Kitchen Update

In May we did a little update in the kitchen. Kendall had done a trade with our neighbor: new Corian counters in exchange for some electrical work. Today was the day for this exciting change.  This is the before of our old laminate counters. They really didn't bother me at all, but these new counters are definitely an upgrade.

They are a pretty medium gray. We also got this big sink and a new faucet. I absolutely love the big sink without the divider. We also really like this faucet from Costco.

Before and After of the Kitchen

Our kitchen has been a work in progress.  It's finally to a point where I don't see all the things that need to be done to finish it off...there's just counters and backsplash left, but that will be in a while.  (***Luckily I took these pictures a few days ago, because if you came to my house today you'd see that it looks like a bomb went off in it!)

 We just took the cupboard doors off these two cabinets and now have open storage.  I'm really liking having them open...plus we keep it neater.

  Now for the biggest change we've made this year.......drum roll please......

Tada!  We got new appliances.  Although I love the 70's, we finally said goodbye to our faithful fridge and oven.  The fridge had started to leak a gallon of water at a time, so we said hello to this little...BIG...beauty.

I'm absolutely loving having the freezer on the bottom.  Now all the things we use daily are at eye level...love it!  But let's be honest, anything with a light in it would have been an improvement.

We are seriously some of the luckiest...BLESSED...KIND OF GHETTO....people.  We were given this gas convection oven from some friends of my mom.  They were getting double ovens and decided to gift it to us.  We're ghetto because we take whatever we can get...sometimes it's really nice ovens, sometimes it's falling apart/needs repairs items.  Oh well, you win some you lose some!  This time we definitely won!  I absolutely love having a gas range again, and I'm adjusting and learning to love the convection oven, luckily it can be a normal oven too.  

Don't you love the cord running out of my calendar.  That's one thing about older homes I don't love...where all the plugs and phone cords are.  Oh well.  I posted this because I found this super cute chore chart that I loved and wanted to make my own version.  Sam and Maggie wrote the names on the spots and we wrote chores on the clothes pins.  Then after the week is up we rotate all the chores.  It's great, and super cheap!  I really love that the kids are responsible to clip it over when they get their stuff done...less nagging by me the better!

Oh the lovely before.  I can't believe I walked into this kitchen and could imagine it as anything other than ugly!  

Tearing out the old to put in the new

The last couple of weeks we've been working on projects at our house.  We had a pretty small pad of cement in our back yard, and crappy old falling apart steps, and it is finally time to replace them!  Hooray!!!  This is pretty much what any hard labor project looks like at our house.  Kendall and Sam doing a majority of the work, the boys "helping", and Maggie wanting to help on the fun stuff...like using a sledge hammer and pick.

Josh is freakishly strong.  He kept picking up the chunks of cement to throw them into the wheelbarrow, and would refuse help...until his muscles started shaking.

 I think Kendall made at least 30 trips back and forth dumping the cement.  What a babe!  I really love that he isn't afraid to work hard and to get a job done.  He reminds me a lot of my dad in that way.

 Jack loading up the wheelbarrow.

 This boy has been such a good helper.  He's getting so strong, and loves to work with his dad!

Man I love that handsome face!

 Maggie contributed by baking "apple pies" in the sand box.  She kept bringing them around to everyone so they wouldn't be hungry.

She also made "cookies."

 I'm getting super excited for our new larger pad of cement.  I can't wait to have barbeques and dinners outside!  Now on to cutting out the grass, and getting it all leveled.

Part 1 of Kiddo Room Remodel

Kendall is finally able to revive his Bronco!!!  Just kidding, it actually runs great, it just needs a few things fixed to get it registered...but he is officially in the process of working on it.  I love this picture, he was so dirty and so grouchy...things weren't working out as smoothly as he wanted them too.  

 The bottom bunk is nearly done.  I really love the way Maggie's quilt turned out, it was a long process to finally finish it, but it's done!  We purchased these bunk beds off of KSL and I painted them with Valspar's Curry Sauce .

 Close up of her wrinkly quilt.

 These sheer curtains are from IKEA.  They are a two pack that are super long for only $5.00.  I just trimmed one curtains length and sewed on the pom poms.

 Maggie loving her curtain...at least now.  When I first put it all on she said she hated it because she wanted it all to be pink, not purple.  Granted this was at 11:00 at night and it was the first night she'd been home since spending the week up at Jeanette's, so she was super tired! She especially loves the flower light so she can turn her light on and off all night long to her hearts content!

 Her least favorite thing is that Jack and Josh like her curtain too!  Little turds; definitely know how to push her buttons!

 These are their toy bins...aka garbage bins from IKEA.  They were on clearance for $2.00 a piece.  They are normally white and I just spray painted them these colors.  Now their toys all fit nicely into these and they can only have as many toys as will fit in them...such a mean mom!

 This is their chalkboard table.  I got it at the DI for $20.00...talked down from $45...that's the first time I'd ever dared ask!  I found the stools at IKEA and took them into Lowe's to match paint.  They had a perfect match, so I painted the bottom of the table the teal.  Then I spray painted the top with primer, then two coats of chalkboard spray paint.  I love it.  The chalkboard spray paint was super easy and so far has work well.  These guys have a huge closet so I put the table and stools in there to keep their room less cluttered.

 I copied these jars a while ago to hold all of the kiddos art supplies and I am still loving them!

