A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Wow the last few weeks have gone by so quickly! You can really start to see things beginning to take shape! We've been busy with meetings, framing, plumbing, mowing, mowing and mowing. 

Here are some pictures on the progress!

This will be the coat closet when you walk in. There's a old door in the picture that we will use as the door to the closet! And yes the ship lap is staying!! Woot woot!

Here's the look I'm shooting for!

A new shower stall all set in the main floor bathroom!

Plumbing for my kitchen sink! We are doing a white apron sink with a double basin. Is it weird I'm excited to wash dishes? 

Upstairs shower/bath was also put in this week.

And I had to sit in it just to make sure it passed the test! Baths are my favorite!

Plumbing all ready to go for the double sink vanity!

Listen, it looks about the same but there's really been a lot done! A lot of structure stuff to make sure no one falls through the ceiling and also getting everything level.  It takes some time but it's sure coming along! We ordered the cabinets this week and I am so excited to see them set up in this kitchen!

Demo Weekend

I said it on social media and I will say it again!!! We are so blessed with hardworking and FUN friends and family! I am so thankful to my girlfriends who let us borrow their husbands for the day on Saturday! I know it's normally a family day (and Father's Day weekend) so I am extra thankful that you all are so amazing 😘!! Morgan is all yours for your next home project!! 

Here are some pictures of the fun day we had!

The ginormous dumpster that I said, "no way are we going to fill that whole thing!!"... And that's why I don't make those decisions people! It was full by the end of the weekend...and we aren't even finished! Oh and that's my father in law on the roof emptying buckets! I made sure no children saw this happening...I don't want them to get any ideas for those teenage years!!

I don't even know how many times I went up and down these stairs. I am amazed I never wiped out on the cardboard. (These are leading up into the kitchen.)

The kitchen wall before...

During....

And after!!! By this point I was so excited! I can just see everything coming together!! It looks like a mess now but soon this will be our gathering place! And that makes a mama happy!

My dad and my father in law spent most the day working upstairs. Taking down lathe and plaster, rewiring and I'm sure talking about how crazy their kids were for taking on this project 😉 

The wall coming down to make room for a bigger bathroom! I am amazed no one was "seriously" injured all day! I mean look at this mess 😫😫😫

Thanks to my mom, mother in law and sister in law for making lunch and watching the two minions so that I could help with demo (yes, it takes 3 people to watch Sawyer and Brodyn...they are trouble). 😷

 Of course some things came up that we weren't expecting but that's what happens during a remodel right!?! Morgan is learning to roll with the punches 😉 We are now redoing the main floor bathroom as well as some windows.   It will be nice to just have them done! 

To put the icing on the cake...of course a tree would fall down on Monday due to high winds from a storm. Thankfully it's far away from the house and nothing was damaged. I asked Morgan what the plan is for it and he said, "that's going to have to be there for a while!" That does not sound like Morgan haha!

I'm hoping to get over there today or tomorrow to take some more pictures of the demo work so far! I'll leave you with this...

 My view while mowing...I could get used to this!!

Before Pictures

Before Pictures

My husband was so eager to get started that he kinda forgot I wanted to take "before pictures"...but we make it work! 

Love the big window that looks over the yard! Looking forward to watching the boys get into trouble out there 😉

More kitchen cabinets

Back through that doorway is the back entrance and to the left is what we call "the addition". It's a living room that was added on later. It's an amazing big space and I envision lots of "mom nights" and kids sleepovers in that room!

This beautiful cabinet is just the cutest. I'm trying to find some way to use it in the house. Crossing my fingers!!!

The right door will be the butlers pantry and an exit to the patio. The middle door is a staircase to the basement. The door on the left are the stairs that lead upstairs.

This view is looking into the formal living room and front porch area. To the left is the front door and coat closet.

We are tearing down one bedroom to turn it into a larger bathroom upstairs. 

Stay tuned for more pictures! Demo weekend is this weekend! 

