Somewhere between Before & After...

As you know Nathan & I have taken on the challenge of remodeling his Dad's house in Sabinal. Along with new paint, floors, furniture & my "girly dust collectors" (as Kenneth calls them) comes some interesting experiences...

The absence of women in the this all boy household makes things quite interesting when you are trying to remodel and I'm pretty sure my father-in-law had no idea what was coming when I came into this family. Let's just say I like to shake things up...

More on that later...check some of the pics below.

See what a difference trim & new paint make!

We also hung a new light fixture & wall decor.

Next trip we are planning to rip up the carpet & seal the completely untouched wood floors underneath!

So excited to see how it turns out!

Below is an almost after...think wood floors & different couches.

Got the vision yet?!?

We will also change the current lovely light fixture to the one below.

These couches are going to have to go...for sure!

Now below is the room we did on the last visit---the Dining Room. Then again you wouldn't know that considering there is no table for dining...only a clothes rack for his clothes.

Needless to say, I told Kenneth to enjoy his last few weeks with his clothes in the dining room before I go out with the clothing rack and in with the dining room table!!

I think he thought I was kidding...I'm not!

While the boys went dove hunting, Kenneth & I started the cleaning process. After a truckload full of junk to the burn pile, multiple trash bags and boxes for Goodwill, the cabinets & drawers are organized & clean.

I know this means nothing to any of you but if you have seen it, you would appreciate Kenneth & I's efforts.

After putting drawer liners in the cabinet & drawers, Kenneth responds by saying

"who would have ever thought of putting paper in your drawers!"

Gotta love him!

It is now official---my father-in-law has

no earthly idea what to do with me!!

Another Renovation

This weekend we are headed back to Sabinal to redo 2 more rooms in his Dad's House. We are planning to conquer the Living Room & Hallway this time. Here are the before pictures...

Living Room

Hallway - Before
Hallway Ceiling

We have our work cut out for us this weekend so check back to see the end result!

House Update

For those of you that were curious about the status of our new home buying adventure...here is your update!

A few weeks ago we had it in our mind that we were going to buy this house...

Yes, I am well aware that you probably think we are absolutely out of our minds and that we had no idea what we were getting into... And to be quite honest both are probably true!

We knew it would be a complete redo but with the age and quirkiness of the house, we didn't realize that it would require

...changing the pitch of the roof

... installing new duct work/AC

...replacing all the pipes for plumbing

...gutting both bathrooms

...gutting the kitchen

...the list goes ON and ON!!

Check out this classy bathroom...the shower is even cuter with 3 steps that go down into the retro blue tiled shower!

So after finding out it would take at least $50,000-60,000 of renovations we decided it wasn't quite as good of an investment as we had hoped. Fortunately after about 2 weeks of roller coaster emotion and utter confusion the Lord made it abundantly clear to both of us that this was not the direction that we needed to go in.

It was fun to dream though! We would have loved to turn this into....

THIS Gorgeous Kitchen/Dining Room!

You can keep calling us crazy but we saw the potential AND a challenge...fortunately it can be someone else's cash paying for it and it isn't our headache!

After all that we went through, we don't regret any of it. We learned a LOT about our marriage, WAITING on the Lord, (which is not easy with my "planner OCD" personality) seeking his guidance, and most importantly --- understanding that when he says no, he has a much bigger and better plan than we could ever image.

And don't you worry, we are dreaming way bigger and better these days!!

To be quite honest I am extremely relieved that it didn't work out. It would have taken a full body suit with a gas mask in order for me to have wanted to touch anything in there!! So for now we will remain content where we are and continue to count our blessings! Don't think that is it for us though...we have some other ideas in the works!

(NO, it's not babies)!

Finally...House Pictures

I know it has taken me a while to get these pictures up but things were pretty hectic when we first got here and more than anything, I never had a clean enough house to want to take pictures. Fortunately a few weeks ago we had some friends come visit so I was forced to get most of those final details finished that I had been procrastinating! I am mainly doing this post for you Lisa...since you have been asking ever since we moved back from Belton. Anyways, here it is. Hopefully we will have some exciting news to share later this week as well!!

Front Patio

Living Room

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Another Kitchen Shot


Guest bedroom (We haven't had any guests though so someone should come visit us!!)


Front Bathroom


Master Bedroom


Master Bedroom


Back Bathroom

Check back to see what's new with us later this week!!

End of one chapter, on to the next!

As you can see from the picture above, we are finally both completely finished with school FOREVER! For those of you that are thinking we will go to grad school...YEAH RIGHT! We are lucky we made it through the first 4 (or 3 for me) years considering how much Nathan hates school work!

We both graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management and I think the best thing we got out of college was...well, each other!!

We celebrated after graduation at Dead Fish Grill on Lake Belton.

In every spare moment we continue to anxiously await Luke's arrival! I am so ready to meet that little man! This past weekend I got the honor of doing my beautiful sister's maternity pictures. She is such a pretty mommy-to-be so it made it easy & so much fun! Here are a few unedited ones to enjoy while I work on getting them all edited. (Any photographers out there know of a good free editing program?? I am using Picnik but am open for suggestions)

Gorgeous!

My favorite one of the day!

Cute Blogs!!

On my lunch break a few days ago, I got on a roll and kept finding blog after blog that was absolutely adorable! Because I am a generous person I will share some of the cute ideas with you...I thought about being selfish and keeping them all to myself. Then again, maybe I should so that when I steal some of these ideas you will think they are my own & that I am super clever ;) Just a thought...

I just started following the imprintables blog and they have such incredible ideas and features. Scissors Paper Cake comes up with so many over-the-top-adorable parties!

A lot of these are Baby Shower and Kids Birthday Party ideas but what else do you look at when you are already married and wedding blogs are a thing of the past and you have 2 NEPHEWS on the way!! I also have a stinkin' adorable niece so why wouldn't I be looking at this kind of stuff. ...as long as it's not for a kid of my own. Not any time soon---so don't even ask!

How cute would these be for a little boy's birthday??

I love this Outdoor Garden Party Concept!

Love these favors!

Hopefully these will be coming soon to the Muffin Top --- they look yummy!

How adorable is this little girl's first birthday!?

The thing I love about this idea is that it could go for a girl or a boy's birthday! I think Luke might want a 1st Birthday Party like this!

I don't know about you but I am ready to have a party now! Good thing we are throwing Tori a Baby Shower on Saturday at Natalie's house. Pictures will be up soon!!

It's just not the same anymore...

I know I haven't posted in forever but things have been pretty hectic. This past weekend Tori had her first Baby Shower in Salado which was a lot of fun. It's making it a lot more real & little Luke will be here before we know it! Here are a few pics from the shower.

Pretty Mom-to-Be!!

Lots of delicious treats! The Key lime pie tarts were the best!

When we headed to Salado, I begged Mom to let us drive by the old Belton House. As you will be able to see from the pictures it doesn't look quite the same as when we were there. It doesn't look bad but it's sad...just doesn't have the same character! I know it's not our house anymore but it was still my first house and I loved it...oh well, what can you do!

Before

And after...