And....

Just wanted to get the news out there... Chris and I are so excited and wanted to share our news with you!

White Christmas

For Christmas this year we headed up to Denver to spend a week with Chris' family. We had a great time just relaxing and enjoying the white Christmas, even though it sounds like Dallas got one too. We enjoyed the constant snow for a few days and appreciated the warmth of Dan and Meghan's house along with all of the warm cozy clothes we packed.

I really haven't traveled by air too much so close to the holidays, I didn't really know what to expect. To my suprise the lines weren't crazy at all and we actually managed to get to our flight on time. Luckily the trip up there and back wasn't bad at all, much better than a 12 hour drive in the ice and snow, that's for sure.

This Christmas was a special one, we enjoyed celebrating it with the newest addition to the family, Mr. Ben. It was so fun to just watch him and be entertained by him all week long. It gave me confidence that Chris and I can handle a new born, Chris was a pro at burping him and putting him down, I just enjoyed watching him. And as I've been told "babies change your life"... who knew... The rest of the week was spent eating most of all, watching movies, and of course you can't have a holiday with the Shacks without destroying something. Chris, Dan, and Bob got to demolish/retrofit Dan and Meghan's front porch while trying to hang a porch swing for them. It looks great, and we can't wait to see the final product. Leave it up to Chris to start demoing something and then leave town...

On one of the last days up in Denver we got the chance to go sledding with another family from their church. It was a blast! I hadn't been sledding since I was super little and that was on a cardboard box at Angelfire. We enjoyed the fun trips down the hill and dreaded the up hill climb, but it was all worth it. We got some videos of it too, but I'll have to share those later since I haven't gotten those yet. Hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2009

I know I am a little behind in posting this, considering it's almost Christmas, but I'm trying to catch you up...This was the year that we decided to have Thanksgiving at our place. You know with the whole renovation we wanted show off what all we had accomplished as well as utilize the space we had retro-fitted. My mom and I spent a whole Saturday planning and shopping which was a lot of fun, who knew all of the little secrets to get things done and on the table. We took out all of our dishes and silverware which was super fun, at least for me. We’d only used it once before and that was on Valentine’s Day this year.

We ended up having my parents, my Nan, Chris’ parents and their friend Christine come over for Thanksgiving lunch. My mom and dad came over early in the morning to help start out the day and the morning just progressed without a hitch. Everything was on the table ready to be eaten at 1:15. Hey only 15 minutes late, not bad for my first time. So as Chris was carving the turkey like a great host he found that I actually didn’t get all of the “goodies” for lack of a better term out of the bird. Oops, but thank goodness it didn’t ruin the turkey.

We enjoyed our time with family and friends and had a lot to be thankful for this year, we are truly blessed. It was also fun to explain everything to Christine who is from China and over here at seminary for Christian counseling. For example, my favorite: Why do you call a turkey a bird? Response: "Because it’s a bird."

Fun times with U2

November has been a pretty month at our place. However we did take the time to entertain ourselves when U2 came to the Cowboy stadium. We got tickets with a few couples from our small group and had a blast. It was our first trip to the new Cowboy stadium and we really enjoyed the facility as a whole; the architecture, the entertainment, etc. The whole venue was great, hope to go back maybe for a game when the Cowboy’s actually can win a few games. We met up with friends at Uptown Burger at West Village; it was a fun little place to grab a bite to eat before we headed out to Arlington. I would definitely recommend it. I wanted to try the blue cheese burger SO bad, but Baby Shack isn’t allowed to have blue cheese or really any of the cheeses that I’m super addicted to.

Back to the concert, it was AMAZING!! I was a little concerned about the volume and the baby, but apparently everything was fine. We had earplugs which totally saved our ears and allowed us to actually hear all of the great music. A U2 concert has been on Chris’ to do list for a while now. I’ve just been waiting for them to come back to the U.S. to get tickets. I’m so glad we went and we really enjoyed the evening. It was a late night, that’s for sure and due to poor planning on my part we had a 7:50 flight to Denver the next day. Never again… I tell you!

