Home Improvements

Well today we did some home improvements.

Our living room had no lights other then lamps.  And even those did not have a switch to turn them on.  It also gets hot and stuffy, so we decide to get a ceiling fan.  This ceiling fan has been in the garage for 4 months waiting for the rest of the supplies so we could run the wires, add the new switch and such.

But After 4 holes cut into the walls and ceiling we now have the fan and it cooled off the living room a lot better then the box fan we have been using.

We also installed a shelf in the kitchen so that I had some more storage space and I had more counter space to work with!

Yes I know there is still painting and such to do, but one project at a time.

Thank You Dan for all your hard work today!  I am loving it!

Little bit of summer

Well this summer is going quickly.  Only 4 more weeks and school starts.

Here are some pictures of our summer so far!

Dan installing some lights.  Some of the rooms in our house had only lamps with light switches.  Now we have ceiling fans and lights.  makes a big difference in the 2 bedrooms like that!

We were driving home from Delta, UT and I saw this sign.  My Grandpa Dillon's name is Leo and I have a nephew named Leo.  I have always had a thing for names on signs! 

on July 11th it was Free Slurpee Day.  Here are the kids with their free treat!

We also got to go swimming at the local pool to celebrate a friends birthday.  We had a lot of fun!

Until next time!

Honey Do List...

I didn't get the pictures taken, so maybe I will tomorrow, but this weekend Dan knocked off some items on the Honey Do List...

We have 15 windows in our house.  5 of them had screens on them, but two of the screens needed replacing.  The other 3 where ok.  Last week we bought window screen kits for all of the windows.  Yesterday Dan put together 7 window kits and replaced the screen on two of the windows.  So he only has 3 kits left to build.  He also started to install the new front Screen door.  We have to get a chisel so he can finish it, but he will get it finished this week.

Now we are ready for warmer weather to come so we can open windows and not let the bugs get in the house.

All in a Days work

This weekend Dan dug a hole.

All the kids helped at some point (sorry no pictures of Dillon helping)

This is what he put up. A hand rail.  It still needs some paint.  I like the post covers.  They are solar power little lights.

Technically we don't need a hand rail for the number of stairs that we have, but we have noticed some people were having issues going up without some help. so we decided to match some of our neighbors and put in a hand rail.  I am loving it!

Family Camp

This month we participated in Family Odyssey.  This is a family camp for families of those participating in Timberline and other training groups.

I volunteered to come help on staff for Family Odyssey so we could have some time with my parents.   Here are some pictures of our time.

While we were gone, Dan built this gate for the top of the stairs to the basement.  I love how it turned out!

We saw lots of deer at camp.  This is from one of our little walks and the deer is at the top of the hill.

On Monday night after the campfire program, the kids and I were walking back to the truck to go back to camp and Irene slipped and cut her head open.  No stitches, and she was a trooper while Papa Jack and others worked on her.

Ruth and Irene crashed for a nap one day.

We had some special visitors from movies in camp.

I worked with Miss Amy and the Shining Stars (ages 2-4 yr olds)  Miss Amy was amazing with the little kids!

We got a kiddy pool towards the end.  The kids loved cooling off.

Another of our visitors.  I did not get pictures with Megamind

The kids having fun with marshmallow shooters and some of the camp staff joined us.

Dillon's age group made cardboard boats  with cardboard and duck tape.  He was so funny crying to me that his boat wouldn't win.  Guess what it did win!  He had so much fun!

We are all tired coming home after being gone for a week, and we brought home an extra with us.  My younger sister Wendy went to Mississippi to help my baby sister Alysha when she had her baby girl this last week.  So we got one of her kids while she is gone.  Rivers will be with us for a few more days.  The kids have been enjoying having a baby around.

So until next time!

Home Improvement in progress

Well we are slowly, but surely working on one project at a time.  Our current project will take us a few weeks as we are buying the supplies a little at a time.  

As we looked at our deck we knew that we needed to get it treated before winter this year.  So we bought some special deck paint to get us started.

As we spent some time outside one night looking at the deck and talking about what we want to do over time, we realized that the reason our steps felt unsafe was because the stair tresses were broken. 

So we decided that if we were going to fix the stairs then lets move them to a different spot, which I think will make the deck a little bit more useful, as with the way it was set up it felt chopped.  So we have started on working on the deck but it will be a few weeks before we can finish it so stay tune for more work in progress.

Our sad deck

our old stairs

We took the rail down so we can put the new stairs right here.

The first coat of the new stain.  It will take a few more coats.

We will also be painting the front door and the shutters on the front of the house this same color.

Watch more more pictures as we do more work!

Having fun with projects

We have been busy with a few projects in our home.  They make me happy and I am loving how our home is coming together and is more and more what we want. Here are some of what we have done.

Our kitchen  windows face the West so we get the heat in there in the late afternoons.  We finally got a ceiling fan in the dinning area of the kitchen.  I never thought I would be so excited, but it feels so good with it going, as right now the a/c is not working.  Thanks Dan for getting it in for us!

This is the before picture of our room above the garage.  That we have turned into a office/craft room/guest room

This is Dan taking apart the bottom shelf.  It was a wall built and hung on the wall.  It was too high to be a desk so we took it out carefully so that we could reuse some of the wood.  Glad we had bought a shop vac, as it helped clean up all the sheet rock nicely!

Here is the office with the desks the table for crafts (sorry about the mess.  I have been working on a project for girls camp that is in 2 weeks)

These are some of the cubby shelves that Dan made from the wood he took down from the long shelf.   It has really helped get things put away and use the space more efficiently.

What fun we have had.  It has been good for us!

Home Improvements

We have lived here for 4 months now.  We are loving our home, and we bought the stuff to fix the missing shingles on the roof including a taller ladder then we had to get up to the roof.

We have not done a lot of  home improvement work on the house yet, but I am so proud of what I did yesterday.

This is my front door.  I hated not having any privacy with it, but I loved the light that it gave me.  After much thought, I went to the store and bought this:

This is a $5 fix to my problem.

This is now what my front door and laundry room window look like:

I am loving the look with the front door, I have the privacy that I wanted, but yet I can still see the shadow of someone at the door when they come to the door, and I am loving the look of the light this morning coming into the room from that door.  It is not as harsh as it was. 

I am loving the look in the laundry room, I have all the right light but don't have to worry about everyone looking in my laundry room window and seeing everything in there.  I loved the way it looked yesterday afternoon when the sun was hitting it the most, it just made the room look great!


I am glad that I found a cheap fix and that I am loving how it turned out!  Now onto other projects!