House pictures and work to be done

So, today I decided to write down EVERYTHING that needs to be done on our house before it will be perfect. The list is pretty extensive. I thought it would make me feel better to write everything down, that way I could get it out of my head and not have to dwell on it any more. Well, I was wrong. Now I am just overwhelmed. Not necessarily about the work but about the money it is going to cost to get this house into perfect shape. I know this doesn't have to happen in a year or two years or five years, but it sure would be nice to get it done sooner rather than later. So, I am going to write everything out here for you to read about and so you can see pictures of the house (not our stuff in it, but when I get new pictures I will change them out).


This is the front of our house. Not a whole lot to look at, and in fact it is the ugliest house in the whole neighborhood. We are going to completely redo the landscaping, roof, stucco, and eventually we will make the porch a lot bigger and bump it out to give it more curb appeal. We will put a fence around it and put a wall around a new sidewalk. It sounds like a lot, but this part does not bother me.



This is the back of the house and the backyard. You will notice there is NO grass. This poses a problem because Abby will need somewhere to be while we are at school/work. Again, the stucco will change. There will a new fence all the way around the propery. We will put in grass, flowers, and trees in the back and side yards. And since the biggest part of the yard is the side we will put a new garage on it for the boat and hopefully for a workshop for Jason.



Here is the kitchen. The floors are nice, though we are going to replace them eventually. Actually, the kitchen is the first big project we are going to tackle. We are going to totally replace the cabinets and the countertops. The appliances will stay the same but move slightly. Most of the wall will come down by the stove so the kitchen will open up into the livingroom. There will be a seating area on the new counter right at the edge between the kitchen and livingroom. There will be cabinets and a countertop on the wall where the fridge is. The dishwasher will move over next to the sink and the sink will be replaced. The wall leading into the laundry room will come down (to the right of the huge cabinets in the first picture) to make a bigger dining area and the laundry room will just get a little smaller. I am so excited about the new kitchen because I think it will make it fun to cook!



Here is the livingroom. The first picture is taken from the wall that is between the livingroom and kitchen right now but will be open once we remodel. The red door is the front door right now, though that might change later on down the road. The only thing we are really going to do in here is change the floors, paint, and maybe expand it out to the left of the second picture a little bit. The second picture is from the hall looking at the kitchen.


This is the porch. The beam that comes down out of the roof a little is where the livingroom would come out to. This would add about 50 sq. ft. to the livingroom, which doesn't seem like much but it is pretty small right now, so anything would help. The porch will eventually extend out further into the backyard, once we get that far.



Here are the two bathrooms. The first picture is the hall bath, the second picture is the master. We will just start with cosmetic changes in here. New vanities, paint, flooring, cabinets. Any major changes will come much later, if at all. We just want to make them pretty and liveable. (Not our stuff in there, this is when the old owners were still living there)



Here is one of the two small bedrooms (they are practically identical, even down to the color). They are really small, so we are going to have to figure out a way to use the space appropriately (one a sewing room, one an office most likely). We will just paint and put in carpet, and leave anything else until much later on. This wall color is pretty hideous though, so that will have to change immediately.


This is the master. Again, not our bed, but this bed is huge so it makes the room feel smaller than it really is. The closet is decent, especially for our clothes, so it will work for now. Eventually we will add on a master suite, but that won't happen for a while, and until then this is where we will sleep. We will start with paint and carpet in here and leave everything else until later.

There is also a garage that will fit both of our cars, yay! We will eventually build another garage out back, as I mentioned before, but that might take a couple of years, so for now this will have to work.

Like I said, this is going to be a ton of work, but it is totally liveable right now as it is, so nothing has to be done immediately, even though a lot of the house is, well, ugly. We are hopefully going to move in this Friday! I will post more pictures once we make things the way we want it and move our furniture in. Pray for us as we start this new adventure!

Life is moving so fast

Seriously, it is all of a sudden hitting me that I have to be a fully self-sufficient adult in a week. We are closing on our house in a week and it is so exciting to get to think about all the things we are going to do to it! First things first- fence, paint, landscaping, floors, kitchen, garage. After that comes an addition, but that could be a couple of years from now. Jason and I just bought a bunch of new plates and bowls (Fiestaware = awesome!) and today we went couch, cabinet, and countertop shopping. We found cabinets and countertops that we like but have not decided on a couch. It is really difficult figuring out what our budget is going to be and what all we are going to be able to afford, but I am sure we will figure it out in a month or so, once we have been in the house for a while. It is just a very exciting time for us and we are so ready to have a house and start building our lives in it! Also, kids may be closer than I thought. Not any time real soon, but hopefully not too long from now either. Another exciting thing.