Auntie Em & Uncle Chris

Don't be alarmed... this is not Baby Shack...wanted to share that we are a new Aunt and Uncle. That’s right; Chris’ sister Meghan and Brother-in-law had our new sweet nephew, Benjamin Ian Bruner on November 4th. He was 8lbs 13 oz, so he was healthy baby boy. We had planned a trip up to Denver way back in the spring when Southwest had a sale. So in mid-November we made the trek up to Denver to visit and help out where we could with the little guy. We had a blast just relaxing and piddling around the house. They recently did some work on their house so it was a lot of fun to see the finished product. And of course it was fun to get a taste of what parenthood with a new born looks like, a little scary, but fun all at the same time. We can’t wait to see them again soon and catch up. Now we are just going to have to battle our kids wanting to always go up to Denver to see their Aunt and Uncle and cousin.

New Addition...

Surprise to those of you who don’t know yet…. Chris and I are pregnant! We are so thrilled and excited to meet this little one. Baby Shack is due May 23, 2010. Yes, that means I am about 16 weeks along. Everything has been pretty smooth sailing besides the whole morning sickness every now and then. We are so pumped for this new adventure God has in store for us and we can’t wait to experience raising a child of God and truly teaching a little one to know Christ and what it means to have a relationship with Him.

We are truly blessed and are just so excited to meet him or her. So for now the only update is that Baby Shack sure likes to move around a lot, we’ve heard the heart beat and even got a free sonogram where we could see him or her; which was really neat and mind blowing all at the same time. Of course since I am a type A person we are going to plan to find out the gender, and sadly we are going to have to wait until January 5th to hopefully find that out. (I hope he or she cooperates) I only say sadly because I had Christmas gifts pending on knowing the gender. More updates to follow…

How many pillows does your car hold?

Random question of the day... How many pillows does YOUR car hold?? Sadly this picture doesn't do it justice...

I was priveleged to find this information out about our car yesterday... any guessess? Chris guessed 50, and that's not even close............ Drum roll, wait for it.....I fit 135 pillows into my car, yes there was a little cramming, but it all fit. Now, I didn't just do this out of curosity so don't think I'm weird, our company does community service each month and this month we were collecting pillows for the new Ronald McDonald house in Dallas.

So we stuffed all of the pillows into my car and headed out to the current Ronald McDonald house located a few minutes from our office. We started to unload and the lovely ladies at the front desk were SHOCKED and thrilled at how many pillows were being brought in. You see, they are in the process of building a new Ronald McDonald house that will house more than double than their current capacity. I think the lady said it will house 60 families. After we dropped our pillows off at the front we managed to get the nickel tour.

It was a great opportunity to learn a little bit more about the Ronald McDonald house and what it has to offer to families in need. They currently have space for 30 families, they have multiple large family rooms, a library, a kitchen, and a laundry room. This is basically a home away from home for families battling cancer and other medical conditions. They are running purely on volunteers and donations. An interesting fact that I learned, yes, Ronald McDonald founded it in the early 80's I believe, but now they only receive approximately 5% of donations from them. Their big fundraiser is the trains at North Park Mall at Christmas time; which is always a fun activity to stop by and at least watch while you're finishing up your shopping. Some more info about the house is that food is provided by volunteers 3 times a day 7 days a week all year long. We were going to sign up, but they are booked through next year on meal volunteers. We had a great time touring the facility and I am really excited to see the new facility in December 09. Check out the picture... it's going to be a great home away from home.

Ace of Cakes

I always helped my mom and dad cook in the kitchen when I was little. I would pull myself up onto the counter and be my parent's little sous chef, especially when it came to baking chocolate chip cookies. I was a pro at licking the bowl that's for sure; but I had no idea that one day cooking would become one of my favorite hobbies.

Okay, for starters I must admit that I am a little obsessed with the Food Network and have been for the past 8 years or so... one of the ladies at Schumacher my summer internship was always on the website and watching demos, etc. So throughout college I always watched the shows and tried to cook different things when I could. Being in the sorority house didn't really allow that to happen a lot, but when I got my apartment I sure tested out the kitchen.

Chris and I enjoy fun and tasteful food. I find so much enjoyment in serving others great tasting food and the conversations that arise over dinner, lunch, or even brunch. I can't wait to share our new kitchen with our little ones someday and open their eyes to all of the fun food out there. It's always fun to read about other people's experiences with food. When I read blogs there are always a lot dealing with baking cakes or cupcakes; which brings me to the point of this blog.

