GNO Christmas Party!

A few Saturdays ago, our GNO (Girl's Night Out) group got together to celebrate Christmas, exchange gifts and enjoy a yummy brunch. Our GNO group is made up of sweet friends that went to Hardin-Simmons and in most cases were in Sigma Alpha. We get together several times a year and do fun things such as, dress up in our little black dresses and go out for a night on the town, spa days, attend plays/musicals, weekend away and really just love on and support one another through life's joys and challenges. It was so fun having everyone over to our new house. These were our first guests and we look forward to having more friends and family over in the months to come.

Love you Girls!

Telling the Fam!

So, after a doctor's appointment and sono to confirm the pregnancy, we were ready to tell our families. We thought long and hard about how to share such exciting news. So, we decided on making a shirt for me to wear the next time we got together.

First was my parents. We walked in to join them for dinner and Mom looked at me kind of funny. After talking for a few minutes, and continuously looking at my shirt, she finally asked me. What is coming 6.12.09? Does it have something to do with work? No, I told her with a big smile on my face. I told her to think about how many months it was away (a huge clue, I know, but she just wasn't getting it) and then after another minute or so, it hit her. She said, "Are you pregnant?" Josh and I screamed, "Yes!" After tears of joy and several hugs, we gave them a pic of our first sono in a frame we had made engraved with "Proud Grandparents". They loved it and shed a few more tears. It was a really special time. Here's a few pics documenting the moment.






Then, on to telling the Myers. We were heading out of town with Josh's family for a weekend trip to Arkansas to visit Josh's younger brother, Caleb, at college. So, I wore my shirt once again and waited for someone to notice. Adam and Bethany, Josh's sister and brother-in-law, were the first to notice. It was an exciting time because they had just found out they were expecting their second child in June as well. Only (2) weeks after us. :) So, lots of more hugs and congratulations were given and talks about being excited that our kids would be close in age, REALLY close in age. How fun! I have a cousin that's only a few months older than I and it always made it fun when we got together as a family. I can't wait for our kiddos to grow up together. :)

Finding Out the BIG news!

So now that our BIG news is out, I wanted to share some of the fun things that have happened these past few months, regarding Baby Myers.

So first, here are a few pics of Josh and I finding out the news that we were going to be a mom and dad. Such a special day and one we will remember forever.

Night out with The Tooleys

Last week, Josh and I went to hear Michael W. Smith preform with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra with some of our closest friends, The Tooleys. It was such a great way to kick off the holiday season. Nothing gets you in the mood for Christmas like Michael W. Smith singing Gloria. Loved it! We met for dinner first at Coal Vines and enjoyed some delicious pizza and then headed over to The Meyerson for the concert. It was such a fun evening with great friends, great food and great entertainment.

Thankful!

So, with Thanksgiving coming up this week we've been thinking a lot about what we are thankful for. Here's our Top 5 List, just to name a few.

5. Our new home that the Lord has provided for us.

4. Josh's new job.

3. Wonderful friends that support us and pray for us daily.

2. Our loving family and especially for my father's health after a tough year.

1. Our little baby that is coming in June.

That's right! We are happy to announce that we are pregnant and will be adding to our family next June. The official due date is June 12, 2009 and we can hardly wait! I am 11 weeks + 2 and am feeling pretty good besides the nausea and exhaustion. :)

Here's our sono pic from 8 weeks + 4.

Moved, but not unpacked!

Go figure huh? Unpacking is such a S-L-O-W process, but hey, at least we are moved. We had some great friends and family that pitched in and helped us move last Saturday in no time. Thanks so much to everyone who helped.

So, what's next? Unpacking and SHOPPING! Yeah! We have an empty house and I'm dying to fill it. Josh isn't quite as excited about the shopping as I am.

Can't wait to show everyone the finished product. Pictures to come soon. Hopefully!

Does anyone else have this problem?

(The joys of apartment life, which we are SO excited to say good-bye to.)

Every fall/winter, when we turn our heat on for the first time, we have to assume to position. Towels in hand, ready to jump and wave them at the fire alarms to get them to stop going off and waking up our neighbors. It never fails, every time. Here's a few pics to document this year's festivities. Hopefully, this will be the last. :)

Myers Family Weekend in Arkansas

This past weekend we traveled to Fayetteville, AR to visit Josh's younger brother, Caleb, at The University of Arkansas. He is a freshman there and is loving every minute. So, the whole family (minus sweet Asher) piled into the Myers' mini van and headed out for a fun weekend.

