Bathroom Remodel

Hallelujah!  We have finished the bathroom remodel!  This has been a project that I've been wanting to do for years.....literally.  I bought the tile 5 years ago and its been waiting patiently under my bed!  I think when I'm pregnant, all my "get-things-accomplished" hormones go into overdrive and I start projects.  (In all honesty, the last 2 times I've painted anything in my house have been when I was pregnant).  Crazy, but it is what it is.  And I got a new bathroom in the process.  But it was like pulling teeth to get my husband on board.  Let's kindly say that he's not what you'd call a DIYer. He did an amazing job with the tile work - with the help of his brother, Michael.  (THANK YOU!)  But I made him repeat the phrase, "I can do hard things."  He will not be impressed that I just aired that bit of dirty laundry! :)  Love you Hon!  Anyway, here are the before, during and afters:

BEFORE

The oh-so-fashionable countertop was my pride and joy!! Ha.  And need I say more about the maroon and navy blue flower patterened linoleum?  And I should have gotten a better picture of the baseboards...on the far wall there are 3, yes, 3 separate pieces of trim.  The wall only measures about 5 feet in that spot!  Very custom-made.

And the mirror.
Oh the mirror.

And superb outlet placement too!

DURING

Thanks again Michael - you saved us!

Brad wasn't too happy right about now.  He wouldn't even look up for a picture.  BUT, he was still trying something that was NOT (and still isn't) in his comfort zone. :)

The OH-SO-AWFUL Mistake!

So I had this grand idea for a color scheme.  Crisp white, with hints of navy blue and apple green. Cute right.  Well, just don't paint your cabinets blue!  As you can see, it was horrible! 
Right as I started I thought, "Hmm, I don't know about this."  But I kept telling myself, "Just get one coat of paint on and let it dry, then decide." 
How I wished I would've stopped then.  It would have saved me a bunch of time resanding the dang cabinets to get that awful blue off. 
I did have a good laugh about it after though.  Seriously, what was I thinking here?!

AFTER

I am so pleased with everything!  I still need to get some decor on the wall, but that'll come.  I love, love, love my wall color.  And with so much white, the bathroom is fresh and "springy".

I added new hardware to the cabinets and love the look of them.  Simple and clean.

Once we moved the outlets down, we had more space for a bigger mirror.  And this mirror rocks my world!  It has made the biggest impact in the bathroom.  The bathroom feels SO much bigger!  And I can even see the back of my head when doing my hair.  It's a dream I tell ya!

I'm not usually a tools-type of girl, but I can handle a drill pretty good these days.  I added the toilet paper roll holder, hand towel holder, and all the hardware to the cabinets.  Yes, my 6 1/2 month pregnant body got down on my back to put in the drawer pulls on the two drawers that are fake (right beneath the sink).  ....yes, it was uncomfortable.  But I did it....."I can do hard things too!" :)

So there it is.  I think during every stage of this remodel, something didn't work or we had to do it another way than we thought, but we persevered.  (Sheesh, I make it sound like we climbed Everest or something!)  But, for us non-DIYers, I think we did a pretty bang-up job.

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we had Thanksgiving in Brigham City with my side of the family.  Once again, it was a delicious meal - one I look forward to more than any other meal during the year.  We have the traditional things like turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy but I absolutely love my mom's stuffing.  It is the best!  We also have shrimp salad.  It is definitely an acquired taste...and there are only a few takers, but it's tradition and I love it!  And you can't have a thanksgiving feast without sweet potatoes with butter, brown sugar, and marshmallows.  Yummy!

Suzanne brought a cute script for "The First Thanksgiving."  She has everything including adorable costumes for the kids.   They had so much fun acting it out.

Our version of the 1st Thanksgiving

The cutest pilgrims that I ever did see!

Tanner

Dallin (with his amazingly awesome coonskin hat) helping Ellie not be so shy

Narrators: Meag and Josh

Ellie

Thanksgiving Talent Show

Meagan

Josh

Lindsay

Suzanne and boys singing a hymn.....cant remember which one

Sweet, loveable Allie

Kaylee - loving the attention

Rian - looking for her parents approval (they were sitting on the landing)

Ah. Shy Tanner

I'm a little impressed with this pic - go Ellie!

Halloween 2011

Lindsay: 80's vampire *** Tanner: pirate *** Meagan: mummy *** Ellie: Snow White

Meagan's 11th Birthday

Happy Birthday Meagan: September 28th

My dad got a bunch of signatures of former USU bball players that have gone on to play in the NBA.  When my dad was in college he was the team manager for the men's bball team - the team was really, really good that year.  The team was honored this fall at Utah State's Homecoming.  It was pretty cool.

She FINALLY got her wish: a ripstick :)

I can't believe you're already 11 years old!!! We love you Meagan!

Family Day #4: TOADS

Remember way back when I blogged about our family days we would have when the kids accomplished their chore charts?  Well, this was the last installment of those......TOADS! 

August 16, 2011

The kids loved it.  We found an insanely awesome coupon in the Hometown Values magazine that allowed us:

$20 in arcade games

8 activities (mini golf, laser tag, batting cages, go-carts)

2 large pizzas

4 large drinks

4 ice cream cones

All for $40!  (regularly a $120 value)  SCORE!

We hit the arcade games first.  And earned quite a few tickets to boot.  Then we played a round of mini golf and then Brad and the older girls played Laser Tag.....next time we'll have to let Tanner try.  We weren't sure if he'd be able to do it....or if he'd get scared while he was in the dark.  Oh well, next time.

Riding the virtual roller coaster

These pictures above and below are so funny.  I guess the sun was a little bright!  Lol.  It makes my heart smile to see their facial expressions.

This picture perfectly describes the individuals in it.
Meagan: scoping out the best possible route to get her ball where it needs to go.  Serious contemplation.  A competitor through and through.
Lindsay: patiently waiting in line, but unconcerned about winning.  Just along for the ride.  I mean look at how she's holding her club :)
Brad: just like Meagan...a competitor.  Doesn't matter that he's playing against the kids, he still wants to win!

Ellie proudly showing off the results of her hard-earned tickets from the arcade games.

TOADS was definitely fun and we'll have to do it again sometime.

On an unrelated-to-this-post side note.  We were heading to Brigham the other day and Tanner was a little car sick.  We passed TOADS and Tanner said if we stopped to play that it would make his tummy feel better.  :)