2012- What a year!

As we enter the second week of January, I can't believe how fast 2012 went..and how little I blogged- definite fail on my part. I'm not big into new year's resolutions because they usually end up working out about as well as my blogging skills last year, but I'm promising myself I'll blog more in 2013. Even if it's just for me :) I decided I would start fresh this new year with a look at 2012 in pics- so be warned, there's quite a few of them! 

We started 2012 off with a trip to California for the youth leaders' conference we go to every year at a bible college there. We met some great people from TX the year before, and hung out with them again this time. The weather was great and so were the teachings and new people we met!

February brought our son's 4th birthday!:

March blew in a girls' night at my house (plus our Boogs)...

...a really fun day at Baton Rouge Zoo...

..and a very special trip home to see my parents and grandma, who hadn't seen Boogs since he was 2! 

My Gran and I at the beach:

Boogs enjoying some Florida sunshine!

In April, we moved into our new home, after 6 months of renovation- this is a picture of the new floors that took so much time!

May meant the end of preschool days at the school Boogs had gone to for three years (he did Mom's Day Out for two years and then PreK3 there). It was hard to say goodbye, but we looked forward to a new school in the fall. He had to do his pouty face on the last day-

We also visited France..but only for the afternoon at a birthday party. How cute was this idea??

June brought the start of summer and long days filled with sunshine, friends, and fun! Boogs cruising the Boardwalk with his girl (we've kind of arranged their marriage already..hopefully they agree! haha!):

Crazy days at home waiting for the pool to open!

July meant heat, heat, heat, and youth summer camp! This year we took the youth to TX and they had an absolute blast playing zombie tag, bouncing each other off "the Blob" into the lake, and staying up way too late...it took us adults about a week to get over it!

Silly evenings with daddy at the Boardwalk:

My father-in-law cut down a massive tree using a chain saw and car jack..it was a conversation piece (and prop for pics I guess) for weeks. This is the hubs (right) and his youngest brother enjoying an evening after swimming:

One of the few pics with all three of us in it:

August brought another trip to Florida for my dad and sister's birthdays and some much needed time at the beach!

..and a new toy for daddy. Yikes...

 September eventually came, along with school routines, new beginnings, and my first job since Boogs was born. We were ready! Boog's first day of PreK4:

We had a 50's party for my dad-in-law who turned 50- it was a great night with friends and family celebrating a wonderful man!

October brought our last trip home to Florida for the year to celebrate the hubs' birthday...

..a few fishing days with daddy...

...seeing the Duck Dynasty folks...

...and probably one of my favorite memories of 2012- a trip to Cali with my sweet friends for the pastor's wives conference. We had an amazing time connecting with each other and the Lord while riding bikes around Coronado, laughing at our goofiness, and hearing wonderful teachings and times of worship with hundreds of other women. What a blast!

November brought some wonderful times with friends and family. Whether it was hunting...

car rides...

evenings at the lake...

or moving into the new church- we made some wonderful memories!

And then it was December. We had a truly beautiful holiday season, celebrating the birth of our Savior and a blessed year full of wonderful memories.

We ended 2012 with a bonfire and fireworks with some of our dearest friends..what more could you ask for?

I hope everyone's 2012 was as blessed as our's, and that your 2013 is even better! My mantra for the year: Love Jesus, love others, be good to yourself. God bless your new year! 

(the only pic of myself from 2012 that I'd post online :) )

New beginnings...

Today was the first day of PreK for Boogs, and the first day of work (at his preschool) for me! I taught preschool for four years before he was born, and kept thinking how great it would be if I could go back while he was in PreK. He  went last year to the school I taught at, and then this summer, I found out that a local church was hiring for preschool and thought I should go talk to the director. It ended up being exactly what I was looking for and so Aidan switched schools (which was hard for both of us, since we both loved his old school, but it ended up being wonderful) to be at the same school with me. Here's his first day pic (sorry so dark..he's the one on the left):

His teacher said he had a great day and that he asked a little boy that no one else was playing with if he wanted to come play with him...I think my heart melted. I love that boy! My day was pretty hectic and crazy, but we all got through it and it (usually..) gets easier after the first day. I was actually surprised how well they did and how few tears were shed! 

   We made our last summer trip to FL the second week of August. It's always bittersweet to say goodbye to summer at the beach. You know it'll be waiting for you next summer, but we had so many sweet memories there this summer with my family and friends. Here's a great pic of Boogs at the beach with the puffer fish daddy caught:

..and Daddy at the beach:

...and me and my little sis shopping (I'm not sure what my face is about right here..very weird look, but she's seriously the cutest chick ever):

..and the last is a very blurry pic of my dad at his birthday dinner..very serious of course:

This truly was one of the best summers ever, and I'm so excited for the fall! I've been Pinteresting away my time and can't wait to throw some type of autumn party to actually do some of the million ideas I have! Have a wonderful week everyone!

House remodel pics :)

Yep, I'm finally posting house remodel pics! We're not all the way done (no trim for two months now..), but we're getting there! I wish I was super-techy (or even a little techy) and knew how to post pics next to the "before" pics, but..anyway. So here we go:

Breakfast nook (I absolutely love all the light!)

The living room 

Dining room and view into kitchen (the high bar is where the wall used to be)

Dining room and bar

Hallway (Boog's room is to the left, guest room straight ahead, bathroom to the right and hallway to our room to the direct right).

