Now and Then

I figured I better post about Thanksgiving because Christmas is just around the corner. We had the pleasure of hosting this year, which hasn't happened since 2006. As I was loading pictures on my computer, I went back to see the pictures from 2006 and I definitely had a good laugh. Hopefully you enjoy them as well, hahaha.

Now...

Making the dinner preparations with the ladies. (The boys were off playing in the Turkey Bowl.) This year, Kevin made the executive decision that we were going to have steak for dinner instead of Turkey. Sounded fine to me, but as we were doing the shopping, it felt a little weird not to buy a turkey. So, we bought a turkey roast just so we didn't completely ruin the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I used an Ina Garten recipe for herb crusted turkey, and it was delicious. It is roasted over white wine and made the whole kitchen smell awesome. We also made bacon wrapped green bean bundles, easy peasy garlic rolls, mashed potatoes, salad, my mom's yams, and of course pumpkin pie for dessert. Oh, and the boys grilled the steaks for us. Everything turned out delicious and it was nice to all sit comfortably around our new table!

The boys were on dish-duty and they did a great job :)
After dinner, Jerry and Beverly gave us an early Christmas gift. We receive new Christmas books each year, which is so fun because it was also a tradition at my house. My mom typically bought a new children's book each year, and would read it to us during the week or so before Christmas. We had a sled sitting near the tree each year that would support our stack of books. (I purchased a cute suitcase to put my books in, since they are quickly accumulating!)

Then...

I remember being nervous to host that first Thanksgiving as we had only been married for 5 months and I didn't know Kevin's family well. If I remember correctly, Bev might have even sent Kevin a list of groceries to buy so I wouldn't be stressed out. I have such fond memories of that Provo house, and although we were crammed in the kitchen around a plastic folding table with mismatched chairs, we grew to know each other better and I loved that time in my life. I was a happy little newlywed, haha. Melanie and Jeff were just dating at this point, so obviously a lot changes in 5 years!

One thing remains the same; we enjoy time with family and Kevin and I feel so incredibly grateful for the many blessings that abound in our lives. We are lucky ducks :)

Making Progress

I have been waiting to post pictures of the house until each room was the way I wanted it...but I am coming to find out that this is a long process, haha. So, I figured I would share a few pictures of the way things are at the moment, and as we complete each room to our liking, I will repost :)

This is an old picture of the courtyard, and I actually purchased new flowers at Home Depot yesterday...but they are waiting patiently to be planted.

We purchased a piano about a month ago on Craiglist, and I have to admit, I love having a piano in my home. We ordered two chairs that will go where the blue ottomans are currently. (In case you care, they are the redgrave chairs from Ethan Allen, and will be upholstered in an ivory fabric with a geometric/celtic pattern.) We are still undecided on the coffee table, rug, and window treatments. Oh, and I want a big clock on the wall between the two windows.



The kitchen, obviously :) We have really enjoyed hosting BBQ's and dinners with friends in our new house. We love having the french doors leading out to the patio for when we grill. The boys normally end up huddled around the grill in the courtyard, and us girls chat in the house. I also love all the light that pours into the kitchen in the afternoon, but I really only get to enjoy it on the weekend!

This was our first purchase, even before the washer and dryer. I found this at the Ethan Allen floor model sale and was thrilled to find that it fit perfectly in the alcove in the wall. They were kind enough to place it in their warehouse until we moved into the house.
Although I was slightly disappointed to not have a full laundry room, I have really loved my stacked washer and dryer. I have to keep all the detergents in the bathroom next door, but eventually we might build a shelf above the dryer. (But then I would need a step-stool to get it!!)
The downstairs bathroom. The bathroom has a shower because there is a "bedroom" downstairs which we use as a den/multipurpose room.


