Updates Brent has made on the house

When we bought our home, we knew it was a fixer upper and were excited about the prospect of fixing it up.  The house had so much potential but was also live-able in the meantime.  As we've been living in it we have come up with some AWESOME ideas of how we can change things. Some changes I have known will have to wait for several years but there were a few changes I wanted right away. We haven't been able to do them, other things kept being more important, and now that I've had an awakening {finally} about money again I have realized that all the BIG changes can't happen for several years or until I can become a financially contributing member in our household, which also seems several years away which I'll talk about at the bottom of this post.

So anyway all that being said we can still make little updates and changes here and there which bring a smile to my face and make living in this fixer upper more comfortable. Most recent one that I've been loving is the shower-head Brent just installed this weekend. In our guest bathroom the old shower head shot out an amazing stream of water... so powerful, so delightful... if you were 5 ft tall.  Brent and I are both nearly 6 feet tall so you can see how this was frustrating for us.  Brent was pretty sure doing this update would be a lot more expensive but he found an awesome deal on Amazon on this shower head.  I was nervous that switching the shower heads would take away the amazing water pressure. I was wrong. The new shower head was the perfect change and now we have a delightful showering experience finally! No more squatting/slouching/( and even sometimes kneeling when I was pregnant and couldn't move that way) in the shower to rinse out my hair.  I can stand straight and tall and it's something I totally appreciate and I'm so grateful to Brent for making that update! It makes me so happy! And he even made it look so nice and with some extra ingenuity added a piece to the wall to attach it to so it was plum.  He is awesome.

I forgot to take a before picture. But you can tell where it used to come out, down where the hose attaches.

And while I'm at it I'll add a few more pictures of some of the awesome updates that Brent has done over the last year:

He tore out the disgusting orange shag:

And we had a guy install some boring gray carpet. It looks so nice and we all loved playing on it the day after.

The next three pictures are all "before pictures"

This pic is from before we moved in, (just so you know the beer cans weren't ours) it shows the old bar that was in the kitchen that Brent took out.

He also re-painted the kitchen because he had to re-sheetrock that white area on the wall that he had to tear out to figure out the electrical for the dishwasher he had installed.

And he had to tear out this old sliding glass door because it stopped working. Like literally. It was weird.  But luckily our neighbor had a used one we could have that fit the spot pretty well.

We also bought a shoe cubby which doesn't get used perfectly yet [I had to put a bunch of the shoes off the rug and into their cubbies for this pictures] but here is the final product of all of the above updates:

lso notice the appliances we've installed, it all adds up, we sure have made a lot of changes!

Some of these updates were outside projects too...

He built this massive chicken coup which we still need to take detailed pictures of the finished product, this picture is from before he got the roof put on.

Some of the first things he did was tear out this old mobile home that was sitting on our property:

Tore out the weird inefficient ugly fireplace

And installed a fabulous wood burning stove

Tore out the weird stone "planter box"

and installed a wood box for our fire wood specially made by our neighbor

The very first update was that he removed some drawers

So I could have a dishwasher

(For this next one I can't believe I forgot to take a before picture!!! I tend to not think of it until he's starting the project or in the middle of it)

Another update Brent did fairly early on was pulling out shag carpet in the master bathroom, putting down some linoleum and pulling out both bathrooms old toilets and putting in new ones:

(he was so sweet letting Sanna help out. And she is so cute in her overalls.)

 Here is the new linoleum and toilet:

We haven't replaced the linoleum or countertop in the other bathroom yet. So if you have a flash from the past when you see it you're not alone. My mom said we had the same linoleum and countertop in our bathroom which I vaguely remember. 

Anyway these pictures show the new toilet and faucet he put in.

And that's not even to mention all the trees he's had to cut down and clear, all the junk he had to clear out of the shop that the previous owners left behind, all the burning he's had to do of junk and the mobile home and branches. 

Plus he takes care of the chickens, chops the wood for our wood burning stove, makes the fires, and tries to teach the kids all these things.

 He's such a good daddy.

All of that on top of a full time demanding job that he has to study for after work. 

Wow, when you put it all in one spot it makes me realize how much Brent has already done in the house. These projects feel like they barely scratch the surface of what needs to do be done but he's plugging away at it. And someday when we've saved up for it, we can do the huge remodels. And we can get our house to look cool like this...

This has been fun reviewing the last year of projects.  I'm going to do this again in a year.  This is my prediction of what I'll be updating about:

*Shop closed in and converted into a "second dwelling"

*New Water System

*planter boxes

*windows installed into living room

*more trees cleared

*some hiking trails cleared

*and then a few little things that I will do like painting/decorating the girls room to make it look a bit nicer and maybe repainting the bathrooms, they look pretty bad.

That's quite a bit... not sure we will be able to do it all.  I guess the year will tell!

And as I referenced it earlier about me contributing financially to the household...I honestly don't know how yet, if I'll go get a job when Izzy starts school or if by the time Izzy is in school if I'll be able to have my art/photography become a full time paying job.  That's my dream and I feel like these next 5 years will be my time to prepare for that dream. I have to remember that if I don't, I'll probably be working for the school probably as a teachers aide or a substitute teacher, or as a lifeguard/swim teacher at the pool, or something like that. Which there is nothing wrong with those jobs, it's just not my dream.

Funny kids

He sat and sharpened all those pencils. And then wanted to charge his sister $20 for them. He runs a hard bargain. She was willing to pay for them but I wouldn’t let her.  

Apparently this is what happens to her hair when you take out her pig tails. 

Cindy loo-who!

Passed

I recently listened to Dave Ramsey’s total money makeover. I  heard it all back in the day when we attended his financial peace university (but never bought the book). Anyway, I had been wanting a refresher on it so it was good to listen to it. We passed our first challenge this week. It was hard let me tell ya. Our fridge pooped out on us so we needed a new one. I was looking at new ones on sale at Lowe’s. They were too much for our budget but using a 0% interest credit card was mighty tempting. I resisted the temptation and suggested Craigslist to Brent. Nothing good was turning up for several days. I kept eyeing those new ones from Lowe’s coming up with rationalizations in my head. Ultimately I found one randomly yesterday on a site I hadn’t previously been using. (Facebook marketplace). It was in our budget and even better we already have it rather than having to wait for it to be delivered. 

The fridge started giving up on Thanksgiving but we went out of town so we didn’t do anything during that time. Unfortunately it means some of the food in there has gone bad. Freezer was alright though. 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Look at me! I'm actually updating my blog before December is over! I'm trying to simplify my life and my emotions. So I'm spending less time on Instagram/Facebook. I don't want comparison and feelings of inadequacy to ruin our holiday.  So we will do what we can and not worry about what we don't get done compared to others.

This year we bought an artificial tree. The fire danger up at our place is too scary to do a real tree. No garland this year either. So all the garland ornaments from last year are now also on our tree.  With so many ornaments it looks, AMAZING!!! The tree was pre lit but we added some more of our white lights.  It looks awesome.

Izzy was entertaining herself while we were decorating.  Wonder Woman in the making.

 Best tree we’ve ever done! Hopefully I'll get a better picture later, this is a cell phone pic we had.
We had our ward Christmas Party last night. My phone battery was low so I didn’t take many pictures but I had to snap this one of Chico and his friend. They were narrators for the nativity and looked quite snazzy.

 The ward party was pretty fun. Teresa did a great job planning and directing the nativity. Whoever did all the decorations and planned it all did a great job!  I wasn’t feeling good so we probably wouldn't have gone if everybody didn't have a part in the nativity. Sanna was an angel and said, "Fear not, For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day, a Savior which is Christ the Lord." and then she sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" with the Activity day girls. As for Griz, he was first a Nephite and sang "Said Samuel" or whatever it's called with his class, then he sang "When Joseph went to Bethlehem" with Brent and Chico.  

Everyone loves Izzy. She’s like a little rockstar, everyone calls out her name as we pass and wants to see her. Or hold her. She likes it luckily. 

This week Izzy has been a little bit more needy and grumpy and all she wants to do is be entertained or held by me. One day I really wanted to be able to get some cleaning and computer work done. Sanna had a cough... and so I kept her home.  Normally I would have sent her since she didn't have a fever but I kept her home with an ulterior motive and she helped entertain Izzy so that was nice.

Holiday Visit to Utah

Early in the month of November my Grandma got pneumonia and was doing quite poorly, then on top of that she got shingles.  Her care plan was that she didn't want to go to the hospital or have medical treatment. Grandma seemed by all accounts to be on her way out. Then she woke up lucid and said, "I want treatment".  So they gave her a shot of antibiotics and said within the next few days they'd know if she would recover or not.  She recovered! We talked with her a few times and facetime and felt like we should visit her.  We had a feeling she wasn't going to die this time around, we weren't sure and we really wanted to see her again before she gets another bout of illness.

Imagine our surprise when we arrived and she seemed elated to see us and remembered us vividly and clearly! She was thrilled to see our family, I think she has a soft spot for us because of all the time we spent with her when we lived in their basement the first 7 and a half years of our marriage.  Especially she has a soft spot for Charlie, the little scoundrel would sneak up there when he was supposed to be in bed and hang out with Great Grandma. She loved it.  We tried to visit her every day, I think we only missed one day.  I hope this isn't the last time we see her but if it is we had some good long talks

.

