House Update

It's been a while since I last posted on the house. Okay, not THAT long, but a lot can happen on a house in a short amount of time.  We now have texture on every wall and ceiling in the house. I can't believe how different it looks with such a small change, but it does. I can't wait to paint it and see how much it will change the house. We also have most of our doors hung, we're still waiting on a few that were wrong. Once the doors are done, we still have all of our flooring (except carpet), our shelving, baseboards and casings left to do before we can even think about painting. But, on the bright side, things are coming along nicely. Check it out!!

I don't have any pictures of the walls completely textured, just these two partially done. This is the living room ceiling.

This picture is the master bedroom partially textured. I love the skip trowel texture. My favorite!!

Here are a couple of pictures of our doors. I really like the style we chose. It's a 2 square panel door. I really like the way it looks and it's different. This is the master bedroom door.

We did swing out closet doors instead of bi-fold, which is going to be really nice. I love the way these look. This is Josh's closet in our room.

And...this is the pantry door. I know, doesn't get any more boring than looking at pictures of doors, but we're proud of ourselves for all that we've done. By the way, Josh and our new neighbor Tim hung all of these doors. They did great!!

The most recent changes to the outside of the house are the dirt in the front yard and the rock on the front. We had some trauma with the rock. It was supposed to be dry stack rock (with no grout) but the rock guys put it on to have grout lines. We ended up buying black dye so that it would match better and I think it looks okay. It just looks like brick only made with rock.  

Here is Kaleb enjoying the dirt pile before they spread it out.

Cute little mug!! He just can't pass up a pile of dirt. Especially when there are plenty of dirt clods to fill little hands and pockets.

This is the front of the house after they spread the dirt around and smoothed it out. Looks so much better. The rock in this picture is in progress...no grout yet.

This is the finished product. Doesn't look too bad I don't think. Hopefully we can find a color to go well for the stucco. It's really hard to know what color your rock is going to be when all you have to look at is a 2x2 picture.  

O Coby!!

Our Coby is such a character. Here he is, wearing Talon's underwear over his clothes and carrying the apple juice bottle around. He kept going to the tote that Tal was sitting in and throwing the juice at him. Then he'd laugh his head off. What a silly boy.

Coby with his weapon...the apple juice bottle, and Talon trying to defend himself. It doesn't help when Talon laughs, it just makes Coby want to throw it some more.  

Cobster!!! Crazy kid!

House Stuff

We haven't worked on the house much lately because we have had subs there doing some work. The stucco guys have "brown coated" (1st coat of stucco) the house and we are waiting for rock. Then they will do the second coat of stucco with the color we chose. That might be a long process since I chose the wrong color shingles for the color I wanted the house to be. I'm sure it will all turn out okay in the end.

Our house while they were working on the brown coat. Still very wet and a dark grey color.

This picture is with the brown coat too, but it's dry. Looks much lighter and like "real" stucco.

The other subs that have been there are the sheetrockers. They are still working on our house only now they are mudding, taping and texturing the walls. Even that little bit of mud makes a huge difference in how the house looks. We're getting there. In no time, we'll be doing floors, paint and getting cabinets. So exciting!!

Looking into the kitchen.

The front door, looking through the living room.

The north bedroom.

Looking down the hall, the living room is on the left.

Here is a little preview of our flooring. We are going to do tile in the kitchen and dining room (you can see our cabinet door sample-just the color will be similar, the style is going to be totally different), and the hardwood (Brazilian Teak to be exact) that will go through the living room in a small path and in both hallways. We are so excited. Can't wait to see it on the floor.

Mother's Day

This is the only picture I have from Mother's Day but I'm glad I have this one. On Sunday, Kaleb got up at 6:00am. I got up with him because Josh and I had just returned from Arizona on Saturday night and Josh did 20 of the 22 hours of driving (down Friday and right back on Saturday morning). However, I was really tired too, so after Josh got up, I had a little nap. When I woke up, Kaleb was so excited to give me these napkin roses. He was so cute I had to take a picture. They made them (Josh and Kaleb) while I slept and hid them in his room. When I walked out he ran in and got one. Then after he gave it to me, he went and got the rest of the bunch. If I only had a picture of his sweet little face the second he came out of his room with this handful...it was PRICELESS!!  

I'm happy to be a Mother to 3 adorable and sweet little boys. They are my greatest joy. I love you Talon, Kaleb and Coby.  

Sweet Kaleb and the roses.

