Making a House a Home: Part One

Our house has "Good Bones" or that is what our realtor said.
This is a cool way to say that it was beyond out dated but has a great layout and solid structure.
Which translates into "this is gonna be a lot of work".
Which is exactly what we wanted.  Something we could make our own and we could do it in our own time.
Then we found out we were pregnant.
Suddenly, all this time we had turned in to 9 months.
No regrets...we just might not get to everything.
We have already made so many changes and I am loving it!

Dining area before...

Please note that there were 3 layers of wallpaper in the kitchen and dining area...

We removed all the wallpaper {thanks to my family}! We also hired a contractor to remove the popcorn texture on the ceiling and have it re textured then they also did the texture on the kitchen walls!

Then the painting began!

I love the color!

We need to decorate, refinish the cabinets and put up crown molding but I love my kitchen!

Laundry room before...

We found this great blue paint at Lowes for $5 I couldn't wait to get it on the walls!

{Always check the paint department for mistinted paint...this was a great find!}

My sweet Mama helping us out!!

It really tuned out great...but it didn't take me long to get sick of looking at those shelves...

My sister found this great fabric when we were Black Friday shopping so I made these curtains {I did 3 panels to make it easier to get behind them.} for less than $5.

Laundry room makeover for 10 bucks!!

{We also pulled the contact paper off of the existing shelves and just painted them with paint for the trim which we already had. Also, I used a shower curtain rod that was left behind by the previous owner to hang the curtain. So literally this room cost us $10}

We really do love this  house and really have enjoyed making all these changes!

Baby Story: How we found out!

Back Story: (to get straight to the baby part proceed to the 3rd paragraph)


Anyone that knows me at all probably knows that we were having some trouble getting pregnant. We didn't wait to start trying after we got married (we knew we wanted kids and we knew it wouldn't be easy for us). We tried for a year and then sought some help. I had/have (no cure) endometriosis and polycystic ovaries and a severe case of both.  I had surgery and it turned out that some of the cysts had grown on my tubes and they were blocked.  Luckily my wonderful doctor was able to repair all the damage and was hopeful that we would be pregnant soon. Long story short...we obviously didn't get pregnant.  I did feel good for awhile though. Even lost a little weight and started having regular cycles.  This unfortunately, didn't last long.  I finally listened to my bff and went to who we lovingly refer to as our Witch Doctor. Email me or comment if you would like to know more, I am happy to share and will probably post more about it late. I do credit nutritional response therapy (NRT) for my being able to finally conceive (that and the fact that I believe it happen exactly when it was supposed to as part of God's plan for us, more on that too).


Anyway...I tell you all of this to say that we still didn't get pregnant right away but we expect as much. This healing approach (unlike surgery) isn't a quick fix. It takes time to heal our bodies naturally. I did again, feel better and have regular cycles again. At any rate, by this time summer was nearing and bringing with it our move to Texas. For the first time in 2 years I was too busy and loving life too much to be thinking about why I still wasn't pregnant. We packed up, vacationed, road tripped and had a blast!


Not long after we arrived in Texas we adopted a puppy (thinking...it's just not our time to have a baby). That same week I realized I was late and this made me sad. I didn't think that I was pregnant rather I thought that because I hadn't been following my treatment plan and was relapsing back to having irregular cycles.  On Saturday, July 30th, I took a pregnancy test (first time in a while...which is saying something) and there was a faint second line.  The old me would have jumped for joy and ran off to share the news. The me that took that test just could believe it. I decided to dismiss it and go shopping with my Mama! The next morning, Sunday the 31st, I felt like I should really take another test. This one was brightly positive and it didn't even take the recommended 2 minutes.  We were speaking that morning in church and I just couldn't bring myself to spill the beans just yet!


After church everyone wanted to nap and my mind was running full speed on how I wanted to tell Will.  He was almost asleep when I just couldn't take it anymore.  I went to the bedroom (my old room at my parents, we were still living there while we worked on the house) and asked him if we could talk about what I wanted to do to the bedroom that was across the hall from ours (I was constantly droning on about all the plans I had for our home).  He sleepily agreed to hear my plan.  I started describing how I wanted the room to be arranged with a crib and rocking chair...at first he didn't catch on until I said that we should probably get it done by next spring! We hugged, laughed and cried and it was the most amazing moment that we have shared since we became husband and wife!!

