Archive for the ‘House & Home’ Category

Hey there, friends.

I believe Keith sets a record for the longest blog hiatus of all time. That’s right, he has been demoted due to his lack of activity on our family blog and so there’s a new captain on this ship. I haven’t had much, or any, experience writing a blog, but I’ve done the research and I think I’m ready to give it a try.

First up, a little update on life since A LOT has changed since we’ve last chatted. Last June, Keith was hired at Night Owl Games as a game developer in Austin, Texas. We packed up our whole life in 2 weeks, piled it all in a Uhaul, and drove to Texas in 3 1/2 days.

What a handsome game developer, he is.

I immediately started interviewing for teaching positions and got a first grade position at the same elementary school where I started my teaching career 3 years before. One year later, I am so happy to say we love living in Austin and are starting a brand new chapter in our lives, building a home! Keith and I have thought about living outside of the city for a while but didn’t know if it was something that would ever happen for us. A few months ago, we found 15 acres of beautiful land about 30 minutes outside of town and….we bought it!

We immediately began to dream about building a house on that hill. Luckily for us, my dad is pretty handy when it comes to building homes and he wasted no time jumping on board and devising a plan. Before we knew it, our dream was coming true and that brings us to the present. We have just broken ground and the dream is taking shape before our eyes. I will be updating frequently so that our family far far away can watch this exciting event unfold.

One of the things that we’ve encountered in this completely new experience is the mustang grape vine. Sounds fun, right? Wrong. Apparently, these guys attach themselves to our large and tiny trees and take over, eventually killing them! Our little corner of country is COVERED in them. This piece of land has been untouched forever and is in need of some TLC. Well, we’re on it! Or at least Keith is. He got himself a chainsaw and was off to work.

There’s no messing around with this guy. Mustang grape vines don’t stand a chance.

Told ya. They’re tricky things, those vines. It’s going to take more than that to kill our trees!

This vine is a beast!

Here’s a before shot of the vine-covered trees…

And after….brown leaves=dead vines. Success!

We can’t wait for it to all come together, but are loving the process.