Home Series: The Before--The Basement

Have you been keeping up with our home tour?  If not, you can catch up here and here.

One of the requirements on our list when house shopping was a basement.  Living in Southwest Missouri my whole life, tornadoes were something that we had to be aware of.  My parents' house doesn't have a basement, but I never felt scared.  We couldn't even hear the tornado sirens because we lived so far out of town.  I went to school many times and my friends were talking about waking up to sirens in the middle of the night.  I slept right through them.

Fast-forward to May 2011...I was home when the Joplin tornado ripped apart their town.  My hometown is just north of Joplin, but I have family and friends that live there.  The day after the tornado, we went down to see how we could help.  What I saw that day, I will never forget.  The stories that I hear are forever ingrained in my brain.

Fast-forward again to May 2013 when a tornado went through St. Charles and north St. Louis.  Many of our friends live in the path of that tornado and we saw the devastation from it.  

I knew that we had to have a basement in whatever house we decided to buy.  It was a non-negotiable for me.  We got lucky and found a home with a finished basement.

The air hockey table came with the house...and it's really nice!  It has been very fun to play! :)

We also have a full bathroom in the basement.

The people who lived in this house before us have always lived here.  They really liked brass and the nasty orange colored walls.  I can't wait to paint them. 

Not pictured:  the dungeon (our unfinished storage area).  It's scary.

Well, there you have it!  Those are the pictures of our home on the day we got our keys!  I hope to be back soon with some "after" pictures! Hope you enjoyed the tour! :)  Come visit sometime!  We would love to have you!

Home Series: The Before--Second Floor

Welcome back!  How do you like our empty house so far?  Did you miss the first post of our main floor?  You can catch up here.

The one great thing about not having too much to move in is that we can make the house our own.  I mean, we squeezed as much as we could into a 900 square foot apartment.  All of that seemed to have fit on our main floor.  We have empty rooms still...but they will eventually have furniture in them.

Upstairs, we have three bedrooms and a master suite.  Two of the bedrooms will be used as guest bedrooms and the other will be used as my craft room. 

These are the two guest bedrooms.  

My future craft room:

The Master Suite is what really made me fall in love with this house.  It is amazing.  We have a double door entrance into the master suite, and if you know me, you know how much I love double door entrances. :)

This is the sitting room.

This is the bedroom, taken from the sitting room.

Taken from the bathroom, looking towards the sitting room.

We also have a double door entrance into the master bathroom.

I knew when I saw that Master Suite that I could eventually turn it into a place that we would want to come to rest in.  I am excited to turn these rooms into the vision that I have. :)

Well, that's all for the second floor!  Be sure to check back for the rest of the tour, including the basement and the backyard! :)

Home Series: The Before--The Main Floor

Welcome to our home! 

I know some of you are getting impatient about seeing pictures of our home. ;)  I really wanted to do before and after pictures, but those will have to wait.  Filling a home takes time, and I am picky about the things I want in my home.  So I decided to wet your appetite a little bit before I make you wait a little longer for the "after" photos.

Here are the pictures of our home on the day that we purchased it, taken by the iPhone.

Our gorgeous entry way.  A couple of the things that I fell in love with are the double closets on either side of the door and the beautiful wood flooring.

To the left of the entryway is our formal dining room.  There is a gorgeous "chandelier" hanging from the ceiling.

To the right of the entry way is a formal living room.  After our offer was accepted on the house, I was thinking long and hard about the rooms and what we would put in them.  One day, in church of all places, it hit me that this room would make a phenomenal piano room.  I could just picture our future kids practicing in here. :)

Through the formal living room, you walk into the family room, living room, whatever you want to call it.

We have a half bath on the main floor as well.

This picture is taken from the kitchen.  One reason we fell in love with this house is the open floor plan, which is great for hosting and entertaining.  We also have room for a kitchen table.

Our kitchen is fabulous.  I absolutely love the island.  However, to answer your question...I know you want to ask it...I do not like the dual colored cabinets/island.  I do love all the cabinet space and counter space.

On this floor but not pictured:  the laundry room, garage, and pantry.

