So, if you follow us on Snapchat (Katelyn Alsop), you’ve already seen A LOT of our secret project. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this project has been a little consuming over the last 6 months!! Before I get into the “project” side of this announcement, let me first explain the story. If you’ve followed me for a few years, you know that we have a deep love for family outings on the boat and RV’ing. We grew up traveling in a camper together as a family because we really couldn’t afford to take a family of five to a decent hotel for a week.
However, as we all got older and one by one the kids started to graduate from high school, we realized that our camping days were slowing coming to an end. Don’t get me wrong, we still have a few camping trips here and there but the reality is, our schedules are hard to align. So, my parents sold their motorhome and bought a used boat! We LOVED the boat!!!! It was the BEST THING EVER because we could all drive and meet at the river or a lake and just hangout together for one day! It was the perfect way to have fun together without having to commit to being gone for a week! So, that quickly became our family’s “thing”. We would all call and text and try to make plans to “go out on the boat” as much as humanly possible!!
Then, life started to change AGAIN. Michael had always been around but then all of a sudden my sister was married and corey had a girlfriend and all EIGHT of us were trying to fit on a tiny little boat. I’m pretty sure we were over the weight capacity!! So we upgraded to another used boat that would hold our growing family and we loved spending full days out on the water. We would pack lunches and coolers with fruit and water so that we could stay out on the water as long as possible! We loved it.
Our FAVORITE thing to do was drive the boat around a lake and just dream about what it would be like to actually have a HOUSE on a lake one day. I mean, how awesome would it be to have a place to pull our boat up to and be able to run in to use the bathroom?!!! When you just have a boat, you don’t have the luxury of stopping for lunch on the dock or using the bathroom! We spent YEARS having a BLAST boating together as a family and it honestly never gets old!! A few years ago we started casually looking and dreaming about small lots. It was fun to dream about having a FAMILY SPOT but we knew that it would probably always be just that…. a dream.
Well, after a crazy series of events, Michael and I found ourselves looking at a tiny, undeveloped piece of land on Lake Gaston back in January. We sold our first house and we were looking to make a little real estate investment on the water but we knew that it wouldn’t be more than a little lot of land and we would be lucky if it even had a dock. We looked at some lots that would require about 5 flights of stairs in order to ever access the water and we knew that it just wasn’t right. After a discouraging tour of lots, our realtor made a last-ditch effort to show us one more property. We pulled into the driveway of a tiny house on a gorgeous lot and we immediately knew that it was going to be out of the question. We were actually kind of MAD that he even wasted his time bringing us to a lot with a HOUSE because that was NOT in the plan.
As we walked into this little fixer-upper, our hearts started to soften towards the property. I don’t know what it was but it was almost like we could immediately see through the 70’s shag carpet, the popcorn ceilings and the uneven trim. This place had potential!!! However, we still didn’t have the budget for it and so on our own, it was once again just a dream. However, what I didn’t share was that my parents just happened to randomly decide to go on this road trip with us!! I really don’t know HOW this happened. I think I just mentioned that we were going to look at some land just for fun and they wanted to join!!!
As we were walking around this little olive green house with so many flaws, Michael and I weren’t the only ones who saw the potential in it. My parents were in love with it too. I remember Momma standing on the back deck of the house and whispering to me “KK, I really like this place!”. About 6 weeks later we were all back in the Lake Gaston area signing papers together on a little lake house that needed a lot of love. We officially co-own a family lake house. It may not be perfect or huge or in mint condition but our family’s dreams CAME TRUE this year. We spent every free moment of the last 5 months working on this family project and I can’t wait to show you the final product one day when it’s done!!!
On memorial day weekend, our whole family was together for the very first time at our little lake house. Michael and I drove STRAIGHT to the lake after a wedding and arrived at 2:30am but we made sure we were up at 8am so that we could see my sister and brother-in-law’s first reaction to the view! It’s the most beautiful view!!!! We loved every moment of our family time together that weekend. Several times throughout the weekend my mom would say to me “Can you believe this is REAL? We have a place of our own?!”. Like I said before, this was always just a dream that no one ever thought would become a reality for us. It’s not fancy but it’s perfect for us. It’s not huge but it’s already full of such sweet family memories just from one little weekend together!!
We are so very thankful for this blessing and we can’t wait to share it with others. I think we already had friends staying at the house before it was really even suitable for over-night guests! We ate breakfast and sat in the living room surrounded by power tools and scaffolding!! We realize that this space didn’t become a reality for just our family to enjoy. We hope that decades from now we can look back and see how this property brought so much joy to so many people’s lives.
We aren’t nearly done with the renovation but we have decided to gradually share bits and pieces of this project on our Home Made for Hosting Instagram account AND on Snapchat when we’re down there!! Up until now it’s been this little secret that we haven’t shared about but we’re hoping that through our renovation journey, we’ll be able to help some others who are fixing up their own space!!
You can follow us on Snapchat with this code: katelynalsop
And you can follow our Home Made for Hosting Instagram account HERE!
We’re not sharing any pictures of it yet but we do have some pretty hilarious pics from our Memorial Day weekend that will be thoroughly entertaining to scroll through!! Enjoy these images and ps. If you remember me sharing about my sister’s little puppy from a few months ago, you’re not going to BELIEVE how BIG he has gotten! HOLY COW!!! You can follow his Instagram HERE!!!!
Ps. I failed to mention this above but it’s a CRUCIAL part of the story! What I didn’t share was that this property is literally TWO DOORS DOWN from a lake house that belongs to the family of one of my COLLEGE ROOMMATES and dearest friends!!! We already go on vacations with Josh and Mandy and now we can have permanent vacations with them!! We’re so thankful to have such amazing friends who know the ropes down there at the lake and look out for us!!! Poes, we’re thankful for you!!!
Also… it was Shuba’s (my sister’s massive puppy) first time swimming!!!!
Happy pup!!!
The boys love this SO much!!!
Shuba is such a cutie!
And THIS is why my family has always gone to the Chiropractor!
Learning to be buds! :)
And this is what a summer sunset looks like from the dock!
Thanks for reading!
— Katelyn
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