Lake this weekend

The lake was so much fun this weekend! We got there around lunch time on Friday, after stopping for donuts for breakfast (a treat in itself) and dropping Jason's sister off at work. There were only one or two things wrong with the boat/trailer on the way up to Navajo, but neither of them were a big deal. Once we got there we ate lunch with my family then we all went out on the water. We were only on the water for about 2 or 3 hours and didn't do any playing, we just parked the boats and hung out to swim or whatever. Before we went on the water we set up all the tents in the most mosquito-laden campsite I have ever been in. There were so many mosquitos that I was miserable. On the water it wasn't a problem at all, though. Anyway, when we got back to the camp we just hung out until dinner, which was brats and potato salad. After dinner some people rode the kayaks down the river while the rest of us just relaxed. At about 9pm the rest of Jason's family made it here and then we all went to bed.

The next morning we woke up early, after all sleeping pretty well, and got ready to go out on the water. The bugs were just as bad in the morning as they were the rest of the day, which is unfortunate, but at least we had bug spray. A friend of ours made it to the lake that morning and we all went out on the water after he was ready. We made it on the water at about 10:20, in the middle of a whole crowd of people, and then drove and drove and drove to try to find a place to park the boats. We drove around for about an hour before finding a place. But then we parked, had lunch, and hung out for a while. We swam a bunch and sat in the sun, and even Jordan swam some, which was a surprise. The water felt awesome though. After a while we went out to the main chanel and started playing. My sister-in-law did the wakeboard, my brother skied (for the first time), and three of us tubed. We made it back to camp by about 4:30 and were able to relax for a while before dinner. The bugs were aweful so I went and hung out in my parents' RV, but everyone else was outside. (What people don't understand is that mosquitos love me more than any other human being on the planet. I don't really have any more flesh available for them to bite, and I even got bites when I was wearing bug spray. It was horrible for me.) Dinner was taco salad. We read for a while after that then went to bed.

The following morning we woke up early, again, and were greeted by 6 more of my family memebers from Arizona. Jason and I broke down all our camp stuff and loaded it up before we went out on the water so we wouldn't have so much left to do when we got done on the water. We made it out on the lake by about 9:20 and went to the same spot we were at the day before, so there was much less driving involved because we knew where we were going. My cousins were in the water almost immediately once the boats were parked. There were a lot of people interested in the jet ski, so that got used quite a bit. And it was a good thing our parents had their boat and Jason and I had our boat, because there were 18 people plus 3 dogs. After hanging out until lunch time we went to play some. My cousin and brother tried wakeboarding, after my sister-in-law showed them how. My cousin wasn't able to get up but my brother did, so that was exciting. All four cousins and I kneeboarded. While we were pulling kneeboarders, the parents' boat was pulling the tube, and I think just about everyone on that boat went in the tube. We made it back to camp to pack everything up at around 3, left at about 3:30, and were headed home. I rode with my sister and Jordan, because she wouldn't be able to drive and take care of him during the 4 hour trip. It wasn't too bad, other than Jordan being more exhausted than I have ever seen him. He didn't take a nap at all that day and didn't sleep a wink during the drive home, it was crazy.

Well, that was the trip. It was super fun and I really enjoyed myself. I will try to upload some pictures later, when I have more time. Time to go workout and get my life organized for the week.

Who knew

So, I keep thinking I will have more time to blog since I am not supposed to be doing stuff this summer. Apparently that is not the case. I think it has been over a week since I have blogged. And while there is not a whole lot new in my life, it still feels good get all my thoughts out.

Over the 4th of July we went to the mountains to Jason's family's cabin. We were there for just two nights, but it was nice to be out of the crowds for the holiday. It was the most relaxing time we have had in a long time. Seriously, all I did on Friday was read my book (in Spanish) and take a short nap. It was so nice.

I feel like I have been really productive recently. I just got a new swimsuit (new style than usual, from Victoria's Secret- probably my least favorite store ever but they have a HUGE selection of swim suits, so I went there) and I needed to sew it so the strings didn't move around all weird when I am swimming. So I did that today. I went and had a meeting with the principal of the school I want to student teach at while I am here, and he said I will probably be in a 5th grade class (which will be fine, even though I like the little kids more). I had to do some stuff with health insurance and all that since Jason has a real job now. I had to finish filling out some paperwork for student teaching at the administration office. I pick Jordan up from daycare just about every day. I still find a little time to study for school. I have started reading my Bible daily again (something I have not done in a while because I got lazy... and I am so glad I am doing it again). Anywho, it feels productive.

This weekend we are going to the lake with my family and Jason's family. There are going to be a ton of us there and it is a good thing we are all bringing our boats/jet skis/etc. because there are going to be a bunch of us on Sunday (19 to be exact). Jason is taking off on Friday so we can leave early and have another half of a day on the water than we normally would when going to the lake. Hopefully the water is warmer than the other lake we went to because it was WAY too cold to swim a couple of weekends ago. And I get to try out my new swimsuit, too.

Ok, I think that is all that I have to update. I thought there was a lot more that I could write about, but apparently not. If I think of it I will write more. Take care!