I should explain that picture above.  Grandma had a dream where Grandpa came to get her but she told him she needed a few more minutes.  

 On the second day of visiting her the older kids left with my mom for a bit.  So Brent and I had some time alone with Grandma and Izzy.  Grandma doesn't know Izzy as well as our other kids.  Grandma saw the laughter and light in Izzy, then Grandma started crying because she reminded her of her dad. It was sweet.

Izzy was good about being held by Grandma.  Here they are both kicking back. Izzy with her bottle and Grandma with a naughty treat of an ice cream bar.  Her blood sugar was high the whole time we were there.  Sigh.

When I found out Grandma could be dying I wrote this short story that I might illustrate some day.

***

 “Sneaking up the Stairs” 

There once was a little boy with a great grandma and he was lucky enough to live in her basement. All that separated him from adventure and fun was a staircase. As often as he could, up those stairs he would climb where Grandma was waiting to play. She’d tell him a story from her own childhood as he ate Tootsie Rolls by the gallon. She’d take him for rides on her walker, flying down the hall as fast as a jet fighter. Giggles and laughter could often be heard as they battled unseen monsters. 

When that little boy learned how fun it was to draw, he decided he wanted to make books. He’d draw and dictate she would write his words and help him tape the pages together with cardboard as the covers.

Grandma was his best friend, she made his dreams come true. When he was supposed to be in bed, hoping his parents wouldn’t notice, up the stairs he would sneak to sit and chat with Grandma, and maybe sneak a treat or two. That boy and his grandma what love they shared. A bond that will last for forever.

***

While we were visiting on the last day of the trip Brent asked Grandma to get out her poetry.  She really had quite the gift.  She thinks no one wants to hear it, but we really did love it.

The weather was beautiful on the first day of our trip so Brent decided we should take the kids to Temple Square rather than going there just the two of us.  My parents and those from Nate and Emily's families who could joined up with us. We got kinda grumpy on the way there but we decided to change our attitudes and had a great time.

Our eternal family, here where it all began 12 years ago on our first date.

 We just love this baby girl of ours.  I hope she was warm enough, it was so cold! Griz ditched his coat halfway through and so I draped it over her and she fell right to sleep.
Griz ditching his coat was very funny to Brent and I.  If only he was in a captain america shirt.  When he was 2 years old we took the kids and Griz, wearing his cap america suit, was crazy running around Temple Square. Running through the pansies. Throwing pebbles.  Just crazy. He wouldn't wear his coat either that time.  Griz was running around just as much this time, luckily no flowers were trampled or rocks thrown, but he ran through empty fountains and up on every ledge he could find.

The kids just loved spending time with their Grandma Debbie. Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of her but this one is super cute. And it's super funny, Izzy is SO big. And her older cousin is so itty bitty. 

We were having fun introducing Brent to his new nephew.  Izzy got jealous when Brent was holding another baby and she Brent got to hold them both.  I just had to photograph Heidi and Mom photographing Brent. Made me laugh.

Izzy had her arm around him and was kissing/eating his head. I caught it right as she was pulling away.

The kids love their grandma Ellen! And this is the only pic I got! The babies get all the attention!

But this is why... 

adorable.

We didn't get to spend as much time with everyone as we would have liked and we didn't see everyone we wanted to.  We did fit in a double date with our friends the Morgans. It was fun to catch up with our old kitty corner neighbors.  We miss them and their kids.

We made homemade mints and toffees one of the nights and then sang Christmas carols afterwords.  It was a room full of great singers, especially Taran. I always feel so happy when I hear Taran sing.  He requested I am a Child of God.

We wanted to see John and Heidi a bit more so we met them for lunch at a new greek place out by their place (Santorinis) it was pretty good but the best part was chatting with them. The boys just adore John and love doing top 10 lists with him.  I wonder if they'll ever run out of things to do for top 10.  It's so funny.

Izzy's ringlets were on point today so I couldn't stop photographing her while we were chatting.

John ordered some spicy peppers with his meal. He told Chico he'd give him a dollar if he ate the pepper. Chico did it bravely and it didn't bother him too badly. Griz decided he could do it for a dollar too. 

After lunch we went up to Grandpa Hatch's. Sanna got a Hatchimal for Christmas. She asked for this picture.

Then when she found out you have to keep the egg warm she was hilarious as she wrapped it in her coat, I just had to phtograph it. Griz and her took such good care of it.

While we were sitting there a bunch of deer went through their yard and Griz was so excited to photograph them.

Then we went to Brent's moms house for a Christmas party. It was fun to chat with everyone and we loved playing the game Heidi planned.

It was SOOO great to see my sister Jenni. We have sure missed her and Matt and Owen. They moved to Indiana so during my summer visits I didn't get to see them.  It worked out for us to visit at the same time! AMAZING!