A Couple of "Before" Pictures

Here is the front of the house--overgrown juniper bushes. They will be coming at as soon as we're done with the bushes on the side of the house. For a point of reference, the screen door is the front door and to the left (hidden by the bushes) is a bedroom (formerly Joel's--it will now be his new office). To the right of the door is a large window that looks in the living & dining room. To the right of that is the 2 car garage. I'll post more pictures soon! Enjoy! (We know we are!)

The Beginning of the "To-do List"

After a couple of very stressful weeks, we finally found a loan & signed a lot of paperwork! On Saturday, April 15 we started on our first house project--taking out some very overgrown bushes! The fence on this side of the house fell down, so we have to replace it. We decided to move the fence forward so our backyard/side yard will be bigger. In order to move the fence, we have to remove all of these bushes! This is the side of our house--you can see how big the bushes are (Joel is over 6 feet tall!) Did I mention they have 1/2" to 2" thorns??

We worked for about 2 1/2 hours and then took a lunch break. Joel worked for a few more hours--and the bush is almost gone! Good work, Joel!

We're buying a house!

After being married for two years, we're finally taking the plunge! It seems almost impossible, but with incredible support from our families and encouragement from our friends, it's about to happen. If you've bought a house, I'm sure you've experienced the same emotions and stress that we have. The sleepless nights and ammount of work it takes seems to be similar to having a baby--you're stressed AND tired--not a good combination!

The house we're purchasing is near & dear to our hearts. It's the family home my husband, Joel, grew up in--they moved in back in 1980 when he was about 3 years old. We're excited to be moving in as my mother-in-law moves out to a new townhouse. It will be a long summer of painting, working, learning, and let's be honest, being a bit tired. I hope to share our experience of renovating, remodeling & filling our new house with love to make it our home.