The Tales of a Working Wife, Soon-to-be Mom, and Husband Cheerleader

Busy Bag Swap

2012-01-10T15:03:00.003-06:00

For all you mommas on Pinterest, I know you are familiar with the concept of the Busy Bag! If not, a Busy Bag is designed to entertain your little one with a simple activity and can fit into a gallon size ziplock baggie (hopefully!). It could be anything from lacing pool noodles and matching shapes to making puzzles and identifying numbers and colors.

I have been wanting to build my own little collection of Busy Bags for Zachariah as he grows and with a little girl joining our family in May, I know I won't have a lick of time later to organize something like this. I have seen other people organize a swap, so I thought "Why not host my own while I have a semblance of free time?!"

Soo... Here's how it is going to work: each participant will make 20 (hopefully we get that many takers!!) of the same busy bag activity. This should streamline the process of you creating and absolutely save on materials.

I have pre-chosen 20 different activities to make sure there is variety. I tried to pick bags that teach a specific concept or can be used creatively AND that will hopefully be affordable ($3 or less per bag for a total of $60 for 20 bags--quite a steal when you end up with 20 different activities in the end).

**PLEASE KNOW THAT ALL BAGS WILL REQUIRE TIME, BUT NOT NECESSARILY CREATIVE GENIUS!**

Want to join the swap?

1. Email me (kamorris05@gmail.com) by Saturday, January 14th and let me know you would like to sign up. Please let me know if you are comfortable with a little bit of sewing, if you don't mind very light construction (chopping small wooden dowels and sanding them), or if you really just want a simple, straightforward bag.

2. Once I have all the spots filled, I will assign everyone a bag, doing my best to match you with a bag fitting your skills and wishes! I will include a link to directions/templates/examples of a completed activity to help you along.

3. Everyone will have a little over a month to complete their bags. We will get together at the end of February to swap.

4. Out of towners are more than welcome to participate, you will just have to cover the cost of shipping and handling via Priority Mail.

31 Weeks and More Nursery!!

2011-02-09T07:04:00.006-06:00

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: 31 weeks!!!

Size of the baby: A head of lettuce (??--doesn't seem that big, maybe it's an organic one!)

Maternity clothes: Why the heck not?!?... And because he is so low, I can't wear any of the low rise maternity pants I have because they just slide down even lower and my shirts won't cover my belly!

Movement: Lots of it, and he seems to have found my ribs. He's not killing me with the kicks in the ribs because it doesn't happen that often, but I wouldn't put in on the list of my favorite movements of his.

Gender: BOY... Zachariah Hayes Morris!!

Sleep: Haha. The insomnia has set in and despite my exhaustion after work, I have a hard time napping. I am waking up a lot at night, too. Preparation for those sleepless nights have set in I guess!

What I miss: Being able to sleep in any position I please and not having to worry about getting heartburn.

Symptoms: I'm going to be real with you folks... Every morning I wake up with a really dry mouth and feel like I have lots of mucus buildup in my throat. If I don't have a "productive cough", I end up spending 10 minutes gagging over the sink/throwing up until I clear my throat. My husband thinks it's lovely. =)

Best moment this week: All the unexpected time off I have had due to the crazy North Texas weather... I have had lots of time to just relax and enjoy him moving, and lots of time to work on his bedding and room!

Here is an update of his room:

This is a view of his room from the door. You can see his crib and the bedding I have been working on, along with his curtains and one of my faves, the stroller!!

His closet, which I love and envy! When we remodeled the house, we left this closet empty, literally. It was a sheetrock box, so once we cleared the room and closet of ~~junk~~ office stuff was moved, it was off to The Container Store (aka a slice of Heaven this side of eternity) to design and install his closet. Can I just say that it was WORTH IT in every way!!
These are probably going to be used in some way above his bed.

This is going to be the outfit lil man will come home from the hospital in!! The story behind this outfit is this: My dad was in Italy working when we found out we were having a boy. He brought this darling and TINY outfit back for Zachariah. Not only is it special, but I'm not sure it will fit him for long! Let's just hope he doesn't take after his cousin Benjamin... If that's the case, it may never fit him!

28 Weeks + Nursery Sneak Peek!

2011-01-17T22:53:00.007-06:00

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: 28 weeks (Holy cow-3rd trimester!!)

Size of the baby: Head of cauliflower (I think that one is weird...)

Maternity clothes: Yes please! I tried on a non-maternity t-shirt and it didn't even cover to my belly button. Caleb laughed and told me I looked like I could be on the Faces of Walmart website.

Movement: I feel him move some during the day, but he is most active and pronounced at night. He nearly kicked the computer right out of my lap earlier!

Gender: ALL BOY... Zachariah Hayes Morris!

Sleep: Well, this one is hard to judge since I have never been one to sleep straight through the night, but it does get obnoxious waking up because I need to roll over to the other side.

What I miss: Belly and back sleeping, and being able to eat what I want without having to worry about heartburn.

Symptoms: Heartburn, starting to get "the line" (linea nigra-I think)

Best moment this week: Getting to "rock" Zachariah in the new glider... I prayed for him and imagined what it will be like to have him in my arms doing that!

**NURSERY SNEAK PEEK**

These are some of the fabrics in his room... The polka dots and blue minky will be used for a pillow and possibly a blanket. The stripes will be his crib skirt. The bumper (which you will see below) is just a simple ivory minky stripe.

The glider and dresser... I'm wondering why we waited to get pregnant before buying this fabulous piece of furniture known as a glider. It's amazing!!
The bed with the bumper.

Hopefully that whet your apetite... I know it has definitely made me more anxious to get it done! I have the curtains and just need to hem them. Once we move the office furniture out of Zachariah's room, we will do a little rearranging and really start finalizing the room (read: put holes in the wall and get some art hung). Soo exciting!!!

My head is spinning!

2011-01-12T22:29:00.003-06:00

My, oh my, oh my! My head is spinning with all the things that need to get done before Mr. Zachariah makes an appearance!! And to top it off, Caleb has officially begun another semester of his MBA which means my access to his assistance has depleted significantly. As he finished the fall semester in December, we began "Project Prepare for Baby" and planned to tackle the major project of painting the baby room, add crown and shoe moulding and finish out his closet. I am proud to say that those things are done. HOWEVER, I am realizing now that those "major" projects are a drop in the bucket when compared to the ever-expanding list of things that will need to be done prior to Zach's big arrival. Oh, and to side track for a sec, if Zachariah continues on his path of growth, it appears as though his big arrival could be up to 2 weeks earlier than we planned.. So, suffice it all to say that while I'm not someone who stresses out about things, I think the zits that have appeared on my face after more than a 12-year hiatus are due to more than just a conflict of hormones!

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture to post tonight... My husband is currently working on some electrical stuff and the hard-drive is not showing up on my network. I guess the power to that is off. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a belly shot and weekly update! Sweet dreams folks!

Almost 26 Weeks!

2011-01-02T19:52:00.004-06:00

Pregnancy Highlights

How far along: Almost 26 weeks!

Size of the baby: A large eggplant (2 lbs)

Maternity clothes: Absolutely on pants, everything else is on a garment-by-garment basis!

Movement: I feel him moving a lot, and most others who touch my belly can feel him too (as long as he is cooperating)

Gender: It's a BOY... Zachariah Hayes Morris!!

Sleep: I toss and turn, but still am getting a good night's sleep.

What I miss: Sleeping without worrying if I'm on the right side or not.

Cravings: If anything, I crave smoothies and shakes. I think it's the fact that it is cold, sweet and smooth!

Symptoms: Still throwing up on occasion, but no nausea (it must be the over-sensitive gag reflex).

Best moment this week: Feeling him move more and more frequently!

Hi. It's me again. I'll try harder this year, ok?

2011-01-01T22:09:00.003-06:00

So, I guess you have figured out that I'm back. It's a new year, so I figured I'd start off with a bang! The few fans of my blog in the past I'm sure have fallen off the map (probably because I did, ha!), so we will all start fresh. Deal?

To recap the last year, I started off by training for a triathlon. It was a barrel of fun, and I really enjoyed it. It all came to a halt, though, when we found out we were pregnant at the end of February. That was a big 'ol surprise! I carried our sweet angel for 12 weeks, then God called him home (we thought it was a boy, though we will never know). Suffering through that miscarriage has been by-far the hardest emotional and spiritual journey I have been on. It grew Caleb and I so close together, and for that I am so grateful. This summer was a big season of travel. We trekked to NYC and Boston over the 4th of July, then on to Orlando to Universal Studios late in July. We capped off the summer with a college roommate reunion weekend at my parent's place up in McKinney. Oh, and surprise... We found out we were expecting again! September brought a trip to LA and Disneyland for Grant & Abby's wedding. October was my mom's 55th birthday. November was our 5th Anniversary, my father-in-law's 50th birthday and we found out that we are going to be parents of a baby BOY!! December was crazy with the holidays, and I think that just about covers it.

So it's January 1st, my dad's birthday, and the start of a New Year! Caleb and I started the year by sleeping in until 10 a.m., and didn't peel ourselves out of bed until after 11 a.m. Everyone keeps telling us to enjoy all these "lasts" as we prepare for so many new "firsts", so I'd say we kicked things off well! No pictures today, just enjoy the cute new blog design! Tomorrow I am hoping to start the whole torture myself to please everyone else belly pictures... Until then, goodnight!

Last Chance to Win!!

2010-05-03T19:35:00.003-05:00

I REALLY want to win a seat to the Love Affair Workshop!!! Go read details and sign up to join in the fun! http://www.loveaffairworkshop.com/

Cute camera bag and Contest!

2010-04-29T17:06:00.002-05:00

Soo, as cute as my "backpack" style photo bag is, this cute bag being given away is a huge step up! Take a looksie!

Check out the LOVE AFFAIR BLOG and enter to win a Kelly Moore Bag & a seat to their upcoming workshop in Dallas!!

www.loveaffairworkshop.com

Love Affair Giveaways Continue

2010-04-28T16:08:00.002-05:00

I want to win the Get It Together Kit and a seat to the Love Affair Workshop!!! Go read the details and register.. http://www.loveaffairworkshop.com!

Love Affair Workshop Day 2

2010-04-27T16:06:00.002-05:00

So, here is the deal folks. This givewaway is still going on and guess what??! Not only are these wonderful ladies giving away a spot at their amazing workshop, each day they have smaller giveaways for great prizes. Check today's out:

I want a UNO DVD and a shot at the scholarship to the Love Affair Workshop! http://www.loveaffairworkshop.com/

Starting a New Hobby

2010-04-26T17:12:00.002-05:00

Soo... in the midst of all the craziness and challenges God has put before our family in the last few months, I have decided to take up a new hobby. My husband seems to have had all the expensive hobbies to date, so I thought I would join him. I have recently purchased my first Digital SLR Camera and have enjoyed learning all about it... I am wanting to make it a worthy purchase, not just something I buy, use for a few months and forget about, so I am taking a shot at a giveaway to go to the Love Affair Workshop here in Dallas in September. This is something that I absolutely could not afford, so why not try to go for free! Here's the link to this oh-so-fabulous workshop I would die to go to!

Check out http://www.loveaffairworkshop.com/! They are giving away prizes and a seat to their workshop on the blog this week! Go enter to win!

Trying to Welcome the Wait

2010-01-22T16:42:00.000-06:00

This is my fabulous husband, whom I love dearly. He is soo patient with me and he loves me despite how flawed I am. And trust me, I am flawed. This past 6 months has been kinda rough on me emotionally. I don't know what it is. I mean, I am so blessed and have so much to be thankful for. We have traveled the world in our 4 short years of marriage, I have a great job that I am really enjoying this year, and truly have some of the best friends anyone could ask for. I guess I have just been so melancholy over what God has been working on in me. It really dates back to July-ish. Caleb and I had decided about a year before that we would begin to venture down the road towards having a baby in August.. However, with Caleb beginning to pursue his MBA, we decided that it would be best if we wait until closer to his graduation. Immediately I was sad, and really began to grieve the loss of the life I was hoping we would have in the next year. There were so many things that I pictured in my mind being "the last before a baby" and all of a sudden those pictures changed. No longer would our Italy trip be "the last hurrah", nor would my school year be the last sans a baby. That lasted until sometime in August, when I finally got on my face before the Lord and just wept. I was beyond what I could handle on my own, which I know is exactly where He wanted me. I was trying to grieve alone, trying to be ok with something I really wasn't and trying to put on a happy face, pretending like I had it all together when I really couldn't be any further from that. I have always thought it to be so cliche, but in that moment when I was literally laying flat on the ground, face down the burden of my grief just dissipated.

Since that day, I have been in a season of restoration. He's restoring me to a right relationship with Him, where I trust His providence, love my husband more deeply, and really just savor this time to grow together before our lives are forever changed.

So... with that, I need to go plan my next vacation I didn't think I'd have!! Ski slopes, here we come!

The Eternal City

2009-10-03T07:09:00.003-05:00

Here is our day trip to Rome, which was fast and furious! The swine flu scare hit our boat and the country of Italy nearly did not allow us into the country... however we ended up only being 30 minutes behind schedule. Caleb had researched and google-mapped and planned and micro-organized our day trip to Rome, with possible alternate routes of transportation and including every possible detail. Gotta love that engineering mind of leaving no stone unturned! We had a great day in Rome and it was just incredible to behold sights and artifacts nearly and beyond 2,000 years old. To think that Paul and so many other men and women from the Bible walked these roads, and saw some of the things we saw is just mind blowing. These pictures don't do it justice, so I guess you just have to imagine the enormity of the Colosseum and the Pantheon and the opulence of Vatican City. Enjoy!

Filth and Beauty, Round 2 of our Cruise

2009-09-12T09:12:00.000-05:00

So here is round two of many when it comes to our trip... We have over 1,300 pics so narrowing it down to just these is SO HARD!! You will be seeing pictures of our first day on the boat, as well as our first port, Napoli. In Napoli, we took a private tour with strangers we met online and this really turned out to be the best day in my opinion. I loved other places we visited just as much, but the experience of having a private guide and being able to really pace ourselves to see everything we wanted without having to worry about making back to the boat before it leaves was not reproducible with the cruise tours and our do-it-yourself tours. So, here's what we did.

Pompeii:

It was incredible to see something so old that was so well preserved despite being essentially destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted. Something I must share is how we felt as we toured Pompeii. We were awestruck by how "modern" the city was considering it stood from approximately 6th/7th Century BC until 79 AD: we saw their plumbing systems, how they created "steam rooms" in their public bath houses and how they created their streets. Did you know that the sizes of our railroad ties date back to the days of Pompeii, as they created a standard size for carts to go through the streets of cities way back then??? Something else about Pompeii that was sad was seeing how it was such a filthy, sinful city that reminded us a lot of what we have read about Sodom and Gomorrah as we toured the public bath house outside the city walls of Pompeii. It made me (us) wonder if maybe the destruction of the city was God's wrath on the people and their lifestyle. Another thing I'll tell you about Pompeii (but I refuse to share pictures) is how sad it was to see the cavities of a few human and animal remains. Our guide Salvatore told us that as they were excavating and finding human remains, most people were found squatting and covering their faces or laying face down most likely to mask the fumes of the eruption or to avoid seeing their inevitable demise. I would say that visiting Pompeii was completely worth it and I would love to go back to really see it all. Pompeii is over 266 acres and we barely scratched the surface in our morning tour, and so much of it is still undergoing excavation.

Amalfi Coast (Sorrento, Positano):

Oh my, where do I begin?? It was breathtakingly beautiful!! As Caleb and I took in this beautiful scenery, taking pictures with our camera, we were in heaven, yet so sad to see how our photos just don't begin to capture the beauty we beheld. I hope you can look at these photos and just have a glimpse of the beauty, enough to whet your apetite to want to go there yourself. As we left Pompeii, we drove to a lookout point where we had a great view of Mt. Vesuvius. Something I want you to attempt to imagine that Mt. Vesuvius, which currently stands at about 1200 metres, stood at over 3000 metres prior to the eruption that destroyed much of the coast of Italy as it stood then, as well as the famous city of Pompeii. I digress... From the lookout point, we drove along the coast and to the top of Sorrento, which overlooks the beginning of the Amalfi Coast. We had lunch at a precious little family owned restaurant, and set off once again to the city center for a little street shopping, ahem, alley shopping. The alley street we shopped in was not much wider than the hallway in my house (not wide people!!), but was so fun! We got to taste the local limoncello, liquor created from the rind of lemons and bargain with the locals for souvenirs. From Sorrento, we took off for what I would consider to be one of my favorite stops on the entire trip, Positano. Oh Positano, how I love thee. It was just picturesque, the classic coastline of southern Italy with the colorful stacked houses and fishing boats anchored just moments from shore. We hiked to the beach of Positano in the short time we had there, just to take it all in. Of course, not after enjoying our daily dose of gelato!! Yes we ate it daily, sometimes twice daily. We took pictures galore, none of which capture the essence, then sweated back up the hill, to meet our group for the winding drive back to the reality that we could not stay in Amalfi forever. I hope you enjoy the picture tour...

