Weekend Getaway to Biltmore

Last weekend Aaron and I took a much need weekend vacation, we went to the incredible Biltmore House in Asheville, NC. It was awesome. It is so amazing to think that this house was built by a bachelor.
Saturday night we attended the Live Flower Carpet Event. It is a tapestry made from 144,000 live plants and flowers, it was so beautiful. This also gave us the opportunity to enjoy the house and property after hours-without the crowds. We even got to crash a wedding down in the garden. We had a great weekend and can't wait to go back through the different seasons of the year.

On the back terrace of the house.

The Biltmore House

View from the back side of the house....could you imagine this being your back yard?

Flower Carpet

Flower Carpet up close.

Mexico Mission Trip

July 7th-July 12th Aaron and I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip with our church and other Christians from around the country to Zorrillo, Mexico. While there we were in 4 groups and each built a house for a family from the local church. It was an absolutely amazing week. I saw first hand how blessed we are to be Americans. I actually watched a child eat a popsicle from the trash. The house we built was 16' x 20' with a loft over the back half of the house, to us this would be a shed but to them it was a mansion. I can't say I am like Aaron and want to make building a career-but I can now say I built a house no a home for a very deserving family.

The entire week was such an eye opening experience that I hope to repeat for many summers to come. Wednesday night we had the opportunity to fellowship with the local Church of Christ in Zorrillo-what an amazing time of worship. While we did not speak the same spoken language we were able to sing and praise God together in one language-LOVE. It was so amazing to me to see how little they have and how joyful they are. It really puts what is important in perspective-it is not the things or the money but the promise we have for eternity.

View of the town looking up the mountain

The children of our family-Leily and Guadalupe-they were such hard workers

House at beginning of Day 2

Their old house

Building Crew with the Family after the Dedication in front of their new house

Crazy Summer

The last two months have been so busy for us both. Aaron has been helping Kade and Amy with their house remodel and I have been traveling a lot. I have been to Florida, New York, Michigan and Mexico. Hopefully I will be able to post soon about our Mission Trip to Mexico...we are so very blessed to live in America.

Flowers

In one of our attempts to avoid unpacking Aaron and I planted some flowers in our front mulch area. I love to go home every day and see the new blooms we have.

Dahlias-These are My FavoriteI love these because they always have lots of blooms.

This is a vine plant we are trying to get to grow up our mailbox.

Work in Progress

Everyday we get a little more settled in our house, however it is still a work in progress-I think it will be for many months to come. Our second guest room was our great accomplishment this week. We moved our clothes in giant trash bags since it was just 5 miles, however that made the unpacking process a little more tedious. Thursday night we spent the evening getting all of our clothes organized and put away-what a sence of accomplishment!!

Before

After

Tennessee Travels

Last weekend Aaron and I ventured through the state of Tennessee to go to a friend's wedding reception. Over the last few years many of my very dear friends have moved to Tennessee so this was a great time to see everyone in one weekend.

Our trip got started a little later than we expected on Friday. Thursday night when we got home from dinner we found a big puddle of water in the floor of our downstairs bathroom, we quickly realized that the ceiling was leaking. My ever handy husband began searching for the source and my beautiful new home soon had a big hole in the ceiling. Aaron was able to determine that the cause was water either coming or going to the master bath-with that knowledge we were able to sleep peacefully and wait for the construction manager to come by the next morning. To make a long story short the pipe going to the master bath had been cut during the HVAC installation, the humiditiy or change in temperature must of made it split open and leak through the dry wall. We were able to get the pipe fixed and on the road by 10 that morning-2 hours behind schedule.

Our first stop was in Kingsport to see the Haney's. Laura is one of my best friends from Richmond, I am so glad that we are so close and it is easy for me to visit them. On April 17th (my mom's birthday) Laura and Anthony were blessed with their second beautiful daughter Madison Kate Haney. We made a 2 hour stop to see their new addition and Miss Natalie who is now 2 1/2. It was a great visit. I did not take any pictures, I was too busy getting in some sweet baby time-but I do have a picture of them after Madison's birth.

Anthony, Natalie, Laura and Baby Madison

Our next stop was to Knoxville where we went to see the Reeve's. Jill is one of my dearest friends from college-she was a mentor to me any many ways. She is a few years older than me so we were only at Clemson together for a year and a half-but in that small amount of time she made such a difference in my life. I was so excited for this visit, it has been one that has been in the works for many years. It had been over 4 years since we had seen each other. Aaron and I were able to have dinner with Matt, Jill, Madeline (she will be 4 in July) and Samuel (1 1/2). Then the boys headed off in seperate directions-Matt to hang out with his guys friends and Aaron on to Crossville so he could play golf the next morning with his guy friends. I was so wonderful to have some girl time with Jill we just talked about life and enjoyed one anothers company. It was so fun to see Jill in her world with her kids. I want to be Jill when I grow up! Madeline and Samuel are so sweet I loved getting to know them and their personalities and Madeline was so sweet to let me sleep in her bed-she got a very special bed made for her in mommy and daddy's room. This was such a great visit that went by far to fast.

