April and May 2013

April and May have come and gone. This has been a big year for us so far, and it seems like we've only just begun. I heard this song at lunch today, and it brought back memories of listening to the Carpenters with my mom. It seemed appropriate for this post. 

April consisted of the following shenanigans:

-I spent the first weekend with some amazing women from our church at Women of Joy Conference in Louisville, KY where we got to hear a concert by Jeremy Camp and several awesome speakers such as Lisa Whelchel, Jill Kelly, Liz Curtis Higgs, and Angela Thomas.

Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory

Riding home from the conference on the church bus

Central Women's Ministry

-We ran with the Skyhawk Veteran Association in the UTM ROTC 5k where James and I both won second place in our age/gender categories. Whoop whoop!

SVA before the race

-My mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, a family friend, and I went on a day trip to the Southern Women's Show in Nashville where we got to see Miss Kay.

The Copeland Metals girls at the SWS

Miss Kay Robertson from Duck Dynasty

-Last but not least, James and I both made it through the end of the semester at UTM which is a very busy time for us. James made all A's!

May began with our 5 year anniversary Carnival cruise from Miami to Cozumel, Belize City, Roatan Island, and Grand Cayman. This was by far one of the best times James and I have ever spent together! We made so many memories and experienced several firsts: our first cruise, our first trip to the beach together, our first visit to the Caribbean, and James's first ocean dive. We absolutely loved it! The weather was perfect, there weren't any ship mishaps, and God kept us safe the entire time. Click here to see some photos from our trip.

We both love traveling, and we try to take advantage of any opportunity to travel abroad as often as we can. This trip added 4 new countries to our growing list. James has visited 10: Brazil, Germany, Kuwait, Iraq, Thailand, Peru, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and the Caymans. I have also visited 10: Japan, Thailand, Peru, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and the Caymans. We plan to take a break from traveling abroad next year and go to Colorado where I worked two summers during college - Camp Redcloud. I have been patiently waiting to take James there since we started dating, so I am thrilled that we are finally making plans to go!

The rest of May included:

-Getting gutters installed on our house

-Dog-sitting for my co-worker Somsak. He and his family are from Thailand, so we are taking care of their dog, Junior, while they spend the summer back home. We are not typically dog people, but keeping Junior has been so much fun for me. He is an old dog, so he requires some special attention. I have done my best to make life great for him while he's staying with us. He hardly ever barks, he doesn't jump, and he is fairly obedient. He has the sweetest temperament. Such a good boy!

 
-During the last weekend in May, we went to Paris to spend time with James's family and to go to his 10 year high school reunion. Yes, folks, it's been 10 years. We can't believe it either.

Our nieces Evie and Ava

Our nephew Jax

Our nephew Caden

James and Ariel

Fun at the reunion!

March 2013

March was a particularly chilly yet busy month. Despite the cold weather, my mom, my friend Felecia, and I had a garage sale the second weekend of the month. I spent most of spring break preparing for it, and it went really well! These are the signs I made for it:

My birthday was the day before the garage sale. I spent the day preparing for the sale and cleaning the house. Not the most tempting way to spend a birthday, but honestly cleaning and organizing are two of my favorite things to do on a day off so I enjoyed it very much. Before my parents drove into town that night, James took me to dinner at the Opera House and then we got a strawberry cheesecake to-go from Huddle House. That was the icing on the cake, so to speak.

My parents stayed with us the entire weekend. We had a good time visiting together. My mom had been to our church before, but this was my dad's first time. Earlier that week, I planned out all our meals for the weekend and then made everything gluten-free for my mom. I made a "Pantry Raid" Chicken Enchilada Casserole for dinner Saturday and Slow Cooker Beef Curry for lunch after church on Sunday. Both were fairly simple to make, and the unique flavors were delicious. We didn't eat out a single time, and for our family, that is quite an accomplishment!

James's parents also came to visit us for dinner and a movie one Saturday night this month. We ate Domino's pizza, salad, and Hot Fudge Peanut Butter Pie, and we watched The Hunger Games. James and I both read the trilogy this spring, and this was our first time to see the movie after having read the books. We all enjoyed spending the evening together. I look forward to when our parents can come visit us again.

Hot Fudge Peanut Butter Pie

During one Saturday, my friends Amanda and Tara and I went shopping in Jackson. I love these girls so much and hope that we can turn our annual get-togethers into monthly events like we've been planning to do for the past few years. :) 

   
 Our four year old nephew Jax stayed with us the last weekend in March. We had such a fun time being his "parents" for a few days.

Turning the lights on and off with the remote

Watching Mickey on the big screen

Helping Uncle James pressure wash the house

Helping Uncle James pressure wash the house

The steps before/during pressure washing

 

The steps after pressure washing

After church on Easter Sunday, we drove Jax back to Paris where Tammy had prepared lunch and an egg hunt for the kids. There was a huge turnout for the event. There were kids everywhere. It was so much fun!

Easter deviled eggs that I made for lunch

Egg hunt

Our niece Evie and her eggs

 

Easter bath!

Happy Easter!

During the weekend, we taught Jax the real meaning of Easter. We would ask him, "Why do we celebrate Good Friday?" And he'd reply, "Because Jesus died on the cross!" Then we'd ask, "Why do we celebrate Easter?" He would then say, "Because He rose from the dead!" May we always remember the true meaning of Easter and celebrate Jesus's sacrifice and saving grace each and every day.

Home Improvements

Since becoming homeowners in May 2011, James and I had not done anything different to the house until this fall. First, we had our laundry room and bathroom painted. Then we bought a new front door and had it painted. Finally, we bought a new mailbox from Pottery Barn to top it all off!

Bathroom Before:

Bathroom After:

Laundry Room Before:

Laundry Room After:

Front Door Before:

Front Door After:

Dresser Transformation

We bought this dresser for a great deal and then had it repainted. I've been meaning to post before and after pictures since June. 

Before (James didn't really like the white, and there were also some major nicks in the paint.)

We were going out on a limb choosing the color, but we think it turned out quite lovely.

What do you think?

Buying Our First Sofa

James and I have wanted to get a sectional sofa for our new living room ever since we first saw the house. We looked in a few furniture stores, but we had not seen anything that interested us.

Last week while browsing "Swap Shop" emails at work, I noticed a post where someone was selling a "Chocolate Brown Leather Sectional Sofa" that was only two years old. This is the photo that the seller posted with the description:

I immediately forwarded the email to James. He liked it too, but he felt the price was a little high. Then yesterday, the woman posted the email again. That meant the sofa had not been sold yet. I again sent the email to James who this time decided I should go check it out. I drove to a nearby town where a single, non-smoking, non-pet-owner welcomed me into her lovely home. The couch is even more beautiful in person. It is in almost perfect condition. There is a small spot where the movers had nicked the back of the couch on the brick steps, and it's because of that nick that the seller went down in price by $300 right then and there. You seriously can barely even see the nick. When she offered me the lowered price, I jumped at the opportunity and wrote her a check. James will be home from drill at the end of the week, so over the weekend he will pick up our new sectional sofa and move it into our living room!

New Home Photo Update