A T T H E P A R K ' S

This year we decided to keep things minimal with our Christmas decorations and that included not getting a tree. In the past, we've driven out into the woods and we've cut down our own trees but this go around we just really wanted a simple, hassle-free holiday. In fact, we started the simplicity last year when I downsized our decorations from six bins to two bins! This year we downsized again from two to one bin! Now don't get me wrong, I love having a Christmas tree. Gazing at the tree in the dark is so relaxing and I love seeing the ornaments displayed and reminiscing about the past holidays and family traditions. We haven't shared much on the blog about our future plans and for now are keeping things a bit under wraps until we make some more final decisions. BUT, we will be downsizing even more in the next few months when we put our house on the market, so we just felt like keeping things simple this year was the best decision for us. Hope you enjoy the tour and we...

It seems that this year flew by faster than previous years and I didn't get around to posting like I had wanted...so I'm making up for it now. Photo overload of the last five months below. AUGUST As you read in the previous post here , we installed the new kitchen appliances. The night before my birthday, JP took me on a camera shopping spree and said I'd need a camera for the next day. In the morning, he surprised me with a helicopter tour around the cascade mountains for my 32nd birthday!! With so many fires in the area, the air was a little thick but when we rose above the smoke...wow. Later that afternoon, my parents who were hiking Brokentop that morning came over for lunch after their hike. JP and I were literally flying over the mountain just a few hours before they were climbing it! We went on a family vacation to Sunriver with my parents, my brother and sister in law and their kiddos, and the two dogs. This is one of my favorite photo...

Let me start by first apologizing for my lack of posts these last six months. Life has been clamorous to say the least.  We've said yes to some things and unfortunately the blog has been put on the back burner...but I'm hoping to change that in the new year!  There is much to share so keep an eye out for a follow up "catch up" post. In the meantime, we updated our kitchen appliances!  It might not sound exciting to you, but we've wanted to update ever since we purchased our home in 2009. If you click the "Home Tour" link on the right sidebar, you'll see what our kitchen looked like when we purchased and then after we painted.  Here are the photos pre our recent update. When we first purchased our home, a refrigerator was not included. Once we purchased and installed our stainless steel fridge, the rest of the appliances were mismatched. And let's be honest, it drove me a little crazy. So this August, we upgraded and I'm so g...

Ladies, we have been given an incredible opportunity. We have been entrusted to care for our husband's heart, to love and support our spouse, and to speak truth into our husband's life to help and encourage him. And to bless him. One of the many ways we can love and support our spouse is to pray for them. Prayer changes lives. It changes hearts, words and actions. It changes marriages-the root of the family unit. When we pray for our spouse we are actively applying God's Word into our lives. For some of us , it can be hard to pray for our spouse, especially if we've been hurt. And for others, it's just a challenge to know where to begin and know how exactly to pray. Some time  ago, I came across a printable prayer sheet through a link on pinterest and thought I'd share it with you today. It came from the Organizing Made Fun blog, and here is the link to the original post where you can print the prayer guides ( HERE ). Not only does it give you a guide ...

In honor of our recent wedding anniversary, I wanted to share with you how JP and I met 7.5 years ago.  Hope you enjoy the story! It was a blistery cold winter evening.  The snow was piling up in Bend for the last few hours and had accumulated almost two feet.  I (Julie) was invited to a church college group by one of my coworkers whose husband was the college age pastor.  At the time, I had only been living in Central Oregon for about a year working for the local hospital and was eager to meet people my own age.  Let's just say I was determined to make it through the snow in my little 1990 Honda Civic DX.  After taking a wrong turn, I made it safely only to learn our college group was to be cancelled due to the poor weather but no one had my phone number to let me know.  Divine intervention?  Yes, when I walked in, I was the only girl there!  The pastor introduced me to the guys and a particularly cute guy caught my attention. ...