Mike has been getting TONS done on our remodel. I'm so proud of him and so excited to see progress. He, I think, at first, was also enjoying it...but after 2 straight weeks of painting...I think he was less than excited (see frown below). This is him in our basement with various cabinet doors scattered on the floor waiting to be painted. I guess Mike must have tried to get Cocoa the monkey (see to the left on the couch) to help, since I was not volunteering...but it looks like he gave up quickly.



The next step was to clear all our dishes...silverware....cooking supplies, etc. out of our existing cabinets and pile them on our dining room table. Then the painting of the existing cabinets came next. I helped for about 1 1/2 cabinets and quickly realized why Mike was hating his life.

This, although may not look very exciting, was a very exciting addition to our kitchen. The white panels you see to the right of our dishwasher was (for approx. 8 months) not there, and instead the ugly side of our dishwasher was exposed. So we are very excited about our white panneling. And yes, that is Mike on the left of the picture...inside our cabinet trying to re-install our dishwasher.

These are our finished, professionally homemade new cabinets!! Mike is so talented!!

Today we also got to start deciding which new sink we want....

And what kind of granite we want!!...Who knew there could be so many choices for "black" granite.

Mike also painted our ugly railing black. We like this better. And yes, the railing on the far wall will one day match.

These are our pretty Azaleas!

At the end of April we got to go to NJ for a wedding. My girlfriend Jacqui got married and I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids. This was my hair-do...who knew I had all that hair?? At one point we didn't think any of us would be getting our hair done...the hairdresser got lost and was an hour and a half late. At one point, with our frizzy hair and red faces, we made a toast to "natural beauty." What in the world did we do before hair straighteners???

This was the wedding party's ride.....not too bad....

The bride and I...with lots of makeup close up apparently...

Mike and I...doesn't he look handsome??!!

Girlfriends from college

The happy groom and Mike

Salisbury field hockey + the groom reunited

A couple of weeks ago, we got our professional wedding album and pictures!! For some reason...our absolute favorite pictures were missing from our cds....but these are some of our favorites that we do have at this point.

These last couple of months have been tough on Mike and I with Mike in and out of work....but we are so thankful he has been able to get a lot of work done on the house...we are hoping to refinance soon which would be a huge help!! Mike also has 5 straight weeks of work ahead of him working with my bible study leader's husband. Which is just another reminder that God is taking care of us and has a plan. We just need to trust Him....and hopefully...this job might turn into a full time position for Mike if they continue to get work in! We had a fun time with the Cox side of the family spending Easter and Mother's Day with them and are excited to see my side of the family this coming weekend in VA. Hopefully I'll have lots of pictures of my niece and nephews when I return...which I hope to post before the end of the year : )