Another project....check, check, and check!

Last week I was able to scratch off  the last project off my home improvement list I started 6 years ago! My list has been hanging inside one of my laundry room cupboards and as we tore them out it was hard to throw my list away.  We have done so much and it's been a fun process (at least for me, Troy may beg to differ....). So the last item was to replace the cupboards and countertops in all 3 bathrooms and the laundry room, and to tear out the wet bar in the living room and replace it with a built in bookcase.  
David Kerksiek from Beaver redid my sisters kitchen/bathrooms and he also did the cabinets for the addition on my parent's house, so I asked him if he would come and give us a bid and some options for what we could do.  Everything turned out so great and we love it.  The bookshelf is amazing and so much more than I expected, and David was excited at the finished product, as he had just purchased some new equipment and wanted to try out the patterns.  I was just glad that with our extremely uneven, not even close to being square walls, that everything fit just right.  So if anyone needs new woodworking done...here is my shameless plug for Kerksiek Wood Design, they are awesome!!

Laundry room

One of the bathrooms

bookshelf

Love the detail.  David's newest design.

The plumbing in the bathrooms has been a bit of a challenge getting them hooked back up, since they raised the counters up, Troy has had to replace pretty much everything underneath because now it's too short.  Also all the mirrors had to be cut shorter, and we had to move the plug and jetted tub timer up a few inches so that the mirror in our bathroom would fit. 
This leads us to really the very last project, that wasn't on the list but, it's time to replace the tubs and showers.  We had Rebath come and give us a quote, and I think that's where we end our thoughts of using Rebath....I'd rather hire someone else than deal with that JERK!  But that project will have to wait until next year perhaps! 

I also just have to throw in a few extra pictures.  This one of the newest addition to our family.  She came cheap at just $2.99 from the Dollar Store, and calls me 'grandma'.  Camrie loves 'Baby W' as she has named her.  Baby W goes everywhere with us, and there is drama if she is left behind.  She is so cute with her and it's fun to watch her be the momma.  

The next is of Tanner's body being traced so he can decorate it for this week's celebration of the young child  at DRMC's Child Development Center.  Both he and Camrie, (and ultimately mom) had fun scribbling and decorating their sillouettes to hang on the walls outside their classrooms.  The kids always have such fun projects at school and are so proud of them.

 Tonight for FHE, we talked about testimonies and why it's so important to share them.  We set up our 'audience' and each one of us took a turn bearing our testimonies, over our fantastic pulpit.  The kids thought this was fun, and it was a great chance, especially for Braxton, to learn what is appropriate to say, and practice without being totally intimidated by a chapel full of people.
On another note, we are yet in the midst of another home improvement project (yes, we are almost done!). We are getting new cabinets and countertops in the bathrooms, new cabinets in the laundry room, and a new built in bookshelf in the living room to replace the existing cabinets and wet bar (really who puts a wet bar in the living room?). We are having a guy from Beaver do the job, he has done both my mom's and my sister's kitchens/bathrooms and they are beautiful so we are excited to get them installed tomorrow. So out with the old, and I will post with the new later.

Braxton

Tanner

Camrie

our audience

Kason

Love this little guy!

Things to remember about Kason at 2 months:

~ 9 lbs 8 oz  21.5 inches long

~ he is losing the 'newborn' cry :(
~ newborn clothes finally fit just right
~ he has grown into his 'old man' wrinkley forehead
~ more awake and alert during the day
~ most playful and smiley at 4 am
~ pretty sure he will have BLUE eyes (and mom's quite happy about that!)
~ not as sleepy of an eater
~ has the cutest dimples when he smiles
~ loves to snuggle with mom and dad
~ likes to hang out in his swing
~ starting to turn head and look toward noise and voices
~ can hold head up for about a minute
~ prefers to lay on his back
~ makes the funniest 'sigh' after sneezing hard
~ was a great trooper while having RSV at 6 weeks

open up and say AHH!

Our little artists

All the kids were home one day and needed something to do, so I got a big piece of butcher paper, laid it out on the kitchen table, got all the markers and crayons, and let them go.  Normally, I am the natzi when it comes to making any kind of mess expecially when markers and children are concerned, but today I walked away and crossed my fingers.  The kids loved it! and really so did I.  I left the paper on for about a week and we all had fun playing tic-tac-toe, and scribbling while we ate.

Kason's Blessing

Kason was blessed on March 6th in the Green Valley 7th ward.  We are so thankful for all the family and friends who came to support us and share this special day with us.  Luckily, after a week of nasty cold weather, it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day to have a family dinner afterwards in our backyard.  Kason got to share the day and party with cousins Cianna and Autumn who's birthdays were also that same week. We are so blessed to have Kason as part of our family, and love him so much.  He has brought so much joy and happiness in just the short time he's been here, and it's hard to imagine not having him  to love and cuddle. 

Happy Valentines

Valentines day has always been one of my favorite 'holidays', as a kid, I loved making valentines boxes, sugar cookies with pink frosting, the heart suckers with the white outlines (you know what I'm talking about!), door ditching your friends with treats late at night (do people even do this anymore??), and giving/getting something special from somebody special! I will say, Valentines is even more fun with kids.  Braxton used his creative mind and made a cute alien/robot valentines box for school, we had a fun candlelight dinner, and got busted trying to door ditch treats to our neighbors and cousins.  The kids loved their valentines balloons and little gifts from mom and dad, and had to show us each and every valentine they got from their friends at school and daycare, while I scoped out the treat I would help myself to after they went to bed!!  Hope you all had a great valentines day too!!


Pretty awesome valentines box



Valentines pizza dinner by candlelight



Braxton, Tanner, and Camrie showing off  their valentines gifts

Catching up the last month!!

Braxton decided to participate in a youth bike race on Saturday Feb. 12th.  This was sponsored by the Rec Center and held out to the Bloomington Hills park.  The 1 mile race was broken into 2 different heats which consisted of 2 laps (1/2 mile per heat).  The loop had a bit of a hill to it and was a little harder than he thought it was going to be.  The first heat Braxton came in 4th, and the 2nd heat he came in 3rd.  Each participant got a nice medal and a t-shirt for finishing the race.  We figured he'd race his mile around the park and we'd be done in about an hour....we were there for 2.5 hours! I didn't take anything for Tanner and Camrie (or more importantly...myself!) to eat or drink thinking we wouldn't be there very long.  Luckily they had snacks and drinks for everyone there, so our breakfast of champions consisted of fruit snacks, cookies, and lemonade!!  They also raffled off some pretty great prizes and we won free pizza, ice cream cones, passes to SHAC, and also the Rec Center.  Braxton was so excited for the race and can't wait until the next one comes around.  Way to go Braxton we are so proud of you.

 

Showing off his medal and shirt



Ready for the 1st heat