The den, as I will call it, had a huge closet that ran almost the whole length of the wall. It had one shelf/pole that ran the length of the closet, and that was it. Not super functional since we weren't using the room as a bedroom, and since we were hoping to store all sorts of things in this room. Well, after careful planning and ideas from designer Kevin (we joke about this, but he actually has a lot of great ideas), the closet project began. It went from blah and non-functional...
to this...

You can't really see in this picture, but on either side there are shelves going back, and a bookcase on the right side as well. The closet is pretty deep, so you have access to the bookshelves, etc. Once the closet was built out, I was amazed at the amount of stuff I could fit in there. The best part was that everything was accessible and organized, just the way I wanted it. The cupboards below the TV house all my scrap booking gear, as well as my sewing machine and supplies.

We have nothing on the walls yet, but I do love that secretary desk and the alpaca throw/rug that Kevin brought back from his mission days in Peru.

I am not including too many pictures of our room because I am hoping to post shortly when our bed arrives. I have gone back and forth about this bed I really loved, and on Halloween, Kevin gave me the go-ahead and I made the purchase. I am dying to get it, and will post pictures asap. But for now, here are the closets and my little jewelry station outside my closet :)


The second bathroom upstairs, which is near the top of the stairs. I didn't include any pics of the second bedroom upstairs either because it currently is a catch-all for just about everything. The good news is that it will be organized in the next two weeks before family comes for Thanksgiving :)

The loft. I really love the loft, and our old couch fits perfectly up there. There is another alcove where the TV cabinet is located. I repainted the old cherry wood cabinet we had in Texas, and it took on a whole new life in the off-white I painted it :) I need to hang one more thing on that wall before I show a picture so you get the full effect of the before and after. I need curtain panels on the window, but I am trying to decide whether to make my own, or buy some at the store. I just haven't found any that I really love.
I am really happy with how this project came out. I wanted family pictures on the wall, but I also wanted a bit of color, so I created some custom mats :) Kevin was very patient with me as we hung all those frames so they lined up perfectly.
I hope you enjoyed the little house tour. We really love this house and have enjoyed the entertaining we are able to do with a little more space. Come and visit people!

27 old years

Well, it's official. I am getting old! Or at least it feels like it sometimes, haha. I came home to these beautiful flowers on Wednesday evening (the day before my birthday). Kevin told me he figured I should have flowers during the whole day on my birthday. It was actually really funny because I told Kevin recently that I loved ranunculous flowers. When I saw the flowers, Kevin told me sorry that they weren't the "hydrangeas" that I wanted, but the florist said they weren't really in high demand. I just laughed, and told him the roses were beautiful. I am not sure how he got hydrangea from ranunculous, but he said he just knew it sounded like some made-up harry potter name. I laughed a lot.

I enjoyed the morning at home, then my friend Calli took me to Yogurtland for a fun treat. I then headed to work (I got a new job, by the way) for a few hours. For dinner, we met a few friends over at Benihana for a delicious dinner.

I appreciated all the phone calls, facebook messages, cards, and gifts that I received. I am pretty darn spoiled, and I guess I will manage being 27!

biker man

About 2 months ago Kevin decided that he was going to do a triathalon. He found one in Key West on Saturday December 3rd, and he is pretty excited about it. He looked into road bikes when we first moved to Miami because he figured it was good exercise and he could ride his bike to work. I wasn't too fond of the idea of him riding to work because the drivers here aren't great, and I also don't think Kevin would be able to wake up early enough to ride to work, hahaha. Mornings are not really his thing. Anyway, so that idea fizzled out until recently.

About 2 weeks after finding the triathalon date, he found himself this bright orange bike at a local bike shop. It was pre-owned, but in awesome condition. He brought that bike home, and he was so happy to ride around our neighborhood. Of course he got Andre involved, so now Andre has a new bike which is also housed in our garage. They have been pretty funny with their training since Andre doesn't swim well, and running is hard for Kevin with his knee. I have also had to rescue them on a few occasions due to flat tires, but they are happy so I am happy. (And I am secretly looking forward to a weekend adventure to Key West in December!!)

