LIVING ROOM REMODEL (Sept.-Nov. 2010)

OUR LIVING ROOM REMODEL

(Sept. 11-Nov. 22)

So our living room was the last room in our house that needed to be remodeled. So, we decided to tackle it before the baby came. Jeff started the weekend I was away on our girls trip to Disneyland- Sept. 11th. He started by fixing the lights, and adding new recessed lights. Then he started to sand down the wood beams in order to stain them later. When I came home from the trip, I was so impressed with everything Jeff had done....especially considering he had to go in the extremely hot attic, during the very hot summer, to work on the lights.

Jeff did about 90% of the work himself. I helped when I could by picking out products, cleaning, touching up, etc. Otherwise, Jeff did it all!

The completed wet bar! We added new granite, took down wall paper and painted the walls, added back splash, new wine cabinets,new lighting, new sink, and painted cabinetry and added new hardware.


Jeff installed these new wood floors all by himself.....very impressive!



The stages of working on our fireplace.

Before.....brick and ugly.



Jeff took out the bricks (which was very hard to remove and very messy), took down the mantle, and added new tiles and stained the mantle to match the wood floors. I helped a little with the tiling, but overall Jeff did most of the fireplace.



The completed fireplace!!
The completed living room!! Jeff did such a great job!! It was a huge undertaking, and I'm si impressed with how much he did....without any help! I'm so lucky to have such a handy husband!!

BRYNLEY'S NURSERY

BRYNLEY'S NURSERY

My awesome parents bought all of her furniture. Jeff and my dad picked up the furniture and put the crib together. Meanwhile, my mom and I went to buy the bedding, window treatments, and lamp.

i decide to put Brynley's name above her crib. I made them myself, and they turned out pretty cute!

Jeff and I bought the glider and ottoman and got a great deal. I'm so glad we got it because I use it all the time! I also got the chandelier and some other decor on a recent trip to Canton with my family.


Her changing table.



Jeff and I bought the final piece to complete her nursery- a small side table from Ikea. Jeff wanted me to walk around Ikea to try to get my contractions going.....lol!

Her dresser and her first Christmas tree!

She has plenty of cute girly clothes! Lots of pink! It was so fun receiving all her cute clothes! She is already very spoiled!

Disneyland Girls Trip- September 2010

DISNEYLAND GIRLS TRIP
September 10-13, 2010

Me, Michelle, Wendy, & Nancy all decided to go on a fun girls trip. It has been nearly 20 years since we had been to Disneyland. I had been one time in 1997. Things had changed quite a bit including the additional park- California Adventure. We had such a great time! We stayed off site at a hotel and rented a van. We enjoyed taking our time and enjoying each other. We decided that we love Disney World much better, but still had a great time.

Me at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom.

The first evening we had a wonderful dinner to celebrate Michelle's bday!


One of the many outfits/ souvenirs I bought for Baby Brynley. She's going to love Disney.....I hope!

We took a tour of the Magic Kingdom called Keys to the Kingdom. It was awesome and we learned so many interesting facts. At the end of the tour, Peter Pan and Hook joined us!

At California Adventure- Ferris Wheel (Michelle and I rode this ride together.) This was also the backdrop of the World of Color Light and water show- amazing!! I was limited on the rides I was able to ride due to being pregnant, but I still had an amazing time.

Trying to pull out the Sword in the Stone at the Magic Kingdom.

Sisters enjoying the trip and taking a break at the Magic Kingdom.

Mommy, Michelle and Wendy at Snow White's Castle.

HS Friend Baby Shower

HS FRIENDS & FAMILY BABY SHOWER

Hosts: Kelli Crawford, Shanon Mullen, & Stashia Cagle

November 14, 2010

Shanon and I....very pregnant! Shanon had her baby boy 1 week later.

Aunt Marion, Aunt Elizabeth & Kenalea Lawing, enjoying a coversation.


Ally writing a message on Brynley's Christmas Tree.

Delicious Pettifores!

Presents!

Eeyore for Brynley!

OTHER BABY SHOWERS

Jeff and I have been blessed with lots of wonderful friends, coworkers, and an awesome family. We had 7 showers total thrown for us.

10/10- Family & Friend shower hosted by my sisters, mom, and Kristina @ Wendy's house

10/17- ADTS baby shower hosted by Kristi, Christina, Rachel, Staci, and Courtney @ Christina's house.

October- Jeff's coworkers threw him a diaper shower. We got lots of diapers, a cute diaper cake, and other cute gifts.

11/13- SHS Friend shower hosted by Quisha, Rachel, and Sarah L. @ Quisha's house

1//14-HS friend & family shower hosted by Shanon, Kelli, and Stashia @ La Madeliene

11/15- SHS coworker surprise shower

11/23-SHS cheerleader surprise shower. They gave us a $300 gift card to Buy Buy Baby, which allowed us to buy our car seat and other neccessary items.

ADTS Baby Shower

ADTS BABY SHOWER

October 17, 2010

Hosts: Christina Hedding, Staci Cook, Kristi Beaty, Courtney Claborn, and Rachel Dodson

Playing Baby Games

They had lots of my favorite candies and fun baby/mommy related names for each candy....so cute!




Yummy Cake from Cretia's.....So cute & Delicious!



The delicious spread of food, candies and cake!


Presents!

Maternity Pictures

At nine months pregnant, the weekend after Thanksgiving, we had maternity pictures taken. my good friend, and former student/ Stallionette took these pics for us as a gift. They turned out great!! We had the pics taken at downtown McKinney.

Gender Reveal Party (August 2010)

It has been a LONG time since I have updated this blog, and A LOT has happened since then.

Jeff and I decided it would be fun to host a Gender Reveal Party with our close friends and family. It was a great way to reveal the gender of our little one. We had a sonogram on Monday, August 2nd. We were estatic with the news.....IT'S A GIRL!! We were absolutely overjoyed and loved hearing the heartbeat (140 bpm).

We had the party on Friday, August 6th at my sister Wendy's new home. I had lots of blue and pink decor, and for food, we served tacos and hotdogs. =) I also served some of my pregnancy cravings: pickles, cheese, gummy lifesavers, cheetos, and apple slices.

We asked all guests to either wear blue or pink to represent their guess of the gender. We also had guests gamble on whether they thought it would be a girl or boy.

Each guess cost $5, and that guest wrote their name on a baby bottle and then placed it in the PINK or BLUE jar. After we announced the gender, we drew a baby bottle with the winner's name.....it was ALLY! She was so excited......she didn't even care she won money.....she was just excited it was a girl!

I wanted everyone to find out the gender at the exact same time, in a fun way. So, I had made cake balls and the inside cake batter would either be PINK or BLUE. I passed a cake ball out to all of our guests. On the count of 3, everyone bit into the cake ball to reveal the gender.........IT'S A GIRL! It was such a fun party and we were all excited about meeting our little girl in the months to come.