just had to share . . .

this picture!! I was laughing so hard at this the other night, and grabbed the camera . . . I can't believe I actually captured it! Here you have one sleeping husband, and one incredibly LAZY puppy!! Sometimes he does this when he wants up, even though he totally knows how to jump up. . . he was apparently really tired this time!!

a few new things!!

Well, I know I haven't really blogged in a long time, but things have calmed down a lot here. Since moving in in November, we have not been working on the house as much as we should be! We have been really busy!!! We have done a few little things around here, so I thought I'd share! Here you have 'em . . .

A loveseat (that has a matching chair & ottoman) given to us by my friend Katie!! They are really nice, though I haven't convinced myself that they match the orange in the living room!

A new furnace & thermostat. Maybe not so exciting for all of you, but very exciting for us since our furnace was from the 60's and incredibly inefficient!! (Traded to us by a friend of my brother-in-law's for a freezer! Good trade!!)

Our new family room fan/light! This took FOREVER to pick out because I am very picky about the wood colors, metals, and glass matching what we already have in the house. (Made possible by Ann, my dad's wife. Thanks!!)

When Bryan was off the week before New Years, he worked on painting the kitchen cabinet doors. They look pretty good, though they still need a little touch up. We also bought some inexpensive hardware to spice 'em up a little bit!

We finally got light bulbs to put in our spotlights above our fireplace - they are really cool. Again, thanks Dad & Ann!!

And last, but certainly not least, here is our new little guy - Rusty!! He was a surprise gift to me on Christmas Day & has certainly kept us on our toes. We love him!! Here's a pic of him when he was little and now . . . he is growing like crazy and is certainly not done!!

As I explain all these pictures, I can't help but realize how blessed we are to have people that care about us and are doing all they can to help us make our house a home!! It's certainly on it's way . . . we have a list of things that need to get done before spring, so that we can then spend our time working on the outside!! We'll also be getting a special tax refund loan that will enable us to do more projects here, like new carpeting for the steps, fixing up the bathrooms, curtains, maybe a couch or two, etc. I know everyone says "You'll never be done with house projects!", we certainly look forward to the day where we can sit back and admire it all!!

Hope you are all well - have a great weekend!!

home for the holidays :)

Well, we're officially in (have been for a couple of weeks), and though there are still A LOT of details to finish, we can call this house our home!! We got our Christmas tree today & I decorated the rest of the house. I love how the house just feels so much cozier with all the stuff up!! I may not take it down for a couple of months - ha! So, enjoy some pics of a few improvements and some Christmas fun!

Living Room with touched up paint, lamps and piano!
Family Room with some furniture!
Family Room (waiting for the TV)
Upstairs Bedroom with Futon!
Same bedroom (windows are done!)
Other upstairs bedroom (our "lived in" office/music room)!

Bedroom with light fixtures, curtains, etc.

Who needs closet doors, anyways?

Painted (mustardish yellow) & finished window in laundry/bathroom.

Once again, who needs doors?? Dining Room with light fixtures, table, etc
I am really proud of how pretty this looks!!
Christmas Tree!

So pretty!

One of my favorite ornaments! Baby's First Christmas 1981!! That's an OLD ornament!
Aw, I was kinda cute there!
Not so much here!
Ornament from Bryan before I left for Ecuador in 2001!

This one made it all the way from Costa Rica!

Hope all is well & that you are able to take some time to enjoy the beauty of Christmas!!

comin' along!!

It's been a while since I've posted . . . I know!! We're still incredibly busy, but all is well! We've been working hard at work and at the house, among other things. Football season ended a couple of weeks ago . . . they had a great year - winning their league and making it to the playoffs. It was a huge deal for the community and quite exciting!! We also ended up buying a new car (a black 97 Ranger) for Bryan. He thinks it's too nice for us, but it was pretty much a necessity since we had been stealing Brad & Krystal's vehicles. We also spent last weekend at Atwood Lake with our youth group. It was a beautiful weekend & we all had a nice relaxing time. Other than that, not much new . . . I just wanted to post a few pictures of our progress. We had our inspection on Monday and passed that, so they're gonna release our $$ back to us, which is a much needed thing!! I think we are going to move in this weekend since the floors and most of the painting is done. Exciting stuff :) We still have lots of things that need done, but it's starting to feel less like a construction zone and more like a home. Here you go . . .

The master bedroom (red/tan):
Family Room with blinds and windows put back together:
View of the awesome floors!! Disregard the cove base stretched across the floor & the strange blue streak on the side (??):

Fireplace lookin good with new paint and floors surrounding it!

A view of the living room from the steps:

Living room with a few things moved in (our free piano from Krystal . . . or . . . her sister?)
Bigger upstairs bedroom with tan walls, white windows/trim, and green carpet tiles (windows still need scraped, cleaned, etc:

Smaller upstairs bedroom with dark tan carpet tiles (ditto):

I think once we get "finished," I'm gonna do some before/after comparisons so we can all see how much it's really changed!! Have a great week!

oh so sleepy . . .

but I just had to share a quick update.

I did finally finish sanding, and the guys finished drywalling. Our newest, and MUCH more exciting, projects are painting (EVERYTHING) and installing flooring. Here are a few pictures!

Tan walls for the kitchen & dining room, and white for alllll the trim & cabinets!
We cut the piece above the sink so that it didn't look so 70's . . also, this window has been giving me fits because the varnish keeps busting through the primer (making the white look yellowy). . . I think I may have it defeated though . . . I hope?
view into dining room
newly drywalled & painted (green) family room. . . ooooh!

I hope you can see how awesome it looks! It's a bit difficult, because the floors are really dusty, and it was really dark out, but you still get the picture. It has been so exciting to watch it all come together just as I imagined!! Hope everyone is having a great week :)

busy-ness & a little progress!

yep, we have been super busy lately! between starting my new job, football stuff, and working at the house, we have not stopped to take a breath!! it's all good stuff, but we can't wait for life to slow down a little :) here are a few new pictures i wanted to share:


front with roof done:
back with roof done:
our cute little shed (smells like a sauna bc of the cedar!):
bryan ended up completely tearing out the dining room ceiling to prep for drywall:
wasn't it nice of him to clear a path??

former weird toilet room becomes a private laundry/half bath:

BEFORE #1:
AFTER #1!!
BEFORE #2:
AFTER #2!!
remnants of my job for the last couple weeks (sanding - blah!)
i'm in love with fall (a pretty tree in our backyard):
also in love with this guy (us at a wedding last weekend!):

hope you are all well! goodnight!