Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Our First Anniversary

Yesterday was our first year anniversary and we celebrated by going to Granbury on Sunday. We went to the Granbury square and spent the day shopping, sippin' coffee, and looking at Christmas lights. Granbury is such a cool town and we can't wait to go back again next year! We even saw a play called "Red Skelton's Christmas Special" and we hardly stopped laughing! Here is a picture of us just before the show...


The first year anniversary gift is supposed to be paper so I put my thinking cap on to try to think of the perfect gift for Clay. This is what I came up with...



A coupon book full of different coupons that are good for various things. He seemed to like it =)
This year has been a roller coaster, but we both agree that it has been a blessed one! I am anxious to see what the next year has to offer...hopefully it includes finishing the house =)

More to come from the "not so Newlyweds"...

Monday, November 22, 2010

Team "S" {Windows, Underpinning, & Injuries}

Well, Team "S" has been at it again! I'm not sure if I have told the story of where the saying Team "S" came from so here ya go...One day Clay and I completed something together and gave each other a high five and he said "TEAAAAMMMMM S" haha! So from now on, whenever something great or cool happens we always give each other a high five and say "Team S" (S=Simmons)

A few weeks ago we had the windows installed and they look great! It's amazing how something so little can make a huge difference in the way a house looks. This past weekend we finished the underpinning since the house is level and cold weather is on its way. Here is a picture of the front windows and the underpinning.



Another exciting, but more painful, thing that happened this weekend was the trip to the ER. I cut my hand while washing dishes and landed myself 9 stitches total between my thumb and index finger. Clay said that if I wanted to get out of doing dishes all I had to do was ask haha! It is starting to heal, but I have to see a specialist this week to make sure I didn't splice part of the tendon in my index finger so I'll let you know how that appointment goes. Here is a picture of my thumb...


In the meantime, this is Thanksgiving week and we are so very thankful for everything and everyone we have in our lives. We complain daily about the house and how much work we have to put into it, but at least we have a roof over our heads! We have learned to be appreciative of everything the good Lord has provided us. I hope you and yours have a blessed Thanksgiving!
More to come from the Newlyweds...

Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Finishing Touches {Laundry Room}


Yesterday, we finished putting the finishing touches on the laundry room and all we need now is a door! Check out the finished product...have I mentioned how nice it is to smell fresh laundry again in the house =)
More from the Newlyweds...

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Drop your drawers here...The Laundry Room is FINISHED!

Yes, it is true...I may be the only woman in this world that is excited about doing laundry again! I have been waiting patiently for months to have our washer and dryer installed into the new laundry room and today it finally happened. Clay scored major honey-do points today! The only thing left to do is hang shelves and decorate a little =)

More to come from the Newlyweds...


Sunday, September 26, 2010

Our little getaway! {A well deserved vacation to San Antonio}


This weekend Clay and I were southbound headed towards a much needed vacation in San Antonio. Originally, we had planned a trip to Rockport for some fun in the sun, but had to cancel due to flooding in the area. After planning this trip in a couple days notice, I now consider myself to be a shotgun vacation planner. This comes in handy when you are married to Clay.

We headed out Friday and spent the first night touring the Riverwalk and eating the BEST seafood at Laundry's. We stayed at a hotel right on the riverwalk and close to everything...my idea so that we could walk everywhere. Saturday we woke up early enough to get in our morning coffee on the porch that overlooked the river. We wanted to get up early because we had so much planned for the day. We started at the Mercado...Farmer's Market...and in my opinion, if you have seen one vendor there, you have seen them all =) We stopped in at the famous restaurant "Mi Tierra" for lunch and had a great time!


Next, we went to the Alamo and toured most of San Antonio after that. One of our favorite stops was at "Buckhorn Museum" where we saw all sorts of mounted animals and a really cool gift shop.

Saturday night we stuffed ourselves at the "Fugo de Chao", which is a Brazilian Steakhouse. They bring around different types of cooked meat and you decide if you want to try it or not. My favorite was the filet mignon and we both agreed that the turtle cheesecake was to die for!!!


Sunday, we woke up early and headed east towards Luling. In Luling, I picked up some pumpkins at the local farmer's market and can't wait to decorate with them =) Then we headed to Lockhart for a BBQ crawl that we have been wanting to do since we ate at Black's BBQ for the first time. Our plan was to try the 3 famous BBQ places and just order a couple slices of brisket and a couple ribs for us to share at each place. Our first stop was Smitty's, the second was Black's, and the third was Kruetz, but they were closed on Sunday. We then continued to be food critics all the way home...winner Smitty's ribs and Black's brisket =) It makes my tummy smile!

