Our New House

Starting with the kitchen...from the back door.

and the dining area. I should have closed my pantry!

one side of my office...my kickass bookshelf from Ikea. overlook the junk in the corner. I need another bookshelf.

the living room from the corner. behind me is the kitchen and to the right behind me is the office.

the living room from the backdoor...the cutout to the left is the hall to our room, the cutout to the right is the entryway.

what you see from the couch. do you see my cool break-in deterrent screen door? That's so we can leave the doors open, even at night.

Baby Trevor's Room. When I'm done with a nursery painting I, um, need to start, he gets a new big painting on this wall.

the other side of Trev's room.

Carson's room! And no, I'm not done with my rendition of Starry Night. It will be better when finished.

the playroom, big and nice. the kids decorated the wall with wallies.

train table and other half of the playroom.

and finally the master suite.

from the master entryway.

this is the entryway. Are you still awake?

the bathroom is behind the curtains, which I ingeniously put up because it was So. Cold. in there when you take a shower. The curtains keep the heat in. And there's no pile of junk down the hallway. I added that with photoshop so as to not make anyone feel bad if their house wasn't as immaculate as ours. :)

Rewind a bit--and tons of pictures!

I finally uploaded some photos so I have to backtrack a bit. Mimi was sweet enough to take me and the boys to the airport and hang out for a few hours before our plane took off. The boys were sad to leave Mimi and Poppi but VERY excited to ride an "airpane". They were excellent on the first flight, but crazy terrible on the second, longer flight. Understandable, but stressful all the same. I won't do that again by myself while they're this young! No way!

They only look sweet in this pic...don't let them fool you!

Reed and I went exploring yesterday and got extremely lost, but took lots of beautiful pics--it's not my skill, it's the scenery! We also got year passes to the Phoenix Zoo, which I am glad for. The boys and I can go anytime! We went for the afternoon and strolled around and we all loved it.

These are two pics I took on the road...Gorgeous!

And here is something we thought was neat...the rock is too shear for us novices to climb, but I would love to go sit up top the way the guys in the pic are. Can you see them, up by the hole? I bet they can see all of the city from there.

This is a tree Reed pointed out, the way they cut the branch off, it made it look like a heart! Awww...and, um, why is the tree green?

And finally, because Reed is such a boy, he wants people to know that in Scottsdale (which is very ritzy) we saw not one but TWO Ferraris driving down the street in less than an hour. He took this pic of the second one from our car. Who knows what people thought of us taking a pic from our car...I felt like the paparazzi. LOL

We're Here!

We're finally all moved in, although there are still boxes and whatnots sitting around. For those that asked, here is a pic of the front, and I will post more once I get things organized. The pics on the real estate site just don't do it justice. It's gorgeous! The kids have a great backyard to play in, the neighborhood is awesome and has it's own park that we can ride bikes to...we are 5 minutes from Old Navy, Blockbuster, Best Buy, Target, all the food places we can think of...but removed so that we don't see or hear any traffic. It's really great.

It still seems surreal being here, I kind of feel like I'm on vacation, just with all my stuff! I guess it will seem real when I get our new furniture and I can get back into our old routines. Reed has already begun his new job (he wanted to take a week off to be with us and explore, but they needed him right away! :( oh well! ) and he seems to like everything there so far!

Wish us luck!

Gettin' in the spirit...

The weather here the past few days has been miserable! Cold and windy and COLD! I don't mind cold if it seems to have a purpose--bring snow, winter rain, get us out of school...but this recent weather seems to only be interested in making my family sick, giving me the Rudolph Effect, and running down the gas in our car since we have to crank it approximately 2 hours before leaving for anywhere. Suck!
My sister in law has ever so sweetly been keeping us apprised on the weather out in Phoenix...73 and sunny!! 70 and not a cloud in the sky! 72 and beautiful!! (see the pattern?) so rather than be jealous, I'm just going to get into the spirit and think how lucky we will be to miss the February Crush of wind and rain and gray stuff while we are basking in the AZ sun. ::poke::
Here are some pics... click to make them larger if you want!





more house pics coming shortly...we may have gotten an even nicer one than pictured below!











One last note...I've had tons of people lately telling me they read my blog, and I had NO IDEA! Why are you hiding? You can make a comment and make my day! Hi Jimmy! Hi Rhea! Hi Everyone!

From East to the West...

We're moving! On February 16, Reed and his bro will be driving a UHaul across country to Phoenix, Arizona with all our belongings. The boys and I will fly out the following week, and we couldn't be more excited. Scared, nervous, excited, anxious...it's all there. I've never lived anywhere other than the south. Even Florida (which at the time I did not consider the south because...it's just not) will still be more southern to me than Arizona. At least then I if I was feeling nostalgic for "country" I could drive a few hours and be in Alabama. At least then they had sweet tea, even though it never tasted right because of the weird water.
I'm a southern girl, through and through, but I am really excited to try a new place, and I think good things will happen to us out there. We are going out with a new lease on life, a new committment to ourselves and our family, and a new game plan in general. You will still be able to keep track of us via this blog, and of course we will send out our new address and phone numbers so we can keep in touch. We will miss all of you that have had a positive impact on our lives here in Asheville, and hope that you will keep us posted on yourselves and your families.











Here is the house that we will most likely have in Avondale (just outside of Phoenix). So cute! It looks small but is just the same size as the one we're in now, about 2000 sq. feet. I don't want to clean much more than that!
And, if you're interested, here are some photos of some surrounding mountains...So pretty! Thanks Alisa for the link!
Estrella Mountains

My boys saw their first real snow! Trevor has never seen it at all, and Carson has only seen flurries. We heard it was snowing at Mimi's in Fletcher, so we ran out to see it since our house was dry as a bone and the news was not calling for it to reach us at all. As soon as we got there, it dumped on us and covered the whole yard! The boys loved it! They rode their new jeep through the snow covered yard and liked the tracks it left. They also made their first snowballs! There wasn't enough to make a snowman, even a small one, so we went on home..and found just as much snow at our house!

















