A house ~to~ OUR home...

Finally, we are in our first place...and we love it!  

The food at our house warming went quicker than I could set it out. 

Glad everyone loved it but my stress level was over the roof. I love planning parties, but I need to get better at the fact that planning is all good, but things never go as planned. 

(Teaching prepares me for this fact of life, by the week, day and hour=) 

Hope Aunt Cath and Micah are proud. I made my first two fruit pizzas, they are always a hit. 

now for some THEN and NOWS....I can't say before and after because we are just at a start point, far from being 'done' =)

"The Schmits" gold door-knocker/ knob had to go...

we replaced it with oil rubbed bronze simple look and a 'welcome mat' from Nikki and Marshall. 

This was then...our first time through this house 17 months ago, when the previous owner was moving out. 

This is now, so fun to get stuff out of storage. 

One of my favorite things we had in storage... our benchwright table from Pottery Barn! 

 David says "Most girls have a problem with expensive shoes, but one of my problems is FURNITURE!!!!" 

~ I always wanted to be an interior designer (amongst other things =) 

Then...the previous owner took these with him. 

now...I LOVE cleaning! 

Then...the weeds were taller than me.

NOW...we are showing them who's boss. (kinda, those guys are beasts)

The back yard, THEN. You couldn't see the sheds in back or the white oleanders.

NOW we can walk around. 

There they are =) 

Back view THEN. 

Back view now. 

The garage then...(actually we had already painted the off white dingy walls a crisp white at this point.) And we were prepping the floor. The orange tile in back had to go...I couldn't even take a pic of it ;)

NOW...David and I worked to put in the Epoxi floor and got the old 41 Ford home. The floor was fun to do for the first few squares, after that 'fun' was finishing. 

The guest bedroom. (Which Kar calls her room, Brooke calls her room, and Amy calls her room =/) Guess that's the point, it's everyones room =) 

OUR master bedroom. Crazy to have this much space around our bed. We have never had that before. 

Love this wine barrel, The Moreno's got for us, and the lavender tree (one of two) is still thriving after 15 months of no  regular water! 

The front room THEN...as the previous owner was moving out. 

And NOW...Bertha and the Beast (our couch's names =) came out from the storage finally. They came to us, the one on the left, from Minnesota and the other from Moreno Valley (low budget can't be picky in those places). However they're oldies but goodies for now. 

THEN the cabinets were bare. 

NOW, some of our favorite pieces...including our wedding glasses and Grandma Junes vinegar glass is finally displayed the right way. 

Love this spot, herbs that keep battling me to stay alive, favorite mixer and humming birds outside the window. Soon, some grass and pups to look at =) 

THEN...green yes, All weeds? YES!

NOW....still weeds but short and brown. Not sure which one's better. This yard is our next project =)

HOME. We are placing bets on who's the first to knock over the new mailbox that maybe was placed a litttle too close to the driveway ;) I am all in on AMY! 

The housewarming I hope was relaxing for the many that joined us! Thank you Pat for picking up my camera to take a few shots...I was being pulled in many directions and picture taking slipped my mind =(

Family and Friends joined us. Monica teaches with me. She was one of the many that helped me survive last year. 

The kids played with some water balloons. They took David and I about 45 minutes to fill up and 45 seconds for them to get rid of 'em=)

GIRLS!!!!!! Thanks family for helping out so much with food for the party. 

Karly just loves Brooke. 

The wine bar was a hit.

As well as good ol' hanger 24! 

This is peaceful to me for some reason. 

This house is turning into our home. From our first night sleeping here, it felt safe and just ours. We pinch ourselves each day that we are here and we are loving the many projects, the fix it's and the final outcomes. We are looking forward to years of laughs and memories of love. Thank you to everyone for all the house warming gifts and goodies you made. We love our family and friends and are so blessed.

~Speaking of laughs (after the fact) our housewarming party turned into more of a story than we had planned. Lets just say, our house can hold a party for many but I think I'll make it 15 at max  next time, taco cart= good idea just bad timing and a bad day for the taco guy, and power out to the whole street for 9 hours except for our place. Everyone was ok, but hind-sight is 20-20. Once again, things never go as planned...I have to learn to roll with it and know I can't control it all.

Welcome HOME!