House Warming gifts!

We have been steady home improving and unpacking little by little.  It is so different trying to unpack a whole house as opposed to a tiny apartment.  Add the fact that we are changing the house while we unpack & all our wedding gifts we just got from storage and it equals a huge project.

That's why we were so happy to have it all almost done in time for Ed's Dad and step mom to come up form Florida and see it.  We had a great family BBQ and got to eat on THOR (what my mom named our new dining room table).  We made crab legs & shrimp!  Yum!  We learned a new way to cook them by just placing them on the grill instead of steaming them.  Also, a little olive oil on the shrimp (still in their shells) and you can put them in a pan on the grill too!  Quick and easy.  My mom made her BLTS no bread.  You take tomatoes (the oval shaped ones) scoop them out and fill with lettuce and bacon and top with a yummy sauce that is slightly like thousand island. 

Our nieces had never tried crab and assumed they'd hate it so we made them chicken.  Our youngest niece requested "plain white chicken not made of crab" hahah.  Our 2 oldest nieces tried the crab and the shrimp and are now hooked! woohoo!

Ed's dad and step mom gave use a wonderful housewarming gift! We are using it for our fire pit & chairs and our back splash for the kitchen (we had another gift card as a rebate from when my aunt purchased our washer/dryer).  This back splash is no grout needed which makes the job so simple. We chose a stainless steel one for above the sink to add a little pop, but still match the stainless steel behind the stove.

                                   Ed is setting up our fire pit tomorrow.  Smores here we come!

We have had fun additions popping up in our home this week!  We got a new laundry mat & our canvas prints came in. We were really excited to use one to cover the ugly old "weather station" we had in the house.  Now no one is the wiser.

Only a few more weeks until our big housewarming with all of our family and friends.  It should be a wonderfully fun time!  One of our #1 "must haves" when searching for a home was one that we could entertain everyone in.  This house meets that criteria and now we are ready to put it to use!