Fireplace Project

Six and half years ago Drew and I bought our first home together.  Since that time we have been doing nonstop improvements.  Over the years we have become pretty experienced at DIY projects.  We are never afraid to get dirty.  It is one my simple joys in life.  As Drew knows I love when we are working on a project together! 

 

About a year ago we replaced all the carpet, trim and doors in our home.  To say the least it was a HUGE undertaking!  It made for some funny stories and some very interesting living conditions. 

 

Livingroom during carpet and trim project.

It has taken us an entire year to tackle another project that disrupts our daily living conditions but the time has come.  Last night we began the demo phase of our fireplace project. 

 

Picture of the fireplace before demo.

 

In the last month our fireplace broke.  It was letting lots of cold air back into the house and we couldn’t use it anymore.  So, we first decided that we needed to replace it with a gas fireplace.  Easy right!?  Not so!  Since we will be replacing the fireplace it didn’t make sense to leave our 80’s rock wall.  Can you see where this is going….??  So after long discussions and lots of back and forth we decided to take down the whole fireplace wall and give it a fresh new look. 

When we began demo last night it quickly became clear that the rock wall was not going down without a fight.  Drew worked on it for hours.  We had heard that it would just “pop” off.  That was a lie!!!  It was heavy and dangerous.  Luckily last night Drew got it all down.  Tonight we will begin the clean up process.

Drew and his flannel just beginning the process.

 

As the process went on the flannel came off.  Drew was going to win!

 

This is what is left of the fireplace.

Yes that is my livingroom!

Tonight we will begin the great clean up!  The fireplace guy is coming tomorrow so we have lots to do tonight.  Be looking for lots more posts about this project! 

Will’s First Birthday

This weekend we got to make a trip down to Lincoln.  During our quick weekend we got to spend time with family, go to a Husker basketball game, celebrate a first birthday and see two sweet kiddos dedicated to the Lord.  It was one eventful weekend!

 On Saturday night we got together with family to celebrate Will’s first birthday.  Will is Cassie and Taylor's adorable son.  Cassie and Drew are cousins.  It has been so much fun to watch him grow up over this past year.  It was a fun night and little Will had the attention of all the adults all night long!

Cassie and Taylor planned an adorable dog themed first birthday party.  It was so cute!  Cassie made a cake that looked just like dog food but it was a cake with coco puffs on top.  It was so creative! 

 

Will with his first birthday "dog food" cake.

 

Family picture time.

 

The Henning family with the birthday boy.  We are all decked out in our Husker gear from the great basketball win over Iowa!  Go Huskers!

 

We were so happy to be part of his first birthday celebration. Happy Birthday to Will and congrats to Taylor and Cassie for making it through the first year!! 

Natalie's Baby Shower

I wrote earlier about Natalie’s wonderful baby shower.  I wanted to show a few more pictures and write about a few more of the details.  Natalie’s sister-in-law Krissy hosted the shower at her beautiful home.  She was such a wonderful host.  I had heard so much about Krissy over the years so it was such a treat to meet her in person. 

 
These cookies were absolutely adorable!  They were all in shapes for the theme of “little man.”  There were ties, shoes, hats, bow ties ect.  They were too cute and they were delicious!  They came all the way from California which made them even more special. 

Krissy also decorated so cute!!  She made a sweet little bow tie on the mantel and the cute Connor sign.  It was perfect! 

It was a wonderful day to celebrate the arrival of baby Connor!  I feel so blessed that I was able to attend. 

 
Thanks Krissy for the amazing shower!!

Snow Day

Today Omaha got hit with a HUGE snow storm!  It was a wonderfully cozy snow day!  I had lots of house work to do but there was no way I was doing all of that on a snow day.  So….. I decided to work on craft projects for my sister’s bridal shower.  Yeah!!

As many of you know my sister, Rita, is getting married on June 29^th.  Wahoo!!  I am so excited!  I am her matron of honor so I have been busy helping with all the wedding details I can.  On March 16^th Chelsey and I will be hosting a pampered chef bridal shower for Rita.  It is going to be the first shower to kick off the wedding activities!  I am so excited!

