Birthday boy!

     Before I get to our birthday boy let me just update you on the kitchen progress. The cabinets are nearly 75% installed, we've picked out the countertops and now we just get to wait for the counter top guy to make his way over to make a template and get everything fabricated and installed. I initially had picked a cool, black quartz counter top but after the estimate and a little education on quartz vs. granite, we went with a cool, black, leather textured granite and are saving almost a thousand dollars. We're definitely spending more money on counters then I expected but I've decided it's better to do it right and figure out the money later. Not the best mind set but I really think we're still doing things inexpensively for the most part and the added value to the house will far exceed the amount spent on countertops and everything else.

     We had the privilege of dog sitting cute little Lettie for Aunt Kristin and Charlie was in heaven.

Such cute photos of our princess!

    And now, the star of the week, Carter, who is officially a teenager! Happy 13! In lieu of balloons he opted for 10 different flavors of hard, old-fashion candy. He also opted for cash vs. a gift.

We never say no to the famous Costco chocolate cake!

    And of course no birthday is complete without a card and cash from Grandma Lanie and Grandpa Jim. Carter says THANKS! (We're working on new names for the Baker grandparents just for fun.)

No one's sad about getting a pile of cash!

      So there you have it, kitchen updates, birthdays and a little puppy fun! And of course, only 45 days, 4 hours and 32 minutes until the Atkinson's hit the states!! People, it's nearly May! June can't get here quick enough!

Hats and kitchen

     So my kitchen's still not done. I wish I could leave for two months and come back to it all finished like all the people on the HGTV shows do. Actually it hasn't been too bad and usually the mess only lasts a few hours verses days so I'm really not complaining. The cabinets are 90% installed but the wait for countertops may be a couple weeks so we'll make do with the old counters, what's left of them. There's always something that causes Greg stress and frustration but he's doing awesome and saving us so much money doing most of the work himself.

This is all the stuff from the upper cabinet that is clearly off the wall for a minute.

The view of the mess from the front room.

     In between all the kitchen stuff was Sunday and Greg's sporting a very nice sombrero in primary.

    And Smalls just realized he's not the only pet living in the house. Mark has been in the midst of repainting his bedroom so almost all of his belongings have been strewn about my basement and his lizard, Scout, took up space on my computer desk all week and Smalls wasn't sure about him but he definitely was doing his darnedest to get a better look at him.

Standing like a person, weirdo!

    This was last night. All the upper cabinets are in, the island and Greg got the last two base cabinets in but there's still a little tweaking to do before they're officially in. This is the longest time I've spent with stuff all over the counter but I'm sure he'll have it back together enough today to put the majority of my stuff back and out of sight.

This is the one section that is completely put together, handles and all. I'm loving the floor and cabinets together, so much better then my old set up.

Just in case you've forgotten what the old cabinets looked like. By, By orange wood!!

     So that's our kitchen progress. As for everything else this week, Isaac started a new job. He's been hired to water two alfalfa fields here in Alpine so that's added a little more to Greg and my schedule. Thankfully the fields are not far and he doesn't need too much help from Greg but they have had to get up really early and Greg is not a fan of that! The gas budget is definitely taking a serious hit though between driving Mark everywhere and now Isaac. I'm glad this chauffeuring business doesn't last forever! And of course, I know you're wondering, only 51 days, 15 hours and 45 minutes until the Atkinson's hit the states!

Progress and memory lane

     So the work is coming along in the kitchen. It's been interesting working with a makeshift kitchen island. It's also been nice having the floor finished. Greg also did a little paint on the ceiling but there's still quite a bit of painting still to do and of course lots of cabinets that have to be assembled. Greg put together the first two to make sure the floor was laid correctly with the new cabinets. The plans this weekend are to finish painting the ceiling, get the few patches on the walls filled and possibly paint a wall or two that doesn't need any patching.

Cutting the current kitchen counters so we can expose the floor that needs flooring. 

Greg got to help our buddy, Brandon, sand the ceiling with this cool sander that attaches to a shop vac to eliminate a majority of the dust.

Here's Brandon putting on the orange peel texture in the kitchen to match up with the ceiling texture in the front room.

The flooring going down. It may seem simple but working with the 12 different patterns the flooring comes in gets a little tricky and is basically like putting together a puzzle but a puzzle where the pieces don't match up once they're put in place. 

Here's a glimpse of the new cabinetry! I'm so excited!!

The flooring is all done.

     This week I had to find a dozen or more photos of Mark to give a woman in our ward so she can add them to a photo slideshow of all the graduating seniors from our ward. Mark may not officially graduate until the end of the summer but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to reflect on the past 18 years. I can't believe he's nearly 18 and has grown so tall. He was always such a cute boy and is now a handsome young man and even though he's adding a few white hairs to my head he's still a good boy at heart. Enjoy the photos. They're not the best quality because they're mostly photos of photos but they're still fun to look at. (It's also fun to look back at the other kids to see how they've grown.

Probably one of my most favorite photos of these two of all time!

     Well that's our fun week. I'm sure I'll have more kitchen photos to share next weekend. And of course lets not forget our count down! Only 59 days 1 hour and 40 minutes until the Atkinson's hit the states. That's less than 2 months people!!!

