The house that built us

We have been moved for three weeks now and are slowly getting every box emptied and every closet stuffed full of our things. The transition to our temporary home has been seamless and we are enjoying the extra space, huge yard and panoramic views. I think I had forgot how much I enjoyed the outdoors.

Even though we are elated to build a larger home to grow our family into and to make new memories in our very first home will always hold a little place in my heart and remind me of home when I pass by. It holds the history of a sweet love story in between those walls.

We bought the house while we were engaged five years ago. It was the second house we had looked at and I was sold on the first house because it was more of a fixer upper and I thought since we were young and able it would be fun to take on. Thank you to everyone who kindly told me different :)

It didn't take long before I fell in love with the house too. Marcus moved in on New Years Day and I moved in after our wedding. Those days of making our house our home will be forever etched into my memory. Besides a dorm room neither of us had lived outside of our parent's homes so we didn't have much to fill up the space but we didn't realize that at the time nor did it matter. For our bedroom suite we used one that has been passed down in my family. Our dining room table was from Marcus' family. The recliner in the living room was handed down to us from my grandparents. It was like a patchwork quilt of all of our families in the form of a little, cozy, furnished house. 

We celebrated four Christmases, gave treats to over 1,000 trick-or-treaters, watched hometown parades from the front yard, brought home our first born, and entertained lots of family and friends (lots of outdoor grilling ha!). There was laughing, there was fighting, there were tears, and there were trials. We built our marriage and our family while living in that home.

It's with an anxious and humbled heart that we say our final goodbye to the place that holds endless memories. Even though there were several days I spent more time ready to be done with it than enjoying it for what it was I will always remember it for the love and happiness it brought. But I know that the people inside the house are what the memories are made around and home to me will always be wherever they are.

I'm thankful for this home and the new home I will share with them soon. We are closing one chapter of the story and beginning a new one.

The Best Weekend

We had one of those busy but blessed weekends around here. We are entering a stage where it's really easy to go places and stay out past bedtime because our little lady is a trooper and doesn't want to miss anything. She makes life so much more fun. We embraced the season this weekend and made a lot of fun memories.

Happy Derby Day!

We went to our cousin Marley's first birthday party in Sweezertown. It was an adorable farm-theme and they had this little plush horse that Georgia Grace rode and rode. The perfect addition to her Derby day attire :) 

She jumped in a bouncy house for the first time independently. Where did my baby go??

The birthday girl! She was such a big girl opening her presents. I cannot believe she is already one. We had such a great time celebrating her. We love you Marley Moo!

We went to my Mom's after the party to watch the Derby. Our friends James and Ashley were at Churchill Downs so I lived vicariously through them. I will go to the Kentucky Derby someday!

Saturday night we went to watch Uncle Jake race. I didn't know how this would go with all the loud noises and the late night it would be but of course she had the best time. She watched her first dirt track race, ate her first frito chili pie and saw her first fight ha! It was a very entertaining night and I'm so glad we got to go support #23 :)

My good friend Jan snapped this precious picture Sunday at church. Our little politician was swooning everyone sitting behind us. I love that she captured a picture of us in our element.

Another one of the highlights of the weekend was helping host a wedding shower for my childhood best friend. She is getting married in June and I am honored to get to stand beside her on that day. I decided to have a cutting board engraved with a hand-written recipe on it by her Grandmother Regina who passed away last year. Her mom found the perfect one-her wonderful orange juice cake, the last thing she baked for Shira and Wade. We both cried! She was such a special lady and I'm glad I was able to honor her on such a special day for Shira.

Here is a close-up of the cutting board. It turned out better than I could even imagine. I am amazed at all the ways we can personalize things now.

The beautiful bride and her bridesmaids
Love these girls!

We had one more event this weekend and it was a cookout honoring me for my YDOY award. Marcus took care of everything and all I had to do was show up :) We had both of our families over and he grilled on the Big Green Egg. Some of the neighborhood kids joined us to play cornhole and eat dessert. It was a great night of hospitality and I am blessed to have a husband that honors me like he does.

Making some final memories on Tyler Street

It was one of the best weekends I can remember. We are a blessed family with a full plate but it's the best kind of full. And we are so ready for summer so the easy late nights can continue!

Out & About

Spring has sprung and we feel like we have been let out of a cage. What a long, brutal winter we just had. I have already promised you will not hear any complaints from me on the heat come the middle of July. And I'm sure my loved ones will hold me to it. We haven't been settling down inside the house until dusk and my nights seem longer and more full already. Extra sunshine is good for the soul.

