There's No Place Like Home

I know many of you thought it would never happen (I wondered at times too), but we finally bought our first home last September. It has been a wonderful blessing to us. Although I have to admit it is A LOT more work to be a home owner--there's always something to be done. Before we moved, a friend mentioned that I needed to have a room where I could put the boxes that I would not unpack for the next year or so. At the time, I thought he was crazy! I was sure that I would have everything in perfect order in 2 weeks at the most. HA, HA, HA! Well here we are 6 months later and we have yet to finish painting, ripping out old wall paper, hang the pictures on the wall (believe it or not, that seems to be the most stressful thing to me, crazy huh??) and yes unpack about 4 boxes (all Mike's I might add) just to name a few of what seems our never ending house list. Life gets in the way, as well as a lack of money, but never-the-less we love being homeowners and enjoy spending our weekends making our home better.


I have been promising pictures of our home to many since we moved in and I kept thinking, "I need to wait until we get everything fixed just right". Well now I'm thinking that may never happen, so I've just decided to go ahead and post them. While taking the pictures, I realized I should have sent everyone the pictures that were posted on the realty website before we moved in all of our stuff, perhaps then I would be less stressed. Let me forewarn you--the girl's rooms are messy, as is much of the house--I try to clean up before the weekend, but once everyone gets home, it's as if I never touched it. Please remember, it is still a work in progress. In fact, if you look close you can see the crown molding that still needs painting, the chair rail for the kitchen still laying in the formal living room/dining room. and the list goes on...

Foyer

The formal living room and dining room is on the left and the Den is on the right. To the right of the fireplace is a huge picture window looking out to the backyard.
At Christmas we had a big red star hanging over the fireplace and it looked really great, but Mike made me take it down after. I think it should have stayed personally.

The wall paper and light fixtures will be coming down soon in the kitchen and hall bath. We have had the light fixture for months now and we have just not replaced them.

Ariel & Cecily's messy Rooms

Hall Bath

Master Bedroom & Bath

The thing I hate most is how our backyard looks after winter. We have a lot of work to do (something we are learning about b/c we never had to maintain a nice yard at the apartment). Our yard was a great selling point to us when we moved in because the previous owners took such good care of it. The grass was actually like carpet. Our backyard is like a little piece of "Hawaii"--we have several banana and palm trees (which Mike hates) with the pool. In fact, Ariel said when we bought it, "Our backyard is already themed for a luau party." LOL. However, we realized quick that banana and palm trees don't look that great in the winter (or at least in our backyard). Mike also realized to his dismay that they are hard to kill. I purposely tried to keep the ugly banana trees out of the pictures so you don't get a good view of the pool--sorry!

We really have a lot to be thankful for and thank Heavenly Father for all that He has given us. There really is no place like home.