We have a honey do list at our house. There has been so much painting and changing we've done to the house in the last two years. Although I haven't taken pictures of everything the last few weeks there have been some major changes that needed to get done.
So after taking the house off the market and finally coming to peace with the fact that we would have a mint green kitchen for at least a couple more years,the call came in. The "majestic white" granite is in (almost 6 months later). It was the one color we both agreed on way back in April. I was almost afraid to tell Mike the call came in because we had just talked about ways to save money. But when I told him guess who called today? He was as excited as I was. So it was on, yes we were still interested. Woo hoo! 
I am absolutely in love with the kitchen now. It was a long process that started with having the green tile and bottom row of tile removed. Waiting for the counter tops to be measured cut and scheduled for install took almost the whole month of September. The night before the install Mike and David removed the old counter tops and sink. Even though we had dealt with the kitchen being a little torn up most of September the hardest part of that was 2 days without a kitchen sink. The best part of it is no cooking for a couple of days. 
This weekend Mike finished all the trim work and the last couple pieces of tile. It looks so great and exactly what I wanted. The color is a gray, white, black speckle. It looks exactly like the color of the Oakland Temple to me. But the best part of all is it is so easy to clean and if the kids drum on this one they won't break a piece off. If they drum on this one breaking a piece off won't be an issue but they'll have me to deal with!
This is a picture of our house in July, it's the picture I used to put it in the MLS. We wanted to see if we could get any bites before school started. Since we were heading out on vacation thought the house might stay "showable" and we'd give it a shot. We listed it at the highest comparable knowing there were things that needed to be done. So maybe we weren't as serious as we thought.
While we were gone there was a huge hail storm. It damaged the paint, screens and roof. If you drive down my street this week you'll see at least 15 houses that have either just had their roofs and paint done or have roofing materials at their house. For us it started with the paint, finally got the "pink" color off the house. Can you believe this is the only picture I have of the paint process. Below is a picture of the roofers finishing after a hard days work. They tore off and put everything on in one day. We couldn't believe that they got everything done in one day.
Here is the after picture of paint. We love the white trim and the clouds even look good. The best part about it is we now know the color of our house. So if we ever need to touch something up we can.
This is our before of the kitchen taken in July too. Notice the lovely mint green tiles on the back splash and the matching counter tops. Well not only is it hard to decorate but the counters were so beat up. In April on one of our many trips to Lowes I was drooling in the kitchen section. We noticed that the granite was on sale. It was almost half off and I couldn't stop thinking about it. Mike even thought it was a great price and I was surprised when he agreed that we did need to change our counter tops. Our problem, the color we both agreed on wasn't in. They didn't know when they would have it again.
This is our before of the kitchen taken in July too. Notice the lovely mint green tiles on the back splash and the matching counter tops. Well not only is it hard to decorate but the counters were so beat up. In April on one of our many trips to Lowes I was drooling in the kitchen section. We noticed that the granite was on sale. It was almost half off and I couldn't stop thinking about it. Mike even thought it was a great price and I was surprised when he agreed that we did need to change our counter tops. Our problem, the color we both agreed on wasn't in. They didn't know when they would have it again. So after taking the house off the market and finally coming to peace with the fact that we would have a mint green kitchen for at least a couple more years,the call came in. The "majestic white" granite is in (almost 6 months later). It was the one color we both agreed on way back in April. I was almost afraid to tell Mike the call came in because we had just talked about ways to save money. But when I told him guess who called today? He was as excited as I was. So it was on, yes we were still interested. Woo hoo! I am absolutely in love with the kitchen now. It was a long process that started with having the green tile and bottom row of tile removed. Waiting for the counter tops to be measured cut and scheduled for install took almost the whole month of September. The night before the install Mike and David removed the old counter tops and sink. Even though we had dealt with the kitchen being a little torn up most of September the hardest part of that was 2 days without a kitchen sink. The best part of it is no cooking for a couple of days. This weekend Mike finished all the trim work and the last couple pieces of tile. It looks so great and exactly what I wanted. The color is a gray, white, black speckle. It looks exactly like the color of the Oakland Temple to me. But the best part of all is it is so easy to clean and if the kids drum on this one they won't break a piece off. If they drum on this one breaking a piece off won't be an issue but they'll have me to deal with! 
We watched the sunset and watched an incredible tribute to the US and to the making of Mt. Rushmore. At the end of the show they asked all current and former military to come down on the stage. Mike didn't want to go but with a few of us encouraging him he went down with the other service men and women. Right out of HS he joined the Marines and served for over six years.
We were able to go to Bear Country USA. They warn you to keep your windows up and do not get out of your car. It was so much fun and there were a lot more then just bears. The older kids didn't think this was going to be fun. But they had just as much fun as the rest of us. 
Crazy Horse was also on the list of things to do. This is definitely bigger then Mt. Rushmore and has been years in the making. I didn't see a lot of progress since last time we were there back in 2004 but after looking at the museum and pictures realized I just didn't have an eye for the changing mountain. 
On September 11 five of us were lucky enough to enjoy the Air Force vs. 
There were some great tributes to victims of 9-11 and a HUGE American flag was brought out by the military. It was beautiful and so touching. We have to thank our neighbor for giving us the tickets so we could enjoy this game.
Some may wait for weekends so they can rest. In our house that doesn't seem to be the plan. There is always something and last weekend was no different. Dentist appointments, birthday parties, football, homecoming, weddings and a concert were on the calendar for us.
Not the best pictures because we were in a church but Parker and Jeni got married. Mike has been friends with Parker for a long time. They graduated HS together and have a lot of stories to tell about each other. We are very happy for Parker and glad he is so happy.
We are so glad September has come to rest. It was a wonderful and busy month. But the best part about it is our little Daniel that came to our family. Here's to hoping October gives us a little more rest!
Daniel was born at 7:09 pm and weighed in at a 
We are all truly in love with this little man already. He is adorable and sweet, this morning when I went to visit him he had his little arms folded like he was praying so I had to take a picture. Daniel is baby number 6 in his family so he has to be a strong boy. He's off to a great start!
