Friday, February 15, 2008

our first valentines day as husband and wife!


so, since the beginning, we have never really been big celebrators of valentines day. but we agreed that it is still fun to do something special for each other, especially now that we are married. so we decided to do that something special, without the typical overdone valentines day and without breaking the bank.

my boss was generous enough to give me the day off, 
so i woke up early (otherwise i wouldn't have...) 
and cooked russ breakfast in bed, 
complete with pigs in a blanket, 
cinnamon sugar toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, 
grits, and passion fruit juice.

And russ wore the valentines day present that i got him: 
spongebob square pants pjs with hearts all over them
(you can't see them in the picture, but he has them on.)

and of course, if there is food involved, i have to fix a plate for myself...

originally i had planned to let him pick a "morning movie" from 3 of his tear jerker favorites, so we could watch that and eat our breakfast together, but he decided to forego the movie and sleep some more before he had to go to work... 

then when he got off work he cooked dinner for me while i was taking a nap (because i had to get up so early to cook for him.) we had italian chicken that he had been marinating all day long, garlic & butter crescent rolls,  corn, and sparkling white grape juice in champagne glasses.
(and we forgot to take pictures... so this part is pictureless) 
and he had rented a movie for us to watch after dinner while we ate dessert that he cooked (brownies, my favorite!) 
He also bought me some of my favorite candy, and a ridiculous valentines card, which was actually an anniversary card but it was completely in spanish. and he signed it "and i mean every word... happy valentine's day. i love you. El Russ."

I think our total amount spent on this over-commercialized holiday was about 30 bucks for a cheap, fun, & memorable first married valentines day.

and the kitchen renovations begin...



since my husband is just as excited as i am to update/remodel our kitchen he decided 
to go ahead and get the ball rolling by purchasing our first upgraded item & installing it. 
the kitchen faucet. 
YAY!

so here are the before and after pics of our faucet! 
there will be much more to come to our kitchen after we get our tax refund back!

this is our old faucet that came with the house, it is so ugly, 
and you can't fit any big dishes underneath it to rinse them off...


and this is my handy husband uninstalling our old faucet, and storm stayed right there with him, even laid right on top of him at times... she was just trying to help...

comparing the old with the new... it is obvious which one is which.

and this is our brand new kitchen faucet! 
it is so beautiful! (
at least we think it is.)
and you can fit big dishes underneath it to rinse them!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Our First Blog

Well, we are finally going online, to give our friends & family a few updates on life as an "almost" new family of two & a half!

We have been homeowners for just over one year, and have painted and decorated pretty much every room in the house. There are still lots of things to do, and we are hoping in the next year to continue with some major improvements to the house, maybe refinishing the kitchen cabinets, putting up a fence, and adding a built-in entertainment center in the living room.

We made our first "big purchase" (besides the house) last fall when we bought a 2002 Ford Explorer, which we got a GREAT deal on, and we are definitely enjoying having a newer vehicle in the family!


We have been "parents" to our very energetic dog, Storm, for just under one year, and we are still loving her more every day... She is very very spoiled, and rules our house. There will be plenty more posts to come about her...


We have been an aunt and uncle to Dixi's older sister's children, Ema and Tobey, but we added a new nephew this November when Russ' brother and his wife had their first baby, Malachi. He is too cute, and we are looking forward to spoiling him.



We celebrated our first christmas together under our own roof, and somehow managed to make it to all of our family events on both sides of the family. It was fun to do everything together and including both of our families in our plans this christmas was so wonderful.



We are both working at Chick-Fil-A at the moment, and we are loving working together. Not sure what the future holds for either of us career-wise, but we are very open to wherever the Lord leads. Russ is looking at some teaching possibilities next semester, so we will see where that path leads.