So the other week Chris and I headed to DFW to pick his parent's up from a 2 week stint in China. We hadn't heard from them since the 2 weeks before when we said our goodbyes dropping them off. This was their second trip over to be a part of a Youth Camp that ministers to the native kids over there. So we run in expecting them to be there, and their baggage claim and gate changed, so we ran over to the other baggage claim area. So we were just standing there waiting and waiting for their bags to pass by and Chris noticed a familiar face, and lo and behold it was Duff Goldman the chef/owner at Charm City Cakes in Baltimore. They do amazing, life like, gorgeous cakes for anyone and everyone. Sadly they cost a pretty penny, but that's besides the point... Chris and I always enjoy watching this show on the Food Network, the personalities of all of the staff are hilarious. Anyways, when I was in Baltimore last year I made my co-worker Leigh Anne drive around Baltimore trying to find their bakery so I could take a picture in front of it. Well let's just say a few too many one way roads and we got lost in a not so good part of town and never found it. Well it was him alright just super content and quiet. You could tell he didn't want to attract a lot of attention. Chris and I were wondering what he had going on in Dallas and we wondered if it was something for the show. We didn't want to run up to him claiming we were his biggest fans, but it was a lot of fun to see another foodie in person. Guess we will just have to see on this upcoming season of Ace of Cakes.

D.C. Trip

Well it’s been a while now hasn’t it. Things have been super crazy around our neck of the woods; I’ve been traveling a lot with work lately so that has been taking up a lot of my time. My first trip was out to Washington D.C. I got to see the rural side of Virginia and the downtown side since one of my buildings was smack dab in the middle of things. The hardest thing about this trip was actually getting there, so y flight left at 8:00 so of course naturally and obediently I arrived 2 hour early, ate my breakfast, and hopped on the plane. The crew however didn’t mention that we were delayed due to storms in the area until ALL of us boarded the plane. So we waited and waited for three whole hours. I am so thankful that the air was on in the plane; otherwise I don’t feel everyone would have been as pleasant to deal with.

Once we finally made it there I made my way down to rent my first car, what an ordeal. I went ahead and purchased a navigation system in order to help me find my way out to one of the centers I needed to field verify, but more importantly how to get back to the airport to return the car. So I get my little Jeep Compass; which was okay but not my favorite V4. I go to insert my ticket to exit and it says my time has expired. Now wait a minute, what do you mean my time has expired. So apparently the folks at DC Airport expect people to get in and out in less than 3 minutes. So I had to back up through all of these concrete pillars to go get another ticket since there wasn’t anyone from Dollar working at the little stand. How convenient, I know. Anyways so I tried it again after I got a new ticket, and the same thing happened again. So at this point 20 minutes into trying to get out of the stinking parking lot I am now confident in my backing up skills and glad that I purchased the insurance on the car so if something happened it wouldn’t affect me at all. Luckily nothing happened to the car, my parents taught me well. So I go back to the counter and basically tell the guy, OKAY I am already 3 hours behind schedule because my flight was delayed now it’s taken me 30 minutes to try to get out of the stinking airport rental car garage, just get me out of here. So finally he printed me a new ticket and walked up to the little stand, HILARIOUS, the newest ticked didn’t even work. So he typed in some magical code and off I went. The drive was eventful out to Herndon Virginia I tell ya, especially after missing my very first turn out of the airport. Me and my friend Garmin had a love hate relationship from the very beginning. O well it got me there, I did my field check although I made the center team stay with me until 6:00 mind you I didn’t get out there until 4:00 due to the 40 minute drive. So I made my way back to the airport, I had finally gotten the hang of the navigation system. I have heard horror stories of people trying to drive in DC so I decided to return the car that night and take cabs for the rest of my trip. Returning the rental went a little smoother, let’s just say I learned a lot about rental cars on this trip.