Mediterranean Trip Part 1: Barcelona

2009-08-30T21:04:00.009-05:00

Alrighty folks, its been almost 1 month and here goes with our trip pictures... Since we visited so many places and have nearly 1,300 pictures, I am going to be posting in multiple blogs. This first is from the beginning of our trip, from our flight to Barcelona to the day we got on the boat. My only disclaimer is this: we both were ill at the beginning so if we look pathetic or sick, it is because we are!! I blame the excessive amount of cigarette smokers and Caleb blames everything he refuses to admit he is allergic to. I digress... Enjoy the pictures!

(**To see the captions on the pictures, hover your mouse over the picture**)

2 new posts!

2009-07-30T17:47:00.001-05:00

Check them out...

Arizona or Bust!

2009-07-30T08:21:00.012-05:00

Over 4th of July weekend, we had the wonderful opportunity of going to Prescott, Arizona for my cousin Samantha's wedding. We had an absolute blast and Arizona was so much more beautiful than we ever expected. We were just hoping we wouldn't be stuck in the scorching desert for 5 days!! Of course, with all of the wedding festivities I hardly got any pictures in, but there are two for you to enjoy. Maybe I can go "borrow" some pictures off her Facebook so you can see the blushing bride! Enjoy the pictures, there's a lot!

The floral arrangements for the reception... It was our virgin experience with floral arranging and we think we may have missed our calling!

The brides bouquet.. All my handiwork. (PS... Never use blue roses, they STAIN!)

A beautiful mountain on our drive to Flagstaff and Sedona...

Do I look sick?? I felt miserable because we were on what I called the "swirling, twirling road of death", or more lightly called "the scenic route." I could have lived without so much scenery!

Our group... my mom, dad, me, Caleb and cousin Anna Grace. We had so much fun and by the end of it all, Caleb got my uber-shy cousin AG to yell. First he asked her if she ever went above 2 decibals, if that gives you any idea of how soft-spoken she was!

Beautiful, beautiful Sedona from the Airport lookout point!

My hubby and I dangerously close to the edge, that will make your stomach drop!

Mom and Dad, so fit and with-it!

Anna Grace... Her arms are almost as big as the mountain!

Another view, even closer to the edge. My precious husband insisted on being closer to the edge to take one for the team in case of emergency- how romantic!

The rocks as we left Prescott, incredible!

The Grand Canyon in all her glory! This is my first real view of the canyon.. I tell you, if someone doesn't believe there is a higher power who created all of this, they are nutso! It was such a powerful, awe-inspiring experience to inhale the beauty of our creator in his handiwork.

A long shot of the Canyon. Did you know the GC is over 270 miles long and 18 miles at it's widest point?? That's big, folks!

Part of our crew with us down below. We hiked part of the South Kaibab Trail. Let me just tell you folks that this is no cake walk, either. Experts tell you to take.5 L of water for every 30 minutes you hike as well as sweet and salty snacks for every time you stop... and you need every bit of that and then some! On top of all that, they tell you to plan on it taking twice the amount of time to "hike out" of the canyon than it takes you to "hike in" and they are spot on. It was a grueling and invigorating hike! We plan to go back in cooler weather and hike to the bottom! Anyone wanna come??

Amazing.

More amazing.

Us, about 1 mile or so in the canyon on Bright Angel Trail.

A view from the lookout... it's like the Grand Canyon never ends!

Our group hiking up... we went down about a half to three-quarters of a mile further than them, and on our way up we hollered to them. Canyons echo well!

The GC from Hopi Point.

The GC and a piece of the Colorado River from Pima Point.

A view of the Bright Angel Trail... do you see all the switchbacks?? Those things are butt-busters! This is what we want to hike when we return!

Another beautiful view... I just can't get enough of God's creation! It is truly incredible!

A view of the switchbacks we hiked on South Kaibab Trail.

On the edge..Freaky!!

Him too!... Ok, gotta be honest, it really isn't the edge. But did it make your heart skip just a beat or two???

The river really does run through it!

Us again, this time sporting the doo-rags! It was so hot that we soaked those in water and put them on our heads, how resourceful and sexy!

The ladies! We are champs!

Our entire crew... My Uncle Mark, Aunt Corinne, cousins Catherine, Daniel, Stephen and Philip, cousin Anna Grace, my 'rents, my hubs and me!

Dad and the girls!

Livi and Ben

2009-07-08T15:40:00.005-05:00

We have had such a fun summer and have been so blessed to have my sister, Erin, and her kids up in Dallas for most of June and July! Erin and her family live in Kingwood where my bro-in-law is the head youth pastor at Second Baptist Church North Campus, however with the *lovely* economy, they were homeless for a month, so Erin brought the kids to play here while Brian was a nomad in Kingwood. Here are some pictures of those precious little turkeys I played with!

Livi having fun at the mall, ready to go to the Carousel!

Ben waiting anxiously too..

Prince Charming and the Princess playing at Mimi and Papa's house!

Ben checking out the planes at Airport Park!

Livi enjoying her Capri Sun with Uncle Cabo!

Roomie Reunion!

2009-07-08T15:17:00.004-05:00

Soo.. the weekend that my school district let out for the summer, all of my roommates from college made the trek (near or far) to Dallas for a weekend of fun! It was totally different this time around, with all of our hubbies, boyfriends, "special friends", don't know what kind of "friend" you are joined us at our house for the weekend! It was an absolute blast! Brandy got here first on Thursday night, followed by Becca and Jeff and Julie and Warren on Friday night. We kept it low key on Friday, just relaxing at our house and playing Apples to Apples. Saturday, we made the trek over to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens to explore, then went to Joe T. Garcia's for dinner, YUM!! By Sunday, we all had to get back to "reality" and all the fun was over! The weekend was a short but fun one! I miss all these girls, and wish I could see all of them more than I do! Let's do it again, ladies!! Love y'all!!

The Way

2009-06-13T08:29:00.006-05:00

At our church, Prestonwood Baptist, we are involved in what I would consider to be the most unique, most genuine and most wonderful Bible Fellowship class (that would be a "modern" Sunday School class for you Baptists out there!). We are a part of what is called the Open Division, which basically mean that our class is "open" to people of all ages, all walks and stages of life and anything else in between. We love it because it places absolutely no limits on who we can bring to church on Sundays and everyone always feels welcome. Well, a couple of weekends ago we had our Bible Fellowship class over for a humdinger of a barbeque! We had a blast! Caleb was master of the grill, and in the end, we made out like bandits. Everyone left their food for "someone else" to take, and no-one took it (I guess to be nice, or not look like a pig or something), so naturally being at our house we got all the leftovers. All in all, I think we scored 10-12 bags of chips, of which 7 or 8 are sitting half-eaten in our pantry that we are still munching on, as well as several cans of chip dip. We loved fellowshipping with all of The Way outside the walls of the church building and can't wait for many more to come! Enjoy the pictures!

Our Patio!

2009-05-06T18:06:00.003-05:00

Here it is, for those of you who have been anxiously awaiting pictures of our latest project! We spent 2 weekends (thanks to Dallas weather and the torrential storms) and are very pleased with the results. The walkway is lined with pavestone, with a flagstone "puzzle" patio (all Carlos, he's the man at this) and it is filled with basalt rock. The patio is Pavestone, with a pattern of interlocking "I's". Can you see it??!? Please ignore the wooden posts... they are part of the "next" project, a bench. And hopefully one of the last, I'm kinda over working on the house.

Oh yea, and we are trying our hand at growing herbs... I figured that we haven't killed our plants out front yet, so I'm giving a go at this! We planted oregano, 2 rosemary bushes and lavender so far. We have plans for basil, but they were out when we went shopping.

My patio is beautiful, but not finished!!!!

2009-04-12T07:55:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry to report that Mother Nature rolled in about 2 hours 2 soon and we did not finish the patio. I know I promised pictures, however I am just too depressed at the moment. Well, and my fingers hurt so bad just typing that I can't handle much more.

So, here's the short story. We started our patio project Friday and began with no intentions of finishing. Well after 30 minutes in to the project, we discovered we were in WAYYYY over our heads, so hired 2 laborers to come help. Then Carlos showed up, and we were FLYING! We got excited and really ambitious and realized we could finish the project in 2 days. Day 2 started a little slower because we were actually laying the pavers, but by 6 p.m. we were soo close. We were basically down to all cuts. The sky started to get dark, but the doppler and the internet (why did we trust that??!?) told us we still had several hours.. LIAR! At 7:45 the light show began in the sky and regardless of how little we had left, we had to quit. AND, as icing on the cake, I was out attempting to pick up a tool (before I was summoned home due to bad weather) when the weather came and by the time I got home the patio was covered with blue tarp. So, no pictures of my "almost finished" patio. Sorry.

BUT, the silver lining is that it is EASTER, the day of the RISEN SAVIOR AND LORD! Rejoice! Have a blessed day... pictures to follow!

Our last big project inside!

2009-04-10T06:29:00.003-05:00

Well folks, these last few weeks have been busy ones! For Caleb, he has had 2 huge mid-terms this last week that has kept him full-o-Starbucks and MIA at home! For me, it's just life... teaching, TAKS tests, cleaning house, laundry, cooking during the hours my husband is home, etc. On top of all that, we decided it was finally time to tackle the last big inside project to make this renovation complete! Here's the project in pictures...

The "Before" Shot of the Kitchen

The Supplies

The Trusty Assistant

The Tile Saw Extrodanaire!

The Grout Queen

The "After" Shot... Kinda!

Well there ya have it folks! We spent a year deliberating over what material to use on our backsplash. We contemplated all travertine (the stuff on top), and all glass (the stuff on bottom) and in the end decided to use both! We love the look and I think it is a perfect complement to the kitchen and the rest of the decor!

Portuguese Chicken

2009-03-25T20:31:00.003-05:00

Well, if you know me, you know how much I LOOOOVE to cook. Cooking is an outlet for me, and is often a ministry. I know that may sound silly, but through the CARES apartment ministry and now through our involvement in our Bible Fellowship Group (glorified way to say "Sunday School") I have been able to cook and bless the lives of the people we "do life with" every day. With that said, I am never shy to share a recipe and feel like everyone else should eat and enjoy the food that I cook. And must I say that a lot of what I make is a knock-off/redo/fixup/my own spin of some recipe I learned from either Food Network or friends. All that to say that I want to share with you a new favorite recipe of all my friends. Really, no lie, this might possibly be the most wonderful tasting chicken to cross my lips. And I've had lots of chicken, people. AND it's super duper easy.

This chicken has a story too. I got this recipe from a co-worker of mine, Sue, who is from New Mexico. She got the recipe from a cookbook put together by a bunch of Portuguese women who migrated to NM (and no I don't know why....) with their families. These Portuguese women would have an annual dinner for the community where they would showcase their food, and from this was born the book where I got this delicious recipe! Please cook, eat, enjoy and share this recipe. I like it plain, in fajitas, in a salad, in tacos, quesadillas and just about any way you can eat chicken. Just please, don't over cook and dry out the meat. It will still be delicious, but you'll have to eat it all right then and there because it will be too dry to save and reheat later. Well, without further ado... the recipe.

Portuguese Chicken
-2 T paprika (I use Hungarian, but they all work)
-1 T salt
-1 tsp pepper
-1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional, makes it spicy)
-2-3 crushed dried bay leaves
-2-3 minced fresh garlic cloves (not the jarred stuff, it doesn't taste the same)
-1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
-4 chicken breasts

Mix all the spices and olive oil together to form a paste. Brush the paste liberally on both sides of the chicken, let it marinade for at least 30 minutes and no more than 4 hours. Grill until done and enjoy! **You can also pan sear it or bake it in the oven, but it just isn't the same. It is still delicious, but it doesn't have that wonderful grill flavor.**

And if you love it please leave a comment not so I can toot my horn but so that people will really believe me when I say its one of the best, easy and delicious chicken recipes.

It's been too long, friend.

2009-03-22T04:34:00.000-05:00

Indeed it has been too long! I have just fallen off the map here in blog world. I have been so busy at home trying to keep up with life in general and just haven't placed this at the top of my list. I miss blogging, really. I know it sounds silly, but this is really an outlet for me. I have been told many times that I write a lot, and it's probably because I really enjoy it. I enjoy recapturing the memories we have made as a small and extended family, and reliving all of the fun times with friends. Well, I'm going to not do the last few months justice, but here are some pictures to capture what's been going on with the Morris family...

My family (Katie) doing the Turkey Trot, sans my mom, who had knee surgery and opted to tend to the turkey at home while we trotted.

At a Dallas Stars Game, something we love doing together... I think Grant and Abby came with us to this one!

Our First Christmas in our First Home!

We went to Northpark to see the Trains... Olivia and Papa are enjoying all the fun trains, and Olivia made Papa wear the hat she was supposed to wear.

Erin and Ben, he's more interested in the trains!

Once again, more interested in the trains. What a boy!

"Big D NYE"... it really stunk this year as compared to last. There must have been some sort of burn limit because the fireworks lasted about 2 minutes. But we had fun with friends!

Laura and me on NYE, freezing and trying to entertain the boys. We played 20 questions for about an hour and a half!

Valentines 2009- We decided to keep last years tradition, but rotate. Last year, Trog and Caleb sent Mendi and me on a Scavenger hunt. Well, with Mendi being preggo and on bed rest, she obviously couldn't scavenge. We added Shane and Laura to the equation and sent all the boys out for a "day-o-fun!" The girls stayed home and made Mendi's baby shower invitations and a delicious dinner for us to enjoy that night when we reunited!

Shane and Caleb playing the gee-tar at Guitar Center.

Trog on the drums, the hair makes him look legit.

Lunch at Chammps.

Rock climbing. They look whipped.

My Spiderman... apparently Caleb is pretty good at this!

The Spread we prepared for them. It was delicious!

So there ya have it. I will try to be better. Next post will probably be on the latest updates we've made to our house. It is one project after the next... but I love it! Stay tuned....

HELP!

2009-02-22T08:38:00.003-06:00

Ok people.. I'm trying to add a "scrapblog" (i.e. embed a html code) to the header of the blog, since it would be much cuter than the current state of the blog, however I am LOST! Any advice?!!??

P.S... Our wonderful Valentine's Day extravaganza to come!

25 Random Things About Me!

2009-02-07T07:32:00.002-06:00

Alright folks, I thought to myself that I didn't want to be one of "those" who wasted their time to write 25 things about myself and here I am (smile). I thought maybe I was too boring to think of 25 things or that I was too busy... haha, yea right. Well, currently I am ignoring the laundry so that I can entertain the few who are interested in knowing 25 random things about good little ol' me. Here goes:
1. I LOVE to grocery shop, especially at a fun place like Central Market. It is therapy for me and I have been caught before by my husband (on the phone people, Caleb doesn't do grocery stores!) aimlessly walking the aisles of that blessed stores when I have had a markedly long day at work.
2. When I grocery shop, I always go to at least two place to get everything I need. Bargains are TOP for me, so I keep the ads and divide my list into two categories, stuff that's cheaper at Sprouts and stuff that's cheaper at Kroger. Is that weird?!?
3. I have never had real stitches. I got stitches from getting my wisdom teeth out, but those don't count because they are a given.
4. I have to write with proper grammar when texting. And I use punctuation.
5. My husband and I love to travel. We've been married a little over 3 years and have been to Banff, Disneyworld, California and Mexico, London and Paris, Gulf Shores, New York City, Washington DC, Cruise to 6 islands in the S. Caribbean and soon to be the Mediterranean in August.
6. I think I've been the primary cook in every home I've ever lived in...
7. I might could never go to the movie theater again and be okay with it (but my husband would kill me).
8. I've had a colonoscopy before and I'm only 25.
9. I've also had melanomic (is that a word??) moles removed... and I'm only 25.
10. I always wonder if I should put 1 space or 2 between sentences when on FB and the blog.
11. I had the greatest college roommates anyone could imagine, and I love them as much now as I did when we lived together! And Becca's having a baby... YAY!!!
12. I love to read. Currently I am reading The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks.
13. I have a problem with always needing the TP roll to be paper-side up... Any top-rollers with me??
14. I think people who eat tomatoes like apples are disgusto. Why??
15. My husband and I gut-remodeled our first home in 5 1/2 months and love each other more than we did before. And never had a knock-down, drag-out fight in the process. Don't ask me about shopping for furniture though... it brings chills to my spine. Love you hun!
16. I have checked the spacing between every number and the wording for each of the first 15 random facts, it must be equal.
17. I'm now wondering if I'm a little OCD.
18. I work with special ed. elementary kiddos and love them! Now, it does make me a little obsessive and crazy about every detail to me have my own children, but I continue to cling to the fact that my God knows every detail about each of my future Morris babies before they have ever been formed.
19. I would love to cook or bake for a living one day. My sisters and I have always talked about it: Megan would own it because she would be rich, I would cook and Erin would let us boss her around. I love my sisters!!!
20. I think I got the best deal when I married Caleb. He is incredible, adventurous, God-fearing, and an amazing leader to my bossy butt. God knew I needed a man who would cause me to desire to submit because of his wisdom in leading our home.
21. I hate mail.. currently I have at least 3 various piles throughout my home that need to be addressed. Halleluiah that I don't have to do bills, I just need to file and trash all this annoying paper. I really would love to go paperless.
22. Owning a home really does mean endless projects. It is true people, don't think for a second that yours will be "different" and perfect just like you borrowed it from the bank for the next 30 years.
23. Once upon a time I wanted to be a lobbyist in Washington DC and go to law school and wear suits. I think I was crazy, because I sure do love my corduroy, tees and jean jackets!
24. I love to entertain and have people over.. and really I love it when people love my cooking. Is that selfish or just really hospitible (haha..)??
25. I would be lost and eternally miserable if it weren't for the saving grace of my Lord Jesus Christ. I think logically there is no other way to describe creation other than the miracle of a Creator, my Creator.