We had lots of fun exploring caves at Devil's Den Park, touring the campus, attending the football game and just enjoying being together.

Josh & Adam ready for our Hike. Cameras belted on and all! Can you tell they weren't crazy about taking this pic?


Josh and I


The Fam


Baby bats we found in the cave


Bethany and Hannah


Siblings


Josh tormenting Hannah-as usual


At the game

Paint Colors!

After about 12 sample quarts of paint we decided on our colors! And who knew you could return your unwanted paint back to Home Depot for a FULL refund. Yeah! That's the only reason Josh kept allowing me to purchase quart after quart when trying to decide on the colors. :)

Great Room (Kitchen, Living, Dinning, Entry Way)


Master Bedroom


Master Bathroom


Guest Bathroom


Now all we have to do is decide on colors for the (2) extra bedrooms and garage, then we're finished with paint. Yeah!

Things are moving along quickly. The paint is looking great and will be finished today! The hard wood floors are being installed later this week (in the living room and dining room) and carpet comes next week. We can't wait to see the finished project. Pictures to come soon!

Sidewalk-Before & After

So, the big project this past weekend was the Sidewalk. For some CRAZY reason, the previous owners decided to paint red and white bricks on the sidewalk leading up to the house. Then, when the HOA saw what they had done, they demanded that they paint over it. So, they painted it a lovely gray color. Josh and I are not fans of gray painted concrete, so we thought we'd try power washing the concrete to get the paint off. It worked really well, just a little at a time though and it did take off some of the concrete as well. This thing was POWERFUL! So, after having rented the equipment from Home Depot for 24hrs. we had to return it and be okay with only having accomplished the sidewalk. The front porch, will be another day.

Doesn't it look so much better?

Before


During


After


My sweet parents offered their time up again this weekend. It's been really fun working on the house with them. So, while Josh was power washing, we were working on moving the firewood pile away from the house (Hello, they were just asking for termite problems), when we found the cutest baby bunny that had made it's home in the firewood. Mom caught it for a quick picture, but as soon as we put him down, he ran away. I don't think he and Skeeter would have played well together anyways. :)




At the end of our labor intensive weekend we decided to cap it off with a treat from the ice cream man. He wasn't necessarily headed down our street, but when I heard that ol' familiar music, I ran out of the house, down the street to stop him. Who can resist a treat from the ice cream man himself?



So, what's on the schedule for this week? PAINT! The painter is coming on Thursday and we have got to decide on colors. Decisions! Decisions!

Yard-Before & After

Okay, so here's the progress we made this weekend. We worked pretty much all weekend long, except for watching the Cowboys game, of course. My parents were so sweet to offer their help, so of course we took them up on it. It was so great to have a few extra hands as well as Mom's green thumb.

So, we ripped out almost all of the plants/flowers/weeds, transplanted a crape myrtle and mowed/weedeated. It's amazing what a little hard work can do. We still need to work on the flower beds, kill the weeds (there sure are a lot) and work on the backyard, but we were excited about our progress so far. Check it out!

Before


After


Josh mowing the extra long grass. I don't think the previous owner had mowed in several months. :(


No, I'm not sweeping the lawn, I'm spreading the extra soil around from of our transplant project. It worked really well. :)


The Seller's Realtor never put a "Sold" sign in the front lawn, so I had to complete my dream of buying our first home with a picture in front of the "Sold" sign. I know, cheesy.

Home Owners!

Yea! We closed on our house yesterday afternoon and are now official home owners! We were so excited to get our keys and garage door openers. :) Everything went very smoothly and there were no surprises, thankfully. Our monthly payment even came out to be less than we had expected. Such a blessing! So, now the fun/work begins. We will keep you updated as we progress. First up this weekend, the lawn and getting our projects estimated.

Here are a few pics documenting the event.

