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!! 

Lost Pines: Saturday

Saturday we got up and got ready to go down to the lazy river again. We spent the day down by and in the water. We stayed down there as long as we possibly could before Ascher had had enough and was ready for a nap. (Pictures are on Dad's phone and he hasn't sent them to me yet- other than this one of little man squirting himself with water, which he thought hilarious)

Saturday night we took family photos and went to eat at the restaurant at hotel. 

After dinner we let Ascher run up and down the lawn. He was in heaven. There were kids every where so he was watching all of them so intently always on the search for more rocks. (The kid is obsessed- we say he is gonna be a geologist like his K-Dan, Justin's Dad). After awhile of running around we walked over to see the alpacas and longhorns. Ascher wasn't very interested so we took pictures and left- again it was way past his bedtime and he was starting to show it. 

Sunday morning we got up and all hung out for a little while before it was time to pack up and head home. We got home around 1 and unpacked and let Ascher catch up on sleep. It was a wonderful family getaway and just what our family needed while we grieve the loss of Grandma. 

Lost Pines:Thursday-Friday

Our first ever family vacation was this past weekend. (August 15-18) It was so much fun. We met Mom & Dad, Jess & Roy at Lost Pines in Bastrop. We have never been on a family vacation all together since getting married & having babies. It was a nice change of pace and so much fun. 

Justin has a huge family so whenever we go on vacation with them we have tons of fun and there are tons of kids and people to do different things. With my family, there is only Jessica & me. We laughed and said that even when all 6 of us (plus two babies) were in one room that wasn't even half of Justin's whole family. I love that we have both sides of the coin!

Thursday night we all went and ate dinner before walking around a bit and getting a yummy smores!! It was way past the babies bedtime at this point so we headed up to our rooms. Friday morning came --- Jessica, Me, Dad & Justin all went for a walk around the grounds. It really is a beautiful place! There were butterflies, hummingbirds, rabbits, etc. all over the place.

Jess and I sat in rocking chairs overlooking the river while Justin went down by the river and walked up and down it. (Dad was on the phone). We headed back to the room and got into our swim gear to go float the lazy river. 

We stayed there the rest of the morning, ate lunch by the pool and then headed back up to the room so that Ascher could take a nap. 

After naps we were ready to go to eat dinner. We decided we would go into Bastrop and eat at Chilli's (we like what we know). Before we left the hotel we took some pictures while the boys went and got the cars. 

We got to Chillis and it was PACKED. We just enjoyed each others company.

After dinner I had to get my nightly s'more before going to bed for the night. Another day of fun on the lazy river was waiting in the morning. : ) 

 Justin likes to point out that the campfire is surrounded by children...and then there is me. Thats ok. I'll be a kid as long as life will let me!!