2015. New outlook. New goals.

"Home is wherever I'm with you..."

Christmas time and New Years are always a wonderful time to reflect on your life. I typically spend time gazing at the tree, writing cliche resolutions or goals for the new year. This year was different. Christmas Eve I got to thinking about life and all of our blessings, but also all of our complaints or excuses. I didn't write our typical New Years resolutions, because they weren't important to me. I spent time praying. I spent time focusing on my husband and our dog, plus their needs, but also the needs of my kids at work and my wifely duties. I found myself focusing on the real meaning of Christmas and the real blessing of Him. It helped me to put our life into perspective & see how much the good out weighs the bad.

 I realized I spend a lot of my mornings drinking my coffee, driving to work and dreaming. Sometimes I get so involved in planning out our week, month, baby nurseries, DREAM house and future plans that I get lost. I lose track of what is real. I lose sight of the present. I miss the moments that matter now. 

It sometimes takes me quiet moments staring at a Christmas tree or the peaceful silence of nap time at work to wake me up and realize the blessing that NOW has to offer us. A home is not about the appearance, space or value. It's about the memories you create in it with the ones you love. Christmas isn't about the presents, santa or the snow. It's about Jesus and all he has done for us. Life is meant to be a journey and a walk with Jesus. I don't know about you, but this isn't our "home" forever. Heaven is our goal, so why put so much thought into the feelings of others and try to constantly please this world and the people in it?

Today I am thankful for these simple reminders, our current home and everyday blessings.

Becoming the Roberts: Living room revealed

       

DUN DUN DUN... onto images of our actual living room. Here's our reveal:

This is the basic layout of our living room from left to right, while standing in the kitchen. We were going to paint the wall with the window on it, too, however we decided that'd be a bit much for the small room. Our apartment offers a bay window with wooden ledge in each unit rather than a patio or balcony. We love this, because it allows a lot of light into the apartment, but also the freedom to close the blinds if we're not in the mood for daylight at that given moment. There is a horrible glare on the TV if we leave the window open, due to them being directly across from each other. Disclaimer: I didn't pose Juno in any of these images. He seems to hate having his picture taken when I want to take, but loves to photo bomb shots I don't want him to be in - thanks Jubuggy.

LIVING ROOM ACCENTS AND DESCRIPTIONS

Upper left hand corner: This image is my absolute favorite! It gives you an idea of the wall color we choose, along with a bunch of items that have tons and tons of meaning to us. The upper left hand corner was a gift from my grandmother the day before our wedding. It reads "Greg & Kristin 09-21-13". She captured my heart with this piece as it's extremely vintage and it has the golden metal as words. The upper right hand corner was a piece I had purchased online from a crafter, and had a lady at church redo the writing. It speaks a lot about who we are and how we put all of our trust into Jesus. Bottom left: This is my main inspiration for this entire room. This is from our collection of engagement images from Danah Zoulek photography. We shot them at Old Falls Village in my hometown which is a country western restored park that allows children to see what the olden days were about, & last but surely not least - our last name on a wooden plaque with gold nails and yellow yarn. OBSESSED! Not only does it have my three favorite materials but its original to us and our marriage. This is the main focal point when walking into our apartment. 

Upper right hand corner: The table that has the beautiful decorations is being replaced with the table I posted at the beginning of this entry. The tulips are a gift from Greg on Easter, the golden candle (Micheal's) in the hurricane vase (Signature Homestyles) is our unity candle from out wedding. The white stand (Hobby Lobby) holding the large white melted fake candle (gift from our wedding) was also used as a part of our unity candle. The Owl that is a part of our entertainment stand was purchased from Micheal's, too. I had two [one big and one small] but gifted the other to my mother for helping with out move this past March. She loved it, as do I.

Bottom row: The brown boxes will be stacked next to the side table [beginning of entry] when we get it and the owl and lamp will make it's way on top. The owl I got as a gift for our wedding, and the boxes I bought for $1/box at Michael's craft store. They hold our wedding keepsakes and photos we printed and don't want to forget. I absolutely love pulling them out during long days and going through each of them to relive memories of our marriage and engagement. I plan to get a new box for every single year. The lamp is from target and can hold anything in the bottom. I chose to place these small wooden balls in them because we have yet to go on vacation to a beach where we can collect sand and seashells. We'll replace the wooden balls when we make it to a beach. This lamp was $34 at Target, but $29 with my cartwheel app. The rug that's in the middle underneath the table is a $150 Nate Burkus rug that I scored on clearance for $22.00 one busy afternoon at Target. My bestie and I made a trip to goodwill later that day and saw another one on their floor as a Target reject for $75! I think I got mighty lucky when I scored this baby for our living room.

This is the cabinet that holds our 20 gallon fish tank compliments of our best friends Nicole & Jason. We got the cabinet at Target and it's been sturdy enough to hold the fish tank and showcase our belongings on the bottom. The white basket behind the Showboat picture is holding a ton of fish food, fish receipts and fish tank cleaner ;) - and the Showboat thingy has a picture from our honeymoon inside of it. The awesome yarn rhino is from Target and was a gift from our wedding. He stands on top of all of our diploma's as a symbol to me that you can defeat anything, school and tuition payments included. The bottom shelf showcases an owl I scored for $3 at Bath and Body works, a vessel holding sand and sells from our honeymoon and a wooden sign that I bought of groopdealz.com shortly before our wedding. I love the saying "have a thankful heart".

