Month: October 2016

Our kitchen update is nearly complete. We have a few small details left and then our beautiful kitchen will be finished. The reality of doing a project like this, like all the other home improvements we have done, is that life requires we still get paychecks, tend to little people and deal with anything else that needs our attention. So while doing this renovation (did I mention I also decided I was going to paint the rest of the living room and hallway), we are also potty training and dealing with school schedules and parent teacher conferences and still attempting to have a social life. While it would be much simpler to hire these projects out, it’s a really great feeling that we’ve done it all on our own. It’s a learning process and while our work isn’t perfect, it’s something we’ve put blood, sweat and tears into (literally all those things), to make our home just that. OUR HOME. It’s been incredibly inconvenient at times, but I wouldn’t trade all those makeshift floor dinners and messy rooms for anything.  Stay tuned because fingers crossed we’ll have all of this knocked out in the next couple weeks and we can show off all of our hard work. For now, here’s a peek.

Now let me chat for a second about my husband. He humored me and agreed to this big project knowing that he would take on most of the responsibility of it. All while cleaning up at night ,playing all the silly stuff with the kids AND helping me with laundry, cleaning, bus pick ups and all of life’s little chores. I know there are a thousand other things you want to do with your time home. Thank you’s just aren’t enough. Your one in a million. 🙂

This spring will mark five years that we’ve lived in our house. Majority of our home improvements have been landscape related. Which it just dawned on me that I never updated you on our work this summer, I’ll get on that one soon. Back to the house. We’ve painted rooms, and bathrooms. Bought new furniture and refinished the kitchen table. We’ve redecorated the kids’ rooms a few times and like any other lady you probably know, I’ve rearranged and redecorated the house more times than I can count.

But our focus (alright mostly mine) has been the kitchen. It might not be a dream kitchen but it’s still the place I spend the most time in and it holds the most memories for me. It’s sentimental and also telling that I’m a real fat kid at heart. Since moving in we’ve changed out the faucet, added hardware to the cupboards and drawers, built extra shelving, put lighting in above the cabinets and now.. drum roll please……

are doing some tile work and painting! 

 Some before pictures to start off with.

Our Friday night was spent prepping by moving out the stove and fridge and dumping most everything else on the dining room table and shoving it all onto one side of the room. We washed, sanded and primed walls and cleared out space to start the job the next morning. We had a few set backs but so far have had a really great jump on it.** Here’s a sneak peek and stayed tuned for the finished product!

** I said we but what I really meant was Andy and my father in law. I didn’t do much to help other than answer questions about tile placement and get lunch. Thanks guys, your doing awesome work!

Now that Hayden has started school, we have become like the majority and are Monday thru Friday’ers. Alarm clocks are turned off Friday night and the kids get to blow blast that early bedtime and stay up a bit longer for movies and popcorn. Saturday and Sunday mornings are reserved for sleeping in and loading up on pancakes and extra cups of fresh coffee.

This past weekend was no different. Full on biscuits and gravy with no agenda for the day, we started to spit fire ideas of what to fill our time with. Among those ideas was a roadtrip and pizza. How about a roadtrip to eat pizza?!

We loaded up some small essentials, topped off the car with gas and was Talkeetna bound.  You might recall that I’ve done posts in the past about this tiny little town. It really is one of our favorite spots.

While it’s not as bustling as it is in the summer, the few main spots are open and the one that serves the most delicious pizza, was open and ready for us. Their signature pizza, the Mountain High Pie, barely resembles a slice of pizza because it’s so loaded with toppings. Just writing about it is making my mouth water.

The dinner rush picked up and the kids and I slipped out while Andy finished up with the check. While there may not have been shops and stores to explore, there was plenty of adventure waiting along those quiet streets. Hayden was set on finding a park to play at, and Reid is always on board for whatever comes his way.

Our short walk through the streets wrapped up, the kids loaded up, and it was one last pit stop at the brewery on the way out of town. As their eyes were getting heavy in the backseat, we spotted a park and pulled around to surprise them with one last run before the drive home. Even though the air was starting to chill and the sunshine had left us, a trip to a park is never disappointing.

These spur of the moment, load the family up and go here, sort of plans are special. They have become even more special now that we only have a handful of days in the month that we have this kind of freedom. While it was nice to have flexibility with our days and no obligations in years past, if this is what schedules and routines looks like, I’ll keep it.