So on my bonus day off I decided to make some crafts for the shower.  First I created this decorative ball.  I used a styrofoam ball for the center.  Then I used pearl push pins to attach cupcake liners to the center.  I am debating which stand I will put it on for the shower but I am really happy with how it turned out. 

 

 
Then I also created this cute little sign to hang on the mantle.  I first saw it for sale on etsy and I decided I could easily make it.  I will be adding another couple of bows to add some color but that will have to wait until after the snow passes. 

 

 On Wednesday I came across this awesome punch bowl at a thrift shop.  I have been wanting a punch bowl for the shower and I was just about to spend $40 on one I liked at Bed Bath and Beyond.  Then I found this awesome little find!  It is a punch bowl with eight cups.  And can you guess the price???........ you won't believe it....... $1.06!  It was a great find!!

It was a great snow day!  It was made even better by Rita spending the afternoon and night with us.  Our home is so much closer to her work so she won’t have to make the long drive to work tomorrow.  It was fun to work on these crafts and have her help as well.  So fun!!  Great snow day!!  Heber loves having Rita here too!

 

North Carolina

This week we got to go out to North Carolina to visit our dear friends Kyle and Natalie.  We met them through church several years ago and loved having them live in Omaha.  They have since moved to Raleigh North Carolina.  We wished they still lived in Omaha but we always have fun visiting them! 

 This time our trip was to celebrate the upcoming arrival of their baby boy Connor!  To start the weekend off Drew “hosted” a shower for Kyle.  This consisted of giving him two gifts.  A safe baby handling book that was super funny and a pair of baby crocs so Connor can be just like his Dad.

On Valentine’s day we got to explore a Raleigh shopping area that had a cool outdoor store that Drew loved.  I even purchased my first pair of Toms.  Drew’s favorite feature of the shopping center was the two story Chick-fil-a.  Below is a picture of us with the beautiful hanging flowers they had all throughout the shopping space.  We couldn’t get over seeing blooming flowers in February.

On Friday we got to meet up with our friends Jacob and Karlene Dudley.  They also brought their adorable daughter Norah!  They live in Fayetteville so they drove up to spend the day with us.  It was a beautiful day and we got to explore an amazing park.  Norah loved playing outside.  We then went to dinner and played several games of shuffle board.  It was such a treat to get to spend time with the Dudleys.

On Saturday Megan and Josh Dahlbeck came up to Raleigh!  Megan, Josh, Kyle, Natalie, Drew and I were all in the same small group together in Omaha.  They moved to North Carolina as well (this is a trend).   The girls got the treat of going to Natalie’s baby shower.  Her sister-in-law, Krissy, hosted the shower and it was beautiful!  To top it off it was snowing the whole time!  So pretty!

 While we were at the shower the boys went ice skating at the local rink.  Kyle is a really good skater so he got to show off his talents.  After the shower was over we joined the boys at the rink.  I was able to ice skate which was such a treat considering how far I have come in my POTS treatment.   

 The long weekend was filled with lots of laughter.  We are so blessed to have such amazing friends in our lives.  We can’t wait to go out to North Carolina again.  If only leaving wasn’t so hard! 

Ron Turns 30!

On Saturday we got to celebrate Ron turning 30 years old with a surprise party!  We have been friends with Ron since our Doane tiger days.  Ron and Drew are similar in so many ways.  Megan (Ron’s wife) and I have lots to bond over being married to these two. 

 Megan planned a surprise party at their home with family and friends.  He was totally surprised!  It was a great night to be with friends and all of their adorable kids!   

 

Adorable Gianna (Ron & Megan's daugher)

 

Jared and Caden

Sweet baby Avery

 



 

Happy 30th Birthday Ron

 

Simple Joys

For years I have enjoyed reading the personal blogs of my dear friends.  I love how they each capture the little moments in life.  I am following in the footsteps of these great friends and entering into the personal blog world!  For over a year I have created materials for my teaching blog but this a new adventure for me!  I hope to capture the simple joys in our life!