More house projects!

We've been planning on replacing what little carpet was in the living room.  The rest of the downstairs is now tile.  So for Christmas we received a gift card to Lowe's (which is where we saw the floor we liked for the lowest price).  We've had the materials for a few months now but Friday, April 9th we decided to get going on this project. Jon's parents graciously offered their skills, tools, and time also.

This is before everything was moved and the carpet taken out.

No more carpet!

The next morning- Jon, Ed, and Zoe laying the padding that goes underneath the flooring.

The installation has begun!

Notice the angles at the bottom of the picture.  This was the hardest part. Cutting the tiles at angles was nothing.  Laminate flooring is another story.

Getting new baseboards was not something I anticipated when I dreamed of this project.  But the edges of the flooring is supposed to be under the baseboard so it was a must.

However, the new baseboard looks great so I'm glad we did it. (And it was a fairly easy step)

Ed is... measuring angles...?

Jon is now caulking the angle?? I don't know.  I guess projects make everyone a little looney.

Almost done!  We still need to put the t-moulding in where the tile meets the laminate flooring.  The baseboard is also being continued around the room into the dining area.  But other than that- it's pretty much done!

We had our trusty supervisors, Nike...

(who likes to walk on the new floor and make clicking noises)

& Zoe.

Julie's baby shower- 3/27/10

On Saturday, March 27, we had a baby shower for Julie (Jon's brother's wife).

She is due April 29th with a boy!! This is their first baby.

(35 weeks)

I made her a "diaper cake."  You bascially roll diapers up and put them together to look like a cake!

My mom had made one before so she had to help me.

Letters that Julie (& Andrew) made for Will's room.

The pictures on the shelf are of Andrew & Julie when they were babies. 

Debbie made the blocks in the black frame- very cute!

Blue= boy

Yummy food

More decorations- made with cupcake papers!

Door decoration- very creative!

Me and Julie... and Will :)

Our Florida Trip: March 10-15, 2010

Summer's sister-in-law, Kristin is from Florida so we decided to take a trip with them.  We got some rain and wind but other than that, the weather was good (while it snowed back home in Utah!). 

We saw the famous Suwannee River...

(The pole to the left marks the different flood levels by year)

We went to the Gatornationals at the Gainesville Raceway (which is the main reason why we made this trip)...

(Dang, that's fast!!!)

We went to Shired on the gulf....

Jon caught 2 fidler crabs...

We survived the wind there (keep in mind, it's hurricane season!)...

We met a huge cat (he weighed in at 42 lbs about 3 years ago)...

(This is Olivia doing sign language for "cat.")

We hung out with Kristin's family at their house in Old Town (where we stayed)...

But, unfortunately, our vacation had to come to an end...

These are just a few pictures that we took.  Jon had never been to Florida and it had been 6 years since Summer had been there.  We had a lot of fun and ate a ton of good food.  We hope to go back again! Hopefully sooner than later!

HaPpY VaLeNTiNe's DaY!

For Valentine's Day, Jon gave me some pretty pink roses and a picture frame with one of my favorite sayings on it.  It's actually the one on the top of our blog.

Since Valentine's Day actually fell on a Sunday, we went out to eat the night before.  It was nice and low key. The way we like it.

On February 4th, my brother and sister-in-law found out that they're having... [drumroll] a boy! This will be my mom's (and Kristin's mom's) first grandson. 

Olivia even knows the sign language for baby (among other words).

Our project continued...

Our storage under the stairs is coming along.  Saturday, Jon and his dad sheetrocked the little space.  The next step is to mud it.

We even have a light in there now.  Jon's friend came over and helped him wire the light and put in a light switch.  We also had to move the power outlet that was removed with the wall.

So our little projects are coming along. 

Since I'm not much help with Jon's project, my current house project is repainting the cupboards in the kitchen.  I've been wanting to do it for awhile now.  I think they were painted white (from brown) 2 owners ago right before they sold it.  So I am suspecting that they haven't been painted or repainted in probably 5 years.  They definitely need it.

House Projects

So we've decided to start on a few house projects.   Our first one is a small storage area under our stairs.

Jon likes making holes in the wall.

This is a picture of some of the storage space we now have. 

We need to do a few finishing touches on it but you get the idea.

We've also decided to put in laminate flooring in our living room (the rest of our downstairs is tile). We've already purchased the supplies.  Eventually I want to do the laminate flooring upstairs too.  The good new is that the flooring supplies for downstairs and the storage space supplies were all purchased on gift cards!!

Oh, ya we also want to paint our second bedroom and put up another medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

Yay for house projects!

Christmas and New Year's

We hope everyone had a good Christmas.  We started out our Christmas Eve by going to my parents' house.  My entire family was together, despite the possibility that my youngest brother would not be able to make it. We had dinner and opened presents.  My mom is big into emergency preparedness so we got many additions to our 72-hour kits.  Good thing she thinks of this stuff, because we don't!  We also got a bunch of little things here and there like money, gift cards, smelly-good lotion, books, etc. 
We then headed over to Jon's parents' house where we participated in his family's gift exchange.  Jon received some Mountain Dew pajama pants along with some Diet Mountain Dew.  I got a cute fleece blanket from the unborn child of my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.  We then went home and opened presents from each other.  My main gift was a pair of new shoes that I had been wanting and Jon received an Ipod from me. We had a good time. (I'm waiting for other pictures so I can post them also).

 

Thank goodness 2009 is gone and done with.  There are so many things that went totally wrong last year.  The only good thing is that I graduated from school and passed my nursing exam.  Again and again I am reminded that the Lord is the one in charge.  His plans often differ than mine and I sometimes have a hard time accepting that. I am fiercely hoping and praying that this year is better to us than last year- physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually,... in any way possible. I am at my wit's end and can't handle anymore failures, let downs, or surprises.  But as of right now, my medical bills are paid off and we are both in good health.  I don't think I could ask for more than that.