Remodel Central

Andrew is a miracle worker. After being gone for a few weeks, he has been home to work on our house. It's like living in a new house!

Changes include new paint, new beadboard, new crown moulding, and voila! It's a new house. We're rather pleased with all the changes! My favorite changes include locking doorknobs on the bedroom and bathroom (helps with the privacy here...) and the full size bookshelf in the living room!

Anyway - for those of you who have been here, prepare to be amazed. For those who haven't, well... you'll see an amazing change anyway!

BEFORE the remodel...

This is our living room... before the woodstove (will be in the corner where the pictures are...)
Looking toward the kitchen - from where the wood stove will be...
Our dining room... we don't spend much time at the table here... it's too distracting.
The entry way area... and the living room. Taken from the dining room. 

After the remodel...

The view from the corner towards the kitchen (this is taken standing behind the wood stove...)
Our new favorite room in the house! 

This used to be the wallpaper wall... and the view down the hall.
The entry way. Changes include the coat closet and taking the door to the stairs off. It has opened the area up immensely!
Looking toward the woodstove - installed in January, and already worth its weight in saved heating bills!
Our dining area... note that the chandelier doesn't seem to be the only thing in the room anymore! (Or maybe it's that people were looking for a distraction from the rest of the walls... the floor doesn't seem to be as hideous either.) 

Count for me, Mom!

This is Savannah running through the sprinklers as I counted... "run around 4 times, Savannah, I'll count for you!" I will freely admit that for each time she ran twice, I counted once... Hey - anything to wear her out so that she'll be tired enough for bed at night! It took her only 7 times around to realize that I'd passed 4 a long time ago... and then it was back to lying on the deck so that she could dry off... 

Sprinklers!!!

This was truly the first HOT day of the season, and it demanded that we turn the water on so that Savannah could run through it. This is her standing in the water and counting to 10... She loved running through the sprinklers - quite a change from last year when she would only run if Dad was running with her... 

Mom's Flowers

This is my arrangement. I kind of prefer the originality of Savannah's... 

Flowers, anyone?

Savannah's centerpiece... she did this MOSTLY by herself, I didn't help her at all - she enlisted the help of some of my young women... 

Girl Time...

Having some time to spend one on one with Savannah and Margaret has been interesting. We've had a good time (and some hard times, but mostly good...) and done some fun things!

One of the most memorable has been running through the sprinklers (that was a Savannah only thing - Mom still doesn't like cold water), and doing some floral arrangements with the Young Women in the ward. I won't claim to have any sort of flower talent, but it was fun to see Savannah figure out how to stick her flowers in to make them look good. Her arrangement is still on the table two weeks later! (I forgot to water mine, and it's gone the way of all dead flowers...)

Margaret continues to grow like a weed - she's put herself on a sleep schedule that allows me a bit more time to clean the house and prepare for the move... it's nice to be able to plan around something that I can depend on (like Margaret going to bed sometime between 9 and 9:30 PM...)

We are looking forward to many more wonderful sunny days (today being 7 May isn't one of those) and more times running through the sprinkler... perhaps the next time Mom will run too...

Catch my smile... if you can!

This is her typical every time you look at her face - just satisfied with life, looking a little like she wants to smile, but she's just waiting for you to smile first... Usually works that she'll grin and sort of catch you a little off guard... 

Life is full of surprises...

And this is how Margaret wakes up every morning - looking a little surprised that she's still little... I love the wide eyed surprised look. 

Our girls...

The girls... Savannah loves to help with Margaret, and loves being able to do things with her sister - she's started copying me in taking care of her "baby"; I suppose that's how little girls learn to be good moms! 

Just an update...

I've been meaning to put pictures on for a long time - and now that it's quiet in the house, I'm making the time. I can't guarantee that it will be quiet for too much longer, but since Margaret's asleep and Savannah's asleep and I'm almost asleep... here you go.

