Christmas 2007 - Christmas w/ my family

We hope that everyone had a wonderful and blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!
Shane and I headed home at noon on the 21st and stayed until the 30th! We had good weather both ways...praise God! Except we did have fog in Iowa both ways, its weird, as soon as you enter Nebraska the fog goes away!
Here are some pictures of Christmas with my family! Enjoy!

All the gifts that needed loaded into the Camry to go to Nebraska! The whole trunk was full, so I had to put our luggage in the back seat!

Arrived safely at mom's and unloaded (mom's house looked so clean and nice before we arrived!)

Dad and Mom!

Missy with her Christmas present from me!

Zoe & Nana hanging out in the toy room! It's where all the grandkids want to go as soon as they get to nana's!

My brother, Jared, and his beautiful family!
(Matthew-2, Missy w/ Jacob in the tummy, Luke-5, Jared, Nathan-1)
Kenna wasn't able to make it up for Christmas, we sure missed her!

My sister, Britni and her beautiful family!
(Britni w/ baby girl #2 in tummy, Zoe-2, Brad)

Luke being his cute self!

Matthew opening his gift from us. We couldn't find where he went, and then found him in the kitchen tearing off the wrapping paper and putting each piece straight into the trash, it was pretty cute!

Cousin-love!
Matthew hugging Zoe!

Bella seeking refuge on my lap during gift-opening!

I guess all we have to do is just wrap a box with nothing in it, because Matthew had more fun just playing with a box than his actually gifts!

Matthew getting a piggy back ride from Papa Carson!

Missy and Jared

Nathan w/ his Auntie K

An attempt at taking a family picture!

Some Cute Pics of Bella...

Shane and I decided to get each other a new camera this year for Christmas! Here are a few pics we captured with our new Canon Rebel Xti! Enjoy!

Bella playing with her ball...Shane took this beautiful pic, as well as the one below! I did the editing!

Shane got this funny pic of Bella running after her ball, notice her tongue is sticking out!

This is the look I get when I ask "does Bella wanna a treat?"

Bella and her mom!

We have so much to be Thankful for this Thanksgiving...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to spend it with their loved ones! Shane and I hosted our very first Thanksgiving in our home! Shane's parents, Tom & Sharon, and his sister, Lindsey and brother, Tanner all made the trip out to spend the holiday with us. My turkey actually came out pretty good! It was an enjoyable weekend.

Shane and I are thankful for so many things! First and most important we are thankful for is our Savior and Lord! and next is all of you! We feel so blessed to have all of you in our lives! We have so many amazing family and friends!

A picture of the beautiful center-piece my Gramma Cena sent us the day before! It was a wonderful surprise and a beautiful focal point for the dinner table! Thanks Gramma!!!

Bella napping as we wait for our company to arrive!

(Tanner, Lindsey, Shane & Sharon)
The only picture I got of the family while they were here!

A goofy pic of Shane and I that we took recently of ourselves!

Making Strides...

We have been making long strides in our home-projects this past month. As you will see from the post below, I have my new furnace & c/a. The week after that was in, we had some cement work done that involved replacing a slab in the front of the house, and then pouring a slab in the back between our house and garage. We wanted a place to put the grill, and kinda clean that up back there.

Since the furnace was done, that meant we could finally finish our office. Which included: enclosing the soffit we added for the plumbing to the upstairs bathroom we put in, painting, hanging cabinets, and carpeting, as well as, adding more outlets and moving the cable. Below are pictures of the process.

Drywall is up, and has been sanded and mudded and ready to be painted.

Picture of the room after being primed.

The office finally painted. It was a lot bigger chore than I was expecting. It required 1 coat primer and 3 coats of paint (I was only expecting 2) Plus I had to repaint the ceiling b/c of some patchwork that needed done and I wasn't counting on that. This was the least fun room to paint and one of the most time consuming for such a small room, because of all the edging you have to do around the windows and door ways. I painted it the same color as the living/dining rooms.

Pictures of Shane haning the cabinets. We really needed storage for the office, and with the room being small, we decided the best solution was cabinets. It took a lot shimming b/c the walls are not straight! Shane did an awesome job at hanging the cabinets. I have full confidence that in our next house, he will be able to redo an entire kitchen for me!

Bella checking out the cabinets.

This picture is of the innovative way my husband came up with holding the cabinets up while screwing them in the wall (I am not the most helpful in the heavy lifting department!)

Me painting the cabinets (which also required primer and 3 coats color!). Bella found it necessary to sit on my lap while I tried to paint!

Pictures of cabinets after they have been painted. I chose to paint them the same color of the walls since the room is small, to help the room still feel open and bigger.

Picture of our new carpet! This has to be one of my favorite parts, it is so nice to have that dirty, wood floor covered!

Picture of Shane installing the base-cove moulding.

The finished product! I still need to get curtains for the windows! (I will post pics of those when I get them) All of our office stuff fits in the one desk and a few of the cabinets! Its great! I don't have anything else in the room, and plan to leave it that way for now, b/c someday it will have to also serve as my sewing room! We have more than enough storage! That is one thing that drew me to this house, the possibilities it had to enhance its storage!
It is such a great feeling to have the office done. That wraps up our major indoor projects! Other than shurewalling the basement! Outside, we still have one big project...siding the garage to match the house, and some landscaping! Which we hope to do next summer!

