A New Adventure.....

Ladies and gentlemen it's official, Nick and I are HOME OWNERS!!!! We are thrilled to be embarking on this new adventure but a little scared because our home needs a M.A.J.O.R overhaul! We are hoping to have all the work done in 45 days and thought it would be fun to document where we started and where we end up. With that being said, here is our kitchen....

The section of wall Parker is working on will soon be gone and the opening will be walled off to create a "U" shaped kitchen.

We are redoing the cabinets, counters, flooring, and getting all new appliances!

Our dining room! The door leads to the mud room and the window you see will soon be replaced with a sliding glass door!

Well, there's a start! We are so excited and can't wait to show you pictures of our progress!

What a difference a week makes!

Well, today marks the end of our first week. And here is our progress...

Here is the start of our bathroom expansion! We will soon have a double sink and double the size of bathroom we originally had! The floors in here were two layers leno with a layer of sheet rock over that (yes sheet rock on the floor, weird right?) on top of that was another two layers of peel and stick tiles and a few coats of white paint...we still need to get the rest of the tile down and put up new drywall and tear out the toilet, tub, and vanity.

Our kitchen! Or what used to be a kitchen :) Goodbye cabinets, old closet and all THREE layers of leno on the floor. The bottom layer was put on with roofing tar, let me tell you how fun that was to get up! Soon the two entry ways you see will be walled off and the kitchen will be a "U" shape.

This picture gives you a glimpse of the ceilings that my hubby surprised me by scraping all of the popcorn off so I didn't have to! This was a veeerrry messy chore and he did a great job.

 I'm one lucky girl <3

This picture is what the sub floors look like now that they have been painted with KILLS paint. Soon we will do the same to the kitchen and dining room so that the floors are sealed and we can start fresh!

And last but not least..we got a new garage door, this is the old one and of course I forgot to snap a picture of the beautiful new one that is now in its place! And our new roof is going to be complete by tonight! It was a busy week but well worth it, we're almost ready to start putting it all back together!

Oh Valentine's Day

I must admit that I tend to feel as though Valentine's day is one of those consumer holidays that the card companies shove down our throats in hopes of increasing their revenue. Obviously they do a good job because holy cow do they make a lot of money! I'm one of those people that like the random acts of "I love you" but now that I have kids...

I seriously LOVE Valentine's day. There is something about pink and red paper, making crafts, and delivering Valentine's to people with Parker. Today's plan was to have the boys (Parker and Bradyn) make Valentine's and then deliver them around town during the day. Our plans hit a roadblock when poor Bradyn got sick so we had to revamp and attempt a new plan in the afternoon. Instead of our normal Valentine's day heart cookies we cheated and picked up Ileen's cookies (which are wayyyyy better than ours anyway) and went to deliver them. It was so fun to watch Parker deliver his cookies and tell people Happy Valmentine's (yes that is how he pronounced it). We ran short on time so we didn't get to deliver them all but it was a great lesson in giving and a great way to say thanks and I love you. I'm going to attempt to post pictures later of the project Parker made for Nick, it's adorable :)

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!

Why hello again :)

 I started this blog once ok twice before.... I keep thinking that I'm going to have something substantial to discuss. A way to define myself in a way besides that of "mom". You know when you can go out and not talk about how cool your kids are or the grossest thing they've done lately?

Well, I can do that. I just choose not to. At the end of the day the sun rises and sets in the eyes of the two beautiful boys who i'm lucky enough to call my own. So with that warning, my blogging will be about my family, because they are my everything. And this is my journey, the path I've chosen. Some days it is beautiful and somedays I swear it's like climbing up the side of a cliff with nothing to grab on to. But that is my life. Welcome to it :)

I saw God today….

I've been to church, I've read the book, I know He's here but I don't look, near as often as I should.

His finger tips are everywhere, I just slow down to stop and stare; open my eyes and man I swear….

I saw God today.

At church today we celebrated the baptisms of five individuals. I happen to be a huge fan of baptism, something about the moment when someone is pulled up from the cleansing waters and you see that sparkle of hope, and newness that just radiates off of them. The moment that someone realizes that they have been saved….

It's a truly beautiful thing, I think that even if you didn't believe in God in any sense of the word that you couldn't help but feel something when you get to experience something like this with someone. For those of us that do know Christ, it often evokes a great deal of tears. Not because we are sad, but because we too remember the moment that we accepted Christ, and the moment that we knew we were saved. Beautiful cannot begin to describe it.

Today took on a whole new meaning of baptism for me. Today I watched as an entire family stood before our congregation to proudly say that they love God with all their heart. It wasn't too long ago that this same family was before members of the congregation and of their family and friends, but for a very different reason. Only a few months ago they stood before them to say goodbye to a son, a brother, and a friend. To say goodbye to a life that was cut far too short. Or so we thought.

Today however I think that things became a little clearer, in this amazing young man's passing he brought three people to Christ. Actually the number of lives he's affected and changed for the better will probably never be known, but today I experienced the power of forgiveness and the amazing power of God to heal hearts. As I watched this family confess their love for the Lord I thought about past situations in my life where I have chosen to be angry with God, to blame things on Him. Minor things, not getting jobs, not making enough money, not getting the things I want. And yet this family who had just recently experienced a life changing loss was standing before God, thanking Him.

