The Mantel That Paul Built!

Hi everyone!  Well, we finally have a mantel!  For some strange reason, our house didn't have a mantel or anything around the fireplace except tile.  So, Paul decided that he was going to build one.  He started the process back in September and once we got busy on the weekends with Houston's football, the project just went to the waste side (doesn't that happen to all projects?).  But I told him that we didn't have a place for our Christmas stockings, so he needed to finish it before we left on our trip back to Memphis and Paris. 

Well, folks...here are the before and after pics!!  The before pic is kina blurry, but you can definitely tell that something needed to be there!



Gotta love the tv cables hanging down..been driving me nuts!



Isn't it pretty?!?!  I really love it and I think he did a FANTASTIC job!  He did it all by himself, and cut out everthing and routed everything! 

Well, we are off to Memphis tonight and will be driving to Paris tomorrow morning!  I can't wait!

See everyone very soon!

Congrats to Mason!

Mason received all of his colored stripes in Taekwondo yesterday, which means he is eligible to test for his yellow belt!  In order to get his stripes, he had to do all of his blocks, kicks, say the student creed, and other things!  He is so excited! 

After Christmas we get to watch him while he is tested for his yellow belt and if he passes, he is presented his yellow belt by one of the masters of Taekwondo!  I wish everyone could be here to come and see him!

Our Thanksgiving Trip!

Hi!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  It was really weird not having family around for  Thanksgiving, but we went to Winter Park Resort with some great friends and had a wonderful time.  Not sure if some of you know, but Shelly and Mark's friends Scott and Jennifer Saettel moved to Denver from Memphis a few months ago, and we have known them for quite some time.  It is really great to have them over here...they've been our lifesavers.  Also, one of Chris's friends, Michael Moore (was in Chris and Lindsay's wedding), moved down here as well.  He actually moved to Colorado  Springs, so he is a lot closer that Scott and Jennifer and we have all became a little family out here! 

So, we drove up to Winter Park which is about 2 hours away, rented a cute little condo and skied for 3 days!  Mason did ski school the first day, and he did great!  I was a little nervous on leaving him there because it was so cold!  The high on Thanksgiving Day was 12 degrees!!!  But we bundled him up in all of his gear and he did great on the bunny slope!

Isn't he cute all decked out in his ski gear?!?!

For our Thanksgiving dinner, we all took on the jobs of making something different, so we had a wonderful meal.  Paul deep fried a turkey (gotta keep the southern roots going over here ;)), I made green bean casserole, Jennifer and Scott made mashed potatoes, and brought along some dressing!  We had pecan pie and I made some cobbler!  Yummy!

Friday was our second day skiing, and Mason joined us that day on the slopes.  He was a little hesitant of letting go of Paul's ski pole, but he did great.  We even took a long run that we didn't realize was going to be as tough as it was, but he took it like a pro!  He wiped out a few times, but he didnt' give up!  We were all so sore on Friday..it's amazing what muscles you don't know you had until you go skiing!

Saturday was actually a warmer day...I think the high got up to low 30's, but when you are up on the mountain and the sun is shining (with all your layers of ski gear), it was actually warm!  We ended up taking some of our layers off, so it was an awesome day!  Mason took off down the slopes and there was no stopping him.  I am so glad he enojoyed it!  He said he is ready to go skiing again!  Watch out Uncle Chris and Aunt Lindsay...he'll beat ya down the slopes when you come in January! 

Here are some pics from our trip!

View from our Room

Scott and Jennifer

The little skier!

We were on the ski lift...lol

When we got back home on Sunday afternoon, it started snowing at our house around 5pm and it didn't stop.  We got about 3 inches of snow Sunday evening and this is what the house looked like Monday morning...

Mason was real disappointed that he had school that day...gonna take him a little bit to get used to the fact that snow isn't a big deal around here.  The whole city doesn't shut down...ha! 

Hope everyone is doing great!  We wlll be in Memphis in 2 weeks and 2 days...the countdown begins! 

Love and miss everyon!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hello everyone!  Sorry I haven't posted in a while!  Haven't had much going on except the daily routine.  We went to Denver last weekend to visit our friends Scott and Jennifer.  We went out to eat at a restaurant at the 16th Street Mall, so that was fun! 

