Running on Empty

Wow it's been a while since I have blogged! Life was a little busy (understatement of the year) there for a while, but we are finally getting back into the swing of what normal life and a normal schedule looks like.

Long story short....we had to do a major push to get our house "done" in 30 days. Ready, set, panic attack! Luckily, I have been blessed with a husband who can do anything as well as amazing family and friends who were willing to help in the midst of the chaos.

The day we found out we had to "complete" our house in 30 days Brian and I decided that we had to be a team...there was no other way to get it done. Though I never want to go through what we went through again, we have lots of fond (*cough, cough, nudge, nudge*) memories of staying up til 3 a.m. drinking Simpler Times (how appropriate) while painting, floor prepping, running speaker wire, etc. By the way, since I'm on the topic of running speaker wire....I have a major aversion towards seeing wires, it drives me nuts! The night we had to run the speaker wire in the living room I was not a happy camper...I was grumpy from the lack of sleep, and knowing that I would be going to bed at 3:00 a.m. or later, again, was not making me any happier. I kept saying that we should just forget it, the wire wasn't cooperating. Who cares if we have to see wires when we put up the surround sound, I just want to go to bed! Brian kept reminding that I hate wires and that I would thank him later...really? Would I? Are you sure about that? After far too long that night, we finally got the wire to cooperate (too confusing to explain the process here)....and yes, I thank him all the time now! Do you know how nice it is to have speakers in the wall with no wires hanging from them? It truly is amazing! Thank you husband for not giving up.

Now back to the real reason I am writing this post. We were running on empty, not really sure how we were gonna make it another day. Late one night I was making us some burritos (for probably the 5th night in a row) and Brian was working on the floor. He had mentioned that he wasn't feeling that great. "Poor guy," I thought...and continued making burritos. About 15 minutes went by and I realized that I hadn't been hearing any noise. "Brian...Brian, are you ok?" No answer. The first thing that flashed into my head was an image of him collapsed on the floor...why wasn't he answering me? I rounded the corner to the living room and this is what I saw...the same image that had flashed into my head seconds earlier....

"BRIAAAAAAAN!!!!!" I yelled as my heart was beating a mile a minute. I ran closer to see what had happened.

"Brian!" He slowly opened his eyes and mumbled, "I fell asleep..."

Talk about a panic attack! The poor guy was just so exhausted that he fell asleep with his face right next to floor glue (gnarly stuff) and his head on a razor blade. So happy we are done with most of this chaos :-)

Oh, and don't worry, I took these photos after I found out he was ok.

Good Friends

Good friends...there's nothing like 'em! We were so fortunate to have lived next to some of our best friends for the past year and a half. Granted, we only live 3 minutes down the road now, but it seems far since we used to live 30 seconds away, by foot.

Brian has known Luke since high school. They didn't like each other their freshman year, then Luke moved away for their sophomore year, then something happened the summer between Junior and Senior year and they became inseparable! I'm glad their relationship took a turn for the best because the McLelan's are great people to have around.


They have done SO much for us the past 6 months since I have started school and since the house purchase/renovation/remodel. To name a few...they have fed us a countless number of times, cleaned out our hot tub so that it could be refilled (there may have been an alterior motive here, but that's just a guess :-), mowed our lawn, scrubbed our bathroom, painted, sanded, demolished, and have even folded our laundry! I mean really, who does that? We are so blessed to have them as friends! Good friends really are a gift from God.

Encouraging Words

My mom sent me this the other day and it encouraged me, so I thought I would share. I hope it encourages you too. It's from a devotional book called "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young.

Bring me your weakness, and receive My Peace. Accept yourself and your circumstances just as they are, remembering that I am sovereign over everything. Do not wear yourself out with analyzing and planning. Instead, let thankfulness and trust be your guides through this day; they will keep you close to Me. As you live in the radiance of My Presence, My Peace shines upon you. You will cease to notice how week or strong you feel, because you will be focusing on Me. The best way to get through this day is step by step with Me. Continue this intimate journey, trusting that the path you are following is headed for heaven.

Psalm 29:11 Numbers 6:24-26 Psalm 13:5

Saying Goodbye to the Beach Shack

We've done it...we've moved. Little did we know that moving two minutes down the road would be so emotional. We LOVED our little beach shack! Yes, it was small; yes, mold would grow on the walls and we would have to clean it with bleach; yes, we had a church building in our front yard; and yes, the traffic on Portola Ave. was extremely loud (until they put in double paned windows for us), but even with all of those little "annoyances" we still loved it. Why? We were down the street from the ocean, we had space for a little tomato garden, we had an awesome little jungle spot for our hot tub, we lived by some of our best friends, and best of all it was our first home together...the place where we started our family.

