Catching up

I have GOT to get better at this blogging thing.  So much to catch up on!  Case and I went to Lake Tahoe with our friends Isaac and Allie a few weeks ago and had such a relaxing trip.  Until our return flight that Monday was cancelled.  We got rebooked but we had to spend the entire day at the airport and didn't arrive back in Texas until 1am.

Lake and Mountains

Dinner by the lake

Such a pretty city

My Happy Place

View outside our room

Wasting time in the airport

The following weekend, Case went to Houston with his parents to play in a charity golf tournament so I had the weekend free to do whatever and I had the best time hanging out with Miss Macartney and her momma!  First, when I showed up to Reagan's house, we were wearing the exact same shirt.  Needless to say, she changed.  Then we went to Mac's gymnastics class followed by The Thinkery!  That place is so neat!

Well, this isnt going to work

Paying attention to instructions

Balance Beam

Playing with the light pegs at The Thinkery

The next day was Kathleen's baby shower!  They are not finding out the sex of the baby, so the theme of the baby shower was "What will it bee?"  Such a great time and cannot wait to meet Baby Loyd!

Opening Gifts

What will it bee? (Get it?)

Parfait Bar

Mimosa Bar

We have also been busy doing a few small home improvement projects around the house.  Case has been busting his butt clearing our land and it looks AMAZING!  As for me, I painted our powder bath.  Let's just say that I thought I would be good at painting and I completely sucked!  Oh well, it's done.

Progress Pic

Its done!  Dont look too close at the edges....

Hard workin' man

A boy and his chainsaw.....

Case and I also had our first appointment with a fertility doctor earlier this month.  We both really liked the doctor and have been spending most of the month finishing up all the testing she wanted us to go through.  So many tests!  I had blood work, Case had blood work, a semen analysis, an HSG, a genetic saliva test and an ultrasound.  Based on the results we have gotten back so far, most everything looks good.  My vitamin D was a little low, so I have started taking supplements for that.  We are still waiting on the test results from the HSG and the saliva screening, but hope to get those back this week.  We have an appointment on the 28th of this month to discuss all the test results and our future treatment options.  I decided to take this month off from Clomid, to give my body a break from the hormones.

Saliva Test

This house is flyin'

Thought it was about time for another house update.  Man alive, the construction on this house is flying!  Every time Casey and I go out there, we are blown away by how much has been completed.  The outside is now completely finished with brick and rock.

Brick and Rock is complete!

They have also completed all the walls and have sprayed them with texture and painted them.

Walls are up

Paint Color

All the cabinets, doors, and trim have been installed as well as the banister on the stairs.

Kitchen Cabinets

Kitchen cabinets from living room

Stair banister (wood still needs to be stained)

And this week, they installed the fireplace and granite.

Fireplace

Kitchen Granite

Master Bathroom

When we went out yesterday to check on the progress, all the tile had been delivered so I assume they will start tiling the bathrooms and back splash soon.  They still have to put in all the hard wood and carpet, install light fixtures, install the sinks, pour the driveway and lay the sod.  Our builder has told us that we should close sometime in October, we are just waiting to hear a final closing date right now.  It can't come soon enough!  We are so excited to move into this house!  It already feels so much like home.

Long Overdue House Update

Holy moly--I had to scroll back through my old blog posts to see when the last time I had written an update on the new house.  It's been a while.  And SO much progress has been made!  It actually looks like a house now.  The rain has finally decided to hold off a little so that they can get more done.  It looks like last time that I updated, the forms for the foundation were completed and the plumbing had been roughed in.

Reminder of what stage we were in from last post

The week we left for vacation to the Caymans, they were able to get our foundation poured!  Hallelujah!  Now we finally felt like we were getting somewhere.  It is so crazy to see how fast they move once they get the foundation poured.

Pouring Foundation!!!

Foundation poured and drying

Case in his garage

Me in the Kitchen

When we arrived back in the U.S., we couldn't wait to see what progress had been made in the week we were gone.  We knew they had planned to start framing, but when we arrived home it was actually looking like a house!  They got so much done while we were away.

Almost completely framed when we got home

Once they completed all of the framing, they started attaching the sheathing to the exterior walls and adding the roof.  This completely changed the look of the house.  During this time they also ran all of the electrical and installed the HVAC.  We had a walk thru with our builder and there were a few minor changes that needed to be made but all in all, everything has gone so smoothly with this build.  We have been so pleased with the entire process.

