The Chance of a Lifetime: January 2012

Monday, January 16, 2012

Long overdue...

Well, a TON of progress has gone on with the house since my last post. In fact, we are just about 3 weeks from completion if everything continues and stays on track. We have been amazed at the progress and the group of individuals we have worked with. All in all everyone has been prompt and precise in their skills. It has been quite overwhelming to organize and plan all steps in the correct order at the correct time, but we can see the light at the end!!! We are in the final stages now...trim work, final painting and finishing touches. It has been very satisfying to see our hard work near complete and the end product better than we could have dreamed. Steps we have taken...

insulation going in

insulation in the kitchen/dining area

exterior complete

drywall goes up

drywall at furniture nook/entry

drywall upstairs

view from second story...the whole clan!!!

rock on fireplace

and at kitchen island

texture on walls

texture in dining area/great room

texture in game room

paining begins...blue master bath

kids' bathroom floor tile

utility tile

tile in master bath

lighting fixtures go up

cabinets are installed

more cabinets in kitchen

built-ins in great room/lighting

tile around master bath tub

interior doors hung

girls' bath wall tile

Colten's shower tile

railing up

front lighting fixtures

fixtures at garage

More to come...the final post hopefully!!!

Christmas and New Years at the ranch

On a side note...in between Christmas and New Years our baby girl turned 11 MONTHS...waaaay too close to 12 months in my opinion. I just cannot believe how quickly this year has flown by, seems like just yesterday I was as big as a horse and just weeks away from meeting our precious Carrys Faye. She is well on her way to walking and is loving this new independence she has found. We all absolutely adore her and are so thankful for the incredible blessing she is to our family...

taking in all the Christmas festivities

gaining confidence and balance

BIG girl in Mommy's little rocking chair

We celebrated Christmas with my family in Llano over New Year's weekend. It was a FULL weekend to say the least. We arrived Friday and the kiddos opened presents that evening from my extended family. The next morning we had "Christmas" with my parents and sister's family. It's always so fun to see the kids' excitement and anticipation at what gifts are under the tree. New Year's eve we celebrated my parents and aunt and uncle's 40th wedding anniversary. My sister, cousins and I held a small reception to honor their milestone. It was a great party with a fantastic slide show showcasing all 40 wedded years created by my sister and yummy cake made by my cousin Kristi. We had a great time honoring all 4 of them!!! We then ate out and rung in the new year with fireworks!!!

New Year's day brought more celebrating as we got together with my dad's side of the family to celebrate my grandfather's birthday AND one last Christmas. It was a non-stop, event-filled weekend!!! We had a wonderful time and are always SO blessed by our time with everyone...

Carrys, heading to give Ryder some kisses