And just for kicks and giggles...this is one of my favorite things of this house:

I'm really not kidding.  I grew up on a farm...on a gravel road.  We could hear people coming down the road from a half mile away.  We didn't have a door bell, so I really love that we have one now. :)

We are so blessed to have this home.  I pray that we can have many people stay with us and we will be able to have many over to fellowship with us.  Because everything that we have is not ours.  We want to use it to the glory of God.

Come back tomorrow for a tour of the second floor!

Busy Months

So these past few months have definitely been busy.  I kind of took an unexpected blogging break, but it's been a good break for me.  We've had a lot of life changes, and it has been a great time to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Here's a look at what the last few months have held.

The same week that I left my job at hospice, we put an offer in on a house.  I started my new job at Charter Communications and have been there for 5 weeks now.  My mom came to visit and we decorated pumpkins.  I filled out the calendar for the month of October to realize how busy we would be.  

The first weekend in October, we had Christmas with Tyler's grandma and family. (She goes to Texas for the winter.)  The next weekend, we jetted home to my parents' house.  I rode around in the combine with my dad while he picked corn.  We celebrated my cousin and his beautiful bride with a wonderful reception filled with many people that I haven't seen in a really long time.  I saw a lot of my high school friends, and we took a picture with most of the original members of our Chris Jackson Fanclub (he was a deejay on the Christian radio station at the time). 

On our way back  to St. Louis, we made an important pitstop at the NRA Shooting Arms Museum that had recently opened at Bass Pro.  I celebrated National Accounts Payable week with my new company, complete with a pumpkin decorating contest!  We attended the wedding of my sister-in-law and new brother-in-law.  We cheered on (and are still cheering on) our Cardinals as they made their way to the World Series.  

I pondered and picked out paint colors for our new home.  We packed our lives away into boxes that would soon be unpacked in our new home.  We made time to attend a marriage conference given by Mark Gungor, which was ridiculously funny and in some ways, eye opening.  And last but not least, we attended a beautiful wedding of friends from our Life Group.

I feel refreshed and renewed from taking this break.  Even though it seems we've been going nonstop, at the same time, God has been speaking to me these last couple of months.  He is at work in me, and I'm excited to share some of those things with you as the time comes.

So if you've been wondering where I've been...I've been around.  I just haven't made blogging a priority.

2013 Float Trip

Back in June, I went to Tyler's family reunion.

I told him that if I had to go to his, he had to go to mine.

Besides, I'd been to his 3 different years and he'd never been to mine.

Fair trade, right?

I thought so.

Ours is always the first Sunday in August.

Always has and probably always will be.

It was on the calendar and I just know that he was counting down the days. :)

However, last weekend when I called my Dad, he said they had gotten a bit of rain.

Now that is a miracle in itself.

Normally the drought is in full-swing by now and the guys are in irrigation mode.

He told me that if it rains a bit more, we might go floating on Saturday.

That was okay with me...one of our family's favorite things to do is spontaneously go floating.

I say spontaneous because that's the only time we go floating...if we get rain.

Well, it was supposed to rain all weekend long!

But we decided to go anyway.  

It turned out to be a beautiful day!

My aunt, uncle, and 3 of their kids went with us...so there were 13 of us total!

My favorite time was on the way back home.

We were all in the van together playing games that our family is known for:

"Muck-a-luck" and "The Spelling Game."

Then we ended up singing songs that we used to sing on the road when I was a kid:

"Oh You Can't Get to Heaven...," "Oh How I Love Jesus," etc.

We laughed a lot.  

It did my heart so much good.

I had such an incredible day just hanging out with the people I love and getting to share it all with my husband.

He got a taste of what our family really is.

My dad really wanted to go zip lining...he wouldn't tell you how much, but you could definitely see it in his face.

My mom got to go with him...along with my brother, his girlfriend, and our cousin, Carl.

They had a blast!!

And of course, I recorded them...
so for your enjoyment:

There's No Place Like Home

This weekend went by in a hurry.
I was not ready to come back, but here I am.

