Tobacco Baskets

I realized that I never posted the finished product of the Tobacco Baskets!  My mom was able to find 4 of these beauties (in this post I explained how she found 2 and we needed 2 more)!  I cleaned them up by giving them a good scrub and sprayed them down with water to get rid of a few decades of dirt and dust.  I then stained them with a polyurethane-stain combo from Minwax to make the wood look new again. Just FYI, they are approximately 4 feet by 4 feet and weigh about 15 pounds a piece.

Here's a before photo, with no stain:

 And here they are in place:

One is from Virginia and two are from North Carolina while the other one is not marked.  I think they turned out pretty good.  It was a much easier way to fill up that amount of wall space than with artwork or photos or something.  What do you think?

Happy New Year

Happy 2013 everyone!  We wish you many blessings in this coming year.  Cary and I are excited about what God has planned for us in this new year, too!

It is hard to believe this little blog, which started because of our wedding planning, now has over 9,300 page views.  No, it isn't a lot compared to some of those professional bloggers, but we still think it is fun.  We plan to continue blogging and sharing and hope to receive more feedback from ya'll along the way!

We played host to not only my family's Christmas, but Cary's immediate family as well.  Wanted to share some photos from Christmas celebrations:

 

The tree was placed in the dining room this year.  The table was lined with globes from Dad and the credenza featured a nativity from Cary's mom.  

  We decided to make salt dough ornaments and get the pups paw prints.  We got Morgan's ornament on the first try...Madison's required a little more work!  Imagine that!

 

 The West Family

We were blessed to spend the holidays with family!  Make 2013 great!

Merry Christmas

For to us a child is born,

    to us a son is given,

    and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9 : 6

  Merry Christmas!  

And Happy New Year, too!

Getting Big

Madison
(She weighs 43 lbs now!)

 She's our thoughtful pup...always studying and thinking.  Her head is usually cocked to the side as she tries to figure out what you want or what she has to do to get a treat (the latter is her main motivation).

 ~ ~ ~

 Morgan
(slightly smaller at 40 lbs, all that hair can be deceiving!)

 Always happy and playful, Morgan is more motivated by a cuddle or praise.  He wants to please.  His favorite game is tug of war, and Cary and I love his "flop" ear!

We love them both so much!  Can't imagine life without them!

Happy Anniversary!

It has been 31 years, today!

Hope ya'll have a wonderful day.  Love you both!

Meeting the Goats

Oops, I meant to post this weeks ago! 
We have taken the pups out to my parents' place multiple times now, but this past week was the first time they actually got to meet the goats up close and personal.

As the goats often get out of the pasture (luckily only one or two are small/brave enough to do it now), Madi and Morgan were able to meet a goat face to face.  Madison was fearless and wanted to play and jump at the goat while Morgan was much more cautious.  The goat?  Well he wanted very little to do with either of the dogs.  While I didn't get photos of that meeting, I was able to get photos of the two groups checking each other out through the fence and gate near the barn. 

 The goats were comfortable enough to come right up to the pups, as long as a fence/safety was separating them!

One Year Ago

It has been a little over one year since we closed on our new home.  By the way, when is it no longer "new"?  During that year, we have been busy with changes inside and out.  And although we still have plans and wishes, I think it is good perspective to look back at what all we've done to the home.

A total overhaul to the front and side yard...we installed irrigation, sodded with Emerald Zoysia, and planted new shrubs around the front and near the street.

Before:

After:

A redo of the driveway flower beds was desperately needed.  It was mostly weeds and trailing vines.  The ground cover pictured below had grown through the vents to the house and into the crawl space.  It was a huge mess to clean up, and the only thing we kept was the butterfly bush.

Before:

You can't even see the vents in the picture below.

After:

Both upstairs bedrooms got fresh paint, furniture, and drapes.  Here's one of the bedrooms.

Before:

After:

The garage got some much needed organization.

Before:

 After:

One of the upstairs bathrooms also got new paint and a mirror.

Before:

After:

The main floor powder room is no longer orange (and no longer has a bidet).

Before:

 After:

The dining room is no longer a dance studio.

Before:

In Progress:

After:

And we adopted two puppies.

Morgan and Madison

We are looking forward to many more years in this house!  God has blessed us and given us so many reasons to be thankful.