Overdue Update

I'm trying to reintroduce myself to blogland and I know my last post was also an "update" post but I'm hoping to get back in a grove of posting. Until then...one more update!


*We had an AMAZING SUMMER! We took lots if trips while we were still in New England. Vermont, Bar Harbor and many trips to Boston. (Trips will be posted individually...I have LOTS if photos).


*Road Trip Extravaganza Summer 2011 was AWESOME! We started by heading down to Washington D.C. to visit with one of my oldest friends! My high school buddy, Jessica was kind enough to host us and be our tour guide!

*Then we drove on over to Ohio to stay with the fabulous Ashton Dene'! This was our first face to face meeting and it was glorious! Baseball game, day at the zoo and Glee Karaoke! #blogfriendsarereal

*Next stop: Illinois! We visited with Will's family and took a trip to St. Louis to go to Six Flags with our niece and nephew! That might have been the best day of the entire trip! Of course we took a drive to visit Grandma Worthen...I love that little lady! The last few days we spent alone in Nauvoo and it was so wonderful! Visiting sites filled with our religious history was a great experience and certainly one I would like to repeat. The pageant was spectacular, moving and so spiritual! 


*Our final stop before crossing the Red River (it was rather low to be called a river) into Texas...Claremore, Oklahoma! Jenn is my sister from another mother! No. Really. We even share our birthday! We get together as often as we can and we just had to stop in on our way home. It was the perfect ending to the Road Trip Extravaganza! We lounged in the pool and soaked up some sun and had lots of laughs!


*Once in Texas we crashed at my Mama and Daddy's house while we waited to close on our house (which took forever)! There were family gatherings and lots of good times!! Once we got into the house there was lots of work to do and more parties to be had! 


*We adopted a sweet puppy and her name is Reba! We love her!


*We are moved in and pretty settled but still working on a few home improvements!


*Oh and we are expecting a little girl due at the end of March! We found out just after we adopted Reba! (lots more to come on this subject!!!)


There is more to come so please come back and check in!! We are just loving life and enjoying the holidays and being with family! I want to share all of these new changes with you and I have also become quite crafty (thanks to being a stay-at-home-almost mom) so I want to share that with you as well!!! 


See you again soon!


XOXO
Kimberly

Cure for the winter blues

Summer Dream. 

Bare shoulders,

hot sun,

sticky heat, 

the quiet of early morning fishing, 

the noise of the jet ski and boat, 

camping, 

watermelon and 

tan lines. 

These are the things that I dream about to get me through winter. I miss Texas summers. My family spends lots of time camping at the lake and I CAN'T WAIT for this summer!

These are a few photos from my last summer in Texas...

Dream on! Winter can't last forever!

Marching Orders

So...
It is almost transfer season for the Coast Guard.
We have waited and waited and, oh yeah, we waited some more.
Our new orders have finally come...
We will be packing up and moving back down to TEXAS this July!
I honestly can't believe that our time here is up.  Well, in our current situation (buried under 100 feet of snow) I would move tomorrow.  Seriously, I can't believe that is has almost been 3 years!
We have had such an AMAZING time here and have made some amazing friendships.  
There is this one friend that I honestly don't know how I will live without and many more that will have a place in my heart (and in our spare bedroom...should they choose to visit) forever.


Boston will always be special to us.  It is where the "married" chapter of our lives began. 
We traveled all over New England and have seen some pretty awesome things. 


Please know that this is the first of many sappy "Boston, We will miss you" posts...now that I am writing again. I am thinking that I will share a photo a week of something that we love about this place! 


I have SO much to write about since I went on my unannounced sabbatical...I am even going to talk about why I stopped writing (because I know that you are all dying to find out ;-) 


More posts to come!!

Weekend in Texas...Welcome Home Jake!!

My (BIG) Little brother Jacob just returned home from a 2 year mission for our church. We were only permitted to talk to him over the phone few times and we couldn't see him at all. This is tuff on a tight-nit family like ours. I am SO proud of Jake. He did such a great job. He spent 2 years of life sharing what be believes and I love him for it. I am not perfect and have made my share of mistakes. Seeing Jake's dedication and sacrifice has made me want to be better. He has grown up so much...literally, I think he grew another 6 inches. (he already towered over all of us)

We had parties, we played, we ate, and laughed. It was a great trip.

lOvE yA, JaKE!!