The Meadows

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Introducing Steven Sawyer Meadows!

First off, I am way behind on this post...I am now entering my 20th week, but the sonogram pictures were taken during my 17th week. Anway, moving on...

Steven and I were so excited to find out that we are having a baby boy! We were even more thrilled to find out from both the sonographer and Dr. Joyner that our little boy looks completely healthy and is growing perfectly. We feel so blessed. God is so good!

So, without further adieu, here are the pictures of baby Sawyer :)

Our first family photo!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Patrick and Bethany's Wedding

Because Steven and I are probably two of the most frugal (ahem...cheap) people on the planet, we decided to make the drive down to Oxford, Mississippi, to celebrate our dear friend, Patrick's, wedding to his beautiful bride. The drive down was not without its fair share of issues. First off, Steven decided to take a different route home via the Tennessee mountains. I am sure it would have been very scenic and beautiful if we were driving during the day; however, in the pitch black, it was just plain scary. It was just us, the diesel trucks, and the tornado...yes, you heard me. We basically went through the backside of a tornado while driving through Knoxville. We finally made it to Mom and Dad's house Friday morning around 5:00 AM. We slept until 10:30 then got ready and went to eat some Alabama bar-b-que. There are no words to express how much we miss it, especially the sauce. North Carolina BBQ is good, but they use vinagar on everything...we are red and white sauce kind of people--that's all there is to it.

It only took a couple of hours to make it to Bruce, MS from Moulton, so we got on the road around 2:00. I dropped Steven off at the church for the rehearsal and went straight to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. I met everyone at the restaurant in downtown Oxford later that evening. Let me just say right now...Oxford is beautiful! It was just a picture of a gorgeous southern town. We ate at this awesome restaurant called Boure and had a chance to sit down and catch up with all of our old friends.

I love these guys!

the Auburn boys :)

best friends since middle school

Steven and I with the bride and groom

On Saturday, we all met Patrick at the beautiful new house that he just bought (but was DEFINITELY decorated by Bethany, no offense Pat). Afterward, we all went out to eat for lunch. The boys stayed at Patrick's and got ready for pictures, while us girls made our way back to the hotel in Oxford. That night, I watched as Patrick got married to a gorgeous girl in a beautiful ceremony. The reception took place right after the wedding and we all got to enjoy some of the best southern food I have ever eaten. I mean it...best wedding food ever! It was also really great to get to sit and catch up with Steven's family because they were all able to come to the wedding as well. All in all, it was a absolutely gorgeous and fun-filled weekend!

Taylor and Maryanne

Justin, Emily, Ashley, and Austin

the whole gang :)

White Lake

Every year the people of Asbury take their annual trek to White Lake, NC for a week of fun and relaxation on the water. Steven and I have heard a million stories about this place, and we were very excited to join in on the fun this year. It truly lived up to the hype.

Emily, Lauren, and I left for the lake on Wednesday morning, so we would have plenty of time to soak up the sun. Brandon, Ryan, and Steven came down Thursday night after work. Our time at the lake was spent floating around in rafts, eating lunch at the sandwich shop/dinners in Elizabethtown, taking pictures out at the dock, sitting around talking on the porch, and hanging out at the arcade at night. It was such a relaxing way to wind down after a LONG year of teaching.

I can't wait until next year!!!

"Put Up" Corn

A few weeks ago, Emily's family asked me if I wanted to help them put up their corn crop. I had never ever been a part of this process even though grew up in the middle of the country. When I got to Mrs. Lucille's house that morning (she said she would let us "sleep in" until 7:30), the corn had already been picked and were stacked in a few different wheel barrows.

Lauren and Emily took turns helping their grandpaw cut the ends off the corn and remove the outsides, while I sat and silked the corn with Mrs. Lucille.

After we finished with all the silking (which took FOREVER), we started the blanching process. Mr. Dan and Lauren did the boiling and then moved the corn over to the ice water. Later, we all took turns reaching our hands in the freezing water to retrieve the corn and give to Jeff to take off the cob.

Mrs. Lucille, Emily, and I took turns bagging up the corn to put in the freezer. All in all, we pt up about 600 ears of corn. It was a lot of work, but I had so much sitting with Mrs. Lucille and hearing all of her stories about old times.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Year Two

Our second year of marriage has been eventful to say the least...

