House tour: living room.

It’s been a while since I showed you house stuff…well, other than our recent kitchen remodel. When I had the house clean for the little one’s Cute as a Button birthday party {which is rare; Cleaning is not my gift!}, I took pictures of the house because I’ve done some small updates here & there without taking the time to blog them.

I think I’ll take a few days to do a virtual house tour and show you what our rooms look like now – starting with the living room. Here is what our living room looked like when we first moved in, blood red…

We painted the sparkly ceiling white…

…and the walls winter wheat.

Added some hand-me-down, thrifted furniture to tide us over until we found something affordable and worth the purchase…

And completed quite a few more projects & purchases to get the room to today – ta da!

You can read details about my gallery wall here.

I explained how I made the DIY tissue paper flower & hanging glass nob vases here.

I made this colorful pom pom & button garland for the little one’s birthday party, and I just can’t bring myself to take it down. :)

And my painted $1 thrift store coffee table here.

I don’t think I shared this, but I painted all the wooden trim in the living room white one day a while back. I love how it turned out. The whole space seems cleaner and newer!

Remember my $10 Craigslist dresser find? Oh yeah.

I’d still like to refinish the floors darker one day. I’d also like to add some bold or more colorful throw pillows and refinish the fireplace area. Someday, but for now I’m perfectly content with the space. I love how far it’s come!

I especially like how much lighter and happier the room is now. :)

Heidi’s senior pictures.

When I first met my sister-in-law, she was eight-years-old. Eight. And now, somehow, I’m taking her senior pictures. Crazy, I tell you!

The weather was a little cloudy for awhile, but we lucked out with some seriously stunning golden sunshine towards the end of the session. Spending an hour and a half outside, walking through a park with my two awesome sisters & my mother-in-law: wondrous thing.

Look how GORGeous this girl woman is!

I had to do a dirty-feet photo since I took the same on for her sister’s senior pictures…

I love this girl. She’s sensitive, silly, caring, smart, and confident. It’s been a pure blessing to watch her grow into such a beautiful woman over the years.

Church Picnic.

Our church holds a yearly “All Church Family Picnic” around the time of the Fourth of July. I helped a little in some of the planning, so it was even more fun to watch people enjoy it this year. We estimate almost 500 people attended, and it was a seriously good time!

Brace yourself for tons of photos!

So much food…

Wheelbarrows lined up and ready for the infamous wheelbarrow race…

Amazing food & fellowship…

Sweet little boy giggles. I think the girls missed the joke…

My girl loves playing with a ball. One of my volleyball friends saw the middle photo below and commented “solo block!”…

Water balloon toss…

And the previously mentioned wheelbarrow race…

I always capture the funniest expressions when I take pictures of this race! {Check out last year’s here.} This is our Youth Pastor & his wife…the winners!

And this is our head Pastor…

There’s also a grudge match of tug-o-war between the Elders & Deacons…

Snow cones…

And Eugene led a homerun derby too…

The little one had an absolute blast running around everywhere, waving at everyone, and watching all the crazy activities…

I thought this was a neat pic of the little one in light of Independence Day…

And the picnic concludes with an incredible fireworks show. I ended up taking the little one home, putting her to bed, then heading back {while Eugene’s brother & fiancé stayed at our house}, so I was too rushed to grab my good camera for the fireworks, but my friend posted this pic on her instagram…

So beautiful - the fireworks, the friends, the fellowship. It’s all so beautiful.

Fourth.

We enjoyed our Fourth of July with lots of food and family. And of course, cute red, white, blue, stars & stripes outfits. :)

Girl loves having a chair her size…

Got some cousin time. The little one’s expression is super silly in this photo, and Cate isn’t looking at the camera, but this is about the best we could get!

These two are so beautiful. So thankful they’re in our lives!

I made my favorite fresh pepper salsa. {Apparently this is my go-to July 4th dish!}

We ate steaks bigger than our plates at my parents’ house & enjoyed tons more food at Eugene’s grandparents’ house.

We’re so thankful for our country, for freedom, for our family.