Learning Experience

Sorry for the lack of house updates, we have been very busy working on the house...every night after work and all weekend, everyday is a working day.  We get home at 8:30pm, go to bed and repeat.  Holy moly, it will be nice to have some free time when it's all said and done. 

We have come to learn A LOT about building a house.  We've learned that if something can go wrong, it will.  I've personally learned that Sever is amazing at making people stick to their word and make things right.  Team Paulson has been through a lot with this house and it isn't even close to finished.  One of the greatest things we have learned is that we have awesome neighbors that bring over a case of beer just when you are ready to bag it because nothing is going right.  We've learned that something that you invest all your time, energy, and a lot of your money into is something that you will never take for granted.  And lastly, we've learned that this is just our first house, it won't be perfect and we won't live in it forever. 

Now for a picture update...

The Past 6 Months!

Down South

When I met Sever he always referred to the lower 48 as "down south," which I thought was silly.  The south is the heart of the bible belt, where you eat biscuits and gravy?! Well, now it makes complete since... Alaska is north of the lower 48, so when we head to Seattle and Oregon we are going "down south."

On St. Patrick's Day I headed to America for a week long visit.  I was fortunate enough to have a dear friend pick me up from the Seattle airport, drive me to her sister's house where we wined and dined all night.  Thank you Charise and Sarah for the hospitality.  On Friday we headed south for Oregon and made it just in time for dinner...

Saturday brought my wonderful father's birthday and if you know the Bryant family then you know that birthdays are a BIG DEAL.  We celebrated with a birthday breakfast, a day of shopping (us girls), and a delicious rib dinner at home with the grandmas.

We spent a few nights playing poker. My brother has this new found love of Texas Hold 'em...little did he know that I have been playing poker with Nanny since I was five years old.  We saw it out to the bitter end...and I won! Can't run with the big dogs when you are still peeing like a pup Sam. :) Next time I'll show him a thing or two about black jack.

Of course we had to spend a couple of nights at Divine Yogurt.  Yum-o!  I love frozen yogurt!

 

The next day my sister and I spent hours walking around Home Deport, where I photographed EVERYTHING that is going to go in the house.  Toilets, bathtubs, lights, sinks, bathroom fans, and toilet paper holders. You name it, we checked it out! 

A coffee date with the Wellers was a must, thank you guys for meeting up with us on such short notice!  I love this sweet family!!!

Then, I forgot to take more pictures.  I had many wonderful lunch and coffee dates.  I had the chance to finally meet Miss Audrey Johnson, she is so stinking cute.  Thanks to everyone that made time to see me, I miss you all already.  Hopefully I will be back in June for my brothers graduation from OSU...holy cow, where has the time gone?!

 My mom and sister drove me to Seattle so I could catch my flight.  Of course you don't go to Seattle with out a stop at Pikes Place, duh!  So we headed out early and of course had time for a few pictures at the market!

Fresh made doughnuts, I could have watched them make doughnuts all day! 

And of course, hazelnut chocolate!

 

Then it was off to the airport to catch my 7pm flight.  My mom and sis dropped me off around 3, with plenty of time to shall we say, wait.  I went and had a couple of beers (remember I hate flying) and did some people watching. When I made it to my gate to wait for the boarding call I noticed a less than energetic hustle and bustle of the Alaska Airlines crew.  Sure enough the 6:30 announcement came on "Passengers of flight 69 with service to Ketchikan, we apologize for the in convince but he have no first officer for this flight.  Please come to the counter to pick up your comment card (a postcard that I had to mail in, in hopes that I will get some free airline miles...)."  Say what?!  I had just mustered up all my strength to get on that plane, that plane that was not going anywhere.  UGH!  So I hustled myself to the ticket counter and got booked on another flight, found my bags and waited for 2 hours for Sever's mom and grandpa to come pick me up (Sever's grandparents live a few hours north of Seattle).   

I did however get to have a short visit with Sever's grandparents, whom I had not seen since August. We went to their art show and had yummy ice cream.  They even drove me past the beautiful daffodil fields so I could take my picture of the day!  Oh glorious spring, when will you come to Alaska?!  We stopped to see the baby lambs on the way to the airport shuttle, they were so cute and brought back memories of my college roommate and dear friend Angela working at the sheep barn during lambing season...(that is another story). 

And indeed our flight had a pilot this time, we made it back the night before Alaska Airlines had to cancel 180 flight due to computer problems...thank goodness!  Sorry for the long post!