Our "little" announcement

 First comes love...

 then comes marriage...

then comes baby!

Yep! We are expecting our first little one, who as of our last doctor visit, is due to arrive June 6th. We are so excited, overwhelmed, nervous and thankful to begin this next chapter in our lives. I am almost 13 weeks, so I can see that wonderful light at the end of the first trimester tunnel! Since this is my first pregnancy I don't really have anything to compare it to, but I would say I've had a pretty tough first trimester...or maybe I'm just a wimp! I've had pretty much all the 'textbook' pregnancy symptoms, mornings sickness and all that jaz. But thankfully I've started to feel better the last several days, well except for the bronchitis and sinus infection I came down with last week. 

We have been to the doctor twice and everything has looked great! We even got to hear the heartbeat at both visits. There is no better sound in the world than that beautiful little heartbeat! We are just praying that our little one continues to grown and develops right on track. We look forward to meeting him/her in June! We will be finding out the gender of baby F, I'm hoping it will happen at our next doctors visit in a few weeks, but it may be our next one depending on if baby cooperates. It has been so much fun to share our news with friends and family around the world. We look forward to sharing more about our growing family over the weeks and months to come!

It's beginning to look like Fall!

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year! When living in Australia I really missed have 4 seasons. Of course they have 4 seasons there, but not like here! Everything is green all year long there,

so no leaves changing colors and falling off the trees. In summer it's hot, in winter it's less hot, but not freezing cold like it gets here. And there certainly were never any snow days...at least not where we lived by the beach! 

I love fall in the south! Pumpkins, mums, beautiful colors, cool crisp air, and I can't forget candy corn and peanuts. It certainly is one of my favorite times of the year! It's finally starting to feel like fall at our house. My mom came to visit this weekend and brought lots of fall decorations to let me use to decorate since we are hosting thanksgiving at our house this year. We also visited a local nursery to pick the perfect pumpkins for our porch. 

We also got a lot of things checked off our "DIY Dream Home" checklist and got a few big projects started. More on that to come!

writing it down

 A very wise man, also known as my daddy, reminded me yesterday that I needed to write things down. I used to be so good at that. The whole reason I started blogging was during my first year of teaching. I remember calling my parents and telling them some of the ridiculous things that happened in my first grade classroom those first few years of teaching and he said I should really write some of those things down, and I did for a while.

The situation that I was telling him about last night happened yesterday. Fridays are crazy in my kindergarten classroom. I mean, seriously I have no idea if its what they feed them for breakfast or what but I feel like Fridays are always crazy! The day ended as usual dismissing the bus riders and daycare kids followed by me walking my car riders out front. A few minutes later a lady from one of the daycares came out to find me to ask if one of my little ones was here today. I said of course and that I sent her to daycare at dismissal. Well she didn't make it there. This particular little one is a little bit...or a lot on the sneaky side. Well she decided she was going to ride the school bus home even though she's never been a bus rider! With the help of one of our parapro's I started running and chasing down buses as they were pulling out of the parking lot, finally we found her. And boy did she get to hear my mean voice and I'm pretty sure she got to hear her grandma's mean voice too when she got home because she wasn't too happy when I called to tell her what happened.

There is never, never a dull moment in Kindergarten! That is what i've learned so far this year. My kids are a wild, crazy bunch but can be oh, so sweet when they want to. Even though teaching can be a challenge and sometimes I want to pull my hair out, but they really are amazing little people that I'm so thankful to have in my life for the next 8 months or so. I'm sure I will have many more stories I should write down over the next several months!

New school year, new adventure!

 A few weeks ago I began my 5th year of teaching and my first year of teaching Kindergarten! Yep, you read that correctly! Two week before I was suppose to start back to work I was told there would be some changes to my position as a GT Specialist and I would no longer be able to work full time at my school, so I would be split between two schools. I wasn't super excited about the thought of spending my time between two schools and all that comes with that. I had a few different options and one of those was to go back into the regular classroom. As much as I enjoyed working in GT there was a huge part of me that really missed being in the classroom and having my own group of kids, so back in the classroom I went! 