Long Time, No Post...

Well, it definitely has been a while since i have posted! Lots has been going on, and I just haven't had the time.
For starters...I have a new furnace and c/a!!! Courtesy of my awesome dad! He and my mom were here for 5 days at the end of October putting it in. I had a blast having them here, and Shane and I feel very blessed for my dad's hard work! I just love the soothing sound of the furnace coming on, and sitting in front of the vent! (before we didn't have a forced-air furnace).

Me and Dad the morning they headed back home. I am smiling b/c I have heat, dad is smiling b/c he is done putting in the heat for me! Now he doesn't have a reason to come out to Iowa...guess we will just have to think about giving him some grandkids, so he will have an excuse to come back!
***
Below are some pics of mom and grandma's visit out last weekend! They made a quick trip out here to celebrate Shane and I's baptism and induction into membership of our church. It was an awesome weekend. We serve an amazing God! I didn't get any pictures of the actually baptism, but basically, we write out our sins, pin them to a cross before we go up to be baptized. There is a huge horse tank with Pastor Dan in it. (yes, the water is warm) Shane and I went into the tank together. We are asked if we believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for us, and that the only way to Heaven is thru Him, we answer 'yes', and then we are dunked! It was a divine experience. Shane and I were both baptized as babies, but felt led by God to be baptized at this time in our life, to show others our faith and the importance of having a personal relationship with Christ.

Gramma Cena & Mom relaxing!

Gramma Cena, me & Mom - we really appreciated them coming all the way to celebrate something that meant so much to us!

Our Quick Weekend Trip Home!

Ok, sorry its been a while since I have posted! I just haven't found the time! So here is what we have been up to lately!
The weekend of Oct. 13-14, Shane and I headed home for the weekend. It was my nephew, Matthew's 2nd b-day that weekend, and my niece's Zoe 2nd b-day on the 4th, so we went home to see them. Most of Shane's family was in town as well for a party his uncle was having. Its nice when we can go home and see so much family! The first slide show is of Matthew's funny faces, he couldn't get enough of making faces, then having to see them in the camera!

Here is a slide show of some other pics from that weekend.

After we got home from Nebraska, it was only a few days until my mom and dad arrived to install my new furnace and c/a! we are so appreciative and thankful for all my dad's hard work! thanks dad...you are a huge blessing! they ended up staying for 5 nites! during all the work, we were able to squeeze a trip to the QC and went to a movie....dad was in luck that a western was playing, '3:10 to Yuma'! it was a really good movie! mom and i also got to shop for a day too! i was sad to see them go!
This next slide show is some pics from their visit. While they were here, I got 12 pumpkins to make seeds, so mom could take home with her for Britni & Brad.

I still need to take some pics of the new furnace and post them! Now Shane and I are starting the process of finishing the office, which I am very excited to do! Shane is working on electric, adding more outlets! Then we can drywall and paint, and hang cabinets, then get carpet! Needless to say, Shane is staying busy with home projects, as well as, been busy at work. I have several sewing projects that I need to get to, plus I am the mudder and sander and painter around here, so will been busy with that. And I also enrolled into an Intro to Photoshop CS2 class thru our local college, which has been really fun! There are about 4 other classes I want to take after this one! Bella is doing good, I think she misses my mom though, she gets double the loving then!!! Well, I think that updates us for now! We are just thankful each and everyday that God blesses us with!

Happy Birthday Matthew & Maya!

Happy 2nd Birthday Matthew & Maya!

I am so glad I got to celebrate your birthday with you Matthew! Maya, we miss you so much and love you!

Weekly Update

It's another beautiful Sunday here in Iowa! I think it even reached 90 degrees. Our week was good and pretty much uneventful. Bella got a hair cut and can finally see again. I love having her shaggy cuz she is so darn cute, but it is a lot harder to take care of and I figured it was time when we were playing fetch and I threw the ball and she ran full speed into the wall b/c she couldn't see! Poor girl yelped real loud and came running to me, and I felt terrible I couldn't stop laughing!
Anyway, I posted some before and after pics. I don't have much else to take pics of, so Bella is what you get to look at!
Shane and I spent the weekend hanging out at home. Yesterday, I cleaned and worked in my sewing room, while Shane mowed the lawn and worked on cleaning out the garden some. We went to church today and went to a thing they were having to help people find a small group, so we signed up for one. Of course Shane watched football this weekend, and I don't think he was very happy...the Huskers and Chiefs both lost!

Shaggy Bella

Bella can see again!
I always tell my groomer, Kelly, that I feel like I leave with half a dog when I pick Bella up after a haircut!

I had Kelly leave Bella's tail furry, Bella really doesn't have a tail, just the illusion of one! I think it looks like a 3rd leg in this pic! ha!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Today my beautiful niece Zoe Anne O'keefe turned 2! Happy Birthday! I can't believe you are already 2! We love you, and wish we could be with you to celebrate!