....and one more to show really that I might be OCD:
26. I went back and checked all the spacing on each number and corresponding sentences. 2 spaces people, 2 spaces.

Other Updates on Life Since November...

2009-01-26T18:34:00.003-06:00

Well, here ya have it folks, an update on life from Thanksgiving to now! We celebrated Thanksgiving here at our very own first home, which was an absolute blast. As the Morris family, we decided long ago that even though we live in the same town as our families we would not share holidays... we didn't want to be the crazy people driving from house to house to appease everyone else and not have a good time for ourselves. Well, I must say that it is WONDERFUL. Not that we don't love all of our family, but it is great to be able to really focus all our energy on just one family per holiday and the time is really quality! So, Turkey day came and the Hayes family (Katie's side) all did the Turkey Trot, sans mom who just had knee surgery and was babysitting the turkey in the oven! The Trot was fun, crowded as always, and I am so proud of my hubby who ran the entire thing! Then we started gearing up for Christmas, decorating the outside of the house and wrapping presents galore! Right before Christmas we celebrated Megan's B-Day (Katie's sister who lives in NYC) by going down to the Bishop Arts District to a darling restaurant called Hatties! We had a wonderful, Christ-filled holiday with Caleb's family! I got my very first I-Pod, which was quite exciting, and got to go shopping for some cute clothes! Caleb got some much needed new clothes and a present that actually came in the mail today, a Blu-Ray player! Following Christmas, we celebrated New Years by going to the Stars game and sticking around for the Big D NYE. I must say that compared to last year, it was a MAJOR let-down... quite a stinker of a New Years. We did enjoy ourselves with Shane and Laura, though. Then we celebrated New Years Day by having Christmas with my (Katie's) family, and celebrating her dad's b-day! Our big present from my parents was a new grill, which we love!! Since New Years we have hit the ground running with work and school for Caleb. It is the busy time of year for Katie with TAKS and it seems to always be busy at work for Caleb, which we are very thankful for! I know it is late to say, but we hope you had a wonderful Christmas season and are waiting hopefully and enjoying all of the rich blessings God has in store for you and yours in 2009!

PS... Sorry for the lack of photos, I can't find my USB connector thingy for the camera!

Surprise Anniversary Trip in November!

2009-01-17T07:03:00.017-06:00

Soo overdue, but here ya go! My wonderful, sweet, amazing, thoughtful, etc. etc etc. husband TOTALLY surprised me with a trip to NYC for our 3rd anniversary in November!!!! I was shocked beyond words, literally, which if you know me, NEVER happens! I thought he was going to be in Oklahoma and that my sweet friend Laura was treating me to a massage, when my husband showed up on my front door step, blind-folded me and whisked me away. I was surprised that he was there, but thought nothing of a trip. I just thought we were going to dinner and maybe a Mavs or Stars game. It wasn't until we were in the airport parking lot, my husband put a book in my hand and told me to take the blind fold off that I realized we were going to New York, right then!! The book was a sight-seeing book, by the way (I thought when he put it in my hand that he had bought me some cheesy self-help marriage book-haha!). Soo... off we went to NYC, where we stayed with my sweet little sister Megan and her husband Will! Here's my photo-journal of the exciting long weekend!

At the airport, still shocked and unable to comprehend the reality of what we were doing!

St. Patrick's Cathedral

At Magnolia Bakery-where the "thing" for cupcakes began! I got the hummingbird, which was absolutely delish!

Caleb eating his cupcake and wishing he had ordered mine... YUM!!!

NBC Studio Tour.. We couldn't take any pictures inside, sorry folks! But I will tell you that we got to see SNL and the Today Show.

A view of the Today Show from the Plaza, sorry no Meredith or Matt inside.

Times Square.

Morgan Stanley, where the big-wigs like my little sister work!

Us in Times Square, chaos.

Us having a fabulous italian dinner before my husband's second best surprise, tickets to WICKED!!!

Wicked!

Inside Wicked!

Central Park, my favorite.

More CP.

NYC American Museum of Natural History, where Ross works.

Amazing exhibit, this looks totally real but it's fake. I swear.

Another fake exhibit. Amazing.

A dinosaur.

Dino bones. Cool.

CP and the City from the Museum.

Us eating pizza for lunch. I think we had NY pizza every day for lunch. My husband loves me for that.

Grand Central Station... it's a really cool place. AND it's really close to Bryant Park, which I adore.

More hubub in GCS. Gotta love those stranger-taken blurry pics.

Bryant Park. darling! We just people watched, my feet hurt because my husband packed all the wrong shoes. I forgave him and bought some new ones.

Us in Bryant Park.

Cooking dinner with the Davis' (my little sis and her hubby). There apt is soo cute! We used the apple peeler Megan bought that day and made curly fries.

Our delicious dinner. My sis has become such a homemaker- I'm proud!

A view of the city from CP at night. Megan and Will live less than a block from CP on the Upper West Side, so fabulous! We walked around for 2-3 hours that night just enjoying ourselves!

Now, where was that again?

Sisters!

Cool sky.

Upper West Side.

Bridge in CP.

Fountain in CP.

Us in CP. LOVE IT!!

Bentley, he loves me. He's Megan and Will's cat.

Wall Street.

Must include my favorite New Yorker, Rachel Ray!! That's about as close as I got.

Watching the Aggies lose (probably, can't say for sure...) at the NY A&M Club.

More of the same. We got shirts, so we are legit.

Empire State Building

OHHH delicious... Best meal of the week, hands down. Pastis in the Meatpacking District.

Davis Family

Morris Family.

Pictures of the tickets to the show we never saw. Lets just say Radio City Music Hall is extremely selfish and decided to cancel the show because they didn't sell enough tickets and thought they could ruin the dreams of little boys and girls everywhere. Oh well.

Chelsea Market, where Food Network shops! Can you tell I love food and Food Network?

Chelsea Market Wall Paintings

The Oreo Sandwich.

Chelsea Market was really cool. Yummy food shops and cute food boutiques!

Me, wishing I lived close to Chelsea Market.

Our consolation prize, a tour of Radio City Music Hall. This is an insanely expensive Swarovski Crystal Chandelier.

Inside Radio City. It's really cool.

With a Rockette.

Costumes through the years at Radio City.

The classic toy soldier costume.

More of the chandelier.

Outside RCMH.

Beautiful CP during the day. Can you tell we loved it?

Us in CP again.

The subway.

Sad to leave. Back to reality.

Washington D.C. in September...

2008-12-17T22:00:00.000-06:00

So, here's trip of the fall numero uno: whirlwind weekend trip to Washington D.C.! Here's the story on this trip... basically it was the cheapest trip we've been on because Caleb was already going for work, so we had to pay for my flight and hotels for 2 nights since we went up before his conference started. AND, since he's a frequent Southwest flyer, we had a free flight, so all we paid for was our hotel... AND since my dad is a frequent traveler, we only paid for one night at the hotel... AND since all the museums are included in the taxes we pay to Uncle Sam every year, we "technically" didn't have to pay for those either! HOWEVER, my feet did pay for the trip in a BIG way. Over 40 miles and 2 days later, the damage I had done could not be reversed even with the best of pedicures or foot rubs. My blisters' blisters had blisters- OUCH! All in all, though, the trip was a blast, we saw SO much, enjoyed the "moments" we spent with Megan and Will (sorry you were sick!!), took in so much history, became so appreciative of the founding fathers of our country and really just wished all the politicians in Washington would occasionally take a step back to reflect on what principles our country was founded on. I hope you enjoy our photo journal of this trip!

Caleb's gonna love me for this one... We're eating a late lunch at Au Bon Pain just after landing and getting to our hotel!

...and there's me.

First stop- National Air and Space Museum.
Cool old air-crafts and rockets suspended from the ceiling throughout the gigantic museum!

More...

And more...

This was a really cool replica of a carrier ship.

Me and NASA.

Not a clue what this is, but it was REALLY big NASA thing.

So, here's the story on this one: we really didn't care about this statue, but we got really caught up with people watching this awkward couple who looked like they had just met but couldn't keep their hands off each other. They were TOTALLY oblivious to the amount of scandalousness they were partaking in front of the nation's capital.

The Capital of the United States of America

The White House

The lawn side of the White House

In front of a cool old building next to the White House

The World War II Memorial, very very moving.

One view, one side of the Memorial.

Veterans were all over the place, and I thought this shirt was awesome!

Stars for all of the soldiers who lost their lives in WWII

Two sweet old WWII veterans who allowed us to take their picture, an HONOR.

Museum of Natural History

More.

The National Archives.... AND the original Constitution of the United States of America. Yes, this picture is the real deal.

Signatures on the original constitution- SO COOL!

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History- HOPE Diamond at a whopping 45 carats!

About to see an IMAX @ the Smithsonian

The Jefferson Memorial from across the water @ sunset- beautiful!

Inside the Jefferson Memorial-truly memorable.

One of Jefferson's quotes.. worth blowing up to read (all of them).

And another..

Roosevelt Memorial, with Eleanor in the background.

Caleb and FDR, twinkies!

Quotes at the FDR Memorial

Statues/Representation of the Depression @ FDR Memorial

Washington Monument at Night

Lincoln Memorial @ Night

Inside the Lincoln Memorial.

Proof that Megan and Will were there, even though they were both deathly ILL.

Pentagon Memorial. Very moving.

Facing the sky.

Facing the Pentagon.

In Alexandria.

More Alexandria.. such a cute, quaint town!

The streets of Alexandria.

Just a cool shot of the metro in D.C. We <3 id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277218297858566930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BoC38ZTsdFg/STxyFP4NKxI/AAAAAAAAAoY/JxndCy7x0Ak/s320/DSC03241.JPG" border="0">

THE END... for now at least! Stay tuned for the next trip that we already took!

Catching up!

2008-12-07T21:18:00.007-06:00

Alrighty folks, I've fallen off the blog for quite some time but I am back in full force!! I have this update done and am already in the works for the next one so hopefully I will be able to keep up with the "catch-ups" so you know why in the world I've been way too busy to blog!! We have had a jam-packed fall and it is just going to continue in this pattern for a while!

Here we go....

Caleb started grad school at UTD this fall, just taking one class to get back in the groove, and he is loving being back!! He started with a great class, Marketing Management, and I am so proud of him! He has learned just how HARD his undergraduate degree was (Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M) and how different it is studying for business classes than engineering. I am sure it is a welcomed change! In addition, we have taken on football games (both pro and college), two mini-vacations, re-landscaping our entire front yard, lots of birthday events for family and friends, our first Thanksgiving celebration at our home and are a part of a different side of the CARES Apartment Ministry we were involved for 18 months prior to homeownership. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful opportunities and are grateful for all of the friends and family we have been able to share these memories with!! Enjoy some pictures of some of these events! More to come soon, I promise!!

Last First Game of the Season at Cowboy Stadium... and boy will we be grateful for a new, AIR-CONDITIONED stadium next year (or whenever we can afford to go to a game..ha!)

US... I love my husband and how we both enjoy sports, especially FOOTBALL!

We love the Seiferds and the free tickets they got us... y'all are AWESOME!!

Laura and ME, wishing we were back in our cheerleader days so we could show the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders some new moves, like real cheerleader ones!

Happy Birthday LAURA!!!

Happy Birthday again!! We went to Maggianos to celebrate then ditched the group as they went on for an evening of dancing.. I was sick, yuck! That was pretty much me from August to October- gotta hate allergies!

Fightin' Texas Aggie Band at the A&M vs. Arkansas State game, we lost. We're REBUILDING... (keep saying it and maybe you'll believe it too!)

ME- deathly ill at the game. Seriously, I slept through at least half of the game. At least we're terrible and the stands are never full, so we could really spread out at the top of the zone. And do you see how tired Caleb is?? Well my wonderful husband walked down about 40 STEEP stairs at least twice to get me ice and a soda because my blood sugar was so low I nearly passed out on the dude next to me. Did I say again how much I love him?!???

The troopers who put up with sick old me all day. They look surprisingly unaffected.. maybe they are just trying to find the good in things. Remember- we LOST. Against AK State.

Happy Birthday Honey!! I love you!

The boys at Caleb's celebration!

And the girls... we were also celebrating the joyous addition of baby Trogdon in the belly. We love everything about that baby except for the sickness your mother has had to endure.. really, what's so bad about garlic??

At the air show, sick again. I slept through some big loud airplane bomber thingy. But the Thunderbirds were really cool.

Nita and Geary... the faithful in-laws always willing to entertain my husband's child-like fetishes!

Thunderbirds.

A&M vs. Colorado.. WE WON!!! And I wasn't sick- double whammy!

Josh, Nita and Caleb... she doesn't look old enough to be their mother!

Caleb and Me!

Turkeys

2008-11-14T17:23:00.002-06:00

Isn't my background cute??? I love it and can totally brag because I didn't make it myself. I mean, its not like I am patting myself on the back, except for the fact that I am a great background finder today! Yay for Thanksgiving! Oh and also, can I just go ahead and plug Shutterfly and all the other wonderful photo websites out there who have photo books. Let me just say they make me happy! I'll post some pictures one of these days of these fun books that chronicle our vacations! Happy Friday and Gobble Gobble!

The most AMAZING husband ever!!

2008-11-11T18:39:00.002-06:00

Well folks, I must say that this time I have a GREAT excuse for the time between posts! Why, you might ask?? Because I have the most incredible husband ever! Let me explain... Last Wednesday was our anniversary- 3 years! About a month and a half ago, my husband shared with me that he was going to be out of town in Enid, Oklahoma for our anniversary on business. Well, I was quite sad, but understanding since he travels semi-frequently on business. It was even ok since we wouldn't be celebrating in the middle of the week anyways. So, we started talking about what we wanted to do. We are still in the middle of working on the house, just the outside these days, so we didn't want to spend too much money. Plus we've been talking about our "mission statement," so I thought it would be great to go camping. We talked about camping and Caleb just let me know that he wanted to take care of planning the weekend. Last Tuesday I washed clothes and he let me know that I would need to pack for the both of us for the weekend and should focus on bringing comfortable clothes, i.e. jeans, sweats, etc. So, I got geared up for what I thought would be a weekend of camping. And you must understand that for me, a Hayes girl, I had to get geared up mentally, since the only camping this girl had ever done was in the living room of her house underneath sheets suspended by couches and chairs. In the mean time, my wonderful friend Laura saved the day with an invitation to get massages on my anniversary since Caleb would be gone. Of course I said yes and so on Wednesday I got ready for an evening of fun. I was waiting at home for Laura with the blinds open and peeked outside to see a car that didn't look like Lauras, but didn't think anything of it right off hand. Well, by the time I did a double take I saw my precious husband walking up the sidewalk with a single red rose in his hand. He told me the trip was canceled last minute so we were going out for dinner and that we needed to go. I hopped in the car and was given a blindfold. Well, about twenty minutes and lots of speculation later, we arrived. Caleb got out of the car, came around to open my door, put a book in my hand and told me to open my eyes. What did I see?? Lots of cars... then I looked down at the book to see a Frommers New York City guidebook in my hands! Caleb told me that we were leaving right then to fly to NYC for a long weekend to see Megan and Will (my sis and her hubby) and have fun around town! After lots of questions about work and worry about who was going to cover my meetings (which of course my husband had taken care of 2 months ago--almost half of the staff at my school knew about this and were in on it!). Soo... for my anniversary my wonderful husband absolutely surprised me with one of the best surprises! Stay tuned for pics and details on the fun long-weekend getaway!

Cruise Part 2

2008-10-23T18:10:00.000-05:00

So finally, I will give you part 2 of our trip. So fitting seeing as the cold weather has arrived and I can dream and be reminded of the beautiful summer days and nights of our vacation spent on the beaches of the Southern Caribbean..

Gotta have a cute feet picture overlooking the waters... of Barbados!!!

Laura and I in the back of an open Land Rover, about to explore the island of Barbados.. "Off-Roading Style!"

My honey and me before we left for the off-roading trip with our funny islander tour guide!

Just a cool shot I happened upon as we sped through the town of Barbados..

A church at the top of a hill over-looking the back side of the island of Barbados.

The "back side" of the island, where the waves are so big that swimming is not allowed. It was beautiful with all of the huge rocks.

Another angle... All of the rocks are natural.

Teeny-tiny Laura and me underneath one of the rocks. We snuck over there bare-footed and nearly sliced all of our toes open. Because it is so rough on this side of the island, there is no sand, just broken up rock.

