Last Day at the Beach

Today is our last full day on the beach. We'll leave here and head to The Hard Rock Hotel in Buloxi, MS in the morning. We had our traditional pictures on the beach last night and this is one of my favorite pictures from the "shoot". I'm ready to be home!!!

No Words...

Well, maybe a few. This is my gorgeous daughter, Paige. Have you met her? She's got a contagious smile, an adorable laugh, and loves to play and have fun. My desire is to be more like her...Gosh, I love this kid.

Gulf Shores...Day 2

We've been nothing but beach bums on this second day of our vacation...and that's the way it's supposed to be!

And I just loved how this edited picture of Paige that I took today...

We Made it to the Beach and Happy Anniversary!

We finally made it to the beach today! We are so thankful that we arrived safely and without incident.

The first picture is obviously of our family on the first day on the beach...the 2nd is of Stephen and I before we went on our anniversary date. We've been married for 6 years today! I can honestly say that being married to a coach is one of the most rewarding/exhausting/stressful experiences I have ever been through in my 26 year life. Stephen tries so hard to be an amazing husband and Daddy to our precious daugher...and I wouldn't change anything about him for anything. Thanks for 6 great years, Babe!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my Daddy and Paige's Papa...(January 2009)

and to my hubby and Paige's Daddy... (January 2009)

and to Stephen's Dad and Paige's Papaw JB...(Beach vacation 2007)

I love all of you and am so thankful to have each of these men in my life!

House Remodel-Part Two

The natural flow of our new house takes us into the kitchen/dining area after the laundry room. Other than painting above the cabinets and changing out the light fixture, we haven't really done anything to the kitchen area yet. We did, however, update the refrigerator and dishwasher and are in the middle of having our drop-in range replaced. I'll do a full kitchen tour once that is replaced.

This is the dining room after I pulled the wallpaper off from below the chair rail. For the most part, it came off fairly easily. But, there were some sections that required a white vinegar/water solution to completely get it off. Our niece, Hallie, was essential in this process...we really couldn't have done it without her!

Here's the new paint job after 3 coats of "Heirloom Red" by Valspar paint...it took 4 coats total. I foolishly thought about painting the laundry room this same color, but thankfully thought better of that idea. 4 coats in a laundry room? I would've died a slow, miserable death!

I've always wanted a red kitchen or dining area and now I finally have it! I'm so glad that I found the right color red for our space...not too pink, not too orange...just a great red that our whole family enjoys!

Here's the finished product, sans dining room furniture. You can get a good view of the new chandelier in this picture...the previous one was original to the 1982 house. It was pretty bad!

I love, love, love our remodeled dining room! It's exactly what I've always wanted for this space. Our furniture fit into the space perfectly and our accessories did as well. We've really enjoyed actually using our dining room table since we've moved into the new house.

House Remodel-Part One

We finally closed on our new house on May 20! Immediately after closing that afternoon, we went to Lowe's and purchased all of our new light fixtures, paint, and supplies. We had picked out the paint colors and light fixtures several weeks beforehand because I'm sick like that. I digress...Bright and early the next morning, I started working on the remodel.

I'll break down the remodel room by room...beginning today with the Laundry Room. I've got to build up the excitement for the Master Bedroom/Bath reveal! (To say it was UGLY before would be a MAJOR understatement!)

Basically every wall in the new house had to be painted (with the exception of Paige's bathroom because it has this weird textured wallpaper on the walls that is actually neutral and somewhat works). The previous paint job consisted of flat paint that was dirty and just plain nasty.

Exhibit A: The laundry room during the "looking for houses" process. Flat, white paint that showed every little handprint on the wall. NASTY.

I've always wanted a chocolate brown laundry room...there's just something about the dark color against the crisp white appliances that makes me all giddy inside! I, however, worried that the color would be too dark and my laundry room would feel like a dungeon. Thankfully, it didn't turn out too dark and I love my space now! This is a picture with only one coat of paint...you'd think that painting over white walls with a dark paint color would only take one coat-not so much. It took 2 coats!

Another view of the room...

Here's the laundry room with the washer and dryer installed-I really LOVE it!


I did this handprint project last year and really wanted to find a space for it in our new laundry room as well. I really love looking at our handprints as I fold the laundry or grab something from the pantry. I have added some more touches to the room...I'll take pictures and update soon!

Lunch Date

Paige and I had a lunch date at Stoby's on Tuesday of this week while Stephen worked with his brother and Dad. We hit up Hobby Lobby before we went to eat, so our appetite was HUGE! We shared cheese dip (of course!) and chicken strips...Paige was a fabulous lunch date!

LadyBacks Game-April 2009

Back in April, we took our softball team to a LadyBacks softball game. Paige and I met them in Fayetteville and although it rained on us on the way up there, we had a good time. Paige got to ride a Razorback outside the new LadyBacks Stadium, Bogle Park.
And because I had driven in a torrential downpour on the way to the game, my nerves were shot to say the least. Paige needed to have some Daddy time so I could regain my composure...Good thing he enjoys holding his baby girl!