Holiday shmoliday

The holiday season has been kicked into high gear in our household. We've already attended 2 holiday parties and have 3 more to go! We have officially finished our Christmas gift shopping! Thank God! I think this is by far the earliest we have ever finished and I am so glad to not have to fight the holiday rush with the last minute shoppers. I usually am one of the people out at 10:00 pm the night before! It must be that as I get older the more I plan ahead. Sorry Wade! I know you like to take things as they come. That could cause us problems in the future if I continue on this trend! I'll try to remember to keep things spontaneous as well. :)

Looking back at the past year, as 2008 quickly approaches, I know that Wade and I have a TON to be thankful for. Here's to having as many blessings in 2008 as we have had in 2007. Our health, our families and friends, a roof over our heads, food to eat and plenty to drink (haha). We have truly been blessed. We'd like to wish you all a happy holiday season and a happy new year too!

Here's a look back at some of the many fun things we've done this past year.

CHEERS!

Ringing in 2007!

Good times at the Cabooze

Preggo Lindsey (such a cute Mama)

Girls Night Out

Fish Fry Night

Guster Concert

Lesli & Tim's wedding

Hawaii!

Starkey Hearing Foundation Cocktail Party

40 Hands at Buzzards & Beer

Chicago Trip

1997 Valley High 10-year Reunion

Liar's Club

Horsey Time

Sturgis Week

Family Reunion

Tailgating (GO CLONES!)

Halloween

What Wade & I have been doing for the past year...

So some of you know that Wade and I have been in the process of major upgrading on the house we bought just over a year ago. I thought I would show some of the things we've completed this past year in our attempt to get our home updated. When I look back at these pictures it really opens my eyes to all we've done. But our to-do list seems just as long as ever for some reason!

We just moved our bed upstairs about 2 weeks ago finally. The new carpet is in! (And Kobe graciously threw up all over it about a week after it was installed. A whole other story in itself. Thank you for breaking it in Kobe. Sense the sarcasm?) Anyway, the only things we need to do upstairs now are to install the trim, put in the closet rail/shelves and refinish the built in's. Then our upstairs master bedroom will be complete! To see just how far we've come with it here are the before and after pictures.

Wasn't it pretty before? I really dig the wood paneling and linoleum floors. :)

Brad helped out a lot! Thanks Brad!Paint is done but carpet isn't in yet.

Finally, carpet is in and the railing is up and painted. That thing was a pain in the ass to paint.

Our backyard was a complete mess when we moved in. Hardly any grass, a huge ugly dying tree, a long line of tree/shrub/bush things, and wood chips substituted for landscaping. Yes, very nice indeed. We completely tore apart the back yard. And this will show you why (and it doesn't even do it justice as to how bad it truly was)...

We'd already taken down the 4 1/2 foot high chain link fence. Ugly!

After the tree was removed and we'd yanked all the tree/shrub/bush things. Wade had a lot of fun w/ that Bobcat!
Grass! (And an outrageous water bill!) Yay!

The front wasn't in as bad of shape, but we pulled 3 crappy bushes and put in some new ones and we put some pavers for the border as well. Don't miss our Cyclone rock. Go Clones! :)

We also tackled putting in a new patio door. That made me really nervous when we had a giant hole in the side of our house. But as always, Wade impressed me and pulled through with a great job done. Our new door really makes the small kitchen feel more open. I don't really have any good before pictures, but you can see the process.

Wade pulled a Chuck Norris on the old door.

Wade cutting through the side of our house! No mistakes allowed!

It's in! Now I just have to figure out what color of paint I want to do in the kitchen and we can finish it up.

Well, those were some of the larger items we tackled throughout the year. Now you can see how we were always busy working on the house. This doesn't even count all the painting I've done (which was pretty much the entire house). Up next will be to insulate the garage, build a deck off our new patio door, add a 3/4 bath downstairs, upgrade our current bathroom and put in new carpet in the basement. After we get all that done then we'll probably move. Go figure. :)

Cheers everyone!