Snap Shots of Life

Just dropping in to share our minimal Christmas décor. I didn't ever get around to decorating our exterior or putting up the upstairs tree.  But I love all the red hues in our main living space! Love using these old windows to display our Christmas Cards! It was even warm enough that I did not have to move them for fire building (yet). We use the Santa bucket to put cards without pictures. Not that we like ones with pictures more! I love Christmas Cards so I save them from year to year and enjoy reminiscing. I helped the kids make this 3 or 4 years ago and I will treasure forever!!! How blessed are we to have received the greatest gift ever given!   These little elves bring so much joy to our boys! Zach is on the left and Sara was a new addition this year. Here they are counting down the days! Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

It's been ten years since we said I DO , really? "Are you serious?" - This was my answer when Doug asked me to marry him. I know I'm a pathetic idiot. I was just in shock that he really wanted to marry me. I quickly said yes before he had a chance to really think about my silly question! Now, before I blubber on about how wonderful ten years of marriage is, let me say; it's not all rainbows and butterflies. We've had a few bumps and hiccups along the way, but those have truly made our relationship grow stronger. In our newlywed stage we would occasionally list out why we loved each other. Like for instance; I love the way you leave your laundry on the floor instead of in the hamper or I love the way you burn my fried chicken. You know . . . those type love sayings - just kidding (on the why I love you part because we did say those things too)! So to the love of my life, here are a few reasons I love you! Daddy . . . You accepted this tit...

Back  here   I tried to fix the shoe saga. It worked until our sweet puppy came along and chewed up all the shoes. (sung to tune of itsy bitsy spider and it sounds better!) A couple months ago I purchased the  HEMNES shoe cabinet from Ikea online. I say online to clarify that we are a 4-5 hour drive from an Ikea which is probably a good thing. I finally put it together last night and I am giddy with excitement. It's clean lines and slim design fit perfect in our space. Our house is very open so I needed something that would look nice off the door we use which is in the Dining Room. The site said it would fit 8 pairs of shoes. If you're using for adult shoes that would be accurate, but this will serve mainly for the boys and one drawer is designated for Doug's church shoes. It also boasts another spot for some pretties! Goodbye shoe basket!

Wow, we have been super busy lately and blessed along with way with so many family memories!! Cannot believe it's June already. In January we celebrated our first born son's 8th Birthday. Lockwood loves to help me plan and I'm so thankful that he does. His birthday is 10 short days after Christmas so we whipped up his choice of a Duck Dynasty themed party. Complete with DIY yarn beards and duck calls! February brought us this beautiful 15 year old, a permit, lots of basketball games, and a weekend trip with her girlfriends. We are so proud of the young lady she is becoming! While we're talking about February - our all time favorite sport came in season, SOCCER! All three kids started practice and the boys kicked off their season of Rec. March winds blew up a whirlwind of busy on-the-go-on-the-go-on-the-go . . . Most weeks consisted of at least 4 soccer games and practice in-between. Did I mention that I coached them all? The bo...

We don't have a spacious or grand office space but it is definitely a necessity. When drawing up plans for our house we carved out a little nook off our dining room. Here was the problem! 1) At the time we (I) thought I wanted bright walls throughout our home. The brightest was our office in this lovely orange. I did love the color but found at night when I was up late working on the computer it really hurt my eyes. I finally convinced Doug to let me paint it. No surprise that my favorite color is blue so I first chose a few lighter blue tones but they were meh.... AND then I spotted this beauty  and my mind was made - striped walls! It was a really slow process at first. I had to prime/paint those orange walls three times with the white base. Then measure and tape the walls. For many months there were three lone stripes all lonely in the room. It was a hot mess since I had cleared everything out of the room all pumped to get it done. Fast forward ...