Not so extreme home makeover

HOUSE UPDATES!! Yay!

This summer has been a great time for me to work on home projects for the house! Since I have had sooo much free time to relax (which I will be missing dearly starting next week) I have been recording and watching Design shows on HGTV. I've taken some of the things I've learned from there and transferred them to my own house! Here are some things that I've done...

I took scrapbook paper and framed it to make inexpensive, color coordinated artwork for the bathroom :)

Probably the highlight and pride of my summer, my unfinished furniture bathroom cabinet. I stained it (2 coats) and polyurethaned it (yes, I just made that a verb!) let it air dry in the garage for days and viola! I think it matches the cabinets as perfect as it could!! But as Christy can tell you from my first coat... it was work! I was sweatin bullets out in that 99 degree garage!

I bought a shoe rack and put it together and it makes the closet SO much more organized with my bins of boots and other items beside it!

This was another piece of furniture that we got for Marshall's clothes to be in our bedroom. It was also from the unfinished furniture place which we got to stain a clear coat for us to match the rest of the bedroom. It's a little lighter, but such a great storage for Marshall's clothes!

On our trip to Ikea before Taylor and Emily's wedding in Charlotte I bought some inexpensive accessories to decorate the house! From my first Ikea experience the main thing I would say is that it's freakin huge! It did have great prices, but I'm not gonna like, it was a little overwhelming!

Here are some seat cushions for the kitchen table to match our black & white theme, with green accents.

A cute vase to go on top of our cabinets.... $3.99!! (I'm going to get some short branches to put inside it)

Another scrapbook/art project with the opposite black and white mats with the black and white scrapbook paper. The baskets I got from Charity and spraypainted black to match our kitchen... thanks!!

This was for those of you who haven't seen our house in a while! Hopefully I'll keep adding fun accents that make me smile!

The Beach Part 1

So this week, we are at the beach with Marshall's family for the Harper Family Reunion that we do every 2 years. It has been really relaxing so far to end the school year and go to the beach the very next day.

We made up a scavenger hunt for the family to participate in and had families get extremely serious and competitive! We weren't taking it too seriously, so we stopped for ice cream instead. Haha.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful and although I got a little burnt the first day, I've been good about putting on sunscreen since then. Marshall was playing golf today and he will play again on Thursday.

Last night we went to Original Benjamin's Seafood restaurant and Marshall put everyone to shame eating crab legs. 8 plates later... he was finally done. Of course, I only ate fried shrimp, roasted potatoes, fried okra and hushpuppies. I'll post more later, but this is what has happened so far! :) I am blessed to be in such a fun and wonderful family.

Ahhhh Bliss!

YAYYYY for Spring Break! We were saying as teachers that we need it more than the students do at this point! I am afraid, however, that by the end of this week I will be ready to quit my job and be home everyday! I guess I should just be thankful to have a job right now :) Anyway, one of my favorite things to do (as Marshall can tell you) is have Saturday mornings together. I love sleeping in and fixing breakfast on Saturday when you have no time schedule (I also know Charity loves this too because when we talk about our Saturday events they are pretty much the same, haha).

Bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns (with lots of ketchup!) This was taken a little too late because Marshall had already eaten some off his plate- whoops!

So, I have been getting really excited about moving into our new house and decorating although I know we won't have to buy a lot of new things which is great! I got the chance to go shopping and get a few new items.... here is a sneak peak of one of the decorations I got.

The shower curtain for the guest bathroom

We signed a contract!!!

WOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This must be how basketball players feel when they sign a contract!!!!

After careful consideration... the Birchrun house is home!

It makes the most sense in the long run to go ahead while the government is paying us to do something we would do anyway to take advantage. We are so excited!!!!

For those of you -other than my lover Brooke... long story ;)- who have not seen the house, I have taken a few pictures of it so that you can fall in love just as I did.

This is how we felt after signing.... haha

Us in our new, lovely kitchen. The refridgerator is coming...

The master bedroom....One of MY favorite things about the house...the walk in closet!!!!! :)

The master bathroom with double sinks...

Our kitchen...

Our beautiful realtor who I told I was so thankful for today!

Our new address in May, 363 Birchrun Drive, Durham, NC 27712

As Ty would say on Extreme Home Makeover.... "Welcome Home Harper Family, Welcome Home!!!!"

Haiti

A Prayer and A Wonderful Memory from Haiti.....

Read the lyrics for "Let the world see" by Carl Cartee and think about Haiti.

Let the world see a light on a hill.
Let the world see Your purpose fulfilled.
Let the world see Your glory.
Let the world see Your love in our hearts.


Lord, You so loved the world
You gave Your only Son,
So now I give my all.
Let Your will be done.
Let Your will be done.


Let the world see a light on a hill.
Let the world see Your purpose fulfilled.
Let the world see Your glory.
Let the world see Your love in our hearts.


We have been called to go
Tell of the risen One.
The harvest time is here.
Let Your kingdom come.
Let Your kingdom come.


Light of the world, shine on, shine on.
Light of the world, shine on, shine on.

Wii Gaming and Photography Experimentation

Christy had decided that we needed to make going to The Olive Garden around New Year's an annual thing... which is fine with me because I LOVE The Olive Garden! I offered to have everyone come back to our house to hang out afterwards. We just got the Wii Fit for Christmas from my mom and we have loved playing the games and laughing at ourselves, so what better to watch people make fools of themselves trying to maneuver on the little Wii board?! Here are some pictures to capture a tiny but of the hillariousness that was that night...

Brooke trying to go through the obstacle course....

Kevin in Warrior Yoga Pose showing his great balance to align his pelvis.... hahahahaha

Chad flapping his wings to help the bird get to it's destination....

Christy on the obstacle course...

Kevin attempting the obstacle course... Go DeQuan!

Our little "Player A" who we named DeQuan... it fit him, I think. GOO DEQUAN!!!!

Photography Experimenting

Marshall and I went to the new park that is in Wake Forest to experiment with our new camera and to see what the park looked like. It was a beautiful park, but unfortunately it was about 32 degrees with the wind blowing like crazy! We did get some good shots and learned a little more about our camera. We stayed out for as long as we could stand it and our hands were burning and numb from being so cold. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Crazy Christmas!

For us, Christmas is a very special time of year not only because it's the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but also because it was this time last year that all of the medical craziness started. It is so hard for me to believe that it was only a year ago on Christmas night (technically the next morning) that Marshall had his seizure. It really makes me especially thankful this year that we have persevered through everything that happened this past year. This has been a rough and trying year, but as I wrote in my journal to close out all of the events that happened... (when we were about to leave our last appointment Dec. 15) "I started to cry after he (Dr. Germanwala) left the room and while we were waiting to check out. They were happy tears of disbelief of all we've been through this past year and that through having each other and relying and trusting God's blessing and strength we've made it. We've not only made it, we're made it and come out more in love and deeper in love than when we started. I married an amazingly strong man that I cannot even put into words how much I love and cherish him. I am the luckiest woman in the world". Just to share a little piece of my journal :) Anyway, enough of that... here are some events of our Christmas Eve and Day....

My nephew and neice Logan and Hailey

Me, Mom and Jessica on Christmas Day....

Katie in her Snuggie that she got for Christmas... yes I said Snuggie.

Me opening one of my presents at Mark & Renae's... a sweater from American Eagle- so cute!

Me and my cousins Richard and Celeste... Richard can never keep his eyes open in pictures... its one of our family jokes. I just let this one go and considered it a "good picture"

Of course I have to have atleast one of me and Marshall...

Me and my sweet Logan.