Remodel of the Deck: Update 2

The work continues...

We now have most of the lumber needed to actually work on the deck. It took us a few days to get it because we don't own a truck with a trailer or a combination of the two. Luckily we have some awesome neighbors who helped Perry out. I helped out by taking the boys out of town for the day!

 Needless to say, our garage is full and Perry says he still needs some more, but this is the most of it....I can't wait for the bill...

 We've had a few set backs in the last week or so.
#1. Perry got a nasty ear infection. He had a bump behind his ear that kept getting bigger and bigger last week. Of course I told him he needed to go get it checked out, but typical Perry, who hates the doctor and any sort of medicine, refused - that is until he came home at 1:30a on his break with a swollen jaw which prevented him from eating. Only at that point did he go to the doctor...Turns out it was just a really bad ear infection. He was told to stay in bed until Friday and try to do as little as possible. That lasted all of 2 days.
#2. Pretty sure it only lasted 2 days because it was raining for both of them. We've had lots of rainy days lately. Sort of odd for this time of year!

Now our deck is roof-less and for most of the morning, I've had to listen to the squealing sound of him cutting into roof. Like nails on a chalkboard... He has all day today and tomorrow to work on it then he's back to work for 4 days. And I'm left with this mess of a yard!

See Update 3 here.

My New Guest Room

I love green. I don't love green on my walls. At least this kind of green! I have no idea what the people were thinking when they painted this house...I mean, check out the orange kitchen!

When we first moved in, we rented out the basement to some friends of ours. The friend that lived in this room, moved in before we had the chance to re-paint it. It was the only room that didn't get new paint. So for the last 3 years, we've had this bright green room...that I hated.

I finally broke down and painted it when I finished painting the laundry room. I love how it turned out! I was a little nervous about the grey color because when I had first picked out the new shades, it was supposed to be more brown. But it's not like you can return paint once it's on the wall so I kept going and ended up liking it! I picked neutral colors because the comforter for the bed was turquoise and I really wanted it to pop. 

I created these floral arrangements to spruce up the room a bit more. Originally I was going to leave the wheat out, but seriously, I grew up on a little ranch...what'd ya expect? The vases turned out great - thanks to an afternoon of shopping without kids!

I think this room turned out great! I'm not embarrassed anymore to have guests stay the night!

What do you think? How'd I do?

Remodel of the Deck: Update 1

We've now owed our home for just under 3 years *already*!

This is what our backyard looked like when we first bought it...kind of a piece of work! 

May 2010

 In those 3 years, Perry and I have done a bunch of work already to the yard. But mostly Perry since he's pretty handy...He took out the garage door that led to the backyard and moved the back entrance to the garage door to the other side. And we actually have a yard full of grass! Anyways...this post is about our deck. We knew when we bought it that we were going to need to do something with the deck. The roof doesn't have enough pitch to it so, as you can see below, sort of, its kind of rotting. 

May 2012

 We've discussed working on the deck recently but nothing came of it...until Perry woke me up the other morning to let me know he had most of the deck taken apart. And kudos to him for taking before pictures! (He must have gotten in trouble for not doing that before or something....)

 He worked for most of the morning on it, coming in of course when it rained. Probably why his cold got worse - because he didn't come in soon enough!

 And these boys just cracked me up! I was doing my own thing while keeping the boys insight when Hunter walked over to me with the bag of popcorn from the kitchen counter. Hesitantly I told him he could have some, thinking he'd sit down with JP and watch some cartoons... Instead, he and JP sat and watched dad work out the window while snacking on their popcorn! It was so darn cute! And the commentary from Hunter! "Oh look at that! ... He's bangin'! ... See Jim - he had his screws! ... Look at him fixin' it!" 

 Daddy was like their very own Bob the Builder! I of course saw this photo-op and snuck outside to capture their faces. They were just amazed! It was like their own 3-D movie!

He's made a lot of progress on it so far! I however didn't think we'd start this until later this summer...see what I know!

Memorial Weekend Wedding

I am SO happy for my sister Kile and her husband Chris who just tied the knot last weekend on May 26, 2012. They are so perfect for each other! The entire day was simply perfect, despite the wind and rain!
Unfortunately for me, I didn't get very many pictures of the wedding because I was in it. Perry managed to get a couple when he wasn't video taping. 

*Most of these pictures are from Dax Photography *[Check out his site - some of my wedding pictures are on it too!]

They were married in a beautiful Catholic church! They had a wonderful service in which my other sisters, Kim and Robin sang a duet, Chris' two brothers read the 1st and 2nd readings, and I read the intentions. Hunter followed me up to the podium - I promptly had to return him to the front row as I was pretty sure he was going to unplug the microphone and I wasn't about to yell!

They had 5 bridesmaids...

...and 5 groomsmen in their wedding. Isn't this one of the coolest pictures you've seen of the guys?! They're in a tunnel - who'da thought?!

And of course I don't have to say it, but I'm going to, my sister was so beautiful on her wedding day! She just beamed with happiness! 

After the wedding, everyone joined them for a fun-filled reception at a hotel nearby.

There was so much dancing! And so many people dancing too! It was great! I was so happy to see so many people that I hadn't seen in years! Family, cousins, friends... I wish the night was longer so I could have spoke with all of them!

