trip was a SUCCESS!