The last week of summer and the first few weeks of school have been a whirlwind of moving into and setting up my new classroom, learning a new grade and curriculum, but I am loving it! Being back in the classroom certainly has its own challenges but I know this is exactly where I'm suppose to be. I'm getting to work earlier in the mornings than I ever have before and staying later than I'm used to but I'm finally getting the hang of things and settling into my new position, so hopefully these long hours won't last forever! 

I'm still trucking along with my graduate degree. I'm taking one class this semester, had to drop one because with starting my new position I just couldn't handle 2 classes and a new job this semester! I only have 5 classes left to go. I would say I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but graduation still seems so far away! 

Our house is coming along! We really have been making some progress and now that the weather is cooling off we hope to get a lot of work done in the backyard so we can enjoy it!

Here is a glimpse of my new Kindergarten classroom...my home away from home!

the lake

Do you have a favorite place? You know one of those places that when your there it instantly feels like home. One of those places that always puts a smile on your face. One of those places that holds so many good memories. For me that place is the lake.

When I was about 14 or 15 we went to the lake for the first time. I don't remember a lot about that trip. But a few months later my parents purchased a house there and so began our weekends and summers at the lake. We spent countless weekends there when I was in high school. My parents were great sports putting up me and my wild bunch of friends! In college i'm pretty sure we were there every weekend, since it was only 45 minutes away. It was our escape from dorm life and a free place to do laundry! One of the first weekends my freshman year, my suite mates and across the hall suite mates all went to the lake. I remember being a little nervous because we were all still getting to know each other and wasn't quite sure how the weekend would play out, but it was one of the best weekends. It was the start of a great friendship between me and those 7 girls. Throughout college the lake was our favorite place to be! I remember skipping class, maybe once or twice...driving to the lake with some girl friends in the middle of the week, taking the boat out and enjoying the peace and calm feeling of having the lake to ourselves...until the dance party on the boat began. 

Then after college when I moved to LR the lake became our escape from the "real world" you know, being grown ups with full time jobs and all that stuff! We celebrated birthdays there, had amazing bonfires, saw some of the most beautiful sunsets, and made so many amazing memories over the years. To this day are some of my favorite memories. There were also some memories I would love to forget, like the time my cousin and his friends had an accident on the seadoos and not only did we have to call the paramedics to come out to the boat (don't worry he only had a few broken ribs!) but I also had to call my dad and ask him how we could take the seadoo back to the marina when it was floating in pieces in the lake. Then there was the time my friend was having a little too much fun and busted his chin on the seadoo and we spent the afternoon in the ER. 

When I was living in Australia, I missed the lake. I know...crazy! But for me the lake feels like home. I had some of my best growing up years there and so many of my favorite memories were made there. For me the lake feels like home, I feel like myself there and its one the most relaxing and beautiful places. 

We don't get to spend as much time at the lake now days. But this past weekend the hubby and I, and my parents got to spend a few days together, in one of our favorite places. We didn't do a lot, but it was the perfect weekend.

As you can tell, Marley really loves the lake too! It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend that we all needed.

lately

 I would love to fill you in on all the super fun things I've been doing this summer, but I haven't been doing much anything thats super fun. Depressing...I know. Grad school has taken over my life and my summer...depressing. Thankfully only 3 days left of classes! And teachers go back to school in exactly 2.5 weeks...again, depressing. I love my job. I really do love teaching, but staying home is kinda nice! The first few days I had no idea what to do with myself, but that passed pretty quickly! Now I have a good routine...besides grad school homework, I actually have time to go to the gym/spin class, grocery shopping, clean the house, lunch with friends, afternoons at the pool, errands, etc. I'm really enjoying it. Its going to be really hard to get back into my work routine in a few weeks...and have to wear normal clothes again because I have been living gym clothes and I'm not going to lie, I kind of love it.

