The house so far

After a year of keeping our eye out on the market, Lincoln and I decided to buy a house. It was the best house we had seen, in our price range, in the area we wanted to live. It is super close to both of our past apartments but as you can imagine it has about three times the space. I am so happy with all the natural light, defined spaces, pilates room and large kitchen. And Lincoln is happy to be close enough to bike to work, have a den all to himself, and a yard for lots of yardwork :)

We have very kind friends. When we moved Lincoln and I were overwhelmed with how much people offered to help us. We had so much help not only with the actual move, but help painting and organizing. Not to mention the million phone calls to my mom asking for design advice. (my mother is a saint, and a very talented one at that) We couldn't have had our house in order so fast without everyones help. We are truly grateful.

Since most of our house is organized, I am in heaven. Every day I tell Lincoln how much I love our new space. I absolutely love it. Here is a glimpse of what we have together so far:

Living Room:

Before:

After:

Kitchen

Before:

After:

Family Room

Before:

After:

Master Bedroom

Before:

After:

(we used an old door from our first apartment and made it as our headboard)

Upstairs Bathroom

Before:

After:

Basement

Before:

After:

And here are some of the "during" photos

It is a work in progress, but a work I am more than happy to progress on :)

(The nursery and dinning room pictures are coming soon... as soon as they are finished)

Do you ever feel like your life is upside down?

(I obviously strapped the car seat in wrong the other day... when I opened the back door after our drive to the store, this is what I found.)

This month has flown by. And I thought I was busy as a working mom... They never really make it clear that a "stay at home" mom actually works too :)

There is a LOT to catch up on that I will hopefully get to in the next week or so. Lincoln and I bought a house so we have been packing, moving, painting, unpacking and decorating. Not a lot of time in there for blogging.

But I will post some pictures soon! I love our new place!!

This girl

is crawling...

Christmas 2011

Christmas is so much more fun with a baby. Of course Eva was more interested in playing with the wrapping paper than with the presents.

Because Christmas was on Sunday we were able to really enjoy and celebrate a more relaxed Christmas. Our usual schedule was mixed up to allow everyone to go to church, so Lincoln and I enjoyed spending some quality time with the Abeggs, then with the younger Essig children while they all opened presents.

Later in the day everyone got together to talk to the missionaries. We spoke with Elder Abegg in New Zealand over the phone, then went to the Essig's and skyped Elder Essig in Peru and Sister Essig in California.

Then we went to Grandma Holder's house for the annual Christmas Dinner

We made sure to snap a 4 Generations photo.

It was a great Christmas!

Family Pictures

Our favorite: