family

a few years ago i met my sister. let that sink in for a minute.

and this weekend we were visiting her and her cute family in california.

at the house

(the cousins minus jordan, he's too big for that table)

(they had such a ball together. jason, kenzie, peyton, jeremy, and avery)

(the backyard was a hit)

(painting pumpkins)

(just to prove we did more than take pictures of the kiddos)

(look at miss peyton. what a kissable face. i did in fact smother the poor child with kisses all weekend.)

soccer game

(jeremy kicking the ball, he made two goals. i think he was trying extra hard since he had the biggest fan club at the game)

 (mackenzie at half time)

(jason drawing pictures in my planner during the game. he gave me three notes that said i love you on them. what a sweetie!)

 

pool:

(this is my sister teri and her husband rob. i had to crop the pic because they were in the hot tub and i don't know how she'd feel about me posting bathing suit pics of her on my blog. so now they look naked. )

kitchen remodel begins!

a few friends have cautioned me that i really might lose my marbles if i went ahead with a kitchen remodel pregnant, with a toddler. but i couldn't picture it getting any easier waiting until i had two little ones roaming around. so this weekend we began, what i hope will be, a great kitchen remodel.

the first part, i was convinced was the easiest. i mean, all we were doing was pulling down the old stuff. i was gone this weekend when justin began. that wasn't an oversight or an accident. and other than justin almost losing a leg, and having to put up new walls in half the kitchen, i think it went well.

we even plumbed in a utility sink and set up the ping pong table to hold things. it feels like we are camping. kinda.
anyways, here's the pics...

BEFORE:

packing up the kitchen...

nasty old sink, that is what it looks like scrubbed!

nasty old floor. worse color ever. it is hard to tell here, but there definitely was a tint of pink in it.

dented  dishwasher, it actually made the dishes dirtier.

counter tops and back splash. this tile is everywhere in my house. it must have been on special. who does white tile, with white grout?? obviously a man who never plans on cleaning it!

the yellow beast. i seriously will miss this thing. it had a great oven too! i can't wait to show you our new one, we tried to keep it the same style.

the original cabinets. i can't say here what they smelled like, but if you've been over, i've probably told you.

PHASE ONE: DEMO

tearing out the walls (unplanned)

empty

the injury

the old kitchen

next week, floors installed...pics to come.



mackenzie's room phase one

well the bad news is that i ordered the fabric for mackenzie's room and the fabrics didn't mesh very well. the good news is that we picked the two pieces we really liked and found some others to go with it. 

here is mackenzie's new bed. it turned out great. now we just have to get her in it and pray she sleeps the night. 

phase one: bed

 (we started at night, in the driveway measuring out the bed. we had already bought a mattress at ikea.)

 (after agreeing on the design, we cut out foam to match the size that would be upholstered)

 (i used some of the fabric to make covered buttons)

 (we centered them and marked them with pins, this shows one of the new fabrics we went with)

 (the bed. so cute and small)

 (using a staple gun we attached the fabric, batting, and foam)

 (we first tried one method of attaching the buttons that failed, so then we drilled screws where the buttons would be. we wanted the gathered tufted look.)

 (the headboard ready to be attached to the bed)

 (we then attached the upholstered piece to the frame, little miss curly was very interested in the process.)

 (she LOVES her bed)

 (we hot-glued the fabric buttons over the screws...i don't know how sturdy they will be, i guess we'll find out!)

(happy happy happy)

(the final product. notice the cute 4" hairpin legs? we decided to leave the bed frame wood.)

 phase two: not sure yet...either a chair, curtains, paint color, rug

justin scott

i love this guy. seriously. for one, he has more "hobbies" than anyone else i know. including, but not limited to; backpacking, making bird houses, sewing random things like lunch boxes, fishing, hunting, reading non fiction really odd things like history books, camping, slacklining.... and now what are we adding to the list? writing.
that's right, j.e.scott (notice what his initials spell) is now the new author of this blog: http://6thstreetranch.blogspot.com/. check it out. you'll be impressed just like i was.

cute couple eh? and we make even cuter babies!

swimmin' lessons

kenzie had her very first swimmin' lessons. she gets to go with daddy. i gave special instructions to take pictures because i kinda felt like it was the first day of school. i laughed and laughed when justin showed me the pictures. mackenzie showed up wearing nothing but her bathing suit, parka, and rain boots.

it's a 9:30am class, so i assuming most of the attendees are stay at home moms. probably the ones with snacks in their purse, extra wipes in the glovebox and an ever ready pair of clothes in the trunk just in case. so picture those moms' faces as my little gem entered the pool wearing this getup.

(she loves to put on this swimsuit, she wears it over clothes around the house almost daily)

(the getup)

(ready to go show off in the pool)



baby bean

we went to our 20 week check up this week. baby put on a good show. lots of burrowing. lots of kicking. lots of stubborn hiding from the ultra sound tech. best line of the appointment came from my mom, who considers herself a bit of an expert as this was her fourth grandchild's ultrasound.

mom: gasp "oh sweet pea, look at that! so adorable"

me to the ultra sound tech: "what are we looking at?"

ultra sound tech lady: laughing "the kidneys"

 

can you see the little mug? kissable right?

the big reveal

i didn't know if we ever would finish the outside of our house. we started it in june. as per my usual style we also were tackling about fifteen other projects. but instead of telling you every obstacle, dilemma, or decision...i'll just show you the pics.

 (not the best front view, nor is it the original but it was the only picture of the front door that i could find)

(the almost final project. we still have some hardware on the door to replace and some touch up paint. but i could not wait another day.)

(our new light fixture, $1.00 at the rebuilding center)

 (the numbers, $35.00 at home depot)

(a different angle)

(another angle)

(a little bit of the process)

now on to the next project!