Still kickin'...

So we are still here, still kickin'.... literally.  A lot has happened in Brown world since the last post (I will blame the lack of Internet at our house)!!  Baby Brown has now grown into Kathryn "Yates" Brown.  That's right... IT'S A GIRL!!  She is growing by leaps and bounds, kicking and squirming and making us very anxious for her arrival!  She is currently on track for a mid-August birth.  We have slowly started to put together her room, still need to order furniture, but that should taken care of this week.  So things are coming along nicely.  I continue to have good reports on her and me, from the endocrinologist, which is always a good thing.  I am going monthly for endo appointments and bi-weekly for baby appointments.  I am sure that she will be here before we know it!!

Other happenings in Brown world:

• The wretched murals are still on the wall:( 
• Stuart has 10 days left of school, so the above, said murals should be going in a matter of weeks.
• Memorial Day beach trip is quickly approaching, so that definitely provides something for us to look forward to!
• June 20 is my next favorite day of the whole year.... since we will be going to the NKOTB/Boys II Men/98 degrees concert!!  I feel certain that I will be as big as a house and may not be very comfortable, but it is all about making memories and exposing Yates to NKOTB early on in life.
• Baby showers have put us on the road, but it is kind of nice catching up with family and celebrating our newest blessing:)

So as you can see, we have not been total slackers, just busy.  It truly does put a damper on my blogging abilities not having the Internet at home, but one day....

So until next time (I promise it will be prior to Yates birth)... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

The New House

First off, I must admit that it is kind of nice being "exempt" from certain household tasks like moving heavy boxes/furniture, painting, etc.  This past weekend Stuart has facilitated the job of painting almost every room in the house (after you see the pictures below, you will see why) and I got to escape to my parents to be away from paint fumes.  It is also helpful to escape to Internet, since we don't have Internet service in our area (I promise we are not in the country).

I snapped a few "before" pictures on my way out the door on Friday, to make sure we can look back and see how far we have come. 

Yes, this is apple WALL PAPER.  That is now in the trash...

Crooked plate rack is gone...

All of the trim in the kitchen is this color, which doesn't even match the wallpaper.  It is now gone.



Our most prized possession in the house.  (NOT).  Yes, this is actually painted in the foyer and will soon be painted over.  Don't worry, we won't have a dog painted on the new wall.



 

Mural #2.  This is in the guest bathroom.  It will be going as well.





 



So as you can see, we SJB has his work cut out for him.  We are waiting to paint the two upstairs bedrooms after we find out what Baby B will be, so at least we have another month or so to choose colors.  Hopefully, Toby (the dog in the foyer mural) will not come back to haunt us:)

**New Post Below**

Our Favorite Room...

So a lot has happened since our last post (in 2012:)), but most importantly, WE MOVED!!  I think SJB and I both thought the day would never get here, but it has come and gone and we are slowly getting settled in our new abode.  Make sure you stay tuned for updates as we paint, do minor renovations and make our house a home.  So far, we love being homeowners (probably since our first mortgage payment isn't due until March), love being closer to work and LOVE having more space.  Right now, there are still boxes EVERYWHERE, but I am sure that one day everything will find it's place. 

As of right now, here is our most favorite room in the house!!

 

 

Yes, that's right!!  We will have an addition to the Brown family in August(ish) 2013!!  We are very excited about this beautiful blessing and can't wait for he/she to make their arrival!  So far things have gone relatively smooth, with the exception of have NO energy, but I am sure before we know it we will be enduring sleepless nights, long days and NO energy, so I am resting as often as possible.  Stay tuned for more Baby B news!!

 



Last 2012 Update...