Georgia Grace is also a big fan of the sunshine (and not a big fan of coming in from the sunshine). Grandmomma texted me Monday to tell me she needed some tennis shoes. Of course she does. Why haven't I bought her a pair to play outside in? She has been wearing a pair of hand me downs from a boy cousin until I could find her a pair. It's probably a good thing she's not old enough to care they are for boys, she's just worried about playing her little heart out :)

Uncle Jake and GGH burned off some energy before dinner on Monday night. I know the former football player in Jake was proud of her ball choice.

She had her first official boo-boo Tuesday afternoon at Gammy's house while we were there for supper. She was running to meet Daddy on the pooldeck and fell and skinned her knee. Thankfully Gammy was able to make it all better with some kisses and a bandaid. She cried for just a bit and then she was over it. I think she is going to be a tough girl.

It was a legit boo-boo no doubt about it. Might as well get it out of the way right off the get-go.

Since this week is Marcus's Spring Break I made plans for us to go to a furniture tent sale in Nashville on Thursday. This was our first time shopping for furniture since we bought a few pieces (we used a lot of hand me downs) for our current house 5 years ago. It was a lot of fun and we had some success! They are holding it for us until we need it which is so nice and then they will deliver it to us in Kentucky. Love that!

And then we went to maybe my favorite store ever-Cost Plus World Market. Oh good gracious they have everything for decorating your home. Marcus escaped with just a small bill but you better believe I will be back in the future and the bill won't be near as small :)

Tomorrow we are celebrating my birthday a few days early with a trip to Keeneland for some horse racing! I am so excited!! Except for the weather forecast, that has me everything but excited. I'm so pumped though I don't think even coldness could dampen my day! I have the sweetest husband for planning this birthday trip for me!

Have a great weekend! And go Cats!!!

DIY Bathroom Reveal

My #TBT did not happen yesterday, for some reason I thought I was wonder woman this week and could work, start a MBA program, help plan a baby shower, get moved back into our house and blog regularly.

I am not wonder woman :) I sacrificed blog time which is fine with me because everything else had to come first. I've had a very productive week and can't help to get excited about what could be on the horizon.

In other exciting news this beautiful bouquet was delivered to my office Wednesday from my Mom, Mamaw, Paige & Georgia Grace for National Dietitian Day! It was just the pick me up I needed. So so thoughtful!

Now on to the bathroom.

Our bathroom remodel is complete and I'm so happy to share the finished product. It is so bright and clean and sparkly, it has definitely jumped in ranking for my favorite room in the house. This was a DIY project that our friend Chris, Papaw, and Granddad helped us with. They led and we followed :) Actually I just picked out the flooring and shower curtain and cleaned up messes but someone had to do it.

We did a complete renovation with only the toilet and sink/vanity staying from the old bathroom. Go big or go home!

Since everyone loves a good before picture here was our bathroom when we first bought our house in 2009. I forgot to take a before picture prior to renovation but not much has changed except the shower curtain.

And here's the new bathroom!

We painted the walls white, replaced the shower and tub and replaced the floors. The tile work that was in our bathroom was not laid well and had to go. We settled for an insert this time and I'm completely happy with that decision. You'll also notice we covered the window that was once in the shower. Best decision ever.

I took these before we had really moved back in so none of our things (baskets, towel racks) are in place. It looks much more lived in now :) The pedestal sink is a great space saver for our bathroom while still providing under the sink storage. Our medicine cabinet also gives us an extra spot to store things without taking up valuable real estate.

The shower curtain is from good ol' Tar-jay. My sister received one as a wedding gift and I fell in love with it when I saw it in their bathroom. It's even more amazing in person. I love it! We put white wainscotting around the whole shower area. I love the added texture to the room.

And our new tub! As I mentioned our previous tub cracked a few months ago so you can imagine how fun that has been to deal with when you have an one year old. Chris couldn't say enough good things about how well built the new tub is. I also love the built-in shelves which are great for our bottled products.

There are a few more pictures I took that somehow didn't make it off my good camera, I'll try to upload those over the weekend (If I can get our wireless internet back, just found out last night the storm knocked it out too. Geez.)

This was a nice little treat to come home to and Georgia Grace has already taken several baths since that is her new favorite thing along with brushing her teeth. She has turned into little miss hygiene this week :)

Happy weekend!

Weekend: Blogged

Monday already? Say it isn't so.

This weekend went by extra fast since we were so busy getting our house ready to move back into. The vacation to Grandmomma's is almost over ha!