After church our congregation gathered to celebrate, to celebrate the new lives in Him. I overheard the father saying that they wouldn't have made it through without God. I am reminded today that I am so blessed in so many ways, and that my God is a powerful God. He can change hearts and change lives, and all we have to do is ask him. He doesn't do background checks, there's no interview process, no check of our bank account balances; He just loves us, just because. And that is truly BEAUTIFUL.

Far too long...

         I swear that it's not that I don't want to post, I seriously think about it a lot. I just don't ever seem to get the words down. I suppose that it's because I read some really fabulous blogs and when I read mine I'm quickly reminded that I am most certainly not at that point yet. Some day....

        Nevertheless, we have been some busy people these last few weeks! I got to attend a shower in celebration of one of my favorite people on the planet. You know when you meet those people along the way that remind you of what you want to aspire to and just light up any room they're in? She is one of those gals. Meeting her (and some other really fantastic women!) has really opened my eyes to what it is that friends are supposed to be and what it is they should bring out in you. I could go on and on but, anyway, she had a beautiful shower surrounded by so many people who just dearly love her and the amazing new life she will be bringing into the world any day now!

Easter was fantastic, yes I took pictures, no they aren't on here because I can't figure out how to post them. Ahhhh so annoying. We started the day with a wonderful breakfast (if I do say so myself!) searched for Easter eggs around the house, went to a fantastic Easter service with a great message, and then got to enjoy some awesome Texas bbq for lunch with our favorite Texas friends. I can't lie, it made me miss Texas that much more!!!

Wednesday we had our 21 week appointment for baby #2, we got lucky and had an hour and half ultrasound!! How cool is that? We decided that we did want to know the sex because the wait was just killing us, and to no suprise of my husbands family we are having another BOY! I'm not going to lie it was a bit of a shock to me, we were pretty sure it was a girl and the six other ultrasounds we've had didn't show any signs of boy. We are very excited though. I think the most exciting aspect of the appointment was that baby boys heart showed four chambers and blood flow to both the right and left ventricle. This may seem like an odd thing to most but heart problems run pretty high in my fam and when Parker was born with a VSD (also known as a murmur) we were told that our future kids have a double chance of having a more severe defect. We go to Denver on Tuesday to do a fetal echo of his heart to really check things out, so please pray that he's got a good one and we get to deliver here in Cheyenne and take our boy home right away!!

Well, that's a quick catch up of what we've been doing. Can anyone help me post pictures between paragraphs? All I can do is at the beginning, which seriously takes all the fun out of it!
Thanks for listening!
B

What Stifles Us

I haven't posted for several days; this is due to my husband finally being home and finishing up a bear of a class. Nevertheless, this has been on my mind for quite a while so I'm excited to share it with you and maybe even get your opinions too!!

I got a phone call from a dear friend the other day, it was one of those calls that really makes you step back and think about things. He said he'd been reading my blog (oh my goodness can't tell you how excited that part made me!) and he had a life question for me.

He said that he's got a friend who's got the potential to be a fantastic bullrider and has everything he needs sitting in front of him, but he doesn't know if he'll do it or not. At this point he asked me,

What is it that make us turn away from things we know we could be great at?

I'd like to tell you that immediately following his question I replied with a great wealth of knowledge that forever changed his life and his friends but…I probably didn't.

It got me thinking though, how often do we shy away from a new adventure because we doubt ourselves? Is it in fact easier to just not try than to potentially fail? I once heard that the fear of striking out shouldn't keep you from the game, but I fear that there have been many instances in my own personal life where I have chosen to "sit the bench" so to speak as opposed to possibly failing. I would have to say that the most recent occurrence of this has been with blogging. It may sound silly but I was seriously mortified to post a blog, to have my thoughts and ideas out there that someone might judge, someone might hate. Because of this I erased several starts to what could've been an interesting blog, for fear that you may not like me. So then I asked myself why it is that it would matter anyway? Your opinion of me will not be the end of me, but it means that I would have to make a choice. To be open to the idea of failing, of not being perfect or to just wonder. I did the same with parenting the first time around, I super interested in cloth diapering and all natural childbirth, but when I mentioned it people laughed or made comments. In this instance I chose to give in, that maybe it wasn't that big of a deal anyway and it wasn't worth having people think I was "weird". Sad? Yes, I know!

I tried to think back to a time where I believed I could do anything; I honestly don't think it was since I was a child. You know when it changes every week what you're going to be when you grow up? What changes? Is it something we do as parents, or is it our society? I think it's an honorable thing to be humble, but imagine the opportunities we would all strive for if we truly believed we could do anything
we set our mind to! And so I decided that I'm going to take on new adventures, with the idea that I could totally fall flat on my face, and that would be ok. Because no matter what the outcome, I will have grown, and taking new adventures could lead me to an amazing experience I otherwise would've missed. So my question is, what is it that makes you doubt yourself? And how do you overcome it?

Oh and my first adventure, doing all the things I didn't do with my first baby, making baby food, using cloth diapers, and heck letting my baby sleep in bed with us if that's what I want to do J

Thanks for listening!

Brenna