Painting!

Its official...we closed on the house earlier this week and its been a bit of a scramble. Conversations about what to do in the week before we move in. Given the overall amount of work its seems a bit daunting at the moment, but we agreed that the kitchen was our first priority. I will be posting pics as we go along, however for now the camera is packed and it will be cell phone pics when I do post.
Anyway my research made me inclined to do a face lift on the original oak cabinets as they were good quality and we didnt want to have to replace them if possible. Painted cabinets seemed to be the way to go and with some inspiration on black and white kitchens that is the direction we went.
Now I realize that painting cabinets is laborious. A time suck and painstaking with the details and process. What I didnt account for is the multi step process that would take many days to finish. We are on day three and only about 30% done. My back aches, my hand shakes now, and I have come to realize that while some poeple dont mind painting I am not one of them. It brings me back to Kindergarten and the frustration I felt with having to color within the lines. Sitting still, attention to detail. Those that can sew, or craft- I get why painting or doing either of those things is great! You have these wonderful finished projects that you have the patience and talent for. Um...this is why I have no problem paying other people to do those things often at a much higher price.
I just hope that when all is said and done the cabinets( and the rest of the rooms in the house which will also be painted in the next week) I am still alive.
** oh to my sisters that commented about my crazy light wish...not to worry...I did find a very reasonably priced light fixture...Not blue though.

Lighting for the new house

In buying this house-- it has a lot of things that are great...and some not so great things. One of those is the lighting. The fixtures in the home are all the brass 1990's fixtures that MUST go. I recently purchased a chandelier for our dining area that I love, and will be keeping for the new house. However in the foyer/entryway I have been looking for something spectaular! Blue being my favorite color every time I see something that I like I save it in a file for inspiration. Well here are some of the ideas I have....

( dont ask for sources as I have no idea- just would randomly find images on lighting websites )

Now realize my deliemma when I find out that not only all of these are priced at 2000.00 dollars or MORE-- and obviously are out of my price range...its hard to go back...nothing I have found in the price range that is acceptable compares! Its so sad. I can get a home depot run of the mill lighting fixture...something that is blah....or I can splurge on something like this right? RIGHT??? I seriously dont think I can talk Jonathan into blowing our limited budget on a light fixture...but a girl can dream!

4th - WY

The 4th was full of highs and lows…We got out of dodge and went camping with Jonathans family up near Lander WY. Having been there before I knew where we were headed and that the boys would have a great time. The camp site was near a little lake and there would be lots of exploring to do.

Saturday night we decided to go into town to see the fireworks. Now this isn’t the cities fireworks display- no- it was a private residence( a dentist and member of the church) who puts on this show. It seems that the entire town of Lander is in attendance…missionaries man the free ice cream and watermelon handouts, hundreds if not thousands of people gather on this mans property for the show. It lasted several hours with a reenactment of some 18th centry redcoats and militia men demonstrations, full on history lesson, flag raising, prayer and a good hour at least of fireworks. I must say…the fireworks in all was the best ive ever seen. I kept thinking- how in the world could this man afford what must have been a half a million dollar display? Im sure there are lots of donations, but still it was unbelievable!

We literally were seated right under the fireworks- could feel the heat from the explosions and I felt on more than one occasion while watching, how lucky we were to be there.

While Saturday was a good day- Sunday things took a turn for the worse…it seemed as if the mosquitos decided to hatch and swarm with vengeance intent on eating us alive. No matter how much deet that was sprayed there were always at least a dozen or more mosquitos around your head buzzing or biting. We took the boys who were restless and not very happy to town again for some McDonalds and a quick hike. However back at camp things never got better. We ate dinner quickly and I took refuge in the tent as soon as possible with the kids and missed out on some good campfire chats.

By Monday am I think everyone had enough of the bugs and while die hard campers we are, we had reached our limit. We quickly packed up camp and headed home. It was good to be back in the comfort of our own beds that night especially after a sad incident of Elijiah having a headache and getting sick…..

All in all, some good memories, but next time I think we will wait a little longer in the season before heading back to that particular spot…..

Weekly update

1. Almost solidified a renter for our house. ( yipee- has been a bit stressful)
2.New house passed inspection. Still a few weeks out from closing but almost there
3.Jonathan has been working insane hours- works all day, then comes home and works till the wee hours at night
4.In between- has done 99% of the packing..our garage is a good chunk full of boxes
5.We hardly have made a dent in the overall amount still to go :(
6.We leave for WY to have some fun with the Bechtold side of the family for a few days. Excited to get outta dodge
7.Met up with some good friends/our kids at Raging Waters( now 7 peaks) in SLC the other day. Let me save you some money-believe me when I say not worth it.
8.Road construction is making me very very grumpy- my nerves are a bit frazzled
9.Not sure how we are going to get through July- but we will-right?
10.Fixed the van...Jonathan rocks

Ragnar 2011

I wanted Jonathan to write the recap of Ragnar - afterall hearing it from his perspective would have been much more entertaining...but hes been slammed at work and so I decided before it got too far from memory to go ahead and post...