Believe it or not, we are still here.  I know so many no one has been concerned, but seeing that the simple contact of Christmas cards didn't even occur, some might be wondering.  See.... here's what's up.   We had that little thing called a move taking place, right before Christmas.  We were super excited to celebrate Christmas 2012 in our new home.  Little did we know, it wasn't in the cards.  We found out the Thursday before Christmas that we would not be in the house until after New Years.  While we were both disappointed, I know that if probably worked out for the better, seeing that we would have had to move, unpack and set up Christmas in 2 days.  With that being said, our Christmas card was also our "We Have Moved" card, so we couldn't send them out until we closed.  So no worries, friends.  I will be "that girl" this year who sends her Christmas cards out in January.  No shame in my game, it's just the gift that keeps on giving!

We have made it thought the holiday(s), still living amongst the boxes and 95% packed up house, but can't help and reflect on the year that 2012 brought us.  2012 shared blessings, memories, tons of fun, life lessons, new friends and so much more that it truly keeps me on the edge of my seat for what 2013 holds for the Browns.  Hopefully, the next time I blog, it will be from the new house, and the magical moving fairies will have unpacked and settled all of our belongings.... but until then....

Blessings and Joy as we enter a new year!!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like...

MOVING!!  Yahoo!!  Finally... we can say that we are progressing in the move to our very first home.  We are very excited that in just a couple of weeks, we will be starting the tedious task of moving all of our belongings, finally getting them all under one roof.  This whole house hunting process has been far from fun for me, seeing that I feel we have looked at more houses than one should ever have to see.  But finally, we see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We hope to close the week before Christmas, just in time to host our families for a holiday feast.  I am sure that we will be far from settled in our new abode, but it will be nice to have everyone together, in OUR house. 

With the move taking place, we have not done much in the area of holiday decorating and probably look like the biggest Scrooge on the block.  But have no fear.... our Christmas tree might be the first thing that goes up in our new house.  I am so excited to decorate it for Christmas, that I might even leave my decorations up through January and become "those" neighbors.  But until the big day, our lives will include boxes, tape, more boxes, empty walls and lots of cleaning!! 

Our box collection

Empty walls!!

Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and quickly!!

Quite the weekend...

What do you get when you add a wedding, a football game (1st of the season, in fact) and a holiday?!?  You get an A-mazing weekend of fun. 

Friday night we went to a wedding with great friends and had good times!!  The setting was perfect, the food was fantastic and the friends were the perfect start to the weekend-o-fun.  We kicked off our Saturday pretty early, making our way to Atlanta for the season opener for Auburn and Clemson.  Once again, we had amazing food, fun memories with friends and plenty of laughs... which included Auburn's performance against the Clemson Tigers.  While I am no way a fair weather fan of the Auburn University Tigers,  it was a disappointing loss at the Georgia Dome and made it a not-so-fun time.  That is until we were on our 3 hour tour home on the Marta.  What we didn't know was the dragon-con convention was also being held in Atlanta.  So as forged our way back to our hotel, we got to experience Atlanta's public transportation system with 30,000 tiger (Auburn and Clemson) fans as well as animals, creatures and people who work in the zoo.  While wrong trains and long waits made the trip ridiculous, we definitely had many laughs.

To top the weekend off, we were able to make our way home from Atlanta and do....NOTHING!!  Since yesterday was Labor Day, SJB and I both had off and it was wonderful.  We were able to get things done that during the week, we can't seem to fit it in the schedule.  SJB also got to get a round of golf in before the busy week kicks back up.  We have been narrowing down some more house choices that we will hopefully see this week, so all in all, it was a great (long) weekend. 

Oh... and bulldogs in Mississippi.... get ready!!  The tigers got their loss out of the way and are headed to Starkville!! 

                                
                                                                WAR EAGLE!!

House Hunting 101

Little did I know just how stressful house hunting would be.  We put a contract on a house that SJB and I both fell in love with and were riding on cloud nine until the inspection.  Inspection is now a word that I will be terrified of.  While we felt that our house would be perfect for us, the wall's insides and wiring had a different plan.  I am very thankful and relieved that we discovered this while we could still get out, but disappointed as I had my hopes placed on a pedestal and then knocked off with a bang.  I guess it's back to the drawing board for us!!