Saturday, we went up to see my Granny. 
My aunt and cousins were there, and we spent an hour or so just sitting outside talking.
My Granny lives about 3 miles west of my parents.
Her house is considered, "The Farm."
This is where the guys' shop is, as well as most of the machinery.
My dad farms with one of his brothers, and my brothers help in the summer and on some weekends during the school year.
I grew up helping out on the farm as well.
**For my brothers' sake, I'll mention that I didn't help near as much as them, but I still put my time in.**
Although I'm living it the city now, I still love getting back to the country.
There's just something about the dirt roads, 4-wheeler rides, and quiet that I love.

My mom's knockout roses were absolutely gorgeous, so I made everyone take pictures after church on Sunday.

I love her sass in this picture.

We played a lot of games this weekend:  Monopoly Deal, Farkle, Wii.

I know my dad would have loved to have been able to be in the field this weekend, but I'm selfishly glad that he got to be home and spend time more time with us.

I also love that he plays the Wii with us. :)

Applesauce made me sad this weekend. 

Yes, that is our dog's name.

My brother named him...because he looks like applesauce.

Anyway, Applesauce is 15 years old.

He's losing ability in his back legs so he drags his feet.

You can tell he isn't himself because he doesn't run much anymore.

Well, he came in and was laying beside me (which is also hard for him to do), and he kept looking at me.

I knew that couldn't be comfortable, so I put a pillow under his head.

I think he liked it. :)

We also raided my parents' freezer before we left.  

We got all kinds of steak and a brisket and some hamburger.

Yum.

And this barely fit in our freezer. :)

One last thing...

We are still celebrating 200 likes on our facebook page!!

Have you "liked" it yet?  

You can get the latest information regarding shop promos and items there!

You can get 25% off our purchase in the shop through this evening!!

There are also some discounted items in there as well!!

Hope you have a wonderful week!!

Did y'all do anything fun this weekend?

I'd love to hear about it!!

Preparations {and a SALE}

As I make the final preparations, I'm getting more excited to see my family.

They are coming tonight!

This will be my first Thanksgiving meal to cook and prepare.

No worries, I will have some help. :)

I've never roasted a turkey, never cooked a ham {my husband is spoiled}, never made stuffing.

Lots of firsts for me!

But let me tell you what I have made...

every year for at least 10 years...

the pumpkin pie.  

And it will be perfect.

Here's what my preparations have consisted of this week:

Monday night was spent making cookies and other goodies.

These were originally for our small group.  Sadly, it got canceled last night, so they will now be more goodies for the family.  I mean, they are my Dad's favorite cookie...

We got the meal all planned out.

Last night, my hubby surprised me and took me to eat Mexican.  Oh, I'm so glad I married someone who loves Mexican food as much as I do.  Isn't he such a cutie??  #howdidigetsolucky?

I've been trying to take advantage of the spontaneity in our life.  Sometimes I just get so "in the groove" of things that I know what needs to be done and when.  I don't want to take the time to cuddle or just enjoy each other's company, because there are things to be done.  But I've realized this, and now I'm trying to just take it all in.  Life is short and I don't want to regret always passing up opportunities.  So that's why I said "yes" to a spontaneous date out last night.

{Then I stayed up til midnight cleaning and doing everything else while he was sleeping.}

This is what is waiting for me when I get off work early today!  I'm making my pie and brownies for our dessert.  Friday, I will share all the recipes of the goodies I've made for Thanksgiving.  So be on the lookout for those!

I think this is the cleanest our living room has been in a l.o.n.g. time!  Other than our work bags and the orders that are going out today, it looks pretty darn clean.

I am really excited to share with you the details of our weekend.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, friends, or whoever you will be spending it with.

Are you going Black Friday shopping??

**For those of you who don't want to face the crowds {I don't blame you}, you can shop online in my shop.  As I gear up to turn 24 at the end of the month, we'll celebrate year 23 with a sale!**

Starting midnight on Friday, 11/23 and midnight on Monday, 11/26.

With every jewelry purchase, you'll receive a free red or green organza bag!

Use code YAYFOR23 at checkout.

But not until Friday or Monday! :)
Oh, and it may be the last time to get some of these items at these prices!
I'll be revamping my shop after Thanksgiving!
So get them while you can!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!