invites.

I am currently planning a baby shower for 3 mommies-to-be that I work with at Compassion. This is my first time... and I am loving it! I am really looking forward to it... and I have a lot to create before May 31! These are the invitations I made... I also made a separate card that lists each girl's registries. I like them.


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g's parents arrive tomorrow!

decisions, decisions.

This afternoon we visited the Richmond American Home Gallery to make design choices for our new home! We had a lot of fun... we would have never dreamed that we would be picking out everything for our new home. It is so exciting!

We began with choosing the paint color... we chose a gray/beige. It will be throughout the whole house... ceilings and trim with be white. Our next decision was the cabinets, for the kitchen and also all the bathrooms. I LOVE our choice... its a great warm color and very simple design. Perfect.

paint color and cabinet sample.

our cabinets.

Flooring came next... we are doing hard woods in the entry way & kitchen, a nice gray/taupe colored carpet in the living room & bedrooms, and linoleum in all the upstairs bathrooms.

our floor choices.

All of the decisions to follow were not as major... faucets, door knobs, sinks, tile, etc. There were some surprises during the process... prices, what comes "standard", and upgrade choices/levels. I learned a ton about homes and really enjoyed the whole experience. We love everything that we picked and cannot believe how blessed we are to be able to do this!

with our choices.

i made some pants.

check 'em out!

showing off.

We showed our lot to Grant on Friday for the first time... we look forward to being able to show more than just a foundation!

here it is...

the view from our front yard.

happy birthday ryan!

I hope you had a wonderful birthday Ryan! Thanks for being such an awesome friend to G & I. I wish you were still moving to Colorado so G could have a friend here who is as weird as he is... We miss you and Katie tons!

sewing.

I signed up for a sewing class at Hancock Fabrics with my friend Melissa... we will be making pajama pants! Ever since my parents got me a sewing machine for Christmas a few years ago, I have been wanting to take a class. I am excited to take it with Melissa... much more fun than taking it by myself. I want to be able to make clothes for our children someday and curtains & pillows for our home. I would love to be able to see something I want and figure out how I can sew it myself... kinda like I am with other crafts. I have been reading lots of blogs by crafty moms who make the cutest things... I can't wait! I already have some fabric that I have found at Goodwill and ARC that I am going to use to make curtains for our new home.

my pajama pants fabric.

my next project. overalls for g & i.

curtains for our master bedroom.

curtains for the guest bedroom.

curtains for my craft room. i LOVE this fabric.

easter.

We spent Easter with our kgroup friends. G and I are so blessed to have them here... all of us are from other parts of the country so we are family to each other on holidays. I love getting together with all of them... especially when we have a potluck. Everyone makes such delicious things! And we have tons of laughs together. So thankful for them...

my easter dessert. super fun.

ive been wanting to do a toms photo... and today we were both wearing them with argyle socks! how perfect!

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And one year ago today, our friends Ryan & Katie were getting married! We had so much fun being in their wedding. You are so special to us... happy one year!

4.12.08

sold.

the sign is in the ground... its official!

happy birthday katie!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday! Thanks for being an amazing friend. I miss our chats in each others door jams at 344... so many great memories! See you in less than a month! I love you Katie!

our future home.

After our meeting last night we went to a model home of our floor plan to take some photos of what ours will look like in a few months! Please remember that it has many upgrades... ours will not be so fancy!

our garage will be on the opposite side. same elevation. similar color.

the kitchen will not be this fancy. but it will be very cool.

love the banisters.

loft with built-ins.

At our meeting on Tuesday night, before the offer was made, we had to choose whether or not we wanted upgrades that affect the base price of the house. Not the cabinets or counters... things like air conditioning, fireplaces, banisters, etc. As an incentive we are getting money to spend at their design center to choose and upgrade cabinets, flooring, paint, knobs, and tons more! I can't wait! We are amazed at the deal we got for all of the fun things we are getting... in a brand new home. Still shocked.

making it official.

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And... one month from today one of my best friends from Purdue, Lauren, will be getting married! I can't wait to go home for the wedding. It will be a sweet reunion with all of our Purdue friends. One more month Ben & Lauren!

the sawries, the cheneys, and the soon to be mcquistons!

whoa.

So the past few days have been a bit crazy for the Cheney's... we bought a house! Well right now it is just a foundation, but it will be a house in July! Whoa, so crazy!

our lot.

Let me fill you in on the past couple of days. We met with our realtor, Tom, on Saturday to walk through some homes for the first time. We visited a few and found a great option that had everything we "need" in our first home. It was a short sale so we wanted to think fast about it... this meant that we needed to visit some more homes on Monday to compare. So Monday we visited four more homes that we thought would be good options... and found another great contender. It was newer, had better views, in a nice neighborhood, and had great painted walls. We thought it was possibly an even better option. Before our time with Tom ended on Monday night, he mentioned that we should meet with a seller from Richmond American Homes to possibly build a new home in a great area of the city. We never dreamed that we could build our first home... so we let him know that we would love to meet with someone. He said alright... tomorrow evening at 4:30. G and I went into the meeting thinking that we would get information, see some floor plans, and have a possibility to consider with the existing homes that we liked. But that isn't exactly what happened... we left five hours later after giving a verbal agreement to enter into contract the following day. Crazy! It was not what we expected AT ALL! But we still had a ton to think about, pray about, and discuss before signing the contract. G spent today on the phone with lots of people... getting numbers for the loan and wisdom from friends & family. It was a bit overwhelming to make the biggest decision of our lives in twenty-four hours! After LOTS of thought and prayer, G decided that it was a go. The Lord had really opened some amazing doors for us, and G felt confident that we could afford this new home! We met tonight with Ann, our seller, and Tom to sign tons of papers. We have another appointment on Saturday to put the "SOLD" sign in the yard and get a photo!

first time homebuyers!

I will post more information about the house tomorrow. Also... sorry I didn't get Easter cards out! I was expecting to work on them over the past couple of days, and it just didn't happen. Hopefully "spring" cards will make it out sometime instead!

the thorn.

Tonight we went to see 'The Thorn' at New Life Church with a bunch of our kgroup friends. 'The Thorn' is a passion play that is more like a Cirque du Solei show than a church play... so awesome! It was a big fat reminder of what Jesus did for us... holy cow. I am still amazed that He would do all of that for me. And what do I do for Him that even comes a tiny bit close? And He still loves me! Seeing 'The Thorn' has helped prepare me for Easter... I am so thankful we went. Oh and the muscular angels were pretty awesome. Even G thought so...

great friends.