Attaching the sheathing

We have a roof!

View from the front door

Living Room

Kitchen from Living Room

Breakfast Nook Area

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, its Tuesday and I am back to work after a three day weekend to celebrate Memorial Day.  And let me just tell you, it was one for the books.  And by that I mean, it rained all weekend.  We were able to do a few fun things though and it actually turned out to be nice and relaxing.

Friday evening I had the best time with Reagan, Kathleen, and Allison.  We went out to dinner at a restaurant called Swift's Attic to celebrate Reagan's birthday.  I didn't realize when I booked the reservations that is was a tapas restaurant, but I was able to try several things that I normally wouldn't have tried.  We all agreed that we need to do this more often and that it has been entirely too long since we have had a girls night.

Birthday Girl

Such a fun night!

On Saturday, I slept until around 10.  Mayyyyyy have had a little too much wine at girls night.  Whoops!  Luckily my amazing husband got up early with the dogs and let me sleep. We heard that there was a storm coming on Saturday afternoon, and we wanted to head out to the new lot and get one of our big oak trees fertilized before it hit.  Man, did we time that one perfectly.  We also wanted to check on the progress of the house since we hadn't been out there in about a week.  Not much has changed since it has been continuously raining.  They are waiting on the ground to dry out so they can pour the foundation.  And right now, it looks like there is rain in the forecast for the next week. 

Not much progress has been made

The sky as we were leaving the lot

And, we got caught in it

Casey and I decided that we would just lay low on Saturday night after the storm started.  We don't have cable at the apartment, so I was following it online.  We knew that Wimberley and San Marcos were getting hit the hardest and had heard that the Blanco River had gotten out of its banks.  We didn't know the devastation until the next morning when we woke up and saw the articles online.  Lots of flooding damage and the river was overflowing so bad, it shut down part of I35.  They said this has never happened before.

Saturday night fun haha

I35 in San Marcos

For some reason, I did not get any pictures from Sunday.  Case and I had a great day though.  We went to brunch at Gloria's and then decided to walk down to Lamar and check out some little shops.  We got a new candle and I got some new funky earrings.  After that, we went to J. Blacks on 6th Street and had a few drinks and people watched.  We went to dinner that night with Lance, Katie, and Fraus at Z Tejas.  We were able to sit outside and enjoy the deck since it wasn't raining at the time.  

On Monday, Casey and I went to brunch at 24 Diner.  I have heard rave reviews about this place, but we had never been because it seems to always have a long wait.  And now I understand why.  The food was delicious.  I had this honey chicken biscuit, and sorry Whataburger, this place has you beat.  HOLY MOLY it was yummy.  The waiter also told us they are known for their waffles so Casey and I ordered one to split. STUPID.  We were so full after we had eaten our breakfast, but we still dove in and it was sooooo good.  They make their waffles with yeast, so it definitely has a distinct taste, but amazing none the less.  

After brunch on Monday, Lance called us to see if we would be interested in riding out on the other side of Llano to check out the new ranch that his dad bought.  I told Casey that I would probably hang around the apartment but he could go if he wanted.  Secretly, I just wanted to lay around and read a book I had started.  I have been reading "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins and it is so good!  Well low and behold, as soon as he left, it started storming again.  I got online to check the radar and we were in another tornado warning.  It rained really hard for about 2 hours and there was a ton more flooding in our area.  Downtown Austin flooded and a dam broke in Bastrop.  I was watching as the storm cell was moving and realized it was heading straight to my parents.  I called mom and she said the electricity was already out there so I was filling her in on what the news was saying.  A tornado ended up hitting about 7 miles away from where they live, but they are safe and sound.  As of now (18 hours later), they are still without power, but at least they are safe.

Flooding outside our apartment

Radar of storm heading to my parents house

Casey made it home safely last night and that is pretty much how our Memorial Day weekend wrapped up.  I also forgot to mention last week that Ruby is home!!!  After 4 months of being at bird dog school, we finally got her back.  She is so much better behaved, however, still very much a puppy!

 Car ride home

 Fun at the dog park (she plopped down in that puddle about 3 seconds later)

Snuggling with her brother (Murphy was not thrilled with this at all)