So thats our life lately, or my life at least. The hubby is doing great! Loving his new job and praise the Lord, he starts working full time in less than 2 weeks! Our house is still a work in progress and will be for a while, I'm sure. I can't believe we've been homeowners for almost 4 months! We are loving summer in LR and enjoying some weekend getaways since Ben is off on Fridays. Summer has flown by, really this whole year has! Fall will be here before we know it. I will say that is one thing I love about being home in the US is having 4 seasons. In Australia all the seasons just kind of ran together. For example here in the US we have spring everything blooms, and fall the leaves change colors and fall, etc...you get the idea. In Australia everything was green all year round, that was just weird!

Sorry, so short and sweet but its time to go watch a movie and snuggle with my boys (aka-sweet puppy and handsome hubby)!

2 years

I had every intention of posting this on Tuesday...so pretend its Tuesday, y'all! :)

I seriously cannot believe this was 2 years ago!

I married this handsome man! This may be one of my favorite pictures from our 

wedding day...just look at that smile!

We had the most incredible day, surrounded by our family and friends.

It was a beautiful winter day for a wine country wedding. 

I loved him so much on our wedding day.

But 2 years later, I love him more than I ever knew I could!

We've had a roller coaster of a ride during our first 2 years of marriage! But I wouldn't have it any other way. Marriage is hard, but sharing life with this guy is better than I could have ever asked for. I'm proud of us, we've gone through so many ups and downs in our short two years of marriage that most people never experience, and many wouldn't make it through. But he is my partner, for life, no matter what. A few weeks ago had to complete a 'stat dec' not sure if that term is used in the US...I don't think it is...basically its a form with questions and you have to complete it and someone has to notarize that it is in fact truthful. Not sure if I explained that right? Oh, well...moving on. We had to complete stat decs regarding our relationship, to complete my Australian visa. My visa was approved last year, but they want to check up on us and make sure we're still married. The form asked questions about our relationship, how we share responsibilities around the house, about our social lives, etc. We sat down at the kitchen table with each of our forms writing away. At the end we shared with each other what we wrote. Leave it to my sweet husband and an immigration document to make me end up in tears! 

Everyday I am thankful to have him by my side. I love him more than I ever thought I could love another person. He is my best friend, he makes me laugh when I want to cry, he prays for me and with me, he works hard to provide for us, he is passionate, kind, and a really great cook! He puts a smile on my face everyday and he puts up with me when I'm a handful! 

Our first year of being married we spent in Australia, trying to get settled only to find out that was not where we were suppose to be. We spent our second year, starting our life in a new country. I can't wait to see how God will bless us as we start this next year together. 

A year ago

 Today I'm feeling a little sentimental...or maybe nostalgic, so continue reading at your own risk :)

Today is July 3rd in the US and the wee early hours of July 4th in Australia. It was exactly a year ago we were snug in our beds at the Wyndham in Sydney, probably not sleeping because we were so excited about leaving to go to the US that morning! I think July 4th was the perfect day for us to travel to the US. Most people would say Christmas or Thanksgiving would be at the top of their list for their favorite holiday, mine is July 4th! What can I say...I love summer time, BBQ's, fireworks, etc!

We didn't decide to make our trip to the US on July 4th because it was my favorite holiday, but more importantly it was the cheapest day to travel that week! But it couldn't have worked out any better.

I really can't believe we've been here for a year! We left Australia with 2 suitcases each, excited for our few months traveling in the US, not knowing all the blessings God had in store for us. Not only is it the anniversary of when we moved to the US, but it also just a few days before our 2nd wedding anniversary! We have had quite the whirlwind in our first 2 years of being married, but thats deserves a whole post of its own.

I'm so thankful God brought us to the US, just like I'm thankful he took me to Australia. We have been so incredibly blessed in the last year and settled so well into our new life in the US. My heart is extra full today!