Of course there was a family picture! My mom was sure to get one this go 'round as it got missed by accident at my wedding in September. Oops! Did I mention it was freezing out? Maybe I'm just too critical of myself, but I think I'm the only one that looks cold!

And what were my boys doing during this wedding?

Well, JP and Hunter were the ring bearers, but only JP made it to the front by himself. Hunter was supposed to walk with him, but had a meltdown once I headed to the front. He chased after me when I was halfway down the isle and latched onto my leg. Hunter carried a sign that read "Uncle Chris, Here comes your Bride!" Unfortunately, not many were able to read it because of his little melt down. It was still cute though!

Although I missed most of the boys' activities, I did catch some of it. This is little JP under a table picking up his spilled cereal. I find it cutely funny that this table was in the "bar" area. He and Hunter enjoyed rolling golf balls around the floor too!

 

By the end of the night, these little guys were TIRED! They slept in until 10am the next morning. They'd have slept later but Perry woke them up so they could go to the farewell breakfast.

They were lucky enough to get kisses from the bride at bedtime too! So sweet!

I can't wait to hear about their honeymoon! 

Highlights from the Big Party

Two days before Ms. Kile was declared to be Mrs. Kile, we threw her a little "wild" party. Thanks to her twin Kimberli, everything was zebra and leopard print. It turned out amazing - she's so creative!

These chocolate covered strawberries were delicious! We even had drunken grapes there too!

What's a party without cake?!

Any thoughts for the bride Shardae & Kim?

Check out this bachelorette! I wish she'd have won this hat all night...

 Couldn't miss the opportunity for a sister picture!

For the sake of this blog, I'll keep the details to a minimum, but we booked a Pure Romance consultant for her party. Quite entertaining to say the least!

After our little risque party, we all met up at the Elbow Room for dinner and drink...and bull riding! Our bride-to-be did awesome...

...only to be out done by her mom, who then went on to set the record time for the night at 35 seconds.

I'm pretty sure I was the only one out of the 15 or so people at the party that didn't participate in the bull riding...I didn't want my dress coming up!

Mom and her daughters <3

Overall it was a great party! Kile had friends join her from all over totaling about 8 people + family and friends that didn't have to travel. I was so excited to see a long time (since pre-school!) friend of mine there too! And lucky for me, the beaded necklaces I brought home are now worn on a constant basis by both my boys...yay!

A Day Spent in Oregon: Part 2

*Continued from A Day Spent in Oregon: Part 1*

The evening was spent at a wedding of one of Perry's childhood friends. 

Here is Perry with his suit (I love the grey!) and his matching boys.

*I think* the wedding/reception was right next to a brewery. Either way this thing looked to be a lot of fun! There was one person on the end of it that would steer, and to make it go, everyone else had a set of pedals. How cool is that?!

 Anyways, they had a nice wedding followed by a dessert reception. Yummy!

 We're super excited for Em & Colin's wedding in August...it's coming up fast!

 I just love this picture of Perry's parents - We're so glad his dad was able to make it over from ND!

 Aunt Pat and Uncle Ted joined us too! It was so nice to see them again!

 Mommy and her boys - they were the lucky ones that got the veggie tray instead of dessert since they didn't eat their dinner...sorry boys!

 One of the few pictures we got together on the whole trip.

The happy couple during the toasts! They're so cute together!

The boys enjoyed dancing...I didn't realize how crazy of a dancer Hunter was! JP gets owned at the end of the video. The little girl in the top right has some serious moves too!

We stayed til the end to help clean up and Perry had a few helpers of his own! Talk about cheap labor!

On the trip home, we let the boys stay in their jammies. Conveniently enough, Perry *accidently* left the portable DVD player in the house we stayed at...we didn't realize it until it was too late...It could have been a really long trip back, but we're thankful they were content watching "How to Train Your Dragon" without sound on Perry's iPad. Phew!

A Day Spent in Oregon: Part 1

The first few days of our vacation were spent in Seattle visiting Perry's sister, and my sister. But the main reason for our trip was to go to one of Perry's good friend's wedding in Bend, OR. Day 3 of our trip was spent traveling from Seattle to Bend. It was a fairly long drive, totaling about 7 hours, including a few stops along the way. By the time we arrived we were all so exhausted! We ate a quick lunch and then headed over to the house we rented to take a nap before going to rehearsal dinner.

Day 4 was another busy day for us, especially Perry since he was in the wedding! The morning started out with Emilienne cutting both Perry's and JP's hair. Luckily I had brought my Kindle to keep JP entertained so he'd stop wiggling!

Before Perry had to leave for pictures, everyone (Emilienne & Colin, Grandma Betty & Grandpa John, Aunt Pat & Uncle Ted & the 4 of us) took a trip to downtown Bend to check out the sites.

 Grandma and the boys looked at the ducks for a while.

 Hunter and Grandpa had some bonding time together.

 Hunter kept busy by walking Emilienne's dog. He loved it!

Hunter and JP loved "riding" the pigeon statues.

When we arrived back at the house, which was earlier than planned, because *someone wearing blue* had a melt down, we had a nice family dinner with everyone (except Perry who was doing wedding stuff.)

Here's Part 2