Overall, the trip was the most relaxing thing I have ever experienced. This week has been the longest week of our lives that started out devastating and ended so great. I have the best time with my husband and we are just like best friends hanging out...I love it!! My birthday is on Wednesday and I don't know what we could possibly do that night to top this weekend, but Clay can probably do it.
More from the newlyweds...

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Men have different priorities...{Football game on the big screen}

Well, I have been meaning to post this story for a few weeks now. Mainly because every time I tell someone this story, they laugh and laugh and so do I. So here it is...

A few weeks ago, I was doing laundry at the in-laws (I have been doing mobile laundry because our washer and dryer has not been hooked up since we built our new laundry room) and Clay calls and wants to know when I will be home. I tell him probably in an hour or so and he is so very excited because he has a surprise for me. So in my mind, I am thinking...he has hooked up the washer and dryer!! I call my best friend, Em and tell her that I can't come by her house because I want to rush home to see what the surprise is (she agreed that he probably hooked up the washer and dryer). Well, here is what Clay's surprise was....
His idea of surprising me was moving our big screen tv from storage into our bedroom\living room just in time for the Cowboys game...for some reason I don't think he had me in mind while doing this =)
Even though this was not what I had in mind, I really have enjoyed the tv being in our room and will never try to guess what Clay has in store for me.
More from the Newlyweds...

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

God has a plan...

God has a plan for us and though we may not understand it at times, I have faith that things happen for a reason. Yesterday, Clay and I found out that we lost the baby at about 10 weeks. We are both devastated by the news and I honestly don't know how to move on. This is not a happy blog post, but somehow, it is helping me through this tough time. Please pray for our family and for our peace of mind.
More from the Newlyweds...

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Long Time, No See!

Well, it is amazing to me how I am just getting around to blogging again. The Simmons' have been so super busy and I can't wait to share some pictures of our latest adventures. As far as the house goes, we have completed the pantry and almost have the laundry room wrapped up. I am IN LoVe with the pantry and we sometimes catch ourselves just standing and looking at it =)




I just love it!! Now that the pantry is complete, we can focus on finishing the laudry room. I hate to say it, but I think the laundry room will be more of a headache to complete than the pantry. The reason I say this is because we will first need to re-do ALL of the plumbing for the house before we can hook up the washer and dryer. It should be interesting...
Between working on the house and just everyday life, believe or not, we actually found (or made) time for a few trips recently. We have done a crawl to New Orleans for Jazz Fest, gotten our schnitzel on and traveled to Fredericksberg for Memorial Day and had a "thumpin'" time in Luling for the Watermelon Thump! Here are a few of the pictures from our trips.

New Orleans was a BLAST! We went with our close friends, Matt and Megan, and are so glad we did. I think this was honestly the most relaxing trip I have ever been on. We enjoyed Baton Rouge the first night and New Orleans for Jazz Fest the next. In Baton Rouge, we stayed with Matt's aunt and uncle who were awesome tour guides and made us feel so welcome! That night, we enjoyed a fun local festival...it's all about the dancing in Lousiana, a tour of the LSU campus to see Big Mike, and a WONDERFUL cajun dinner that is still making me crave their crawfish ettoufee. Needless to say, Baton Rouge was a blast. The next morning, we headed out for New Orleans for Jazz Fest. We have breakfast at Cafe de Monde and had the famous beignets...mmmmm! I have failed to mention that the entire time we were in Lousiana it rained...it poured, but I wouldn't have done it any other way. So while touring Bourbon street and all of New Orleans, we were troopers and sported our awesome ponchos and rain boots! When we finally made it to Jazz Fest, we got to see Juvenile, BB King, and Van Morrison...and yes, he sang "Brown Eyed Girl"...loved it! We took full advantage of the amazing food in Lousiana and did a food crawl through the concessions. We tried muffalettas, shrimp, fried green tomatoes and so much more! Here are a few pictures...

Our next trip was with my parents and we traveld to Fredericksberg for Memorial Day to enjoy the history, wine and great food! We toured the Pacific Museum and Reenactment, became winos after wine tasting and ate our weight in German cuisine, which also included a slice from the famous Fredericksberg pie shop. Here are a few pictures from the trip...

The most recent trip we took was with Clay's parents and family to Luling for the Watermelon Thump. We enjoyed all of the watermelon festivities, camping, Zedler's Mill, and local BBQ...mmmm Black's BBQ is the best! We even took a picture with the owner of Black's, who seems to be a local celebrity!