In the meantime, SJB and I have stayed super busy, getting back in the "school" swing of things (SJB, not I) and staying pretty busy.  We are both very excited to see the Auburn tigers kick off the season in Atlanta.  Also, I just returned from a trip from Chicago, helping host a DTreat Conference.  It was a great time and very exciting meeting new Dfriends and catching up with the old ones.  I am already excited for the future of our programs and feel proud to be on a team with such great friends!!  I also got to go to Huntsville for less than 48 hours to help my mom get out of the house (for the 2nd time since July 12).  While it was no easy feat, we were successful in our outing and even started some Christmas shopping!!

While this weekend doesn't include much, it will allow me time to dive back into the world of house hunting and hopefully find a few more appropriate prospects for us to peek at.  Cross your fingers and wish us luck!!

What DTreat means...

DLeaders at "The Bean"

The whole group.... by our school bus, on the way downtown!!

Just another weekend...

What a lazy weekend.  SJB and I semi-relaxed with the last weekend we both have before school starts... as if that matters with me.  We were able to meet with the realtor on Friday and see the house we are interested in.  It was fantastic and we both REALLY liked it.  And by really, I mean smiling, anxious and already talking about where we could put stuff really.  We actually met with the realtor again on Saturday to talk more detail with him and see if the seller would even consider some of our requests.  So, we will see shortly if we will proceed with this particular house.  It would be fantastic if we could, since it has everything we are looking for in a house!  Make sure you cross your fingers that everything works out!

Today, SJB and I went shooting.  This is something that I have never done with him, but it was actually fun.  I wasn't a huge fan of the people next to us having sonic boom-ish guns, but I excelled at the 9mm.  I felt better leaving, knowing that I could actually use it if I had too.  I feel that I will even improve as my hand heals from my surgery.

Coming up this week, I have a trip to Chicago planned on Thursday to help host a conference with some of my DFriends!!  We have spent many months putting together this event and I am really excited to see how it turns out and see everyone!  I fly out super early Thursday morning, so I will head to Birmingham to stay with Brett and her precious family!  I am ecstatic to see (and meet) her children!!  It will be a good time catching up with her and spending some time with them.

Sorry I don't have any pictures to share in this blog, but I should definitely have some in the near future.  I will also plan to update on our house hunt as we work our way down that road.  Feel free to shout out a prayer for things to go smooth!!

Home is where the heart is...

SJB and I have recently been on the house search and let's just say... it might be more stressful than planning a wedding.  We are looking in the Lee County area, more specifically, Smiths Station.  This would serve as the median for our places of work, as well as providing a great school system (for waaaaaayyy down the road in our future:))  I am not quite sure what I thought the house hunt would be like, but it is not easy.  Luckily, we have a realtor who is very honest with us about builders, locations, etc and it helps that SJB is familiar with the area. 

It seems that house hunting has brought out my OCD in full form.  I see a house I like, but then notice a small imperfection.  I guess that could be a good thing, but it probably stresses SJB out, as well as adds time to our search.  So far, we have only gone to 2 houses, but hopefully we will get some more scheduled in the next week.  Luckily, SJB and I have very similar interests in houses, including don't want a "cookie cutter" house, don't want our neighbors too close, no above ground aquatics, and definitely don't want to have to "flip" a house before we move in.  We are not excited when we see wallpaper or fluffy carpet, so it has been easy to make cuts off of our "to see" list.

I think that both of us are getting antsy in the condo.  While it has been a great space for us to spend the first 2 years of our life together, both of us are ready to move forward.  I am ready for a laundry room and having space for my fine china and SJB is ready for his shop, man cave and most importantly, yard work (this is actually the truth)!  I am most definitely not excited about the actual moving process, since I moved every year that I attended Auburn, but am definitely ready for the final result.  Feel free to cross your fingers that the perfect house falls right into our lap and exactly the right time. 

Regardless if we stay in our lovely and petite abode for the next 40 years, it will be complete, as long as we are together.  Simply stated.... home is where the heart is.