I met (or re-met him as he would say) Brian on April 17, 2005 at a wedding, and he had just recently moved into the "beach shack." It just so happens that my sister and her husband had lived in the beach shack right before Brian, so I still had a key to the place.

A few days after that wedding I got a phone call from Brian, in which he mentioned that he had some of my sister's mail. I was literally down the street from the beach shack, so I told him that I would stop by to pick up the mail. During our conversation that night I mentioned how weird it was that I had a key to his house..."here you go, you can have a spare key now..." to which Brian responded, "you should hold on to it, you might need it some day...."

All I remember is giving him a strange look. I held on to the key and we continued our conversation. Little did I know that two and a half years later I really would be needing that key.

Goodbye beach shack...you were so good to us!

Meet Isaac

Isaac, or I-2 as Brian likes to call him, is nephew number 2 out of 4 for Brian and I. Isaac has an older brother whose name is Isaiah and when Brian first met them he couldn't remember who was who, so he started referring to them as I-1 and I-2. For some reason the name I-2 just stuck and that's how we refer to him.

Isaac is a sweetheart. It took him a while to get there with me for some reason...when he was younger he would turn around and walk the other way when he saw me...why you may ask? I have no idea, but he had some sort of aversion towards me. Luckily, I have grown on him the past few months. He now jumps up and down when he sees me and gives me hugs. I'm so happy that I have finally won him over!

Isaac is quite entertaining. One of his favorite activities is dancing...to Michael Jackson, of course. He has a soft spot for MJ, and once that music starts playing his head automatically starts bobbing up and down, his arms start popping and locking, and his 360 spins come out in full force.

All in all, he's just so fun to watch. He's curious, adventurous, and mischievous. He is intrigued by everything and makes the best facial expressions. Here he is on Christmas day enjoying sour grass, which he loves, but you wouldn't know it by looking at these photos....

Bathroom Destruction

First of all, forgive the quality of these pictures; they look horrible. Secondly, if you haven't seen or heard from us in a while, this would be why.

Poor Brian, I can't even tell you how much cement cutting/grinding he has had to do since we bought this house. I'm not gonna lie, it looks like a horrible job. I'm so happy that he is willing to do it :-)


We decided to move the location of the closet door in the master bedroom. Here's Brian in the process of changing it from the wall when you first enter the room to the bathroom. This way it will give us more wall space, plus with the lay out of the room/bathroom we thought it made more sense to enter the closet from the bathroom.


This job did not look fun! Brian and Luke were able to tackle the marble tiled wall...it took quite a bit of effort, but now it's empty. YAY! Thanks Luke, you were a huge help!




This photo is to prove that I do help from time to time :-)


And lastly, here is our "new view" from our "new bench." We love taking bike rides and going to one of the many benches along the water. This is the closest bench to our new house and it's about two blocks away. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. When Brian and I started looking for houses a while back we would pray for a house close enough to the water that we could ride our bikes. God totally blew us away with this one!

Back in Action

Aaaaaaand, we're back to working on the house. Actually, I should say that Brian is back working on the house. He is no longer bound by the knee brace...he was like a giddy kid in a candy shop the day he was able to start working on our house again. Here are a few of the projects that have been going on lately...


Here's Brian's dad, Brendon, helping out with the stucco on the outside of the sunroom. I can't even begin to tell you how helpful Brian's parents have been! Brendon has done everything from painting and plumbing to fixing our chimney...he is a man of all trades. And of course there is Pat, Brian's mom, who I could not have done without! I can't even count the number of times she has cleaned, picked up trash, and organized. They are amazing; I've been blessed with wonderful in-laws!


Brian and Josh working on the drywall on the inside of the little sunroom.


My dad and Brian putting up the crown moulding around the beams in the living room...it's looking amazing! I'm so thankful that my dad was able to help out this week. He is a trim master!




Oh yes, and that's me. Like I said, Brian is the one who has been working on the house. I basically didn't leave the couch all week. And the reason that I have this lovely picture is because Brian thinks it's funny to take pictures of me looking my best :-) Isn't that sweet?


Well that's all for now. Cheers to the house progress being back in action...one day at a time.