My decoration attempts.....

OUR NEW HOUSE

Chad & I are so thankful for the wonderful home the Lord has blessed us with--we truly feel overwhelmed & have had to pinch ourselves several times when we talk about it. We want to use it for God's glory as we live here, have others over, and Lord-willing one day raise a family! (for those of you wondering, that was not a sneeky way of making an announcement....I promise!) We have already made some wonderful memories....having family & friends over, meeting some of our friendly neighbors, decorating the house together (Chad was just thrilled about hanging pictures on the wall--I was thanking him the whole time because he did encounter some frustrations along the way, but he did a great job!) Here are a few pictures of the downstairs; I'll try to keep updating it as the rest gets decorated. Feel free to come & visit......

This is the front door & entryway

This is the looking into the living room from the front doorThis is the living room looking from the dining roomChad had this piano for me one day a couple weeks ago when I came home from work--I couldn't believe it! It is so nice to have one again (it was definitely something I took for granted until I didn't have one).Another shot of the living room looking into the dining roomThis baker's rack was given to us by some people in our church. It was hunter green until I took a can of spray paint to it.....I love that stuff! This is looking into the kitchen from the dining room
An up-close shot of the kitchen counter
Our new refrigerator that we got a good deal on from Lowe's Our cute little pantry (you can see the pantry door from the next shot of the kitchen--through the doorway)
This is our backdoor off of the kitchen
Here is a picture of my kitchen window that I love...
Another shot of the fireplace looking through the hallway doorway

July 4th, 2008

All the yummy food.....

The happy hosts of the party

We all sat in the living room since our table only seats 4 people
The crazy self-timer picture (it was almost 1:00am)
All our friends smiling nicely :)

Melanie & Chad, Forrest & Jessica, Justin

Daniel & Jennifer, Ashley, John & Lindsey

Last year on July 4th I was doing the last of the editing on our wedding programs, and putting together the slideshow for the reception ( I don't even think I saw any fireworks) but this year we got to have some of our friends come over for the evening. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and lots of other yummy food that everyone brought to share. We played some games, watched our very own fireworks display in the backyard (prepared and provided by Forrest & Justin) all the neighbors enjoyed too, and finished up the night with a movie while it was storming outside. But before everyone left we had to take a group picture to capture the memories, so we all gathered around the couch and took 24 pictures until we got the perfect one! I have such great friends to be willing to do that (I know they were all annoyed with me :)We had a great time and hope that our friends did too!