Winter Fun

Today Brian and I cross country skied for the first time in a while. It was a blast!

Stats from the Map My Run app:

 



 

 

 

 Some video! (I found the background music for free on my computer, it's...interesting. :) )

Weekend of Babysitting

Last weekend Jamie and Gretchen had to be in Chicago for work so Brian and I watched Laney and Shea from Saturday morning until Sunday early evening. It was the first time we had ever watched the kids overnight and it went really well. There was one moment when Shea didn't realize we had to bake the cookies before we could eat them and had a meltdown, but for the most part the weekend was a success.

Here are a few clips from our park adventure:

And a few more pictures:

Playing monsters in a cave

Whoopsie!

We had a lot of fun but it was also a lot of work and I have a ton respect for the things parents have to do everyday. I also have a new appreciation for all of my kid free time! This weekend made Brian and I realize how important it is going to be to make finding time for each other a priority when we have kids. Maybe it will be different with our own children but last weekend we were so busy with the kids we hardly even had a conversation with each other. It probably didn't help that when the kids took a nap on Saturday I took a nap, and when the kids took a nap on Sunday Brian took a nap. :)

I also am coming to accept the fact that when it comes to kids there is no keeping the germs at bay! Brian and I both got colds this week. :( Luckily mine seems pretty mild so far, hopefully having a cold last week gave my immune system a boost. *fingers crossed!*

Sushi!

So my friend and coworker Gary and I planned on inviting a bunch of people to go out to dinner on Sunday night but for many reasons it ended up being just four of us.  Double date night!! :) We decided to go to a sushi place Gary said was good though Brian and I had never been before. The appetizers and sushi were great (still nothing beats Sansu in Lansing) and we neeed to go back so I can get that tempura app that looked so delicious on the table next to us. 



Dustin and Gary

 About to dig in

 

 

 

 

Oh and also:

 

 

 The newest addition to our apartment.

Halloween 2013

 On Halloween Brian and I went to Gretchen and Jamie's house to have a delicious crock pot chicken dinner made by Heidi and to help pass out candy with Laney and Shea. Laney had fun practicing her sorting skills with the candy and Shea had fun wrestling with Brian and hanging out in his blue monster costume. I didn't get any pictures of Laney in her flamingo costume because she changed after day care into her princess dress but both kids were very cute in their costumes and had lots of fun trick-or-treating and handing out candy.

 

 

 

 

Wildlife Walk

On Wednesday Brian and I went for another fall walk at a very wooded park and saw a chipmunk, multiple squirrels, a turtle, five turkeys, two does and (we think) an eight point buck. I was only quick enough to get a few distant pictures of the deer and a little video of the buck as it harassed and chased the does. We crept on the recently condemned part of the boardwalk and captured it all using Brian's old iPhone so hopefully you can kind of see something.

 

 

 

 

Fall walk

I love Fall leaves!

NEEDTOBREATHE concert

 

Wednesday night was the NEEDTOBREATHE concert I've been looking forward to for a month or so. I am a big fan of NTB though I haven't known about them for very long. They toured with Taylor Swift a couple of years ago and they are probably considered a Christian band though their music gets progressively less "Christian radio station-y" with each album. Their current sound is a mix between folk and rock. I could listen to their album "The Reckoning" over and over (and have been) and never get sick of it (minus song #7 which I'm happy to report, they didn't play at the concert).

 

 

 

 

 

Brian and I went to the Watermark Grille for dinner before the concert and ordered four appetizers. (Watermark Wednesdays = half off apps!) This blog is probably going to turn me into one of those people who take pictures of everything they eat (sorryI'mnotsorry) but hopefully I'll be better at remembering to take pictures before we eat so I don't end up with a bunch of photos of empty plates and half eaten food. Nobody wants to see that. (toobadenjoy)

 

 

 

 

Sometimes I get disappointed when I go to a concert and the band/singer sounds terrible live (ie. Lifehouse, though we think the lead singer was sick) but NTB put on a great sounding show. Even their opening band "The Wild Feathers" was pretty good.  The concert took place at a fine arts center so most people sat in the auditorium seating but Brian and I stood with the crowd at the front of the stage. It was a little weird/fun because the floor would move like crazy when people were jumping along to the music. We must have been on top of the orchestra pit. 

