Nothing is concrete yet, except concrete.

Seems like forever ago that the kids started back to school. We surprised Dax's parents over Labor Day weekend with a visit. Their health has been sketchy lately and we hoped to cheer them up. When we arrived at their home, we Facetimed with them while we were standing on their front porch. Didn't take long for my MIL to say, "Are you on the front porch?!!" Wonderful visit. 

I have 2 kids in Junior high, now. Mack is enjoying 2nd grade.

Quinn started in my friend Jo's preschool. On the first day, she dressed herself and perhaps realized her leggings didn't quite go with the dress and said, "Sorry I wore these Halloween pants but they were just really pretty." I'm a fan of disregarding fashion/design rules when you think something is really pretty! Her teacher, my dear friend Jolona, lives out of town on a farm and has a huge garden. Her raspberry patch is impressive and she is so generous to share it with friends. We've picked and eaten over a dozen gallons of her raspberries. It's the best candy ever.

I made Dax his favorite deluxe cheesecake for his birthday. This year, we topped it with our haul from Jo's raspberry patch. Amazing. He said it was the best cheesecake he's ever had.

Lots of craziness going on at my house in the past 2 weeks. Like crazier than ever. Crazy good stuff and crazy difficult stuff. On the good side of things, we have projects going, finally! The back corner of our yard is like the last huge and annoying part of the yard that is unfinished. I've wanted a big patio forever. And Dax wanted a garage. So we are doing both. Here are progress photos from start to where we are currently!

catch all/eyesore

Footers poured for garage

forms for stem walls

stem walls poured, forms removed, backfilled, designing patio shape and leveling it

garage floor done, pouring upper patio

Finished! Love it!

Another angle BEFORE:

AFTER:

Dancing on the patio!

Waiting patiently for 7 years payed off! Dreams come true; time to party.

ramp for easy bike/scooter/wheelchair access to lower patio

And as always, when stuff gets cray in my life, my urge to redo rooms boils over. It's my way of controlling my environment in a small part. And gives me and out; something to focus on other than worries.

Mack celebrated his 8th birthday. He had buds over for burgers, dogs, and running games. He didn't love his birthday during General Conference weekend but he did get one message out of it. During Sister Neill Marriott's talk, he ran upstairs and said, "Mom! This talk is like our family. 'It will all work out.' Maybe not right now, but it will all work out!" Loved that moment. Love that kid.

Something's Afoot.

A lot of things are, actually. I love being crazy busy. I don't love being crazy, though. Just busy. My new M.O. is Too Many Projects.

Project 1: Finish a basement bedroom for Preslie

Framing. The whole basement was already framed. Then I had a brilliant idea to put in another closet in the bedroom (2 closets?! great on so many levels) Then I had another brilliant idea to rip out the 1st closet and move it opposite the 2nd closet on the other side of the window. Then when my patient, loving, wonderful Father-in-law and wonderful, loving and patient husband were loading up their tools, I told them to frame in a window seat between the two closets. They didn't think it was so brilliant at the time, but I just knew it was the right thing to do. And I'm SO glad I asked them to do it! They did a great job with no complaining and only called me crazy ONE time. I deserved way more.


double closets with window seat in the middle!

This is after drywall. Same closets/window. My anxiety and guilt about asking the guys to do extra work is paying off! 

Same bedroom, different window-


Same window, now with drywall, trim, and primer-

This shot shows trim, baseboards, lighting, shelves in closets, paint, and floor.

 Doors added!

 The floor deserves its own chapter. I STRUGGLED with what flooring to do. I really wanted wood or pergo. Then I changed my mind and decided to do a stained concrete floor (awesome btw- google it). To stain the concrete, I had to strip all the paint overspray off. I scrubbed and scraped for days. I was exhausted and my husband was tired of my "brilliant" ideas. THEN I stumbled across a decorating blog and the gal had painted the concrete floor in her daughter's bedroom. I knew that was the answer to my unspoken prayers. I patched the couple of holes that were in the concrete from when I had the boys rip out the first closet. Then I cleaned the floor really well and then painted it with special floor paint. I then painted a seal overtop that gave it a shine and durability. That was the most painless and easy part about it-actually DOing it. The thought process and decision making and the SCRAPING were torture!

