Living Room Make over

We decided after 7 years of living here, that the carpets are offically worn out. We tried to clean them in November and they just wouldn't come clean. So we picked a carpet and we were on our way. This makeover took a little more than I was thinking, and way more than the entry way. We actually had to move the furniture out and put it into the garage.....

The piano wasn't going in the garage....I am sorry. So it ended up in the entry way. Gabe even said he wasn't taking it out to the garage...it is TOO heavy. It was sort of fun having it in the entry way as I felt like I had my own personal concert hall! It made the piano sound so different. It even got the kids practicing a little more. Not so convenient when it comes to getting the vacuum out of the closet behind it. 

These next few are of the actual laying of the new carpet. Again, everyone has to help. Partly because they like helping dad, but partly as it teaches them things about home maintenance that they can't learn otherwise.

This one shows the final product of the floor. It feels so soft on bare feet!

This one shows the new placement of our furniture.....AND pictures on the wall. I have never had pictures hanging on the walls. If you know Gabe this is a huge deal for us!

Placement of the piano. It still makes it sound cool as it is places at an angle.

Another view.

See....we actually have pictures on our wall!! I hope my friend T, sees this one and knows that we actually have a place for her creation for us. I have cherished this gift from her. 

And I actually made curtains for this room too! They aren't all finished yet, but there is only one more to go.

Entry Way Make over

So this all started with a hole in the wall. And since there was a hole, we needed to fix it. And because dad was fixing it and using tools....we all needed to help.

But seriously, it all started with the hole that we needed to fix. Gabe says to me that we were going to need to paint so lets paint an accent wall. I about fell over, I have NEVER had an accent wall. I haven't ever been brave enough to pick a color. So we went looking and picked a color and  I LOVE it!! We had been wanting to put a bench in the entry way too and found the perfect one.....at Kmart, after many hours looking at the options on the internet. Then it needed a rug......and a picture on the wall. Now I love my new entry way. It ended with hanging more pictures since we lost our entertainment center in the family room make over.

Gabe and all his "helpers" fixing the hole.

The hole is fixed, just waiting for it to dry before we paint the wall.

The kids "helping" Gabe put together the bench.

The bench and the new rug against the wall.....I LOVE it!

The finished product from this angle.

The wall of children. They lost their place when we re-did the family room and so Gabe hung them here. To give you a perspective, as you look at this wall, the accent wall is to your right.

Family

We took a trip to Utah and while we were there, I got to reconnect with some of my family. I was able to see my Grandma Kimber and take a few pictures.

 We also got the chance to see my cousin and her parents. It was pretty cool because our little ones are only a few days apart. Her daughter is 2 days older than Henry (I think).

We had a great trip and got to relax a little bit. I love getting to see family.

Father's Day

This is how we do Father's Day morning......We love our dad!

Cousins!!!

Coming from a big family means lots of cousins....well not all the time, but when half of them are mine....then I guess yes! Recently my brother and his wife welcomed a new baby. We, as many as could, got together to have this baby blessed. Afterwards we got all the cousins that were there together and I got this picture. Yes, I know, most of the kids in this picture are mine, but still.....aren't they a cute bunch of kids?!?

Just realized that Bethany isn't in this picture.....where is she? She was there. So the baby that Amanda is holding is the newest cousin. The three little ones in front of her are my sisters, and the little boy standing in the back is the new big brother and my brother's son.

3 generations

We had a family funeral to attend a while back. While these are always sad occasions, they make for great times to get a picture like these. I know that usually your supposed to take 4 generation pictures, and we totally could have, had we been able to find Gabe's parents when we were taking pictures. So this is the best that we could do. We got Gabe, his grandmother and all of our kids (except for Amanda who was working that day).

Fun?!

We recently decided to redo a wall in our entry way (post on that to come later). In doing this project we needed paint. So what do we do. Pile all the kids into the car and head to Walmart to buy paint! Sometimes things are just more fun when you do them together, like wait for the paint guy to mix up the right color.

I think the guy thought we were crazy, but he was so nice. The kids were asking him a TON of questions as he went about mixing the color we picked. The kids just watched in amazment as the machine put an assortment of dyes into the paint can and then ohhed when they saw how it came out to be the color that we wanted!