Chicago+Yoop

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I'm so late sending out pictures of our trip! Grad school doesn't seem to care about things like free time and picture downloading. :)

Here we go!

Finally arriving in Chicago after 12 hours in the car!

Downtown in the Windy City!

:)

Buckingham Fountain with the Chicago Skyline behind us.

60 degrees and sunny when we finally arrived in the yoop. So happy to finally be here!

The annual snow meter.  Last year they got over 38 feet (all year, not at one time).  Just for reference, Michael is 6 feet tall.... that's a LOT of snow.

Eagle River Falls

Taking some pictures before going up to "The Lodge" for lunch.

So happy to be in the U.P.

Beautiful Lake Superior

A picture in front of the only bar in Gay, MI.

Coming home with some goods from Nan and Pops garden.  We really miss all the fresh raspberries Poppy picked for us!

Enjoying a little sun on the back deck... Poppy was brave enough to wear short sleeves.

So beautiful!

love,
Michael and Jaclyn

Dining Room Finally Finished!

Since we've moved into the house, we've been quite busy! We've been working on lots of DIY projects and quickly forgetting what life was like before we knew everyone at Lowes by name. I've added some pics so you can see how the dining room project went:

The popcorn ceilings half-scraped.  Watch as our dining room magically gets taller, brighter, and transports to 2014.

Looking fly in his gear...

Fully scraped...

And painted while hubs recovered from poison ivy.

The first wainscoting panel went up, after a lot of math and cutting with the new miter saw. I left that part up to the mathematically inclined (Michael).

Then a lot of liquid nails, caulking, and painting... This is the point that I began to lose faith that the project would ever end.

All panels up!

 Then came the painting... and more painting... and then more. Not pictured: a red-headed sister who did the first coat.

Josie barked at people outside helped supervise.

and FINALLY it was done! We've got to do some decorating, pictures on the back wall, perhaps a rug to keep it from echoing like a cave... but we are SO happy with the results.

Also, doesn't the wall color look different in every single picture?

Yay! We're taking a one week break from doing any work on the house because next weekend is The Popcorn-Scraping Bonanza Part II (The Kitchen)... wish us luck!