 Here is a before/after looking from the family room into the hallway to Preslie's room. You can see through the doorways the window seat in the distance!

before drywall

after drywall

My genius husband did all the finish plumbing for the shower and all the finish electric work (wired all the plugs and switches). He also installed more lighting in Preslie's bedroom. It was a lot work; he has no training in this field but he did it and saved us a TON of money. While this was all going on, we began finishing our backyard and had the sprinkling system put in. Then I decided mid-projects to go to Hawaii! I totally AM crazy. I admit and embrace that fact.

Another project to add to the pile: refinish Preslie's furniture. Here it is in all it's gaggy glory. Cream and gold! We decided to paint them bright white. We changed the handles also. SO much better.

Here's a tiny peak of Preslie's room that has been in the works and still not done! But at least she got to move in; and oh was she excited! She's not had a real bedroom since November 2012. Her stuff has been strewn all over the basement (see above pic) since we drywalled in February. She's been sleeping in the office or on the basement floor or in an unfinished bedroom with no door for 7 months. I sneaked in while she was sleeping tonight to get this pic so it's not great but it gives an idea of the vibe.

 It is coming along and looking so fun. I still have some way cool stuff I'm going to do. Finish the window seat is on the list!

my collage and other cool stuff

I wanted to make a collage of our house being built from start to finish. Obviously, this is a very fast version. But it gets the idea across.

Start Date: August 22, 2008
Finish: February 13, 2009

And now some cool stuff from the week...

cool: taking the fam out to breakfast at JB's

uncool: Hunter accidently stepping in the only pile of mud in the whole parking lot

cool: seeing the new Draper Temple with my family

cool: seeing Smurf toys at Target

cool: working hard on the house

uncool: realizing I need to work on my social life that has been neglected for the past 6 months

cool: a field trip to the dinosaur museum, and a Transformers birthday party

cool: crazy hair day at school
cool: baby mopping the floor to help mom
uncool: baby mopping the floor to help his mom

cool: finally getting a garbage can from the city

cool: locking a sweet rate for our mortgage

cool: trying out the walking trail by our house

cool: getting our house appraised

uncool: paying $400 for the appraisal

cool: replacing our 15-year-old Wal-Mart tv stand

cool: husband gets a new revolver

uncool: wife didn't find out 'til after the purchase

cool: wife being as good a shot as husband

cool: getting a card in the mail from my sister

uncool: living so far away from my sister

cool: having such nice neighbors

uncool: neighbors constantly asking when we're going to put our yard in

cool: joining the rest of mankind on facebook
cool: talking to friends that I haven't seen in 10 years

cool: these dinner conversations...

Hunter: I am thinking about something cool.
Dax: I am thinking about something cool, too.
Hunter: What is it?
Dax: Mom
Hunter: Mom is cool, but I am thinking of something cooler than Mom.
Dax: What's that?
Hunter: It's a place where there is a giant barrel of peanuts and you can eat all you want and you don't even have to throw your shells in the garbage. You just throw them on the floor.
Dax: Wow. That IS cooler than Mom.

and this one...

Hunter: I don't have any friends that are girls.

Dax: Yeah you do. You have Gracie and Morgan. They're just your friends. It's not like you smooch them or anything. When you're sixteen, you'll probably smooch them, though.

Hunter: Well Preslie's going to smooch a Black Widow.

Preslie: So. If I marry a Black Widow, you can't even make fun of him because he'll be your brother-in-law!

The house photos keep coming.

This is what we post about, because this is what is heavily on our minds, takes up much of our time, and the majority of our money. Believe it or not, a house takes a lot of work to build. And THIS guy will be the first to tell you that.