Current projects and a fishy face

The last couple of weeks we have been quite the busy bees at our house.  Sam and Maggie are officially in their new room and it is looking so cute!  I am still working on getting it all together and hope to have it wrapped up for the most part this next week. I decided to post a couple pictures of what I've been up to.  This is our stairwell. I love this quote.  I really wanted to put something on this wall that would become a mantra of sorts.  We go up and down the stairs all day long and I really wanted this to be subtle but meaningful.  I realize none of my kids can read yet, but it's coming quickly.  The painting of the Jordan River Temple was done by my great grandpa when he was in his 80's.  I think that's pretty awesome.  I'm really not much of a sentimental person, but I do love to put things in my house that are functional and meaningful.  I'm thinking I'm going to paint the frame either aqua or yellow.  Not quite sure yet.  What's your vote?

 I am almost done with Sam and Maggie's quilts.  I can't wait to be done with this tedious project!  I'm definitely loving the way they are turning out.  The ribbons all over the place are something I'm trying out...we shall see if I love it or not.

 My sister Laura and I are making some Halloween clay figures.  Yes, I know, getting an early start, but with
Pinterest there are way too many great ideas floating around.  Finished products coming soon.

The next pictures are from our camping trip from last
weekend.  My immediate family gets together for a camping trip annually and this time Jeanette planned it.  Pioneer Campground up by Hyrum Damn was a bit hit...minus all the bugs...   I only took 3 pictures sadly!  Uncle Brad teaching Maggie how to fish. (a few of these pictures are borrowed from Jeanette)

She actually caught this little beauty.  It was so cute...she was so proud of this little fishy...she carried it around, showing everyone.

It's so fun to spend so many days together so the kids can really spend some quality time together.  Jack and Joshy couldn't get enough kisses from miss Charlie.  

A rattle snake was found, skinned and eaten.....not by me of course!

 Everyone had so much fun on the river.

 The milk carton race was also a big hit.  Sam even won!  He was so excited!  His is on the far left with a cute little leaf sail.

 This was our beautiful spot.

 As we were packing up to leave I turned and noticed that Josh had climbed this huge tree.  It freaked me out so much...this little boy is such a monkey!  He thought he was very clever and loved that he'd startled me so bad!

Filthy

Today we have been home bound because Miss Maggie is sick.  She's had a fever and been throwing up, so today I've been moving furniture around and deep cleaning.  I had to take a picture of how dirty my floors were...I am not, or never have claimed to be, a super on top of keeping my house spotless kind of person...first of all, my kids are little and messy and I'd go crazy, secondly, I like to tidy as the day goes on and do a major clean up when the babies are napping.  Anyways, I had literally mopped my floors 2 days before this picture!!!  Isn't that gross!  As I was mopping I was angrily thinking about what little piggies my children were, then the thought came to me that messy floors also means that we are letting our kids be independent enough to have accidents.  We've really been trying to let them do more on their own...big sigh from me, who likes things done timely and tidily.  So yes, there may be dirty floors some days, but at least Maggie is putting her dishes in the sink; even if she does splatter milk along the way some times!!!

 In other news, we have started working on the bedroom that will be Sam and Maggie's.  Hooray!!!  The major thing that has been stopping me is the horrible wall paper that needed to be stripped and the resulting repairs that would need to be done to the walls.  This weekend we got the walls stripped and the ceiling painted.  Woot, woot!!!  Kendall is going to patch and then I'll get the rest painted.  I really hope to have them in this room by next week.  Any bets?

 Freaky little people on the wall paper.

 Did you know wagon wheels weren't just for transportation?  They can also be used for hideous light fixtures!  Cool huh!

Our outdoors

We have been spending soooo much time outside lately.  It's so nice to have the babies be big enough to enjoy playing, without getting into too naughty of things!  I've seen all sorts of fairy gardens everywhere lately and I've fallen in love, so I decided to make my own.  The kids and I had so fun putting this together.  It didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it too, but I will definitely be making more.

 If you look in our back yard this is usually what you'll see.  Yes, Sam is wearing his helmet to play in the sand box.  He'd just jumped off his bike and was "only going to play for a minute!"  This sandbox has seriously been the best investment we've ever made; hours and hours of fun.  Kendall brought home a big pipe and cut  it into pieces so they could make tunnels.  I love seeing them come up with all sorts of ideas when they are playing and it's so funny to listen to them create little scenarios. 

This is some of my yard art.  All of these are thanks to Laura's most recent yard sale, except the one on the end.  Laura surprised Maggie with that one...the eyes glow at night.  These little lovelies sit on my window ledge.

I don't know if you're as into the spray paint craze as I am, but it definitely does wonders.  I was pretty torn about this little deer because it was the original painted colors, but after giving it a coat of turquoise, I love it. I put these on cake stands to raise them off the ground.

 My garden isn't very pretty this time of spring, but I put this picture in to show what Kendall did for me.  He put all these pavers in as a border.  I love it and it's not just for looks.  Because this bed is sloped the dirt likes to run out when I water, now it won't!  Since this picture, I've moved all the creeping jenny ground cover to the border and transplanted the jupiter's beard (red flower plant) to another part of my yard.  The daffodil stems are all gone now too.  We got some loads of mulch from the dump...this is a great deal...only $15.00 per huge scoop.  It makes our yard look so much better! I am finally done planting all my seeds and can't wait for them to pop up!  I still can't believe how much I love to garden...don't tell my mom!  What kinds of things are you doing in your garden?