Home Tour - Kitchen

Okay, time for some kitchen pictures! This kitchen is much wider than our previous kitchen, but lacks the pantry that our old kitchen had. So far the lack of pantry hasn't been a big deal. Luckily, there are lots of cabinets!

 The door on the left goes to the water heater and storage closet. The right hand door leads out to a tiny room with the drier and then to the backyard.

 Thanks Mom and Dad for the new Keurig!!!!

Home Tour - Dining Room & Half Bath

Below are the pictures I took of our dining room and downstairs half bathroom. So that you understand the layout a little bit, you walk into the house through the living room, next comes the dining room (with the staircase and bathroom to your left), and finally the kitchen is at the end of the house. You'll find some more character details in the pictures today too (I love it!). I'll post the kitchen pictures tomorrow and the upstairs on Thursday!

P.S.  The ugly thing in the corner of the dining room is the heater. That's where Halo has been spending the majority of her time!

 

Home Tour - Living Room

Happy Monday! Hope you all are having a great start to your week. Today was my first day back to school as a full time student. Many of you know I decided to go back to school for just seven classes to get an AA in business. I have four classes this semester, so it's going to be a bit of an adjustment from full time working adult to full time student again. Lucky for me, I love school!

I took a bunch of pictures of our new home! I decided to split the pictures up into different posts so that I wouldn't completely overwhelm you with a million pictures. If you are at all familiar with our previous apartment, our new home has a really similar layout. The downstairs has the living room, dining room, and kitchen; while the upstairs has two bedrooms and a bathroom. However, unlike our last apartment which had two full baths upstairs, our current one has one full bath upstairs and a half bath downstairs. Mike and both think the downstairs of this new home is larger than our last, but the upstairs is a bit smaller. Please come back throughout the week for more home tour posts. Without further ado our living room....

 I'm really enjoying all the natural light from the large downstairs windows.

 I'm not sure what year this house was built, but it has some super cute character features throughout. You'll see more as the week goes on.

 The map is a new addition, we just got it from Ikea. It helps fill up the room and makes it appear larger.

 Of course I had to add a couple cat pictures in there! For any of you that are curious, the cats have adjusted quite nicely! Pantera loves the colder weather and has been pretty active, while Halo has become super cuddly (I'm loving the cuddles!).

Home Sweet Home

We have been in Colorado just over a week now. It’s been a bit of an adjustment period, but I think we’re settling in quite nicely. We left on New Year’s Eve and split the trip into three days. We arrived to our new home on the 2^nd. I have to give a big thank you to Mike’s parents for helping us load up the moving van and to my parents who came with us on the three day journey and helped unload the van and get us set up! My parents flew home on the 5^th, and it was really hard to see them go. Pretty much anything made me cry the entire following day. Since then things have only gotten better as Mike and I work to make this new place home. 

Below are some pictures of our trip here and the following couple of days. We were lucky/unlucky enough to get 6 ½ inches of snow the Saturday after we arrived. My mom was probably the most excited about it and loved going outside to play! I have taken lots of pictures of our new place and plan to show a new room each day next week. Hope you all have a great weekend!!

We're Moving to...

I'm so proud of my husband. Like I can't even really express in words how proud I am. Mike has been excepted into one of the top gunsmithing programs in the country! He's worked really hard and super wanted this, so therefore, I also super wanted this. It's been a long journey to finally reach this point, but more on that later.
So where is this school you ask? Well, we'll be moving to... Colorado!! Trinidad, Colorado to be exact. Mike starts classes the second week of January. So we have two months to find some where to live, get everything in order, pack up, and move. It's going to be a bit crazy, but I'm so excited! Next week we'll fly out for a few days to hopefully find a home. After that I think it will feel more real and the craziness will begin. We currently only have eight weekends left until moving day and with all the holidays in there as well, it's definitely going to be action packed.

Source

 

Gunsmithing is something that I've heard Mike talk about here and there for several years. I think for him it was one of those things that you wish you could do, but you never actually get to do it. Mike and I graduated with our bachelor's degrees in 2010. My degree is in Environmental Science and Policy and Mike's degree is in Criminology. We both thought we would easily find our "grown-up" jobs. Well, it wasn't so easy. For me, after applying to easily over fifty positions in the environmental field with no luck, I decided I needed to search elsewhere. I ended up taking an Office Manager position with a small business in the staffing industry. Three years later, I'm still working here and actually really like it. More than that, I love the people I work with. It's been a great experience and I'm absolutely going to miss them! Mike's story is a little different. He also didn't find work right away using his degree. He ended up getting his security license and taking a security job. He didn't mind the work, but he knew it wasn't a forever job and it definitely didn't pay what you would think a college graduate would earn. About a little over a year ago Mike was itching for change. He thought the military might be a good option. He began the recruiting process with the Coast Guard. Mike scored really well on the ASVAB and things were looking good. To make a long story short, we found out Mike was permanently disqualified from service due to a medical condition. He was a little disappointed, but we moved on. Last January Mike decided he had finally had enough of working as security guard. He quit his job to focus on getting one he would truly enjoy and grow in.  He then began the application process with the Florida Highway Patrol. This is quite a long process that takes several steps over several months. (A little side story...We have been very blessed that while he was going through this process Mike began working at the same company as me. It's been a fun experience to work in the same building. I don't' think many couples get to experience this and I'm grateful we have had to opportunity to do so. I'm also very grateful to the owner's of the company for giving Mike the opportunity to work here while still focusing on other goals.) The first step in the FL Highway Patrol hiring process is just turning in a long application packet. Once that packet gets approval another more extensive packet is mailed out along with a date to take a physical test. The physical test consists of several obstacles that must be completed in a predetermined time. Mike passed the test with no problem. Next, a polygraph was scheduled. Mike went and took the polygraph and also passed this with no problem. The last step in the hiring process is take a psychological test. Mike had to go Miami to take this test and then we just had to wait to hear back. I was convinced he would be a highway patrol! However, one Saturday morning we got a letter saying he could reapply in one year and better luck next time. I think we were both pretty shocked. I cried...it wasn't pretty. At this point, I was feeling pretty discouraged. Thankfully, Mike and I have supportive parents that reminded us God has plan and it might just take longer to unfold than we'd like. After a little time had passed, Mike decided to go ahead and research some gunsmith programs/schools. He first applied to a school in Pennsylvania. He was accepted, but put on a waitlist of about two and half years. Again, we were a little discouraged, but then he started really looking into this school in Colorado. He decided to apply, however, the competition would be fierce. This program only accepts 15 students per semester and there is no waitlist. Well, at this point you know how the story ends. We found out last week that Mike got in and have been celebrating and planning ever since. I feel that this truly is the right step for us. This will be a career that Mike will be passionate about and will be proud of his work. Sorry for such a long post, but I felt I needed to explain what a long journey this has been. We will miss not being close to our families, but we can't wait for the adventure to begin and see what more God has in store for us. Thank you to all of our friends and family members who supported us through this!!!