Bathroom Remodel for Mom & Dad!

July has been a BUSY month!

In the middle of the month Drew and I flew to SF to shoot a wedding and to pack up all of our stuff to move to Oklahoma! We had a great trip and enjoyed a little time in our favorite place without the kiddos! We went to check out Epic Church in San Francisco on Sunday Morning because Ben and Tim have given us some great advice on our future church plant! We were very blessed to hear Tim Milner speak on the Kingdom!

After church we started walking to the Ball Park to see if we could snag some tickets once the game started! BUT we happened upon some super sweet people who gave us two extra tickets and who happened to be from EDMOND, OK?!? Even though our Giants lost it was still a super fun game!

When I flew back my mom went on a trip to Chicago to visit her family so my sister and I decided to surprise her with a bathroom makeover! We know she's wanted to change her super hip early 90's wallpaper for a while but didn't know how or really what to do. We didn't know what our plan was either but we started scratching away at the wallpaper and 4 days later... {yes FOUR DAYS} we finally had bare walls ready to texture {well patch and then texture... taking down wall paper is not pretty people}! After 97 trips to Lowe's we finally decided on a paint color... Urban Sunrise.
Anyways below are some before and afters! We still need to add some wall decor and are going to put in flooring but I'd say we've definitely moved into the 21st Century!!

Below are some remodel outtakes... 

It got a little ugly...

The tile options!

Moving on to our SF trip!

At our favorite Sushi place in Pacifica! 

Organizing all our "crap" for the movers to come! 

Shooting our Wedding 

Of course I had to have a Cako while in SF! Also tried a new awesome restaurant in SF call the Green Chile Cafe...it's a must try! 

Cheering on our Giants! 

Skype date with my babes! 

We pretty much ate the whole trip! 3 Zero Cafe in Half Moon Bay! 

We acted like tourist with our friends Joe & Megan in the Haight! 

Signing the Star Spangled Banner on our way to the Airport {what is Spangled??}

Got to have dinner with "MY GIRL LINDS!" {what Carsyn calls her}

When we got back to The Falls Carsyn, Drew and I went and got our hair cut by my awesome pal Keyli! Carsyn has only had two haircuts in her itty bitty lifetime! I think she is pretty stinking cute! 

I was so happy to have a makeover! My roots were about 4 inches long! Yikes! 

I am SUPER excited to for our next post which is HOPEFULLY the signing of our new house!! 

Buying a House and an Engagement!

Ok here is my effort at keeping this blog up to date! It has been a VERY VERY busy week! One of the busiest! Since last Sunday we have looked at at least 25 houses and most of them with my children... that is at least 12-13 hours of looking at houses with my 2 and 4 year old. In all honesty they were pretty awesome... chocolate milk and donuts go a long way!

We found a house we loved... it was move in ready and while we were signing papers for an offer the other realtor  called and someone had made an offer and the seller accepted! Back to square one on Wednesday! Thursday we looked at 7 more houses and some that we had seen before. We actually chose one that we had seen before that was way under our budget! That's a great thing huh!? Hopefully we can add some of our own personal touches to the house and make it our own!

I am just excited to have a home! Living out of suitcases for 7+ months has been more then trying on us. But we have loved being closer to family. Carsyn has made some sweet friends and got to go to school at the church I grew up in. It has been so much fun reconnecting with old friends and getting to see the joy of both of our parents in seeing their grandkids so much!

Also in the last two weeks my baby sister got engaged!! I cannot believe that she is old enough to get married but she is almost 23... I was pregnant with Carsyn at 23 so I guess I need to let her grow up ;)
She found a great guy that loves her to pieces... I am so excited for them! Carsyn is most excited about being her flower girl and being there to help her with her dress all day ;))

This past weekend we all (my whole family) got together to celebrate my baby sister and her engagement! See photos below...

My sister and her boo

The whole family!

Aren't my parents so lucky!?

redoing an old photo ;)

me and my babes... love every photo I can get with them!

The kids checking out the new house... still not ours until August 8th.

