One Year Ago.......

Joe playing music for Russ!

Russ, Jenelle, Ewa and Jeff at Russ' benefit party!.... These guys are trying to plot how to get all the amazing raffle items that Joe and Jenelle put together for Russ' benefit!

This time last year Russ was in his car accident. We had just celebrated an amazing Thanksgiving with our friends and family and felt so thankful to be happy and healthy...... Today, we are even more thankful to be happy and healthy! This post is really about saying "Thank You" to everyone that helped us out after Russ' accident. We will never forget the love and friendship that you all gave us during Russ' recovery. We especially couldn't have made it through that time without my friend Beth, Joe and Jenelle. We will never be able to express our gratitude for the endless help you gave us. You were there for us every single day and we love you so much! And, for everyone that brought us wonderful meals.....Thank you!! Also, Thank You to the entire Blackhurst family for the amazing family contribution when you built carports to help us out. You are all such amazing people..........and WE LOVE YOU!!!

SUKHA!!!

We couldn't start a blog without including our favorite family member! Sukha brings so much joy to Russ and I....she's so much fun and we love having her in our family!

Glacier National Park

We checked out Glacier with our friend Mark when he came to visit us this summer. We had a great time and it is such a beautiful place. It wasn't all fun and games though......we got chased by a very angry mountain goat and weren't sure if we were going to make it out of the park alive! The scenery here is amazing and we can't wait to go back!

Summer's Baby Blessing!

This was such a special day and I thought I better share these pictures.  I can't believe that Summer has already had her little baby girl and Amy, Jenelle and Cindy will be having their little ones soon!  What a great tradition that Jenelle started.....I really wish I could have been there to celebrate with Amy.  We are excited to meet the three new babies at Christmas!

Erin's wedding

Last month I was able to go back to Louisville for my friend Erin's wedding. It was so great to see all the girls that made life in Kentucky fun! All the girls looked beautiful and will be married off by this time next year!! I also got to visit the old neighborhood and even had a little "welcome back party" with all the neighbors. The weather was great and I was really lucky to have Mark and Beth shuttling me around town.

The Before Pictures!!

Here they are.....the before pictures of our lovely house!!  When I see these I can't believe we actually went through with buying this house!!  When we first walked through with the realtor we couldn't stop laughing because we truly couldn't believe that we were excited to buy this house.  The crazy thing is......they had already taken 7 dumpsters (I'm talking huge dumpsters!) of stuff out of this house before we took these pictures!  Needless to say, we took extra long showers after working in this house the first couple of weeks!  

The Remodel

It's been a long 3 weeks but the house is starting to come along. It no longer smells, the mold is gone, and I think that all the animals who were living in the attic found another home!  It is starting to feel like a home and we are really excited to start picking out flooring and cabinets and all the other stuff that will make it our own.  Hopefully the drywall will be up by next week and the plumbing will be done. It's been fun kicking through drywall and tearing down walls.  Russ and I think we are pros(?) at using framing guns and reticulating saws now!   

  We have had so much help along the way.  Doug helped us put the beam up in the bedroom and tear out the master bathroom.  He also gave us house plans and gave us the idea of building a dining room.  My dad changed out the service, rewired the entire house,  built walls, put up the beam in the living room and made Russ crawl through the attic!!  Russ and I were amazed at the amount of work my dad can get done in just a couple of hours!  Also, thanks mom for helping to tear down drywall and clean up the mess we made!  And Julian....you're the best at removing nails from the walls and keeping us entertained all day long!  

We love and appreciate you guys so much!!  We couldn't have made it this far without you!