Favorite Things, cue music

Spooky

and Spraining

and Amish

and Biking.

Eating

and Family

and Pies to our Liking.

Fake Sledding,

Pine Trees

we sawed with our hands,

These are a few of the things that are grand.

When the wreath's up,

And the tree's cut,

And the garland's fine,

I make loads of brownies

with frosting on top

with oreos stuffed

inside.

Before and After

I'm finally posting the before and after pictures of the main level of our house. I don't know why it's taken me so long to just do it. I guess I felt like it wasn't done enough to post. We still have some doors missing, some furniture to buy, and some decorating to do, but most of it's done.

Enjoy.

Before

Don't be fooled by the okay looking floor. There were probably 30 screws holding it down where it had bulged from expansion. The trim was also pretty hacked in places where they'd tried to fit the flooring underneath it. We thought it was termites at first.

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

The tile floor was cracked in places because it wasn't installed with cement backer board, so it was either replace a few and have the same problem later or redo the whole floor. We chose the latter.

After

Before

After

Before

After

I wish we would have taken real pictures of the half bathroom- I think it was one of the rooms that had the biggest change.

Our Love is Fueled by Humidity, Warming Ocean Currents, and an Appetite for Destruction

Every once and a while when the conditions are just right, and the stars are properly aligned a true love is allowed to form...somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. This year just happened to be that year.

Down in the Gulf of Mexico, over the last few weeks of hurricane season, the area was rocked by the one-two punch of hurricane Matthew followed by tropical storm Nicole. Yes...we make a good team. There is no one in this world that I would rather destroy the Caribbean and Mexico with than my sweet, tender wife.

Two

It's true.

Matt and I have hit two years together.

I'm madly in love with this one.

There's been so much in two years- fun things, trying things, trips to England, trips to Sandusky, hard jobs, wonderful jobs, missing family, family visits, F1 races, dance performances, learning to mountain bike, learning to dance, sleeping in a resort in Cabo, trying to sleep in our car driving across the country, chocolate, and flowers, and tools.

Happy Two.

It's like this,

I have a million excuses why I haven't blogged in a long time, you know work and house and stuff, and I feel like I have been aloof lately on our blog- so I will show you a few of the wonderful people we saw this summer.

We finally made it out to Utah in July and even made it down to Cedar City after a year and a half of being away. We love Ohio but I missed my family so much.

One of the main reasons for making the trip was to meet my two new nieces!

I didn't ever think we'd get two at once, but here is heaven on earth.

We met up with some of my long lost cousins who now have kids of their own and had a bbq at Carolyn's house.

Matt and I have the most amazing grandparents. We got to go down to Delta to see my dad's parents (it's been since our wedding) and it was so good to see them.

Did you know my grandpa is the handiest man alive? He built a barn a few years ago the size of a football field... almost.

Did you know my dad plays the banjo? He does, and he's really good, even after taking a break for a while.

We also went to see Matt's grandparents in Logan and Lehi. It was so good to see them and we had a great time visiting after such a long time of being away.

This is one of the strongest, happiest girls I have ever met in my life. And I love her and miss her. We're best friends, can you tell?

Matt and I both got to visit good friends from home that we haven't seen in a long time which was so nice. (See post below for Matt's venture with Arthur)

While we were down in Cedar City my family all went camping.

Can you believe this red rock? I can't believe that I took it for granted for so long. I miss the look of Southern Utah. Can you believe how big my nieces and nephews are?! I miss them so much.

We also had a birthday party for Ryan and Rosa.

I want to kiss them all! I worked really hard to maintain the favorite aunt status,

but I think Matt is winning on favorite.