So I made my way over to the terminal to catch a cab, and off I went to my hotel downtown. I stayed at the Marriott at the Convention Center, it was really nice, more traditional than I would like, but it was only a few blocks from my center I needed to be at early in the morning. It was an old bank that had been renovated into a hotel, very cool. I met up with my client and we decided to make the trek over to the National Mall. Now just a brief background, I was one of those people who didn’t go on m 8th grade field trip, and my last trip to DC. I didn’t get to see any sites due to certain circumstances. So this time I wanted to see as much as I could. We walked to the National Mall where they were having some Screen on the Green where they were watching a movie, and people were playing softball, flag football, you name it people were doing it. So I walked from basically almost the capital all the way down past the Washington Monument all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial. It was a beautiful site; I absolutely want to make a trip out there when I have a lot more time. I am kind of a history buff and I missed out on a lot of stuff since it was dark and all the museums were closed. It was a lot of fun, Chris and I need to plan a trip back out there sometime soon. I can’t wait to go back. The next day I went and did my Punchlist for one of my projects downtown, and afterwards on the way back to the airport we saw Arlington Cemetery and the National Mall, the White House, and all of the secret service people on tops of the buildings. Overall it was a great trip! More updates to come...

Foodie Finds

Now you might be asking why in the world are all of these random photos shown above...

This past weekend we headed up to OKC to spend some time with Meghan and Dan. We headed up there after work, and of course I was starving by the time we got in that neck of the woods. We meet Meghan and Dan and their friends Gabe and Megan at Sushi-Neko. It was this fun little hole in the wall that served sushi of course. We really enjoy going to new places and trying new things, I was just thankful the waitress offered me a fork. Nothings worse than being really hungry and not being able to get the roll in your mouth. Let's just say me and the chopsticks don't get along too well. Chris and I tried the Spider Rolls and the Red Dragon rolls, both were really tasty and beautiful on the plate. We sat out on the patio which was great, OKC was about 20+/- degrees cooler than Dallas. After we finished up at the restaurant Meghan and Dan took us to this fun place called Cupies and Joe. It is basically a really cute chic coffee house built in their old stomping grounds. The cupcakes were delicious and I just enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere there.

Saturday we helped throw a baby BBQ for Dan, Meghan, and Little Ben on Saturday which was a lot of fun. We cooked out at Dan's moms house for about 30 of their closest friends. It was so fun to be included and we truly enjoyed haning out with everyone. We actually stayed there and I just admired her house all weekend long. She has such great taste and has tons of amazing artwork that tells a story. That night we had a wedding to go to, so of course we went to that, and of course my ride wanted to leave before cake. I told them as long as we could go back to Cupies and Joe I would be alright with it. So we headed back to Cupies and Joe and I tried yet another sampling of cupcakes. They were just SO yummy!

Sunday we headed off to church and then out to lunch to an Oklahoma pizza joint called Hideaway. They have all kinds of fun pizzas to try and it's just a fun atmosphere. They have one in Norman that we went to in college alot. It was fun to reminese on the good ole days.

Anyways all of that to say, we enjoyed our weekend with family and the fun foodie finds that we found. *tongue twister* We will be sure to visit them next time we're in town.

July 4th

For the fourth we decided to get out of dodge and spend some time with Chris' parents. It was so great to get away for a few days, and well needed that's for sure. We both got off early which was a huge plus since it is probably one of the busiest evenings for people traveling to their vacation spots. P.S. 121 isn't complete like we thought. :(

My goal for the weekend was to relax catch up on my magazines and eat all of Nancy's great food. Chris' goal for the weekend was to go fishing, and fishing he went every day twice a day. Chris and his dad headed out around 5:30 every morning and were back by 9:30am. They caught their limit both days, which is a crazy amount. Here are some pictures of all of the fish. Ty had a close encounter with one of them, he was really confused.



We, yes I said we... I even went fishing with them one evening to one of the neighbors ponds. Chris set me up with a pole and so I started to cast, meanwhile Chris caught two fish. He always does so good. All I was catching was the moss on the bottom of the pond and an occasional tree every now and then. But one time I cast it by these trees which is supposedly where the fish hide, or so Chris says. Anyways so I start reeling my line in and it feels kind of heavy, I think to myself, great I finally caught a fish! As my rod starts bending Chris is getting excited that I caught a larger fish... well it gets to the surface and guess what it was. Not a fish, not a boot, but a turtle. Yes, I foul hooked an innocent turtle, don't worry though he survived all 8 lbs of him. No pictures though, we were too busy trying to get the hook out and laughing our heads off.