Hello, summer break

As of 4:00pm yesterday I am officially (and finally!) on summer break! For most, summer break started 2 weeks ago but I thought sitting in ESL Academy for 13 days straight, 10 hours a day would be so much more fun...not! But I survived! All I have left is a lovely portfolio to complete and turn my paper work into the ADE and I will be ESL endorsed. 

I've know about the ESL academy for years, when I used to teach in LR and I've played around with the idea of getting my ESL endorsement for a few years, and finally decided to go ahead with it, since it will make me more marketable as a teacher and it may come in hand one day if we ever live overseas again.

It was the craziest, most intense 13 days...ever! In fact after the first day I came home in tears telling the hubby I couldn't do it. He sweetly reminded me that I could in fact tough it out and also reminded me of that lovely pay raise that comes with it, can you say motivation?!

Thankfully I had some friends from school there to suffer with. We started around 7:45 ever morning and ended around 6 every night. We had speakers everyday, some days more than one. Some were great, some were painful to listen to. I related ESL academy to flying overseas...For 13 days we were stuck in a room with no windows or contact with the outside world! There were 116 of us crammed in a not so big room, 3 to a table...I was in the middle "seat" the food was not so great, and it was freezing! Ok, so. It exactly like flying overseas but I promise there were some similarities! 

So, hello summer break! Can't wait to see what kind of fun we'll be getting into :)

Master & Den before/after...finally!

We have had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Anytime you get 3 days off from work is bound to be a good weekend. Our weekend began with a camping trip to Petit Jean, but that will be a whole other post! Yes, this girl went camping and slept in a tent for 2 nights!

When we returned to Little Rock we got to spend the rest of the weekend with my parents who came to visit. My mom and I hit the ground running,trying to finish up a few rooms in our house. I'm so thankful for my mom and dad. They have been a huge help to us with our house! I've had a lot of ideas in my head for the house but my mom is so great at putting my ideas together and making them come to life. This weekend we finally finished a few rooms and I'm so excited to share them!

Master bedroom before

Master bedroom after

I love how our master bedroom turned out! We wanted a relaxing, beautiful, clean space and I really felt like we achieved it. When we chose paint colors for our house we knew we wanted neutral, clean colors but we still wanted some color! We picked this green for our master bedroom from Sherwin Williams, it was called liveable green. I love it! We built the whole room around this color, which was a bit of a challenge. I found our bedding at the Pottery Barn outlet store. We opted not to put bedside tables in our room. For a few reasons, really...I couldn't find any that would work with our big room, but also I had these ladder shelves that I couldn't find the right spot for them anywhere else in the house! I love them because for us they are more functional than bedside tables. With the shelves, the wall mounted lighting and the many pillows I figured we could get away with not purchasing a headboard for a while. I made the framed artwork above the dresser from an old calendar with scenes from Italy. We still need blinds in the master bedroom, and the whole house for the matter but other than that, this room is complete! 

We've also been working on our downstairs den, which was a huge job! The painting took quite some time. But my amazing hubby has worked so hard on it and it turned out SO well! Here you go...

The downstairs den before

Downstairs den after

I feel like the lighting is all off in some of thee pictures, I guess that's what I get for only ever using my phone to the photos. 

Again, I'm loving how well this room turned out! Since we have 2 living rooms, we wanted this to be our main, cozy tv living room. We painted it the same as our master bedroom. We bought our white (yes, white...don't worry we bought the fabric protection!) from Hanks Furniture. My mom made our curtains from drop cloth. I love all of the special touches in this room from our wedding and my moms Pinterest creations! Again we still need blinds, a coffee table and a few other things but this room is mostly complete. 

I'm so thankful for our house. We love having a space that is ours and we can make our own. It has been a wonderful journey so far! 

A little "before & after"

I was looking at photos earlier of our house when we first moved in. It already looks so different! So I thought I really needed to share some before and after pics. Its so weird to see what it looked like before. Of course I remember it like that because thats how it looked when we were contemplating buying it, but now it feels so different, it feels like our home.

