Progress...

Today, my range was installed! For dinner, I made eggs, sausage and hash browns, all things I have not been able to cook for 11 weeks. Shane cooked a pizza in the oven. We were very excited!Tonight, Grandpa had the babies up on the bar and they made a big smoothie, they had a really good time too!
Tomorrow - cabinet doors, molding, etc. - and hopefully the front door will be in too!

For my quilting friends...

Here are some pics of my fabulous quilting studio. I took over the entire downstairs family room for my studio, (some of the other names it is called - sewing room, quilt room, sweatshop). Shane was very sad to see the downstairs couch go, but Brooke was very happy, because it went to live in her house. I have been quilting for 3 & 1/2 years now, and have completed 45 quilts, plus a few "table toppers" and such. The table toppers are hung up around the studio, while waiting for the proper "season" to grace the table top upstairs.
3 years ago, for Christmas, Stacy bought me a fab "quilting machine", which is really a cool table with a rack on it to hold a regular sewing machine, so you can move the machine easily to quilt. I mostly machine quilt on that, but occasionally, I like to hand quilt my quilts. I have my own "TiVo" downstairs, so I can tape my favorite shows to watch while I sew (What not to Wear, Spice Up My Kitchen, Fon's and Porters Quilting Show, etc.) I also have an iPod dock, so I can listen to groovy tunes while I quilt, it helps with the "free motion" quilting. I love the "track lighting system" that Stacy put up for me, there used to be just a single fixture and it was pretty dark down here. This light fit into the single hole, but spreads the light down the whole room. I love my "design wall" too, it is a flannel table cloth ($3) hung up behind the extra lamp - very handy.
Here is where I can sit and do handwork, or look through books for inspiration, etc. It is also a comfortable place for people to visit me while I sew.Another bonus is that it is always nice and cool in the basement. Life is good!

It's a Little Harder than it looks on "Spice Up My Kitchen"

Stacy and Danny worked long and hard on this backsplash today and it took them a long, long time. Stacy is now resting because his back hurts. I believe Danny was quite happy to get back to his family. It looks like it only takes a few minutes to do the whole kitchen on my favorite HGTV show, "Spice up my Kitchen". It is gorgeous though, and I'm very excited to be getting it done! This is where the stove and microwave are going:

Counter Tops are In!!!

Today I got a VERY pleasant surprise; the counter tops are here! The shop came out and "templated" on Monday. Normally they take 2 weeks, but since things in construction are a little slow, they came in 3 days! Hooray! They are made of quartz, a mix of resin and natural stone, and, they are beautiful! I think I may have a working kitchen within the next week or so - very exciting!!!

Here is my gorgeous sink, big enough to bathe grandbabies in. I thought about getting a big, cool, farmhouse style sink, but I have this fear of the silverware falling in the garbage disposal, so I have a separate section for that!

Sister In Law Retreat...

I'm back from the fabulous Sister-in-Law Retreat and it was so fun! The 7 sister in laws and my 'mom in law' all get together every spring and hang out, work on projects and take turns cooking. It's Thursday - Sunday. We met at Deanna's this year, she has a beautiful home in Nevada. We all enjoyed the wonderful weather, although the pool wasn't quite warm enough to dip into yet. I got a baby quilt top finished and just generally had a great time relaxing and visiting, etc. We watched "Mamma Mia" - which is WAY more fun with all of your 4o-something sis-in-laws than with your hubby. (Sorry, Michele is only 39) We all ended up dancing and singing our hearts out, and, no, there are no pictures of this sort of thing. We ate really well, quiche, tarts, salads, and more, plus superb desserts, as you can see:

We were missing the "baby" sister in laws - Jen and Des and we definitely missed them! Hopefully we'll all be there next year for the 12th annual one at my house!

Things that happen while I'm out of town...

I'm sure you all know that the "Twilight" movie came out this weekend. Last night, Stacy caught Mitch and Mike, hammering this onto the carport wall:

Since lots of people walk by our house, on the way to church, people saw it. In Elder's Quorum today, someone asked about the "party" Stacy had held. Stacy told everyone that Mitch and Mike were huge Twilight fans, but their wives didn't "go for that", so, since Stacy wasn't going to be around, they could use our house for their big costume party!

Mitch, I think you left this behind...

We have Cabinets!!

Sort of...

I'm starting to think my kitchen won't be quite as roomy, when these are all put up. They are going to be installed this week, then we can measure for counter tops, then 2 weeks until they come in.
P.S. We're going out to dinner tonight!

Happy Anniversary...

