Amazing What a Little Paint and New Hardware Can Do

It's interesting to find that once you FINALLY have a home you realize that the list of "to do" projects is really never ending. Kelly and I have decided to break up projects into rooms. Our goal is to complete a room in a weekend. Yesterday our goal was our Master Bathroom. A few things that needed to get done was touch-up painting, baseboards, caulking, painting cabinets, putting a wood border around our mirror and installing new faucets. Originally we thought this was going to be a 6 hour job so we designated Saturday to get everything done. Plans got a little distorted when we decided to let the missionaries come over and wash their car....Kelly got them to do a little service for us and had them install the ceiling fan we bought months ago in Hunter's room. Then Kelly asked me if I wanted to see Eclipse....ahhh, yes! He is dying to see Predators but because he promised to see Eclipse with me he said we needed to get Eclipse out of the way so we could see Predators. So we got as much as we could done on Saturday. We finished all of the painting and got 1 faucet installed. Yesterday we installed the last faucet, put up the cabinet doors and it looks amazing. When you can't really afford to put in new cabinets it's nice to know you have other options as cheap as a can of paint. So, here are a few before and after photos.

Before:

After: (We also got new knobs and a drawer pull. The other ones were so ugly. Love the brushed nickle look)

Before: You can't tell from this picture but the knobs actually turned the wrong way when you needed to turn the water on. I think this might have been the way they were designed but why would you design something to turn a different way than what EVERYONE is used to? We have lived here for 5 months now and the day we took them out I would still try to turn it the "right" way.

After: So glad I can turn the knobs in the "right" direction now to turn the water on. And it looks so much more beautiful than the other faucet head.

Unfortunately, we were unable to get to the baseboards or the border around the mirror. Regardless, it was a successful project weekend!

Answered Prayer

I had an interesting experience last night that was too good to not write down. Since I don't really have a journal and I use my blog to record all of my special moments I thought I would share. Last night I was saying my prayers and while I was praying I noticed how loud the crickets were outside. I was slightly annoyed because they were so loud and was worried that they would keep me up and I wouldn't be able to sleep. So while saying my prayer I asked Heavenly Father to please bless me that I could sleep through the noise the crickets were making. Literally 2 seconds later they stopped. It was dead silent outside. I have never had a prayer answered so quickly. After I finished my prayer I stayed up about 10 minutes longer just to see if something startled the crickets to make them stop temporarily, but they never started up again. I was amazed and at the same time my testimony has grown. My Heavenly Father loves me enough to answer even a simple prayer. He listens to us and he loves us and answers all of our prayers as I was shown last night, if I only listen (literally in this case) the answer will be given to me.

Riding Higher

We have finally made that step from car to mini-van. Kelly had a meeting 2 Fridays ago and before we went he said that we should go to the car dealers and "just look" at vans. This was the very first time he had mentioned this. We have long ago outgrown our Camry. Since watching my nephew, every seat was taken. Kelly took the day off one day and we realized he was going to have to take his own car if we wanted to go somewhere. Hunter was in the passenger seat and Kora, Mylie and Luke were in the back. Kelly had been researching vans for awhile. I had done my own little research months ago and really liked the options available for the Toyota Sienna. After the meeting Kelly asked me which dealer we should go to first. He had narrowed it down to the Dodge Caravan, Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey. Since I knew I already liked the Sienna I asked him if we could go to the Toyota Dealer first. We looked at the Sienna. Something we were looking for was Automatic sliding doors. This meant we had to at least go with the LE and above. It was beautiful and had so many standard options. We took a test drive and were hooked. We got into the office and sat down. Kelly told them that it was late so we weren't going to make a deal tonight but if they gave us the very best deal that they could tonight, we would be back in the morning. They came back and Kelly wasn't happy with it so we started to leave. They stopped us and Kelly told them that he told them to give us the very best deal that they could and if that was the best deal then we were done. They told him they could do more and next thing you know we are signing paperwork and cleaning out my old Camry. We left the dealship at midnight. I'm so proud of Kelly. I have never seen him negotiate. He's a tough one to deal with. Those guys had no chance.

I have had my van for a little over a week and I love it. We considered buying a van a year or two ago because we always knew we wanted a bigger family (okay, no this isn't an announcement....no plans yet.). At that time, the idea of me getting a van freaked me out. I must have grown a lot in the year or two since last time because I was actually excited this time. I LOVE my van. It's amazingly fun to drive and actually handles better than my car did. The kids are loving the extra space....and the van actually seats 8. One thing I am loving is how much higher I sit in the van. Cars are so low to the ground. I feel like I can see everything and don't have to position my car to see around large vehicles. Love it!!!

To Cover or Not to Cover, That is the Question

We have a large rectangular window over our main window in our Living Room. A big dilemma that we had was whether or not we were going to put a covering over it or not. Kelly was all for putting up something but I was more hesitant because I LOVE the light that the window lets in. Because it's so high we don't have to worry about privacy. A big problem was without a covering, at around dinner time the window would let in light right at our dinner table practically blinding and roasting people from the heat. Since summer has only barely started I decided to give in and cover the window. After talking to my Interior Designer Brother-in-law, Gus, he suggested a sheer fabric. The whole time I was thinking I had to cover it with a thick fabric. I actually went with a fabric slightly thicker than a sheer. I picked white so that it would still be bright. I'm still not sure what I think about it but it does make a big difference. As you can see in the after picture below it still lets in light...in fact, you may not even be able make out the fabric, but it's there. Thank you Gus, for guiding me to the right fabric. I would have never thought of it on my own.

