Remodel updates

I'm almost done painting in the kitchen!! It was such a process to strip wallpaper, texture, paint three coats on walls and cabinets and doors. I thought it would be no big deal. But anyway here is a look at the cabinet that will have glass doors. I wanted to paint the inside black to tie things together and I love the way it looks. I bought some plates in fall colors and love them also. Doors will go on next week as well as the new counter top. Blaine has to do that thankfully.
Blaine and I went garage saleing this weekend and found some great treasures. This table and mirror set was cheap and we love the way it looks in the entry hall. The lamp is new and I love it too.
This is a door that is finished. We experimented on a few different looks and we decided on this one. It's an ivory color with a distressed sanded finish. So much better than the yellow Oak and just the cost of paint...(and my many many hours of labor)!!!

We'll be done by the first weekend in October when Tami and Afton will come down and help me with Meagan's bedroom. I've been gathering some very cute things so it should be fun to put together!

Happy Birthday My littlest BIGGEST baby boy!

My youngest and tallest baby (6 foot plus) just turned 15 years old. Do you realize how old that makes me? 29 or so...but anyway...He's anxious to get his driving permit and that makes his Dad and I pretty anxious too. We took the family and some friends to dinner for his birthday and had a good time.
Kasey...your a great son and we love you.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!

Let's all survive the teen years for the last time! Yea

Let R Buck...Our trip to the Pendleton Round-up

We just spent a great weekend in my hometown of Pendleton Oregon.
Every year the professional rodeo comes to Pendleton and every year we go to watch them.
Having grown up in a cowboy and Indian town you'd think that I might be a bit of a cowgirl myself but alas...no. I was considered a city girl, but now we do have fun playing cowboy/cowgirl for a few days a year.

The weekend starts out with the Round-up Parade as you will see below. This particular parade has horses and some more horses and then a few other horses...here we see big horses...Clydesdale horses to be specific. They are beautiful..

Then we see bigfoot riding on the back of a wagon pulled by horses...Gee how did he get from Jackson hole to Pendleton...he's fast or maybe it's his brother?
This is my way cool Dad who just got these way cool sunglasses in the mail. I'm trying to get him to model them for us, but he's not being very cooperative.
Coco came with us...alone as her hubby had a test he couldn't miss, but she made up for his loss by riding the mechanical bull. Her cousin paid her $40 to shoot for the 8 second thrill...and she did it! Well almost, more like 6 seconds...yee haw
Here is a pic of our Native American friends that always participate in the Round-up. The chief of the tribe is holding the American Flag.

And then the very best part of the rodeo...the bull riding. Here is where the real money is made and the real excitement. Take a look at why we go every year. Our seats were just above the shoots... Until next year

Kasey's first youth conference outing

My baby boy is 14 years old almost 15 on Sept. 11th and this was the first year he has been able to go to youth conference. The kids went to the Manti Temple, did some service at an old playhouse...(also where they stayed), then went repelling and who knows what else but I think he had more fun than he thought he would...which is always a good thing.

In this picture he was climbing and I guess his shoe came off and stuck to the tree and then his other shoe did the same thing.


Just hanging around as usual
Here he and his friend ate a whole bag of starbursts that night and you can see the wrapper stuck to his buddy's head...boys
Here is my cute boy cutting across a log

All in all they had a good time and did some service to boot. Sounds pretty good

So being the kind of person that I am...(a procrastinator and generally lazy) I have waited until the last minute to get the house ready for Meagan's return (Nov 14th). I realized that I was going to have a lot of people coming over upon her return and my house was not up to par. In fact it was becoming a dirty time warp. So I've taken it upon myself to set things right. Many of you won't remember what my teeny tiny kitchen looked like before, but it had terrible wall paper from the 90's and oak cabinets...which were great 15 years ago when we put them in. Rather than spend tons of money and wait for Blaine to do them, I decided it would be "so easy" to paint the cabinets, strip the wallpaper, texture the walls and paint. The only thing Blaine has to do is the counter tops because I can't. well....it's not easy. I remembered how much I "don't like" painting and everything is taking 2-3 coats. But after all my complaining I think it will look much better and I'm excited for the end result. Here are just a few pics of the process...Of course after the kitchen it's on to the bedroom that will be Meagan's and then the basement...so stay tuned for more griping:)

This pic is after the wallpaper is off and the walls were textured and painted. The stuff on the counters is from the cabinets...not just messy
I've painted the cabinet fronts and crown. I'm also painting the inside of the front cabinet black, as it has glass doors and I think it will look cool.
Here you can see the old countertop that is green and looked good in 1995. So you'll see that transformation.
And here I am at Blaine's shop paining the cabinet doors...They will be an off white with some darker aging in the corners of the panel. I have paint all over me....still...go ducks!