Snapshot Memories {Family Pictures}

A couple of weeks ago, we all got together to take family pictures for part of Shelia's Mother's Day gift...even though it is a little late. (It is amazing how hard it is to find time for things such as pictures due to everyone's busy schedules) Tammy Burkhart did an awesome job and I can't wait for Shelia to see them!






Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The First Cosmetic Addition...A Faucet!!

Well, life has been crazy busy lately and I haven't been able to post as much as I would like to. Much has happened at the Simmons' household in the last few months. First of all, we installed our new faucet and I LOVE it! With the help of family and friends, we were able to move our cabinet and sink down so that other remodeling projects can happen. We are still in the process of finding a good deal on a farmstyle sink...I want one so bad!

Besides installing our first cosmetic purchase for the house, we have recently added something else. The Simmons' are now able to surf the world wide web from the comfort of their own cozy little home. Yes, that's right...we have internet! I never thought I would be so excited about something so basic as having internet access.

I will be posting pictures of the latest remodeling projects soon...

Here is the new faucet that is not so new anymore...I am finally getting around to posting pictures.

Monday, April 19, 2010

A Girl's Best Friend! {Closets}




So up to this point, all of mine and Clay's clothes have been either hanging on hanging racks or folded in a laundry basket. Our poor hanging racks are stuffed to capacity and then some! There were a couple of things that I have been stubborn about throughout the remodeling process...1. BIG CLOSETS and 2. An organized kitchen and pantry area. Well, Clay and Mike were at it again this past weekend and built the frame for the closet that will be in our master bedroom. It is HUGE and I'm loving everything about it!! We won't be able to use it until we texture and paint, but it makes me smile when I come into our room and think that one day I won't have to squeeze another piece of clothing onto the darn hanging rack. I took plenty of pictures during the whole process so I will have to post those for you to see soon! The before and after pics are really great. More to come from the newlyweds...


I am finally getting around to posting the before and after pictures...it turned out great!



Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Diggin' In {Walls}

This past weekend was an exciting time for The Simmons' household! Clay and Mike started knocking down walls and putting up sheet rock Saturday morning. Forming walls in the house really makes the final layout of the house come to life! I can finally start to see our little home transform into what will one day be the house we have grown to love. So far, the wall that divides our bedroom from the rest of the house is up and the hallway opening has been made. Our next project will be completing the walls for the utility room and the pantry, which will share a wall. I can't wait to finally be able to wash laundry in our home and smell one of my favorite smells...fresh laundry!


This picture is probably the only picture of me working that day...holding up the sheetrock lol =)


And this one shows the bedroom view of the wall that was made. The ladder is where our closet will eventually be...sigh =)

This gives you an idea of the mess that was made, but it makes me sigh with relief that it didn't stay that way very long!

Monday, March 22, 2010

The demolition has officially started...pray for us!

As of last weekend, we officially started the remodeling process! It has been very exciting and I have already learned so much. We started with leveling the house, which was quite a chore. If the guys were reading this they would roll their eyes because they were the ones doing all of the work ha...I just supplied the food and drinks! The second task on the list was either electrical or plumbing and since the weather didn't cooperate last weekend, we didn't get to do either one. Instead, we decided to start tearing down cabinets in the kitchen. I wasn't able to take pictures while we were taking down the cabinets because my battery ran low on my camera, but I will definitely take pictures of the cleaned up version soon. Anyways, the house leveling was a success and was finished in no time! I am so proud of our little house so far and can't wait to see what we get to do next. More stories to come...

Thursday, March 4, 2010

We will miss Brooke!

Yesterday was a tough day at the Simmons' house. We found out our puppy, Brooke, got ran over last night on the highway in front of our house. This was devastating news to me because I am such an animal lover and grow easily attached to anything. Clay was a little upset, but you know Clay, he didn't show any kind of emotion. He said that we couldn't do anything about it now and he didn't want to hear it brought up again. I think deep down he just didn't want to hear about it because it would make him sad!

I just wanted to write a post all about Brooke and how much she will be missed! She was a very energetic dog and loved to play outside. She was very smart and was just getting the hang of riding in the back of Clay's truck without jumping out. Brooke would've been a big dog, but I think she would've always been a puppy at heart. She was a great dog and she will be missed!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Runnin' Out of Gas!