Here's a little clip of one of the songs they performed:




The last song of the night they played acoustically on the second level at the back of the auditorium which was pretty cool. It doesn't sound the greatest on video, but here it is anyway.
 

All in all it was a great night!

Crab Fest 2013

This past weekend Brian and I headed to Lansing to hang with our friends Mike and Sara. Even though there is usually a lot of sports watching involved, it's always a fun time when we get together. On this particular occasion we finally had our big crab leg night we have been talking about doing for a while. We started the afternoon snacking on a gourmet meat and cheese and cracker plate (wish I would have taken a picture but by the time I remembered, it had already been eaten), and then around 7 we had our dinner of six pounds of King Crab legs and vats of melted garlic butter plus delicious baked potatoes. For dessert/bedtime snack we had four different flavors of popcorn. I also had two mini red velvet cupcakes even though I was SO stuffed. Sometimes I just can't be helped.

 

Getting ready



Perfectly cooked potatoes

The biggest pot I've ever seen

 

1/3 of the crab

 

Time to eat!

  

After dinner Tigers game, popcorn and CAH

Thanks again Sara and Mike! I think it's time to plan Crab Night 2013 part two!



Library Class Fail

A few weeks ago I was on the Kent District Library website and noticed they were offering a free class on making a month of meals.  Brian and I don't have many "extracurricular" activities we do as a couple so I signed us up.  Unfortunately I accidently put it on the calendar for today and it was last Monday, so no exciting post about our library class. :( Maybe next time. 
Here is a fun photo I found online instead:

First blog post!!

Welcome to the Reed's Life Blog! This is all about the life of Faith and Brian Reed.  This will be written mainly by Faith (me) though Brian might do some proofreading and is free to post things as well. Stranger things have happened.  I'm not sure if this will be something I keep up with on a regular basis but hopefully I'll be able to at least post about major events in our lives.  I'm sure my family will appreciate it as I don't get to see them very often and it will be a good place to post photos and save other memories. A blog is better than Facebook because I can post whatever I want more often without worrying that I am muddying up someone's wall. I mean, sure they could always block me, but I feel like this is a place I can post things and people who actually care will come and check it out.  Does that mean I don't care about half the things that are posted on my Facebook wall?  Yes.  But the other half I love which is why I will never delete my account (unlike Brian).

As of today, Brian and I live in a 652 square foot one bedroom apartment. I have been living here since June 2007.  Brian moved in a couple of months before we were married in November 2010.  Check out a tour of our apartment!  I filmed this for fun and also because it's always good to remember how life used to be. 

In July 2014 our final lease on the apartment will come to an end and Brian and I will hopefully be settled into our forever home.  Although house hunting is still months away, we have been doing our research and we've had many conversations about what we want in a home.  Building is out of the question (in my opinion) because it would be more expensive and all of the decisions that go into building a house would drive me crazy.  Also I have never owned a home before so it's possible we could spend a lot of time and energy planning the house and then in the end regret how it turns out.  Brian, on the other hand, has always been interested in building because we could customize our home exactly the way we want. Also I think living in a house no one else has lived in before appeals to him.  These are both valid points but I still think it would be more trouble than it's worth.  If we have a hard time finding the ideal house however my opinions could change, though we would probably be on a time crunch. 

We have been checking out Parade of Homes the last few years with Brian's parents and though they are beautiful homes and it's fun to find decor inspiration, most of them are far outside our price range and sometimes leads to coveting things we don't need. The list of things we do want seems reasonable to us, though it could be difficult to find a house we don't have to compromise on with at least one thing. More about the house hunt in another post, for now I want to end my first post with a "Thank You!" for checking out our blog and a big "Hello!" to family and friends. ♥

p.s. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions! Also if you are terribly against having a photo of yourself on my blog, I'll try to keep that in mind when taking/posting pics.  I don't foresee anyone besides family and friends reading this blog so you should probably be safeish.