Road Trip...Just the 2 of Us

Josh and I had the opportunity last weekend to take a road trip together...just the 2 of us. It's been a long time since we've been away together. Thanks to my in-laws, we got to go to Arizona and pick up my cousin's things. He is moving in with us and starting a new job at Snow College. We left on Friday morning (5/8) and came back on Saturday. We had fun even though it was a long trip, we enjoyed chatting, laughing and singing together. Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

We rented a car because we were going to be driving a moving truck back and we wanted to be able to ride together. This is us in the car. We drove a sporty little red Poniac G5. It was cute, but really uncomfortable.  Oh well, we had a great time.   

When we got to Glen Canyon Dam (Lake Powell), we stopped to stretch and take a few pictures. This is looking down at the dam from the bridge that crosses the canyon.

Josh and I on the bridge. I have to admit, I was a little scared...but only just a little.

Looking towards the lake and the dam. Isn't it gorgeous.

Josh and I with Lake Powell behind us. 

This is the bridge we drove across to get to the other side of the canyon. It's pretty big and a LONG way down.

Matthew, Aunt Merrily, Mollie, Josh and Shadow. All packed and ready to turn around and come back to Utah.  

Josh's Dad used to drive truck for a living and while he did, he made many, many trips to Arizona. He used to love to stop at this Cafe in Flagstaff called Mary's Cafe. He made us promise that we'd stop there. No biggie for us, we don't mind stopping for yummy food.  

Me in the Cafe waiting to order. It was a cute little place. The waitress said that the stuff on the wall had been there since Josh's Dad was stopping there.

This is what we got to eat. Marinated steak strips and eggs. Oh man!!! It was SO good. We are really glad we stopped to eat there.  

Me and Josh outside of the cafe...and SO full.

Shave and a Haircut...

A while ago, Talon noticed that a couple of the Dads in our neighborhood had shaved heads. He asked me if he could shave his and we decided that summer would be the perfect time. Every little boy needs to experience a bald head right? So, the other day we shaved his head. He loves it...and so do I. A shaved head is MUCH less work. Although, I know I really have NO idea what hard work is as far as hair goes since I don't have any girls. Oh well.  I still love it.

Talon...BEFORE

I started his shave like any other haircut. Around the bottom first.

Then, we went straight down the middle.  

Ha ha!! Lovin' it!

A little more gone...

Still getting there...

Almost done...

And...he LOVES it!!! Talon...AFTER!

So, after we finished Tal, we weren't completely sure that it was a good idea to shave Kaleb's head. Poor little guy has the most odd shaped melon. Well, he changed our minds in a hurry. Watch...

Of course, we shaved his head too. How can you resist that sad little face. Poor kid.

Kaleb...BEFORE (and so excited!)

We started his a little different. I went right down the middle to start.

Checking things out.

We decided to try the old man do. I think he'll make a cute Grandpa.

Then we went with just a small ring of hair.

That's a great look for you Kaleb.

A few last stragglers...

And...Done!! Kaleb...AFTER! He loves his bald head too!

Birthday Date

For Josh's birthday this year, my cousin, Matthew, got US tickets to the Salt Lake Symphony and a gift card to the Macaroni Grill. We had such a fun time. We left a little bit early to give us time...to take our time. We had a blast. We went wherever we wanted and didn't have to hurry. Thanks Matthew for a great date night.

Josh and I at dinner at the Macaroni Grill. We had never been there before, but it was really good. We got the "Chefs Choice" which included a salad, entree and dessert. YUMMY!!

Here we are at the Symphony. They had the most amazing piano player playing with them that night. Holy cow!!! He was so good.  

The concert was at Libby Gardner Hall at the U of U. Josh and I outside after the concert.

Sheetrock...Check

Well, the same day the sheetrock guys started the sheetrock, they also finished. They started Wednesday (4/29) at 9am and they were done by 7pm the same day. They were SO fast. It was really fun to see the huge change in the house from that morning to that night. We took some more pictures, of course, to show how different things look. It's a real house now!!

The garage all sheetrocked. The pile in the middle is the insulation that will go into the ceiling.

Looking through the dining room into the living room. The light in the hallway is coming from Talon and Kaleb's bedroom window.

Living room again, looking toward Talon and Kaleb's bedroom again and the front door on the left.

Dining room and then kitchen. John K. is holding Kaleb, I am holding Talon and standing by our future neighbor Brittany L.

The whole family. Standing in front of the North living room wall. Talon, Mollie, Kaleb, Josh and Coby.