First off, we moved to New Bern, North Carolina, for Steven's new job at Weyerhaeuser. We lived for six months at a rental apartment owned by Bryan and Bridget. They instantly became like family to us, but we missed our families back in Moulton and Opelika so much. We began going to church at Asbury, which has been a blessing in so many ways. In the fall, I started my new job teaching English III at West Craven High School, where I met some wonderful people and made great friends. Fall was hard though because it was our first football season to spend away from Auburn in over eight years; however, we had a lot of fun introducing our new friends to our Auburn traditions. In November, we closed on our very first home, and immediately started the renovations. Later, we celebrated Steven's 26th birthday on Thanksgiving day at his grandmother's house in Madison, Florida. We spent Christmas snowed in at my parent's home in Moulton, Alabama, which was a wonderful surprise. In early January, we celebrated along with the rest of the Auburn family when our team won the national championship! Also during January, Steven and I took over the youth leadership at our church. In February, we took the youth to a conference called Acquire the Fire. It has been such a blessing working with these young people! April was a big month in the life of our marriage...we found out that we were expecting our first child!!! He or she is due December 16th. We could not be more excited! Also that month, I celebrated my 27th birthday and found out I got into the Educational Administration master's program at East Carolina University. The month of June has been a whirlwind of fun. We experienced our first trip to White Lake with Asbury, which was such a fun week. This past weekend, we traveled to Bruce, Mississippi, to celebrate Patrick Davis' big day! It was so great to see everyone again!

This past year has been such a wonderful time of growth in our relationship, and I know that year three will be an even bigger adventure!

Our 2nd year in pictures...

Atlantic Aquarium

Betsy and Michael's rehearsal dinner in Florence

dancing at Betsy and Michael's wedding

haha...one of my faves

The Meadows Inn in New Bern

chaperones?

date night at the Chelsea

playing in the snow at Mom and Dad's house

Christmas in Asbury

Chritmas at Mom and Dad's

Prince Charming

Valentine's Day dinner

on our way to Cape Lookout

Patrick and Bethany's rehearsal dinner in Oxford, MS

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Gold to Silver

Nothing against brassy gold fixtures, but let's just say they didn't really go with our new bathroom decor. I spent a lot of time looking for new fixtures at Lowes, Bed Bath & Beyond, and enven TJMaxx. Although I found some that I really liked, we were trying to stay under our $350 bathroom renovation budget, so we ended up doing it DIY style. Below you will see our orginal gold hardware.

I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a can of silver spraypaint (we also used brushed nickel in another room, and we think it looks a little better). I layed out all of the hardware on a garbage bag and went to work.

Here is the finished product. We have all "new" hardware for $3.65 and the best part is we didn't have to drill new holes in the walls. Steven ended up spray painting all the outlets white, which made them look much more updated than the gold.

Happy renovating!

xoxo,

Ashley

Downstairs Bathroom Renovation

Okay, so Ashley is usually the one who does the blogging, but I decided to try my hand at it this time...

You all remember those candies called Warheads. For some reason everyone has had them and for some reason you had a secret pride when you finally got past the horribly bitter, sour taste to that heavenly sweetness at the end.

That is the best metaphor for my feelings towards home projects. I sometimes have a hard time getting motivated to come home from work to work. Ash has to coax me through the sourness on occasion. I enjoy projects for one simple reason. The sweet satisfaction of having something that we can enjoy and be proud of. Ashley has a way of sprucing things up and making them look 100 percent mo' betta.

The next few pictures show our original bathroom. The bathroom is about a 45 square foot room with a bit of bling from the gold fixtures. Standard builder grade vanity and sink which served their purpose, and linoleum flooring.

without the mirror and hardware

After taking out the sink, toilet, molding and all the fixtures, this strikingly handsome, prematurely balding young man showed up to do some flooring work. Our bathroom floor had just a bit of slope to it so I leveled it with some leveling compound. The compound dried and I popped a few chalk lines to keep the tiles somewhat straight.

I laid the tiles in a diamond pattern because it supposedly makes small rooms seem bigger. I had to keep the mortar wet enough that it's easy to spread, but dry enough it keeps its shape. Make sure to use the tile spacers so you leave room for some grout.
So... the guy who recommended the diamond pattern must have had stock in ceramic tile because there was a lot of tile cutting invloved. After finishing the tile, I let it sit for a day.

Grouting was really simple. (Yes that is a spoon from the kitchen and Yes I did regret using the "favortie mixing spoon") Fill all the joints with the cement-like stuff. After about fifteen minutes, wet a sponge and wipe it away. The next day, I treated the floor with a waterproofer to make sure that water wouldn't seep through to the subfloor.

After a coat of paint, some molding, a new sink, a potty, and some simple plumbing...vwaalahh! Ash does a tremendous job decorating. If it were up to me, we would live in a psychiatric wardlike house with very bare walls and very little color.