We celebrated 28 years of marriage yesterday. We spent a really nice day together, we looked at spas, new cars and a 1/2 million dollar home. We also went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch, somewhere I've been wanting to go forever, and had yummy food and even yummier cheesecake (coconut chocolate). We went for a bike ride in the afternoon - the weather was perfect. Even though I had 2 flat tires, it was still enjoyable, walking home together. We're looking forward to another 28+ years together!

P.S. We will be purchasing ONE of the items we looked at yesterday - you'll have to guess which one!

Almost...

My beautiful new front door finally came in yesterday (1 month of waiting). We opened it this morning and the glass was cracked!!!!! I guess it won't go up for another month!! Boo Hoo Hoo!

I'm Dreaming of a New Kitchen...

Nothing much happening around here, new blinds, the gas line was moved, still waiting on the cabinets. We're now over 8 weeks with no kitchen, it hardly bothers me to do dishes in the bathroom anymore...

Luckily - the Sister in Law Retreat is next week; something fun to look forward to - we are heading to Nevada for a 4 day party, hopefully it will be nice and warm (Deanna has a nice pool). There are 7 sister-in-laws, plus my mom-in-law. This is our 11th year! We usually bring something fun to do - scrapbooking, cardmaking, quilting, reading, gaming, or, just hanging out and we all take turns cooking yummy food. We stay up late and visit and pretty much generally enjoy taking time for ourselves and leaving our worries behind.

This is our unofficial logo - we usually get new pajamas for this event, so we're looking sharp!

Loading Up...

Pantry and Scrapbook Closet - completed and loaded up!! I love how you can see everything when you open the pantry!

The Puppet Show Theater is no more! Now, still waiting for cabinets!

Kids are Funny...

I love to hear what little kids say, they are always so cute and funny. Well, I'm here to tell you that grown up kids are hilarious too. While we were out of town, Amanda had a kidney stone and Jeremy rushed her to the hospital because she was so ill. He actually had to carry her inside, while she was throwing up, etc. When they took her to a room, the staff told her to put on a robe and wait for the doctor, well, apparently she was bawling because her bra and panties didn't match and they ALWAYS match, just in case, she ends up in the hospital. She was so upset that on the day she DID end up in the hospital, she didn't match...funny.

Last night we celebrated Shane's birthday with a yummy cake that I call a "Candy Bar Cake" and some of my children call a "Better than Sex Cake". Doug (who was just married a month ago) is eating his cake and he suddenly says, "To think I used to think this cake was better than sex". Shane was appalled that Doug would refer to such a thing!...funny.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

The remodel is looking better! Hooray! Danny got all of the cool green paint up, then Stacy and I finished a lot more last night. Today, the guys did touch up and clean up and it looks fantabulous!! They also hauled a big load to the dump and cleared off the carport quite a bit. (Another load to the dump is pending - sorry Carters) Our appliances came today and the fridge is HUGE. The poor delivery guys had to take the door off the house and the doors off of the fridge and freezer, plus, do a lot of huffing and puffing to get it up into the house since we have no steps!! We made sure to put it into the kitchen before the cabinets and big bar comes in, because we don't want to have to take the doors off again. (It's getting a cabinet built around it).

Here is the lovely pantry, tomorrow I will be loading it up!!! (I even have hooks inside for my aprons)

Here is the range, with my wonderful double oven. It's an electric oven, with a gas stove top. It's also a convection oven!! So exciting.

For those of you keeping track, it's been 7 weeks so far of a mess!! We probably won't be completely finished until the end of the month - but - it's getting better!

Fun Trip...

We're back from California and we had a great time. The wedding was beautiful and we got to see practically ALL of our old and very dear friends from our Corona ward (we lived there for 15 years). We had a very enjoyable "road trip", stopping in the middle of nowhere for Stacy to shoot his gun at some targets he had brought along, and, of course: Tommy's! We have loved Tommy's chili hamburgers since we were teenagers and would stop at the original stand in a scary part of L.A. on the way home from the L.A. Temple. Seriously, at the original stand, armed guards patrol the parking lot, alongside the limos and fancy cars, as well as the regular cars - good food for everyone! Here is Stacy, enjoying a pepper with his chili fries. We stopped there on the way there and back - delicious!


It was great to see my sisters and their families and my parents. The weather was beautiful and Stacy got 18 holes of golf in, so he was happy about that. We also spent the night in Logandale with Jeff and Deanna on the way home (more shooting for Stacy) and had a nice visit there too. Now, back to the house and back to work! (Up until midnight last night painting - will post pics later today or tomorrow).