Mid Afternoon Pick Me Up

Sometimes when the days are long and hot, you just need to take a break and head to your local Starbucks. After an eventful couple hours at the library, that is exactly what we needed yesterday...vanilla bean frap never tasted so good to this wee one!

It's no AT&T park...

We FINALLY had another Family Fun Day on Saturday...after about a month of no fun things on the weekends except projects we decided it was time to do something fun as a family. Obviously we are HUGE baseball fans, (have you seen the tattoos, or even the wee ones bedroom!??) so when we heard there was a local AAA team in SLC we were sooo excited! We go to baseball games a few times every month in California so I was a little nervous how we would do without SF right down the road from us. We hoped on the website and guess what we saw!? SLC Bees were playing Sacramento River Cats...which is the AAA affiliate Giants team!!! We had to get tickets and we HAD to go!!!

The Bees stadium is cute! It is obviously insanely smaller than we are used to but with a lovely grass area for the kids to run around, how could you not love it?!? We know we will be sitting on the grass for the games, and actually, we are so okay with that. It means the tickets are less than $10 each AND Lincoln will have somewhere to run around. At AT&T park, we always sit in my inlaws season ticket area which is handicapped so there is TONS of room for him to roam around and not be in peoples way. I am so glad they have a grass area in SLC.

The weather was perfect. My little family was back in our element, AND there are even free train rides during the entire game, so Lincoln was beyond excited. Baseball AND trains at the same time?!? Oh man, his little heart was sooo happy! As we walked out of the stadium Lincoln goes, "I miss baseball, can we come back tomorrow?" Well not today little man, BUT I have a feeling if the Bees are in town, you can catch us at one of the weekend games from now till the end of the season! :)

When you wake to pee more than twice at night...

Last night was the night. I knew it after waking up the 4th time to pee. I knew when I looked in the mirror in the morning there was going to be a big round belly. It's the moment you have to pee more than twice at night you know the baby has officially decided to pop out. I was spot on!!! The baby is here to stay...hard, round, and poking out like no ones business...thank goodness we are past the halfway mark!!! Hurry up August!

Then you realize your 3 year old can do it better...

What a crazy couple days of weather around here!!! First steady winds about 35mph with gusts up to 75MPH. Which was so loud it scared Lincoln (okay and MAYBE myself too) so we snuggled in my bed for naps and bedtime...it was the best. Of course, when your hubby drives over the road in these conditions there isn't much sleep to be had. You stay awake all night hoping to hear from him. Anyway, yesterday it snowed...ALL DAY LONG! Not scary snow though, it melted from the streets and sidewalk, so you could walk or drive with no real issues. Well, at least around here you could. Lincoln was ANTSY to go outside to play so we bundled him up and off he went to play. I am pretty certain he would have played all day/night outside but momma was freezing so we came in after several hours. Out back I can send him and stay inside, but he got bored outback quickly so to the garage we went. It was there I realized, my 3 year old can build a way better snowman that I can. By that I mean, he can actually ROLL the snow into a ball. I am still NOT SURE how he did it...but he did!!! Impressive I tell ya, impressive. Only he didn't want to roll anymore after the bottom layer so he just said it was a snow baby. HA I love how the simplest things keep him happy.

Nice weather=Nice Yard

Holy Moly were you in Utah this past weekend?!? If so, you got to witness some of the MOST GORGEOUS weather!!! It was perfectly warm with a crisp windy breeze coming through every now and then to cool you off. Of course we HAD to take advantage of this weather and be outside the entire time.

Our original plan was JUST to cut down the one tree closest to the house. It would scrape on the window on windy nights and creep me out. Plus, I was TERRIFIED it would blow over when the kids were in the front room and squish them (weird pregnancy dreams I tell ya).

Well, Friday evening we were sitting outside and these 2 dinky trees that were next to the street really started to bug us. So Shaun got up, and being the ever so strong guy he is, pulled those two trees out, WITH HIS HANDS! HA...tells you how dinky they were! They were ugly, and pointless. They weren't going to bloom into pretty flowers or anything and I HATE trees so away they went. INSTANTLY, the front yard was looking better.

Then Saturday came, and we put on shorts and tank tops (I have to get a tan if I am going to be out in the weather...) and away we went to work. We stopped by Home Depot to rent a chain saw and Shaun tackled the tree by the house. I guess you are supposed to yell TIMBER when it comes down...well I yelled "EEK its REALLY coming down now" I guess that works too! ;) It took a LONG time to get that tree down...it was STUBBORN!!! Then it was a matter of cutting it into smaller chunks to take away to the dump. STUBBORN STUBBORN TREE!!! Of course, I tried to help here and there but I am supposed to be taking it easy so really, I sat in the chair, got a tan, and watched Shaun work...it was lovely! :) We spent the rest of the day digging up roots and clearing out what USED to be (I think) a garden/flower patch. It was so overgrown it was hard to tell...but regardless, we cleared it all out.

