excIted

just a few key things i'm getting very excited about having in a house:
a dishwasher.
an oven that when you set it at a certain temperature, it stays there.
a refrigerator that makes ice.
and a really big closet.

22 days!!

phun in philly

yay!!! today is our 2 year wedding anniversary! unbelievable. it is crazy that 2 years have already passed. through the good and difficult (thankfully there haven't really been many of those) times, our love has grown so much for each other. and we also have a ton of fun. hoping for years and years to come. to celebrate, matt and i did an overnight into philly this past weekend.

we ate some good food, walked around the city, went to the art museum and just relaxed with each other. this next month is going to be super busy, so we wanted a low key, but enjoyable celebration.
and today also gives me an excuse to look at my wedding photos...

first and last time this has ever been done at the church :)

2 years later and 5 of them married...not bad.

still trying to find an excuse to wear my dress again.

waiting...for pa to get there :)

vows.

look how young matty looks?!

lovin' my daddy.

hey!!


good times. now, i just wish this week we were in cabo!

still lovin' W.

what a historic day for our country. only God knows what will happen in the next four years. trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. -isaiah 26:4. whether i agree with president obama or not, it is amazing to watch history go down.

in other news, i recently found out that more people read my blog than i knew (hi rochelle!). so, let me answer your question...no, i'm not pregnant :)

yesterday, we got some unexpected snow. matt and i went out to play in it with vicky and the boys. they were so cute. even levi got to come out!




see why i will miss this place?!
speaking of, we will be homeowners one month from today!!
but for now, i must go clean our current one.

lessons of life.

life lesson: if your cell phone falls in the ocean and you can miraculously rescue it, or say it falls in the toilet, soak it in rice overnight. it's supposed to take out all the water. and then take it to your nearest cellular store. i learned this the hard way.
also, do not speed on five points road.

and you know how in movies they show characters aimlessly looking out the window contemplating the things of life and you're like, 'no one ever does that!' well, i actually caught myself doing that the other day. and then i slapped myself.

p.s. happy birthday kelli!!!!

home sweet home

welcome to the house of hayes. yes, we are buying a house. a few months ago, matt's friend, 'dave the realtor', started taking us to go see houses. we didn't think we would really find anything we really liked for awhile, but wanted to see what was out there. about a week before christmas, we saw this house and both fell in love with it. it was definitely the best one we had seen and one we could really see ourselves in. so we put in an offer and after some tough negotiations, we finally came to an agreement. lord willing, we will close on february 20th and move in right away!

the process-like i said, the negotiations were rough. the longer it took, the more our emotions were invested into it. but, matt and i were confident that if this wasn't the house for us, the Lord would make it clear. we were happy with the conclusion :) buying a house is overwhelming though! first off deciding if we should put in an offer, then how much to offer, and when our offer is accepted, buying furniture and such. but, i feel like through it all, it has brought matt and i closer. my love for him has grown tremendously these past few weeks. and now we are in the home stretch...ha, no pun intended. we had the inspection done this past wednesday (which took 4 hours...they usually take about 2 :) and that went very well. no big things to worry about. now that that's over, it is more of a reality that we will be moving in a little over a month. only a few little things could happen that would not make us get the house. wow mom.

the house-as matt says, 'it's pimped out.' when we first met with 'dave the realtor' he asked us a bunch of questions about the needs and wants for a house. he said he was just looking over that list recently and this house has most of those things on it, which is pretty amazing to find in a first house. basically, it's 4 bedroom 2.5 bath. but the work and fixtures they've put into it is what makes it. the kitchen might be the best part of the house. they just finished it this year, so it's brand new. it's got granite countertops, cabinets for days, nice new fridge, granite & travertine flooring, an island and more. i don't know what i'm going to do with all the space and what to put in all those cabinets. i'm sure it'll fill up faster than i think. just off the kitchen is more of an eat in dining room. it has a big living room and a smaller family room. an office on the main floor that matt is very excited about. and a laundry room. upstairs we have hardwood floors throughout. each of the three bedrooms are a good size. the second bath has nice double sinks. and then the master bedroom is quite special. they did wainscoting, which is a sort of paneling, on the walls, which looks beautiful. we have his and hers closets, with mine basically being a small room...i'm extra excited about that :) and they've done some nice touches with the master bath. oh, and all of the bathroom floors are heated. basically they did some stuff to the house, that even if you had the money to do, you probably wouldn't pay to have done. we are reaping the benefits of it though. any pictures i'd show you just wouldn't do it justice, so you'll just have to come see it.

the bittersweetness-moving :) we seriously love our apartment and the people in our building. we have so many great memories of our first two years together here...top floor apartment first year and second floor, second year. even with the stinkbugs and heat (or no heat) issues, i love the character this old house has. but even more, we love the people. ben & em on the top floor, tiny on the first, and jason, vicky and the boys. we are really so grateful for the friendship we've built with the russell's. we have loved watching the boys grow up and their family grow. we're going to miss hearing their little footsteps doing laps downstairs, watching silas ride his bike, talking with them through the window, playing outside with them in the summer, and just seeing their smiling, eager faces. i'm going to have to stop by all the time to see them. and we have learned so much from jason and vicky by their marriage and parenting. we will definitely be coming to them for parenting advice. vicky is amazing to me...even after having a crazy day with 3 boys, 3 and under, she is so joyful when we see her. we love to play games, make fun of vicky, hear the boys stories and laugh till our sides hurt with them. i don't know what i'm going to do when i'm not ten feet away to borrow something from them. i'm convinced i will still call vicky. and vicky, you can still borrow that pitcher anytime you want :) i think i'm definitely going to cry come moving day. we will miss the very close community we have here, but are grateful we are only a 3 minute car ride away.

the final weeks-please pray that everything remaining will just fall into place. pray we get an a amazing mortgage rate! pray packing up and moving goes smoothly. i don't know how it couldn't...we don't have much stuff.

please come and visit us when we are moved in! out of town people, if you ever need a place to stay, let us know! we have 3 bedrooms that will be empty for some time. we love having people over and don't mind crashers. and you can just see the house for yourselves.

we are so grateful for God's guidance in this whole process and can't wait to move into our first home!

the end.

pray

jared did a great message yesterday on prayer, in general, but also as an encouragement for the new year. this is more of a reminder for me than anyone else, but here are his points.

how should we pray?
1.pray in difficulty (this was my favorite point).
2.pray together.
3.pray the scriptures.
4.pray for revival.
5.pray expectantly.

i would encourage you to listen to it if you weren't there.
let's expect great things from God!