One room at a time...

We have lived in our house for 5 years already. I really can't believe it has been that long. When we moved in our house was a blank canvas with white walls and mocha trim. Since then we have gone room-by-room, as the budget allows, doing what we can to make it "ours."

Last May we decided it was time to finish our laundry/bathroom downstairs. It got kind of old having to run up 2 flights of stairs to get to the bathroom all the time. Especially with our guest room being downstairs. I always felt so bad for those that stayed with us.

It was supposed to be a super easy project (as all projects are) and cost around $1500. Instead it lasted 2 months and cost around $2300. We finished it hours before all of Shad's family came to visit during the 4th of July weekend. I'm surprised the paint was even dry!

This was definitely a learning experience for both of us. I learned that you have to be prepared to compromise, most anything can be found on youtube, and that you need to be really good at keeping your mouth shut while your husband works. Construction is hard on any marriage but especially when you do the work yourself. I have to admit, I seriously doubted Shad's abilities going into this, but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. It's not perfect, but it is pretty close and he learned SO much during the whole process. He did the entire thing himself with the help of some expert advice from a few family members and friends (including all of the many borrowed tools). My husband is now an electrician, a plumber, a tiler, a painter, a framer, a sheet rocker, and a mudder/taper, just to name a few. This really was a great project for him to learn how to do so many things.

It was a difficult room to arrange since we had to work around the laundry. I insisted on having the washer and dryer in a closet because they are so ugly and I wanted it to feel more like a bathroom than a laundry room since I only use them once a week. It is tight (meaning the washer and dryer BARELY fit out the doors) but it works. It was also tight because Shad insisted on having a walk-in shower. However, the fact that he showers in it every morning made the fight over it legit. I think he has a love affair with that shower after all the work he put into it.

So without further adieu... the pictures that I have been promising for months...

Your first view of the bathroom from the door. You can't tell in the pictures but Shad textured ALL of the walls and did a dang good job! It also hid a lot of the learning mistakes along the way :)

The hallway to the shower/toilet/sink

The hallway from the other direction (the door in this picture leads to our crawl space.)

Laundry doors shut

Laundry doors open (still need a rod for my hanging laundry)

The entrance to Shad's shower (that's right, no door! It wraps around)

The huge shower head that Shad loves so much.

The slate tile floor in the shower. Shad fought very hard for this. It was an added expense, but I'm very glad we did it because it really adds a lot to the bathroom.

The vanity. We scored big on the solid surface countertop. It was a remnant that worked perfectly with our space. We had to have it offset for the plumbing. It only cost us $65 from a granite place here in town. We also found a light fixture to match the existing ones in our house. Turns out it was discontinued and we got the last one.

The toilet "nook."

Linen nook complete with interesting magazines for your reading pleasure.

These are the posters that I have hanging on the walls. I had to post them because they are one of my favorite parts of the bathroom. They are actual ads ripped out of a 1952 "Ladies Home Journal." I got them as a wedding present and saved them just for this purpose. I love them! You can't see all of the funny things they say, you will just have to take my word that they are hilarious! I can't believe people used to think this way about women! I'm still looking for more vintage knick-nacks to match.

So that is the bathroom in a nutshell. I hope you got a feel for what it would feel like to really walk through it. We still have the guest room to finish. I think we will have to wait a few years to recover from finishing the bathroom first.

Since moving in we have also worked hard on decorating other rooms, but not anything like we did in the bathroom. Painting is a much easier process than construction. I am adding pictures of the boys rooms that we have done in the last two years, requested by my sis-in-law Aubrey. 

Miracle of Miracles!

Back in August we went on a family vacation to North Carolina. Some of you may remember this post describing in detail all of the things that we lost on our vacation and then found....everything except for our video camera. 

Well.....after 2 months of sleepless nights and thinking over and over again about how I should have grabbed the camera on our way out the plane...our video camera has been found once again! This camera is one lucky camera to have been found twice in connection with this vacation. The first time we lost it in a crowded bathroom at Wilmington beach and then again on our flight home. 

Seriously every night I would lay awake thinking about this camera and wondering if there was anything more that I could do to find it. I thought surely if someone took it they would see the two years worth of video of my children and have the heart to turn it in. After filing a report there was nothing else I could do but sit and wait to see if someone found it. On a crazy whim one day, after two months of no news, I decided to call the Southwest baggage claim in Dallas and give them a bit more information on the camera. I talked to a sweet lady who read the report back to me that I had given (or supposedly given). Turns out that they had the report in their computer as a BLACK camera when clearly my camera is RED! They had it sitting in their warehouse the whole time! So, they went through the process of making sure it really was mine and then FEDEX'ed it to my house. MIRACLE! I'm glad the spirit was working on me through the whole two months to get me to call them again. Kinda wished it wouldn't have taken me that long to finally listen!

Needless to say all of the video will be transferred to our computer and onto DVD's ASAP and our name and phone number will be engraved into this camera. I'm not taking any chances next time.

Applesauce

This year I decided to try my hand at applesauce. My friend Janese offered me a whole bushel of apples, and of course I took them! We aren't real big applesauce eaters (except for Jack), but I do substitute applesauce for vegetable oil in recipes quite frequently and we do like to make fruit leather with applesauce and kool-aid, so I think that this applesauce will be well used. I'm not quite sure what apples they were, but I'm guessing Jonagold or gala (they were red). They were quite a bit tart so I had to add a little bit of sugar to sweeten them up. A bushel of apples gave me 15 jars (and a bit in the fridge). It wasn't as hard as I thought, mostly because I borrowed an apple peeler/corer/slicer. It made the process so much more manageable. 