Guest room (which looks pretty much the same as Boog's room).

The master room (before the floor went in)

   Despite my OCD-ness about taking, saving, and organizing pictures, I can't find any of the kitchen or of the two bathrooms. Bummer. But both bathrooms are still in need of makeovers, so we'll save that until it's all done. And I'll try to remember to take some of the kitchen sometime in the next week or so (it's my hubs favorite room by far). We still need to do trim in the entire house, change fans and lights, and a bunch of little things, but it feels like home and I'm so excited to see what it will look like when we're all done! 

   Other than the house, there's definitely been a lot going on. Mr. T (the hubs) works nights (thankfully only three 12's) and is the youth pastor at our church, so we don't have too many dull moments. Our church has been going through some really awesome stuff- getting a new building, people growing in their relationships with the Lord and each other, and growth in number of families (we're don't have "members"- it's more of a if you come several times, we think of you as a member)- but some hard stuff has happened too. The amazing part is, we serve a God that is more than able to handle all our joys and let downs. He's the Healer of broken hearts and lives, and even though some of the storm clouds haven't totally cleared yet, I'm trusting that He's got something going on with all of it and in the end it will "all work together for good" (Romans 8:28). I have major respect for pastors and their wives (I certainly don't feel like one..ever), and am pretty blessed to have the most incredible pastor and his wife- they have truly been such an amazing influence in Mr. T and my lives. I really encourage all of you in blog world to find a church home that loves Jesus, teaches the Word, and loves people. It'll be more of a blessing than you ever realize! :) 

Summertime!

Wow! Four and a half months fly by! I have to be the world's worst blogger- but I haven't forgotten the bloggy world completely. We moved into the new house in May, and so began the decorating and everything else that goes with a new home. I'm finally getting everything where I want it, but there's some serious work to do still (pics will follow sometime in the next five years...).
   In March, we took a trip to Baton Rouge and went to the awesome zoo there. I love tigers (except the LSU variety), and this was the first time I had ever seen them so near the glass! We finished up with a trip to the mall of Louisiana (and Pottery Barn of course) and got to spend time with a sweet friend that lives down there.

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Then in April, we made our way down to the sugar-white beaches of Destin (my hometown..sniff, sniff), and enjoyed a few days in the sun and surf. My grandma came from Utah and Boogs really enjoyed having both his "grammy" (my mom) and "GG" (my gran) spoiling him!

   In May, Boogs also "graduated" from his preK3 class. I, of course, forgot my camera (mom fail), and so sadly, no pics. He had such a wonderful year and an amazing teacher, but we're ready for preK4 and a new school, which leads me to the next exciting tidbit. In May, I was offered a job at a private preschool and after meeting the wonderful people that run it, I knew it was the job for me. I taught preschool for three years before Boogs was born, and have wanted to return to it, but I've just been waiting for the right school for both me and him to be at. Thankfully, we found it! I'm so excited for September and the new beginnings that await us!

   June passed very quickly with another trip home to Destin for a few days and then Boogs stayed with Grammy, while my husband and I took the youth at our church (hubs is a youth pastor) to summer camp. It was in Texas and about 95-100 degrees all week, so despite sweating like...something not ladylike, we had a total blast. The kids really seemed to grow in their faith, and it was so exciting to see them worshiping together and reading the Word. 

   That's been the last few months in review- we're off to the pool before it's dinner time! Hope ya'll are having an awesome summer! 

The New Nest

So, we bought a house..on Halloween..and I still haven't blogged about it. How sad is that? So here goes:

The new casa...before the work began

View from the living room into dining room
and front door. Don't you just love the three
different floors in one room? Ughh...

View of living and dining rooms from hallway

View of breakfast nook from kitchen...those
charming country counters were immediately
destroyed- what a shame :)

View of the living room from the front door

View of kitchen from breakfast nook

View of other side of kitchen

Because every work site needs a superhero...

Master bedroom with popcorn ceiling scrapings
all over the floor

Our son's new room..which looks exactly like
the other spare room.

Master bathroom...leaves a lot to be desired-
but that's the point in remodeling, right?

The work begins..we started looking at how isolated the kitchen was, and how much we'd like to open up the big room. Then one night we got crazy..and busted the  wall down. The I busted my finger. Then we went home. What a night.

So, that's the house. There's not much we loved about it, but plenty to like. I really like the breakfast nook and the master room is huge (compared to our past two houses). Why we weren't head over heels about it? The amount of remodeling it needed. But we got an amazing deal on it (she actually had it listed for 400 more square feet than it was, and that worked in our favor), and my husband is pretty handy, so we figured no biggie..we got this. Four months into it, I've decided I was about as naive as it comes in home remodeling. I figured, how long could it take to paint, remove the floors, build a bar, and put wood floors in? Well, when you only work on a house on the weekends..it takes awhile. However, I've kind of fallen in love with the place. All the walls are gray now, all the trim and fireplace are white, and all the carpet, old wood floors, and tile are gone. What a difference! It definitely gives you the go-get-'em you need to keep going. The rough part is, we think it'll be at least April before we're in there, and possibly May. We're staining and installing about 1,400 square feet of wood flooring, pouring and staining concrete counter tops, repainting three rooms (how the same paint and same color could come out totally different is beyond me), and installing new hardware and fans in all rooms. Can't Ty and his team come to our house??