Us girls, before dinner one night. Kinda blurry of me, but perfect of Laura. Weird.

Caleb and me, blurry but a cool shot.

The next day, in St. Lucia. We went zip lining through the rainforest, which was an absolute blast! Plus, we got to wear really cool harnesses and hard hats!

Us in front of a MASSIVE tree.

The beautiful hills of St. Lucia as we took a gondola ride down the mountain.

Us.

Leaving St. Lucia... By the way, the "unleaded" beverages were cheaper than the "leaded" ones on the ship, and just as tasty. We didn't actually order both of those beverages, but apparently the waiter who didn't speak English didn't understand our English and thought we wanted two. Oh well. It's vacation and they were quite tasty!

A cool shot of the runway. I'm sure lots of very rich people fly in on their private jets to this runway. I can dream...

Shane and Laura.. so happy they decided to spend a week with us! =)

Us before dinner. Trying to get every couple shot possible. AND, we didn't have to bug a stranger to take our picture and settle for a mediocre one because we didn't want to offend said stranger because their first attempt at taking our picture stunk. Can anyone relate??

Ahh... MY FAVORITE... ANTIGUA!!!!

Just so beautiful. We did an all day catamaran trip where we cruised around the entire island, snorkeled, ate a fresh grilled lunch off the back of the boat, and baked quite nicely in the sun. Fabulous!

A boat slip on the island of Antigua.

Beautiful waves crashing on the rocks.

Us, well baked and tired from a long day of snorkeling and playing.

The mountains and beaches of Antigua. AMAZING!!

Sunset picture as we headed to St. Kitts. Sad to leave such a beautiful place.

The fake happy smile. Love it.

Us girls nearly getting blown over, and struggling for a good picture without our hair in our mouths. This was the best one of about 20. Love the husbands for enduring the photo session.

Us, burned, but dressed for a night of fun... The midnight buffet was this night!

Posey prom pic. Killing time until midnight when we can join the masses for the picture taking, dessert eating extravaganza... Well, we partook in the picture taking, but were still full from dinner and would have to wear a swimsuit the next day, so we abstained from dessert.

The midnight buffet begins. Our boat made out of cheese.

Incredibly artistry with sugar, butter and chocolate.

Watermelon Native American (I am so P.C.) =)

At St. Kitts, being silly girls in the phone booth. But it made for a cute pic!

More of us. We decided to forgo the beaches and just walk around town. We kinda wish we went to the beaches, but had a good ol' time just romping around town and not having a real agenda.

Token pic with the ship.

Our last night. Sunset picture. Memories. Ah.

A random island that is inhabited. It looked like a cool little island.

Enjoying the "unleaded" beverages one last time in the special cups. We saved them, and brought them home, only to find them broken. Oh well.

All in all, we had a most glorious vacation with our friends and are anxiously awaiting the next trip. We have tentatively scheduled our next big vacation. Stay tuned to find out... And I promise it won't be a month before I post again.

The hilarity of teaching elementary school...

2008-10-02T17:12:00.002-05:00

Ok... SO here the scoop. I am an elementary special ed. teacher and I teach inclusion. That basically means that to the maximum extent possible, I am in the classroom, supporting and scaffolding for my students so they can be successful and have access to the general curriculum that all other students in their grade level are learning. That means that I get to see soo many students, both those that are "mine" and those that aren't. I have encountered many laughable and memorable moments with kids and I will divulge a really cute story from a favorite student of mine in my building who will remain nameless.

**Name has been changed to protect the identity of the student** =)

Tammy Third Grader: Mrs. Morrith, I have missed you the last few days. Where have you been?
Me: Well, Tammy, I was gone on a trip with my husband. We went to Washington D.C.
Tammy: Ohh, WOW. How cool!! Wathington D.Thee.
Me: Washington D.C. is a very special place in the U.S.A. Do you know why?
Tammy: Yeth. Thpecial people live there.
Me: That's right. Special people do live there. There is one person in particular who is very special that lives in a very important house in Washington D.C. This man is a very famous person all over the world. Do you know who he is?
Tammy: Ummm.... yeth. JESUS!!! Jesus lives in Wathington D. Thee.

Cute huh?? Happy Thursday! The rest of the cruise pics will be up soon! I only have about 10 more pics to upload!

Cruise Part 1

2008-09-09T21:19:00.013-05:00

Ok people. So here goes on the first half of the vacation...

SO, we knew that with all of the home renovations that we were going to need a break when it was all said and done. The timing of this vacation couldn't have been more perfect. We kicked off the vacation with the John Mayer and Colbie Callait concert at what is now the Super Pages dot Com center in Dallas. I blogged about that, so scroll down to find out about that. The next morning, we woke up super early (I think we got 3 hours of sleep) to catch our flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Our vacation was not just "ours", but was shared with our wonderful friends Shane and Laura, who decided they liked us enough to vacate with us for 8 days! So, off to the airport we went and after a 5 hour plane ride, a nearly finished book (Marley and Me- AWESOME), the movie "21" and our last Dr. Pepper for over a week, we arrived in PR ready to play!

Us in Old San Juan, posing for a cute pic!

Looking out over the graves and the deep blue yonder, salivating to start our cruise early!!

Another view of Old San Juan and some of the fort.

Vacation Day 2... Waiting anxiously to get on the boat and get the real party started!!

I just could not contain myself with excitement over dinner.

Ok, I got it together. Past the thrill of unlimited food options, momentarily.
At the "muster"... They are smiling because they DIDN'T get in trouble.
I'm smiling because TROUBLE is my middle name... notice the smirk on my husband's face?? That's because I just got a stern "talking to" (more like a yell, but whatev..) by a crew member for not taking muster more seriously. Apparently photos aren't allowed. That wasn't in my Carnival Caper SIR!
DAY 3... St. Thomas, USVI.. On a bus to Magen's Bay, realizing that this trip is going to cost us more than we thought. Mexico and the Southern Caribbean should get together and talk about the whole bargaining thing and what a novel idea it is in tourism.

View of the boat and the cruise terminal in St. Thomas. I think the big (small in the photo) white building behind the ship on the bay of St. Thomas is the Marriott hotel my parents are going to next summer... Can we come???!?

The couples in St. Thomas.

And here it is... (GASP!!!) Magen's Bay! One of the most incredible beaches I've seen. Plus, it was Caleb's first view of true clear blue water. His only comparison is Gulf Shores and Myrtle Beach.. A-MAZING!

In the water between frolicks.. hoping we get the nice "base tan" we forgot to get before leaving so we wouldn't burn.. woopsie!

Who's ready for some board games on board??

Posing before dinner and BINGO.. are we lucky??

That would be a no....

But we learned that Caleb isn't picky over boogers.. He'll take what he can get!

Our cute towel animal... Can you guess what it is??

DAY 3: Dominica, an island that is nearly 100% rain forest and quite lush... Smile if you're ready to hike 2 hours to a waterfall in the pouring rain!!!

In the bus to the hike and waterfall.. shiny!

A banana plantation, one of the major exports of the country. And to answer the burning question, NO there are no monkeys on this island. For real... they would eat all the bananas.

Just a pretty picture at the base of our hike.

We are ready for what was alleged as a 45 minute hike... that took more like an hour and a half! It was amazing, though and worth the yucky hair dos and drenched clothing.

Caleb hanging on to bamboo.. which grows at a minimum rate of 1 inch per day in Dominica.

My tarzan... Isn't he cute??

What our guide says was NOT a waterfall... Yea, he's spoiled.. and obviously doesn't frequent Texas, where the only waterfalls you see are in someone rich dude's backyard that isn't in my neighborhood.

The top of the big mamma waterfall...

The middle of the big mamma waterfall...

And the bottom of the big mamma waterfall, including the pool we couldn't swim in because there was too much rain that day. Sad, but really I'm glad because I lived to see so many other beautiful places on this trip that I may not have had I been pulled under by the current of the falls in the pool. Hm.

Us posing and trying to look cute despite the destroyed hairdos and soaking wet clothes. Oh well, just focus on the waterfall, ok?

Another photo of the "un-waterfall". Incredible, huh?

This is crazy... This is a picture of a Banion Tree, aka Strangler Fig, that grows from the tops of the trees down to the ground, strangling the "host tree" and replacing it once it has died and no longer can get oxygen to survive.

We clean up well after a 4 hour waterfall hike, eh?

Them too...

STAY TUNED... MORE TO COME SOON!!

Hmm...

2008-08-20T18:17:00.005-05:00

Written by someone... don't know who but I like what it says...

'As most of you know I am not a President Bush fan, nor have I ever been, but this is not about Bush, it is about us, as Americans, and it seems to hit the mark.” ‘The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some Poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right? The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence 2/3 of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change. So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, 'What are we so unhappy about?''
A. Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
B. Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?
C. Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?
D. Maybe it is the ability to walkinto a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?
E. Maybe it is the ability to drive our cars and trucks from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state?
F. Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? G. I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough either.
H. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.
I. Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home.
J. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames, thus saving you, your family, and your belongings.
K. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.
L. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90% of teenagers own cell phones and computers.
M. How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world?
Maybe that is what has 67% of you folks unhappy.
Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. , yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here. I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks? The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad? Think about it......are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the 'Media' told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day. Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an “other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable” ' discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells, and when criticized, try to defend their actions by 'justifying' them in one way or another Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way......Insane! Turn off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage.Then start being grateful for all we have as country. There is exponentially more good than bad. We are among the most blessed people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.' 'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, 'Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

Catching Up Part 2: Colbie Callait and John Mayer- LIVE!

2008-08-18T17:23:00.004-05:00

We decided to kick off our summer vacation in true style, with a live concert at whatever-the-current-name Ampitheater (I know it as the Smirnoff.. the name changes by the minute it seems) in Dallas. And what better concert than 2 amazing artists, Colbie Callait and John Mayer!!! There were 8 of us who went, Caleb's mom and Geary, sisters Alli and Emily, friends Trog and Mendi, and us. Well, 4 of us girls got there early to secure the creme-de-la-creme spots, and after sprinting across the grass with my mother-in-law and losing a shoe -temporarily- we got some awesome lawn seats just off center and in the front section of the lawn! The concert started late due to power outages, but thankfully the show went on without any other hitches. There was an opener of which his name I do not recall, followed by Colbie and then John. Colbie and John were both incredible.. beautiful voices and music, but I would have to say that for me, John was the show stopper!! He did some crazy, crazy, wild guitar work that had all of our jaws on the grass and had a great encore! All in all, this concert was definitely in the top 5 of all time for me next to Josh Groban! Enjoy the pics!

John-Sorry it's fuzzy!
Caleb, Katie, Mendi and Trog-pre-concert...
Trog and Mendi-beautiful people.
Us... =)

Catching Up Part 1: Our Crazy, Awesome Housewarming Party!

2008-08-13T12:20:00.003-05:00

A few weekends before we left on our vacation, my parents (with the help of my mom's friend, Karen Green) threw the Housewarming Party of the Century!!! It was the most adorable decor, so well thought out and planned, and I hope everyone enjoyed seeing all of our hard work with their own eyes! The theme of the party was Home Depot, seeing as how we have now become the biggest fans and advocates of that place, and really, what does it hurt to throw a couple extra dollars down at that place to decorate not only the hard surfaces of our home, but also for our party!! If you look closely at the pictures, all of the food was served in bright orange paint trays and we used caution flags to accent all of the pictures of the remodeling project. I tried to include pictures of all of the rooms in their finished state, but I am having problems with uploading pictures so that will have to be at a later time! But for now.. enjoy!

The Cake, lising all of the remodeling projects we took on with this house!

Our new side board, decorated with paint cans, orange and white flowers and orange silverware for the snacks!

The Whole Spread, YUMMO!

The Guest Sign-In Table, so cute!A bigger picture of the sign-in table.. and yes, even the pens where Home Depot!

Dear Faithful Blog Friends...

2008-08-01T15:00:00.002-05:00

I am sorry that I have been MIA on this blog in the last 3 1/2 weeks. Don't you worry, though. I have been plenty busy to fill my time. From the time I last blogged, we have almost completely finished the inside of our home (minus the backsplash in the kitchen), had a hugely wonderfully blessed Housewarming Party and now packed for a much needed and awaited vacation that we leave for tomorrow. I apologize for my lack of photos (my not so quality laptop battery is dying at a rapid speed as I type), but I promise that when I return from our vacation I will chronicle the last month in pictures!! Pray for us and the Seiferds (our precious friends who took over for us as the CARES Team at Post Legacy) as we travel to Puerto Rico, then cruise for a week to a bunch of islands. We have never been more excited or ready for a trip as we are now! We need it! Love to all my blog friends.. see you in a week or so!

Remodeling, No Problem... Furniture Shopping, Major Crisis!

2008-07-09T08:06:00.002-05:00

Throughout the last 5+ months, we have heard so many times that remodeling is one of the toughest tasks you can take on as a married couple. Many a folk at The Home Depot (our favorite store... particularly the one in Richardson @ Coit and Campbell-AMAZING!) gave us ample unsolicited advice and horror stories about the knock-down, drag-out fights they had while re-doing their own homes or even their friends re-doing their homes. Going into this, of course, that got us a little concerned because we felt pretty confident that we were on the same page as far as the financial piece of the remodel, as well as the over "design" we wanted to achieve. Well, I can say with much confidence that we really enjoyed working together on this project and generally speaking, we did not have any major fall-outs in the process. It's not to say that we never had arguments but we never had days of pent-up frustration and major arguments over the house. Well.. fast forward to the last month and a half. We were doing pretty good if I say so myself, until we decided to go couch shopping. Yes, my friends, that is correct: COUCH SHOPPING. Never in my life would I think that it would take us a solid month and a half to agree upon a SOFA and a LOVE SEAT. Never did I imagine that I would walk into Weirs Furniture with hope and excitement, only to leave in tears and utter frustration. Or, that I would walk into Haverty's just praying that we find something we both like just to leave no speaking to that guy (my husband) who doesn't love everything I love. **Disclaimer, I love my husband, he is the most incredible man who knows how to love me and teach me how to submit under his authority with grace and compassion.. I might have been a little irrational in the process, but just a little (haha).** Well, I am happy to report that after nearly two months of searching, about 30 swatches of fabric later and plenty of $3-4 gas gallons later, we landed on the first couch we ever looked at. Funny how that works, huh?!? The couch is from my most favorite store in the whole wide world, where we basically shop exclusively for all of our furniture for many reasons! We love, love, love, love Weirs Furniture for their Christian values and amazing prices! If you shop at the Plano store, ask for Darrell--he's our guy; Harold is our Dallas store guy! Here are the swatches for the couch, love seat and pillows for those who care and made it to the bottom of this novella...

Left Fabric: Couch and love seat; Center and Right Fabrics: Pillows

My Great Excuses + Pictures for your Satisfaction!

2008-07-07T17:36:00.007-05:00

Really, I mean it... I have missed you! All of you readers out there who bug me and tell me I need to update, well here you go. Only a month and a few days later, and for that I am sorry.. but you must understand my circumstance. Once we moved in, I had no computer access unless Caleb was at home because our home computer was not hooked up and I could not for the life of me find my laptop (which is awful anyway...). And those of you who have work computers know that it isn't exactly a great idea for Caleb to let me upload our personal pics to the blog, so I was a good girl and didn't do it. Fast forward into mid-June: we get the home computer hooked up, finally and guess what... IT DIES (by the grace of God it was 2 weeks before the warranty expired!). And what a sad day... seriously. Never in my life have I been more thankful for blogging and shutterfly because otherwise all of my pictures of the remodel would be totally gone. A lot of the pictures of the remodel were lost, but I just conceded that there was nothing I could do and pouting would only make both Caleb and me miserable. So, once again, no posting pictures. Fast forward again, I get my home computer working and I leave my camera at my parents house... No posting pictures again. Well, fast forward to now and you must know I feel like one lucky duck. I have my camera and my laptop computer, although it loses charge very quickly and the charger is a thorn in my side, works, so here ya go. Enjoy what pictures I have. Hopefully more to come soon!

Guest Bedroom... AKA The Morris Hotel. So far our count is 3 visitors.
Another view of the guest bedroom
Guest bathroom.
Master bathroom

Dining Room (decorated for the 4th of July.. yes, I may just be one of "those" people who always keep the table decorated... I think it's cute!)
View from the Dining/Living Room into the Breakfast Nook/Kitchen
Breakfast Nook
One view of the kitchen
Another View of the kitchen

Some Pics

2008-06-04T23:35:00.005-05:00

Sorry, folks. I know it has taken a long time for me to load some pics, but I hope you enjoy. These are from a few days ago, so we have definitely made progress since then. These pics show what is apparently our major priorities, since these "areas" were unpacked and set up first! They should come as no surprise to those who know us!!

Kitchen, with cabinets on their way to being completely full!
Beautifully lined and organized kitcen cabinets... with room for more fun new kitchen gadgets! I'll have to wait for Christmas to stock up my kitchen with more goodies!

This was the very first thing done in our home. TV. Shocking, I know.
And there is TV #2. Surrounded by unpacked luggage. Priorities right in line, eh?
And a finished TV cabinet... all it is missing is the Wii I am going to buy with my birthday money. Wahoo! Then not only will our house be cute, it will also be fun!