The Journey Begins

We've been praying and dreaming about it for a long time.  Basically since we've been dating we've talked about our dream to raise our family on a farm.  I will admit I was a hard sell at first but after we had a little boy I couldn't deny the voices inside my head telling me that this boy was made for living in the country.  He loves to climb, discover, get dirty, be around animals, and just run.  After we had boy number two it was a done deal. We began talking about our options and praying for guidance and that something would come up that we could see ourselves growing our family in. I have always struggled with contentment but after many properties/land came up and didn't work out I finally got to a place where I said, "okay God I give up. Teach me to feel content and help me to trust in you." It wasn't much later when we were approached by some good family friends telling us that they were thinking about selling their beautiful, old farmhouse.  

This home screams Cedar Falls history and I can't wait to learn more about the Hearst family and the Maplehearst farm as we get acquainted with the property. The McClanahan family, who asked us if we'd be interested in the house, grew up down the road from Morgan's parents. They have 5 kids that they raised in this house and they have been close friends with the Troendle family for a long time.  We are so excited to begin this journey and feel so thankful to the McClanahan family for giving our growing family this opportunity. We hope to bring up our kids loving life and God as much as yours do! Anyone who knows any of you knows that this is true!

One huge bonus with moving to this house is how close we will be to Morgan's parents. We love spending time with family and it will be so nice to be so close! Also, since Morgan grew up in the area, he knows most of the people living around the house.  Which will come in handy when we need someone to push our snow or something comes up that we need help with...that never happens on a farm right?? Having great neighbors is a huge blessing when living in the country and we are very lucky to know some of those folks already!

We are going to do some renovations on the house. We will begin by renovating the kitchen and upstairs bathroom prior to moving in.  I have been busy pinning, reading renovation blogs, looking at builders websites etc. Pinterest seems to be the first step when starting any home project, right? Next we started meeting with potential builders and designers. We were feeling pretty discouraged at first because everyone we initially met with we felt didn't get our ideas. We then met with a couple from our church who renovated their farmhouse near Hudson. Their house was gorgeous so we wrote down the contacts of the people on their building team and set up meetings right away. We are excited about these professionals and feel confident they will work hard to restore this beautiful home.  My goal has alway been to keep the integrity of the house and so it was important to me to find people who are passionate about that as well.

We have big dreams for this house! Mainly that God will use it to grow his kingdom in different ways! We are so excited to see what He has in-store for our family. One thing I've learned about God during this process is you never know what tomorrow will bring. We are looking forward to discovering His plan for us!

I plan on using this blog to share with our friends and family the ups and downs of restoring an older home. I also think it'll be fun to look back on all the work we do! So please, join us on this journey to discovering Maplehearst!!

 

There will be a lot of school pictures taken on those steps!!

Welcome to the farm!! Ain't she a beauty!!

First few weeks...

The first few weeks home were full of highs and lows. Every new mom goes through them but I didn't realize the roller coaster my emotions would be going on. Thank goodness for my so very patient husband and my extremely helpful mom! I can't imagine having to do that all alone!

Having had a C-section made it very difficult for me to do all the new baby stuff. I pretty much laid on the couch and fed him and fed myself. When my mom told me she was going to plan on leaving at the one week mark I still hadn't changed a diaper! I was a little freaked out to say the least. Luckily I began to feel better soon after and we survived!

Brodyn was such a good baby right off the bat! He was pretty much on his 3 hour schedule right away. He soon figured out that during the night he could stretch it out a little longer. I think he was waking up once between 2AM-5AM by week four! As long as he has a full stomach he's pretty much a happy little guy.

In the hospital he lost about a pound but by his 2 week appointment he had gained all of it back plus some. He weighed 10pds 5oz and was 24 inches long. The nurse was very impressed with how much he had grown!

Here are a few pictures from his first few weeks!

Mom and Baby Brodyn as the hospital

Kaytlyn and Joan came to visit!

He loves his swing!

First bath at the hospital!

Sleepy baby in his skeleton outfit at the hospital

Introducing...Brodyn Jasper

On October 21st our lives changed forever. We went from a happy family of two (plus a dog) to being the proud parents of a beautiful, healthy, 9.9 lb baby boy!

