Home is Where the Heart Is

My heart has been flitting all over the place ever since Chad and I got married. It was ready to get comfy and settled into a nice home. When we moved back to Oklahoma in April, we had this grand plan of staying in a furnished apartment for a few months TOPS while we searched and found a home that was the right fit for our first home together. We have been renting and shacking up with parents ever since we tied the knot. Sounds exciting, right?!? Well, it actually has been. I am not complaining in the least. Our marriage has been nothing short of an adventure and I wouldn't change it for the world. But having a child makes taking roots and having a stable home a necessity. Anyways, as most grand plans go, ours did not work out as scheduled. Mainly because we somehow wondered into this fabulous neighborhood and walked out with plans to a new home that could be ours if we just signed the dotted line. Oh and waited for it to be built. After much discussion and thought, we not only decided on our new home, we decided to build it. So after many more months of apartment living and going through the trails and tribulations of building a home, we were finally ready to close on the house and get moved in! Well, we were ready but not all other parties involved were. It took about three weeks longer than we had wanted but we finally got the closing done. The champagne was popped and the keys were handed over. Home owners we were!!!!

Our humble little abode

The backside. Landscaping is on our long list of to do's!

Now you must remember we have not seen our stuff since March of 2012. And for some reason I do not remember having so much of said stuff. My how absence makes the brain forget. We have been in our house for almost a month now and we still have boxes of stuff in our garage. Where did all of this come from?? And the ironic part is, I don't want most of it!! I've made an untold number of trips to Salvation Army donating stuff that for some reason, a year ago, I felt the need to pack up, move into a storage unit, pay for it to sit in that storage unit, move it and unpack it again, only to donate it. Where is the logic in that??? But it has been fun unpacking things and pulling out stuff we forgot we had and really do need or want. Like our coffee maker. We have been without a coffee maker for six months! (The people at Dunkin Donuts are SO going to miss me but our bank account is delighted.) Gavin is loving being able to run around and squeal. Both of which were strictly prohibited in our apartment. (Our downstairs neighbors were SO glad to see us leave. And I was SO glad to be rid of those three flights of stairs!)

Here are a few pictures of the casa. We have nothing hung up on the walls and I didn't take pictures of the upstairs because there is really nothing up there. We have a bonus room, a spare bedroom and a bathroom upstairs. Which we will have all ready for company if anyone wants to come visit!

The kitchen where I cook mediocre dinners and Chad and Gavin pretend to like them.

Our big open living room, dining area and kitchen. I love this layout. I feel like we are always together whether we are in the kitchen, at the table or in the living room.

Part of the living room. Let's not talk about how annoying it was to get that TV on the wall. For Chad, not me. I just watched.

Our jacuzzi that I actually use a lot. It is wonderful!

Master bath

Gavin's bathrom

Gavin's room with Gavin sleeping in it. Mommy's looooooove nap time!

Of course having a house and a yard means lots of up keep. I don't mind the inside of the house, its the outside that bothers me. We have so much work to do in our backyard and the entire perimeter of the house needs to be landscaped. But I haaaaaate yard work. Everyone tells me "Oh, you will feel different once you have your own home." Well, I really don't. I still hate it. I still wish I could pay someone from HGTV to come and just do it all for me so I can enjoy it with a well earned glass of wine. But the bummer is the house didn't come with a money tree or more than likely I killed it, so we have to do it ourselves. So I might as well buck up and get to it.

I must start small with my gardening projects. These pansies still look good three days later, so that is a good start.

As much as I hate yard work, Gavin loves it. It means picking up sticks and bonfires with Daddy. Loads of fun for him!!

So proud of himself.

We absolutely love our house and it was well worth the wait. We are still trying to get settled in and I guess that is an ongoing process with any home. My parents have lived in the house I grew up in for more than 30 years and they are always doing something to make it theirs. It's a labor of love and I am just thrilled we finally have a home we can pour our heart into and make it our own. Even if it does mean yard work!