More pics coming soon my friends. Hope this wet your appetite!

We are in.

2008-05-28T22:39:00.002-05:00

So, we are in the house and officially have internet. Well, supposedly we have "had" internet since Friday, but I just got it working in the last day or so. It is coming along and I will have pictures to post later... hopefully tomorrow. I do not have the computer set up and my laptop has seen its last days, so I only get to use the computer when Caleb is at home and isn't cracking the whip. I know you are all on the edge of your seat... hopefully I will have pics up tomorrow. Night night blog world!

Quick Update

2008-05-18T09:02:00.002-05:00

So, this one is going to be short. I just wanted to let you guys know where we are at in the project. Caleb and I feel like zombies, so exhausted from spending all of our free time for the last 2+ months working on the house... We did not move into the house this weekend due to certain circumstances, BUT we will be moving in next week!!! It is definitely less than ideal to move during the middle of the week, but as with everything else, we literally had no option. The POD will be delivered at the beginning of the week, then we will unpack it and be in by this weekend! We are thrilled and can't wait to show you pictures of the finished product. Of course, as with any home, there is still some work to be done, but nothing the city won't let us do while we are living there. Pray for us tomorrow as we have the plumbers and electricians coming to finish out and will be calling for inspections in the afternoon. Pray that everything is complete and we can move forward without any hiccups.

Houston, We have counters!!!!

2008-05-09T22:23:00.003-05:00

What a fun day!!! We got our countertops!! was so interesting watching them do it... So, here's the story. I was told I needed to be at the house between 10 and 11, and that it would take around 3 hours to do the entire install. Well, around 9:45 they called so I raced over there to the house (I was buying plumbing fixtures.. another day!). By 10, I realized I had the wrong faucet and needed to go get a new one. Well, as I was getting my stuff together, I heard the workers talking and it sounded like they were concerned about something, so I glanced out the back door. Lo and behold, I see the guys with my big L-shaped piece on the orange Home Depot-esque 3 section dolly trying to get up the back stairs. They were using one of the guys shoes to protect the granite from the concrete (real reassuring, eh?) and they had the weakest dude trying to hoist the granite and the dolly up the stairs all by himself. In my mind, and of course out loud, I think, "Would you like for me to help you with holding the bottom of the granite so you can get it up the stairs?" Well, as you could probably guess, I got a snicker and a polite, "No mam, we've got this" response from one of the workers. After standing there staring at them while they try to figure this thing out, I figure it is probably better if I just left because I will annoy the tar out of them staring while they try to not break a very expensive piece of stone as they ghetto-rig it up my stairs. They had my number in case it broke while I was out.. Well, luckily, they didn't need it. By the time I came back, they had set all three pieces of stone on top of the cabinets and were getting ready to start cutting the hole for the sink and faucet. It was insanely loud while they cut the sink hole and of course, as a special ed. teacher I began worrying about the state of all of our ear drums and went on an unsuccessful hunt for ear plugs from our tool box. Oh well, I settled for looking like a 2-year old holding my ears closed. About 2 1/2 hours after they started, I had beautiful countertops to enjoy for many years!! Enjoy some pics of their handiwork!

Our countertops and the trusty dolly...
The countertops, view from the dining room.. Notice the faucet to the left of the sink.
Close up of the countertops... New Venetian Gold Granite

Another view of the c-tops and the kitchen.

the list is shortening..

2008-05-06T14:13:00.002-05:00

So, our laundry list of everything that will make our home "liveable" according to the city of Richardson is getting shorter. YAY!! We have one bathroom left to tile, the kitchen is tiled, the countertops will be delivered Friday and hopefully at the beginning of next week, we will have all of our plumbing fixtures in!! And, the only other big thing is that we have to blow insulation in the attic, which we have heard is not a big task (comparatively speaking, I guess...). That means that hopefully next weekend (May 16-18), we will be moving in. I am a little nervous to say that because I don't want it to not happen, but I'm just going to go ahead a put it out there. I need to call and get our appliance set up for delivery. Do you remember several months ago when I was so excited about my appliances?? Well, it just so happens that my wonderful, fabulous appliances will probably end up being delivered on my birthday!!! It may seem weird to most of you, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE cooking and being in the kitchen, so we have probably spent the most money, love and attention to that space so I can enjoy it and through my cooking, my husband, family and you guys, my wonderful friends, can enjoy it as well!! As I type, the light fixtures are being installed in the house. Things really seem to be coming together and I just can't wait to not be living out of my car and always on the go. That's it for now!

Oh, P.S. Caleb is taking the GMAT on Saturday, so say a prayer that he will be able to focus his attention completely on that this week and that he would have good rest. I guess that means you should pray for me too because I'm coughing up what feels like my left and right lungs all night long, so my husband can't sleep either.

Much love!

oh so different...

2008-04-29T20:35:00.003-05:00

Well, the title says it all. Things are oh so different for us these days. Here's what's happening in the Morris family:

1. We found out we couldn't move in on Tuesday of last week and had to pack our whole house in a matter of 3 evenings, with the help of wonderful friends and family, and move into a 16 foot POD. By the way, get one larger than they recommend... My idea of a fully furnished room is apparently much different than PODS.
2. We played Tetris first with our cars to save a spot for the POD on the street on Friday, then with our stuff on Saturday and Sunday, again with the help of wonderful friends and family, so that we could get 95% of our stuff in the POD.
3. We had our floors refinished all last week, and by the absolute grace of God they were finished in spite of the humidity and rain last week.
4. We moved in with Caleb's mom and step-dad for the remainder of the home remodel (hopefully no more than 3 weeks... no offense Frees, but we are ready to be done with the house!).
5. We hired someone to tile the kitchen because there isn't a snowcones chance in Hades that we can get that done ourselves in a timely fashion.

The list really could go on and on, but I won't bore you. Sorry, I don't have any pictures and can't promise that we will have any prior to moving in. Our computer is packed away and in a POD until we move in to the house. That's all I have for now. My brain is fried from a lack of sleep! Love to all who care about enough about the blog to bug me until I update! I hope this was worth it...

Happenings at the hizzy..

2008-04-22T22:26:00.005-05:00

Soo... here's what is happening at our hizzy: Last weekend we tile the tub surround in the master bath and had to prep the house for the floors to be refinished. Basically what that meant was that we had to get all the equipment and supplies out of the house, then take out all the carpet, carpet pad, carpet tack, nails and staples from around 1300 square feet. Yikes. Luckily we hired a few day laborers that were wonderful and worked so hard. We also, as you will see from the pictures below, completely cleared out our garage to the street so that everything could be picked up by the city on Monday. On Sunday, our big project for the morning was to completely wrap all of the duct work in the attic so that our A/C can be functional. It was suprisingly a lot of fun. It has been one of the few times where Caleb and I have gotten to really work side-by-side on a low-stress project for the house. I probably enjoyed it because Caleb told me it would be a lot like wrapping Christmas presents, which I am weird and love to do! Enjoy the pictures.. More updates on our chaotic life to come..

Our trash pile.
Our home... It looks finished when you look at the front, which makes me happy. It is very deceiving, though...
The hardwoods, after they have been stripped.
Living room view of stripped hardwoods.
One of the bedrooms, hardwoods stripped.
Before they were stripped... look at the lovely star pattern on the floor.
Another view of the hardwoods, before being stripped.
Nita after a hard day of work!
Geary after a hard day of work, smiling on the outside, hating me on the inside. Haha..
Two hard workers, feeling tired and dirty.

The Heinz 57 Post

2008-04-16T23:36:00.007-05:00

Because I feel like the Heinz 57, or at least like I have 57 + different things going on in my life, I named my post that. That's about the extent of my creativity at nearly midnight after just getting home from a 14 hour work day between school and the house. Here goes...

After a long weekend and what also turned into the last few days, we have tile on both bathroom floors... WOOHOO! We are so proud of our work. Geary, Caleb's stepdad, even told us he didn't think he could do a better job, which is a huge compliment! He's a pro... and while I don't believe our work is professional, I am very proud and think we did a great job. Enjoy the pics! I included tile, the kitchen cabinets and some lovely worker bees who donated their time to our cause. It's Operation Finish Morris Home!

Caleb and Trog posing.. haha, dorks!
My cute mom painting up a storm!
Caleb, my dad and George putting up backerboard.
Geary, the cabinet painter extraordiare!
Hall bath tile.
Master bath tile.
B-E-A-utiful painted cabinets!
More cabinets.
Mendi and I, definitely posing. We don't even have sponges on our rollers. Oh well, we look cute and so does the 50-gazillionth paint color on the walls. =)

Prayer Requests!!!

2008-04-09T20:18:00.006-05:00

Pray for us as we really begin to enter that final stage of getting our house ready for moving! If you feel so inclined, here are some things we need specific prayer over:

First and foremost, that God would continue to be Lord over this project, the timeline and how we "manage" all of our contractors throughout the process
Pray specifically for tomorrow (April 10th), as Caleb will be working with two guys from 4L Engineering to completely redo all of our duct work. They have been soo wonderful and gracious, with the owner of the company being not only one of Caleb's best friends dad, he's also an Aggie. We really need the duct work done quickly because we did not plan to do any major HVAC work which means we didn't include it in the budget... and with it costing us a lot per hour, the quicker it is done the better. Pray that their work is done very thoroughly, and very swiftly.
Pray that this weekend would be free of hiccups, and that we can go in to it with all of the supplies we need in order to put a serious dent in the tile work. Ideally, we could completely tile both bathrooms in the course of the weekend. We shall see.. But regardless, we need prayer that our time would be consumed with laying tile rather than making Home Depot and Lowes runs!
Pray that the weather would cooperate.
I know this may sound silly, but pray that we could find paint for our house that we like and goes well. I just don't think I would be a good steward of our finances if I kept spending $5 here and $10 there to try out different paint samples, even though I like the paint when it's in the swatch but not on my walls. It is very frustrating!!
Pray that the Lord would truly guard our finances with regards to the house and that every penny spent would be put to use wisely.
Pray that we would be good stewards of our time and that we would truly finish the work God began in our lives through the commitments we have through the end of the month.
Pray that God would provide sweet rest and that the moments we get a chance to stop, that we would be thankful for all of the blessings and that we could find peace and rest in the hope that God is going to carry us through the end of this project.

I am sure that isn't everything, but that is all my brain could handle and all the prayer requests my mind remembered at the moment! Thank you all you wonderful prayer warriors!! We can't wait to show you the fruits of your prayers when this project is complete!

Exhausted!!

2008-04-05T21:21:00.002-05:00

SOo... Here's just a quick update for you! We had a CRAZY BUSY day, but got so much done! We literally had a 12 hour work-day, leaving before 8 a.m. and not getting home until after 8:30 tonight. But wow, what a productive day! And for starters, I must give a few shout-outs to the rock-stars of the day. Geary, Caleb's step-dad and remodeling extraordinaire, came through like you wouldn't believe. He helped us rework the moulding on the tops of a few cabinets, helped us pick out a painters rig so we could spray the cabinets, helped us finish prepping the cabinets for paint, probably sprayed 4-5 coats of primer, helped us sand down the primer and prep the cabinets for paint and then sprayed a coat of the cabinet color. And that's just the stuff I saw, I know there was so much more he did that wasn't in my plain sight because I was working on other stuff. Next shout-out goes to my parents, Richard and Debbie, who were amazing. They came over with their yard materials, fertilized our yard, prepped both of the bathrooms for paint (taping, etc.), sanded down the wood in the bathrooms that had texture on it, filled holes, painted the ceiling, painted some walls, put up some sheetrock, put up some concrete backerboard and SO MUCH MORE!! Wow.. It was a crazy day, but it was so productive! I am most excited at this point about our cabinets, they look amazing! I can't wait to share them with blogworld, but it will have to wait because they are not finished. That's all for now. Sorry it was so short and no pics. You'll have to wait until next time!

Archways and Cabinets

2008-04-02T22:33:00.007-05:00

Thought I'd change it up and put the pictures first... I'm gettin' wild and crazy on you... Or maybe I'm just going crazy from this project... Or maybe I was already crazy.. All of the above are possible! Enjoy!

Archways (view from inside the kitchen into the dining room) and our sweet workers who just prayed before eating pizza! How amazing is that???
The master bathroom, ready for tile... Does this make anyone want to volunteer to help us tile?? Hehe..
From the left: First inset is the new washer/dryer closet, Second Inset is the space where the fridge will go, Third Inset is the space where the pantry will go
Archway (view from the hallway into the living room and entry way)
Cabinets... LAAAAA! (imagine the sky opening up and beautiful music playing!) I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my new kitchen and can't wait to cook! Who knows what this lady will whip up with all the new inspiration?!?

Two fun things in our home are in the house and make such a difference! It is starting to feel like a home! And we are starting to feel the pressure to get the house done in the next 27 days... AHH! Pray for us as we try to do our best to get this home finished with quality and that the Lord would truly direct the time schedule over the next few weeks and that God would send us contractors who want to work for free, or at least cheap! Here's what is on the books for this weekend:

This weekend: Painting another coat on the kitchen ceiling, filling all the nail holes in the cabinets, sand all the filled holes, vacuuming the cabinets until they are 100% saw dust free, tape the kitchen, tape the windows, caulk all the corners to prep for paint, seal the room off from the rest of the house, spray the kitchen cabinets (courtesy of our FABULOUS STEP-DAD/FATHER-IN-LAW Geary) with primer and paint... you can pray for hot and dry weather, rip out all the door frames and trim throughout the whole house, finish peeling up the "hopefully not asbestos tile", paint the master bedroom and 3rd bedroom, paint the bathrooms, finish tearing out the wall paneling, take all the paneling out to the garage, fertilize the yard, hope we can revive the grass, spray the kitchen cabinets with final coat (hopefully it will be ready!!!), tear out all of the duct work through the entire house, and not lose our ever loving minds!

Soo, is there anyone out there who watches HGTV like it's going out of style and really want to take a crack at some DIY home improvement? Or even better, we got any closet tile experts willing to sacrifice some time to help us out? We really aren't afraid to be beggers at this point! Haha... I'm kidding, unless you really wanna help! I hope this gives you an idea of the craziness that has ensued at our casa. Well, if I can tell you anything, I will tell you this. None of the pictures I have posted throughout the whole process have done the home justice. The before pictures didn't show how bad of shape the house was in and the after pictures don't show how beautiful the house is now. Hopefully once we are in the house and it is done, we can throw a big party so that you guys can all come see the fruit of the labor of us and our friends and families and everyone we either paid or thanked for their help on our project. It will be all worth it. Well, that's all for my novel this evening. Say a prayer for us as we enter the home stretch!

Easter Weekend and Blog update #3 for this weekend.. WOW!

2008-03-30T23:45:00.005-05:00

We had a wonderful Easter weekend altogether! Caleb sings in the choir at our church, Prestonwood Baptist, and had to sing in all 4, ahem, 3 of the services. He was supposed to sing in 4, but he says the alarm "didn't go off"... haha! I think his body didn't want to get up so his mind forgot when he pushed the snooze button earlier that morning! Nonetheless, he still sang in 3 of the services that weekend, 1 Saturday and 2 on Sunday. I decided to go to the Saturday night service with our wonderful friends Trog and Mendi so that I wouldn't have to be a loner and go to the service alone like I normally do on Sunday mornings! It was absolutely incredible and they, as always, came through with the most incredibly moving music that perfectly fit the occasion! On Sunday morning, I got up and got to cookin' to get ready for the Easter lunch we had with Caleb's mom and family. I also had to clean house and get ready to go back to work after Spring Break since Plano ISD hates their teachers and decided it would be a good idea to "double dip" and have Spring Break and Easter all in the same weekend and not give us the Monday after Easter off like they always have in the past. Whatev... Not bitter. Anywho.. So, I spent Sunday morning being a housewife, then when Caleb got home we took off to his sister Emily's house to celebrate the resurrection of our savior with some fried chicken and an Easter egg hunt! Don't you think that's how Jesus would celebrate today?? I think if Jesus lived today He'd be a southerner and would LOVE him some fried chicken while He fellowships with His disciples. Well, at any rate, that's how we celebrated! It was a true Baptist potluck at the Thornton household, complete with enough easter eggs to let the whole neighborhood participate. I think we actually spent more time stuffing eggs than we did eating lunch and letting the kids hunt. Oh well! By the time lunch came around, most of the kids were already full from sneaking candy, so all the adults enjoyed some good food and fellowship. Lunch was followed by hiding eggs and the kiddos hunting. And it wouldn't be a true celebration without a little drama, right?! Well, our neice Elyza had the opportunity this year to help hide eggs since her mom told her that it would be her last year to participate. Since Elyza decided to hide eggs, Chloe decided that she wanted to as well, but since she is much younger, mom said she had to wait a few years. Well, that just wasn't going to cut it, so Chloe decided to boycott the Easter egg hunt altogether. That wasn't going to work either, so after some serious coaxing, Chloe somehow managed to make it outside to atleast be amongst the hunt, but spent the first 10 minutes outside crying about how she didn't want to hunt eggs? I know..really cute, but seriously.. when I was her age, I don't think I'd ever cry when my parents told me to run around in the yard and get as much free candy as your basket could hold! She finally caved and decided to hunt eggs, which was great because there was half of the Thornton backyard that seriously had not even been touched and all of the other kids were done with hunting! All-in-all, the Easter hunt was a success and we are glad that all age-appropriate children enjoyed themselves and have enough candy for at least a weeks worth of candy stomach-aches! Enjoy the pics...