We were just going to leave it like that for the weekend and rest on Sunday but now that we could both SEE what it was going to look like, we were anxious to get back outside and work on it. Off to Home Depot again (they REALLY should have a rewards program) and we found some of this great stone edging stuff and grabbed 'the black sheet' as I call it, AKA weed block. Of course, you NEVER get the right amount of stuff you need, we were FIVE stones short of being able to complete the project so again, to Home Depot I went. It is all laid down now and ready for our Mulch (we are getting it at the dump because it is WAAAYYYY cheap there but they were closed on Sunday) and for some shrubs to go in. We will either tackle the rest next weekend or wait till the following. Next weekend is our first SLC baseball game, BOTH boys keep talking about it so I am not sure how much work around the house will get done lol

So another project started and ALMOST finished but seriously, look at the before and after...it is soooo much better and more open and just looks awesome! :) We both said MAY is the month for the firepit...and we have a great idea for Lincoln's birthday this summer with an outside Movie Party so we are now VERY anxious to get that started and finished! Of course, more pictures to come!

PS BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO MY NUMBER 1 SISTER: BETHIE!!!

First Holiday Away From Home

How has Easter already come and gone?!? I feel like we JUST moved to Utah...and yet, we have been here for THREE MONTHS already, that is just NUTS! This past week, as you all know, was Easter weekend. We were lucky enough to have Shaun's parents come into town for the entire week. They left the morning before Easter but we still were able to celebrate with them.

Shaun and I hosted our first holiday meal at our OWN home! It was crazy expensive (who knew food costs so much for that many adults) but we both said we cannot wait to do it again. Lincoln found the most BEAUTIFUL flowers at none other than WAL MART and they were just the perfect touch for our table. We enjoyed some smoked tri tip (2 different flavors), smoked chicken, corn on the cob, homemade rolls, potatoes, asparagus, green salad, fruit salad, and pie for dessert. It was sooo yummy AND we had enough leftovers to last us the entire week. It was perfection.

Saturday (the day before Easter) we went out to Riverdale for their Easter Egg Hunt. Usually we go to my sisters house and do a big egg hunt with friends, which obviously didn't happen but we still wanted Lincoln to wear his Easter outfit (because seriously, check out the picture below...he is a STUD!!) and have a fun egg hunt. Everyone told us to get there early to get a spot, and we are so glad we did. It started at 10am and we were walking to our truck finished at 10:07! They did a great job separating it by age group BUT the parents didn't listen when they were told NOT to go on the other side of the tape...as soon as they did that, it was MASS CHAOS. It was sad because the few of us who actually listened to the rules, had our kids get a little freaked out because suddenly they were being RUSHED by all these adults. Seriously peeps, its for the KIDS!!! The candy wasn't even good candy...not sure why they got all crazy in there! Lincoln did get 2 prize eggs, and all the prizes were the same. A bucket with an chocolate bunny, chalk, and bubbles. The people next to us also followed the rules and their little boy didn't get a prize egg, so we gave them one of ours. The face on the little boy was so cute...it was like he won the lottery! :)

That night we decorated our eggs...in wine glasses because I do not have enough of any other kind to dye the eggs! Lincoln loved it and was so gentle with all of them. We ended up dying 18 eggs. I boiled extra because some ALWAYS crack...except this time, NONE CRACKED! So we had a ton of eggs to dye. Of course, the Easter bunny came that night, left a trail, and snuck out to hide the eggs...that darn bunny!

Sunday morning was over way too fast! Lincoln LOVED his treats from the bunny, and LOVED the egg hunt. Except when he realized some were in the dirt and he MIGHT get his slippers dirty..silly boy!

It was really hard not to be with family on Easter, because it has become our ritual. I missed my sisters family sooo much and our best friends, Melissa and David. We always go to both houses on Easter and obviously that did not happen this year. I am hopeful to get out there around Halloween or Thanksgiving though...I need ONE holiday a year with my family/friends!!! To keep our minds busy we worked on our yard while Lincoln played with all his new outside toys. Although it wasn't what we normally would have done, it was still pretty darn perfect, my little family, and I! :)

Living Room

Our living room has been finished for about two weeks now, but I keep forgetting to post pictures of it. Of course, by finished, I mean, painted and furniture is in it. We need to hang up some decor, we are going to make a bookshelf out of crates which I am SOOO excited about. One, it will get the LAST TWO boxes out of my garage, and 2 it will totally go with our rustic vibe we have going on in there. We are also looking into getting a fireplace to go across from the couch. Once that is in, and the bookshelf done, we will search for wall decor, and then call it good.

