Merry Christmas

We hope you had a truly spectacular Christmas filled with love, joy, peace, and hope. We pray that this year will bring you closer to our Father and that you will truly experience blessings in ways you never imagined. One Christmas tradition in my family growing up is making handmade ornaments. Our family stopped the tradition years back, but I decided this year to start it again in our family. This is the first one I've done. I was only able to make a few, but I'm excited to continue the tradition for years to come.

A Sneak Peak

We have the office fully furnished, just nothing else yet. In case you're wondering that is a sliding glass door and nope it doesn't go to the outside. We've got major plans for that door, stay tuned! We have a guy...his name is John. John works at the Sherwin Williams in Tigard. He is now my hero. I have professional looking trim in one room now and it was a cinch. We're talking, no brush strokes, smooth, glossy trim. I have a feeling we're going to spend a lot of time with John. Doesn't white trim make everything better?

Pictures of the New House...The Before...

Well, technically it still looks the same, in all it's original 1964 charm! We've started painting all the trim so far. We'll post pics when that's done. We have soooo much work ahead of us. Scroll back a few posts to see our initial list. We're anticipating this taking about 2-3 years to complete. Hopefully we can handle a house in chaos for that long.

The Final Installment: The map

For those of you who need a little help with your geography...a map of our itinerary.

Day 15, 16, and 17: Atlanta, GA

We had a great time visiting our family in Atlanta. Halee was kind enough to host us at her new home!! We of course got our favorite breakfast at our favorite breakfast place...Corner Bakery. Oatmeal for Caitlin and cheese grits for Chris. We saw some of our favorite places. Met up with one of Chris' mentors, Greg Miller and had a great breakfast with him. We were able to help our friends work on a painting for our old church. This is what many Friday nights in Atlanta looked like for us. We even visited the World of Coke. We felt like tourists. Wow...that's all. It was quite the trip!

Day 14: Knoxville, TN to Atlanta, GA with a stop in Chattanooga

We stopped in Chattanooga, TN on our way to Atlanta. The weather was beautiful! There's a really cool museum.And there's dance steps all over the sidewalk. How cute!!

Day 13: Knoxville, TN

We stayed with our friends Rob and Danielle in Knoxville, TN...oh yeah...and their adorable baby Eli. Knoxville is a pretty cool town. There was lots for us to see and do, but the coolest was Yee Haw. A block print poster shop. They let Chris go all over the store taking pictures. It was awesome!!

The List

Here it is...our first to do list for the new (to us) house:

Master Bedroom

• paint trim
• paint door
• paint closet door
• paint walls
• hang pendant lights
• change outlet covers
• new windows
• change knobs
• paint built in
• adjust doors to built in
• paint knobs on built in
• remove overhead light

Office

• paint trim
• paint door
• paint closet door
• paint walls
• change knobs
• install new frosted glass slider

2nd Bedroom

• paint trim
• paint door
• paint closet door
• paint walls
• change knobs
• new windows

Living Room

• paint trim
• paint door
• paint walls
• change knobs
• new windows
• fireplace facade

Dining Room

• paint trim
• paint walls
• change knobs
• new windows
• change light

Bathroom

• GUT

Kitchen

• GUT
• match hardwood floors

Family Room

• paint trim
• paint walls
• change knobs
• new windows
• change light
• match hardwood floors
• install Malm Fireplace
• facade on wall

Laundry Room

• linoleum floor
• move crawlspace entry
• install new electrical panel
• install new washer and dryer
• install built ins
• install trim
• paint trim
• paint walls
• replace door

Garage

• paint floor
• paint walls
• patch walls
• install garage opener
• install workbench
• install pegboard
• replace garage doors

Backyard

• install concrete planters
• install concrete pavers next to living room
• fence
• replace deck

Frontyard

• paint house
• paint door
• replace window on door
• decide what to do with side yard
• install locking mailbox

Day 12: Roanoke, VA to Knoxville, TN

We had a long night drive to Roanoke, VA and then got up the next day, quickly hiked a part of the Appalachian Trail and then began the long drive to Knoxville, TN.

Day 11: Lancaster, PA (The Amish)

It was a very rainy and gloomy day when we went to see the Amish. Unfortunately my magical view of the Amish was quickly shattered when I got into town. It turns out, the Amish don't live quite so simply and sometimes have a problem with stealing. Although they did have an amazing quilt museum which Jenna and I loved. Thanks Jenna for hosting us!! And they make amazing pretzels. And beautiful candles.

Day 10: New York, NY to Philadelphia, PA

We made it into Pennsylvania late in the day. We were staying with our friend Jenna. She took us on a quick tour of the city. We were bummed we didn't get to see much, we have a feeling we would love to explore Philadelphia. We went to the scariest haunted house ever at Eastern Sate Penitentiary.

Day 8 and 9: New York, NY

We had a whirlwind trip in NYC. It was pouring down rain most of the time we were there...we're talking 8 inches in 24 hours!!! Because of this we don't have many pictures since we were running from place to place so quickly. We stayed with our friend John who Chris went to photo school with. John got out his amazingly cool old camera and took some photos of us on his roof. We went to free night at MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). It was crazy packed, but we were able to see some really cool pieces. Caitlin fell in love with Grand Central Station.We were able to have lunch at Central Park with Caitlin's dad's cousin. They have lived in Manhattan for 30 years and we had a fabulous time with them. We rode bikes in Central Park. Everyone meet Violet...nope she's not an adopted daughter we brought home. Her dad offered to take our picture and she had to be in it too. She was just too adorable!!Sunset off The Highline.