Grammy and Kaylee Bunny chillin out'

Maya Bunny grinning from ear-to-ear!

Sam Bunny itchin' to get those ears off his head!

Such a cute pic of Mattie hunting Easter eggs!

Maya looking for more eggs.. she looks pretty deep in thought here!

I have so many more pics, they'll have to wait for another blog. It is way past my bed-time!

Happy Belated Birthday, Don!

2008-03-30T23:26:00.008-05:00

Happy Belated Birthday to Caleb's dad, Don Morris! On Saturday, we celebrated Caleb's dads birthday with a surprise lunch at Dos Charros! It was a great time to catch up with him and see how they are doing! I think he was quite surprised to see the whole gang sitting at the table when he walked in! Dos Charros is one of those small, family owned Mexican food restaurants which is my favorite kind! They always have the best salsa and are always really cheap for some good food... if you know me, you know that would be the best possible combination, good and cheap Mexican food! Here are some pictures from lunch...

Caleb's dad, Don and Sheree enjoying his birthday lunch at Dos Charros!

Chloe and Mattie being super cute at Dos Charros!

Elyza, Emily and Baby Kaylee (Alli's baby!)

We had a grand ol' time stuffing our faces with chips and salsa and chit-chattin about what's happenin' in each of our lives! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family that is so close to us!

We're on 3rd base..rounding in to home!

2008-03-30T23:03:00.002-05:00

Wow... I cannot believe it is nearly April!! We have just around a month until we absolutely have to be out of our apartment, which means we also have to be in our new house. That means, life for the next 30 days are going to be sheer chaos!! If I can last through the next 30 days and maintain sanity, I think I can handle a heck of a lot for a 24, almost 25 year old! We have 1 month left in the CARES Apartment Ministry, which means we still have 70 hours of service to the apartment complex and 384 apartment residencies to love on, 1 apartment that has to be packed and ready for the move, 2 full-time jobs, 1 husband trying to study intensely for the GMAT which he'll be taking May 10th (pray for that!) and 1 house to complete, from refinishing the hardwoods to painting the walls to tiling the floors and bathrooms to putting in gutters to helping our yard live to SO MUCH MORE! Mylanta.. does that make you want to come help us?? Well, if you feel ever so inclined, we'd love to buy your lunch on a Saturday for some help painting, etc, etc, etc! Sorry no pics.. just a short post to let you know we are alive and the house is coming along. I will post pics soon. The house looks totally different!

Walls, windows and a workaholic!

2008-03-21T10:42:00.008-05:00

Here's a big update, one the few of you who keep bothering me have been waiting for! Sorry... I am just so busy these days I can barely keep up with myself! Between work, CARES, the house and my family (husband and 2 dogs at the moment), I have to remember to breathe sometimes. I am really enjoying every bit of the remodel, but will be very glad when this labor of love is complete! This week is my spring break, and since there is no relaxing with this much work to be done, I have been over at my house working my tail off. I have to say, though, that I am very proud of all I have accomplished! I do have to share a quick warm fuzzy story! On Thursday, we had A LOT going on at the house. We had 2 inspections that we had to pass, so I had my framing crew on my job shimming up some spaces in the wood, spraying foam in the holes the electricians and plumbers left, framing out a new window space and installing insulation in all of the open exterior walls. I also had all of the windows being installed throughout the house. On top of that, I had a mason on the job patching up the spot where the new window would be. And as icing on the cake, I was there removing ceiling tiles (156 to be exact), ceiling nails (somewhere around 700 of those) and peeling up what we think may asbestos tile from the old sun room so we can refinish the hardwoods that are under there. Sound busy? It was! Well, around 11:00 a.m. I realized that I really needed all of my workers to keep working through lunch to get everything done that needed to be done prior to the inspection, so I decided to go buy them lunch! Well, you would have thought they won the lottery or just accepted Jesus because there was some serious hollering, excitement and thankfulness in my house! It was such a blessing to bless them with lunch and just reminded me that we can touch peoples lives in even the smallest ways, and even when I think I am doing something to motivate people to work, God can use it in a much bigger way! He just reminded me of how blessed I am and how even the little things can be used to spread the love of Christ by being self-sacrificial with my money and servant-hearted with my gifts!

This is the master bedroom carpet that I rolled up all by myself! I didn't think it was such a big deal, even though it was pretty tough and took a bit of time.. but when I told my father-in-law, Geary, who is a contractor, that I did it all by myself, he was quite impressed! He said that is normally a 2 or 3 person job.

Our windows, woohoo!

The "hopefully not asbestos" and linoleum flooring I am peeling away to reveal the beautiful hardwoods.

New window in the front bedroom. If you come visit us, you could open those windows as you will stay in this bedroom! So fun!

The truck with the windows, and me on the sidelines praying that none of them were broken.. my prayers were answered!

The old front window is gone and the frame is just waiting for the new one.. Aren't they shiny and new!

The master bath with insulation.

The hall bath with the new, much smaller and much more private window plus insulation.

The ceiling, sans tiles. That was some tedious work. See that faint blue chalk line on the ceiling?? That chalk line centered the room for the original owner to install the ceiling tile probably about 50 years ago... Crazy!

Hope you enjoyed the picture walk through our journey in the last few days!

Electricity that won't kill us!

2008-03-20T08:21:00.005-05:00

Soo.. whenever we began the whole process with this house, one of the fun and interesting things we found out is that all of the electricity in the house was wired basically illegally! Fun huh? What previous owner, graciously dubbed "Handy Homeowner" by Caleb and me for all of the ways he ghetto-rigged the house, did was take all of the non-grounded wired in the house and put grounded plugs on them. Now some of you may be confused, so let me explain. When wired are not grounded, by putting a grounded 3- prong plug on them does NOT make them grounded. They just look all pretty and grounded. Really, though, it is extremely unsafe and can ruin all of your electronic equipment, kitchen gadgets, etc. And you all know that between me, the kitchen guru, and my husband, who thinks its a sin to not own the latest piece of electronics, we would be out a TON of money if something happened to all our stuff. But even more important than that, we just really wanted to do the safe and legal thing for our home. With that, we now have legitimately grounded wires and plugs in our home, in addition to some fun new can lights for our living, kitchen and porch areas. Enjoy the pics!

Living room can lights

Kitchen can lights

Porch can light

Sorry if these pics weren't as exciting... more to come soon!

Health Alert.... This makes my drinking habits very sad =(

2008-03-18T11:31:00.004-05:00

So, you are going to think I am crazy for saying I am broken-hearted over this YouTube video, but anyone who knows me knows that I ALWAYS order water with lemon at a restaurant. AND.. If they bring me water with no lemon, I always ask them to bring me a bowl of lemons. Why?? I don't know, but I do know that lemon always makes my water taste better. Well, from here on out, I am going to be a lemon-free girl in public, and I venture to guess you will be too after watching this video. YUCK!

Funny, funny... Just HAD to post!

2008-03-06T18:26:00.001-06:00

Valentine's Day.. Only Slightly Past Due!

2008-03-06T17:48:00.006-06:00

I have to brag BIG TIME on my husband for making this Valentine's Day an extraordinary one! Caleb and his friend, Trog, got together and planned an unusually special evening for Trog's wife, Mendi, and I. It all started when they told us to meet at the Trogdon apartment at 5:15pm. Through the lies of both of our husbands, we thought the boys would be joining us there but were soon instructed over the phone to open Trog's dresser drawer. There we found a green envelope that contained a puzzle with OUR FIRST CLUE! We were about to partake in a scavenger hunt, yippee!! Our first destination was Starbucks where the cashier granted us gift cards and another green envelope. After solving a word puzzle, we were led to Barnes and Noble at Stonebriar Mall to receive a book and another clue which sent us off to Victoria's Secret.. or at least someone's secret, so we thought! Little did we know it was the V.S. at a different mall! We learned this important little tidbit of information only after walking back to the car to get the camera, then around the wrong mall for more than 30 minutes, asking every store that seemed like a "secret" (about 10 total stores) if they had a green envelope. Needless to say, we got lots of "what are you talking about?" looks! We faced the reality that not only were we at the wrong place, but we also were not donning the proper shoes for the occasion and had the bloody heels to prove it! After finding the right mall and the right V.S., we obtained our next clue and another little gift.... Sorry folks, Victoria said this gift was a "secret"! We then found ourselves at Bath & Body Works for some bath essentials (and band-aids for our heels!) and a clue leading us to Whole Foods. No gift this time, just our next clue hidden under a jar of Oregano! After solving a Sudoku puzzle and talking to my mom on the phone for directions (she asked if we were cheating... we didn't care at that point because we were starving and our feet were killing us!), we were led to a flower shop on Beltline where we were each given a beautiful red rose and another green envelope. It was now off to the Marriott Hotel in which we had a hunch that our hunt was coming to an end and that we were about to spend a romantic night away from home. To our dismay, the front desk hostess handed us an envelope not holding two room keys but a piece of paper saying "text NOT STAYING HERE to get your next clue"! Our last clue landed us at our apartment for our final surprise......a candlelight dinner! Little did we know that as we were scavaging the entire North Dallas Metroplex, Caleb and Trog had been grocery shopping and cooking (actually learning to cook) a meal for us! The table and mood were set and we were served a full course meal including bread, salad, chicken, veggies, and cheesecake. It was absolutely perfect and was the best Valentine's Day a girl could have. Mendi decided we wouldn't mind celebrating the Day of Love together more often... and really anytime our husbands decide it's a occasion worthy of cooking up a good meal!! Thanks for all your hard work babe! It was well worth it! 143!

You must tear down before you rebuild.. I guess that's our motto!

2008-03-03T22:15:00.013-06:00

Soo for all of you who are itching for an update, here ya go! Here are pictures of our house with some serious demolition going on! Basically at this point, everything that needs to be torn out of the house, barring the carpet and the load-bearing studs that have to be redistributed, has now been torn out! Yippee! Starting tomorrow, the rebuilding process will begin! We will begin to see new walls going up. Our space already looks so much more open with all of the walls opened up in the kitchen and living room areas, as well as the bathrooms. What an exciting time!

View from the 3rd bedroom into the kitchen. Currently the space is open and you see pipes coming through the floor. Where the pipes are is where the washer and dryer will eventually be, with access from the kitchen. To the left of the washer and dryer is where the refrigerator will be inset. This room used to have the built-in seat and bookshelves, which are now gone gone gone!

View from the entrance of the house into the dining room area. Notice from the ceiling, the fur-down space separating the living and dining area has been shrunk to almost nothing (it couldn't be completely demolished because we cannot replicate the ceiling texture-records!). Also, one of the biggest transformations is the removal of the wall between the kitchen and dining area. Eventually, there will be a 4 foot wide roman arch walk-in to the kitchen and a 7 1/2 foot wide half-wall with a roman arch to keep the space looking really open!

Straight-on view from the dining room into the kitchen. The framers removed all of the fur-down above the old cabinets and the walls so that the new arches could be put in! The space looks HUGE now!

View of the dining room from inside the kitchen. WOW... what a different 8 hours of hard labor will do for ya!

View of the hall bathroom from the hallway. That big pipe with the orange cap is where the toilet will be and the tub-shower combo will be under the window, which is going to be smaller.

View of the master bathroom from the master bedroom. The opening is where the hot water heater used to be and it will be walled off. The big hole in the floor is the piping for the garden tub!

View of the master bathroom from the current hole in the wall where the hot water heater used to be. The orange pipe in the floor is where the toilet will be and to the left of that is where the sink and counter will be!

Used to be the closet in the 3rd bedroom... future additional closet space for the master. 'Nuff said!

My best attempt at getting a picture of the first snow at our new house... its really fuzzy!

Well, that's all for now folks.. I hope you enjoyed your stop at the Morris blog and were filled with lots of prayer requests for us, haha! We need lots of it as this is the time where the schedules are really starting to fill up and we are starting to feel the pressure! It will be a neat home when it is finished!

Appliances, appliances, appliances, appliances!

2008-02-24T20:28:00.006-06:00

Never in my whole life have I been more excited to be at Best Buy than I was Friday night!!! I'm afraid I may have fooled my husband into thinking that I really like that place, when the only thing I really like is the appliances we got for our house from that place! Ohh I just cannot contain the excitement... In fact, I think I sang Happy Birthday to myself because I was so excited about the appliances! Don't ask... if you are a blogstalker, you are just now realizing the blogger on this sight is a little crazy, but if you know me, you know that is quite normal, for me at least! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE anything that has anything to do with anything kitchen-y! In fact, I am the one who actually uses all the kitchen appliances I got as a wedding gift. There isn't a single kitchen item I own that has not been used. Well, the kitchen items we bought are going to be used, A LOT! Especially the stove... I told Caleb that I think I need to step up my cooking ability in order to fit in with my new cool range. Of course, I have pictures for you to enjoy!

My beautiful range! I am soo pumped to have a gas range!!!

The refridgerator.... SO coool! Haha.. only the nerds got that one!

The inside of the fridge while it is still clean and empty. Don't expect the one in my house to look anything like this!

The dishwasher, the only kitchen gadget Caleb knows how to work. Yay.. if there is anyone for him to learn, this is it.

The micro-hood microwave. Nothing exciting about a microwave. No exclamations. I'm just glad we have one.

Soo, here's the scoop on the appliances. Last weekend we decided to hop on over to Best Buy to measure refrigerators since we had the cabinet-maker over and wanted to verify the measurements we had just given him. Well, when we were there we realized that they had ALL of their appliances on sale so we started to price them out. We found that Frigidaire had the cheapest prices, so we priced them out and went home to revisit the budget before making a move. So, after a week of checking out other retailers, we went back to Best Buy to finalize the purchases. When we got there, we went straight to the first available clerk and told him we had it all figured out and we needed to buy all of the appliances for our house. He proceeded to ask us if we had heard of the deal they had going on... WHAT??!?!? Deal?? Shut up, there is a sale that Katie didn't know about. I know. Shocking. So, he explained to us that they had a deal going on with Whirlpool for all stainless steel appliances for less than the Frigidaire. Shut up again! Never does that happen to us. So he takes us around and shows us all but the range (they didn't have it in stock) and we love them all. Plus, we found a better, nicer range for just a tad bit more. So, then began the negotiating. The nicer range was not a part of the deal, but we fenagled them into giving the deal to us and just adding the extra price of the nicer range. We, especially me, are very very very excited about our purchases.

Still haven't done that Valentines post... sorry all you who are itching to find out how much better my husband is than yours. You'll just have to wait until next time... Happy almost new work week, yuck.

Plumb tuckered out!

2008-02-21T18:08:00.014-06:00

That title speaks volumes! We are just that... But good news is in order! We finally got the building permit on Tuesday and as of tomorrow, we will be completely roughed in on our plumbing, hopefully with a green tag from the inspectors. Green=good=the go-ahead to continue work. We love green tags! They will be our BFF's for the next 2 months as we travel down this remodeling road. I have some fun pictures of what's going on at the house! I hope you enjoy! Coming on the next post... My Wild and Crazy Valentine's Adventure!

Elyza came over on Saturday and helped us demolish the kitchen! She started out simple, tearing off wall paper and proceeded to help us tear out boards and sheetrock. Don't worry Emily and Matt... she wore her warming gloves and was under the surveillance of Uncle Caleb. How reassuring! =)

More of the kitchen demolition crew, Geary and Caleb! Geary was a life-saver to have! I don't think I could have helped out with a quarter of what he did. I would say between Caleb and Geary, they nearly single-handedly knocked out all the cabinets in a little over an hour.

It's never been so wonderful to be the garbage lady, huh Nita?? She was our gopher, taking the cabinet pieces to the dumpster for us! We were so glad they all came to help!

And then there's me, the photographer who has to ask other people to take her picture so that she doesn't just look like the one who bosses people around and takes fun pictures! I was a hard worker with my pink gloves that day!

TADA! An empty kitchen!

Another view of the blank slate! And to top it all off, the cabinet guy came by to verify measurements and is about to begin production of the cabinets, yippee!!!

One more picture of the empty room with my stud of a husband! He worked so hard!

Our new windows, minus the cross bars on the top! Soo exciting!

Hall bathroom, bare to the studs. And with all the pink tile gone, I think this is the first time I noticed the pepto-pink blinds. I think I just threw up a little...

The view from the master bath of both bathrooms, now totally demolished! No more ugly pink and teal tile... well almost! I saw a little piece of tile that was not removed, nor will it be anytime soon. I need like a nail file to get that sucker outta the bathroom. It is surrounded by door framing and builtins. Maybe we will just keep that piece in remembrance of the house's former ways!

And that's all for now folks! Look for a post on Valentines Day, and some fun stuff we're buying for the house!

