Discovery Gateway...

Brooke and I took the babies up to Salt Lake to the Discovery Gateway for kids. They loved it! It was a nice thing to do to get out of the house while the kitchen is getting torn out the rest of the way today. The water display was the favorite. (The boy was quite wet, by the time we left).

On the way home, they both were clutching their "bald eagles" and watching Shrek. They didn't fall asleep though, and their mom was thrilled, that meant nap time at home!

Test Your Strength...

These cement steps need to be broken up and out and new ones need to be poured for our new door. Danny, a.k.a. "The Contractor" said he hopes one day he comes over and they are just GONE. He conveniently left a large sledgehammer lying right next to them. Stacy, Doug and Shane have all used it to take a few whacks at them. I have tried a little with the "girlie" sledgehammer, but not much luck. Doug went at them last night and this morning, he can hardly straighten up, his back is so sore. So - if you want to have a try - help yourself - just make sure there is not a car parked too close - the chips really fly when you get going.

Week 3 of the Kitchen Remodel...(Plus Extras)

New windows - IN!! We had to get smaller windows, so we could run the counter top all the way across the kitchen wall.From the outside: (Waiting for the 'brick guy')

Extras:

We are also replacing our front door. This is something I have wanted to do since we moved here, over 5 years ago! Our entryway is small and very dark, so it' going to have a big window in it - hooray!

We also decided to drywall and put a 'regular' door on the "puppet show theater". It has the lovely fake-wood paneling and a funky angled top - it just looks weird. We are putting on a pretty glass door, with the same "ribbed" glass that my office door has. (We also are putting that style of door on our new pantry.) We will also be painting the stair rail white.

Pantry - love the door. Should we paint it white? Stain it dark like the cabinets? Stain it light like the rest of the doors in our house?

We are removing the banisters that divide the dining room from the family room. I think we are going to put in a 1 larger column on each side - plus paint all the wood white to match the rest of the trim in our house.
We've removed them from one side already: (My job is now to sand all the woodwork we are going to paint)

That's the news for this week, expecting the rest of the kitchen (sink, dishwasher, cupboards) to be torn out on Monday - argh! (But exciting!)

Baby Steps...

The kitchen is finally moving along, we had to wait for the electrician and he was very slow. The lights are mostly in and we got new wiring for the new "dual fuel" range we've ordered. So, Danny came yesterday (on a Saturday, bless his heart) and put up the drywall - hooray! I was gone all day yesterday (14 hours - scrapbooking in Salt Lake) and when I came home, Stacy and Shane had mopped the floors and cleaned up really well around here. What a difference! We also got the beautiful new back door in. There are no stairs to it yet, but there is a stool. (but don't step on the threshold because the brick guy isn't done yet) Yesterday, while I was gone, they even put on the lock, so there is no towel sticking through the hole to block the breeze anymore - yippee!

Here are Shane and Becca, checking out the pantry. The wiring sticking out is for my new magic pantry light - the light will turn on automatically when you open the door! (Thanks, Megan!)

Our beautiful new door has a great window near the top , so we can get light in, but don't actually have to look out at the carport - ever!

Don't Ask...

Stay tuned... (we're just waiting for windows, doors, cabinets, more lights, more drywall, paint, the sink, countertop, etc., etc., etc.)

Fascination...

Stacy has become fascinated with the sandwich maker. We had hamburgers over the weekend (on the grill) and had some leftovers. He had the brilliant idea of putting them in the sandwich maker. Small problem, they didn't quite fit - too fat. He cut them in half and squished and squished them in there. He ended up putting a heavy box on that sucker so they would cook. He was very pleased with the results!

The sandwich maker doesn't look like it's recovered yet - it is a mess. Since I refuse to eat anything that comes out of it, I don't care. I waited until it was cool, then put it in a plastic bag, now I am ignoring it.

Quilt Projects...

I've loaded Stacy's medallion quilt and finally gotten started on it. (He is very happy). I did some freehand feathers in the border (you can't see them), I messed them up pretty good, but when I looked back at them, you can hardly tell (Yippee). The feathers you can see are from following a pantograph.

This is my newest quilting project. I am loving the colors of this charm pack! It's "Zaza" by Moda. I am going to put a light colored sashing between the nine-patches and then put a purple border on it. Very simple, but I love it!The kitchen is coming along VERY slowly, but hopefully I'll have something new to report and show later this week!

Date Night Update...

For our date night this week, we went to the Orem Fitness Center to shoot Stacy's new gun. We went with our friends, Craig and Sue. Craig brought his gun too. We all brought earplugs and headed out to Orem. It was really NOISY! Even with our own earplugs, plus the ear cover things they loan you, every time a gun went off, Sue and I about jumped out of our skins! (Did I mention it was NOISY?) We had to wear eye protection too, the guy in charge said sometimes there are bullet fragments flying around. So... I stood by Stacy when he shot his gun and the little casing thing flew out of it, right by me and my first thought was "Oh my goodness, a bullet fragment, it's a good thing I have these goggles on!" Then I looked around and saw all of the other casings all around on the floor and realized what it was. I shot the gun and the casing flying out scared me AGAIN and I didn't like that little puff of air that came out either, that combined with the NOISE was too much for me. After a while, I tried to shoot a little more (Sue was doing great and there were several young gals shooting away down there too.) I realized that I aimed at the target, then shut my eyes while I pulled the trigger because I was so nervous. I did hit the paper target 1 time. Sue hit several bulls-eyes, I was so impressed. I'm glad I went, it was very interesting and now I know what cordite smells like and Sue and I decided that if anyone ever shot at us we would wet our pants and faint.

Afterwards, we went to "Hello Yogurt" and had yummy frozen yogurt with lots of fun toppings and had a nice time visiting. We may go again, outside, where it supposedly isn't as NOISY and when the weather is better.