May Updates

May is coming to a close already.  It's been a fast, yet slow month it seems.  We've had a lot of rain it seems, some every week if not a couple times each week.  The moisture has been good though, especially for the sod we laid in the front yard.  Here are a few more updates for this month.

The first Sunday of May we got together with Steve's family for dinner.  It was nice to see everyone and visit for a while.

The 3 year olds decided to have dinner together.  Nyles only wanted watermelon at first.  

Nyles and I have gone through a few watermelons since then on our own.  They are so yummy!  Luckily they're finally in season and on sale!

Nyles and Conor just playing together.

Dave had some lawn games for us to  play.  Conor accidentally threw one of the ladder balls over the fence into the neighbor's yard, so we all attempted to get it out.  Chandler tried climbing on Phill to grab it, but it fell down.

Dave and Chandler then got a hanger and were able to grab the ball/string w/ it from the bottom of the fence where a plank was lose.  We got it thankfully!

While this was happening Steve was keeping the other kids busy.  They thought it was loads of fun to chase him, "freeze" him, then "unfreeze" him by going under his legs.  They were really enjoying it, that's for sure.  Steve had a good time too :)

Isaac, Nyles, London, and Cameron chasing Steve.

Nyles and London "unfreezing" Steve, and Lynsie watching.

Nyles said bunny was sick, so he put him on the couch to rest and gave him some medicine in his medicine dropper.  The reindeer kept him company while he was getting better.  Nyles loves the stuffed animals and makes sure to take good care of them :)

Steve had Stacie and Carrie over to play before Carrie moves to Denver over Memorial Day Weekend.   They had fun playing outside and inside.

Conor, Nyles and Lynsie eating chicken nuggets and drinking Kool-Aid squeeze-its.

Playing outside w/ paints.  They were painting Mother's Day rocks for their moms ;)

They tried swimming in the kiddie pool, but it was a little cool, so they didn't last long.
We have a lilac bush in the back too, yeah!

Friday, April 29th we invited Dave and Melissa Thomas over.  They just had their baby girl 2 weeks before, but they said they were ready to come visit, even w/ the new baby.  I was a little late getting off work, so that cut out some of our time.  I went and picked up some Papa Murphy's pizza to bake as well, which also took a few minutes.  By the time we ate pizza and showed them around the house, it was almost time to go.  They are getting used to having 2 kids, and we will be soon as well.  Next time we figured we'd better meet more in the afternoon, in order to have some more time before the kids needs to go to bed.  It was great seeing them and their cute baby girl though.  Thanks for coming, even for a short visit!

For Mother's Day, we had my sister Pauline and her family over for dinner.  They hadn't been over in several weeks, so we got to show them several projects we had finished or worked on since then.  We didn't get our dining room table or couches until the following week, so we borrowed some folding chairs and a table from Dave.  They worked out great, thanks!  After dinner the kids played, mostly inside since it was rainy.  It was nice to have a formal eating area, then when the kids got done w/ their food, we could send them downstairs or to another room to play.  We're really enjoying having the extra space.  Thanks for coming to visit!

Nyles gave me this card he made at preschool for Mother's Day; so cute ;)  

I told Steve I didn't want him to buy me anything for Mother's Day, but rather just finishing our bathroom would be the best gift he could give me.  He surprised me that week with the tile done in our bathroom, beadboard up around the toilet and painted, toilet in, and vanity back in place!  He also painted the beadboard in the nursery.  It was perfect!  Thanks cutie! :)

The following Sunday, we had Stacie, Phill, London and Conor over for dinner.  This time we had our table and couches in.  We also got to show them some updates as well.  Again it was nice to let the kids play in other areas, besides where we were eating.  It rained that day too, but luckily it cleared up a little and the kids got to go outside for a while to play.  Nyles and Conor put on boots and splashed in puddles of course!  Thanks for coming guys!

Wednesday, May 18th Stacie put on a going away party for Carrie at her house.  Steve picked me up from work and we went up to Centerville.  We grabbed a bite to eat, then Steve dropped me off at Stacie's house.  He then went w/ Phill, London, Conor, Ryan, Lynsie and Dave to do a little fishing while we were having her party.  They had a good time, but didn't catch any fish.  Since we had ice cream at our party, they stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home and got some too :)

Nyles fishing.

Nyles, Phill, Conor, Ryan, Lynsie and London getting ice cream at Dairy Queen.

