Our House Remodeling...Before and After!

We have now been living in our house for about 7 weeks and we are loving it. We ended up remodeling a lot more than we ever expected but I'm so glad we did it before Tru entered the world. We did move when I was 36 weeks pregnant and I was so anxious to getting in and settled. They talk about nesting the last trimster and I wanted to so badly but had to wait until we moved in. Chet learned so much during the remodel! Our family friend, Glen, helped us every step of the way. They did all new plumbing, some electrical, new sub floors in certain rooms, one new bathroom, all new kitchen, got rid of tons of mold and leaks and so much more. We still have the upstairs bathroom to finish but we're so blessed to be in it now! Here's some photos of before and after...

Our Truman Jeffrey Todd

Our perfect little Truman was born on January 23rd at 8:28pm. He is 18.5 inches long and weighed 6lbs. He is our little angel baby and we are SO in love! The labor and delivery went great! I started some contractions at home around 3pm and called my midwife around 4:30. She said it's time to head to the hospital and we got there at 5pm and had Tru at 8:28pm. It was very fast and there was no rest time in between contractions but I'd rather have it that way and shorter. I went completely natural and I highly recommend other mommies to try it. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced but so worth it in the end. The jacuuzi tub and water tub helped tremendously! Also having a great coach makes a world of a difference. Chet was the best coach ever! He helped me every step of the way and I seriously couldn't have done it without him. We are home and enjoying every second of Tru. We love being parents and are so blessed by our Creator! Thank you Lord for our Tru.

Most amazing carrot cake!

This is the carrot cake recipe that my family has been making for year! Most of the family friends know about it and remember it because it is that good. I decided to share with you all!

You don't want to make this very often because it is not that healthy carrot cake, but it is delicious. Save it for special occasions. I most recently made it for a work pot luck. It is perfectly moist and delicious. I am a HUGE cream cheese frosting fan as well and this has crushed pineapple in the frosting. Oh so yummy!

Carrot Cake Ingredients:

1-3⁄4 cup canola oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1⁄2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups shredded carrots
1⁄2 cup crushed pineapple

Frosting Ingredients:
1 – 8 oz pkg cream cheese (softened)
3 cups powdered sugar
1⁄4 cup crushed pineapple

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350
2. Grease and flour 9x12 pan. Mix oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add in flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add carrots and pineapple.
3. Pour in pan and bake 35-40 minutes.
4. Mix all ingredients for cream cheese frosting.
5. Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting.

I forgot to take a picture of the whole cake, so here is a picture of one left over piece. Enjoy!

~Court

Back at it!

It has been several months since my {this is Courtney} last post. So long that I am scared to even go back and look when that was—so I am not going to!

These past few months have been absolutely crazy and amazing! God is so good. 

Here is a quick re-cap through photos. 

Nick and I took a long road trip to Montana, which was amazing, beautiful, relaxing and so much fun. 

I will do a separate post specifically about our trip to Montana and visiting with Roo and Chet.  

This picture above is Glacier National Park. 

We have had several family members visit us. 

Grandma, Em, Dad and Chris visited us in the fall!

Mom and Dad Parsons also visited us in the fall. 

This is probably my favorite picture from the week they were here. 

We spent Thanksgiving at a deer camp in Texas with Chris, Mom, Ron and a bunch of the Runnels crew. Nick got quite a bit of hunting time in. 

I traveled to California in early December for my sister's baby shower! And it was so much fun. 

While in California I finally got to meet my dearest friend Courtney's little girl, Reese K. 

She is precious.

Mom and Ron braved the cold and the ice storm to join us in Tulsa for my birthday. She even brought me a Nothing Bundt Cake and it was amazing! You should try it sometime. 

Christmas was super! We did not go anywhere and we absolutely loved it. On Christmas day we made a BIG delicious meal for the two of us and feasted on it for several days after. 

We celebrated New Years Eve with dinner and drinks with friends. We were home and in bed by midnight! haha. 

Starting the new year off right!

Somewhere in between the posts above we had lots of snow! This is our house a few days after the snow, we got a pretty good amount. 

My adorable nephew made his entrance into the world on January 23, 2014. 

Truman Jeffrey Todd 

{I'm sure Corynne with post more later}

Lastly, the reason I have not been posting much the past few months is because I have been studying for a big exam. I am a member of the Society for Marketing Professional Services and I took the CPSM (Certified Professional Services Marketer) Exam this last week followed by the Southern Regional Conference. It has been a rough couple of months preparing for the exam, but I am relieved it is over. 

Hopefully I will have some good news in the next few weeks!

Hope you enjoyed my recap of the past few months!

-Court