In our dining room, we had a giant rug. It wasn't a very pretty rug. Underneath the rug were nasty boards where a rug/carpet had been glued down before. We had been wondering what to do to replace the rug or remedy the spot. Should we buy a nicer smaller rug? Should we do a custom rug from Vonderheide? Should we have Vonderheide just redo the spot? Could we somehow fix the spot?

We had origionally thought that the boards were 1 inch thick.. turns out they were only 3/8".

Friday, Bryce started pulling up the boards

 We decided to go with hardwood tongue in groove flooring from Menards and hoped it would be an easy project.

We could see into our basement through these boards... See the hole over on the far side???

And this is the finished floor!! It looks GREAT!!! Bryce did a FABULOUS job!!

 By the way, It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!!! While Bryce worked on the floor, I got out the Christmas decorations!



The Rock ~ A Dream Fulfilled

Ever since Bryce bought 'Baker's Acres', he's dreamed of having a rock with "The Baker's" on it. So to fully finish the look of our flower bed, we made a visit to Roth Stoneworks in Congerville and picked out a rock.

It only took a couple weeks for them to complete the project, and on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we went to fetch it with the Blue Chariot and the trailer. They loaded it up with a skid steer and we were on our way. They said it would only be about 300 pounds, and we thought 'Oh we can unload that, no problem." but we soon found once we got home, that it was NOT. It was very very heavy! But with a strong husband like mine we got it put in it's place.

I can't wait to see what it looks like in the Spring with all the tulips and narcissus and hyaciths!

Today we did some catching up around home. Lots of outside tasks! It was really chilly! With all the wind we've had, it's blown all the leaves off of our trees, so we did some racking and stuffing into leaf bags for Garry and Carol, burned a bunch and moved some out to the field to be burned, and crunched up some with the mower. We also borrowed an aerator so that we could fluff up the yard a bit It is quite the contraption. I washed windows and completely caught up on laundry (Hallelujah!!!) and planted some flowers. It was a good productive day.

See the rows of leaves?

My handsome honey <3

The Aerator

See? it pokes holes in the ground and pulls out little tubes of dirt.

See my clean winders?

And this for my Honey, because he got it stuck in my head. Nothing like a person in an elephant suit :)

Have a Fabulous Weekend!!!

The Empty Space is now FULL!!

We purchased a nice BIG sectional to put in the empty space! It has 3 recliners and it is very comfortable. If you count the cushions, it would seem you could only seat 5 people... but I'm guessing you could comfortable seat 8-10. =D And yes, the coffee table is new and Yes, I hung up some of our wedding pictures finally! Whoo hoo!!!

Bryce

My husband

On fire for the Lord

Amazing

Spoils me when I feel I don’t deserve it

A precious gift

Funny

Determined

Hardworking

Passionate

Helpful

Insightful

Wise

Loving

Tender-hearted

Kind

Sweet

Spiritual

Encouraging

Comforting

Spectacular

Fantastic

Special

Thoughtful

Farmer minded

Compassionate

Purposeful

Planner

Better than Josh Turner singing ability

Excellent tractor and combine operating skills

Quite the people person

Can talk to anyone

Makes everyone feel welcome

A Blessing

I am so blessed and incandescently happy that I married this man!!! I cannot imagine my life without him!

I Love You Darlin'!



The Biltmore

Why would someone a rich single man build such a big house for just him? Well, George Vanderbilt liked having people over, he like comfort, the latest and greatest in technology, nature,art, history and books... And so he fit it in a 175,000 square feet. The largest residential house in the U.S. the Biltmore is definately worth going and seeing! So much history so much to see! Gardens, stables, only a handful of the 102 bedrooms, the resturant in the stables, incredible architecture. We definately had to buy the book so we could remember all that we saw.

Waterfall and a Date

We ventured into Great Smokey Mountain National park to marvel at God's creation. We hiked up to Laurel Falls, it was absolutely gorgeous! So pretty!

Just a little nap!

We got all dressed up and went to a neat Hibachi grill in town. I think we clean up pretty nicely!

Goin's On at the Baker's

No, you still haven't seen all the pix of the honeymoon, and you will soon, but here is some happenings around here. We went to a concert, organized around the house, Bryce went to the Farm Progress show,and constructed an AWESOME clothesline 



Bryce got a pretty rose when he was on his trip...hmm wonder who it was from?



Stay tuned to find out why this room is empty!!!

This is a heavy duty clothesline! 6x6's and fence tighteners to ward off saggy lines. It works great! I LOVE it!

 

 Having fun with my sweet husband!



My wonderful amazing friend Lauren married her sweetheart Jonathan on Aug 18th! I was priviledged to stand with her in the wedding. We are so happy for her!

Day in Gatlinberg

We took a day and got cleaned up and enjoyed some time in downtown Gatlinberg. We perused almost all the shops, got some very nice wall hangings for the house and a SIGN (coming in a later post), ate tons of yummy food, and really had a great time!

We got all gussied up and made ourselves look like tourists!!!

We had a late breakfast at this little Pancake Pantry

Strawberry waffle (with just made REAL whupped cream)

Chocolate Chip pancakes with REAL just made Butter Yum !!!

 Behind the Pancake Pantry was like a small international village that had lots of little shops with clothing, trinkets, bath and body items, candles, coffee and candy, and art. We happened to stumble into an Irish store...

My ever stylish man

No, Honey, Stripes and plaid do not go together....AND it's a dress!

Oh look at the bonnie lass!

The ski-lift that we opted not to ride... Yikes!

Enjoying one of the many western stores... Ya'll come back now ya hear?