Christmas with the Carvers/Applegates/Story's

My family has always traveled all over the state for Christmas. Since I've moved to Louisville, I've had to get used to even more traveling. I drove home (2.5 hour trip) last Thursday morning to Webster County (Western Kentucky) and Aaron followed later that night. We celebrated Christmas with church friends & family that Thursday. We went to Aaron's family lunch on Christmas Eve and then my dad's side family Christmas later on that night. After waking up on Christmas morning and exchanging gifts at home, we then travel over 4 hours to the eastern side of the state to visit my mom's side of the family. And then of course we have to drive back to Louisville! It's busy but A LOT of fun. Here are some pictures...

 the Carvers!!

 grandkids picture

mammaw's LED christmas lights! 

bryce is such a goof 

 not sure what this says about how my family feels about Aaron......

best buds

Christmas with the Johnsons

Aaron and I were very excited to go home and spend some time with both of our families. Neither of us had seen Aaron's niece (and my future niece :), Kenley, in a few months so we were excited to see her. We got to spend most of Friday and Saturday with Aaron's family. Here are a few pictures of our time with them...

Aaron showing off house pictures to his grandparents. 

group shot!

 Aaron and I with Kenley at the Johnson's Christmas Eve family get-to-gether.

Frankie was so proud of this hat.

 Kenley, Kristen, and Leica before we started opening presents.

Aaron and Kenley on Christmas Eve. She immediately posed for the picture and put her arm around him!

Closing......then chaos

Aaron and I closed on the house last Wednesday morning. The day went really well up until we actually got to the house. We packed Aaron's stuff into a U-haul in record time and the closing itself went very smooth. We were so excited as we drove over to Arlington Meadows (the subdivision our house is in). BUT - when we got there the day kind of went downhill. A couple of weeks ago carpet was installed in a few rooms but there was a mix-up and not enough carpet had been ordered. It was supposed to have been delivered and installed last Monday but when that didn't happen it was rescheduled to be done the morning we closed. We expected to get to the house as they were finishing up. However, when we got there the carpet guys told us that not only were they short on carpet AGAIN but the carpet that had been installed weeks ago had been done so incorrectly. This meant that all of that carpet had to be ripped up and more needed to be ordered again. So..... there we were with a U-haul full of stuff and no place to put any of it. We were NOT happy at all. Typically, Aaron and I are both pretty easy going but this was the fourth mix-up with the carpet we had gone through. We had to reschedule things so many times it was ridiculous. We were just fed up! After all..... when the only thing you do is carpet, why should it be so hard to get that ONe thing right? We ended up picking out new carpet after we had already closed and they magically got it all installed in one day.

After that the day really just kept getting worse. We discovered that our brand new refrigerator was leaking water all over our brand new wood floors. When we flushed the master bathroom toilet, we found out that it makes a horrible noise that sounds like a garbage disposal. We tried to pick up our new living room furniture and only were able to get 1/3 of what we ordered..... one piece had been damaged and the other was never ordered at all. Aaron had arranged for the DirectTV people to be out at the house wednesday afternoon because after all.... he might die if he didn't have TV immediately. The guy DirectTV sent was a total diva.... he said that we wouldn't install anything because our yard was too muddy. Aaron had to bribe him with extra money and practically beg him to stay. Aaron rolled out the trashed carpet pieces across the yard so that the DirectTV princess didn't have to get his shoes any dirtier. Aaron then tried to hang the TVs on the walls so that the TV guy could hook up everything but mounts didn't even come with the right pieces. Needless to say, we were both a bit frazzled.

Despite all of the closing day chaos... we are still EXTREMELY grateful for our beautiful new home. Thank you to everyone who helped us make it beautiful along the way.

pictures of the house to come.....

Christmas Trees

My mom's side of the family is kind of notorious for their Christmas trees. There are literally about as many trees as there are rooms in our houses. Most of the trees have their own theme. I have a penguin themed tree in my room. My aunt's most unique tree is her M&M tree. My mom's cutest themed tree is her Mickey Mouse tree. Even Aaron has his own UK/softball themed tree... which I of course started for him. He is still a little hesitant about how seriously my family takes Christmas! I thought I should share some pictures of our trees because they are just so cute!

Aaron's tree

My aunt's M&M tree 

 This is my Mammaw's main tree

 My mom's Mickey tree

 red & white

 main family tree

 scrapbook room tree at my aunt's house

12ft red and green tree

I love the snow covered tree with all glass ornaments at my aunt's

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures of family and house stuff!

 This is part of my family on Thanksgiving.

 This is my sister, Kelsey, and my two little cousins.... Z & B.

Little man!

 Bryce liked how the carpet felt!

The carpet was installed today in each of the bedrooms.

Only one week left!!

I can't believe that the house is already pretty much done! We are scheduled to have a walk-through on the 16th and if all goes well we will be closing the beginning of next week. The last big thing left is carpet - it should be installed tomorrow. Hard wood was installed over the weekend. We are hoping that we can move Aaron in on Wednesday. Here are some pictures...

One part of the shower glass was installed over the weekend. One of Aaron's softball friends installed the door and it looks great! Neither one of us were used to the glass being there and its so clear that we both almost ran into it tonight!

 Aaron installed the backsplash over the weekend and it looks awesome!

The hardwood in the kitchen looks beautiful!

And we have a mailbox!

Engagement Pictures

We got our engagement pictures in the mail today! We had them done about 2 months ago in Madisonville, KY by Focus Photography llc. Here are a few of the pictures...