 Once the house is completely finished (at least up to my standards) I'll post a big update with all of the before and after pictures, but for now ill at least share some of the changes we've been working on!

Looking at the eat in kitchen from the dining room.

Eat in kitchen, from a little different view, but you get the idea. 

We decided to do yellow and grey for our kitchen. Most of our house is neutral/natural colors but in the kitchen I wanted a little pop of color, but still wanted it to flow with the rest of the house. The curtain fabric is from Target, and it is actually a table cloth my mom turned into curtains! She is amazing!!

Forgive the mess in my kitchen! At some point down the road we will paint the cabinets white, put in new counter tops, subway tile back splash, new appliances and hardwood floors...all this will be a ways down the road!

This is our guest room before...

And after...

We didn't have to do a lot to this room, mostly just paint, furniture and curtains. Since we got a new king size bed, we just used our queen bed in here. My parents also brought us over all my bedroom furniture from their house, so we've mixed and matched a little around the house. We still need to order blinds, for the whole house but for the most part this room is almost finished!

My mom made these awesome drop cloth curtains!

This is a little surprise...I made myself a "office" in the closet in the guest room. It's a huge walk in closer, that we really were not going to use. I was wanting a little area (but not the size of a bedroom) to organize some of my school stuff and work on grad school stuff. It's the perfect spot...still a work in progress though. There is still plenty of room in the closet to the left for guest to hang their clothes, and the bedroom has a dresser so all I have to do is close the doors when I don't want to look at my mess!

This was my latest project in the master bedroom this weekend. I can happily say that our master bedroom should be finished this weekend! I actually took a old calendar of Italy to make the 6 framed pieces. Such an easy, cheap project but it fits in that room perfectly, up against the green. So here is a sneak peak of that room, the rest you'll have to wait for my next update! 

making progress

If there is one thing I’ve learned in the last month since we became homeowners, is that we had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into! Ok, well maybe my husband knew a little more than I did, but I was so busy and focused on understanding the process to buying a house (paperwork with the bank, inspections, insurance, etc) that thinking about all the little (and big!) things we would want to do to the house, was the farthest thing from my mind. Buying, becoming owners and fixing up a house is a journey! For the most part it’s been exciting and a lot of fun, at times stressful when things don’t go as planned. We have already learned so much throughout this process; there are so many things I would do differently next time, or things I now know to look for in the next house (i.e.-buy a house with good windows and blinds!) but we love our house and we love getting to make it our home, even if it’s going to take a while. We’re practicing patience…or my husband would say…I’m practicing patience.

One of our biggest painting projects for the house was painting the downstairs den. It was a HUGE job, but my amazing hubby took his time and it looks amazing! We are still working on putting that room together, getting the shelves back together, curtains made, our new furniture arrived, etc. My goal is to just get one room finished. I think i'll feel a lot better after that happens. We have made a lot of progress with the house and a lot of the rooms are almost finished, but I would love to have just 1 room completly finished! Once we've made a little more progress, I'll post a lot of before/after pictures of the house.

Den-BEFORE (Painting)

 Den- AFTER (Painting)

My husband has been working so incredibly hard on our house! I love being able to see him do something he loves and I know the finished product, even though it may take a few years, will be well worth it! I'm excited to be able to have friends and family over for cookouts and parties, looking forward to having houseguest now that we finally have a guest room, and I love knowing that the "spare room" is going to get to be a nursery some day. Its so nice to finally feel at home and settled, after several years of not feeling that way. 

The house is taking up a lot of our life...but we still have a lot going on! Ben has been working part time for a contractor, which has been such a blessing. We are still looking for full time work for him, but in the meantime, God has blessed us so much with Ben being able to work part time and still be able to work on our house.

