This New House

Many of you have asked to see pictures of our new home, so I took a few today.  I'll give you the grand tour...

Here is the front...pretty standard.  I think the blue Cavalier really adds a lot of class to the house.  We still have neighbors connected to us on either side, but it feels much more like a house than anything we've had before and has much more open space.  We heart it!

Here is what you see when you walk in the front door.  Excuse the cable running across the floor, we're still having some cable issues.  You can see a bit of the staircase on your left and the doorway to the kitchen in the back.  There is a door to the left (off camera) that leads out to the garage.

Here is the same room, but I'm standing in the kitchen looking the other way.

Here is the kitchen, complete with everyone's favorite cat!  The walkway to the living room is on the right, and you can also see the handle to the storage closet door.  It's really big and I love it.  The door on the left leads out to a little patio where our grill is.  There is also a play structure in our back yard.

Here is another view of the kitchen.  You can see the downstairs bathroom there in back and there is a door to the right of that, which leads into the laundry room.  Our washer and dryer arrive on Thursday!!!  Big day for Phil and me.

This is upstairs looking into the master bedroom.

Standing in the corner of the master bedroom.  The door on the right leads into the master bath.  Across from our room, you can see the door to what will be the baby's room.  I'm excited to finally start setting it up.  He has a lot of stuff already!

The guest room/office.

Looking out of the guest room/office.  You can see the landing hallway at the top of the stairs, a linen closet door, and into the master bedroom.

So, that's about it.  Things I like about my new house:

1. I can sit on my couch and NOT be able to see into every other room of the house.

2. Garage...it's still not a basement, but it's a big step up in the world for us.

3. Having a washer and dryer!

4. Being able to walk outside and feel grass between my toes.

5. Looking out my window and seeing a yard instead of my neighbor's living room, or worse, bedroom!

6. It's big enough that, sometimes, I don't know where the cat is.

7. This will be my son's first home.

8. My husband lives here.

Future Mamas - Part II

The future doesn't seem as far away for Kitty, Stacey, and me, as our bellies expand. I got to attend BOTH of their showers on the same day while in MN. We've gotten to share our pregnancies over the phone, but it is always so good to be together and talk about the future friends growing in our bellies.

Stacey and me in her backyard on August 10...the day of baby showers! Stacey is due to have baby boy Sorensen on October 12.
Kitty and me at her Aunt's house for her shower. Kitty is due October 1.
Here I am at 24 weeks....in case you're keeping track, baby is getting bigger! This photo was taken on August 13th, our 3rd wedding anniversary.

Craft Time!

During our stop over in MN, we spent some great time down in Albert Lea with Phil's parents. As always, it was mucho relaxing and we enjoyed MUCHO great food from the garden and grill! My mother-in-law, Peg, had a fantastic idea for the baby's room. We made these great wall hangings, which I am now anxiously waiting to put up when I finally arrive in OH. Here's what we did...

We went to JoAnn fabrics and picked out three different pieces of fabric. We even found one that went perfectly with our moon and stars theme for the nursery. That one ended up being our focal point, and then we picked two complimentary colors, yellow and green, for the other two fabrics. We cut the fabric into three rectangular pieces and then...
glued the fabric onto three Styrofoam rectangles.
They dried over night. Can I just take a moment to point out that I am wearing Phil's Burkina shirt instead of mine because his fits me better now...sheesh.
The next day we wrapped and pinned the fabric around the back of the Styrofoam.
Phil and his dad were very involved in the whole crafting process...
The finished product! So cute, and so cool that Baby Swenson will have these homemade creations in his room.

On the Road Again...

Our move has been a bit drawn out, but we've had a great time visiting friends and family in MN while waiting for our townhouse to be ready in OH. It's been a nice calm between storms. Here are some pictures taken along the way...

Here is Phil "getting rid of" some of the stuff that couldn't be packed. It's so great the way he takes care of this stuff for me.
I got to spend some great time with my cousin, Shawna, while in the cities. She's been away in Virginia doing things to make her even smarter, so I was glad to be able to see her. We were pretty excited about getting our pedicures.
Cousins!
Phil arranged a great weekend of relaxation for us at the Grand Hotel in Minneapolis to celebrate our third anniversary. It was really grand! We left the hotel once the entire weekend, and it was gloriously relaxing. The best part was they had a giant bathtub with a tv that you could watch while in the tub! Perfect! This picture is funny to us because they brought us this bottle of champagne (non-alcoholic for the pregnant lady), but then came and took it BACK because they had sent it to the wrong room!!! We thought it was a nice anniversary perk, but NO. Good thing I took this picture before they came back to take it. Apparently we should have downed it right away.
This picture represents our one time leaving the hotel - to have dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery. Phil was very excited about his jug of beer that he purchased.

Living it up at Hotel Shannon...

Once our stuff started disappearing onto the moving truck, we were faced with a small dilemma...how does a pregnant woman sleep with no bed? Hotel Shannon to the rescue! Shannon was so awesome and let us stay at her house for the night before I left California. She was out on a road trip, so unfortunately no hang-out time, but Phil and I were so relieved to have a comfy place to rest after a busy day of moving.
Another thing I should mention is that our apartment was BORING with nothing inside of it to entertain us. Hotel Shannon was much better equipped, and this is what I woke up to on Saturday morning...

You rock, Phil!

Shannon, you rock too! Thanks for letting us stay!

Goodbye California

Hello everyone! Haven't posted for a while since we've been on the move, so here you go!
On July 27, we attended out church, Journey of Faith, for the last time and got together with some friends for lunch afterwards to say our goodbyes. It was a bittersweet day - a great time to celebrate God's faithfulness, the friendships He has built, and the opportunities He has for us now in OH, but also so hard to leave our family of friends and our church! I was just trying to enjoy each moment, so didn't take a lot of pics, but here are some that others were taking.

Everybody at El Torito...a beautiful day!
Some more of everybody at El Torito.
Still counting the days until I can enjoy a non-virgin Margarita!!!
James enjoys his pretty blue one for the both of us!

It's been an amazing three years here for us. We've learned so much and have made many great memories!