There is also a close up of the owl with this grouping of pictures that sits in our TV stand. If you can't already tell by this post that my favorite colors happen to be yellow and real and I've got an obsession with owls, then you need to get your head checked, haha.

We love our living room and feel it discribes and fits us perfectly at this point in our lives. It will grow with us and it will surely allow for changes as we add members to our family and change with the seasons. I can't wait to see it decorated for fall or Christmas, but my husband is quick to remind me to have a thankful heart and not get ahead of myself in wishing away time we have today.

We'd like to take a minute to thank the many people who have taken time our of their day to help with decorating, moving and cleaning our apartment over the last two months. Our move wouldn't have been possible without you. I'd also like to thank the many people that supported us in our marriage and on our wedding day. We love you and are blessed daily by each and everyone on of you. Please check back soon to see more awesome apartment reveals. Enjoy your rainy Tuesday friends! We'll be posting our bedroom reveal on Thursday and our bathroom and kitchen reveal on for Five on Friday! 

I'll give you a hint as what to expect....

teal, lots more teal :P    .

xox the Roberts

Decisions decisions decisions...

OUR NEW COUCH IS HERE!!!!! I can't wait for the apartment reveal to show it to you... so I'm showing you now! However, I need your opinions on side tables and a new center table. I've searched high and low for what I want and I finally stumbled upon some I love on the Walmart webpage.

Here's our new couch...
Yes, I'm hiding the wall decor and the rest of the room until the reveal (which is this MONDAY!).

And here's where you come into play. These are the end tables/side tables I have to choose between - as they're the only ones that fit our style and are in our budget. Ones a cobblestone gray (which most of the living room decor is shades of brown), one is a rainwater blue green and the other is a yellow. I'm struggling to decide because they'd all look good in this room. A friend suggested one of each, but I think that might be overboard. Your thoughts? :)

Here's a few close ups of the colors:

Post a comment with your thoughts and I'll wait to purchase until probably next Friday! Thank you!!!

xox the Roberts

Something 'bout a T R U C K

My husband and I had been having lots of problems with our truck. He's taken all the coworker mechanics advice and decided to finally sell it and start on a new project. Project trucks are Gregs absolute FAVORITE. He searched high and low for a 1994-1996 Chevy Silverado with a solid engine, back seat and solid transmission. He finally found one and immediately listed his truck for sale. Within 2 days his truck sold for more than he was asking, or what it was worth.....THAT'S GOD!

Gregs new truck?  Here "she" is....as he'd say ;)

She's solid and she will need work on the body, but that's right up his alley. The muffler is loud and the tires are new. The interior fabric on the roof will also need to be fixed. We're pretty proud of her.

I'll update you with pictures as we do more work on it :)

xo The Roberts

Recipe: Salsa Pineapple Chicken

As I psoted in my last entry, my husband and I moved into our own place on March 1st, 2014 and we're thrilled to have our own space and the ability to cook dinner. Our busy schedules only allow us to cook together on Sundays, but we pick out crock pot freezer meals and prep them together, too. This is one of our absolute favorites and so easy to prep and execute on a busy day.

CROCK POT SALSA PINEAPPLE CHICKEN:

Ingredients:

1 16 once jar of pace salsa (we prefer medium, but you could use any)

1 jar of pineapple preserves

4-6 pieces of boneless chicken breasts

Ingredients for the garnishing:

Shredded cheese

Sour cream

Avacado

Combine salsa, preserves and chicken in the crock pot for 4 hours on high. Shred the chicken and serve with tortilla chips and your choice of garnishes. Easy peezy and completely delicious. 

Enjoy :)

MOVING

This past Saturday we've moved into our new apartment and we do have internet, however I won't be updating much this week due to the move. However, I am putting together a crock pot challenge for you mama's who are working with young kids, or newlywed's who struggle to get dinner on the table when you're working a long day. Stay tuned for more details on the crock pot challenge and images of our new apartment.

Winter colds

We've been fighting some real nasty sicknesses in this house for the last 2-3 weeks. I had bronchitis and Gregs been dealing with a horrible cold. It's causing him to not be able to hear at the moment. I think we're finally on our way uphill (and if we're not we're taking a trip to the doctor before the week is over to finally kill these nasty bugs). I will not be dealing with anymore of this crud this winter, after we've added many vitamins to our weekly intake. We've had our fair share of sickness, and we're donso. It's no longer welcome here ;)

I feel like everything is finally falling into place with our little family and can't wait to update you all on it, however, you're going to have to wait a bit for that update. My macbook charger broke last week and I'm waiting on my new one. Updating from my phone sucks.

Hope you're all doing well.

xo the Roberts

Goodbye 2013. Hello 2014.