Seriously SUCH a hard worker. And after a full day of hard labor, he comes home (to our apartment) and is the sweetest, most involved Grandpa I've ever seen. Then he showers in our ONE bathroom that he graciously shares with the 5 of us and gets ready for a great nights' sleep on the FLOOR on 2 camping foams. He always tells my kids that he is 100 years old. I think by the time the house is done, he really will feel like he's a hundred.

Dusk provides interesting lighting inside. It makes the colors seem really bright. The tile is taupe even though in the pic the walls are making it look greenish. I really like the tile; it reminds me of concrete floors.

WHAT a day. BUT, only the second mini-meltdown for me since we started this project. The first one was at the beginning of the construction process, and this one is near the end. So all in all, not bad. I took the kids up to the house and they played in the dirty, dusty, loud, and dangerous mess while I put up lighting trims and screwed in bulbs.

Preslie is excited to have her own yellow room. We'll see if she doesn't try to sneak back in with Hunter like she did when we moved here. They've always been roomies, and as social as Preslie is, I wonder if she'll enjoy being by herself.

See what I mean about lighting affecting color? This pic was taken in the same room but a different time of day.

painting in the new year

We spent New Year's Eve and Day painting! My MIL came out with Master C and she stayed with the kids all day for 2 days so I could go help! I love painting. Seeing the color on the walls woke up the place and helped me visualize living there and I am pumped. We still have touch-ups and the bathrooms to paint.

On the evening of New Year's Day, Dax and his Dad started installing cabinets and finished the kitchen cabinets today. It looks great! There are SO many and they're huge.

Every picture makes the paint look a different color.
Here, the pretty cabinets are all in.

Huge thanks to Craig who painted 2 colors in each room to make me happy. I did not realize how much more work it is but I love the end result! Also a shout out to his sweetheart (Dax's Mom) for taking care of the children so I could get my hands dirty. I loved being in the middle of the action! These two have sacrificed immeasurably to get this house built. And it's not over yet.

hello snow

We've enjoyed an AWESOME long Fall again this year. Even longer than last year. And what a blessing it's been for construction reasons. But it's time to officially welcome Winter. We ushered in the snowy season by doing some baking and putting up our Christmas tree that we brought home from the forest yesterday.

Our house got it's first layer of white stuff and I could just picture us in our lovely new house doing all the fun winter and Christmas things together as a family. Of course we can and will do them here in our apartment, but next year we probably won't store the red and green tubs of decorations in the kids room or move the front room chair into the bathroom so the Christmas tree can fit.

I love our stucco. The house's exterior is ALMOST finished. The inside is coming along. Craig has all the closets built, minus rods, and has most of the doors hung. I'm excited to get some COLOR on the walls and have the whole thing come alive and make me happy. I am just so looking forward to having a home that is mine. Not only will we own it, but it will be ME. All the things and colors and shapes and textures that Dax and I have chosen that we love. And all of the hours upon hours of work done by the hands of those who love us. It is such a blessing, one that I don't fully realize now but I am so grateful!

holiday warm-up

Mack practicing his Thanksgiving shoveling

me and my {little} bro practicing our smiles for family picture time.

lots of reading for some reason. Mack loves his Tough Machines book. Over and over.

I also got to pick out lights for my house. I met with my designer (Aunt Megan) and she helped me make days worth of decisions in mere hours. We also picked some fun fabric for window coverings. It felt like Christmas! I can really picture how my house is going to look now, and I LOVE IT!

And if that wasn't enough, on my way home I filled my gas tank for $25!

Then my sister and her family flew in from Oregon and we got to have tons of fun together planning top secret Christmas surprises and driving over orange caution cones. Preslie became Aubrae's shadow and our babies made friends (kind of) with each other.

As I was snapping a picture of them hugging, Mack lost his balance and the most tender hug

ended in disaster.