The Spillway

Chris has had the opportunity to have some time off from the weight room due to a three week break that the athletes get before starting summer training.  This three week break has been so amazing for Chris and I. We have actually been able to spend a considerable amount of much needed time together after a very jammed packed year of crazy commitments.  Since I am working nights we have all day to do whatever we please.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect since we just moved into the new place and have had the opportunity to settle in and make it our home.  So our days have been spent nesting, working out, and finding creatively in-expensive entertainment.  In our search for something to do we came across one of the coolest things ever!  We found a waterfall nestled in the forest off of Lake Kinkaid - which is about fifteen minutes from our house. This place is known as The Spillway.

Chris loves it when I take pictures :-)

This is the bottom of the spillway where the water fall runs into

This is the lower section of The Spillway - right now there isn't a ton of water because it hasn't been raining much.  At different times of the year the water flow is much more.  For our purposes, it is just right :-)

Here is the second level of the Spillway - this is my favorite level because of the large tabletop of water that I can walk through to cool off.  It also has the best place to sit in the waterfall.

The top level

This is the view at the top overlooking the whole thing.  It is hard to capture the wide open space feeling in a picture, as well as the sounds of the water falling.  It is an amazing sight to see.

Dangling

Sunbathing in a waterfall?  YEEEESSSSSS

This easily has moved to one of my favorite places in the Southern Illinois area, and with the 90 degree plus weather we have been experiencing we couldn't have discovered it soon enough!  It is the perfect escape for an afternoon picnic, R&R time, and to cool off!

We finished our day with an old style BBQ on our back patio.  Chris devised a fire pit out of some cinder blocks and we roasted some turkey sausages over the open flame.  Mind you it was 8:00pm and still 75 degrees out!  So cool!

            Eating Paleo means cooking Paleo :-)

Well that was our latest adventure! 

Missing everyone at home, we both send lots of XOXOXOXO

Green Thumb

Since we have such a large backyard and a desire to eat non-GMO foods and save money....we decided to plant a garden!  It was somewhat interesting because I truly have no idea what I am doing, and Chris thinks he has an idea, but I suspect he is mostly guessing.  Being too impatient and lazy to buy a book about gardening to find out how to properly plant things, I just hopped in the truck and bought a bunch of stuff.

Manure

Topsoil

Shovel/Hoe

Cinder blocks

Veggie plants

We conveniently have a space right next to the back of the house where the grass was a little dead, and the foundation of the house and side of the back patio create a half-box shape.  We started putting our muscles to work!

Voila!

Yay for multi-tasking!  

I was hard at work with the garden and conveniently getting my tan on at the same time :-)

The planting was a success!  Now we will just have to wait and see if the plants actually grow or not. Keep your fingers crossed LOL

How lucky am I? I get to watch muscle-man mow the backyard - it is a lovely sight :-)

Habitations

For the first 6 weeks of living in Carbondale we were completely blessed to live in the basement of Clete and Poppy's house.  Yes, it was definitely cramped, but we made it work!

Having closet space made all the difference.  I hate having clothes piled in suitcases and bags.

 Most of our stuff stayed in boxes, it was so hard not to break in and get stuff out!

Well the 6 weeks came to an end and the time to move into the new place finally happened!!!  It was harder to wait for this than it is to wait for Christmas.

Here is the front of the house.  I absolutely adore the tree in the front yard and the brick.  The house is on W. College Street, which is a dead end street tucked away in the family residential part of town.  It is  away from where most of the college student lives, but it is literally less than a mile away from campus. Chris has been able to walk to work every day and we are loving the short transportation time.

Kitchen

Living Room

Our bedroom - love the shutters

Bathroom

Extra Room / Craft room / Homework / Office

Since we don't have furniture quite yet, the kitchen was first to be unpacked and organized

Our cute little living room - couches coming sometime this week!

HUGE backyard :-)

Back patio - good for grillin and soakin up some sun 

We are so incredibly excited and feel beyond blessed to have found the perfect place for us.  It is just the right size, in a quite and safe neighborhood, and it is close to campus and my work.  Let the projects begin!