Hello there!

Well it's official, we have a pad! It's been a long two years of getting our land to this point, but we have grown so much and I think one day when we have our home officially done we will appreciate all our hard work. Everyone that comes out to the site loves it and tells us that we scored such an awesome spot. I remember looking at maps from an ariel viewpoint with Blake and just trying to find a spot of land close to town, but secluded and surrounded by trees. It's such a blessing to have found it and will hopefully be a perfect spot to raise a family one day. I remember running around acreage as a kid and just loving it. Something about it just stuck!

It was a very early morning that day. The crew got to the site at 4am and we got them all donuts from a local shop and started pouring at 5:30. We are so grateful to the men who worked on it. They all did fantastic work and worked a 14 hour day. It never goes unnoticed when people around us work hard and we try to really provide what we can to help. Whether that's hard work beside them or simply making sure they have food on the job site. We had a fire going to keep them warm during breaks and got pizza for lunch. It's fun to get to meet so many different people of different trades. It's funny when you start to really listen to people and understand that at the end of the day we're all on our own journey. Maybe we're not all perfect, but we're not meant to be. These guys that came out were all so cool and I think we will come out of building this house with many new friends. :)

Well I just wanted to give an update on the progress on our land. I hope to have some more progress pictures soon!

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hello there!

Today has been in the 70's outside and the sun is shining! We took full advantage of the weather and went to the lake a couple of miles down the road with our dog, Toby. It's a cool little lake where people mostly just fish and have camp fires. We walked a couple of miles since that's about the most Toby could handle. He's twelve years old and was diagnosed with cancer last year. He's still got a lot of energy though and taking him on a walk is a perfect way to let him get it all out. :)

Overall, it was really good to just get out and enjoy the warmth. There's been a lot of house talk lately and sometimes to just break away from it and get outside is nice.

We also went and saw a movie in theatres last night and went out to dinner. We saw the movie called Champions. It was actually really good! Just a feel good movie. Last time we went we saw a horror movie and I used to love horror, but now.. Not so much. I would rather sit down and watch a comedy or feel good than be stressed during a movie! :D

I guess I'm going to go out and enjoy the rest of the day!

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hey there!

We have been busy, but so much is happening and it's a very exciting time for us. Between renovating the old home in town for another rental property and building our home on our land it's been a lot, but so rewarding. To now have the plumbing complete and the forms in place to pour our pad is a huge milestone in building a home. We will have a solid foundation for our new home that will begin official ICF construction March 13th! Once the blocks start going up it will be going pretty quick. To have worked so hard for so long and it feeling like it's just taking forever because it's just the two of you, to now having many hands and teams on deck is just beyond exciting. :D

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hey there!

Well we went to Texas for the weekend and it was a good time. We went for a specific event, but we had a full day to just find stuff to go do. We ended up going to two art museums, explored an old railway, and shopped and ate at Sundance Square. It was so much fun and we were stuffed because there's all kinds of goodies around there. We were super lucky because the weather was nice while we were doing a ton of walking around the downtown area. It was a nice small getaway before the pad goes in for the house. :)

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hey there!

We've been wanting to do a little date night for a while just here at home. I pictured us making pizza dough and decorating our own. It's always fun to be creative and Blake doesn't always spend a lot of time in the kitchen, unless he's being sweet and helping me with dishes! :D Both of ours came out delicious.

While the dough was resting and rising Blake got a big fire going in the fireplace for us to warm up by and play games. We played his favorite, The Game of Life! He beats me every time, but that's okay because I always beat him at Scrabble. ;D

Overall, it was a great night. Sometimes you don't have to go out to have a great time together. You can just stay in and have a good time. Nights like that make me super grateful for the husband I have. <3

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hey there!

It's been a minute since I blogged so I wanted to give a quick and exciting update!

The 10 acres we purchased two years ago and have been working on every since to build a good driveway and make our own little private oasis is finally coming together. We are so beyond excited. All the effort to move dirt to raise the area and taking our time to build the driveway ourself is finally paying off! We now have our footers placed, getting pluming worked in, and we'll have a solid foundation for our new home by the end of next week. Yay!!