We finally booked our tickets for our flight home (Memphis) for Christmas!  We will be leaving Colorado Springs on December 17th and flying into Memphis, driving to Paris, TN the next day to spend a few days with Paul's parents.  Then heading back to Memphis on Wednesday morning and staying there until Christmas day.  Unfortunately we have to leave on Christmas day, but the ticket prices to fly home after Christmas were outrageous! 

Since no one is coming out here for Thanksgiving, we are heading to Winterpark to go skiing for a few days.  Mason will have his first ski lesson and I hope he likes it.  If not, not sure on what we will do...ha!  Jennifer and Scott are going as well, and they aren't having any family visit them for the holiday, so we are all taking off and heading out tomorrow! 

I hope everyone is doing great and I will see you in 3 1/2 weeks!  Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!  I will post ski trip pictures next week!

Mason and Taekwondo

For those of you that didn't know, Mason has been taking Taekwondo for the past couple of months. He has learned so much in these past few months and we are so proud of him!  They teach them about respect and he earns blue stripes every week based on his reading (which he is reading on a 2nd and 3rd grade level), his actions around the house and how much he exercises and practices during the week.  It has really been great for him!

Every so often, all of the Taekwondo centers in the Colorado Springs area have a Master's Challenge where they compete in different events.  Today, Mason competed in his first Master's Challenge in the Creative Board Breaking event and he took 1st place in his age group!!!  We were so proud of him!  I was especially proud of him, mainly because he takes after me when it comes to getting in front of people and performing (imagine that...not only does he look like me, he gets this lovely trait..lol), but he did awesome!  He broke three boards...one with the hammer fist, elbow strike, and the crescent kick!  Here are the pictures...

Mason's scores (best out of 10)!

First Place! Gold Medal!

Hope yall enjoy the pictures...we are proud of him!!  More to blog later!

Just stuff...

Well, I realized the other day (mainly because Mom said somethiing about it ;)) that I forgot to post a picture of the outside of the house on the last blog...DUH!  So here is a picture of the front of the house and the back:




Those pics were taken when we were actually here looking at houses, so that's a rental car and that's not our stuff on the patio.  Yes, our backyard is nothing but rock, but next spring we are going to do some flower beds and hopefully moving some of the rock out. 

Well, some of you might have seen my pictures on Facebook, but I have found a new hobby!  I have gone to a few card making workshops around here and it's quite fun.  I had tried the scrapbooking thing, but to me that type of project is too big of a project.  But with the cards, it feels like you accomplish something faster!  Plus you can share what you have done with people by sending them handmade cards!  Around here, people are into the Stampin' Up business which has great products, and those are the workshops that I have been attending.  Here are some pics of some of the cards that I have made.  Believe me, they aren't very involved, but most of you know...I'm NOT creative....HA!

So, there you have it!  LOL!  I am actually doing something crafty!!  I will post again soon!

House Pics

Well, it only took me 3 months, but I am finally posting some pics of the house since the move.  My parents came over and stayed about 10 days with us, and we got pretty much everything unpacked in a week!  Not only did we unpack everything, but we painted the master bedroom and bathroom, part of the upstairs and the kitchen!  I used the same colors that I had in our house in Cordova, so it was easy to pick the colors.  Also, since it is so dry out here, it is very easy to paint!  You can put the second coat on by the time you are done with the first coat.  So, that was the main reason for us to get a lot of painting done.  But like I said, if it wasn't for my wonderful parents, we would probably still be unpacking! ;)



Dining Area





Master  Bedroom - We have a sliding door that goes to out to the patio.



Kitchen - Decorating done by my Mom of course!



Living Room

 



Master Bath - I love our tub!



This is the dresser in one of the guest rooms.  I found it at a garage sale and it was GREEN!  Mom and I painted it.  I got the dresser, an night stand, and a mirror for $90!







Mason's Room - As you can see, I haven't done much with it yet.



Houston's Room - Haven't done much with his room either.  But I don't think they care...lol



Basement - Needs some decorating and a dart board!

Well, that is it for now!  I will post again soon! 

Created a Blog!

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to let everyone know that I have created a blog (mainly for you non-Facebookers ;))!  I figured it would be a good way to post pics, and let everyone know what is going on way out here in Colorado.

I will post some pictures of the house and us here soon and give everyone the scoop of what has been going on with us since the big move in August.

Hope everyone is doing well, and we can't wait to see everyone at Christmas!