We’ve moved!

Well, our life has been on a little roller coaster ride and it’s been going in circles so fast I haven’t had time to update my blog!

As the title suggests, we have packed up our belongings from our beloved little house in Seward, Nebraska, and moved west to Colorado. This wasn’t an easy decision, but we are following our hearts and where God is leading our little family-of-three’s (or four, I guess we need to include Hank the cow dog as he is along for the ride!) life.

It all started back in the end of May when we found out that my parent’s neighbors were going to be moving and wanted to offer their house before they put it on the market. We went to look at it in June and did a lot of praying and number crunching to see if we could make this work and if this is what God had in mind for us.

After coming up with every reason not to, God kept opening doors, including making our finances work out, selling of our Seward house in 23 days (even doing so for sale by owner, thanks Zillow!), and providing jobs for both Ronny and I.

While it was bittersweet to leave our dear friends and great jobs in Nebraska, we are so thankful for the opportunity to be closer to family and be involved in the family ranch.

We still have boxes to unpack, things to organize, a little painting to do and furniture to buy, but we are loving life in the country, close to Nana and Papa and spending more, precious time with our little boy. We love visitors so let us know if you’re ever in the area!

All thanks be to God for His Blessings!

The 41 week club

Well, we officially made it to the 41 week club! Not sure to be whether to be excited or frustrated, but God has been granting me patience and we’re so thankful to Him for a healthy baby. A healthy baby that just happens to be too comfy!

38 weeks :: 39 weeks
(We didn’t get a 40 week pic and I need to take one today of 41)

Ronny and I decided to go do something fun yesterday together to get our minds off of things and hopefully convince baby to join us. And we didn’t want to leave Hank at home, so we went to Branched Oak Lake and had a picnic then went hiking.

Hank was probably the most excited of all of us.

We had a nice view for our picnic. It was a hot day, but the breeze in the shade kept us cool.

The hike was nice to get out and walk, and tire Hank (and me!) out.

In the evening we went to dinner with Shelley and Katelin, then to the high school football game. It was still a warm evening, but nice to be out and about.

The other good thing about having extra time at home is to finish projects that have been sitting around for a while! I finally “finished” my purple, K-State guest room. Ronny and my diplomas have been sitting framed on the floor for a while – ok a couple of years.

And once I got this awesome custom canvas from my friend, Alicia from our baby shower, I decided it would be perfect in this room. She free-handed this! I also want to give her a shout-out for her photography business – if you’re in the Topeka/Manhattan area she has awesome skills!

Ok, we are really ready for you now, Baby Pope!

Nursery sneak-peek

Ronny and I worked on the baby’s room two weekends ago. He was pretty adamant about getting it all ready! And I’m glad he did. I still have a few things I want to put up on the walls, but I’ll give you a sneak-peek to what it looks like.

It’s a little different than my home-office redo. But exciting at the same time. I’ll still be incorporating some of my favorite things from my office.

Ronny is so excited. :)

Hank claimed his spot in the room.

New shelves!

The final product to come!

Crafting time

I received a great birthday present. Yes, back in October. And I’ve been using it since then! Using it enough that I haven’t taken any pictures.

So here it is, my awesome crafting table that I received from my parents.

It is TrueCut Crafting Table from The Grace Company and is a multi-level, multi-sized table that can change heights, and both sides fold down. Most importantly, it is on wheels, so I can move it around my craft room, yet fold it down to conserve space in our small basement room.

I set it at mid-waist height so I would not have to bend over to do all of my cutting. And it has been a back saver! And the shelves are perfect to keep my fabric scrap baskets and spools of thread.

I also like where I have it positioned next to my sewing machine. I’m working on a large quilt right now, so I can easily lay the extra fabric on the table or the first shelf and it doesn’t drag down to the floor.

My sewing area isn’t glamorous, but it works great for me and I’m so grateful for this extra piece that adds so much to one of my favorite hobbies. Thanks again, Mom and Dad!!

Home office | my favorite things

I wanted to highlight my favorite things of my new room.

First, I obviously LOVE my chair. It is a Flexsteel swivel/glider and so comfy to sit and read/write. I’m also a fan of paisleys – which is why I chose the print.