On the fourth we ended up having our own little fish fry with the fish Chris and Bob had caught earlier in the weekend. The fish fry turned out great, then we headed out to the lake to watch some fireworks. We watched all of the different firework shows going off around the lake. I tell ya, if you've never watched fireworks from the lake, I reccommend it. Everybody has their own little show, and the house we were at had an amazing jam packed fireworks extravaganza. Here are some pictures... We tried like 5 times to get a picture as a family, however Chris' mom always shuts her eyes. So this was the last picture where she was really trying to keep them open.

Summer Nights

Ok when I named this, I got a flash back from Grease and that one song, oh the good ole days. Anyways, we are enjoying our summer so far and getting to hang out with friends and family. Everything is great except for these crazy temperatures, geez louis! We are still working on the house and getting this the way we want them. I promise I'll update you with pictures soon. Here is a picture of us this past weekend at the Rough-Riders game on Friday night. It was a little sticky, but we had a great time and even got to watch a few fireworks afterwards.

Either the guy in the background knew we were taking a photo and was trying to be cool and do bunny ears or he just likes to throw the peace sign. Real cool, O well good times. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer "break".

Splish Splash

This past weekend we got to take Ty swimming. My aunt and uncle were so nice in offering up their pool. So Chris and I got our first round of rays for the summer all while sharing the pool with Ty and their pup Shiloh. It was so cute to see Ty in the water and his curiosity. He's been in the lake before a while back, so he just had to get used to it again and he was good to go. He really really liked the fountain at my Aunt and Uncle's.

Love Your City

This past weekend Chris and I partnered with our church, The Village, in a community service project we call TRANSFORM. The churches heart for local missions comes from Romand 12:2.



" Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."



We were group leaders last year but we actually wanted to get down and dirty this year. We were blessed with the job of creating pavers for the children at Hedrick Elementary. We made the forms out of wood and poured the messy concrete to create the pavers.

The best part was to see all of joy it brought the little ones when they got to decorate their very own paver. Of course they all wanted to put their hands in it; which made it a lot of fun. Last year we donated backpacks with TONS of school supplies and we got to see the little boy who got our pack last year. This is just one of the reasons I love our church, I love that they want to get us in our communities and create relationships with others, all while sharing the love of Christ with them. Although being outside was hot, it brought me great joy to see the kids faces and the pride they took in their school. Can't wait until next time.

Trip to Houston

Well we had yet another trip to Houston last weekend, there was a conglomeration of things to celebrate. I still had to give Val her gift for Mother's Day, Grant had his baby dedication, and Val and Justin's 6th Anniversary was this past weekend.

Chris and I headed down on Friday night and actually got there at a decent time and avoided the chaos that is Houston traffic. Funny thing... we were driving and saw all of these signs for wild flower areas. The sign said " Wild Flower Area... No Mowing" Well right beside the sign were two tractor mowers and mowing clippings. We both thought of that email going around "FAILED". Anyways we had a fun time riding down there. We were able to spend Friday night with Val and Justin before all of the parents came down for the weekend. We had a great time cathing up.

Saturday we just hung out and played Wii for most of the day. Justin got us hooked on a game called Boom Blox Bash, it was super fun, I think I'm addicted. Got the chance to play with the little guy some too, he has his first tooth coming in so he was more cranky than usual. Mom and Dad got there right after dinner time, so we just hung out for a while.

Sunday we went to Bedside Baptist, well we watched the video service of Val and Justin's church. Grant got to open up some of his gifts before we headed down to the church for the dedication ceremony. He's a little reader, I tell ya... I was reading to him and he already knows how to turn the pages. What a good helper. We had to be at the church early that afternoon for the baby dedication so we loaded up and headed down. The ceremony was short, simple, and sweet; which is always a good thing with so many little ones in the same room. If one started crying, talking, or making noises they all started. We had to head back home early since we had to work on Monday while the grandparents stayed and enjoyed a nice dinner and some more of Grant.

Thanks Val and Justin for a great weekend. Hope to see you soon.

Artsy Fartsy

Have you heard about all of the amazing exibitions here in town. King Tut at the DMA, Art & Love in Renaissance Italy, Frida Kahol and a special artpiece of Michaleangelos all at the Kimbell. It looks like I have a few places to go on my Fridays off. I need to go to King Tut soon since as the radio hosts say it "Come May 17th King Tut returns to Egypt FOREVER, get your tickets now..." I hear it every morning on my way to work and how long has the exhibit been here and I still haven't gone to see it. Time has gotten away from me. I am excited to experience the Tut exhibit. Alot of my co-workers saw it in 83 or 84 when it was here last and they said I must go see it.