I have finished my 2nd semester of grad school! I'm so thankful to have a few weeks off before summer classes start. So far I've made straight A's the last 2 semesters, which I'm kinda shocked about, but so excited! When I started grad school in the fall I was a little concerned about starting that and a new job and having just moved back to the US and dealing with immigration stuff and how I would be able to handle everything, so I'm extremly proud of myself for doing as well as I did. I have 2 more GT grad classes to take this summer to complete the course work for my GT endorsement for my licensure, however I'm also taking 12 other graduate hours via the ESL Academy through Henderson State University. Yep...it's going to be a crazy summer for me! But it will be worth the pay raise next year, plus I'll have 2 new endorsements for my teaching license, which professional I feel is a good move.

We placed membership almost 2 weeks ago at Little Rock Church. The journey to find a church home in LR was long, but we are so thankful that God lead us to Little Rock Church. We have made so many good friendships there already and we really look forward to getting involved and building new relationships through the church family. I'm thankful we have found a place we can grown and to know that when we have kids they will be surrounded by such a loving and encouraging group of people. 

I can't believe the school years is winding down, although there is a little part of me that is SO excited it is! I love my job, but these last 9 months or so have had so many big things going on it will be nice to have a break from work and have one less thing to think about, for at least a few weeks. 

Alright, my lunch break is up...time to get back to work. More house updates and photos to come!

house update & my 90 day challenge

 I've been a slacker with updating about the 'house' progress, but lets face it...I have a full time job, plus moving and getting settled into a house could be considered a second job, so I've been busy. We are loving it though! Most of it...except all those lovely little things you discover about your house, that you didn't think to check or relize when you were looking. Oh, well...to late now! I think when buying a house you should be able to spend one night/day at the house before closing on it. I know thats weird, and when it came down to it I probably wouldn't actually want to, but there is so much you don't really know when buying  house until you are actually living there. Thankfully, we haven't run into anything major, just things that are going on the list that we didn't think of at first, or in some cases things that were on the list that have been moved up to the top. For example, in our master bath we have this old exhaust fan that has a heater built into it and its on one switch, so when its on both the heater and fan are on. Its old and lovely, and works ok. But I'm just thinking ahead to summer, when its already hot outside I'm really not going to want to have that heater/fan on after I get out of the shower. Also, although it works ok...apparently my hubby and I like much hotter showers than the former owners becuase when we shower, the wallpaper has started peeling off the walls. Yep. Which in some ways is great, beacuse at some point we were going to take it down. Oh, the joys of owning a home!

The painting is almost complete! My hubby is finishing the downstairs den as we speak, then we need to take the wallpaper down in the dining room and our bathroom and paint those and then we are finished with the painting! Until we decide to tackel the paint on the outside...but that is a ways down the road. My mom is in town this weekend to help us make some curtains, hang some things, etc. She is AMAZING! Its nice having our own personal decorator! We have/had some good ideas, but my mom is so great at helping our ideas come to life. I can't wait to see what it looks like by the end of the weekend, I'll be sure to share pictures!

So, changing gears a bit...I'm starting my 90 day weight loss challege today with Body by Vi! I had never head of the 90 day challege before, until sometime last year I think right around the time we moved to LR, a friend of ours in Texas had been doing it and she looks amazing!! I still don't know of anyone close by that is doing it, which sucks a little bit, but I know I have a great network of friends and family that are always supportive whether it be via email, texts or in person. I'm really excited to see where this adventure will take me over the next 90+ days! I feel like I have always struggled on and off with my weight. I think when we got married we both got a little "too" comfortable if you know what I mean! Plus with everything we've had going on in the last year since moving here etc, we've had a lot of stress which has not been good for me or my body, and it shows. We kind of decided when we bought our house, that it was going to be a fresh start for us and for me I really wanted to work on me as a part of this fresh start. And a huge part of that is losing some weight! I've done it before, I can do it again and I'm excited to be apart of the 90 day challege to encourage and support me as I reach my goals. As for goals, I'm still working on the specifics! But overall I just want to be healthy and lose weight, mostly for myself but also for my husband and our future kids, our family. God has given me a beautiful life and a beautiful body. I need to make sure I'm treating this body he blessed me with, well! So I can live and enjoy this beautiful life he has blessed me with! 

