Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Kitchen-before and after

So this (above) is what my kitchen looked like when we bought the house.  It had some good qualities, but not my style at all.  We new it would be easy to work with, especially once we got that wall paper down.  It. was. BAD.  So when we first moved in we took it down and painted, in fact that was one of the first things we did.  Then it was until last month that we decided to finish it up.  Tyler nearly single handedly remodeled the kitchen.  He ripped up the floor (which was an ugly orangy-brown color) and retiled.  Then he ripped out the backsplash and re-did it as well.  As for me, I picked out the tile, backsplash, and appliances and decorated :)  So here are the afters.  I were I were better with photography so you could really see how good it looks, but use your imagination.
 
 I love the backsplash, it turned out beautiful.  Tyler also put in recessed lighting under the cabinets which looks awesome.

 We haven't switched to the stainless fridge yet, mostly because it will cause a huge headache.  They don't really make refridgerators to fit in the current space we have.  They are all too tall, so we would have to take out the cabinet above the fridge...pain.
 Below you can kind of see some of the layout of the house.  The door on the left goes to the basement, the door on the right goes to the family/living room/main entry.
 Then the door on the right in the pic below goes to the dining room (which then opens up to the family/living room).
So, here's to an awesome husnband that gave me an awesome kitchen!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Kate visits...and Sara too!

Oh how we loved having them here.  My kids totally bombarded Kate, all day, everyday.  She took it pretty well.  And then she released all her frustration on Bennett.  Lucky for her, we have taught him very well how to treat a lady, particularly a younger one.  We will show only the good times in pictures :)

Looking out the window from Ava's bed.
 Taking turns pushing each other down the ramp on the driveway.
 We went to a little zoo. 
 and a little play place.

 Ava LOVED Kate, and I think Kate rather like Ava too.  I'm not sure what Ava liked more, Kate or the fact that Kate liked her :)  Either way, it worked.  They are each other's only girl counsins on the Kearl side.
 Christian was a pretty good older brother to Kate too.

 We went to a petting zoo, too.
 Just to make you all jealous of how awesome our neighborhood is, an older neighbor across the street came home from work one day and stopped in front of our house.  He hopped out of his car, opened his trunk and pulled out these little bubble shooters for our kids.  He had seen some kids with them and thought our kids would love them, so he went and bought them some.  This, my friends, is NOT an uncommon occurrance.  Mr. Pete, across the street takes them for ice cream and buys them Christmas presents to give while inviting us all over for Charlie Brown.  We really live in an amazing neighborhood.  (sorry for the side tangent).
 Kate was perfectly happy playing in our backyard all week.
It really was so fun to have them here.  Sara and I just chatted while the kids played.  We had a glimpse of what it would be like if we lived close to each other.  Ahhh, maybe someday. 

ps. i stole every picture from this post off of sara's blog.  :)

Niagara Falls

We went to the Canadian side of the falls and stay at the Great Wolf Lodge.  After two days of seeing church sites it was a good energy release to have a day at their indoor water park.

 The we headed to the falls.  Good thing we all had passports, I think the US side would have been lame.
So here is an overload of pictures for you, or rather for me, but feel free to browse or skip.

 They don't look that big in the picture below, but that is only half of them.


 Cutest picture ever of my boy in his dad's hat.

 It was rainy all morning, but the kids were loving be able to use their new umbrellas.


This is where you go behind the falls.  It's amazing how loud it was. 


 This is the other half of the falls, from the top of them.  It is crazy to read the story of people who went over the falls.  One kid went over the falls with nothing but a life vest (not intentional) and survived.  Amazing.
 By about lunch time the sun came out.  It was Eater miracle number 25...seriously.


 We had to make a quick stop while Bennett a couple of business calls...
 and grabbed a coke.  He is high maintenance.


 Christian loves my dad.  He would be his shadow all the time if he could.  If my dad is ever running an errand, doesn't matter where, Christian wants to go. 

 Ava might like him a little too.
I think those are the only pics I have from the month my parents were here.   It was so nice having them, as always.  Even more fun actually getting out and seeing things this time.

Hill Camorah- Easter Day

Easter day we went to church then did the Hill Cumorah with a little Easter activity.  While we were at the visitor center we watched the Restoration video.  After watching it, I realized that we had it at home.  It is seriously one of Ava's favorite shows to watch.  It's always a toss up, that or Tangled.
Bennett, his usual filthy mess, at the top of the hill.



Another cool place and another cool reason to come visit us! :)

Bennett and the Sacred Grove

Okay so this post might seem a little Bennett-indulgent, so sorry. 
Bennet has personality bubbling out his ears.  So while we were at the Sacred Grove I wanted my parents to have a, well, Sacred experience.  So I stayed outside with Bennett while they all went into one of the houses.  So I pulled out my camera and this is what he gave me.  None was prompted.  It was like he went through every emotion in a 2 minute period.
 Sneaky, then perhaps "don't snap that picture at me."

 Calm (or taking care of business??) and silly.


 Clearly cracking himself up, because I wasn't sharing any jokes.

 "Okay, I'm totally bored.  When are they coming out?"

"Hmmm, not coming?  I'll sit down and laugh at myself some more."