*** I've added a new layout. In order to see the whole update you must first click where the text is to bring it up, if you don't then you're missing out on some amazing pictures and deets :)

Well... we're saying goodbye to a fantastic year. Goodbye 2013. HELLO 2014! Although 2013 had many challenges, it was equally one of the best years of our lives. We've drawn closer to God, Greg finished COLLEGE and we're MARRIED!

We had TWO engagement shoots. Spring and Fall. 

I think it's safe to say we love our dog wayyyy too much.

We went to our first Bucks, Packers and Badgers game this year.

We did the ALS walk for one of our best friends Dads.

We got married on September 21st, 2013.

We went on the annual Goose Cruise and had a blast!

This guy, Juno, turned 3! December 03, 2013.

AND GREG GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE.

(Pictures pending as his graduation ceremony isn't until June 2014).

We're looking forward to 2014. I know this will be a year of answers for my never ending health problems and I know we're in the beginning stages of moving into our own place. We eventually want to add another puppy to our family. We're happy, healthy (well...as much I can be) and ready! Bring it on New Year.

Before I leave you... I wanted to share a money challenge we're doing. I challenge you to do it, too.

 Are you interested in watching your savings account grow? We've diminished ours due to the wedding so rebuilding it is crucial right now. Here's the chart we're using. I've also taken a screen shot of the savings account balance with the weeks of 1 and 2 transferred into the account.

Best of luck! 

xoxo the Roberts

Christmas with the Roberts 2013.

This is our first married Christmas! Can you believe it? We've been married 3 months as of 12/21/2013. Lots has happened....

I've tried many new dishes, including peppermint dip (I'll include the recipe for you all!). We've also tried many different chili recipes and other crock pot extravaganza's. I'm actually on the hunt for some corck pot freezer meals and would love if you shared some of your favorites. I'm planning on starting to coupon again, and building a stockpile is my number one New Years resolution this year.

Due to the busyness of this holiday, we haven't had the time to send out all of our Christmas cards. I wrote out a good majority of them, but hand making them, during one of the busiest times of the year, was a challenge I wasn't ready to embark on. I wasn't as into Christmas this year as I have been in the past years. Partially because we don't have our own place yet, and partially because we just got done planning one of the biggest days of our lives and we didn't have the energy or the time to make it super special. Greg's parents also aren't around this holiday as his youngest brother got a MAKE A WISH to FL for the holidays! We're so excited for him. I am however excited for the New Year, and to send out our many thank you cards we're getting printed the day after Christmas :) If you attended our wedding, sent a gift or helped in any way - please keep an eye on your mailbox! They shall be arriving around the end of JAN 2014.

Here's a look at this years Christmas card:

Our plans this Christmas? We typically spend Christmas EVE with my dads side of the family, however this Christmas we're just spending it with my dad, stepmom and siblings. It'll be nice. Greg has to work until NOON, but after that we'll head out to my dads for a good meal and family time. Christmas day - that's a day we're spending with my MOM, sisters and Grandmother. It'll be filled with laughs, food and fun times. I'd love to share with you what I got everyone, but I can't YET - as they'll see this posting.

I've been off work since Friday. I've got lots of cleaning, wrapping and cooking to do. I'm glad for this mini break - as it's almost as good as the mini vacation I wish I was embarking on, lol. It also makes the FOOT of snow we got a bit easier to handle ;)

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
xox the Roberts

Introduction

Hey ya'll.

I'm Kristin, and happily married to my husband Gregory. We got married on 09/21/2013 and our technically considered "newlyweds" even though we've been together 5.5 years ;) He's my soulmate and the best decision I've made thus far in my life. Gregory (but we'll refer to him as Greg) is a fisherman and mechanic. As for me, I'm a teacher but going back to school for business management. 

 

As I said, Greg and I have been together for 5.5 years. We've already expanded our family. We've got a husky/lab mix. His name is Juno. He'll be 3 on December 3rd, 2013. He's spunky, loves to play at the park with his 'puppy friends' and will do just about anything for a 'cookie' aka as a treat. He can do tricks and will most likely be starting therapy dog training within the next 2-3 months. After training/classes for therapy dogs of Wisconsin he'll be able to go with other dogs into hospitals and schools to teach kids about how to handle/play and respect a dogs personal space - as well as how good of a companion they can be despite what the media tells you.  We keep getting questions regarding if this training will require Juno to leave our home for long periods of time, or if he'll remain our pet his entire life - so to clear that up now, he's ours forever. He'll go through training and go into those environments by our sides. He's our boy and you'll learn quickly that we're kinda, maybe a little, obsessed.

As we are [ becoming the Roberts ] we will have many home cooked dinners, household and kids crafts, daily ramblings, as well as our daily journey about following Jesus Christ. Eventually, there will be little baby Roberts (after I finish school, unless God's got a different plan) and the purchasing of our first home. I'll do the Labels going so it's easy for you to track updates you'll be interested in through this entire journey. We're excited to start our family blog and can't wait for you to see the amazing recipe I cooked up for this evening! Check back for details!

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xoxo. k & g roberts.