Signing our last paper. Josh says that my signature got worse and worse as we went along. Who can blame me? There were a lot of papers. :)



Our FABULOUS realtor Jeff. He was so wonderful. He was patient with us, helped direct us and of course, helped us find OUR new home. If anyone is looking to sell/buy in the North Dallas area, we'd love to hook you up with Jeff. It was so wonderful to have a realtor that wanted to help us buy the house the Lord had planned for us instead of just wanting to make a sale. He was such a blessing and we hope to work with him again in the future. Not anytime soon though. :)


Our Keys!


Just for fun!

Fun Weekend!

So, this past weekend Josh and I headed to Oklahoma to visit our dear friends, Jeremy, Melodie and their precious little boy Holden.



We have a long standing tradition of visiting them in the Fall every year and them coming to visit us every Spring. It is always such a fun time sharing life with one another and reminiscing of our fun college years, or for Jeremy and Josh-Celina High School memories (they have been friends since the 8th grade). And of course, it was SO fun to love on Holden and smother him with hugs and kisses. He is such a sweet baby and it was so fun to see Jeremy and Melodie's excitement and joy of being his parents. So sweet!



So, here's what our weekend visit consisted of:

-Staying up way too late visiting :)
-Eating delicious meals prepared by Melodie-Josh is still raving about Melodie's granola recipe. So Yummy!
-Guys played golf
-Girls and Holden went furniture shopping-Melodie knew we were on the hunt so we went to Mathis Brothers, a huge selection with great prices and yes, they ship to Dallas :)
-Saw the movie "Fireproof"-this movie was produced by the same company as "Facing the Giants". It was such a great, honest movie and if you haven't seen it yet, you should definitely go.
-Went out to dinner at Yamato, a Japanese Steak Restaurant-so a little history here-Josh's and my first date was a double date with Jeremy and Melodie and guess what we did? Saw a movie and went to dinner at a Japanese Steak restaurant. What fun memories!
-And just enjoyed spending time together with such wonderful friends



We can't wait for them to come and see us at our new house next Spring.

Moving on up!

To Wylie, Texas that is.

We FINALLY received approval on our soon-to-be new home yesterday evening. This has been quite the process. I'll explain for anyone that wants to know. Otherwise, scroll to the bottom and check out the pics.

We placed an offer on this house over a month ago and it took them several weeks to decide. There were several offers and we were told that ours was selected 2 weeks ago. We were pretty excited but soon learned that now the Bank had to approved the offer since it was being sold as a Short Sale. So the waiting continued. We received updates, but each update told us, sorry not today, maybe tomorrow. Seriously, how long can they drag this out? And then, we received an e-mail last night notifying us that we FINALLY received the approval. YEAH! Okay, so enough about the grueling process, on to THE HOUSE!

It's located in Wylie, just a few miles from where we currently are living. It's about 1,900 sq. feet and has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It's only 3 years old and is in great condition, other than the fence that's about to fall over. We'll definitely have to fix that for Skeeter. :) It's in a great community that includes a pool, playground, basketball court and park. We have lots of plans, so we'll be getting to work as soon as we close. Painting, Flooring, Gardening, where to begin. We will close on or before Oct. 2nd, giving us a whole month before we have to be out of our apartment and no double rent and mortgage payments (something we specifically prayed about). YEAH! The Lord definitely worked out all of the details, it just took some faith and a little patience. Okay, a lot of patience. :)

Physical Therapist-Josh!

YEAH! Josh passed his Licensure Exam and is now officially a licensed Physical Therapist. So to celebrate, we had a fun filled weekend. We went to the Ranger's game on Friday night and enjoyed Great Seats, Great Food, and a Great Game! The Rangers were down 0 to 6 and came from behind winning 9 to 8 at the bottom of the ninth. I sound like I know what I'm talking about, don't I? Well, I actually watched this game. :)




We also went to the movies and saw The Dark Knight (great movie, just a little too long for my bum) and went out to dinner at Fireside Pies at the Shops at Legacy. Thanks for the suggestion Kim. It was delicious!

And last but not least, we had Josh's Graduation PARTY! Thank you to everyone who came. It was SO fun! And thanks to Jana (Josh's mom) for opening up her home and allowing me to have the party there.

Josh with his grilling utensils and apron from my parents. He's ready to purchase that grill as soon as we get into a house. Thanks Mom and Dad!









Our wonderful Community Group, minus the Thurman's. Y'all have been such an encouragement to us throughout Josh's schooling. Thanks so much for all of the prayers, encouragement and support. We love y'all.