It is SOOO nice to be able to sit somewhere other than my bed when I want to be upstairs. To have an actual sitting room makes the house feel so much warmer. We went with a dark grey color on the wall and I could not be more pleased with it. Shaun was a TAD bit skeptical with the dark color but he loves it now. With the banister peaking into the room, it really makes it look so chic. Everytime I walk by the room, I can't help but smile...I feel so grown up with a living room like this. PLUS, it was the FIRST TIME we have spent THOUSANDS on a living room set...how can you NOT feel grown up with making THAT purchase?!? HA

The DREADED stairs!!!

What was I thinking?!? Redoing the stairs/banisters have been the BIGGEST nightmare of my life!!! I thought I did enough research before tackling the project...but I apparently didn't. Or maybe I am just THAT lucky that EVERYTHING goes wrong for me?! One blog even said she did her entire stairs in ONE weekend...LIES I tell ya, LIES!!! Because, here we are 4 weeks later and the stairs are ALMOST done! Granted we took the last week off because we had family in town for Easter, but still!!! The top tread STILL needs to be installed...and you know what, I have NO DESIRE to do it now.

It all started one afternoon when I got all this random courage to rip the carpet from the stairs. I never liked it anyway...something about the way the carpet was just totally dated the house. So, rip rip rip, off the carpet came. Dangerous stuff leaving me alone for a week at a time. By the way, did I mention I am supposed to be on "modified bed rest"...yeah DON'T think a stair remodel would please the Dr...or the baby at this point in the game. :)

Now that the carpet was gone, I had to take out ALL the staples, and a million nails. The blogs all said this was the hard part...but ya know what?!? It was the EASY part! I would GLADLY do this part again if someone else finished the rest for me! Then it was time to scrape the wall (which lead me to tearing ligaments in my back left side...yeah that was a ROYAL PAIN...HUGE AMOUNTS of pain!!!) They got all this glue or carpet...maybe a mix of both...on the walls and getting it off was HARD WORK!!! It hurt your entire body like you just did some crazy triathlon...ugh never again...NEVER!!!

Technically, we were supposed to put in ALL NEW stair treads...because our actual treads are not the right wood. Don't ask me what kind they are, because I have NO IDEA! But, at $40 PER TREAD and TWO little boys in my near future, all I could see was money spent on an expensive stair case with toys banging them up, ruining them. Sooo we skipped that stepped, picked a dark enough stain so you couldn't really notice, AND called it a day. When the kiddos are grown and out of the age of terrorizing my house (does that age ever come with a boy?!?) THEN we will get new treads and make them even nicer...for now, this totally works AND does the trick!!!

Painting the banister was hard...you would get one side all smooth, and then realize its all drippy and ugly on the backside (or front side...how do you know with a banister?!?) So you would smooth it out, then it would be on the opposite side. I spent FIVE HOURS painting 16 spindles, and you know what, I finally had to let my OCD know that I was NOT spending more time on them. They look GREAT not PERFECT, but GREAT and THAT is why I love DIY projects...because they look awesome but don't take away from the character of someone doing it. PLUS, we no longer have the nasty orange/brown color...win win!!!

Transitioning from the stairs to carpet is our FINAL hurtle. We THINK we know what we need to do...but we aren't 100% positive how to do it. Shaun had to come in and help with this part...because it required taking out the subfloor on the top of the stairs for a smooth transition. We got a new tread in, only to realize it WAS NOT flat, and cracked within hours because you would step on it, and since it was uneven, boom crack! So that tread is still in right now, while we try to figure out how much more subfloor we need to take out. Honestly, I am so OVER this project...it is just going to stay like that for awhile now!

I originally wanted it ALL complete before company came over...but the way this pregnancy is going, I have had to rest A LOT more than we originally planned for. The drying time on the stain was HORRIBLY LONG so it was do a coat before bed, let it dry and do another coat the next day. If I tried to do it during the day, little footprints ended up on it. Granted, Lincoln was a CHAMP during this project so I couldn't really be made at the little prints.

A new coat of paint on the risers (white) completed the actual stair part...for now. Like I said we need to get the top stair done and then we can FINALLY enjoy it. By the way, I never realized how much stuff blows in your house EVERYDAY! These stairs have to be cleaned everyday to keep them looking nice...which is a pain BUT my OCD loves it at the same time. It is actually starting to become Lincoln's chore or washing the steps..win for me! :)

Hopefully before the baby comes we can get the entry way and hallway painted which will be a khaki/tan color and REALLY make the stairs pop. It is a dirty, yellow, white color right now so it doesn't look quite right. HOWEVER I know the paint is coming in the near future...but I think we have to hire someone. How do you paint vaulted ceilings where there are stairs?!? You can't get a ladder up there...hmm things to think about.

Anyway, here are some pictures of before and after...it REALLY adds to the look of the house. And now that our living room is painted and furniture in, it makes me feel so grown up and sophisticated! One more project done, another one already started...one day it will be ready for friends to come see it...one day! :)