20 houses down... 20 more to go!

my AWESOME sis in law looked and houses with me and took notes about every single house!

We’re moving to Oklahoma… Say What???

 The Cunningham's are on the Move!

Drew and I moved to the Beautiful Bay Area a little over 6 years ago this summer. We were newly married and ready and excited to start a new adventure together. It only took a few weeks for me to fall head over hills with the area and to begin to feel at home… (I am sure all of my Bay Area friends can relate). It's a place that steals your heart… and when you leave you feel the constant tug to come back home… even when we would go on vacation.

Throughout our time in the Bay Area we had a lot of friends move away and I always felt so sad for them…that they had to go somewhere else… to leave this amazing place. How could you ever leave? Thankfully Drew and I both have the same love for the Bay Area and to us… this is Home. I imagine us sitting on our back porch in 60 years sipping coffee, watching the sun go down on the Pacific with complete peace knowing that we followed our dream and made living in this beautiful (but super expensive) place work.

About a year and a half ago the Lord started to pull on both Drew and I’s hearts that it was time for a change and Drew began to fill a very clear call to be a lead Pastor. I always knew that Drew had this in him… he just didn’t know it yet ;) Over the course of that year we prayed, we asked, we applied for jobs and sought the counsel of many friends, family and mentors. The call that he had for us became very clear… to church plant.

We have started that journey and are starting to dream up what that is going to look like. Our hope and prayer is that Santa Cruz, CA is the place that we will start this church. We initially planned to move there in August (one month from now) but Drew has been given the opportunity to join an awesome staff for a handful of years in Oklahoma where he will get to serve under one of the greatest (in our opinion) and most successful staff/pastor teams in the country. We are super excited about taking this position & investing here in the OKC/Edmond area! 

What does that mean for my business? I will definitely scale back on my CA portrait clients and will start doing some portrait clients in the Oklahoma City/ Edmond Area and Wichita Falls, TX area. As far as Weddings in San Francisco I will become a “Destination Photographer” for the Bay Area. I plan to do about 6 weddings there each year…flying back 16 times a year with two babies seems impossible… 6 I can handle! I am already starting to book weddings for 2014 so if you are thinking about booking me for your wedding photographer for 2014… reach out now!

Oklahoma City and Wichita Falls friends I am excited to start shooting more Weddings and Portrait in the area!

I am also really excited to start blogging again! I want to keep an account of these years and I think blogging will help bc we all know how fast time goes by!  I am so excited to get to live close to both of the kiddos grandparents {also known as our Parents ;)} and to reconnect with some of my sweet college friends!!

Today we are hitting the ground running house hunting so if anyone has any tips for us in the  OKC/Edmond area... please send them our way!!

Looking Back... 2012

What a year 2012 was! I just flipped back through all of my photos from 2012 and my heart was swelled with joy and gratitude. We are so so blessed. With love, family, friends and our Savior. I remember staying up late the evening of January 1st last year and almost filling up a whole yellow notebook with family goals, personal goals, work out goals and business goals.

Setting my yellow notebook aside, I accomplished my goal of running a half marathon and I was so so blessed beyond my wildest dreams in my business. Our family grew and this year was such a year of deep growth for Drew and I.
Needles to say 2012 carried on without ever having to look back at my yellow notepad.

This year I jotted a few things down in my journal that I would love to work on in my life (for example. pray more, read more, spend more time reading to my kids...ya know) but I really want 2013 to simply be another rich year. Full of growth. Full of laughter. Of tears that teach us lessons and falling downs that teach us to get up better each time.

My kids teach me so much each day. They teach me how to love. They teach me how to have fun. They teach me how to laugh...how to cry. They make me want to be better. How great is the gift of parenthood? Really... lets just bask here for a moment.

Me and my Cruz

Daddy arrived on Christmas morning.

Silly Boy...

We've been off to a rough start as far as being sick in 2013

loved spending time with Ross and Kam over the Holidays...

Sick girl...again.

My little artist ;) "I paint mommy??"

I am so excited with what 2013 has to hold and I hope I can look back and feel even richer in love then I do today.