The day was full of surprises, one being going into labor a day before I was to be induced. This little guy was just a bit too comfy in there and I was certain that he was going to stay put until we went in on Monday, October 22nd.

Luckily late Saturday night I started to feel some strong contractions while we were eating dinner at Old Chicago. They were still hours apart so I didn't think too much of them. I woke up a couple times to more contractions but they were still too far apart so I tried to get some rest. Around 2AM on Sunday, October 21st I woke Morgan up and we decided to start keeping track of the contractions. By 4AM that night we called the labor and delivery nurse and she told us to come on in to get checked out.

The drive to the hospital was both exciting and nerve wracking. I remembered thinking three things.
1. this was our last car ride as a family of two and how strange that was
2. When should we call our parents (I was just a little excited)
3. During a contraction I told Morgan to avoid bumps at all costs!!! Ouch!

Around 6:30AM I received my epidural and called my parents who were planning on making the two hour drive to be here when the baby arrived. After those things were done I settled back and tried to relax because I knew I would need it come push time!

By 12:30PM I was fully dialated and ready to push! Morgan was a great support and really encouraged me throughout this whole process. The baby had made his way down pretty much right away but was stuck behind my pubic bone which proved to be a problem. Four hours later my doctor decided it was time to discuss having a C-section. I was so exhausted and beginning to feel very nauseaus so we decided that we would go ahead and have the C-section. After that I don't remember too much...between the meds I was given to calm me down and being so tired the rest of the process was pretty much a blur.

At 4:45PM we welcomed our chubby, beautiful little boy into the world. I remember looking over at him getting cleaned off and being amazed at all his little roles. He never really cried at all, which pretty much is his personality today as well.

After I was all cleaned up I was wheeled back to my room and got to spend a little bit of time with Morgan and our new baby, Brodyn Jasper.

Many people ask us where we got the name from. Brodyn was a name that I had heard from a baby who attended our church and Jasper was Morgan's Great Grandpa Orin's middle name. Growing up Morgan always was close with his Great Grandpa and they shared several similar interests. Orin passed away this past April and we wanted to honor him by naming our precious little guy after him.

The rest of the evening was spent introducing him to our families. Everyone was able to make it up and meet him that first night which was very special. He will be very spoiled by everyone!! Especially by both the Grandma's!

What an amazing, scary, thrilling, exhausing, roller coaster day it was. One that has changed me and my life forever!

Brodyn Jasper, you have taught me so much about love that I never understood before. Thank you for making me a mom and being such a amazing little guy. We can't wait to watch you grow and we pray you become a strong Christian man who loves life and is not afraid to stand up for whats right and be a leader.

Way Past Due...

It's probably about time that I catch up on my posts...I wish I could say that I've been really busy and have had no time, but that would be a lie. While we have been busy these past few weeks most of my laziness is just not wanting to download pics. So here we go!! On August 15th, Morgan and I celebrated our two year anniversary!! Since we were crazy busy that whole week we decided to postpone the celebration till a week later. We went to a awesome restaurant in Independence called the Okoboji Grill. The food was pretty good but we mostly went there because we heard the patio was awesome!! It is on a golf course that runs along a river (not sure which one...the cedar?) It was such a perfect night...we just sat out there and talked it was perfect!! Here is a picture of us with Berkley before we left!!

One of our favorite things to do is go to the UNI vs. IA State game!! Morgan went to Iowa State and I went to UNI so it's a really fun game for us to go too!! This year we asked our friends Bobbi and Nate to come along with us. Although it was a rainy day and a boring football game till the last 5 min. We had a lot of fun!! Here is a picture of Bobbi and I cheering on the Panthers!!!

Berkley and I started doing Pet Pals which is a group that visits nursing homes, hospice's, hospitals etc...We will be visiting the Western Home. He had his first visit last Saturday and he was a hit!! Those people LOVED him and Berkley loved all the attention he got!! We are excited to go back :) Here is a picture of us before we left!!