Another hurdle...

2008-02-13T20:13:00.004-06:00

You know... as I think of this project and how it is refining me, I think also of how Christ refines us as believers, through the "bumps" in the road that cause us to lean more on Him, trust more in Him and lay this project continually down at His feet. It truly is His, He graciously entrusted us with this new home and new ministry of our neighbors and it's just funny how frequently He reminds Caleb and me of that! God works in marvelous ways, ways that are so blazingly obvious sometimes that are like flashing lights for His direction and sometimes in smaller ways that cause us to appreciate how He desires to be involved in even the most tiny yet precious ways in our lives! Praise God, regardless, that He has chosen us as His children and that He is allowing us in this season to experience Him in a very real way!

On a different note, here's the latest hurdle..ahem..blessing regarding our house (call it what you'd like....). On Monday our plumber began the completion of demolition. It was kinda funny because when I talked to them prior to the project, they seemed so nonchalant about the whole thing, like it was no big deal. Well, Caleb and I knew otherwise having spent two weekends of dust boogies, and sore bodies but we thought, "Maybe since they are laborers by trade, it won't be the pain it was for us to complete." Haha... Well, I spoke to the plumber on Monday after they had demo'ed the rest of the bathrooms and the tired was obvious, even in his voice. He told me they were exhausted and that it was really hard work. That takes one of two things for him to admit that: he felt quite the pain and suffering through the project and he's an honest guy, or he's a pansie. Well, I choose to believe the first because I met the guy and his crew and they weren't small weaklings. It made me feel proud that I actually did some of the work that these big burly men found so complicated! Those pink gloves did me good! And that's about where the good, pink and lovely things end... On Tuesday morning the plumber met with the City of Richardson to pull the necessary permits to do the work and that's when lowered the boom on us. The inspector told our plumber that he could not begin work, nor could anyone else because we were going to have to pull a general building permit that would take 3-5 business days to process. Basically, the inspector decided that they wanted to be all up in our business for our project. So, we got on the phone with the city and found out it wasn't going to be AS BAD as we thought when we considered having to do this from the get go, but it is still going to be a thorn in my side.

Kinda fun though, that I get to add General Contractor to my resume as I am the acting person in charge! And everyone who reads this who knows me knows just how happy I am when I get to be in charge!! WOOHOO!! Katie, The Boss. Perfect. Well, so far, as the boss, I am very nice and thoughtful, having bought my crews cookies. I will continue to buy their love and low prices with all things edible as long as their prices stay low and their work stays quality. The mean side of Boss Lady Katie will hopefully stay far away on this project. It's not hard: keep me happy, I'll keep you fed and paid. Simple.

Soo... back to the topic of the general building permit. I applied for that today and hopefully it will be processed SOON so we can get back in business. Pray that they don't have any questions so that we can at least get the ball rolling and get the plumbing done! That's about it for now. Within the next month an a half, we should have these things done: plumbing, kitchen cabinets, walls moved, new windows, gutters on the house and maybe a few others. Very exciting times!!! Pictures coming soon of the completely gutted bathrooms. If you want to tear out some kitchen cabinets, maybe you didn't have a date for valentines, maybe you're in the doghouse for not doing anything for your honey for valentines, or maybe you want to be our valentine by helping us... let us know! We will be doing this on Saturday! Happy early secular holiday, money-scheming, excuse for a date, don't forget to make-up fun conversations with the candy hearts Valentines Day!!

Finally some action...

2008-02-10T22:29:00.000-06:00

Soo... I just wanted to apologize to my 2 faithful blogword readers for being so lax, but there just hasn't been much action on the homefront. Well, I am happy to say that tomorrow, all will change! We have found and hired a plumbing company that we LOVE and feel is a total answer to prayer. They start finishing the demolition tomorrow and plan to have the rough-in (all the under house plumbing) done this week at the very least, possibly even the top-out (pipes in the wall)!!!! Say a prayer that the inspector that comes out will not require us to gain additional permits for the house because that would mean more $$$. The plumber and inspector are meeting tomorrow at 8 a.m. to go over everything and then work will begin promptly thereafter. I will give you an update soon! Also exciting, we are about to book a cruise for the month of August with wonderful friends of ours, Shane and Laura Seiferd, to the caribbean!!! We figure once all the work is done, we are going to need a vacation! Once it's booked, I'll give you more details on that! Sorry the update is short, but I will post more info. on the house once we're over the hump of meeting with the inspector! I'll leave you with a fun pic of Caleb and me almost 2 1/2 years ago, on our wedding day! I love my honey and couldn't have hand picked a better one myself!

Demolition and Dirt Boogers

2008-01-27T15:56:00.001-06:00

Soo...here's pictures of 2 weekends of Demolition. Enjoy!

DEMOLITION ROUND #1

Well.. my camera was too cold to take a picture when we got in the house and it was 39 degrees, so I had to wait for it to warm up for about 4 hours before I could take a picture of how cold it is in our house!!!! We were both wearing 3 layers of clothes (thick ones!!), pounding at the tile and cement wall and we were still FREEZING cold!!!!

Some of the damage from day one. This is the 50 year old, non-functioning, and VERY unsafe heater in the house. It will be gone ASAP!

Some of the wreckage in the master bedroom.. wood from the shelves, ceramic pieces from the heater, nasty middle school boys bathroom style sink (YUCK!) and stinkin heavy pieces of cement wall.

More damage in the master bathroom, including the pipes that should have no water in them yet are leaking...hmm.

Caleb, probably early in the day, because we were definitely not that chipper by the days end.. We have a newfound appreciation for manual labor!

Me, cute pink gloves and ugly goggles included! You should be glad I took the face mask off! I figured with all the labor and nastiness I would be surrounded by, I could at least have an ounce of cuteness with pink gloves! Somehow it makes working a bit more motivating!

Caleb's sister Emily had to get in on the action! All the family came over to check out our project and I saw Emily just itching to do something so we gave her the sledgehammer and put her to work!

DEMOLITION ROUND #2

SOooo, this time around we kinda knew what we were getting ourselves into.. we look much less excited, knowing the pain that we are going to cause our bodies because of the work we were about to take on!

We were much smarter today.. See that nifty little tool in my hands?? Yes, my friends that is infact a miniature jackhammer/air hammer with a chisel tip. The force was on our side! Don't be fooled though, that Katie did all that work you see, for Katie could not hold that piece of machinery up for more than 10 seconds!

Demolition in the second bathroom. No more birdbath sink!

Lots of walls gone.. the two bathrooms are connected which made a lot of the work easier in the second bathroom because we could work from the back side of the wall. Leverage, people, leverage!

All in a good days work. We only have about 30% left!

Caleb doing the hard labor in the master bathroom, inhaling a LOT of dust! Oh yea, best part is that we found out the seat in the shower is SOLID CONCRETE. Even the hefty tool we rented couldn't put a dent in that. How are we going to get that out? Well, my friend that is a great question for which we have no answer...

View of the hall bathroom from the master. All the pipes you see are nasty and rotting and ALL have to be replaced. Oh yea, you can pray that we find a plumber since ours quit on us Friday. Lovely... oh well! I guess we will have more time to demo the bathrooms.

More of the master bathroom. Look at all the concrete, tile and dust buildup. That's about 3 inches deep. It would probably be 4 inches but I think we inhaled all that extra inch in our lungs.

See the seat.. solid concrete. That is my new enemy.

But the rest of the shower, we are winning. HA!

Soo, that is our demolition in a nutshell. Now on to the second half of the blog.. you know.. the "and dirt boogers" part of it. Disgusting huh? Well, actually we are quite thankful for the dirt boogers. Why? Well, that means our body is doing its job. Those hairs up your nose do have a job, and the last two weekends we have experienced the joy and nastiness of it. Nastiness because who likes boogers, especially when they are grey and full of gristle. Joy because on some level I (Katie) think its really funny to talk about boogers and even more fun to pick them in the car and make the people (husband included) driving next to you totally disgusted!!! NO... I know what you are thinking now. I properly disposed of all of the boogers that were used to gross out the road neighbors in a tissue... but I did have a good laugh. And once I started calling them dirt boogers, I was so excited about writing the blog because I had a catchy name for the title. And we all know, the title is the first thing a person sees to draw them in to reading a story. Now aren't you all so glad you stuck around to the end so you could see pictures of our progress and enjoy me talking about boogers? Happy Sunday!!! =)

First hit at the money pit!

2008-01-25T14:11:00.001-06:00

First things first, right?? Well we knew that before we could do anything else, we had to get the foundation of the house leveled. Along with that, we knew we had five 50-year old trees and 3 red tip bushes that were going to be a nightmare if we didn't get the roots taken care of. Sooo.. our first hit to the bank account was on shimming up the foundation (for a description see Foundation and Our First Steal.. Of a Deal, That Is!) and installing root barriers between the house and the trees. Here are pictures of the results! Enjoy!

Tree in the front yard with roots that were as big around as my forearm in some parts!
Another front yard tree with massive root barriers, all hand dug!

Red tips... the structural engineer said they probably have not invaded the foundation yet, but these shrubs can be a nightmare to the foundation so we got them taken care of.

Pecan tree in the back... It didn't get root barriers but I had to show a picture because I am SOOO excited about the pecan tree! I had a pecan tree in one of the houses we lived in growing up so it was neat to have that memory and know that maybe our kids will have memories of a pecan tree.. and PLUS, now we won't have to go spend a fortune to buy pecans! We have an unlimited supply for free in the yard!

Another tree in the back that didn't get root barriers, but I couldn't leave him out...

This is the BIG MOMMA tree that was causing the biggest problems to our foundation and the root of the problem (haha..) that began our concern with getting root barriers.

All in all, our first experience with the home was absolutely WONDERFUL!!! I cannot sing the praises enough of the company we used for our foundation work, All-Pro Foundation Repair. They made this process so easy and light on the wallet. The estimator who came out to our house was an Aggie-great start. He was completely honest with us from the get-go and even came out a second time on his own time to go through the house again and walk us through his concerns for a second time. He told us about all the people we would be working with and was always available when we needed to talk to him. He sent out a great structural engineer who made recommendations that would take care of the foundation within our budget. The best part of it all, though, was the day all of the work took place. That's right, I said DAY- meaning uno, one, single day! I got to the house around 8:15 a.m. to meet with the forman who took off his shoes in our nasty home even though I told him he didn't have to worry about it. Every single worker looked up from the work they had already started with digging the roots to greet me and shake my hand. The forman told me they were going to do more root barriers than what was originally suggested free of charge. Wow.. that was a great start. Anyone who knows me knows I love free stuff, especially when I know how much money I am already spending!! Then, I left for them to get the work done. They were done by 11 a.m. WOW! And as icing on the cake, when Caleb came out to inspect the work, the forman explained to Caleb that while they were shimming the house, they really felt like a certain part of the house was sagging, so he made the executive decision to add a pier to the house... FOR FREE!! We are talking with all the additional stuff they did to the house, we would have incurred almost another thousand dollars, and they did it for free! What a blessing! And even more than that, what an honest company that sticks to their word on the quote they give and what a company that stands by their work so much that they would put extra piers and root barriers where needed for no charge so they would feel good about the work they did.

Ahh... warm fuzzies! Now we are on to other projects that haven't been as warm or fuzzy. Stay tuned...

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

2008-01-25T12:22:00.001-06:00

Here are some more pictures of the house for your enjoyment... After my first post of the house, I didn't think it did an ounce of justice to the house so I wanted to add some more for your viewing pleasure. Everything you see below is still in its current state, no work done on any of these spaces yet. More pictures of demolition to come shortly!

Other bathroom, yet to be demolished. I think this will be the "piece de resistance", literally!
More of the other bathroom, mini-sink included!

Hallway between all the bedrooms. See the cute wall inset?? It's a phone stand! Fun, but totally not useful since most people don't have phones anymore. SOoo.. It's going to be a goner!

More of the kitchen, semi under construction. We can't do much in there until after all the plumbing is complete due to inspections, but I did have a little go at the cabinet in the center of the picture. Turns out, its good that I did because I found a gas drop for our range-WOOHOO! Anyone who loves to cook knows the wonderfulness that is gas (NO-not the kind from beans.. the kind from the ground)!

My favorite, favorite, favorite door in the whole house... which we may not be able to salvage! I am doing everything in my power to save it because I love it so much! It's soo charming!

A view of one of the secondary bedrooms. All of the shelving and bench seating is TBD (to be demolished!).

Foundation and our first steal... of a deal that is!

2008-01-14T16:54:00.000-06:00

First, I have to share one of my oddities with you. I just wanted to say that I feel weird about just jumping into conversation with the blog.. I feel like I always have to introduce my topic and present my supporting details with clear explanation, like a formula written paper for 4th graders. Is that just the teacher in me?? So, know that when I introduce my topic, its because I have to... like the blog is calling me to not just vomit my thoughts, but really be methodical and make sure you all have a clear understanding with what is going on. Weird, I know, but we all have our quirks. At least I'm being thoughtful of you with mine. Ha! Anyways, I'm done with that... Here's the more important stuff.

First Things First
We knew that the first thing that had to be taken care of was the foundation so we have just been twiddling our thumbs until that happened. Well, on this coming Wednesday, it will be started and finished! We are excited because once that happens, we can really move forward and begin the transformations that the eye can see and enjoy! As far as the structure of the home goes, we have been totally blessed. With a pier and beam, basically anyone that is going to do work on the major parts of the home have to get under the house to see whats going on, and everyone that has looked under there has said that they are amazed at how great the structure of the home is and how well it has preserved over the last 50+ years. So you ask.. why are you doing something with the foundation? Well, although it looks great, one of the previous owners had the foundation "shimmed up" (evened out the foundation by placing shims on the piers) using wooden shims. Well anyone who knows anything about wood knows that it is porous and it has a lot of give, so it isn't the sturdiest option when shimming the foundation. So, we are having the foundation company (which we would be happy to share once the work is done and satisfactory..they have been wonderful so far!) replace the wood shims with metal shims. Also, they are going to install something called root barriers. Basically, the purpose of those is to keep the roots from all of the huge 50+ year old tree roots from getting into the soil under the home and messing up our foundation. The structural engineer really advised us of that and let us know that we may see a foundation shift again in a few years as a result of the rotting roots that are already under the house, but we will just cross that bridge IF we have to (hopefully not!). Our ultimate goal is just to know above and beyond that the floor and foundation underneath us is sturdy and secure! Both the shims and the root barriers will do that!

On a different note, we made our first purchase for the home.. matching fixtures for the exterior of the garage! I know that is probably the least likely thing to buy, but we just couldn't pass up a deal like this! We went to check out Habitat for Humanity Home Outlet Store just to see what the place was all about. Well, aside from the concern of our safety leaving the joint (DO NOT DRIVE DOWN HAMPTON/INWOOD LN WEST BOUND FROM I-30 TO I-35 UNLESS YOU WANT THE STATUS OF YOUR LIFE TO BE IN JEOPARDY.. I MEAN IT, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!), it was a great experience. Of course, a lot of the stuff I would consider as much my trash as it was the previous owners, but they did have some great deals. In fact, we walked away with two BRAND NEW, IN THE BOX iron and beveled glass exterior fixtures... for $21! WHOOP!!! Look how cute!!!

Well that's about all the excitement going on with our house as far as improvement goes! Pray for our plumbing situation! More specifically, pray that our plumber gives a good final estimate and can do the work soon. We have had several trades come out and this guy gave the best estimate, but we've had a few changes (for the better!), so we are praying that this positively effects the bid and the time frame. Thanks for being faithful blog stalkers and prayer warriors! We'd love to know what you think about the house at any time.. Leave us a comment and don't just be a lurker!

Much Love,
Katie, Caleb and crazy Maverick

P.S. Is it weird that I have to edit my blog before I post it too?? (Why, oh why, did I have to have a former English teacher mother??-sigh) AND... editing is my favorite part!!!! If only I had a red pen that I could write on the screen with to correct my errors...

Pictures of the Hizzle...

2008-01-09T20:54:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures of our brand new, old home! Brand new to us, old in terms of years... I mean we're talking older that the parents (sorry..mom and dad), OLD! We are soo excited to share this journey with you. Don't judge anything you see, for none of it is our doing and all of it will be for our un-doing!

A Picture of the Happy New Homeowners.. In the car! We would have gotten the classic, yard sign pic or getting the keys pic, but we didn't ever have a "SOLD" sign in our yard and we didn't ever technically get keys.. unless you count the keys we went out and bought so we could get in and out of the house without looking like robbers!

The Front of our charming little cottage, shutters and all!

The view of the living and dining room, and some tools! We have 3 inch shutters in the front which I adore.. those will literally be the only thing staying in the house.

A view of the living room to the front door, with just a little bit of the hardwoods peeking through! We can't wait to rip up the nasty carpet and refinish the floors.

A view of the dining room, and another tool that told us all the money we need to spend to fix the foundation.

A view of the kitchen, sans appliances, since the person who was forclosed on decided to take all the appliances and most of the lights in the house with them. But its cool, they must have known we weren't really hip for there style!

