A Year in Review: 2013

Are we really at the end of yet another year? 

I think this year has by far gone by so much faster than any other year and I am just in awe that its over. 

What a year it has been! 2013 holds some of my greatest memories. We welcomed our sweet Paisley Grace into the world at the beginning of last year, and what a joy she has been. We've survived our first year as new parents woohoo! Im sure we could safely say that the reason time has flown by so fast is because of Paisley. She's added so much joy, happiness and color to our lives. Its been a fun year just watching her grow up and blossom into a little personality. Im not sure what we ever did without her except get a full nights sleep ;) 

In October we bought our first house! The process was grueling and sometimes the perks of being a homeowner are somewhat overwhelming but I am in love with our new home. We have truly been able to make it completely ours and its been such an experience to see its transformation. We have lots of work left to do, but its come along so beautifully!

With the hubs being a teacher, we were able to spend part of our time in CO this summer with my family and having them meet Paisley and what a trip! We also were able to welcome my niece, Bentlee into the world with my family and what a joy she and Kylar are! I wish that we lived closer so that Paisley could grow up with all her cousins ;) Soon we will be welcoming Kohen Samuel into the world and Im sure he will steal our hearts just as Kylar and Bentlee have.

Other than the big purchase of our house, Aaron and I were able to finally buy an upscale keyboard! We've been looking for the last year and a half and finally found a deal too good to pass up! Now this baby sits in our office and will be a great thing for this next year when I begin teaching vocal lessons out of our house! So much in store all because of one instrument!

Aaron and I have had the privilege of leading the worship for our college and career group and its been such a fun experience! We might be small in numbers but we've had some awesome times! I cant wait to see what will take place in 2014 in this ministry!

There are still so many great memories, and some tougher times that we've experienced and other than the birth of Paisley, Christmas with Paisley has been the highlight of the year. She has been too much fun, and its like I am getting to live life all over again through her eyes and see everything for the first time! Her favorites have been the Christmas tree and all the lights. She marvels in the sight of each shining light and gets so giddy over them that your heart cant help but melt :)

I hope you all have had an amazing year and you have a very...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

CANT BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED...

My hubs and I have been trying hard for the last month to pick out hardwood flooring from Build Direct and finally had our flooring picked out and ready to go, UNTIL we got an email this morning for a free product giveaway IF you were the first person to find the new product and click on it. Most of the time its flooring that they giveaway and sometimes its other things like siding for the outside of your home. They only run it for a one hour time period, anywhere in that time frame it could appear and if you are the winner you also get free shipping. Sounds like a whole new round of Black Friday to get us prepared for the "real deal." We both were super stoked when we saw the email this morning and thought that could never happen to us, but we were willing to  prepare ourselves and give it a shot. With having to come up with more money for our closing costs, we really need all the help that we can get right now, and unfortunately, the house needs new flooring before we move in, so I'm telling y'all this a BIG deal for us!

5:30 pm hits and Im having my hubby ride shot gun so he can study and scope everything out while we head to my Mother-in-laws for dinner. We sound a little crazy now that I am writing all of this, but hey free flooring, who is not willing to at least try?? You outta yo mind if you let this one go. Just sayin!

We get ourselves ready for the 6:00 o'clock go time. We were perfectly set with three computers and several Iphones. We each had a page assignment and knew exactly what we were looking for once the giveaway began. We had prayed the whole way from our house that we would have major favor, I cant forget that detail. Anywho. 6:00 o' clock hits and we all refresh and like typical Black Friday madness, the site turned really slow. When my page finally loaded I scrolled straight to the bottom looking for the purple tag, and right away, I FOUND THE FREE PRODUCT, only problem....my HUBBY HAD GOTTEN TO IT FIRST!! WE WON FREE FLOORING!!! We had been interested in engineered hardwood and previous giveaways had been laminate, and lets just say we got EVERYTHING that we prayed for. Its bamboo and more expensive than the one that we chose, but I am completely in awe, shocked, overwhelmed by Gods goodness and so darn excited that we WON FLOORING!! The giveaway was for 450 sq ft, which is a tiny bit less than half of what we need! It saves us $1,500, maybe more when you factor in the free shipping, but nonetheless, God is good and we had major, major, MAJOR favor!! How lucky we are to be like 1 in a million to win the free giveaway??? Oh this girl may not sleep tonight because she is so excited!! Everything about this house has Gods name and his favor completely marked all over it. Story for another day. Promise!

Well, my friends, I am off to bed to try and sleep before the little one is up and hungry again. 

Nighty-Night!

New Home!!

We are in the process of buying a home and yesterday was our home inspection. Here is what I learned:

Our inspection wasnt great but it wasnt terrible. For being a 30 year old home, we expected to have a few things go wrong, but there were a few more than what we would have liked to have seen. Let's just say that a few things we wanted to do, now have to get done quicker, but hey I wont complain except for the $ signs.

The previous homeowner looked like they did all their own electrical which means, you guessed it, incorrectly. Alot of the electrical has to be redone and labeled since nothing is labeled on the panel box.
They also put in new windows, and an expensive sliding door to the back with expensive built in blinds, but, they were also put in incorrectly. This one we will let slide since it doesnt affect anything right now, but eventually we will have to figure out how to put them in correctly.

The guest bathroom has to get a complete renvo for the shower and the bath. It doesnt hurt to have to but in a new tub for my baby girl, but everything has to be replaced {tile, shower, bath} the goods basically, but luckily when we priced it out yesterday it will be about a $300 job if we can do it correctly and inexpensively.

The A/C has never been cleaned, or at least in a very long while, so we have to get that taken care of since the county failed the inspection. EEEK :/ Some boot thing is missing from the roof, so we just have to get that put on, but its not a big deal at all.

The water heater is leaking into the wall. We arent sure of how bad the damage is, but I'm hoping and praying its not a major thing. Also, my hubby is a little happy about this one because it means we get to paint the exterior of the house a lot quicker than we had planned on. The paint is the original paint from when the house was built, and it somehow is absorbing all the moisture from outside and getting into the walls. Doesnt seem to be bad, but it just means that the house has to get exterior paint asap. Yesterday we learned how important paint is on your home. It blocks the moisture from getting in, and well, when we touched the outside the paint literally wiped off. Not a good thing for rainy ole FL especially since the bay is at the end of our street.

Plumbing is having some issues as well. Could just be a simply run the snake down the drain kinda fix or it could be a big process. Not sure till we have someone come in and look.

Everything else seems to be good. The kitchen is the original kitchen, but will be getting a complete overhaul next summer. Flooring has got to go and that is on the list for to dos first!

All in all, it wasnt that bad, but it was ca-ching, ca-ching every time the inspector said something. We will try to negotiate some with the seller, so crossing our fingers, hoping, praying he will fix the plumbing, the walls, and the electric. Luckily, we know an A/C guy who is willing to come clean everything and make it like new for FREE!!! 

Hello new floors, new bathroom, new paint {inside and out}and no more popcorn ceilings!! Cant wait to move into our home, but getting into the home is quite expensive, well, unless you get a home that is already done the way you want it, but then where would the fun be in making and designing what you really want?

Any suggestions on exterior paint? Brands? etc?