Surprise!

Last week Daniel informed me that he had a surprise for the whole family.

However he also told me that he was not going to divulge what the surprise was. I should just expect to be surprised sometime during the week.

So I waited. And waited. And waited. Then on Sunday I reminded him that it had been a week. Then I promptly forgot.

Monday evening I came home from picking up groceries and Daniel took me upstairs to show me his surprise.

He had set up a new 4-man tent {the Kelty Teton 4} that he bought so that we could go backpacking. It is big enough to fit all of us {he thought I would want to go backpacking sometime and our old 10-year-old, 2-man Northface tent probably wouldn't fit us anymore}. Plus it is light enough to carry into the backcountry. Extra bonus is that he paid less than half price for the new tent.

This was one of the best surprises ever!

Thank you Daniel!!! I can't wait to go backpacking as a family. I have missed our overnight excursions into the woods. Has it really been almost 2 years since our last backpacking trip?!? I believe our last trip was in February 2011, when we did an overnight in the Sipsey Wilderness Area in North Alabama.

Getting Organized

It is hard to believe that we moved into our new house almost a year ago. We are mostly unpacked, but there are still a few boxes shoved into closets and there was a serious need to get organized – mostly in the garage and our gear closet upstairs.

Messy garage: this wasn't actually the worst of it, just when I thought about taking some pics.
Recently the four wheeler has been parked inside and Daniel has had to park outside.

Much better. Daniel still has plans to hang things on the wall above the garage doors.

We finished hanging peg board in the garage and a bike hanging system in the storage room just off the garage {it is like a storage shed but it is attached to the house and holds our mower – also known as the four wheeler}.

Bikes are hung from the ceiling and the four wheeler is finally stored in the right place.

Now that the garage is clean and organized, Daniel can do some car maintenance – oil leaks are taking over our lives!

Our gear closet before we got organized.

I am thrilled that our gear closet is organized. It will make it so much easier to pack the next time we decide to go backpacking {which I am guessing will not be until some time after the new year}. Baby Jack better like the outdoors!!!

 And after. 

 Packs, Therm-a-rests, climbing rope and sleeping bags hung on the walls. 

 While the rest of our gear is stored on shelves that we purchased at Ikea. 

Two sets of Expedit, black-brown bookshelves.
I'm not sure that we own enough gear... kidding... maybe...