Moving Day!

Our Beautiful New Home!

After five short months of waiting...the big day finally arrived! We moved into our beautiful new house. We could not have done it however without the herculean efforts of Michael's family. Michael's father, uncle, brother-in-law, and of course Michael himself worked tirelssly all day to load and unload all our stuff with lots of help from the ladies as well. Megan and Michael's Mom and Sister did a great job getting all the final pieces packed up, making sure nothing was left behind, and helping with the actual moving as well.

Here are some pictures from the move:



Outside our apartment in D.C.

Inside our apartment in D.C.

"Strategery"

Our new kitchen, as opposed to our.....

Old kitchen!

Needless to say we are overwhemingly thrilled with the new house. Its way more space than we could possibly use right now, but one day we hope to "grow" into it. Until then we will enjoy all the new found space. We've been in the house for 3 weeks now and are still settling in, but enjoying it very much. We will post more pictures soon, we promise.

The Cutest Yellow House on the Block

Well our house took some major steps towards completion this week. The biggest, and most obvious from the pictures is that our house now has a color! They put up the siding. It looks even better than we had hoped for! We truly love it.

But that was not all, they also installed all of our cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms and finished the tilework in the upstairs bathrooms.

We also have railings, light fixtures, electrical outlets and switches, and the fireplace is pretty much finished. Things are really moving along nicely.

We would like to take a moment and truly praise God for this blessing he has bestowed upon us!

The 4th of July!

We popped down to Williamsburg for the 4th. It was a beautiful and fun filled day with everything from a fresh farmer's market, to a cake and ice cream social, and of course fireworks to end the day!

A Blank Canvas

The trim work has been completed on the house and the painters were hard at work when we stopped by this past weekend - all walls and trim work. You can also see on the front of the house the porch columns and railing went in last week too! The house is really shaping up nicely and should be ready in no time. In fact we have a tentative move in timeframe. We expect to move in the weekend of August 15th!!!! Very exciting!

Moving right along...Drywall!

Well the construction of our house took another big step this past week. It has entered the drywall stage – meaning there are now actual rooms and such. You can really see it as a house now. We still cannot completely comprehend that this is our house. It's still so incredible to us!! We feel so blessed!

Here's the Family Room....

Entry Hall

Our wonderful (and patient) friend Amy, who indulged us as we walked through each room again, and again, and again...

They have started work on the front porch as well

Well, keep checking back for more pictures as the building progresses. And we keep saying it, but it's true...we cannot wait to have everyone over!!!

Up!

We went and saw Pixar’s latest animated feature film, Up, last week and absolutely loved it. We recommend that everyone go and see it; you will not be disappointed. Megan adds that even if you are not exactly a fan of animated movies (as she is not) you will still enjoy this movie!

The O.C.

Megan’s parents hosted us for a week at their time share in Newport Coast, California. It was very relaxing and very fun! Activities included a trip to Knott’s Berry Farm for one of their famous chicken dinners (and some boysenberry pie), an afternoon at Downtown Disney at Disneyland!!, and lots of beach and pool time.

Michael and Rich showed their appreciation for their chicken dinners by “thanking” the giant chicken!

We also got a chance to see some friends while we were out there. We got a visit from Jeanette, Caleb, and Issac one day, and we got to spend an afternoon with Janet as well!

Ryan's Baptism

We were in Buffalo a few weeks back to celebrate the Baptism of baby Ryan. Michael could not have been prouder of his little God-Son, as he was so well behaved during the ceremony (and the following party as well). We were much honored to be present and Michael was especially honored to be the Godfather. After the baptism, Michael’s parents hosted a little party at their house to celebrate the occasion. A good time was had by all!

Both Megan and Michael got to spend some “quality” time with baby Ryan. We just love the little guy so much!!!!

The Baptism wasn’t the only event in town that weekend though. We also went to a wedding the day before the baptism. It was Michael’s cousin Kayte getting married. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a blast as we got to spend time with Michael’s family, including his cousins and his Grandmother (See below).

Our House Passes Mr. Frank's Inspection

Work continues on the house. This past week shingles were added; wiring and plumbing were started; ventwork was completed; and doors and windows were added! We also got the chance to show the house to Michael's dad, who was in town on a business trip. He was really excited to see it and I think I was even more exctied to show it to him. He was very impressed with the level of construction and thought the floorplan was great! He also liked the neighborhood an awful lot too. After our little site visit, we had a nice dinner in our new town! It just made us even more exctied for our quickly approaching move in date (as of yet still to be determined). We really can't wait for everyone to come see it (and stay in it) once its completed.

Now for this weeks photos:

Notice the windows and the door!

The back windows

Our family room

The upstairs

What a Difference a Week Makes

We've got to hand it to Stanley Martin's work crew. They don't waste any time. In just one week our house went from one story (see our last entry - May 17th) to a full fledged beautiful house!!! We stopped by this weekend and took a little tour, along with our friend Amy, who was very gracious and patient with us as we went on and on about the progress that was being made. She is so supportive! We still cannot get over the fact that we have an actual house with rooms and stairs and everything. The anticipation is surely building for the day we get to actually move in. We also got a chance to meet our next door neighbors. We liked them a lot. They were extremely nice and we look forward to getting to know them better.

Here are some shots from the inside and around the house:

Looking in through the front door

Our Family Room

The Garage

View from our bedroom window

The back of the house.