We've always had a dream to raise a family on acreage where we can have our own hiking trails, pond, and maybe even some animals! How cool will it be to have some chickens or some dairy cows? For us.. Way cool! It's been a long time coming for us to get to this point, but with patience and some help from family we are finally getting somewhere. We are beyond excited to see it take shape and I'll do my best to keep you updated on how it's going. :D

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hey there!

Well last night was a good time. We enjoy our coffee and our local coffee shop has quarterly open mic nights. It's always so much fun to listen to everyone's songs and to see the sense of community there. From moms making a fool of themselves last minute so that their child feels more at ease being in the spotlight or someone picking up their ukelele and playing strings for someone to sing to because their guitarist had to leave sooner than expected. Everyone is so supportive even when their style is so vastly different. Overall, it is always a good time and a good way to bring in the weekend! :)

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hello there!

Just wanted to drop in and give a little update.

The last few weeks we have been working on the historical house remodel. We are almost done with the kitchen! That's always such a fun one to see transformed. It feels good to be taking a home that most would have torn down and make it worth keeping. For a home that's over 100 years old it's in great condition. They don't build homes today like they used to! This one will have character, but look like a whole new house inside. Anyways, before I ramble too much... That's what we've been up to lately.

Yesterday we spent the day with Blake's aunt who recently moved here from Indianapolis. We wanted to show her some of the best places in OKC (at least to us). :D We went out to eat at a unique little spot we like called Goro Ramen. It's near the art district Paseo. They have the best book store if you're ever in the area! Then we found a place similar to the one we went to in Minocqua, WI where you get to pick a clay piece and paint it. We found we loved it so much and his aunt is super artistic so we knew she would love it. We also found out that this place actually will teach you to use a clay wheel and you can make your own clay piece. So we will definitely be doing that! I would love to make a yarn bowl big enough to hold the XL skiens I use for larger projects I crochet. It was a great day and looking forward to spending more time with her.

I hope your new year is going great so far!

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hey there!

We wish you a happy new year!

We spent some time with a couple of friends over dinner at an awesome steak house, did a little book and movie shopping, surprised my mom at work with some hot cocoa, and then went and spent time at the lights that we see every year. As always it was a lot of fun and it seems like every year they just keep getting better displays!

To bring in the new year tonight we are just going to be safe at home, watch some new movies, play board games, and watch the ball drop. We would rather do that than risk being out on the road. 😊

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hello there!

Well today was a great day. We celebrated Christmas with homemade cocoa, Christmas movies, and making sugar cookies and frosting from scratch! So much fun to decorate. 🎄

We are just so thankful that we made it back home safely Christmas Eve. We got delayed a day due to bad weather and just stayed put in Springfield, IL until the roads were better. Luckily though all is well and now to just catch up on two weeks worth of laundry! Whoo..

Ready, set, wash!

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hey there!

Today was another great day. We got up around 6am and found a cool spot to eat breakfast before making our way to the ski resort. After getting our gear and hopping on the lift we found our way half way up the mountain. That's also about as far as I am able to go so far! 😂

I am so incredibly proud of Blake though! He went up to the tippy top and made his way back down three times before calling it a day. Overall a day very well spent. It was also a very cold day! Just thankful to have made it home safely despite the snow blowing in.

Tomorrow will be the start of us packing our things to head out Wednesday morning to go to Springfield, IL.

Hey there!

We had so much fun today! We went to paint clay pieces downtown. I think that is just such a cool concept and I didn't even know that was a thing until recent. How cool would that be to make a tradition out of going and picking out a Christmas clay piece and make a little village? It took way longer than expected. Granted I picked a larger piece and me being a little more of a perfectionist it took me hours! What a great way to spend our day together since it was about 12° out. ❄️

Tomorrow we are looking forward to waking up super early and heading to the slopes of Granite Peak! We love to ski and have never been to this place before.

Hey there!

Well yesterday was a lot of fun. We went to a local German restaurant that was gorgeous. It is the original building from the 1800's so we nerded out a bit on the history the locals had to offer. The food was delicious and much needed with the cold temps! After wrapping up with full bellies we headed out to shop at the local boutiques before heading back to the cabin to play some games. 😊

Today we are planning on walking out to the frozen lake here at the resort and then going to a paint your own pottery studio. Such a cool concept where you pick a piece of pottery, paint it with their supplies, and then they will ship it to you! Would be so cool with kiddos and also to send to someone as a unique gift. I'll make sure and take pics!

