October: Hadley Turns 1

After the movers had loaded up our truck and headed to Houston. We loaded up our car and headed to Dallas for Hadley's 1st birthday. Mom & Dad had gone ahead earlier that day with Ascher. Friday seemed like such a long day but we were so happy to get there. When we arrived, Mom & I helped Jess finish up some last minute things for Hadleys birthday party the next morning before we all went to sleep. Saturday morning was Hadleys birthday party. It was super cute. She did it at 10:30 (I think...somewhere around there) and had breakfast foods. (the best donuts in Allen, mini quiche, muffins, fruit) It was a perfect 1st birthday. Family & a few friends all came over and loved on little Hadley as she turned ONE! Here are some pictures.

Then it was time for Cake. There is something about watching a baby tear into a cupcake that is JUST for them and no one is gonna tell them no. and Hadley LOVED it. 

But before long it was time for a bath and next outfit change. (The child had 3 outfits for her party)

After her bath she opened presents (I was putting Ascher to sleep during this so I missed any photo ops) The two photos above are two of my favorite photos of Hadley. She is precious. Love her!

Happy 1st Birthday Hadley Bear!!

October: Moving Day

Whew. Moving day arrived. Mom took Ascher to Kingwood with her so that we wouldn't have to worry about him with the movers & packers in and out all day. It worked out great. The packers came and packed up the entire house. I told Justin the day they packed was the first day I felt relaxed in months! It was glorious. I sat on the bed of the truck and hung out. It was beautiful weather & for the first time Justin and  I had no worries (other than everything we owned being packed and loaded to go to storage for a month and a half) 

They came back the next day and it was just as peaceful. I sat outside the entire day. I think it totally helped that our movers were great. The first day they were there it was 9 am and one packer had brown eyed girl on his phone singing at the top of his lungs. When the people love what they do it made it easier for me to trust him with my stuff. He was happy and they kept calling him the kitchen genie. (haha) The stress of someone else doing everything melted away and I let them take control!!

and so it begins...

my view from where I sat majority of day

one last drive by

It was crazy to watch as everything we owned drove away on Friday night but we had faith they would take good care of it. Whew. It was a wonderful experience and I am so so thankful we were able to have packers & movers. It was glorious!!

October: Moving Prep & House Hunting

Like I said, October was a chaotic month. We survived but thats about it. Looking back we did SO much and got so much done but whew am I glad to be done with it!? Mom came up and helped me pack at some point (the whole month is a blur). 

all the commotion of the month wore this little guy out too.
He would fall asleep on the most random things and places.

This was after I packed his toys that were coming with us to apt. He was not happy.
The progression of these photos end with him crying.

We went house hunting a few different times but it was so discouraging. The market is ridiculous and everything we liked either was half a million dollars or not going to be done till Spring. After the first trip we just let it go and said God will provide. Mom told me about when they moved from Texas to California and she was 8 months pregnant with me. They had 1 hour left before they had to fly back to Texas to find a house and they could NOT find anything and then there it was...a new neighborhood and a perfect house. The Lord provided and Justin and I had faith he would provide for us the same way. We found one we really liked but it wasn't going to be done for quite some time (they hadnt even broken ground on it) and we weren't sold on the development. It was great, but we were hoping for a particular development. Here is the model of the house. I really liked the fact that all the bedrooms except one were downstairs. It had bedrooms and a play room all on the first floor then upstairs had game room and another bed & bath. 

After that day we went back again for one last time. At this point, our house had sold and we were moving out in a matter of weeks. We needed to find something and fast. We had looked online and had found a few that could have worked but nothing that floored us and for the price we were going to pay we just weren't sold. We looked around all morning. Our Realtor took us to one last stop to a builder in the development we really wanted but figured was out of our budget. They showed us one and I hated the front- it was awful. Ascher was asleep and Justin told me not to even bother to get out of the car. I was sad I really wanted this certain neighborhood. Then the builder says, well I have one more but it wont be done till the end of November/early December but its 5 bedrooms/4 baths and we just dropped the price $45,000! WHAT!? Lets see this baby! Justin immediately loved it. I couldn't see it. It was all walls. Everything had been picked but nothing installed. What if I hated it once it was all in? We thought about it. I talked with the builder and he showed me some of the selections and by the end of the night we had decided that this would be our new home. We were going to be able to change a few things but for the most part everything had already been picked but thankfully 95% of what they picked is exactly what Justin and I would have picked. The Lord provided. 
Here are some pics from the first day we saw it...

 entry

 eat in kitchen with window seat

 front bedroom

 entry

 master

 kitchen-- living combo

 dining room from living

part of gameroom upstairs

Oh and it gets better. When we sold our house we let the new owners keep the washer/dryer and fridge...well our builder started a new promotion the day before we bought our house...with every new house they would include a washer/dryer and fridge. Alright really God...now you are just showing off ; ) We are truly blessed!! 

October: Going Away

The month of October was crazy with the house being on the market, trying to find a new house, being pregnant, losing baby, the house selling, grieving, raising Ascher, packing, etc. It was a CRAZY month. And everything happened so fast. Our house wasn't on the market that long at all (like not even 2 weeks) before it sold and so we were go go going!! Before leaving though, Natalie insisted that we go to Chuys for dinner as a goodbye dinner. No stress of life, no worries of moving, just hanging out eating dinner relaxing with my bff. 

So the night arrives for our Chuys dinner and I pick her up. We head to Chuys and she just walks in and ignores the hostess and I'm like uhhhh Natalie..and she says oh I already have us a table and walks to a table full of my best friends in College Station. I was so suprised and felt so loved. We ate and chatted for a good long time and they even brought me a special cake! It was a wonderful night and just what I needed after everything that had been going on. So thankful for Natalie for arranging it and so thankful for my friends who were there for me!!

Natalie, Me, Pamela, Kim, & Terri

Me & Pamela 

Me & Terri, my prayer warrior

me & Kim

I have fabulous friends and miss them very very much!!