A Snapshot of Our Last 2 Weeks with Renovation

Last week we worked in Jake's room with 2 things: running electrical for a ceiling fan/overhead light, and framing in a closet.
There were old looking floor-to-ceiling doors on this closet when we moved in. So we framed it it in to be a standard height.

I got to use the nail gun that's used in construction...that is one heavy duty gun. I felt very manly...until I saw a spider and screamed.
Here's the point it is at now...we just have to mud it and paint.
And this week we decided to demo our bathroom. We gutted it on Monday. Tuesday I prepared the floor to tile and began tiling it...finally, I'm actually doing something I already know how to do! There's always this huge learning curve on every project we are doing...it was nice for once to already know what I'm doing:)
I sent Marc to the store to buy us a toilet...thinking he'd just get a regular $100ish toilet. He came home and very proudly announced he got the toilet with the highest rating for flush power. What a man.

Wednesday we put in the toilet. Yesterday I finished laying the tile. Today I rested:) It was very much needed. But this weekend I will grout the floor and then we'll get our new vanity in.

As for the kitchen wall change project, that got put on hold temporarily...it's going to be a bigger project than we even thought (and we already thought it was big). But we're preparing to do it.

Summer Fun

We've been having a fun summer so far...We do a lot of stuff with Luke, which Jake loves...and we see lots of other kids between mom's club and a craft club that I started weekly at my house.

Here's Luke, Jake, and Jake (that's what happens when you choose the #1 baby name:) at the beach. The other Jake is Luke's cousin, but is in our ward and in nursery with Jake...so they have become buds too.

Here we are at Buccanner Bay...this water park that they built nearby.

This took a little forcing...I got a little embarassed at what people were thinking of me when I pried my screaming child's fingers off me and pushed him down the water slide. I just knew he would like it if he did it once...and sure enough, I was right...he must have gone down that slide 30 times while we were there.

At the movies for Toy Story 3

We've gone to a couple Angel games this summer. After the first one where Jake saw the fireworks show...it's all he could talk about. I mean literally...he would talk about it every hour of every day for a whole month. I even recorded it on my phone, and he watches it constantly...it's always my back up plan if he's being cranky when we're running errands...give him the fireworks show on my phone...and I won't hear another peep:) His obsession with it has seemed to calm down a little since we went to a game again last week, and finally satisfied his addictive need to see fireworks again.

I got a slip n slide and a splash pool for our backyard and we've been having lots of fun going out there.

Jake likes to drink the water

His other obsession right now is Hot Wheels cars. He must always have several gripped in each hand...and LOVES to play with them and make them race around.

more Toy Story

Playing with cups in the sink...now I just need to teach him how to load dishes in the dishwasher...hmmm

This is at his cousin's birthday party with Tarin and Sean

I was on the computer and thought Jake was quietly playing with cars in his room...wrong! I should know by now to never trust him when he's being quiet:) I found him squeezing Desitin into the holes on the Lego box...and smearing it all over himself too. That was fun to clean up...

And now for the house update. We got the wall finished. This is the entryway when you walk in the front door.

Here's the french doors closed...all I need to do is put the door casing around them.

We've got the ceiling finished and the recessed lighting done in the family room.

And here's our next project that we're beginning. We are bumping out this wall to be even with the wall the french doors are on. That will make our kitchen a lot bigger. We're going to have to change the window that those oh-so-beautiful blinds are on because the new wall will run into the middle of it. So we will be reframing it for a smaller window. So here goes another wall change!

Utah trip

We decided to head up to Utah for a week and be there over 4th of July weekend since Marc already had 2 days off for it. We had such a good time. We did a lot of fun things with all our family that's up there...and, I hit up Rod Works 3 times!! I was very excited about shopping there with my new home in mind:) Anyway, here we are at Bridal Veil Falls.

We went with Barbara (Marc's mom) and my aunt Tricia and cousins Alex, Emily, and Nate met us there. Jake is best buds with them...

Jake and his cousin Jonathan

We hiked the Y with Emily, Nate, and Lauren. Marc had never done it before, and it's probably been 10 years since I had. It made me realize how much I need to make going to the gym a priority:)

About 30% of Jake's day is spent like this. He loves to smell his blanket...and trust me, that thing gets washed a lot!

Happy 4th!

This is my sister-in-law Fawn and 2 of her boys. We enjoyed kicking back while watching our pyro husbands light the fireworks. Jake apparently thought it was a little too loud. He spent the entire time holding his hands over his ears, and occassionally saying "Happy Birthday" because the fireworks made him think of candles on a birthday cake.

I was playing with the settings on the camera while Marc was doing sparklers...these turned out pretty cool.

Also cool

We drove up the mountain by Herriman to see down into the big copper mine that's right there.

Marc and Jake liked throwing rocks off the cliff. And believe me, I was all freaked out about Jake getting too close to the edge..until I walked over and looked. It actually wasn't a drop off at all.

We hiked to Battle Creek Falls with Dave and Fawn and the kids, and Fawn's brother Flint and Allison and their kids.

Jake wanted to go stand in a cave just his size.

At the Harper's, we did some slip n slide, which really made it feel like summer. I love me some slip n slide. This is me and Emily racing.

Here's me and Marc racing...I think he got a headstart.

Here's Marc and Nate. Clearly, Marc is a champion slip n slider.

Tricia and Jake sat back and watched.

Eventually Jake got in the pool part with Alex and Emily, and started to get up his nerve to go on the slip n slide.

We also visited my friend Ashley from high school. I was practically adopted into her family for all the time I spent at their house. We had never met each other's kids yet...which is crazy. I'm not sure how so much time passed. But Ashley and her husband just bought a house, so we went by to hang out for a bit and see their new house...and meet each other's kids!

We stayed at Marc's parent's house and it was nice to spend some time with them.

House Update:

Obviously things were on hold for a week while we were gone...but we got right back to work the very next day after we got home. I have been endlessly painting these french doors with coat after coat.

Here's the pocket door's installed.

Here they are closed.

We had an electrician install recessed lighting in the family room. Unfortunately, there's no attic access, so he had to cut 6 big holes in our precious ceiling we spent so many sweaty hours working on to scrape it, mud and sand it, and paint it...with NO texturing (sorry Marc)...and had gotten it so perfect.

Jake's been doing his part. Hey, he doesn't get off easy just because he's 2

I got drapes up

This is the view right when you walk in the front door. Isn't it beautiful? Well, it's on its way:) We closed off the opening and have started drywalling and mudding.

Still have a little more drywalling to do.

Stay posted!