Home Projects

You know that movie "Money Pit" from the 80s or 90s???  Well that has been our house.  I've gotten better as each problem occurs and I just have learned to roll with it.  Paul and I have learned A LOT about homes and what to look for next time we are ready to purchase one.

Here's a list of some repairs we've made in the last few months:

1)  New AC/Heating Unit
2) New Roof (this was a nightmare with our insurance company and we ended up footing most of the bill :( )
3) New mail box (our postal worker broke ours...)
4) New door handles on the whole main floor
5) A YARD!!!!   Here is a progression of pictures of where we started and how far we have come.  Since moving in about 2 1/2 years ago we have taken down over 40 trees throughout our yard to clear a space and free me from the burden of racking pine needles the rest of my life!

Where we began:

They removed their nasty hot tub but didn't remove all the fencing and deck around it so we also removed all that.

We removed about half of the trees on our own and cleared them, no simple task.  The ones that were too tall and close to our house were taken down by professionals.  We then hired a landscaper to come in and kill everything, add top soil and level the backyard.  Here is everything dying:

I know this sounds cheesy, but I seriously dreamed about how this would look one night and woke up so happy.  Imagine this area all covered in trees and weeds.  Look how beautiful it is now :)  We added a sprinkler system at this stage.

Then they seeded and put hay over the top to help the seeds grow

And about a week later we are seeing grass already sprouting through the hay!  It will be so nice to have a yard by spring time for Hayden and baby brother to play :)

4) Plumbing problems:  We were feeling so proud of ourselves and everything we had accomplished with our house.  We need to replace our driveway in the near future because it is collapsing so we were thinking that this would be our next project until this:

Yeah, so our master bathroom started having issues with the shower and toilet.  So we stopped using it, a guy in our ward does plumbing on the side and hasn't had time to come look at it but he believes it is just a pressure issue.  So anyway, while waiting for him to come we started using Hayden's tub to shower in.  We've never used this shower much because I just use the big tub in our bathroom to bathe Hayden.  But shortly after making the switch we noticed our ceiling problem :(  It started to get worse so our friend Seth came over and cut a whole in the ceiling.  It was not a leaky pipe like with thought and has something to do with the tub drain seal or something like that.  Hopefully we can just replace that, but if not, we'll need a new tub :(  The other problem is we have those ugly popcorn ceilings which isn't easy to patch and match, so now we're thinking it's time to scrape it all off and paint the whole main floor...

Here's to more projects that will never end!

Princess Hayden's 4th Birthday Party

Hayden turned 4 years old on September 16, 2013.  I hear people say it all the time, but seriously, I can't believe I'm the mother to a 4 year old.  Time really does go by quickly.  Paul and I talked a lot about the day she was born and what we loved and want to change this time around.

We started the morning off right with a special breakfast.  Hayden requested Swedi-Hotcakes which always makes me feel closer to my Grandma Cowan when I make them.  Such good memories.

Then we got ready for her manicure and pedicure appointment.  I've decided to make a new fun tradition with Hayden and that is to go get this done together on her birthday each year.  She was in absolute heaven picking out her nail color and being pampered! Here she is showing us how old she is.  She loves showing numbers with her fingers lately.

The day before on Sunday I went over to my friend Stephanie's house to use her decorating supplies and receive emotional support as I conquered this!  I am pretty proud of myself.  I've never really decorated a cake before and I had a lot of fun doing it.

After the pedicures we came home and got ready for her Princess and Knight birthday party that began at 3pm.  She invited 10 friends over and this showed me why I am so glad I didn't become a teacher!  That is overwhelming!  

The first activity was decorating crowns.  I thought for sure this would last about 20-30 minutes, but they were good and ready to move on after about 10 minutes!

The next activity we went on a scavenger hunt to find Cinderella's missing glass slipper.  At the end of the hunt there was a basket of prizes for everyone.  The knights got swords and shields and the girls got wands and bracelets.  Then out of no where a dragon came and kidnapped all the princesses.  I kept the boys for some dragon killing training and then we went on our hunt to find the dragon.  Here are the knights all geared up and ready to fight to save the princesses.

At first we had them go one at a time to save each  princess and then since that was such a hit we had several more dragon fights.  Once the princesses were freed they were able to use their wands to cast spells at the dragon.

Paul was a great sport and was the highlight of the party!  Thank goodness he came home early to help me out :)  I was worried about his arm, but he did a great job of going in a corner to protect his right arm and let the kids attack everywhere else!

Next we played "Pin the Crown On The Princess"  a few of the boys thought this was kind of lame, but mostly everyone enjoyed playing! My mom and dad gave Hayden this Snow White dress and it is so cute on her.  It is such a better quality than the normal dress up clothes we've given her in the past.  She also got a Snow White purse, gloves, and necklace to match the outfit!

Next it was time to open presents

McKaylee and Ethan

Savannah

Ashton (he also won for best knight costume!)

Kyla

Hannah

Maddie

Adam and his older brother David

Kimball

Next it was time to enjoy cake and ice cream.  It was actually a little difficult to cut the cake after all my hard work, but it did taste delicious!

Not my best pregnancy angle, but here's our family picture!

All the kids enjoying their cake and ice cream

After all her friends left we Face-timed with Grandma Anne and opened her presents.  She got walkie-talkies, My Little Ponies, "Tom Toms" as Hayden calls them, lots of clothes and books and treats.  Grandma Anne sure knows how to spoil Hayden.  After that we took Hayden out to dinner.  She chose Chick-fa-le which was great on our budget and a place that is special to her.

That night we opened presents from Mom and Dad.  Her birthday was better than Christmas she got so much fun stuff!  I had a hard time putting her to bed because she was just having so much fun playing with all her new toys.

The next day she got to celebrate her birthday at preschool.  We made our special chocolate chip cookies to share with her class.

Happy Birthday Hayden, we love you so much and are honored to be entrusted with your care!

Shoulder Surgery

On August 21st Paul went in to have shoulder surgery with Dr. Karas at Emory.  Paul's shoulder has been bugging him for awhile now and so this summer he went and had an MRI done and saw a few Dr.'s until he found one he was comfortable with to do the surgery.  Paul tore his labrum, dislocated his bicep tendon and needed his rotator cuff to be "cleaned up" whatever that means!

I took Paul in around 11 am, his surgery began around 1 pm, and we didn't get home until about 8 pm!  It was a long day, but everything went well.  Paul wouldn't let me take any pictures to document this event in his life.  The recovery will be long and slow, but we are grateful the timing worked out so he could have this done before the baby comes.  Paul has been in a sling the last 2 weeks and still has one more week in the sling until he can start some physical therapy.  He won't be able to lift much until December, so it really is perfect timing.

He's been sleeping in a recliner each night and goes between the recliner, the bed, and the couch, pretty much wherever he can get comfortable.  He wakes up a lot through the night which is hard on him.  His work has been great and he has worked from home since the surgery which I think has really helped in his recovery.

Hope he's feeling like himself in about 6-8 months!