Herbs

Mike and I have a little container herb garden at our house, and I finally got around to using some herbs in my cooking. I'm new to using fresh herbs, so I'm not too sure what to do with them sometimes. Tonight I used Rosemary on steak and mushrooms for kabobs. We also grilled onion, red pepper, and pineapple (Mike had his doubts about the pineapple, but it turned out to be delicious).

Look at that seasoning!





And the ENTIRE time we are grilling, the cats sit at the back door and meow at us constantly.

Watermelon

I have my first watermelon on the vine :)

Our cats go NUTS for cat grass

South Dakota

Last weekend, Mike and I went to South Dakota to visit the family on his step-father's side. We left Friday afternoon from Ankeny, and arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Schimmel's house in time for dinner Friday night.

We stopped for lunch in Avoca on the way, and of course I had to hold Isabella :)

Saturday, Mike and I went for a run at the local track. We came back and went to lunch at the Goss Opera House. The Opera House was awesome--its an old opera house (as the name suggests) that is being renovated. The building had a very historic feeling, and I wished I had my camera, but I didn't even think to bring my camera to lunch. Aside from atmosphere, this place had AMAZING food! After lunch, we went to visit the Terry Redlin Art Center as well. I didn't really know who Terry Redlin was until I saw some of his work, and, strangely, it brought back memories of my grandma--she had some Terry Redlin items in her house.

The Terry Redlin Art Center

Also on Saturday, Jenny, Nina, Zack, Owen, and Jeremy were supposed to join us around noon, but Nina and Owen got stuck at an airport Atlanta, so they weren't able to get there until dinner time.

Sunday we had a large lunch with many, many Schimmels. We talked, played games, hung out all day, and had a great time.

Playing Carcassone

Playing Settlers of Catan

But mostly importantly, I spent the weekend getting to know Isabella!

New Bike

Today, I made my first big purchase in a long time--I bought a bike! Not just a regular bike either, but a super nice bike with all kinds of bike features that I don't fully understand yet, but I'm sure I'll appreciate them when I get out on the road. Mike and I looked at Bike World and Skunk River Cycles here in Ames, and I decided to get a hybrid bike, a 2009 Trek FX7.5 from Bike World (before yesterday, I really knew nothing about bikes, but thanks to the nice guys at Bike World, I feel much more informed).

In addition to the bike, we also got all kinds of bike accessories, like a helmet, flat tire repair kit, and tire pump. I rode my bike home from the store, and it is awesome! Mike and I went for a short ride together after supper on the trail behind our house--I think this is something I am really going to enjoy doing!

99,999 MILES!!

My car is 99,999 miles old, and its got a couple hundred thousand more in her--after all, it's a Honda Accord.

Dumb Bunnies

For those of you who don't know, my favorite flowers in the whole world are Asiatic Lilies, with my absolute favorite being Stargazer Lilies. Mike and I have done a lot of landscaping to our current place, and one of the things I made sure of was that we planted some Asiatic lilies.

However, they aren't doing so well this year... the dumb bunnies keep eating them and biting off their stems. We've tried rabbit repellent spray (which, by the way, smells like animal pee), and it hasn't worked. Of the 10-15 stems that should be out there, only 4 are still standing, and the leaves have all been chewed off the bottoms. We have tons of day lilies, but they only eat the Asiatic lilies. Those flowers are the ones I look forward to the most, and now I only have one Casa Blanca stem and one Stargazer stem left. I used to think bunnies were cute, now I realize they are just flower killers!

This whole area is supposed to be filled lilies, now it is just bare