My good friend Emily and her Hubby put together a team kinda last minute and asked if I would like to run...well HELLO hanging with my friend and getting to run a race is a no brainer...then someone dropped out and I talked Jonathan into running....well needless to say his training consisted of ONE 3 mile jog in which he hurt his foot and didnt run again.

I was a little worried about him- but hes on the elliptical machine daily so I hoped he would be fine...

A few days before race day...Emily had to bail as her sitter flaked out so I was really bummed, but still excited that Jonathan would be doing it with me. Our team was the Thresher RV Crew and we had rented a HUGE RV to have as our roving hotel/sleep station...while we had our minivan as the shuttle vehicle for runners and back and forth to the RV. Have to say...the best idea EVER! Our team was a mix of guys and girls...some runners some not...we just wanted to have fun. We werent too concerned about time.

Our start was scheduled for 10:15- well we were late...we got off about 11am Friday. Some of our transitions were missed( just having runners at an exchange and the next runner still at the RV etc), in all I think we were about 2 hours lost in transitions- but again we werent concerned.
We finished up 5:30 Saturday.

Jonathan rocked the house with 3- 4 milers and did a way more awesome job than I expected...and I was a bit more tired this year with the legs I was running....5 miles, 5 miles, and then 8 miles. I was super bummed that about 3 miles into my last 8 mile leg my knee flared its old injury and I could barely walk, let alone run. So I had our amazing Milton ( 17 year old STAR) take over my leg.

It was another year of FUN, memories, and a great time. My hope is that this is just one of many that we do in the future!

Jonathan - Leg 1

My first leg...feeling good...

Start of the race...

David- the amazing barefoot runner - he is wearing sandels and probably a good thing too with the amount of rocks etc on that trail...

Not sure if you can tell...but I never got warm..had goosebumps the whole time..

This was so incredibly beautiful...the scenery and weather was PERFECT!

* a big thanks to David and Emily for inviting us to be on their team, but also to my amazing Hubby for being willing to take part. Till next year....

June updates

June is flying by...we have/had some fun things happening..RAGNAR this weekend, HRC Gala Jonathan and I attended, June birthday celebrations...all good stuff.

The biggest news is we are under contract with this house in Draper. The long story of it is this. We love our Lehi house...our neighbors, our ward. We dont like the lot size or that I can hear our neighbors talking in their house when we are in our house. It has escalated a bit to where I felt very claustrophobic and wanted space. Jonathan agreed. We were browsing the MLS looking at some great houses that I would have loved. Gorgeous high end, completely done, new houses. But they were slightly out of our price range and we didn’t want to raid our 401K’s to get them. So I kept my eye out…found 2 more- waited a day or two and when I got the okay from Jonathan to call- they already had offers---within DAYS! So we contemplated a few things…stay at our Lehi house for a while longer, or consider buying something that we could put some elbow grease into and fix it up.

Our friends back in Draper live in this fantastic neighborhood. Next to a park, elementary school, near trails, amphitheater, pool…they said that their neighbors were foreclosing on the house and we should take a look at it. Needless to say Jonathan fell in love. Lots of potential, no backyard neighbors(backyard opens up to the park, and pool) and space. I left after looking at the house slightly depressed….after seeing all those gorgeous new houses, and then to be considering one with much needed upgrades and a home that would require lots of work( um we both work full time, and jonathan is in school...what time would we have?)…well anyway after a few times going back to see it, talking about the things we could do, the benefits of the house…I got on board. We have plans to add a bonus room in the garage( it’s a two story garage so we can easily add a room above it), update the kitchen and baths, do some painting, finish off the basement and do the landscaping. While some of these projects have far out completion dates, others we will do right away. We are supposed to close in a few weeks, so baring anything with the inspection, this will be the house we hope to spend the next 20 years in....

House has a lot of great landscaping in the front when in bloom. I imagine a porch swing and lots of flowers...

The house was built in the late 90's. So lots of gold fixtures and lighting that will be the first to go...this is the formal dining area. When the house was on the market ( a total of a week with 3 offers- we got the house by less than a 1000.00 dollars) they put in new pad/carpet and repainted the walls. White. So before we move in Ill be doing a lot of painting...too much white for me....

Family room. One thing that I love about this house that we dont currently have in our Lehi home...is Light. There are tons of windows and wonderful natural light.

Kitchen. This was the biggest sore point for me. The layout and the lack of a pantry. While there are lots of cabinets- we have to replace all the appliances and the entire thing needs updating.

Another view of the Kitchen.

Master bath. Counters are very low. You have to bend down even. So we will pull them out and replace...Also they put new carpet down. EK! So we will be pulling it back up and tiling in the bathroom asap.

Backyard. It has never had landscaping so we will be looking to do this as well. I envision a new deck, trellis, grass near the house...with some leveling, in ground trampoline, trees, garden, playset on the top level of the yard and a new fence.

So there you go a quick tour of the house we will hopefully be calling home. Our plan is to rent out the Lehi house for a few years perhaps and sell when the market comes back around.

So anyone have any moving boxes?? LOL

Happy Birthday Baby!

Happy 35th to the man who can always make me laugh.

Supportive, kind, loving, BRILLIANT, mischievous, hardworking ROCKSTAR....

today is HIS special day.

my love...xoxoxox