Hey there!

The next few blogs will be a little more short and sweet since we are on vacation, but I just want to put out there what we've been up to in this winter wonderland. 😊

On our way to Wisconsin we had to stop at the Spam museum! We love hitting museums when we can and this one didn't disappoint. Lots of interactive things to do and everyone was so nice that worked there.

Keep reading the upcoming blogs to see what else we're up to on this vacation!

Hey there!

This was the day we finally made it to our Resort in Wisconsin. It was about a 16 hour drive, but we stopped a couple of times along the way. Our dog definitely loves it here! Having lots of fires and just settling in.

Hey there!

Well we got hit by Winter Storm Diaz. ❄️

Luckily we came prepared and we did some shopping. We got snowed in this morning, but not for long! Between the locals, us, and the equipment available it's not like home. The roads were plowed, the decks shoveled, and the sidewalks snow blowed. So much fun up here!

P.S. - It may have been on Blake's bucket list to use a snow blower. The locals had no problem letting him use it to help them out. 😂

Hey there!

We went snow shoeing for the first time on true trails today. We did two and a half miles! So proud of how well we did and stoked that we got to just get out in all this fresh powder.

Hey there!

After snow shoeing today we took some time to get our relaxing on in the new barrel sauna that they have at the resort. It is amazing how good that hot box felt! 😂

P.S. - I seriously wish we still had time to make that top photo a Christmas Card!

Hello again!

Just a little update on what we’ve been up to. We are about to get pretty busy so I want to blog when I can.

We’ve been focusing on our land quite a bit in the last couple of weeks. With Blake getting his CDL we were finally able to finish out our driveway. It was very efficient because while he would take trips back and forth to grab material I would be on the backhoe scooping it up and placing it where it needed to go. So, it went smoothly and from being a dirt drive to officially being a gravel driveway! We were able to take our camper out there for the weekend and stay overnight for the first time. It was incredible! The sunrises over the tree line were just as pretty as the sunset. The peace and quiet that is felt out there is so amazing. It’s only three minutes from the heart of our small town, but makes you feel like you’re in the middle of the forest. It is truly a dream come true for both of us. I grew up on a good amount of land and some of my best memories as a kid were when I would just run around with my friends and explore nature. Sometimes it just feels like things fall into place just as they should. It’s taken us time to get to where we are, but through dedication and teamwork we have built a pretty good life together. I look forward to seeing where our paths take us in the near future.

Other than putting in the rest of the driveway, we also did a couple of other small but pretty neat projects out there. Any special place that I remember as a kid had a swing of some kind. Whether it was a tire swing or one similar to the one we built. You can see in the picture that Blake loves it! We are both kids at heart, so before our first night there we had to have one! We used some material we had laying around and got some chains and there you have it! An adjustable swing for kids or for “big kids”. In the same area we actually went to a place and got rubber mulch that is playground certified! We wanted to mulch the area but hate the wood mulch that tends to rot away quickly. So, a more permanent solution was recycled rubber. It was a win-win because we enjoy repurposing things and believe strongly in upcycling. It’s crazy how soft it is beneath your feet and It also looks pretty nice too!

Last but not the lightest! The ROCK! That was some seriously heavy stuff. My husband and I moved each peace by hand and placed it along the edge of that area and then also decided to make a beautiful pathway to our well house using bricks from a house we had to take an old chimney out of! All it lacks now is our motivation to place sand to level it all out. We decided to take a few days to let our bodies recoup! Overall though we are super excited and proud to see how far our land has come with it just being the two of us working on it. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we start to build our dream home on the pad site there! We can’t wait to wake up every morning and enjoy our morning coffee looking at that tree line.

Well, I guess I better go for now. We are going out with family Friday night and then heading to his families Thanksgiving on Sunday. We decided to just go and spend the week with them instead of just going for a night or two. Why not? Family is just so important and the older we get the more we realize just how important it is to soak up as much time as you can with those you love. <3 Once we get back from there we will be off to another family get together in Texas for a few days. Once we get back from there we may be going to our favorite place, Wisconsin! It’s been up in the air since we weren’t sure if construction would start in December or early next year. So, we shall see!

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hello again!

This is just an extra blog that I wanted to throw in there because we had such a good weekend!