Our family is doing well. The girls and I are holding down the fort while Andrew is in Utah building houses (and loving the challenge that this new adventure brings). We've had our fair share of challenges at home, but our family has been strengthened even in the process. I feel it's a bit like bending steel. First you have to heat it up, then you can mold it and finally it cools off. While I freely admit that it's not easy being apart, Andrew and I are thankfully able to talk daily, and he is still my strength when things get tough. I know that we can rely on each other for everything!

Savannah started a community education class, and she loves it. She goes back and forth between calling it "school" and "my class" - I think it's going to be an excellent experience for both of us. For her first class, she made square eggs (I've never seen it done, but it sounds easy), learned to make an egg salad sandwich, planted a bean in a "living necklace" and had lunch with about 11 other kids! Socially, it will be good for her. Mentally, it will be good for me. I love to hear her excitement and the way she is growing and learning. She was sad that the teacher didn't talk to her during her class, and we had a nice talk about the world not turning around the things she says - I know that she's only four, but I hope that SOMETHING sunk in there! We talked about the similiarities between sitting and listening in Primary and sitting and listening during her class. And I acknowledged that it's hard for her not to talk - because she likes to talk (this may be a gross understatement) - personally, I'm hoping that this class will help her learn some valuable sharing and social skills - and how to listen instead of talk all the time...

Margaret is growing faster than I want her to. Her hair is coming in redder, her smile is getting bigger, and she thinks it's funny when her "bum burps". She doesn't laugh at gas yet, but she does smile bigger after she hears that particular funny noise. She doesn't laugh when she scares herself with it though... Just gets a funny startled look on her face. We all laugh at that!

As for me, I'm getting lots of sleep, and singing happy songs when the rest of the house isn't so happy. I've decided that I refuse to allow someone else to make me sad. I'm just not going to give in to the old adage - "If mom's not happy, nobody's happy" may as well just be happy with what I've got. It sure has changed the way I look at things!

And on that note - I'm going to get some much needed beauty rest.

Best Friends...

Scott and Savannah - such good friends in such a short time - it really made for a great weekend for Savannah to have someone to play with her and help take care of her - she's got a pretend telephone that she's been pretending to call Scott on daily... what a great friend and cousin... 

Born to ride...

need I say more? I've rarely seen a happier man than this... 

Just like my Dad...

After a long, hard day... just relaxing and sitting around. I'm not sure that either of them were really ready for this picture, but I'm putting it on for Andrew.

And if there's any question at all where Margaret gets her hair color - I just noticed that it's exactly the same color as Andrew's beard. 

Feeding time...

I just like the way this picture turned out. Savannah loved to feed the horses carrots - in fact, minutes after this picture she made an attempt to feed the horse a second carrot, and ended up throwing it in his general direction - he was a bit too close for her comfort. 

After the fun...

Comes the work. Teaching Savannah about brushing the horse after he's ridden. Savannah did a great job of helping to take care of the animals - I was thrilled that she wasn't terrified of the Horse, since he is HUGE compared to her! 

Just enjoying life.

April started with the family in Logan, UT to work (Andrew) and visit (Linda and the girls). The trip was really fun - the girls were marvelous on the drive (which ended up being about 15 hours too long, but not bad), and we were able to see a wide range of weather. From rain in OR to snow (Savannah thought that was really fun) to short-sleeve weather, the trip was worth it. Savannah made a new best friend in her cousin, Scott, and came home dreaming of owning her own horse someday.

The girls all miss Andrew (that includes his wife) and can't wait for the next time we can see him. As you can see by the photo - Andrew is definitely in his element with the horse - and we are excited to have our own property where we can have horses of our own! This is at Uncle Bruce's house - the horse is, I think, Jasper. 

Ridin' around on the back of a horse...

My daddy's leading me all the way.
Can't let go or I might fall off...
Think I'd really like to stay.

This kid thinks horses are "SOOOOOO cool!" She'd have taken him home if she could have.