All of the pieces on the wall are special to me. This first one was a 4-H project I did with paper and string when I was little. I found this digging through some things at home. I found a frame that is double glass with an easy edge that slides on to display the piece.

The “mola” above my desk is a quilted piece of art that Mom found for me when we were in Panama. Since it is turquoise and I love quilting, this one is special.

The pallet shelf is rustic and fun that it came from the ranch. I also love it that Ronny and I made this together. Other favorites about this is that it has our brand, and star, and a picture of Hank.

The chest is Ronny’s show box made in High School. His mom refinished it last year and I love the dark brown accent it adds to the room. It also stores extra quilts and blankets.

Our picture stand. I used to have this in the living room, but since redecorating, I brought it in here. This was a hand-me-down shelf from the Pope’s, but I love that we have all of our family pictures in one place.

On that shelf is also one of my other favorite pieces of art. This was made by Aunt Sue, in which she took our wedding invitation and added beautiful paper flowers. She knew I loved turquoise (probably from our turquoise wedding invitations!) and the flowers match perfect to my room.

Home office redo | final product!

My home office/reading room has taken a little longer to get finished up than I wanted, but it wasn’t a priority over other projects – so I’ve had time to make it just like I want it.

First, my mom helped me paint the room from boring beige to totally turquoise back in March. This room used to be Ronny’s office, but we moved his downstairs for some more space and easier access to the garage door with his work.

The biggest piece of furniture that I’ve been waiting for is my chair. I found it at a great furniture store over Labor Day weekend, but it just came in, in November. Meanwhile, I’ve been using this room to store a few things and as a yoga/stretching room (which I will still be using it for, but won’t be leaving my mat out).

Now, for the finished product…let’s walk in:

All of the pieces on the wall are special to me. This first one was a 4-H project I did with paper and string when I was little. I found this digging through some things at home and since it was turquoise, I had to put it in the room.

The “mola” above my desk is a quilted piece of art that Mom found for me when we were in Panama.

These lovely pieces were from my friend, Georgia, as a house warming present when we moved in.

The pallet shelf. This was a fun Pinterest project that Ronny helped me with last year. I made three of them, but I think it just looked too bulky with all three – so one for now. On the shelf are a picture of Hank, Ronny & I, our brand, and star, also from Georgia.

The chest is Ronny’s show box that he made in High School to keep all of his cattle show supplies, halters and more. Hi mom refinished it last year and I love the dark brown accent it adds to the room.

I’m so excited that my room is finished and I can enjoy reading in my chair, having my own little space to write and blog, and display some of my favorite things.

Before & After

Happy Friday

Happy Friday from Hank the Cow Dog. It’s been a little chilly in Nebraska, so he has been wearing his little vest. He likes it – no joke!

Also, notice the nice, shiny International pedal tractor in the background – more on that soon, as well as my home office update!

Have a great weekend and Go Cats!

Christmas decor

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed the day in Kansas with Ronny’s family and on Friday, my nephews and I helped Grandma put up her tree. They were big help.

We came back to Nebraska on Friday night. This gave us time to decorate for Christmas!

As I was pulling out my Christmas decorations, I realized I really skimped on the fall decorations this year and didn’t get out a majority of them. So we put up a few more indoor and outdoor decorations to make up for it. (These are all phone pictures – sorry for the fuzziness.)

My favorite part of my decorations is my kitchen chandelier. I draped snowy, pine garland across the top and hung icicle ornaments throughout. This picture doesn’t do it justice.

I didn’t put our tree up this year, but I have two smaller trees up instead.

I also love my nativity scene that Grandpa and Grandma Cinnamon made for us. The perfect reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.

We don’t have an elf on a shelf, but we do have a Santa on a shelf! He seems to be happy up there – maybe he just likes sitting by the wine? :-)

And remember this – my Christmas in July project? It found a new spot in our living room as well. How could anyone give Baby Jesus a white ribbon? Makes me laugh every time I look at it, thank you hubby.

Lastly, we surely aren’t the Griswold’s, but we do have some lights up this year – which is more than what we could say last year. Thanks to Ronny and our friend, Josh, for putting these up!

And while we’re talking decorating, my chair finally came in for my new office/reading room. Here is sneak peak, but I want to share with you the whole room transformation…stay tuned!