We finally had a minute to really celebrate with Mark for his 18th birthday. Lunch at Texas Roadhouse did not disappoint! It's just too bad that Mark's stomach is the size of walnut because he had to bring most of his food home in a doggie bag, unlike Greg and me, who finished all our food and just came home with a food coma! Ha ha
Rolls, fried pickles and steak, oh my!
Greg finally got started on the railing! I'm so excited about this! I think this is the one project I've been most excited about. Now he just has to figure out how to install the rebar between the posts. He's got a few ideas now it's just a matter of him figuring out which will work best.
Kayli and Tanner moved into a bigger apartment last weekend so we decided to visit Sunday evening and we brought our own chairs just in case. Ha ha.
Their place is pretty nice!
Behind Kayli's new apartment complex are a few metal containers and I just love this one. This would make a cool shop or accent wall or whatever else!
There were a couple school programs I 'got' to attend this week. Brock had pioneer day and I got to go watch him do a little square dancing.
I'm pretty sure Brock's clothes are the most authentic pioneer clothes out of all the 4th graders at the school.
Brock busts out some pretty sweet pioneer dance moves at the very end of this first video. (I'm pretty sure he was channeling one of his ancestors, they did the 'floss' back then, right?!)
Brock has a classic look when he's a little shy/embarrassed and I captured it perfectly in this second video.
There was also a 'school cruise' and some fun dancing and music shared amongst the whole school.
Brock was actually dressed correctly for this school program.
I may be bias but this kid, McClane, is my favorite! He's so stinkin' cute and was totally into his dance and following the instructions so carefully. He's also still so happy when we're there to watch him. I'm going to miss this stage!
And our princess wrapped up her first year of school/preschool today! I can't believe I'm finally done with preschool for forever!! The preschool ends the year with a fun Circus Day, hence Charlie's teacher dressed up like a clown. Fun, Fun!
Bye, Bye Preschool!!
And I can't forget the progress made on the kitchen island. The metals attached and the wood framing, now Greg just has to put the wood pattern I've requested in the middle to finish it off! I'm loving this almost as much as the railing!
Seriously, Greg is AMAZING! (Even if he gets a little/lot ornery in the middle of some of these projects.)
So that's how our week went. I can't believe our school year is nearly at an end. Three more days for the younger boys and maybe one or two for the older three. I'm just looking forward to having a break from making lunches every morning! Welcome summer, I've missed you!!
And last but certainly not least, only 17 days, 4 hours and 30 minutes until the Atkinson's hit the States!
I had a very nice Mother's day! Aside from getting a new kitchen (Yay!!) Greg also managed to finish the majority of the painting in the hallway, living room and kitchen and of course is still working on several other projects to finish up the kitchen. Kayli was full of sweet surprises! Flowers, candy, cupcakes and bath salts, very nice. And McClane had a cute photo holder for me with a cute picture of him to display. The rest of the kids?Well, two out of 7 that love me isn't too bad. Ha ha, kidding! Mark mowed the lawn for me Saturday night despite the rainy day we had. (I'm sure the other kids had good intentions.) At church they handed out the yummiest cupcakes that I've ever had! I think they might have come from a little bakery in Pleasant Grove where the owner/baker is a former winner of 'cupcake wars' but I don't know for a fact. These cupcakes were chocolate with a caramel filling and they were AMAZING!!
We're only days away from the end of the school year and with the end of school come choir concerts and other fun activities. Isaac is part of a 100 student choir who performed several awesome songs. There were also two other choirs that performed and the Principal sang with one of the choirs, which was pretty fun and impressive. Isaac doesn't like to admit it, but he does enjoy singing and he's had fun in choir these past few months.
Isaac's in the middle, 2nd row from the top.
And McClane participated in the first grade program at his school and was pretty darn cute.
He was pretty excited to be one of the sign holders
We also attended court with Mark this week. It went quick and the results were a lot better then we expected. He still has some serious consequences but thankfully they'll all be on his juvenile record so as long as he doesn't do anything criminal again he should be able to start his adulthood, at 21, with a clean slate. The court dropped 9 of the 10 charges against Mark and told him he could get his license reinstated immediately, which was a huge relief and somewhat of a surprise but unfortunately the DMV doesn't have to adhere to the courts decision so that was a huge bummer today when we went to get his license back. There's still a chance the lawyer we hired could provide us with a legal argument to get his license back but as of today the DMV said he will still have to wait until September before he can drive again. This was a huge let down and to say Mark is disappointed is an understatement! Consequences are a necessity, for sure, but this consequence almost seems more of a punishment for Greg and me! How's a guy supposed to get to school and work and avoid future criminal behavior if he's not allowed to get himself to his job and school? Anyway, that's where we're at and lets hope something can be done to change the DMV's mind but for now we'll continue to do what we have to, to get Mark where he needs to be.
Well we have 8 days left of school to survive and we have 24 days, 2 hours and 7 minutes until the Atkinson's hit the states!!
Just a few fun photos and a couple videos from our week. We had a late and very simple birthday celebration for Mark. Charlie gets most of the spotlight this week from random activities.
Charlie was in heaven getting to hold our neighbors cute baby girl, Mary Sue.
18 candles, Wow!
Just a couple photos of the kitchen. I'm so HAPPY!! This layout is so much more functional and I love my new counters!
I'm especially excited about the TV being mounted under the cabinet so it's no longer resting on the counter and the chords are all relatively hidden as well as all the other tv/internet accessories! My counters have never been this clutter free and I LOVE it!!!
Now we just need to install the backsplash and cover the island with wood and metal.and a few other things.
Hanging out at metal mart trying to figure out what metal we need to purchase for the island and railing.
Charlie had a Mother's Day program at preschool. This is the last time I'll be attending this program!
And here's the videos from both songs they sang.
So that's the highlights from the week. Our weekend is looking wet and rainy so we'll see how much we can get done inside the house. And only 31 days, 3 hours and 55 minutes until the Atkinson's hit the states!!
We celebrated Mark's birthday this week. He's officially an adult! I also documented some of the fun things Charlie's done this week. And of course, a little kitchen update and extended family festivities.
Folks, that is a bowl of mayonnaise she's eating with a spoon. Weird!
Same cake as Carter because not even the Alpine Kmetzsch's can eat two four-layer chocolate cakes in one week.
Thanks to G & G Baker for the card and $ and he also got a few new shirts and gift cards from Greg and me.
She had just injured her shoulder so she's a little sad in this photo but this is how we deal with spring in Utah, you wear your swimsuit but cover up with a winter coat. Ha ha
NEW COUNTERS!!! So happy to have these counters in, now we wait a day before we can hook up the plumbing.
I'm so excited!!
Still a lot to do but at least we're moving forward and aren't at a stand still.
And today we attended cousin Brigham's wedding to Jen at the Provo City Center Temple. Such a cute and fun couple!
This is what a groom does at his reception, ha ha! Playing games on their phones.
It's been a good week and we're looking forward to a relatively quiet weekend. And of course the countdown continues for the Atkinson's arrival to the states, only 38 days 3 hours and 41 minutes!
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!
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!
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!!!