If you want to know more about the 90 day challenge, please let me know! I would love to have a friend join me for encouragement and accountability!

Moving Day!

I don’t particularly like moving. I mean, who really does? I think I’m good at moving…all the packing, getting things organized and utilities set up, etc… but that doesn’t mean I enjoy it. My good friend, Kristi can tell you…I was just not with it on Saturday, which was our big moving day!


The last 10-11 days since we became homeowners have been a blur! We spent most of last week packing, moving little bits here and there, picking pain colors, cleaning, painting (ok, yes the hubby did MOST of the painting!) oh and yes, I worked all week and it was testing week! So by the time moving day got here, I was already exhausted!

We had some AMAZING friends come help at all different stages during the move! We could not have done it without them! And of course my WONDERFUL parents! They brought a U-Haul trailer from Memphis with furniture to fill our giant house, the rest of my stuff we had been storing at their house, and all of my childhood belongings! We seriously have the best friends and family, ever.

We are slowly, but surely unpacking and trying to get settled. Our house is still a BIG work in progress. We got about half of the house painted before we moved in, so we still have a bit to go. There are a lot of little projects here and there we want to do (changing light fixtures, etc) and some big projects (adding retaining walls to the backyard, re-doing the kitchen, etc). There is a part of me that just can’t wait to have it all done and by done I mean, unpacked, decorated, and labeled, but I know this is going to take some time, so I’m just trying to relax and enjoy the process. In the meantime I’m spending a lot of time on Pinterest, plotting/planning what each room will look like! And I’ve got enough boxes and plastic tubs to go through from my parent’s house to keep me busy for a while. One of my goals for our home is for it to feel warm and inviting, and functional but not cluttered! I’ve done cluttered before and I refuse to do it again. Just because we have moved from 700 sq feet to almost 1,900 sq ft does not mean I need to fill our house full of “stuff” or as my husband puts it, “We don’t need to have a picture hanging on each wall!” He’s right…sometimes :)

We will be having a garage sale with some friends in May. Hopefully we will be able to clean out some junk and make some money!

I’ll try to update soon with some photos of our work in progress. In the meantime I can’t wait to see what else home ownership has in store for us…hopefully no more toilets overflowing, which lead to my hubby having to rip carpet out of a bathroom at 10:30 at night! Yes, that really did happen, and yes it was our 2nd night in the house! Good thing we were planning on ripping the carpet out of the bathroom anyways…so this just gave us a jump start (and why on earth would someone put carpet in a bathroom anyways?!?)

Surprise...we're homeowners!

So, yesterday we bought a house!! Yes, you read that correctly. Man, it was hard keeping this secret, but it all happened pretty quickly and here we are, homeowners! We've been looking online and with our realtor off and on for a while and at the end of February we were driving through a neighborhood in Midtown that I had heard of, but never been through even when I lived in Little Rock several years ago. We had seen the particular house online and liked it and thought it had potential but we just weren't sure about the neighborhood because we had primarily been looking in West LR. As soon as we pulled up in the driveway I had a good feeling. We went through it, and from what I can remember we were both pretty quiet, taking it all in. We went home, talked and prayed about it and called or realtor to see if we could look at it again the next day. We went back the next day and it just felt like home...well home, that needs some work and a lot of wallpaper taken down! We made an offer that night and that's when the fun began. I left that next afternoon for a women's retreat in Texas, so we got to spend that weekend negotiating while I was in Texas and the hubby was in LR, and by the time I got home we were under contract! The next few weeks were a blur with all the typical house buying stuff, inspections, appraisals, etc. Everything went so smoothly! We still wanted to keep it quiet, just because there is always a chance that these kinds of things can fall through, so we only told a few family and friends, but man it was hard keeping it quiet!