Our bedroom. Although the colors may look appealing, in real life it looks more like blood and a nasty shade of flesh, yum.

Our bathroom... or maybe the Richardson High School boys locker room, not sure which.

More of the bathroom. I guess they either knew we were small, or wanted us to lose weight because that shower is about the size of a kitchen sink. On the bright side, someone told us it was great that we had a seat in there (like we were going to use that nasty 54 year old seat anyway..).

And the other beautiful bathroom.. decorated with lovely peachy pink and maroon tile. Should we keep it?? Haha... that was never a thought.

The soon-to-be third bedroom, without access to the kitchen!

The 2nd bedroom.. and the foundation guy's clothes. No, not sketchy.. he was in the crawl space under the house checking out the problems.

The HUGE backyard... which we love, especially the pecan tree (Katie loves it at least, Caleb says it will suck up all our water..)! Only red flag here is the big concrete box in the middle of the backyard. We've had people say it's anything from a grill box to a family grave... any other ideas???

Soo, that's it.. the rough tour of our home. As we begin the renovations, you will see lots more pictures of the transformation! We are so excited and can't wait to get started!

It's Official

2008-01-05T09:05:00.000-06:00

Soo, we have crossed over into the land of happy homeowners! Yesterday we signed the blue ink (why blue.. hmm??) and cringed as they gave us the bill for the house for the next 30 years, ouch. If only they would just leave that part out you would feel so much better, right? Well, either way, we are excited to travel down this new road.

Yesterday I was in my car driving to go get the cashier's check for closing costs and was just praying that God would continue to make himself so perfectly clear with this decision and that he would give me the right heart and attitide as we begin this journey of faith to making our home not just liveable, but also enjoyable and a place where His face and His glory would shine to our neighbors, friends and family. As I was praying, I was listening to my favorite CD, Keith and Kristyn Getty's In Christ Alone, and a song came on that just really blessed my heart and narrowed my focus as to what this journey is going to be about. Caleb and I, from the beginning, have viewed this truly as a journey of faith, as we trust the Lord with the purchase of this home, with the trials of getting it all done despite our "free time" and with the struggles of meeting our financial budget with updating this home; this song really encompasses our hearts desire and I wanted to share it with you. All I know how to do right now is add the lyrics.. if anyone knows how to add a song, let me know because I would love to make that my page's song.

"Jesus Draw Me Ever Nearer"
Music by Keith Getty;
Words by Margaret BeckerCopyright © 2002
Thankyou Music

Jesus draw me ever nearer
As I labour through the storm.
You have called me to this passage,
and I'll follow, though I'm worn.

May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith;
And at the end of my heart's testing,
With Your likeness let me wake.

Jesus guide me through the tempest;
Keep my spirit staid and sure.
When the midnight meets the morning,
Let me love You even more.

Let the treasures of the trial
Form within me as I go -
And at the end of this long passage,
Let me leave them at Your throne.

I hope that on some level, whatever you are trialing through or whatever journey the Lord is taking you on, that this would bless you and encourage you to press on, understanding that the journey is His and that His design is for our faith to increase as we labor in faith for Him.

Christmas in Rowlett

2008-01-03T19:32:00.000-06:00

CHRISTMAS #1- FREE/MORRIS/THORNTON/WEBB

FAMILIES IN ROWLETT.. and a baby soon after!

Uncle Matt, Isaac, Maya and Mattie anxiously waiting for presents...
Mamo and Chloe

Caleb and Me... Yes I was a temporary red-head.

Grammy and Grandaddy (Caleb's mom and stepdad)

Delisa and Josh... they look happy, probably because someone is watching all their kids!

Allie and Matt.. almost parents then and proud parents now!

Emily and Matt... does Matt look like someone just goosed him or is his smile always that big???

Chloe and Elyza with all their "High School Musical" Loot

Caleb and Emily!

We had a wonderful "Christmas" day, celebrated on the 15th of December at Nita and Geary's house. We bucked the "traditional" feast and opted for a lighter fare, indulging in sandwiches, salad, chips, dips and lots of yummy desserts! After lunch, we opened presents!!! It was so much fun with all the kids, 6 to be exact. They all have so much personality and are at a fun age, so them opening presents was entertaining for all of us. With the expense of buying for all of the kids, the grown-up kids draw names and each person buys for one other person. Well, Allie drew me and anyone who knows me know that I asked for and got some fun kitchen stuff. Josh drew Caleb and as predictable as me, Caleb got some electronics- a new CD! Everyone did not leave empty-handed and we were all blessed with wonderful time with family and great gifts!

Despite our request for Kaylee to make her grand entrance after presents, she did not comply and Allie left that night as pregnant as when she got there. Oh well... little did we know that she would be coming just a few days later!! Allie and Matt became official parents on December 18th at 10:32 p.m. to Kaylee, who weighed in at 7 lb 13 oz. Kaylee is a darling baby and after having to spend an extra 7 days in the hospital because of an infection, she came home the day after Christmas. She is home and doing well..doing all the normal things babies do: eating, sleeping and pooping! We are a proud uncle and aunt for the 12th time!

My Wonderful Day..Pre-Finger Severage

2008-01-02T21:41:00.000-06:00

Before severing the end of my finger (see previous post for details..), I had the most wonderful day. Let me tell you all about it!

It was my parents anniversary (32 years…wow, a major accomplishment these days!), and with my little sister being in town from New York for the holidays, my dad decided that the best way to celebrate their anniversary would be for him to send his wife and daughters (3 of us…poor guy!) to spend the day getting pampered. We started with a morning at the new McKinney Cooper Clinic with workouts, massages, the whirlpool and getting ready in a bathroom that rivals any upscale hotels. It was fabulous, and if I lived close and had an extra couple grand laying around, I'd be a member there. After that, we met all the boys and babies at Spoons in Downtown McKinney for lunch, yummy! I highly recommend it! And for icing on the cake, we spent the afternoon (girls only!) getting manicures and pedicures.. Wow, I was so pampered and relaxed. Thank you mom and dad for your generosity to give us such a wonderful day with just girls! Can't remember the last time we all were together to do that or the next time we will have an opportunity like that!

Trauma: Life in the Hayes Kitchen ER

2007-12-29T23:43:00.000-06:00

Soo.. on Thursday, my brother-in-law Will and I decided it would be fun to make homemade pasta for the family for dinner. We planned the menu and around 6:00 p.m., I started prepping. I made my 5 ingredient pasta sauce (yum, ask me for the recipe..simple and delicious!) and started to get other stuff ready. I was using some of my parents old kitchen knives to chop the fresh herbs with. Then my dad brought out the knife my mom had given him for their anniversary (which I actually helped pick out.. ironic) and told me I could use it. How fun! If you know me at all, you know that I am probably the only person who has thoroughly used every kitchen gadget I got for a wedding gift, and I still ask for more gadgets and will use them! Moving on... I was getting ready to chop the oregano to add as the last ingredient to the pasta sauce. Like Rachel Ray taught me, I bundled all of the leaves together and got the knife into position. After a mere slice, I caught the edge of my middle finger and made a small paper cut on the tip. Ouch.. but no biggie. I washed it with water, put a bandaid on it and got back to chopping. No more than 2 chops later, the thing which I never thought I would do, happened. It was surreal. I had to look to make sure what I think happened, did. Then I began screaming, crying, jumping up and down and grabbing for paper towels for pressure. I didn't know how bad it was, but I knew some of my finger that was previously on my finger was now on the knife and cutting board. OH MY GOSH.. pain like I have never experienced! My whole family ran into the kitchen, also screaming, then some ran back to the bathroom since the babies were unattended in the bathtub (way to go Katie!). That's when it got worse. I was losing blood, everyone was freaking out and I was getting weaker and weaker. Oh yea, and Caleb was gone for the evening with friends, perfect.

Here's where the kitchen turned into the ER. My dad grabbed my finger (the one still attached) and looked to see how much I chopped, then told me to sit down. Think: I'm screaming and crying through all this. He made Erin put pressure on my hand, then grabbed ice because I was apparently trying to pass out (I kept saying "I need to sleep"). Then he told Erin to make sure I stayed awake and slap my face if I didn't..which she had to slap me, then I apparently slapped her back. Then I had to lay down to get all the blood to my head because I was ghostly looking. During this time, Megan and Will came home from the store and started freaking out too, how fun! I don't know how much time elapsed, but after a while, I guess the bleeding stopped and my dad told me that I would just have to let the finger regenerate itself because it wasn't enough to re-attach. Super. Then he asked me if I wanted to save the severed finger (what?!?!).. that was a big fat no.

So here I am almost 3 days later and my finger still hurts like words I cannot say. And, after going to the doctor (who was freaked out that I asked her to look at it... what kind of doctor is that??!!?), she told me that most of the finger should regenerate itself because it's in the nailbed, and there is only some of it I should be concerned with. But she didn't tell me what to do about the part that may not regenerate... hum. So I am just using Neosporin + Pain, gauze, tape, maximum doses of Advil and A LOT of prayer to heal my finger. And no, you may not look at it unless you are so lucky as to be here when I am redressing it.. and NO, there are no pictures, sorry. If you feel so inclined, I'd love some prayer for my finger to completely regenerate, and quickly!

Next post will be much more fluffy and warm and fun!

The process to our almost home!

2007-12-26T11:29:00.000-06:00

We are thrilled about God's provision in this.. His had has been so evident in the process from the beginning. When we started the process of "browsing"(...I say browsing because we weren't totally serious, just really considering buying the house and allowing God to begin leading us through the process at His pace...) we talked about what we wanted and what we knew we could afford. That led us to a darling neighborhood in Richardson, where lots of young couples are coming in and fixing up homes that have mostly been 1 or 2 owner homes since they were built in the 50s and 60s. We knew we wanted to fix something up, and we knew the specific pockets of this neighborhood we were interested in. We fell in love with a home that needed lots of work just from looking at pictures, but God didn't want us to have that house.. hence the reason why we could never get a key to actually go look inside the home! So we continued, just checking the internet and talking to our wonderful friend and realtor Lindsay about just kinda feeling out the availability in the area. Well, Lindsay happened upon this one HUD home that was up for auction to Hurricane Katrina evacuees and we all loved the home... but were afraid it would be snatched up. In fact, we couldn't even go look at the house until the auction was up. Well the auction came and went, then we got to go see the house. It was instant love! We saw so much potential, but knew we would have to get some people out to look at the house even before we put a bid in... yes I said bid. I'll explain in a minute. Well, we had a foundation guy come out since there were lots of interior and exterior cracks, and learned that there were NO problems, just typical movement in a pier and beam home. Then we had Caleb's step-dad, Geary, come out since he is a general contractor so we could get a ball-park for how much we would need to invest in the home to get it up to liveable conditions. Once that was done, we really just began to pray about the number we should bid on the home. You see, buying a HUD home is not a traditional process. You have a deadline in which to place an online, blind bid on the home. This means that anyone can bid on the home at any price and you have no idea what anyone else is doing until the auction is over. The only gauge you have is the list price HUD put on the home based on a very unthorough, inaccurate appraisal. Soo.. we really began seeking the Lord as to what we should do, should we place a bid and if so, for how much. We sought wise council, prayed and just really began to trust the Lord that no matter what, God was in control of the process. The day before the bidding ended, we met with our precious friends Ryan and Lindsay (mortgage banker/broker and realtor husband-wife team), prayed together and put in a bid on the home. It was so amazing for Caleb and I in the process, because it was one of those times as a couple that we experienced so clearly absolute peace with one another and the Lord that we had made the right decision. So now the waiting game began... we knew we would find out sometime on Monday (it was Saturday..). Well Monday finally arrived and we got the news.. we had been outbid. It was a tough pill to swallow, but we had to continue to trust that God was in control, and that there was a reason we did not get the house. We were so thankful to Lindsay who just continued to remind us that God has a reason and we needed to just trust that. SO.. after that rollercoaster experience, we started looking again that day, and through the next 4-5 days we were just so disappointed. We did not see anything on the market that we liked and met our needs, so we really didn't know what to do. It was the Thanksgiving break, so we just focused on family and took a break. Over the weekend we just talked about how we really didn't see anything at the time and thought we would just have to wait until spring whenever the market picked up, but were willing to keep our eyes peeled in case something happened to come up. So, Monday began a new week for us. I made an appointment to meet up with Lindsay to pick up the earnest money check so I could redeposit it. Then around 1:30 I noticed I had 3-4 missed phone calls from Lindsay and was worried so I called her back immediately. She answered my call and the first words out of her mouth were, "Katie, You got the house. You got the house. Oh my gosh, Katie, you got the house!" I froze.. didn't know how to re-act, I was processing and I made her tell me again like 5 times. Then, in true Katie form, I got excited and started being silly, doing cheerleader jumps and acting like I was 10. I told Lindsay I had to let her go because I needed to call Caleb and more importantly, I had a student waiting on me.. SO, I called Caleb, out of breath and so excited I could barely get the words out, but I kept saying "I am not joking, believe me, please. We got the house. Caleb, I'm serious." He probably believed me the first time, but I didn't want him to think I was kidding because this had been such a rollercoaster ride. Then I proceeded to tell him I had to let him go because I had a student and made him process that all on his own. Poor guy... Well, he knew he married a very happy and often overly emotional woman... So once the excitement settled, we had to jump through about a billion hoops, sign a million addendums and make sure it was all correct because I didn't want to lose the house because of a mistake. And here we are now.. just over a week from closing on our first home and ready to see God work in our home and in the budget of this project. I hope you have fun journeying with us through this process... it is going to be a true labor of love and of the Lord.

And I promise my future posts will NOT be this long again. It was painful even for me! Pictures to come soon...

Soo we caved..

2007-12-26T10:18:00.001-06:00

Here we are... joining the newest of fads, Blogging. We've run the gamut of hip online web-sharing sites, from Facebook to Myspace, and have decided to follow the crowd once again! Usually people get these things when something exciting is happening in life, like having a baby... Well we've got news! No baby yet, but the Morris family is getting a HOUSE! We are excited about travelling down this road and thought this would be a great way to journal our journey. Now this is going to be no ordinary process, in true Morris Family fashion. We tend to go down the road less travelled, so why stop now?!?! We are in the process of purchasing a home from HUD (Housing and Urban Development), which means we are buying a dump! But a cute dump, none the less! The outside is darling, quite deceiving of the inside condition.. It's a 1950's cottage that needs LOTS of TLC. We are starting literally from the ground up, redoing all of the plumbing and electrical, then moving on to refinishing the hardwoods (yay!) and replacing all the *beautiful* pink and teal tile in the bathrooms, then redoing the kitchen and bathrooms completely, painting walls, replacing windows, and really the list goes on and on. So, in-otherwords, we have quite a project on our hands!

Stay tuned... the road to where we are today is coming up next!

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Busy Bag Swap

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28 Weeks + Nursery Sneak Peek!

My head is spinning!

Almost 26 Weeks!

Hi. It's me again. I'll try harder this year, ok?

Last Chance to Win!!

Cute camera bag and Contest!

Love Affair Giveaways Continue

Love Affair Workshop Day 2

Starting a New Hobby

Trying to Welcome the Wait

The Eternal City

Filth and Beauty, Round 2 of our Cruise

Mediterranean Trip Part 1: Barcelona

2 new posts!

Arizona or Bust!

Livi and Ben

Roomie Reunion!

The Way

Our Patio!

My patio is beautiful, but not finished!!!!

Our last big project inside!

Portuguese Chicken

It's been too long, friend.

HELP!

25 Random Things About Me!

Other Updates on Life Since November...

Surprise Anniversary Trip in November!

Washington D.C. in September...

Catching up!

Turkeys

The most AMAZING husband ever!!

Cruise Part 2

The hilarity of teaching elementary school...

Cruise Part 1

Hmm...

Catching Up Part 2: Colbie Callait and John Mayer- LIVE!

Catching Up Part 1: Our Crazy, Awesome Housewarming Party!

Dear Faithful Blog Friends...

Remodeling, No Problem... Furniture Shopping, Major Crisis!

My Great Excuses + Pictures for your Satisfaction!

Some Pics

We are in.

Quick Update

Houston, We have counters!!!!

the list is shortening..

oh so different...

Happenings at the hizzy..

The Heinz 57 Post

Prayer Requests!!!

Exhausted!!

Archways and Cabinets

Easter Weekend and Blog update #3 for this weekend.. WOW!

Happy Belated Birthday, Don!

We're on 3rd base..rounding in to home!

Walls, windows and a workaholic!

Electricity that won't kill us!

Health Alert.... This makes my drinking habits very sad =(

Funny, funny... Just HAD to post!

Valentine's Day.. Only Slightly Past Due!

You must tear down before you rebuild.. I guess that's our motto!

Appliances, appliances, appliances, appliances!

Plumb tuckered out!

Another hurdle...

Finally some action...

Demolition and Dirt Boogers

First hit at the money pit!

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

Foundation and our first steal... of a deal that is!

Pictures of the Hizzle...

It's Official

Christmas in Rowlett

My Wonderful Day..Pre-Finger Severage

Trauma: Life in the Hayes Kitchen ER

The process to our *almost* home!

Soo we caved..

The process to our almost home!