We went to Blake's grandparents to celebrate his twin aunt's birthday. Every year they do a hot dog roast and this year was a little soggy. It didn't stop us from having an awesome time though! Blake and his uncle were able to still get a really good fire going and we ate way too many hot dogs and smores. It melted my heart because one of his aunts fostered a little girl with autism and still gets to see her and bring her along to see everyone in the family. Well she adores Blake and while nobody wanted to go out in the rain he got the umbrella and took her to roast her marshmallows! It's moments like that where I am reminded of how good of a dad he will be one day.

We also did a cookie decorating contest! To be honest I wasn't feeling too artsy fartsy that day, but I was "forced" into it. :D I definitely didn't expect to win with my little sail boat, but I won $20 and everyone loved it. I was super excited, but was even more excited to be able to unexpectedly help someone out in need with that money. Sometimes it just feels like everything lines up just right to have something happen. On our way home we were about half way through our drive when we stopped to get diesel and our usual coffee. As I was headed inside a woman yelled out to me that she was in need of help. She had stated that they were just trying to get to the city's trauma center due to a family emergency all the way from Mississippi. Her hair was still up in a shower cap, so clearly they left in a hurry! I was so taken off guard at first that I felt like I couldn't speak. As I stood there thinking about what I should do, it just came to me. I just won $20 on a cookie contest! Why not pre pay their pump that $20 and get them to the city? It was one of those moments where I just felt good. Not in a boastful way, but in a way where I was truly able to help someone get to where they were going. I have no idea the whole situation, but it just really hit me. If I was in that situation and needed to get to a family or friend in a trauma unit, then I could only hope and pray that I would come across someone nice enough to help. The amount of thanks that they gave was incredible. I wish I could have done more in the moment, but I felt good about what I could do.

Spending the time on the edge of the big pond his grandpa made years ago in our camper was incredible. The peaceful water and the fall colors! There were fish that would become really active right after sunrise when we would drink our morning coffee. I got to crochet and Blake was able to enjoy the quiet. Feeding the horses and walking alond the long driveway. It just felt like a bit of a recharge! Getting some good quality time in with his grandparents is one of the biggest reasons we bought the camper back in February. We wanted to be able to have our own little space off the water, but get to spend the day with them or whoever decides to show up that day!

Overall it was a great weekend together and we are looking forward to going back in just a few weeks for Thanksgiving!

Until Next Time,

<3 Carie

Hello again!

Well this month has been full of fun and definitely some hard work. We are currently working on a home in town that is over 100 years old. It is an absolutely beautiful house and a lot of people thought that maybe it was too far gone, but we enjoy taking on challenges together and showing people that you can make a home from a house as long as it has a good solid foundation. This month we finished up with the second room in the house and now for the kitchen! The kitchen is always one of our favorite renovations to do because it is the heart of most homes and is usually the biggest transformation. We got to get our hands dirty this last week because for the first time we had to tear out a chimney that had been left in the kitchen and covered with drywall making the wall it was on disfunctional. One brick at a time though we got it taken apart and now the space is taking shape nicely. Also, the fun chore of removing good old popcorn ceilings! Now that all that is taken care of it is time to start mud work and painting!

We are so stoked for the cooler weather to be making its way to Oklahoma! We have really enjoyed the harsh winters we've had the last couple of years and are hoping to get plenty of snow this year. One of our favorite things in the winter is cooking and having fires. How many times have we had scratch chicken noodle soup this month? Countless... :) One of my favorite things is cooking and baking things from scratch. While it takes longer it can actually be therapeutic in a way. To just put on some good music and lose myself in a recipe always makes for the perfect day!

We have had a lot of fun experiences this month. We went out to dinner with my parents at our favorite german restaraunt. Everyone we take there always ends up loving it and wanting to go back. Blake having lived in Germany for three years knows good german food when he comes across it and this place is the closest to authentic as we have found. We are going to possibly make it a regular thing to go there to spend time with my parents.

We saved the best for last! We took a trip to Georgetown, TX and it was so much fun and a fantastic college town. It was full of art, museums, and cute little shops on the square. One of our favorite shops was this place where everyone working there were volunteers and the stuff sold there was handcrafted by locals that are age 55 and up! How cool is that? There were amazing pieces like wood working of all sorts, which of course I nerded out on... We found these cool wooden and velvet card holders that when playing card games will hold your cards for you so that your hands wont cramp up when trying to hold over a dozen at a time! :) Wonderful clay work (including yarn bowls) that we got. Besides the unique finds, the people were amazing! It's like because they were there as volunteers they were just genuinely happy and loved to talk! Stores like that just make us feel good and like there's hope in the world for those cute mom and pop type of stores.