We are SO excited to finally own a home and can't wait to make it our own! The home is 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, it has a large open kitchen and 2 living rooms. It has SO much space! I think that may be my favorite part! For almost the last 3 years I have lived in 700 sq feet or less, so I am just beyond excited to finally have some space!! We are excited to have a home we can grown into for years to come. The home has only had 2 owners, the last owned it for about 30 years and took such great care of it. It's very outdated and has lots of lovely wallpaper but we're ready to tackle it! We're going to start with painting this week and then hope to move in next weekend. There are a lot of little projects and updates we want to tackle, the kitchen, backyard, etc but we are going to take our time and enjoy the process! Here are some pictures of our new home. These are the 'before' pictures...I can't wait to see how everything turns out!

Closing day...with a SOLD sign!! And a whole lot of rain!

Living room to the left of the entry

Dining room

View of the living room/entry from dining room. I LOVE the huge window!

Kitchen with eat in dining room

Kitchen

Downstairs den...this may be our favorite room (once that lovely paneling is painted!)

Master bedroom

Smaller bedroom- this will be an office for now, and one day a nursery (not any day soon!)

Guest Bedroom

Master bathroom

Hall Bath

So, thats our house!! The before pictures anyway. I've been pinning away on Pinterest and we've picked our color pallet (I think!) so I can't wait to see how our ideas come together! If anyone in the LR area are in the market for a new home, we have an AMAZING realtor and mortgage guy that we would love to refer you to!! Stay tuned for lots of renovation updates as we make our new house our home.

Vegas Baby...and a Green Card!

 So, lets just skip the chit chat and get to the good part! Its official...my husband is a permanent resident!! Praise the Lord!! Last week we had our immigration interview in Memphis. We had been praying that it would go smoothly and we would get an answer on the spot, and God blessed us abundantly! From the minute we got there, we were in and out in less than 30 minutes! We were the first couple called in, our interviewer was very friendly and comfortable to speak with. He went through our paperwork, asked us some questions, looked at our binder and then printed out this lovely little sheet that granted by hubby his green card! The real thing should arrive in the mail in a few weeks...and yes, he will actually have a "green" "card" its similar to a drivers license.

This was THE binder! I worked on this for quite some time. Yes, its complete with color coordinated tabs...I am a teacher after all. This is pretty much like a scrapbook of our relationship. It has photos and lots of documentation of our life in Australia and in the US all that lovely stuff to show immigration that we are actually in love, married and all that jazz :)

So after our interview we were off to Las Vegas! This was my first trip to Vegas, and to be honest I probably would have loved Vegas a lot more a few years ago when I was young and single or had an endless amount of cash. I don't gamble, I don't party, I don't shop at high end stores, etc...but I did enjoy the yummy food, the outlet malls and the warm weather! We were so busy trying to fit as much as we could into a short amount of time and with all the wedding events, the 4 days flew by!

We did make it to Arizona and to the Grand Canyon, which was a whole day trip...600 miles and about 10 hours in the car, but totally worth it! 

 Yes..that is my hubby out there on the cliff, and yes...I was freaking out the whole time!

 Breathtaking!

The whole reason we were in Vegas was for my Aunts wedding. It was a beautiful day and she was a beautiful bride! The whole afternoon was so fun. I'm so glad we got to be apart of their special day.

The rest of our time in Vegas was spent seeing the Hoover Dam, dinner at Max Brenner in Cesars Palace, an AMAZING restaurant and chocolate bar that was a favorite of ours in Australia, shopping at the outlets and a stroll down the strip. All of that followed by a 3am wake up call and 6am flight home...at the time that seemed like a good idea. Overall is was a nice getaway and fun to spend time with family and friends that we don't get to see often, and now we can cross Las Vegas off the list.

So, about that BIG update I mentioned last time...tomorrow it all becomes "official" and I can fill you all in!