Just thought you might enjoy a pic of him and his bike :)

Vacation Recap...

In the beginning of August, we were able to spend 6 lovely days with the family in Texas. We arrived Saturday and spent a few hours out at the lake. We went to early church with Melanie and Jeff on Sunday, then spent the afternoon relaxing, eating, and enjoying the company of old friends who we miss a whole lot. We ran into one of Kevin's old mission companions at church, which prompted Kevin to call and invite another mission friend who we actually knew lived in the area. I didn't get too many group pics, but I did get a few :)
Danielle, Melanie, and Julianne chatting it up. I am pretty sure they were talking about strollers or travel systems, haha. Julianne is due in November and Melanie in February.
Doug and Kevin...not sure what they were talking about. We were sad we missed Tracy and the kiddos...but hopefully we will see them next time.
The girls (and Kevin) had tea, courtesy of Miss Maddy. She is so grown up, and so adorable!
We spent all day Monday at the lake and I am amazed that we weren't all burned to a crisp. We reapplied sunscreen every hour it seemed, and apparently that did the trick. It was a great day, but we were exhausted by the time we arrived back at the house!


Tuesday we had a special day in the Dallas Temple. Beverly had prepared family names for endowments, as well as sealings. It was a special day for her especially as she did the work for her mom, and then was sealed to her parents. I don't have the pictures from outside the temple, but we enjoyed a delicious mexican dinner afterwards. Great recommendation Jeff :)

We had one last hoorah at the lake on Wednesday, then headed back to Florida on Thursday morning. We had a wonderful trip as we spent time with friends and family.

Until next time...

What's New?

We are almost halfway through hurricane season, and honestly, it has not been too bad. We had heavy rains almost every afternoon in July, but it was kind of refreshing and everything is beautiful and green. I took the above photo as Kevin was running for cover in the garage. (And in case you are wondering, he can't park in the garage. The truck is too long :( Only the Honda gets to park comfortably inside!)
We went on a quadruple date with some new friends and our old (best) friends the weekend before we went to Texas. We are in the process of meeting more people in our ward. After dinner, which took a few hours, the other couples headed home because it was late, but we decided to head over to Dave and Busters with Daleth and Andre. We hadn't seen them for a week, so we figured we needed a little more one-on-one time :)
I am not a huge fan of these kind of games, but we played like 3 times and actually won the big prize. The machine was feeding out hundreds of little tickets as the music played and people stared at us, hahaha. It was pretty funny and we were impressed with our joint effort.
At the end of the night, we were looking for a kid to give our tickets to, but it was almost midnight so there weren't a lot of kids there. We saw one kid walking through the prize shop with his mom, hand-in-hand, showing her all the prizes. He only had a few tickets, and even a fun dip was like 50 tickets (dumb I thought). Anyway, Daleth went over to give him our tickets, and him and his mom thanked her several times (in English and Spanish). As we walked away I heard him tell his mom, "I love America." Hahaha.
In other news, we finally ordered our dining room table and chairs, and we picked up all the chairs and the bench about a week ago to avoid the shipping and all the surcharges. The table has to be manufactured and delivered, and should get here by the end of the month. The chairs and bench are currently placed, but I want to wait and reveal a picture once the set is complete :)
And I got a new job!! I was on the job hunt for a little over a month, and I was offered a position at a private clinic called Breakthrough Therapy in Davie, FL. The clinic is super close and I will drive past the site of the new temple on the way to work everyday. Can't get better than that. I start seeing clients on Monday, but I went in about a week ago to meet some of the kids and get a better feel for the place. So, the above picture is my first day of work, and the picture is for my mom. She always asked me if I took a picture of my first day, which I rarely do, so I enlisted the help of my computer to complete the assignment. I am nervous/excited for this new adventure and will keep you updated.

We just returned from a trip to Texas, so that post will be coming soon...