Friday, June 26, 2009

Home Improvements


We have been working hard on lots of little projects around the house. It is so fun to make it our own! Although we still have so much we want to do, progress is slow. But here are some of the things we have been accomplishing.

First of all, I found a great cabinet for the downstairs bathroom. Our pedestal sink is very pretty, but there is no room to store anything or put anything down by the sink. Hopefully this little addition will solve that problem.





When we moved in they had installed one wire shelf in the laundry. I knew that this wouldn't work. Justin installed two great new cabinets that almost match the ones we have throughout the house. They look great! And I love not having to look at my cleaning supplies. Thank Honey!






After lots of looking, we decided on a rug for the front door. It's actually really hard to find very many that are black and tan these days. But we found one that really like!



In the back yard, we had a perimeter of dirt/bark around the grass the builder had planted. It is not good for the kids to run around in it. It sticks to their feet and shoes and can even give them slivers. It's just very messy! So we dug it all up (including tons of big rocks and roots), put down topsoil mixed with sand, fertilizer then the sod. It's taken root and is very happy. So happy in fact, it looks a lot better than the rest of the grass!





To solve our no-storage problem in the play room we looked for a long time on craigslist and at stores like Ikea to see what kind of storage solutions we could find. I stumbled across a German Schrank on craigslist and had no idea what it was. Well, it turned out to be just perfect because it's much bigger than what we could have bought and it is real wood! This came from a high end hotel originally, and has a lock and key on every cupboard. It fits perfectly on the far wall in the play room and will give us lots of room to store the toys, my craft/sewing stuff, and probably even more than that. Thank you craigslist! Now we just need to get containers to organize all the toys.



These shelves from Costco are really great and we have them set up ready to organize the garage. We're excited to get it done!



Of course here is a picture of Justin's great accomplishment in the first week we were here. Behold, the garage door opener!



Last but not least, here is what we've been researching and working on this week.....new couches! After lots of trips to the furniture store and long days, here is the smokin' deal we found yesterday! We didn't think we'd get them home so soon, but because they were the last ones (the floor model) and we had to take them that day or Monday, and because our bishop is so great and helped us out with the transportation, they're here!












If you can't tell, they're a beautiful dark blue color. Oh, and we got George hung on the wall too. He looks so nice! Our first picture on the wall!

We've done lots of other little things, but I think that covers the bigger ones so far. I think we are discovering that the to-do list will never go away, but it is sure fun to have a house to work on and make our own!



More Company!


We have just been having a great time with all of our company lately! Last week we enjoyed a visit from Sam and Gina with their kids. Sam just graduated with Justin and they are vacationing before Sam starts his new job. We are so glad they came to stay with us! We played hard in Seattle and the kids played hard when we got home. Good times!







We just happened to be at the fish market when we ran into Carson Daly of NBC's TRL. They were filming a bit about fish throwing for an upcoming show. It was pretty entertaining to watch as they threw fish right over his head!




Fun on the ferry





In this picture: our US Coast guard escort (yes, that's a real machine gun on his boat), on the right a submarine, on the left the sub's US Coast guard escort




Cute Mollie getting herself stuck under our futon




Then we had a great time with Marianne and Rob (sister, brother-in-law) the next day. They're going to have a baby very soon, so we were so glad that they could come visit before life gets crazy.





Our favorite bakery at Pike's Place. Amazing stuff! Check out these cakes:




And we tried a couple of their doughnuts. Sooooo yummy! This is definitely not your Albertson's variety. We weren't brave enough to get their Texas sized doughnut. You'd have to have a pretty hungry crew to finish this guy off!




We also ran into lots of interesting street performers that day. This parrot was playing dead, I think.





Uncle Rob and Brandon made a really great race track with Brandon's set.



The living room is a perfect spot since it is so empty! Thanks for visiting everyone. We loved seeing you!


Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Breaking in the House


This last weekend we had our official breaking-in of the house. We hosted a BYU MBA BBQ here! Between interns with families here for the summer and recent graduates with their families we had 27 people in the house! But it went very well and we all had a great time catching up. The kids loved playing in the play room and outside and we all enjoyed good food and great company.


The huge pile of shoes by the front door....Katelyn was in heaven trying them all on!




We put all the kids outside to eat, and it was great because they could make a mess! This picture is funny to me because of the plates left by the kids and puddles of ice cream. Please notice the sod we just laid in the back yard. Doesn't it look nice? And the retaining wall makes a very nice bench.




And the Fishers brought the Wii, so the kids had a great time racing on that after dinner.




Good times with good friends. We're so glad that everyone could make it and we are so thankful for the wonderful friendships we have from the MBA program!


Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Visit from the Port of Seattle


My parents went on a cruise with my Grandpa and just about all of his kids and their spouses this last week. They were looking forward to warm weather in Mexico, but when the swine flu hit their trip was re-routed to San Francisco, British Columbia and Seattle! We were so excited that they were coming our way!

The kids and I left early in the morning and drove to their cruise ship on the Seattle waterfront to pick them up. My Uncle Mark and Aunt Shawna came along with us too. We had a great time spending the day with everyone and showing them some of the fun things in Seattle. We even drove back down to the house so that they could see our new place. 

In Seattle we did the Columbia Center Tower, which is the tallest building east of the Mississippi. Great view up there! 







Of course we had to eat at Steamers and then we did Pike's Place Market. 






We walked up and down and all around and the kids did really well. After a long morning of sight-seeing, we found a shady spot and watched some construction workers lifting a huge steel thing on a crane. 

The guys were very enthused.....



The ladies  not so enthused.



It must be a guy thing! 

We loved to see you guys, and I'm so glad that we had nice warm sunny weather! Thanks for spending the day with us and letting us play with you!!


Sunday, June 7, 2009

Fun Family FHE


For family home evening last week we did a fun activity. We had a lesson about God's beautiful creations and then decided to take a walk around our new neighborhood to look for beautiful things and take pictures of them. Brandon was our official camera man. I had to chuckle at some of the pictures that he took. Here are some of my favorite:


The beautiful playground




The beautiful family




Beautiful weeds




Beautiful trees




Beautiful flowers




Beautiful moss (I'm actually very impressed with this photo....very artistic!)




More beautiful weeds with the beautiful, fat bee




Beautiful Lindsey



More beautiful weeds




Beautiful tree




And beautiful Brandon! :)



Good job buddy!


The Fence......Finished!


One of our main projects here at the first has been to get the fence stained. This house has been sitting here for probably 18 months and the wood fence has been enduring the weather. We stained part of the fence, then decided that the part along the back was just too gray to continue. 

This picture shows the three stages: stained, gray and weathered, and scrubbed clean new-looking wood ready for stain. 



A closer look
Left: gray
Right: clean




It was tons of work to scrub the gray off, but all in all worth it. It looks so much better now! 


The finished product, clean and stained:






Ta da! Now on to the next project.....