The Grand Tour

There are so many things about our kitchen that I love but I’m just going to point out a few of my favorite things.

Double Oven - I am in love with my oven, it’s true. I can now cook 2 different things at the same time with different temperatures, ingenious.

I painted the kitchen Myth Gray( it really should be called Myth Blue) and I love it! (thanks Allison for the paint color)

One Big Sink - I could probably fit all of the kids in it for a bath. It makes cleaning pots and pan so much easier. I also enjoy the garbage disposal (It took Derek and I 4 hours and 2 trips to home depot to get it the sink and garbage disposal working. After 2 weeks I still feel proud every time I turn it on.)

Ikea Varde handles

Canyon Slate tile- this is the tile we are going to put in next weekend.

Drawers – I put as many drawers in my kitchen as I could and it is so wonderful to have space to put things in.

The Chandler

New Caledonia granite counter tops

Garbage can – I have a cabinet that you open which our garbage can sits inside of hidden and convenient to access.

Refrigerator with a water dispenser(the kids love that now they can get their own ice and water anytime they want, that means less work for me),

Island – I love having so much counter space.

I hope you enjoyed your tour

Before and After

So, we’ve had another exhausting, and fun week working on our kitchen. This week, we painted (not only the walls but the tedious windows), put the backsplash up, put the handles on the cabinets, cut all the crown molding and baseboards, and painted the doors. Of course, when it came to painting the door, I had to pick the hottest day of the whole year to take the doors apart and to paint them. I started first thing in the morning, but by 9:00 am our whole house was sweltering hot and we were all dripping with sweat, literally! But the doors look great and we are so thankful for our air conditioner.

We are not done with our kitchen yet but we are making progress. Here are some before and after pictures.

We still have so much to do like tile, finish the baseboards and crown molding, toe kick, make curtains, paint the chairs and bar stools, put cover plate on the outlets . . . it makes me tired just thinking about it all . . . but it has been fun and someday it will all get done . . . right? I hope so.

I took this picture a few weeks ago the day Danny left. They did such a great job and go so much done in just one week.

What we’ve been up too

We have taken on a BIG project of remodeling out kitchen. The whole process began a few months ago (really it started a few years ago when we started dreaming and saving) We did an Ikea kitchen so I was able to design the floor plan and pick out all my cabinets. Then a month ago we bought all our cabinets and appliances. For a few weeks I put all the cabinets together and then 2 weeks ago we ripped out our old cabinets and appliances and started the wiring and floor. Danny (Derek’s brother) came out last week and Derek took the week off work They put the new cabinets in and install all the appliances. I don’t think we have been to bed before midnight for the last few weeks so we are tired but very excited about our progress. It seems like we had to do a lot of the work twice like hanging the cabinets. They had put most of the base cabinets in and then discovered that they had to be lowered an inch, bummer, Derek and Danny also had to build a case for the dishwasher, and build the base for our island and secure it to the floor. I wanted it to be very secure since I know my kids will climb up on it and there are outlets in it. Well they did a great job, the island is not going anywhere. Even the counter top guy commented at how well it was build. I am so proud of Derek and Danny and how well the kitchen is coming together. I was worried if we were really going to be able to do it since we have no experience but with the help of google, some how-to books and family we really did it. Danny was a great help and couldn’t have done it with out him.

Siesa is working really hard

My kids have been helping every step of the way. Siesa’s favorite part was going into the crawl space (seems gross but it is actually pretty clean) and painting (unfortunately I have banned her from painting since last time she was “helping” she painted her whole head. Jensen loves to drill and hammer and especially enjoyed ripping out the old kitchen.

I was without a kitchen for only 2 weeks. We still have a lot left to do like mudding and sanding sheet rock, tile, paint, make curtains, etc. but over the next few weeks we hope to get everything done and I post pictures of the before and after.

9 months already

I can’t believe that Elsie is already 9 months old. She is full of so much personality. She love to babble and always has a lot to say. Elsie is almost 16lbs and growing by the day. We love you!

Camping? Yes, Camping

Last weekend is honor of busy season being over we went camping. Apparently I don’t seem like a camper or maybe having three children was the reason but almost everyone we told we were going camping gave me the are you insane look. I really do love to go camping, I love to be in nature, I love the food and that Derek cooks and cleans it all up, I love that I can smell and be dirty and no ones notices because everyone smells, I love taking a hot shower when we get home, I love taking a nap with my kids in the hammock, I could go on but I will stop. This time we went to Fort Mountain state park it was 2 hours away. It couldn’t have been a better trip. The weather was perfect, Elsie and Siesa slept most of both car rides, and we ate like kings.

We got a new tent for Christmas so it was fun to use them for the first time. The tent was wonderful. We had out grown our old tent and now we have a huge tent we were able to fit mats for the kids, Elsie’s pack and play, a blow up mattress, all our stuff and still have more room. Having a bigger tent made camping so much more enjoyable for all.

Eating apple crisp made in a dutch oven. It was sooo good. Jensen was trying to hide because he didn't want his picture taken.

We went on a mile and a half hike to an old watch tower that was built in the 1700 hundreds or so they think. They are not exactly sure who built the tower but it supposedly is really old.

Playing on the lake beach. It was a warm day so the kids went swimming. They were having so much fun in the water. The water was much to cold for me. A few times Siesa would gasp when she went running in but she didn’t seam to mind the temperature.

Packing up, What a cutie!

Soccer

Jensen had his first soccer game a few weeks ago. The league we joined has a 30 minute practice first and then a 30 minute game. It was fun to watch all the kids play. Jensen loves playing soccer and is excited all week wanting Saturday to come so he can play. He is not very aggressive so he doesn’t actually kick the ball much but is just happy running around. The first game I think he only kicked the ball twice. I think it will take some time before he feels uncomfortable playing with so many kids in such close proximity.



Jensen's number is 4

Easter

I made my girls matching Easter dresses this year. I think they turned out cute and the best part is, Siesa actually likes the dress so she will wear it(Siesa is a typical girl and has a very strong opinion about what she will wear and what she will not).

Elsie and her Easter basket.
Saturday we also dyed eggs. The eggs started out being beautiful bright colors but by the end they were interesting darker shades. A lot of them were not very pretty because the kids were having so much fun they kept putting them in different colors to see how they would change. They still tasted great.

On the Hunt, He was very focused.