The Saturday before, we stopped by Cabelas to pick up a gift for Nyles.  While we were there Nyles had to go see the fish.  We then went over to Jeff/Kim's house for a BBQ to celebrate Jeff graduating from the University of Utah w/ his bachelors.  They put in a path to go up to the top of the hill behind their place.  The kids thought it was fun to go up it.  Some of them didn't like coming down though. 

Phill, Steve and Nyles going up.  Ethan and Cameron following them.

Now coming down.

Nyles pretending to drive a semi-truck.

We wanted to give Nyles something before becoming a "Big Brother" and to let him know that we love him.  We've been encouraging him to be a big helper when his brother comes as well.  He's pretty excited and can hardly wait to teach him things.  He says he's going to teach him how to ride his bike, read, change his diaper, put on baby powder, etc.  Hopefully it'll be an easy transition to having another baby in the house.

Nyles opening his gift; a sleeping bag!

Nyles had to get right into his sleeping bag and try it out.  He also took it to bed to sleep in w/ his covers.  Silly kid ;)  We told him when it warms up we'll have to sleep in the backyard and camp out.

Well I'm officially done w/ work and am resting until the baby comes.  My last day of work was Friday, May 20th.  Once the baby is born I'll have 16 weeks off; all paid!  I'm really thankful to be able to have even more time w/ the baby, especially now that it's paid.  Last time I only had 6 weeks paid and the other 6 weeks were voluntary (not paid), using FMLA.  I feel blessed to have this time.

The past couple days since I've been home, we've been working on getting things done around the house.  Steve is working on putting the tile in, in the guest bathroom upstairs.  We had the carpet people over yesterday to curl the edges of the carpet where it meets the tile in both bathrooms.  They also replaced a pad in our fireplace room and restretched the carpet.  It was nice to finally get those done.  I've also been putting things away in our guest room, made a couple freezer meals, packed my hospital bag, washed all the baby clothes, and got the nursery ready.

Steve working on the tile in the guest bathroom upstairs.

Nyles helping Steve mow the lawn. 

Steve and Nyles taking boxes from our place over to Dave/Joann's house.  We let Steve's friend Zach borrow them after we were done, now either Carrie or Stacie will use them to move their stuff.  

Can you see Nyles in there?

We had another Dr appt this morning as well.  I'm 37 and a half weeks today.  I'm still at about 1 cm and 70% effaced.  I was the same w/ Nyles, then my water broke that weekend, so we'll see what this baby decides to do.  The Dr is estimating this baby is currently weighing about what Nyles was at this time, when he was born, about 6 lbs 9oz.  We decided to schedule to be induced on June 8th if he doesn't decide to come on his own beforehand.  My due date is officially June 12th.  I hope he waits until after Nyles' preschool graduation though on May 31st so I can go, then that he's welcome to come!  My tailbone is still really sore, I've been having some Braxton Hicks contractions, it's hard to move around, I have to pee all the time, but other than that I've been doing great!  No complaints really.  I just hope he waits one more week before coming.  We're getting pretty excited to meet him!  We'll keep you posted :)

More Home Improvements

I can't believe it's been a month since I last gave an update.  We've been working on lots of projects this past month both in and out of the house.  We've now been in our house for 7 weeks.  We are getting more and more used to our location and the neighborhood.  We are enjoying it more and more each day.  Here are a few updates.

One of the first things Steve wanted to do with the yard was to pull out the bushes around the front.  We borrowed Dave's ATV and yanked them out.  I sat on the ATV and went forward or backward after Steve got the chain wrapped around roots.  Our neighbor Ron also came over and helped, which made it go by a lot quicker.  The first ones were a little tricky getting out due to the roots, but after that they went quicker.  The bushes were covering half of our sidewalk and part of the grass of course.  The parts they were covering, the grass was killed.

Starting to take the bushes out.

Our neighbor Ron helped get the bushes out too. 

The last ones needing to be hauled away.

Nyles liked to sit w/ me on the ATV.

All the bushes out now.

Before w/ the bushes

After without the bushes.  The trees blooming as well.

Since the grass was dead where the bushes were, we decided to lay sod.

Getting the sod in and fixing sprinklers.

Steve replacing a sprinkler head and Nyles "helping."

New grass and you can actually see the yard from the curb.  So many neighbors have come over and said they just love that we took out the bushes.  We also took them out so we can see Nyles riding his bike or anyone else who is in the cul-de-sac.  It's nice to be able to see better from our patio now.

Nyles loves playing w/ the hose and watering the grass!

We also went and got tile and all the supplies on Monday the 11th so we can start putting it in the bathroom floors, starting w/ our Master Bathroom.  Steve took out the vanity and baseboards on Tuesday, then Wednesday Rob and Steve put in the cement board.