Trevor looks like he's thinking "What the heck IS this stuff?" Carson wanted to eat all the snow he could..

New Year! New Pics!

We rang in the New Year with company, Kris and Mandy from Tennessee. We had a blast, and celebrated out on Saturday night so that we wouldn't be on the roads on the real New Years Eve. The kids had a blast, and actually stayed up pretty late wearing their hats and being hyper.

Well, I say hyper, but this is how Carson looked most of the night. Reed introduced him to playstation racing games, and he may never be the same. Here he's playing Reed's PSP.

Mandy and Krista

Kris and Reed

Christmas Success

We had a great Christmas...did you? Reed and I really enjoyed this year because both boys understood Santa and were excited about the big day. I think I must be a grown up now, because I wasn't excited at all for myself...just couldn't wait to see the boys open their gifts!
Carson made everyone a DVD of him singing a song to Daddy, Rodney Atkins "I wanna be like you". We aren't really country fans (especially Reed), but this song was perfect--you should hear it. He's such a ham, he even did motions and winked at the end. :D Trevor made everyone Melted Snowmen pictures out of foamie pieces that were super cute.
Okay on to pictures...










Carson, cousin Ella, Trevor, and Baby Logan













My two babies look so grown up in this picture!












After following the arrows left by Poppi and Mimi, they found a very cool Jeep!

Tagged by Brandy

Here goes:
A - Available/Single? Married
B - Best Friend? Beth and Carrie, Marie, Emily, Jen, Lizzie, Di, Brenda, Carey, Michelle...I'm a lucky girl
C - Cake or Pie? Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese icing. Yum!
D - Drink Of Choice? usually sweet tea
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday? Um, besides deodorant? computer
F - Favorite Color? pink and blue, equally
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? ew neither, I hate things that stick in your teeth
H - Home or Homesick? I'm home! Not Homesick!
I - Indulgence? I don't know...watching GH?
J - January Or February? February-Reed's birthday! Nothing happens in January
K - Kids & Their Names? Carson and Trevor! And Savannah, my stepdaughter
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? Friends. and Laughter. And sometimes liquor
M - Marriage date? June 30, 2000
N - Number Of Siblings? One li'l bro, Joseph
O - Oranges Or Apples? Yum, both!
P - Phobias/Fears?mice! and hairy spiders
Q - Favorite Quote? for this week? Eva sent it to me, "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body. But rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO what a ride!"
R - Reason to Smile? Christmas in two days!
S - Season? Spring
T - Tag 3 or 4 people? My friends do MySpace, so Carrie and Ericka and Marie
U - Unknown Fact About Me? I sing all the time. Ok, so Beth probably knew that. I'm really not mysterious.
V - Vegetable you do not like? Celery in anything
W - Worst Habit? procrastinating
X - X-rays You Have Had? I get CT's and PET scans every 6 months.
Y - Your Favorite Food? my bean dip, and I'm hungry!
Z - Zodiac Sign? Aries

Kala's Treat Swap

Cathedral Windows, my treat.


After my party came Kala's Annual Treat Swap. She always throws a mean swap. Lots of fancy food, yummy spiked punch, fun games (I won one!!) And of course, tons of treats. I came away with lots of yummy goodies to share with neighbors and friends, not telling you how many I ate myself...
I didn't get a good pic of the hostess herself, but here are a few of the partygoers.

Miss J looked fabulous in her fur coat, and I have to say that both she and M look full of holiday spirit(s) in this pic. Sorry, ladies, you're beautiful!















Carson and Trevor are in a Toy Story phase, and Carson likes to dress up as Woody. He's pretty darn cute, doncha think?

For Christmas he's getting these pj's so he can dress up as Buzz!











And here's my darling Trevor, because I have to be fair. LOL Just being cute as always.

I know, I know

I've had more than a few requests that I update this thing, and I'm finally getting around to it. What with school, holiday parties, shopping and two often unruly toddlers...what can I say?

So let's just get right back on, shall we?
Thanksgiving we spent in Athens, AL, which is a beeyoutiful place just outside of Huntsville. I would so live there. All of Reed's family lives there, save BIL and SIL and niece, and everytime we go is a great time.

There were leaves, leaves, everywhere. This entertained the kids (and the dads!) for quite awhile until Dinner was served. 1st pic is Carson and Kimberly piling the leaves on Reed, 2nd is Trevor enjoying the storm.

Carson and Kimberly were fast friends and had a blast! I heard more giggling in 2 days then in all my teenage years combined. (I think).












The Terrific Trio on a walk around Granny's neighborhood.

Then after Thanksgiving, we had our first annual Holiday party here at the house. Adults only!
Food, Food, and more Food. And liquor! Makes for a fun evening, even though quite a few people couldn't make the party due to a conflicting holiday party at their work. Ugh! Must schedule sooner next year! I was going to run into someone's party regardless of when I had it though. All in all, it was a good time.









We played Santa Swap (hence the presents by the fireplace) and there seemed to be a theme among gifts this year. Gift cards, anyone? Next year I may make a rule that says no gift cards, period. Reed definitely enjoyed his chocolates (a little too much!)















Last week held two more parties, Reed's work dinner and G's Super Fabulous get together at his beautiful house. I'm so jealous, and suddenly completely underwhelmed with my own unfabulous house. Oh well.

Have a great Christmas, and see you next week!