Spring break 2018

      Our Spring break has NOT been too exciting, but sometimes that's just what you need. No school, no schedules but still work for some and even a little school for Mark. We also had a pretty quiet General Conference weekend. Sadly I have no photos of my mom, brother, niece and nephew who we got to see over the weekend but we were happy to see them and had a great time visiting with them even if it wasn't enough time together. I even got my mom to sit down and watch "The Greatest Showman"! And Greg and I even went and watched it again in the theater this week with our friends who hadn't seen it yet and it's still the best movie! Speaking of movies, another great movie that's a 'must see' is "I Can Only Imagine". So good!!!

     So here are the only photos from the week. Charlie got to decorate Easter eggs with her friend Eden. I love projects like this that require zero effort from me.

Photo courtesy of Eden's mom.

    And some mild progress has been made on the kitchen. Greg ripped up the old floors and we've had a guy come in and patch the ceiling and wall where the wall was removed and once he's done we'll be ready to paint and lay the new flooring. We also agreed to buy new cabinets. We found a local cabinet company that makes 'ready-to-assemble' cabinets that are much more affordable so for half the price I was anticipating we can get all new kitchen cabinets so that's what we're going to do! I'm getting so excited at the prospect of having new cabinets and a little extra cabinet space because with the way we're planning on doing it I should be getting four to five new cabinets plus drawers, which is going to be so AWESOME! Right now the only real questions are exactly how big we want to make the island and what kind of countertop for the island because I don't think I want the same countertop for the island as the rest of the kitchen countertop but we'll see what we come up with, it's definitely going to be one of the last steps so we have time to figure it out.

Those old 'orange' floors are gone and this is probably the last photo of the kitchen I'll take before things become drastically different.

Here's the patchwork in progress. Such a major process, definitely worth a few bucks to have a professional do this part.

    So that's our week in a nutshell. We've done some fun things but nothing spectacular. The kids have just had fun having no real responsibilities and having a lot more screen time then is probably healthy for them.
     And of course, the countdown continues. Only 66 days, 1 hour and 40 minutes before the Atkinson's hit the states!

Early Easter fun!

    We celebrated Easter a little early with our Kmetzsch grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles and some puppy 'cousins'. Puppies are the BEST when they're not yours!

Charlie has Kristin's puppy/child, Lettie and Brock has Blaine and Heidi's newest addition, Ruca.

Egg hunt in the basement, fun for the kids and no effort made by me, so the perfect egg hunt.

Crazy Cousins!

     So that was the highlight of our week. We're really looking forward to visiting with my mom, niece, brother and nephew this weekend while enjoying General Conference. And of course, the countdown continues, only 73 days 2 hour 28 minutes until the Atkinson's hit the states!

Continuing changes

    Greg tore apart the 'pony' wall in the kitchen a lot sooner then I expected. Obviously there's still a ton of work to do but it's been cool to see the open concept coming to life.

I can't wait until this is cool railing!

    The boys, Carter and Brock, had a piano recital this week and both played very well and played duets with their teacher. I was really impressed with Brock's duet but of course I didn't get video of that performance.

Pretty 'cool' attire for a piano recital.

Carter was looking pretty 'sharp' too.

    And here's how things are looking as of today. I rearranged the furniture a little. I really can't wait until the floor matches and we repaint some things in the kitchen.

    Currently Greg's on a camp out with Carter and Carter's scout group. Things with Mark are going ok. He meets with a probation officer Monday. He also received a notice from the DMV informing him that his license can be reinstated after September 25, so that's not as bad as we initially thought. Hopefully things only get better from here but that's probably wishful thinking.
     And of course I know you're wondering, only 80 days, 4 hours and 35 minutes until the Atkinson's 'hit the states'!

Change!

This week we've had a few changes, additions and returns. First I bought Greg this lounge chair that he's wanted for quite awhile. (Addition) He's loving it and he was enjoying the sun that was out for a minute earlier this week.

Then we had the Red Pearl returned to her rightful place at the side of the driveway. 

She may not currently run but at least she's home and can be worked on.

       Then we began the remodeling project we've been planning for awhile now. Say goodbye to this massive wall! Getting the electrical figured out may take a minute but I'm glad we've finally begun this 'open concept' remodel. (Change)

The kids sure had fun practicing their graffiti skills before demo began.

What's more fun then writing on the walls!?

     Then today I had a minute of time with this kid and he agreed to a haircut as long as it was at a legit barber shop. I agreed without hesitation and would have paid almost any price for this haircut and it was worth every dime and was even worth Charlie being a few minutes late to preschool. (Which is unheard of for me!) (Change/return)

Seriously!? Why can't he see how much more handsome he is clean cut!?

Our Grand puppy also got a haircut, bath and generally all dolled up. She's so cute!

She's finally getting the potty training thing down but she did pee on my shoe when I picked her up from the groomer out  of pure joy and excitement to see me. Silly puppy!

     So there you have it, change, returns and additions. This week has flown by and only 87 days 7 hours and 49 minutes until the Atkinson's 'hit the states'!