You've probably realized this since I am a blogger but I thought I would mention. I am an open book. I hesitated on putting our bathroom reno stuff on here but I realized this is information we would tell potential buyers anyway so why not document the journey? Our home is the cutest most perfect little bungalow but the bathroom needed some work. We lived with it but decided when it came close to time to put the For Sale sign in the yard that we should fix what needed to be fixed. Now the bathroom will be perfect too! We may never want to leave now ;)

Thursday was my day off like usual but I volunteered and worked at a charity consignment sale called Lil Angel's Attic. This is my 2nd year volunteering and shopping their sale and it never disappoints! Mom and Stan kept Georgia Grace for me and we all met at CFA for lunch. She had to show us her "shake dance" which she inherited from her Aunt Paigey. She is the life of our party!

They took her to the mall for her first carousel ride while I shopped the sale. It was also her first trip to Greenwood Mall. We were laughing because when my sister and I were little girls mom would take us almost every weekend. Times sure have changed!

Georgia Grace came home with some new clothes and....a baby grand piano!! I have been wanting to get her a piano for a while now but couldn't bring myself to pay retail for it. When i saw a pink one at a steal price at the sale I knew I had to take it home. She absolutely loves it! I would love for her to learn to play the piano and become a pianist. I'm hoping early exposure will do the trick.

Saturday was work day. The floor was finished, tub installed, wainscotting nailed down and all the other stuff that goes along with renovating a bathroom. It was production at its finest. Georgia Grace had to come down to check the progress and deliver a pizza to Chris, Papaw, and Daddy. She can't wait to take baths in her new tub!

Daddy started the painting Sunday afternoon. Everything is going to be white and I'm so excited about it. The room already feels bigger and cleaner. 

We hope to be back to home sweet home by the middle of the week. I don't know if we will miss our grandparents or if they will miss us the most :)

Weekend Warrior

This weekend was dedicated to remodeling our bathroom and getting our house back up and running following the havoc from the lightning that struck our house. This winter has been a dozy. As I'm typing this we are covered in about an inch of ice with a projected 7-10 inches of snow falling on top of that! Snow, ice, rain, lightning-we have battled it all.

Our favorite handyman Chris is the brains behind the whole bathroom redo. Papaw, Marcus and Granddad also chipped in to help so they were able to get a lot done this weekend. As you can tell it's a complete demo so the work is not done yet but hopefully we will be moving back in next weekend. Marcus joked that our rent is about due at the grandparents ha!

A whole new bathroom means a new tub. I had to try it on for size (in our living room) before we installed it. It gets my approval. Anything is better than a cracked tub!

Sunday can be summed up in this picture. It was a crazy day with this girl from start to finish. A chocolate donut mess, spilling vinegar, playing in a cat food bowl, and climbing on top of a dresser were the highlights. I think our crazy weather caused some of her extra spunkiness. 

But despite the manic morning we somehow managed to get ourselves cleaned up (twice) and put together to make it to church on time. It would have been an easy Sunday to give in and let the devil claim victory but we didn't and I was proud of us for that. Aunt Shanna came with us since Jake is out of town on storm duty so it was an extra treat having her on the pew with us. Doesn't this girl just have mischief written all over her? :)

And here's what we have to look forward to this week. We are in the darkest purple section. School has already been canceled for Marcus and I don't foresee my car making it out of the driveway tomorrow. I'm hoping it doesn't get as bad as they are projecting. 2009 is still very fresh and no one wants to relive it.

Be safe local friends and anyone effected by this storm.

17 days until Spring!

Week Recap

I feel like I blinked and this week and the month of February was gone. We've had a good week of just doing normal things. We are still at our grandparent's house until our house is fully repaired which is on the agenda for this weekend. We decided while we were vacating the house to go ahead and do a remodeling project that needed to be done before we decide to put it on the market. That has delayed the move back home but we felt it was better to do it now than later. This is a big and exciting step towards the next chapter for my little family!

Thursday morning I got to play with little miss driver and her AKK friends. I was amazed at how well she played with the 2-5 year olds and participated in all the activities. She sure thinks those kids hung the moon and stars. I think she was aggravated about the morning commute in this picture :)

Thursday night we went to Rupp to watch the Cats play Arkansas. It had the potential to be an epic game but ended in disappointment. It's a hard year to be a Kentucky fan (per Kentucky standards) but I wouldn't want to cheer for any other team.

#ruppselfie

We had great seats on the top row of the lower section. Even though we weren't victorious I still enjoyed a night out with my Kentucky boy. Trips that are planned on a complete whim are the best!

Friday night we went to the 12th District Championship game. The tournament was in our town this year so we had to go give our support. Georgia Grace did a lot of clapping and bleacher wallering.

The Bears won! Back to back district champions and a trip to the Region 3 tournament as a #1 seed. It was an exciting game with a huge crowd. I'm proud of the tradition that's being established in our school system.

And just a little peek at what exactly we will be doing this weekend. I can't wait to see the finished project.

Happy Weekend! I'm off to catch some zzzzs before my alarm clock goes off way too early for a Saturday.