Okay, so some of you might think I am talking about running out of gas, steam, energy, etc. at the end of the day. No, I am talking about running out of propane (gas)! We run everything on propane at the Simmons' house and boy, let me tell ya, it gets exciting at times. Our latest problem was just completely running out and not having heat for our cold little bodies at night. Of course we are newlyweds and still like to snuggle, so that is exactly what we had to do! Since I moved into the house, I have been getting used to using gas heaters. It made me think of my recent adventures dealing gas and how I am still surprised that our house is still standing. My experience with it has been very entertaining to myself and Clay. Clay wasn't home the first time I tried to light the heater, therefore why I was doing it. Clay taught me to first turn the gas knob on, then light the match while turning to knob to the heater on slowly. It looked much easier when he was showing me all of this. So, here I went! I turned on the gas knob on the wall...then lit the match...then turned the gas knob slowly on the heater. What happened?! I almost burned my eyebrows off is what happened! He failed to mention to put the match inside the heater so that the gas would not light while you were holding it close to you. Well, since then, I have mastered the art of lighting the heaters and consider myself to be quite handy around the house! Heat may seem like a simple thing, but I have had many exciting stories to tell ever since I moved in. More stories to come...

Friday, February 19, 2010

Our Life As We Know It...

Ever since I moved in, we have been working on the house. Clay bought his grandma's house and it is definitely a fixer upper! We need to level the house, then put up new walls, new floors, new everything. The exciting part about it all is that we get to plan exactly how we want everything to be done...almost like building a new house. So far, Clay and some awesome friends and family have torn down walls that needed to go and have made a floor plan of our future home. The most important room on these plans is the HUGE closet that Clay layed out for me...I can't wait! As of now, all of my clothes are on hanging racks in our living/bedroom =) Another exciting aspect is the oversize pantry! Besides these two things, everything else is pretty standard. Our next project is leveling the house and hopefully it can be marked off the list when the weather is better. I will be posting pictures soon of the house now so you can see the transformation first hand during the remodeling process. More stories to come...

Our Vegas Wedding...How It All Happened!




We decided to get married in Vegas on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 and were married by the 13th! I loved everything about our engagement and how we went about saying our vows. It started when I was invited to work for my Aunt Vickie at the "Cowboy Christmas" for the NFR. Clay told me not to be surprised if he showed up there so we could get married. Needless to say...I agreed and said let's go!

When I arrived in Vegas, I went straight to the Paris Hotel/Casino to plan the wedding. My bridal consultant's name was Elizabeth and she was perfect!! It was so easy to plan all of the details from the music to the flowers. I wouldn't have changed anything about the experience.

All of my family and friends were blowing up my phone when they received there voicemails or messages about our marital plans. I took care of notifying everyone on Wednesday and Thursday and was a little sad that we didn't give everyone notice to plan a last minute trip to Vegas. I was so shocked to hear back from several of our friends and find out that they we buying tickets to head our way!! We were blessed to have close to 10 of our friends join us on our special day.

Before everyone arrived in Vegas, I had four nights to enjoy single life! My cousin, aunts and I had four bachelorrette parties and enjoyed every minute of it. I have so many special memories from those nights spent with my family!

On Saturday, most of our friends were arriving and I was ecstatic to finally see everyone! Once they got there we went straight to enjoying Vegas life. That night we went out for yet another, and the final, bachelorrette/bachelor party. We almost forgot to go to the court house to get our marriage certificate, but at the last minute remembered and got in the first taxi...destination- Las Vegas Courthouse!
We have the best pcitures from signing our marriage certificates thanks to our friends that were with us! It was such a special experience!!

Sunday morning, I woke up to Clay, who snuck in our room, telling me to get up and get dressed to have an early breakfast before we said our vows. We enjoyed some hot eggs and pancakes along with coffee...yummm so good! We parted out ways and knew we wouldn't see each other until they opened the big double doors in the chapel.

I got ready in our hotel room with help from some of my dearest friends. I did my own hair and make-up and Em did the finishing touches. We left about an hour before the ceremony and walked through the passageway to the Paris Chapel. Me and the girls went to our personal room to prepare for the ceremony and talk to the pastor who was conducting the service.

At 2:00 on Sunday, December 13th, 2009, two double doors opened on cue with me walking through them to my soon to be husband. Jake, Clay's cousin, walked me down the aisle and gave me away. We said our vows and our lives were changed from that moment! We celebrated afterwards at Margaritville with our friends and had a great time!

We came home and were greeted by friends and family that weren't able to make it to Vegas. Soon after, I moved from College Station into my new home with Clay. I have loved every minute of it and can't wait to see what happens next. We planned a reception for all of those who couldn't make it to our wedding on February 6, 2010 and it was beautiful. It took place at The Palladium in Waco, Texas and with the help from friends and family it was decorated so beautifully with a vintage vegas theme.

We are ready for things to settle down a little so we can get back to reality, but we have enjoyed every minute of our little fantasy engagement/wedding! More stories to come...