Where have you been???

I know that all those faithful readers out there are wondering what we have been up to the last couple of weeks and are anxiously awaiting a new post. I first want to apologize for leaving you in the dark for almost three weeks. Next, I want to do a quick catch up post so we can all get back on track with our lives.

In all seriousness, the reason there hasn't been a post since the end of September isn't because we haven't had anything blog worthy happen to us in that time. It is because it has been CRAZY the last couple weeks and there doesn't seem to be any signs of it slowing down here. I will go into more detail about this in the next post. Right now I need to do a quick catch-up:

1. My roommate and friend from college Julie got engaged on September 20th! She will be getting married sometime in Early 2009...it is looking like January! I am so excited for her and Justin (her fiance). Congratulations!!! Looks like we will finally be making it to Atlanta to visit :)

2. My sister, mom, and I hosted a shower for Kim (my soon-to-be sister-in-law) in San Antonio on September 27th. It was a lot of fun to get everyone together to celebrate their upcoming marriage. It was actually only the 3rd shower I helped plan and only the 2nd that I had a substantial amount to do with. I really enjoyed planning and giving the shower and I hope that Kim enjoyed it too! Here is a picture of us from the shower:



3. The next day we celebrated my Grandma's 80th birthday. We had a family lunch over at my parent's house. Thankfully, my Grandma lives in San Antonio so we get to see her quite a bit. It was a lot of fun to spend more time with family members, including my Grandma, who were at the shower the day before but that I didn't get much of a chance to talk with because I was helping host. Here are a few pictures:

My Mom putting the candles on the cake. My Grandma is in the middle and my Great Aunt Evelyn (Grandma's sister) is on the right. Evelyn is 92!

The grandchildren that were able to be at the party with the birthday girl. Top: Eric (my brother) and Lisa (my sister) Bottom: Charlotte (cousin), Grandma, Shannon (cousin), and me.

Grandma, Evelyn, and me sitting at the table.

4. Alot has been accomplished on the master bathroom remodel since I last posted. We successfully scraped, sanded, and painted the door trim for all four doorways (this took a long time). We made some repairs to the cabinet, sanded and painted the cabinet, doors, and drawer faces. We put the cabinet doors and drawers back on and installed the new cabinet hardware. We also cut and painted the trim that will be installed around the mirror. While all these tasks took time, the biggest one that was completed was the tile floor. Evan and I spent a whole weekend tearing up the existing linoleum flooring and measuring, cutting, and laying out the new tile. Evan then finished laying all the tile the weekend I was in San Antonio for the shower and birthday party. I wished that he could have come with me but he had obligations at church he had to stay for. I am very thankful that he got so much accomplished while I was out of town. Here are some pictures:

Evan nailing new panels to the cabinet.

Floor after the old linoleum had been removed and the cabinet painted.

Where we got by the end of the first day of measuring, cutting, and lying out tiles. It definitely took a little longer doing the diagonal pattern but I think it was totally worth it.

Me at the tile saw. I was nervous to try it but with some encouragement from Evan I gave it a try. This picture is of my first cut. I went on to finish measuring and cutting the remaining tiles the second day while Evan moved on to starting to lay tiles at the other end of the bathroom.

Evan did a great job finishing laying all the tiles and grouting.

My cabinet door and mirror trim painting station.

Evan installed the cabinet doors with new hinges and I put on the new hardware.

5. After the tile was finished, it was time to replace the carpet in the two bedrooms and closets. We used a guy recommended by a friend of ours and it went very well. We got a great deal! We had to move out a lot of stuff before they came to replace the carpet so some members of our small group graciously offered to help. Two closets and two bedrooms may not sound like much but when one closet is easily the size of a small bedroom and we use it as a storage room, there was lots to move. I forgot to take a picture of them helping us move but I want to really thank Roy, Claire, Mike, and Teresa once more for all they did to help! Here are some pictures after all the stuff was moved and of the new carpet:

Evan working with a make-shift desk the day after we moved everything out but the day before they came to replace the carpet. Bye-bye old carpet!

We moved everything that could handle being outside into our garage. Where did all this stuff come from??

The new carpet!! Since Evan works from home, we moved his desk back in first.

Close-up of the new carpet. I admit, that at first, I was skeptical, but after having if for a few days, I REALLY like it!

6. The last major change that happened the day after the carpet was installed is that we had our newly purchased bedroom furniture delivered. We have been looking at (I call it stalking) this set for about a year now. The store that sold it was having a moving sale and selling all the floor models in their show room. Thankfully, the set we wanted was in really good shape and we got a great deal! The bed in the store was the wrong size so we ordered that new but it was actually on sale too. The bed is also on back order so it will be a month or two before we get it but it will be worth the wait. The furniture looks SO GOOD! I told Evan that I feel like we have a brand new house with the bathroom almost finished, new carpet, and new furniture. Here are some pictures of the new furniture:

The armoire.

The dresser.

As you can tell, it has been a very busy last couple of weeks. I will explain in the next post why all this craziness with the house and why it will probably not slow down anytime soon. And I promise, it won't be three weeks from now :)