Happy Mother's Day! And lights....

This weekend went by entirely too fast. It started off with a low-key, relaxing Friday night at home watching basketball and a 10:30pm bedtime. We are officially an old married couple.

My dad came to Austin for Mother's Day and offered to help us hang our new kitchen light fixture on Saturday! The reason we really needed help was because the original location wasn't centered over our kitchen table, so the new light required us to cut a new hole, relocate the electrical, and then patch the old hole. I completely forgot to take "before" pictures in the kitchen, but "luckily" (not really) the area outside the bedrooms had (notice past tense!) the same fixture, so I snapped one of it:

Nelson was such a good student and paid close attention to my dad's lessons on wiring the electricity, measuring the new holes, cutting the holes, etc. The kitchen was just a little messy :)

We had to make a run to The Home Depot to get some wiring stuff (don't ask me). While the guys shopped for their items, I decided to get some stuff I've had on my list. I walked past the lighting aisle and just had to walk down it. I ended up finding exactly what I've been wanting for the light above the sink (same fixture as dining room/hallway, except one light instead of three) and the perfect replacement light for the hallway! My dad said we would have to wait for the mud to dry, so I figured the only thing to do while we wait is hang more fixtures! Nelson is such a wonderful husband for letting me get them both :) When we got home, we rewired the electricity and put on a layer of mud (to patch the hole).

Lindsay, Ben, and Jackson came over so we could take a little break and play! This guy obviously loves his Aunt Holly, am I right?

After they left, we (no, sorry, the guys) got back to work! They hung the fixture over the sink...

... and, after dinner, they hung the hall light:

Unfortunately, the mud didn't dry by that night or the next morning.

On Sunday morning, Nelson and I went to church with my mom and then headed up to Round Rock to spend the afternoon with Lindsay and her in-laws. They have a beautiful backyard and the perfect back patio to lounge around on and stay cool on.

Everyone had fun playing with their favorite little guy - me, Lindsay, and Uncle Josh (Ben's brother):

As you can see, Jackson is very difficult to take pictures with. He's becoming more observant with the things around him, so it's hard to get his attention, let alone keep it, and then get him to smile. At one point, we finally got him to smile and everyone cheered, which scared him so badly that he started screaming. 

There was one huge milestone that happened at Mother's Day lunch: Nelson held his nephew for the first time!!! Jackson had just eaten so was in the best mood, Nelson was sitting on the porch watching the basketball game, and Lindsay caught him off guard and plopped Jackson in his lap! I grabbed my camera and documented the moment :)

Again, too difficult to get both boys to smile.

On our way home, my dad informed us that the patching was complete, he'd textured the ceiling, and Nelson was a certified fixture-hanger and could do it himself - my dad was headed back to Houston! So we went home and got back to work:

After we put all the furniture back, vacuumed, and mopped, I got pictures of all of our new fixtures. Here's the kitchen (don't mind the patched spot that needs painting and plastic on the shade until we paint):

Here's the sink (don't mind me in the window):

And the hall light on and off:

We hope y'all had a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all of our special moms <3

Birthday Week

This past week was spent celebrating birthdays! Lindsay turned 29 on May 1, but we celebrated with my mom the day before so that she could celebrate with her own family on her real birthday :) My mom made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and a delicious Italian cream cake! We had fun talking, laughing, and telling stories about the past. Happy Birthday, Lindsay! You've been such a wonderful sister and friend, and now you're the greatest mom :) I love you!

We also went to a birthday party for someone in our small group. It was a little backyard party and they had decorated so beautifully! Balloons fastened to the ground led you to the backyard, there were white Chinese lanterns in the trees, we drank out of burlap-wrapped jars with cute straws, played croquet, listened to two guys play the guitar, and the food table was super cute:

Happy happy birthday, Jessica! I hope you have a wonderful year!

This, that, and everything in between.

It's been difficult staying up-to-date on the blog. And no way do we do interesting stuff to tell you about daily. So here is my March and April photo dump. Get ready for some pictures of the cutest little boy in town (and, no, not Nelson - he's the cutest grown boy in town)!

I try not to bother the new parents too much so they can spend quality time together when Ben's off work, but here are some cute snapshots I got when we hung out. Please note that we're matching and it wasn't even planned :)

I stayed in Austin to spend Easter with my mom (and Jackson, of course) and Nelson went to Houston to be with his mom (both his sister and dad were out of town). My mom and I went to Lindsay and Ben's church so that we could see Jackson in his adorable Easter outfit that I bought.

Unfortunately, when we got back to my mom's for Easter dinner, Jackson had a pretty bad blow-out. To make matters worse, Lindsay forgot to pack an extra outfit. Luckily Aunt Holly had another Easter present for her favorite nephew that fit pretty well (even though it was 4 months bigger). Aunt Holly saves the day!

Beth and I signed up for another BYOB painting class in March. We had so much fun talking, painting, and drinking leftover wine from the wedding :) We painted an Austin backdrop and both think this turned out better than the poppies.

Something news worthy that happened at the Chang's is... I got a new job! After working a little more than two years at Accruent, I felt it was time to take my knowledge and experience some place where I could grow professionally. I cleaned out my desk at Accruent on April 12 and started my new career as a Marketing Specialist at 21CT on April 17! It's still a software company, but they specialize in "security analytics and visualization" software. In other words, cyber security. Most of the customers are government agencies, but they're learning this software can be applied in a number of other industries. As a brand new department this year (they've been established for around ten years), it's an exciting time to join their team!

You might notice I had a couple days between the two jobs. I didn't want to switch mid-week, so I took some days to hang out with this little guy:

After seeing Jackson's poor closet pretty empty (because he's grown so fast!), I convinced Nelson it was our duty as Aunt and Uncle to buy him another outfit. I also let Nelson pick it out. So this is what he got:

I think it's safe to say Jackson loves his new work-out clothes!

Since Nelson and I bought the house, we've done quite a bit of yard work. The back yard is still in progress, but I'm happy to announce that we have finished the front yard (thus far)! I didn't take any before pictures, but I did a nice print screen from Google Street View with some editing :)

Front of House Before:

Front of House After:

We ripped out all of the over-grown bushes, planted new ones, and added some flowers. We're also trying to save the dying grass in the bottom corner. Here's a close up (for those of you who care):

We also worked with our neighbors and replaced the shared bed. They agreed it was too over-grown and we couldn't see when backing out of the drive-way. We both picked out plants we wanted (that were drought-resistant and liked sun), split the costs, and got together one morning to plant everything. Again, I didn't have a before, so worked my skillz so you could compare.

Shared Bed Before:

Shared Bed After:

During my two days of "fun-employment", my mom, Lindsay, and I decided to go see G's new headstone. None of us have been to the cemetery since her funeral, so we thought it would be good to have each other's support while out there. And it definitely helped taking Jackson with us, too. We know that G loves him so much and is his designated guardian angel (by choice), and she would be so happy knowing we took him to see her. We even took a picture, which could be viewed as strange, but we know that G would love it :)

Lastly, Nelson and I went to a wedding (one of many that we have this year) in Kyle. The couple was from our Nearly/Newly-Wed class. It was fun hanging out with everyone from our small group and dancing. Congratulations, Megan and Travis!

I hope you've been having a wonderful Spring and are getting ready for the heat of Summer!