Our Home the before and afters

I did the best I could to take before and after photos of our finally completed home. I feel like the pictures just don’t do justice to the work and changes we made. Especially all the paint colors. I think the lighting was different and has made the paint look the same in some of the photos.

Living room -

Entry way-

Stairs and hallway-

Kitchen – the biggest, longest, and hardest renovation for us.

 

The Rec room-

Garage Hall-

Laundry room – the only bright space in our home

Basement hallway- the dirtiest to cleanest rennovation

Guest Bathroom-

Guest Room-

The Office or Man Cave :) – 7 different colors of paint on these walls

Girls room – black to girly

The girls’ bathroom

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom – probably one of my favorite transformations

Master Closet

I can’t believe what we accomplished in about three months and then the final projects in the next three months. Only six months and I have the house of perfection (most days lol). It is better than our Roy home by far and I am so grateful for all the things we did there so I knew EXACTLY what to do and what I wanted here. The next home will definitely be our dream home… next home… I know… we are done with this house and for those that know us well, when we finish, we move. So needless to say, I am already looking for other homes! We take drives and I find myself talking about “oh that house is for sale” or “there’s a lot over here that would be perfect for us.” I don’t know what to do with myself (wink, wink). I am not used to doing other things outside of working on a home. It feels weird to be focused on projects and endeavors outside of our home. However, we want to start on landscaping this summer. But I am really hesitant about it because, like I said, I am ready to move again. I have never lived in a place long enough to cultivate a nice backyard and I want to but I know that we aren’t here forever. I know we have bigger plans. Hence my hesitation. But I think we will at least put an RV pad to store our boat and then some raised garden beds.

So bring on the next whatever! We are ready.

eighth anniversary–just a normal day

I won’t go into detail about our anniversary because there isn’t any detail. It passed just like other days. We did look through our wedding books and sign in book from that day. I also made a dinner of coconut shrimp just like we would have at Mackey’s Shrimp Shack in Hawaii when we moved there for our six month honeymoon.

But I did give Dan some gifts- Isn’t this card so cute? I loved the illustration-

I gave Dan a great date. We are excited to go in March-

This is a rag quilt that I worked on all break. It was tough because Dan was home for most of break so I had to be sneaky and power out some product when I could. It is way cute and I am proud of myself.

Eight years with Dan has been trying, challenging, adventurous, and just darn great. I have grown and learned so much and know that I wouldn’t change anything… even those challenging parts. Here’s to another year of them… LOL.

Colorado–some from my phone

Coloring on the way to Mima and Banka-

We were in charge of dinner one night and made a Christmas pizza wreath. It was SO good and fun to make together.

I was there! #selfie :)

My girls showing off all their new accessories from their cousins in New York.

The boys (dan and my brother Erik) made the most of their time and cash and made a ski bike. It was even color coordinated purple. It was fun watching them test out their contraption.

The girls went sledding too…

We indulged in some tasty candies during game nights-

And we colored on the way home--- see a trend for someone?

And we were cold and tired when we got home that someone took themselves to bed on the heater.

We also got a package from our best friends who live in Finland. We got Tontuu hats and finnish candy (my fav!)

Christmas–that special morning

I loved watching our Christmas unfold for our girls. We don’t play up Santa very much. We respond as needed, but we do feel that there still is that morning magic and we do play that up a lot.

Our sleeping beauties with their new pillow pets from Mima and Banka- Abi got a pig and B got a Bee. When I was a little girl, I had a stuffed pig. Her name was Ruffles and I slept on her until she looked like she was dying in the mud mire. Her tail was pinned on and she was no longer soft pink, but a dirty, dingy tan color. So when Abi was born, my mom made some receiving blankets for me. Low and behold there was a flannel one with piggies on it. And yet another surprise, that is the blanket Abi took to… so now she has her “piggies.” So that is why Mima and Banka thought it only appropriate to give her a pig pillow pet. B’s is a little more explainable to her name.

The girls with their stockings-

A book to read- Fancy Nancy of course.

Bows for hair-

We loved giving our gifts to our family. It was a year that I was truly thoughtful and picky about what I gave to my family.

Banka received a water color painting of a girl looking at Luna. My dad has built this fascination into my girls for Luna. There is something so tender in my heart seeing my girls with my dad. Maybe it is because I am a daddy’s girl, but more watching him bring light and joy to their eyes that others cannot do. The painting came from Paris and is a perfect representation of this relationship.

Mima received some essential oils from us. They have worked miracles in our lives and we wanted to share that with her.

Our big present for our girls were two boxes of dress ups and accessories that I found thrifting and yard saling this past fall. And to this day, they are being loved. Perfect gift!

Erik trying out his sleeping mat for backpacking – it was an awesome that compacted into a nalgene size pack.

I finished B’s blanket. I did one for Abi last year. She kept saying, “Abi’s. Abi’s.” And actually tonight was the first night she asked to sleep with it.

Dan came away with some new running shoes, a plane flying lesson (an actual plane), an awesome book about being a man, studio C goodness, games, and a juicy steak and spice rub. And all these other things--- I can’t ever stay in budget with him. I love him too much and want to spoil him since he never does it for himself.

I go a new cake pan, cereal bowls, socks, the frozen soundtrack, and laser hair removal for my legs. Dan being the good man that he is, stayed in budget with me :) We got a neat framed scrabble game that my parents made to hang in our house and I have enjoyed that a ton. I like to make words as I am waiting for the girls to get on their shoes or I will leave words for Dan… I wonder if he ever sees them.

We also got some money from Dan’s parents to buy a piano. When we got home from Colorado, we found one on KSL. It was out of our budget but we made the offer and they took it! The piano is a perfect fit for us right now. Hopefully in the next five or so years we can upgrade to what I was really looking for. I have loved having it in my home though. It has been so long since I played. Last time I was around a piano was when I was still living at home, so almost ten years. I am out of practice, but the hymns and primary songs are perfect things to practice.