I am really excited to make a trip out to the Kimbell to see all of the Early Renaissance pieces. I studied alot of these pieces in my Art History courses, and it is so neat to actually see them in person.

Here's the Kimbell Art Museum link in reference to one of Michelandelo's earliest pieces at the Kimbell.

https://www.kimbellart.org/Index.aspx

I'm looking forward to some artsy fartsy outings this next month.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was a lot of fun. Chris and I met up with his mom and extended family at the Blue Mesa grill for the popular Sunday brunch. But we didn't stay there for too long when they told us it would be an hour and a half if we were lucky before we got seated. I was famished since it was already 10:00 and had nothing in my system. And Chris as my witness, I'm not super nice when I haven't eaten anything... We headed over to the Cheescake factory for Sunday brunch over there. Who knew, I didn't know they had brunch. I ened up having the French Toast Napoleon, it was fabulous and HUGE. I always forget about the portions there. We enjoyed spending our morning with Momma Shack.

After the great breakfast we headed home to pick Ty up so my parents could get their puppy fix. We headed over to there place for a nice relaxing afternoon. Dad and I along with my Dad's mom took Ty for a walk around their neighborhood and to play in the park. He was zonked when we got back to the house. When we got back we had the chance to visit with my sister and nephew and crazy brother-in-law via video. (some technical program) Anyways we got to watch Grant crawl, and I've got to tell ya, he is quick on his knees.(or belly I should say)It was fun to see her on her first Mother's Day, you could just tell she was enjoying her day. We had dinner at my parents after we caught up with Val and enjoyed catching up with them and reminiscing over old times.

We loved spending our Sunday with our moms, they truly are an inspiration and we thank them both for all they have done for us.

Gone Fishin'

Chris had the opportunity to go bass fishing with his dad yesterday out on Lake Fork. His dad ended up winning a day with a professional guide out on the lake and Thursday was the day. So Chris left our place around 5:30am in order to meet his dad and the guide for their day -O- FUN.

They got on the water and zoomed (literally 50mph on a boat) to some of the guides favorite spots. He had a great time fishing and he actually caught some fish. (Always a perk)The picture above shows him with his 8 pounder, one of the biggest bass he's caught so far. I'm so proud.

Wirlwind of a Weekend

This past weekend was a great weekend for Chris and I. We happened to be very productive and got alot accomplished once we finally sat down Sunday night.

Friday I picked up our backsplash tile which will be this weekends little project. I also went flower shopping with my mom. We were able to pick out some great flowers for our front yard to liven things up a bit. Chris and I stayed in Friday night and worked on installing our wood floors.Chris is doing such a great job, pictures to follow.

Saturday we woke up and cooked breakfast in our beautiful new kitchen! P.S. We are really enjoying it! We layed a few more rows of flooring and then headed out for the day, or so we thought...

Chris had heard about a festival down at White Rock Lake, they were going to have music, pets for adoption, food, etc. So we packed Ty into the car and headed down to grab a bite to eat before hand. We stopped by Texadelphia, one of Chris' favorite places to eat and ate lunch on the patio with Ty. As we were sitting there on the patio the rain began to pour and I mean pour. We hopped into the car and thought there is no way the festival is still on like it said online. We headed back home, so we basically took a 30 minute road trip down to the Texadelphia off of Lovers when there's one right up the street from us. The rain was crazy, I could barely see. We were racing the hail home basically. It's crazy the number of hail threats we've had since we got our car. I guess that's what we get for buying in the spring. We made it home right before the torential down pour. We just plopped on the sofa and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

It happened to be our friend Brice's birthday so we ended up going out to eat and then made a few other stops. We ate at Matt's in Lakewood which was really good.It was a fun night, good friends, good conversations.