After Georgetown we went further south down to Seabrook, TX. The main goal of this part of the trip was to go to Nasa and then to the Kemah boardwalk. We love space and museums so to get to go there was so much fun. The tram tours are exciting as well as the interactive things they have to do there. We spent the majority of the day there and then we went to the boardwalk! It was so nice because the weather wasn't too warm and getting to watch all the boats out on the water was fun. We finally got to go to Bubba Gumps together and it was delicious. Blake loves seafood so it was right up his alley! I got a steak... :D Overall, the trip was great and it was nice to get away for a few days. We love to road trip and try to do so a few times a year. Some trips are longer and some are smaller, but all are fun!

Things we are looking forward to next month:

* We are going to be celebrating our three year wedding anniversary

* Cooking Thanksgiving dinner and being around lots of family

* Making our traditional hot cocoa recipe and going to see the lights to bring in the holiday season

Until next month,

<3 Carie

Hello there!

September was full of fun and excitement as we brought in the fall season! We love the cold weather and are looking forward to having fires burning in the fireplace and enjoying the crisp air during the day. Oh and my homemade chicken noodle soup!

We started off the month with my birthday! What I had planned and what ended up happening were two different things, but hey sometimes you just have to roll with it and make the best of it even if your favorite spa doesn't have any openings. :) We ended up going to shop at the mall, to our favorite Japanese Steakhouse, and had to end the day with a piece of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory! It was overall fantastic and every year it just seems to get better. Where most people turning thirty often times feel depressed or like their life is flashing before them too quickly, I have learned to just be so thankful that I am still here and can look forward to another year full of love and happiness. So here's to another year and many great things to come and experience!

Another cool thing we got to accomplish this month was getting a new car to replace one that was inherited years ago from Blake's dad. It wasn't necessarily something we had planned, but something that we knew was coming with it being an older car. Blake has always dreamed of having a little hatch to cruise to the city and back in. We tend to do a lot of driving. Kind of goes with the territory when you live in the country. We always support each other and want the other person to be able to fulfill their dreams and goals, so why not get the hatch! We both love it and it has been so much fun when going on date nights and going to get necessities. It is actually quite surprising how much stuff you can put into a small hatch and also a relief since we typically try to be efficient with our city trips.

We have been preparing our land to build our forever home. We bought the land a year and a half ago, but we took it upon ourselves to put in the driveway and haul in the fill dirt to save some money! We enjoy working together so it honestly was a cool experience and a good way to learn some things. Our blueprints are just about finished and Blake is also wrapping up with his CDL class in order to be able to haul in even more material for the pad site. I am so proud of him and how hard he has been working. Persistance and patience is key to success and while we have always been very good with being persistent, sometimes patience can be difficult! We are doing our best though to navigate our way through everything and always staying positive even when things aren't maybe going as fast as you want them to. Especially thanks to Covid and the uprising of prices and setbacks due to materials being backlogged. Like I said though we are persistent and are so thankful for everything we have, including each other and all of our family and friends who help us tremendously.

Fun side note! We went to our land one day and couldn't quite figure out why there was so much "evidence" of a horse being around. We set up a trail cam and to our surprise there was a lone horse lost out at our land and couldn't find his way back. Well that's the great thing about living in a small town is that everyone knows everyone! After making some calls and knocking on some doors we found out there had been four in total that had gotten out down the way and they hadn't been able to find the last one. So it was really exciting to be able to get him some water and watch him graze for a couple of hours while we waited for the owners to come and get him. We love animals so much and to know that he went home safely and didn't get hurt out on the highways at night made us feel so good. :)

Overall it was a great month and I bet October will be even better!

Some things we are looking forward to in the coming month will be:

• Going to a favorite German restraunt with my parents to enjoy some time together.
• Taking a trip down to Houston and going to the Space Center and to the Kemah boardwalk.
• Going to a pumpkin patch with my mom.
• Going to a Birthday extravaganza for Blake's twin aunts.

Until next month,

<3 Carie