Moved In!

We are moved in to our house! Lisa's parents and brother and Jameson's parents, brothers, sister, and oldest nephew all came to help us move in. We are very thankful for all the help which allowed for a very smooth move. The weather was absolutely beautiful and everything was moved out of our apartment and into the house by mid-afternoon. In addition to moving, the ladies helped me get a lot of things put away and the guys hung our canoe in the garage, raked leaves, and trimmed trees.

I have spring break this week, so I'm working on getting everything unpacked and organized in the house. The living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and our bedroom are all looking great! We still have a number of boxes to go through in the spare bedroom and papers to file now that we have more file cabinet space. We already have a corner designated garage sale / good will.

I was hoping to post some pictures, but I can't seem to find our camera. As soon as I find it, I'll get pictures posted.

Mom and Dad T. and Uncle Paul and Aunt Carol came up this past weekend and helped us complete a lot of projects. We are very thankful they were willing and able to come help us get so much work done prior to moving in!

Uncle Paul's work truck- equipped with all needed tools. Of course his skill and workmanship is the best part- he's very talented, does great work, and works fast. We certainly appreciate all the work he did for us!


We painted two of the kitchen walls red and the others tan along with the living room. Uncle Paul also installed a dishwasher and the can lights in the soffet (where the cabinets used to hang).




We painted our bedroom blue/gray.

We painted the small bedroom (office) yellow.


In the bathroom, we took down the glass shower doors and put up a curved shower rod, installed a showerhead, exhaust fan and two more lights, changed out the pink sink and toilet for a white sink and toilet. Uncle Paul did the majority of this work, we couldn't have done some of it without him and the parts we could have handled on our own would have taken us considerably longer without his help! He even put an outlet in the cupboard for me so I can leave my curling iron and hair dryer plugged in and in the cupboard (leaving the counter cord and clutter free).

House Projects Weekend #1

Closing on our house went smoothly last weekend and the house is now ours!

Mom and Dad T. came up this weekend to help us get ready for painting weekend (next weekend). We pulled out lots of nails, filled nail holes, took off all the light switch and outlet covers, and took down all the old curtains and the curtain rods and hardware.



In addition, we tackled a few other projects. We removed two sets of cupboards opening up the kitchen and dining room.




We also pulled up the carpet in our bedroom to reveal beautiful hardwood floors (we think they had carpet over them since the house was built).


We'll have more updates to share after next weekend!

Christmas Vacation

We had a great Christmas break, spending two weeks away from home and work to be with family and friends. We left Saturday afternoon for Jameson's family, excited to see our new niece, Lydia.
Jameson w/ Lydia.
Playing catch w/ Arie. (He's in a cast b/c he had a spiral fracture on his right Femur bone).
Playing 'Playdough Pictionary' w/ the family.
Listening to the guys sing hymns in 3-part harmony (or singing with them)- what a wonderful time spent on most visits home.

Even more special is when Grandma R. is over to visit or we go over to her place on Sunday afternoons and she plays piano while the rest of us sing.


We also got to hang out with Adam & Kate (home from CO) and Scott & Lia for an evening.

Christmas Eve we headed to my parents. We decided to go to the Christmas Eve service at First Pres and especially enjoyed the music. We spent Christmas morning eating breakfast cassorale, orange julious, and opening presents w/ my parents (all traditions) and then went to my grandparent's and spent the remainder of the day w/ my relatives.

Friday I was able to get together w/ Darcy, Michelle, and Chelsea (high school friends I hadn't seen since our wedding two years ago). It was good to catch up.

Saturday morning we headed for Boulder, CO w/ my brother and parents. Matt moved out there for an internship w/ a youth group in August so we wanted to see where he was living and visit his church. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed Boulder.

We also spent a couple days by the ski slopes. I skied and Jameson's snowboarded Monday at Copper. Tuesday we explored the shops at Keystone while my dad and Matt skied a second day.



We spend New Year's Eve w/ the family Matt is living with and then headed back to Iowa on Thursday. Friday we headed back to Cedar Falls in time to have coffee w/ Justin & Cassy and lunch w/ Loren (all just passing through Cedar Falls).