our new home

Here are some, well, really a lot, of photos of our new home! We wanted all of our family and friends who live far away to be able to picture where we live each day! 

We still have a lot of work to do. We have empty rooms and we have empty walls. We have too much beige. We have boxes in the garage. We have blinds and curtains to hang. We have trees to plant and rocks to get rid of. But all of that will come with time. 

We are just overwhelmingly happy in our new space, as beige as it may be! 

 We have really enjoyed our front porch. We like to sit out there and watch the kids play. They have so many new friends. Our house still seems to be a fun meeting place. But now the boys take walks with their friends down to the circle and they even have their friends come in the house to play now too! Mark thinks, Lauren, a nine year old little girl, uses the boys as an excuse to come over and really play and talk with me! Ha! I have also met some new friends in the neighborhood, at the park, and at the pool. I spend a lot of time chatting with all of my awesome new neighbors. I especially love my new friend who bakes us chocolate chip cookies! 

 front entry way

  living room

  dining room

  hallway from the front entry way to the kitchen

  kitchen

 

 family room

  main floor study

 main floor, three quarter bathroom

stairway upstairs

At the top of the stairs is our bedroom to the left and the boys' rooms and laundry room to the right.

 Brooks' room

 Jack and Jill bathroom connecting Brooks' room and Nolan and Heath's room

 Nolan and Heath's room

 N & H's closet (Heath thought this was his room when we first moved in! It is pretty big! Ha!)

 upstairs laundry room and new front loading washer and dryer

 master bedroom

 master bath

 Finally...we have a walk in closet again! 

upstairs landing and staircase going down

The hardwoods are hand scraped...it has a neat effect. 

Down to the basement...

playroom

guest bedroom

We really wanted a home that our kids would want to bring their friends to. This basement will be the perfect space for our (one day, high school) boys to hang out in! 

 The walkout basement leads to this, less than glamorous, cement slab. Mark has big dreams for this patio...someday! 

 Here is our backyard. It's probably more than double the size of our yard at our old house. It's flat too, which is nice. BUT, we face straight West and get so much afternoon and evening sun. It is really, really hard to keep the grass green in this intense summer heat! Planting trees will be a MUST! We really were looking forward to having this big yard for the boys to play in. But we really haven't used it much. Our neighborhood is full of kids playing out in their front yards...it is just way more fun for our boys to be surrounded by new friends every day then to be playing by themselves in the back. Maybe when we beautify and kid proof the space it will get used more. 

 the view of the basement when walking in from outside

The door in the back there is the bathroom. 

 basement bathroom

our crowded garage

(still full of boxes, and peg board that needs to be hung, and shelves that need to be put up, and tools and sporting gear that need to be put away...we just need a weekend of nothing to get the job done!) One thing that was on our wish list that we did not get when we bought this house was a 3 car garage. Mark was really hoping for some extra space in here, but we'll just have to get creative in our organization, and maybe eventually build a shed. 

 our small deck off of the kitchen upstairs

The deck does not have stairs down to the backyard right now. Which is another reason why the boys haven't played much out there...it's not that easily accessible. Again, another project for the future. We would like to extend the deck and have it run along the length of the back of our house and of course build stairs down. But right now, we do sit out here in the mornings and drink coffee or watch the sun go down at night. 

We love that we don't have any houses right behind us. That road is a little bit noisy at times though. It's not too bad, but when the windows are open during the morning and evening rush, you do notice the sound of cars zooming by. But to me, this view is worth it...

On clear days and nights, the mountains are amazing! We see the BEST sunsets! And they are just a constant reminder of God's faithfulness to us! We are so blessed to have an amazing home to raise our children in and to welcome others into. We pray that this home will be full of love and laughter and that it will be a blessing to all who enter into it!