Sunday we woke up and started the flooring process again. My parents were going to stop by later in the afternoon, mostly to see how things looked and to help me organize my flower beds. I was starting to take the plants out to the front yard as Chris was laying glue down...(bad idea)I should have seen it coming the minute I walked out the front door, Ty ran to the door to come out with me, even though I told him not to. In doing so got glue all over his feet and the new wood floors. Ahhhh... all I heard was Chris yelling "TY... NOOOOOOO..."I knew exactly what had happend the minute I shut the door. So we got all of the glue cleaned up but Ty still has a bad case of sticky paw.

My mom helped me plant all of my flowers, which look great if I do say so myself. It took no time at all, maybe 15 minutes because my mom's a pro.I am excited to see how they look once they all bloom. Who knew I had such a green thumb, now I hope I can keep them alive!

Overall it was a great weekend full of fun, and now I am counting down until this weekend begins.

Renovation Update

Well we took the other week off to knock out a lot of work on our house. Overall it was a great experience, Chris and I survived and so did our marriage. We really enjoyed taking the week off and enjoyed the time together in making our house our own. Although there were many late nights we were well rested come Monday morning when we both returned to work.

Friday night was the start of it all, our friends the Ormesher's came over and helped demolish our kitchen cabinets and Jonathan even helped build a little bit of our island. Bedtime: 1:30am.

Saturday we woke up, our attic was exposed a little so it was freezing in our house. We had a quick breakfast and got to work. Today our friends the O'Dowds came by to help finish demolishing the cabinets and work a little on the wall placement. We continued to rip down all of the drywall basically throughout our entire living space since the builder in the 70's did such a hatchet job on it. Bedtime: Unknown... I've slept since then...

Sunday we took a break in the morning time and went over to have breakfast with our small group. Once we got home we moved a lot of the demolished stuff out to the curb. Thank the Lord for bulk pick-up, that's a post for another day. We continued to rip out the cabinets and worked on framing some of the new walls. Our friends the Heltons came over and helped put up some drywall and work on our annoying kitchen laminate. Bedtime: 1-2ish

Monday some of the guys came over to work on stuff with Chris like plumbing and lighting and stuff. Once everyone ended up leaving we started the never ending drywall extravaganza. I guess whoever built our house didn't place the studs at the typical spacing, so we basically had to cut every piece down. We both had carple tunnel since we couldn't move our hands the next day. I am just thankful we finally got the fire place covered up. Bedtime: 2:30ish

Tuesday we had more work being done on the house, we had to kind of just sit around and make sure everything was getting done the way we wanted it to. We continued to work on drywall into the wee hours of the night, like around 4:30.Jonathan came over to help, which was a big help. We were supposed to have the texture people in on Wednesday but Chris and I were so exhausted that we stopped at 4:30 and called it a night. Little did we know that we would not have hot water to wash up after a long days work. It was miserable, but I just wanted to hop into bed at that point in time.

Wednesday Chris woke up early to call the painter and cancel, he wasn't too happy with us. But we can only do so much, you know. Anyways so we basically worked on the drywall for the entire day and Lauren and Brice even came over before small group to help out. We didn't go to bed until around 3:00. There was absolutely no way we could have gotten the drywall done Tuesday night if it took us an entire day to get where we needed to be. We worked like a team and got through it all.

Thursday the texture crew showed up and did their thing. And our space finally took shape. We stayed out of their way, mostly back in our bedroom just reading and catching up on Chuck and the Office. After they left we worked on a few odds and ends. We rented a floor scraper to get up the 30 year linoleum. We were able to get it up in about 30 minutes... I would highly recommend it if you are in the predicament we were in. It was just impossible to get up with hand scrapers.

Friday the texture crew showed up for the morning and we continued to work on small things, mostly making trips to and from Home Depot. After the stuff in the kitchen dried we began to lay out the cabinets and get some of that started. Our friends the Forte's came over to help. They brought their boxer Tiki and she played/wore out Ty. Then our friends the O'Dowds came over and helped with the cabinets and scrape the floors. Bedtime: Midnight-thirty

Saturday we were held captive in our bedroom for most of the afternoon since our texture guys were retexturing basically half of our house. We finally took a little time off to go out to eat and relax.

Sunday we continued to install some cabinets and we were done for the week.

That being said here's some pictures of our semi-finished product. We definitely have more work to do, but we are taking it one step at a time. Our next goals are to install the flooring, and cabinet hardware and paint along with a HUGE list of little things.