Vanity....now out.

Starting to lay tile.  Rob was kind enough to show Steve how to do it.

Making progress.  Nyles helping Steve :)

 

The first section is done, then the part by the toilet and shower finally.  Oh course this took us a couple weeks.  Steve was just learning how to do it and waited until Rob had time after work to help.

 

Steve then put the vanity back and installed our new toilet.  He also put in beadboard around the toilet and new light switch plates.    

 Since we were under construction we decided to put in a pocket sliding door as well.  So Steve tore down the drywall and again w/ Rob's help got the door in place.  Next he'll put the drywall back up, then we'll paint.  

While Steve was working on the tile, Rose was kind enough to come over and help install some beadboard in the nursery.  I helped the best I could, but she did most of the work of course (thanks Rose!).  It took us all Saturday afternoon, but we got it in.

The room before adding the beadboard, just paint.

Just about to put our first beadboard on, around the outlet.

All done w/ the beadboard!

A couple days later.....Steve putting in the baseboards now; Nyles supervising :) 

 Then he had to caulk it and then paint.  He had to be careful not to get the new carpet, but he did it w/ a tool he borrowed from Dave.  He then put up the crib and got everything into place.

Then we put up the mesh bumpers and some decorations.  It's coming together.

The Friday before we decided to go stop by RC Willey.  Ironically they were getting ready for their Parking Lot Sale the next day.  They were basically clearing out their clearance section and items they were no longer carrying.  They had a lot of couches already out, so we got to look at them that night.  We found a set we liked, so we decided at the price we would get them.  Steve went and got Dave's trailer that night so he'd be ready in the morning.  They were going to start the sale at 8am on Saturday, so Steve wanted to be there before it started just to make sure we'd get them.  He left our place just after 7am and was one of the first ones there (imagine that).  They sold him the couch but he couldn't pay for it until 8am, so he had to wait.  By 8am, Steve said all the couches were sold that looked like ours plus most of the other ones that were there.  When he got back, Steve brought the love seat in by himself w/ a dolly, then had a neighbor come help him w/ the other one.

Yeah we finally have couches in our formal living room!

That afternoon, we also got a table for our formal dining room.  Brandon was kind enough to bring it over.  Brandon and Melanie were getting one from their neighbor, so they gave us their old one (thanks Brandon and Melanie).  It came w/ a bench as well, which fit perfectly in our entry way!  We're finally "filling in" our home w/ some furniture.

Zach also used his truck to get some rocks for us.  We are using them to fill around the yard, trying to keep the weeds out and cats from pooping around the flowers.  Nyles thinks they're pretty fun to dig and play in of course.

 Our tulips came up as well!

When we were looking for a house, these were the things we had on our wish list to include:

• At least 4 bedrooms total, 3 bedrooms needed to be on the same floor –we have 5 total, 4 of which were on the same floor, bonus!
• At least 2 bathrooms, one needed to be a Master—we have 3 bathrooms including the Master
• At least 2000 square feet—we have 2600 square feet
• 2 car garage—we have it
• Outdoor space, hopefully at around .20 acres—we have .24 acres
• We wanted to be able to walk straight out to our yard, versus being on a high deck first—done
• We wanted it to be in the Canyon’s School District w/ good schools, hopefully in Sandy—we are in Sandy in the District and have good rated schools to attend.
• We wanted Central Air vs a Swamp Cooler—we have Central Air
• No popcorn ceilings—it was built in the 1980’s vs earlier when it was more common to have popcorn ceilings.

Additional Bonuses:

• It’s located on a Cul-de-sac and a quiet street which is incredible!
• It’s close to lots of shopping, the Draper Park, Draper Library, and only 3 minutes to the Trax station which I take to go to work.
• It came w/ Sprinklers, and they actually work.
• It came w/ a cute porch
• There is a food storage room in the basement, yeah finally!
• There is a shed by the garage for Steve to store his hunting/fishing stuff
• There are shelves in the garage already for storage.
• There is an enclave in the garage where our deep freeze fits perfectly.
• There is some cement in the backyard where Nyles can ride his bike.
• There is a circle going from the kitchen to the formal living/dining room—Joann said you should have one so the kids and chase each other, or be chased by their parents, done!
• Having a formal living and dining room, and there are vaulted ceilings.
• There are vaulted ceilings in the Master Bedrooms, plus a walk in closet (harder to find in older homes).
• There are tulips in the front yard coming up; I love flowers!
• We are close to a fishing pond that Steve likes to take Nyles to.