Cabinets

Our cabinets have been installed!!! They aren't finished yet, some still need crown moulding, they don't have handles yet, and the hood will be finished after our HVAC people come and finish their job. But I am LOVING them!!!!!!!!!!! My brother-in-law, Justin, who works for Western Idaho Cabinets (checkout their website @ http://www.westernidahocabinets.com/ - I like to look at their photo gallery) designed everything for us and he did such a beautiful job!! I HIGHLY recommend him to anyone! Here are some pictures of them... This is in the master bathroom These are the cabinets are in the main bathroom Here is part of the kitchen. My baking center is where those cabinets are on the counter. I'm so excited for that!!! This is the island in the kitchen Here is another part of the kitchen showing only half of the hood completed This is the desk in the kitchen area These are the lockers in the laundry room. I LOVE this color and the way it works so well with the wall color and the tile! Yay!!

Justin has done such a great job and I am so happy with everthing. I'll post more as it gets done!

Floors & More

The hardwood floors have been filled and sealed, and I am so amazed at what a huge difference that makes!! I am so pleased with how they turned out!!! And our cabinets are here and are being installed today and tomorrow. Can I just tell you how exciting this is?!!! I am just so happy with everything. Here are pictures of what's been going on around here...

Our "polka dot" floors, as Brett called them

And here they are sealed. I LOVE the variation in color! Some of the pieces look so cool!!

Here come the cabinets

Ryan, Valerie, their kids, and Kathy and Larid came to help haul them in. Angel and I were the official inspectors and directors.

I'll post more pictures as soon as cabinets are finished tomorrow!!

Our Valentine's Day

This year's Valentine's Day was not your typical one. Unfortunately, I'm finding that when you are building a house and have deadlines, you stick with your goals and work, no matter if Valentine's Day or not. But what I have found is that when you spend time with family and having them show how much they love you by helping with such a huge project, it's hard to top that and it means so much to both Brett and me! This is how we spent our V-Day, as did Ryan (Brett's brother) and Valerie and their kids, and Larid (Brett's dad)...
I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited about our flooring!!!! A huge thanks goes to Ryan, Valerie, and Larid - the hardwood floor laying experts! It was a happy Valentine's Day indeed!!

Valentine Festivities

We've been super busy with all sorts of Valentine things going on! It all started Thursday morning when I remembered that I needed to make a Valentine treat for Aubree's teacher. So I got to work first thing in the morning making super cute brownies (check out my food blog for details on that!). Then most of that day, I spent working on planning Austin's kindergarten Valentine party that I volunteered to be in charge of. I found some fun, festive games to play, but took a bit of time prepping for them. Finally that night, I baked a batch of cupcakes for the cupcake walk I was planning for the kids. After those got put away, it was finally about 12:30 in the morning and I hit the sack.

Bright and early the next morning (this morning) I was up finishing up putting the games together while Brett frosted the cupcakes. We made it to the school just in time to explain the games to the other moms that came to help, and then we got started. The kids guessed how many Kisses were in a jar (first guesses were 500 and then 450 - there were 68; so I told them the number was under 100), then each child was given a half of a heart that I cut out, making specific designs. They had to go around the room and try to find their other half, comparing their heart half with all of the other kids'. Then we split into two groups and took turns playing Valentine Bingo and a blindfolded drawing game (that was very entertaining!). Finally we all got back together and did our cupcake walk.

I was supposed to take an hour, but took 1 1/2 instead. The teacher was totally fine with that and so were the kids. They had a lot of fun. Austin actually asked if we could do that same party at our house with his friends again. Unfortunately for him, I was so pooped, I told him it wasn't going to happen! But I was glad to hear that he enjoyed it that much!! Now I need to come up with some more ideas for tomorrow, the REAL Valentine's Day. Maybe we can count today as our fun, festive day. Yeah, that sounds good.

Paint is DONE!!

It's been almost a week ago that the paint has been finished and I'm finally getting around to posting pictures. Sorry! But here they are. Brett is almost finished laying the tile, then there's grouting and sealing, and then he is planning on starting on the hardwood (which arrived today!) Saturday. It is absolutly amazing how things are coming together and I am so pleased, and relieved that I'm so happy with my choices! Phew!! We'll see how the rest goes. Enjoy the pics!

Entryway, seeing the colors of both formal rooms

A sunny and warm dining room, no matter the weather

I am so excited with this green; it turned out to be my favorite color in the house!

Family Room into the Kitchen

The paint color works with the brick, YAY!!

Angel

Angel is loving it here! She goes out to feed the cows with Brett every night and she loves to tease them. It's so funny to watch so I'm posting a couple little videos so you can get an idea of what we get to see everyday.

All About Teeth

We've had a lot going on here lately having to do with teeth. Yesterday Brynnlee cut her first tooth - FINALLY!!! We've been suffering through this for months! Finally, it's here and her next one is just about up as well. We've been amazed that she hasn't cut one sooner. Austin got his first tooth at four months, Aubree at six months, but Brynn waited until 11 months. My mom assures me, however, that I was the only child out of nine who got teeth before 12 months (mine came at 6 months). So apparently, for my family, 11 months is still early.

Last night Austin finally yanked out his second tooth. It's been so wiggly and loose it's been almost gross to see. It's funny to see him with this huge gap in his teeth. But when looking into his mouth last night, I could see that his first adult tooth is coming through the gums. So I suppose that I have two kids teething! And once again, he was so excited to find another dollar bill under his pillow from the tooth fairy!!

And finally, me. It's been since before I got married that I went to the dentist last, so almost 9 years. We finally decided that it's probably time to go in and have my teeth checked, so I did and the dentist said that I have three cavities. Monday I went in to have two of them filled on the left side of my mouth. After that was done, I went home and took my babysitter home and started to think about what to make for dinner. Well, I was told that I wouldn't be able to chew anything until the numbing went away. So I waited and waited and waited. Around 10 o'clock that night the numbness started to fade and I could feel that I had a lot of pain in my mouth. I took some Tylenol and tried to sleep; I was unsuccessful. My mouth hurt so much! By the time I got up in the morning, I could hardly move my mouth, I couldn't smile, and I certainly couldn't chew anything! I kept telling myself that it's been so long since I have had any work done on my mouth that I just wasn't used to this and I had forgotten what it's like to get cavities filled.

After hours had passed and there had only been slight improvement, a friend of mine told me that this was NOT normal and to call the dentist. So I did and left a message. When the dental assistant called me back, she told me that I was the one in 10,000 that this happens to. She believes that the dentist hit a nerve when he was injecting the anesthesia and that this was a reaction to that. She said that eventually it will get better, but that I was just going to have to wait it out. I have another appointment scheduled for Monday to get the last cavity filled, but now I am really nervous about getting that done. I don't want it to hurt like it did and I HAVE to eat!! Maybe I'll just have to live off of Jamba juices for a while, which wouldn't be too bad! We'll have to see how things go! Wish me luck!!