Bathroom Makeover (before/after)

When we moved into our new place the owners said they would put in a new bathroom.  What a relief!  One of the best parts of that agreement was the contractor let me pick everything out!  But lets begin at the starting point.  The bathroom was a mess!  We nicknamed it "the hole" and closed the door to it when we moved in.  It only had a toilet and an empty space for a bath tub...oh and a huge pressure tank!  The other bathroom in the house does not have a bathtub just a standing shower so it was most important for me to have a working tub for the girls.  It is the bathroom off the main living room and will also be the girls.  So it is a bathroom that needed to be well utilized.  They started with moving the pressure tank out, and then for the last two weeks have been going to work on it.  I am happy and grateful to have a clean and functional bathroom!  

Before                                                                     After

The wall color is Dolphin Fin by Behr and is my favorite light gray paint color.

Before

After

 Before

After

I really like the vanity sink top! 

Baby Chicks

After soccer on Saturday Evelyn, Jane, and I went and picked out baby chicks.  By the time Daryl got home from work there was a family of chicks in our living room. The girls are really enjoying it.  Evelyn talks to them and says stuff like "come here sweetheart" or "its time for you to get some sleep now darling."  She also protects them from Jane when she trys to reach down and touch them when she is not supposed to.  Jane is in awe of them and chats to them in her high pitched squeals.  Evelyn so far has been feeding them and giving them fresh water along with changing the pine shavings on the bottom.  From what I understand we are supposed to keep them inside for two weeks, then move them to the garage until they get feathers, and then move them outside.  We have eight chicks in total.  Two yellow, two brown, two black, (these lay eggs) and then two white that Daryl brought back from the store last night for uh...errr eating.....gulp!  They are a lot bigger and rounder than the egg laying chicks.  Evelyn's favorite is one of the black ones.  They are all really REALLY cute right now and are fun to just sit and watch interact.  Very relaxing.  I will be happy if they all even survive until the fall.  

It is a fun learning experience for all of us.

Visit with Grandpa Jones

So happy to see their Grandpa!

My Dad came and visited one night while he was on a business trip in Tri-Cities.  We got to have him over for dinner.  The girls were so happy!  This was my Dad's first time out to our new house and he said it was a lot further out in the country then he had imagined;)  It is so nice to have visitors!!!

We ate honey comb for dessert that Daryl had brought back to the house that morning.   We have also been experimenting with the bees wax--looks like a candle making session will be happening soon, or maybe wax figurines!?  That was Daryl's suggestion ;)  Should be interesting.  I am thinking chapstick!

Skiing Videos

Here are the videos of Evelyn skiing.  They weren't working in my previous post but I think I got it figured out.  You can enlarge it in the bottom-right-hand corner.    

and another...

The escalator they ride up on is called "the magic carpet" and it is free for kids her age to go on.  She can also ski free everywhere else until she is six.

Evelyn Skiing

Daryl didn't have to work this Saturday so he decided to take Evelyn skiing for a Daddy-Daughter-day.  This was her first time so I was really excited for her!  She absolutely loved everything about it!  She did awesome and would give everyone she'd pass high fives.  Daryl said people knew when Evelyn was coming that they would get a high five from her.  After she felt comfortable on the bunny hill Daryl took her to the big hill six times and said she was a pro.  I guess I am going to have to brush up on my snow game cause I have never been much of a winter bird!  Daryl said Evelyn is A LOT better than me ;)

High fives  to all!

Some fun video footage...you can enlarge it in the bottom corner

AND one more video... :)

Soccer, Chicks, and Castles

This weekend Evelyn started soccer!  It is a hands-on clinic that teaches them fundamentals.  This entire week we have been singing a chant in our house that gets her pumped up for soccer.  Daryl starts in his deepest voice "WHO'S got a soccer player in this house?"  Then I say "WE have a soccer player in this house"  Daryl says "whats her name?"  I say "EV--EL-YN!"  Then repeat.  She loves it and asks us to do it again.  She did really great at soccer and got really into it!  She also enjoyed her water breaks!

Listening to their coach

Playing pass

After soccer practice we all went to the store to look for some baby chicks.  Jane absolutely loved the chicks and was trying to get inside the bin with them.  We are going to try to raise some chickens!

Evelyn helping Jane see the baby chicks

Evelyn loves holding them

We walked in the ATV store on the way home and the first thing Evelyn said was 

"this one is A-MAZ-ing!"  and then hopped on the red one below.  It must have been the color :)

The night before we went to White Pass and checked out their snow castle.  It was beautiful!

You can walk on top of the castle and sled off of it--pretty neat!

Elk Feeding

After church on Sunday Ryan and Melissa stopped by.  They were visiting Melissa's parents who are serving a mission at Camp Zarahemla just down the highway from us.  We went to an elk feeding that was only ten minutes from our house!  We are trying to learn all the fun things to do in the area.  One good find was an apple packing warehouse down the road that sales a huge box of apples for only $6!  

I made some pom poms for the girls room.  I want to make more--they are so easy!  Just tissue paper, wire, and fishing line.

We moved!

We have moved!  We are now living in Selah way out in the country.  I realized how far out we lived when our new ward even had a hard time finding our house to help us move in.  We live closer to Naches than to downtown Selah and are even in the Naches school district but we live in Selah.  The move went really well but I don't want to do it again tomorrow!  Below are a few pictures of what we have been up to with the move.  We did a lot of painting before we moved in.  The house was really dirty beforehand--you will notice in the before pictures.  The guest room is still filled with unpacked boxes.  I just closed the door and am pretending they aren't there ;)  When I get the entire house finished I will take more pictures of all the rooms.  Daryl's been busy cleaning up the property.  I think it was more fun for him since he got to use some tractors in the process.  We are hoping to put some grass in soon!

Here she is!  There is a pasture in front and in the back there is a chicken coop and three small pins.

This is the view from my kitchen window.  I love it!  Can't wait for the spring green to come.

View of our backyard--it goes for miles.

Below is the entryway mudroom.  I mixed some leftover paint with white so the walls could look cleaner.

BEFORE

                                     AFTER






                                                            Formal living room BEFORE

AFTER

Ceiling of the great room BEFORE

AFTER

Kitchen BEFORE

AFTER

Working hard or having fun?  I think he's having fun.

Picking up all the random junk that has been left on the property over the years.

There was even a broken hut tub on our yard--this truck was completely packed tight before he took it to the landfill.

Helping Grandma tape that box up tight before we moved!  My mom and Debbie were so helpful!

Evelyn napping in the living room after her bed was packed ;)

Daryl and Evelyn filling up the old chevy truck with gas before we left town.

We used a paint sprayer for the great room ceiling and walls.  What a energy saver!  Daryl's Mom watched the girls for two days so we could clean, paint, fix stuff, make out, get the carpets cleaned...did I just say make out!?  It was fun spending time together working hard to get the house ready for the girls.  Daryl's Dad and Shayne came up one day and helped replace light fixtures.  Shayne got shocked--poor guy!  

This rainbow was shining in our side yard the first day we moved in :)