Jill, Samuel, Me and Madeline

Madeline & Samuel

Next I went to see Candace, one of my roommates in Richmond, and her new house. It was so great her and Jill only live 4 miles from each other. Her house is so cute, she has such a gift for decorating, I need to get her down to South Carolina so she can help me with our house. It was great to catch up over some Mexican food.

Finally I made it to Crossville, Tennesse-our intended destination. Our good friend Jon Atkinson was married on May 2, 2008 to Jackie in a very small family wedding. They had a really nice reception on Saturday for all of their family and friends. It was great to go and share in the sweet time in their relationship along with seeing some old friends. The Layne's who used to live in Clemson were there with their kids Avery and Owen-so cute! We were also blessed to have free housing with Harriet and Ralph, they were amazing.

We finally made it home from Tennessee after a long but great weekend. It was great to see everyone along the way.

This last picture we thought was really funny. Since we were going to be gone for the weekend we wanted to put Aaron's truck in the garage but were not sure if it would fit. Well it did but barely. The nose was literally in the doorway to the house.

Home Sweet Home

Tomorrow will be two weeks since Aaron and I were able to buy our first home. All of the boxes have been moved but I can't say that they have been unpacked. There have been way too many distractions during this time of transition.

My wonderful husband painted our living room the day we closed, he was there until 4:30 in the morning. To top it all off since he is such a perfectionist he was not happy with it so he repainted it a few days later-it looks amazing...a warm chocolate brown, tiki hut to be exact.

I was able to get my kitchen unpacked before the mass move. I love having lots and lots of cabinets-I have managed to fill them all up with the wonderful gifts we received from those we love as wedding gifts the year prior.

Work has been crazy so it has left little time for unpacking during the week. I guess at some point we will get there. Thank goodness for our storage room (that is right a whole room with this sole purpose of storing stuff-what could be better) and our garage.

We were blessed over the weekend to have my parents come in for a visit to see the house and for my birthday. It was great. We spent Friday night at Lowes getting a grill and patio furniture. Saturday we had to take the table top back since it was busted up. We also got flowers for our mulch area out front. Saturday night we had a wonderful dinner at Soby's it was sooooo good. We then took a walk through the Park. It is amazing what Greenville had done with downtown in the last 4 years.

Sunday we planted our flowers they are so pretty hopefully I will have some pictures to share soon.

I am loving having a home, it was so wonderful Sunday to be able to just be outside in our yard and not couped up in an apartment. While there is lots to do and buy (it is very exspensive to own your first home) it is all worth it.

Well needless to say there is still lots of unpacking to do, we will get there someday.

Please come visit we have plenty of space and the guest room is set up and ready for you!

Counting Down the Days

Only 6 more days!

Aaron and I decided to make a move last October to the place that is so special to us both-South Carolina-where we met and fell in love. After 9 months in New Jersey we felt that it was time for a change and headed south. Now we are about to take another big step in our life and buy our first home. I am so excited!!!! It is brand new and beautiful! It has been a whirl-wind experience. We decided at the beginning of March we should look to buy a home since our lease was up in our apartment. We started looking for cheap foreclosures but could not find anything in a location where we wanted. We found a really nice neighborhood in Easley, that we would love to upgrade to in a few years, we knew it was out of our price range. If you know anything about Aaron when it comes to money and a big purchase he researches every penny and every angle. He soon learned the dream neighborhood had many incentives and price breaks to keep the houses moving-so we decided to take a look. Well God has provided and the neighborhood that we thought we could not afford is now where our first home will be. We close Thursday April 24th. I am so excited-as I said before.

I have learned a lot through this process. 1-I have an amazing husband. I knew this before but it has been reaffirmed everyday through this process. Aaron would be happy living in a run down fixer upper as long as he could sell it in a few years for a profit. However, he knows I have different desires and has sacrificed for my dreams. I love how he has made sure we are getting the best deal and not being taken advantage of during this process. He is so smart. 2-God is always faithful and makes what seems to be impossible possible. 3-I am so truely blessed.

We can't wait to have our friends over for cookouts and Tiger fans for the weekend during football season. There is plenty of space so if you are ever in the upstate you always have a place to stay!

Greetings

So blogging is something new that I am going to give a try. I am not making any promises that this will be funny or interesting, just a way for Aaron and I to share with everyone what is going on in our lives.