Jack was quite the little helper. I think a lot of the apples ended up with bruises, but when you're making applesauce, it's all good!

OCD or Genius?

This is the last thing that Haken did before he went to bed tonight. He made sure that I knew he was going to play with it in the morning so that I wouldn't clean it up. It is "all of the cars in the whole world" lined up to get a carwash. Just when I thought he couldn't think of anything else to line up, he did.

About a year and a half ago he became obsessed with lining things up. He lined up crayons, scrabble tiles, silverware, playing cards, letter magnets, Rummikub tiles, cookie cutters, basically anything that I had a lot of. I thought he had gotten over this phase since he kind of stopped doing it for a while...I was wrong. It seems like whenever football season starts he starts it back up again. He is constantly having all of his little game pieces make an interactive football game on the floor. Most of the time it is on the rug in my front room that has stripes making it look like a football field. The Rummikub tiles are the football players (he diligently counts out 11 players for each team), the magnet letters are usually the band and color guard during the half time show, and the scrabble pieces are the people in the stands (sitting on the stands from the Rummikub game). He came up with this all by himself! One day I was canning applesauce and he played this, by himself, for a solid 2 hours!

Just about ready to start one of his football games (see all the "people" lined up in the stands behind him) 

 Setting up for half time

The football players riding on a semi-truck in a parade to the football game. 

 The rest of these pictures were taken a year and half ago...not much has changed except for now the objects he lines up represent actual people and not just things. I love how his imagination has just exploded!

Primary Program

Yesterday was the primary program in our ward. It was Haken's very first primary program. The night before he was coughing like crazy, coming down with a bit of a cold...again. I was a little worried as he was coughing the whole morning nonstop before church, however, after a bit of medicine and a lot of praying, he got through the program without too much coughing. I considered having him stay home, but I couldn't bare the thought of him missing his first program after he had worked so hard at memorizing his part the last two weeks. He said his part absolutely perfect without any help. I was so proud of him! His part was:

"My favorite person in the scriptures is Nephi because he obeyed and built a ship. He teaches me that I should obey too."

He got to write his own part about his favorite person and picked Nephi. He did so great and didn't seem too nervous. Maybe after standing up in front of everyone on Sunday he will now be brave enough to go and bare his testimony. He has been talking about it for probably a year or so and we have told him he had to go up on his own. We will see how brave he gets in the next few months. He isn't too much into singing in front of people anymore, but he sure does love to talk (just like his daddy!) He is such a good little boy and surprises me everyday. Love you Haken!

September

We are only half way into September and already I feel like so much has happened. I really do love this time of year, even if it does get a bit more crazy with school starting and Shad getting back into his regular routine.

This year was especially fun because Haken started school as well! I wasn't expecting him to start until after Labor day as most preschools do around here, but then I looked at the letter from his teacher when we got home from our trip and realized that he started on the 1st of September. I was not really prepared after just getting home from our month long vacation! He goes in the afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursday's from 12:30-2:30. I wasn't excited about having to go in the afternoon because Haken still takes naps, but that was all that was left when I called. Needless to say he has been a little bit on the grouchy side the last few weeks, but we have adjusted. Some days he says he doesn't want to go and I feel like I am dragging him, but then he always has so much fun.

After the first day of school with the apple necklace he made. He wore it everywhere for a week or so. I think he likes that he got to use his VERY OWN scissors to cut it out.

I think Jack actually misses Haken while he is gone. It is so quiet at our house in the afternoon!

2 weeks ago we decided to go on a family bike ride. Jack is finally big enough to sit in the bike trailer we inherited from our neighbors a few year ago. However, it will be the last time we will use it because I have deemed it unsafe after having the fabric tear terribly after tightening the the shoulder straps to fit Jack. It worked for the bike ride that day but we will be looking for a new one for next year. Jack had a great time after we took his helmet off. I guess it was a bit heavy for his little neck. But he looked so stinkin' cute!

Doesn't he look like a little mushroom?!

The boys and I made a few trips into Brigham City to run errands. Of course we stopped at the park and had a little picnic. We need to live up this weather while we can!

Last Saturday we went to the Peach Days parade and fair in Brigham City. My mom and sister came up to enjoy the parade with us. Afterwards we met up with Cam and Lisa so Haken and Taylor could ride a few rides together. Haken has come a long way in the rides department this year. He wanted to go on all of the big rides instead of the kid ones. He loved the Dragon roller coaster a lot.

Eating our expensive (but yummy) fair food for lunch

Jack hung out in the stroller basically all day. He was a trooper!

Haken on his "date" with some random girl on the train. Somehow Haken and Taylor got split up into a double date riding the train together.

Waiting in line to ride the dragon roller coaster.

While the boys were checking out the cement truck, the driver came and opened it up so they could sit inside. Loved it!

Who needs a double stroller when you have brothers who love each other this much?!

Last Sunday Shad got to wear his new suit. He very badly needed one. We really haven't bought him a suit since we got married 6 years ago (he actually lost that one somewhere after about a year). He has been wearing his mission suits and hand-me-downs from brothers every. single. day. I also found a hand-me-down suit from Haken's cousin Jaron in the basement and couldn't believe that it actually fit him. It seemed like it was SO big when they gave it to us! I still need to hem the pants up instead of using safety pins, but it worked for the day.

Don't they look handsome?