Before:

After:

Baby Horses

On Saturday we met Kelly's Sister's Family and his Mom at Rodeo Burger out in Norco. Kelly's family has known the owner for years and after he sells a restaurant and moves on, somehow they find him again at a new location. This year he's in Norco. It's a fast food restaurant and the food is great. Kelly's Sister, Becky and her family were headed back home to Utah but wanted to make a stop for breakfast at Pete's restaurant.

While we were there taking pictures a man offered to take a picture of the whole family. My Mother-in-law, Susie started talking to him and next thing you know he has invited us over to his house to see miniature horses. The picture with the kids and the white horse is the smalled horse that he has. He stands no taller than 22 inches. He is so tiny and spunky. He's a beautiful white with light blue eyes. This horse was actually too small to ride, even for our little Mylie. The couple that owns this horse owns 12 horses in total, 3 normal size and 9 miniatures. They took nearly all of the horses out for the kids to walk around and for the smallest 2 kids (Mylie and Tylie) to ride. Mylie was so cute. She had to give each of the horses a hug and a kiss on their nose. She would say "Baby Horse" in such the cutest way. The owners were the nicest people. I never knew such tiny horses existed. Of course after we leave the kids asked if we could get a baby horse.....ah, no!

Beach Fun

My niece Taylor came down from Colorado to stay with her Nani and we got to do a few things with her while she was down. One of the things was to go to the beach. We went down to Huntington Beach. It was a perfect day with just a little breeze. The kids had a great time. They loved digging and playing in the water. Here are a few pictures of our beach adventure.

Of course a day at the beach wouldn't be complete without someone being buried in the sand. Once one child did it, they all had to do it. Kora wanted me to make her Ariel. It took me awhile to figure that request out but it meant that she wanted me to bury her legs and make her a fish tail in the sand.

This bucket of sand with shells is actually a bunch of "sea creatures" as my kids put it. This was the first time I have ever been to the beach where they had real animals you could collect off of the beach. The kids found a ton. After the sea creatures sat for a bit they would open their shells and put their tongues out. If you look closely you can actually see some of the shells opened. The kids had fun touching them and watching the creatures go back and hide in their shell. This is our niece,Taylor. She loved playing in the water. My kids were too little and scared to really play in the deeper water with her but I think she still had a good time.

As always, Mylie did her own thing. She had fun eating lots of sandy Cheetos, sitting in the sand, digging and hiding in the beach blanket. I tried to get her to play in the water but I think the water was too strong and scared her. She wouldn't go out without holding my hand. I didn't mind this so much because at least I didn't have to worry about her being swept away by a wave.

Hunter had a great time too. He loved playing in the waves. When I told him we were going to go to the beach he told me that we HAD to build a sand castle. We built a good one...and of course didn't take any pictures before Godzilla...a.k.a Mylie jumped on it. The kids loved the beach and since I am always a fan of anything near water I had a great time too.

Disneyland 2010

Last year we purchased Disneyland passes. Of course they were the cheap passes but I don't mind so much. Since our passes are going to expire this month we decided to make a trip. Yes, this is our first trip since August. I bet Disneyland LOVES pass holders like us. The reason why I didn't go was because 3 children at Disneyland by myself is a less than pleasant thought. I asked Kelly's Mom if she would go with me and it made for a very fun time. I really wish I had asked her to go with me months before so we could have enjoyed our passes. Nevertheless, we had a great time. On this trip I had my nephew Luke with us for the first half of the day. He is such an amazingly easy, happy baby. He only cried once and that was when we were on the ride Small World and I was singing to him. I guess I was ruining the ride for him and he really wanted to just listen to the ride music and not me. I guess he can't appreciate a good voice when he hears one, ha ha ha.

I believe that Mylie's favorite ride was small world. She pointed out every little doll. I tried to get a good picture but it was so dark in there that this was the best one I took...and still not that great.

Hunter's favorite ride was Star Tours. This was the very first time he ever got to ride it. Last year he was too small and actually afraid of going on it. I was worried he was going to get scared but throughout the ride he was "woo hoo'ing" as we rode. He couldn't wait to tell his Dad how much he loved the ride. Because of this alone I was very glad Susie came with me because had she not and I were with my kids alone, we wouldn't have been able to ride the ride because Kora and Mylie are still too small to ride it. I'm glad he got the experience to ride it.

In this picture Kora was in the Celebration Parade. Actually, all that she did in the parade was joined a group of kids in a konga line around a float. They asked that an adult go with her because she looked a little scared. She did fine though. I can't really say what Kora's favorite ride was. If you were to ask her she would say the Hook ride....A.K.A. the Peter Pan ride. We didn't get to go on the Peter Pan ride because by the time we were headed that way it was closed down so they could prepare for the fireworks show. I guess she remembers it from last time and it's still her favorite. The next time we go to Disneyland we will make sure to get on that ride first.
I understand that this last picture is a little blurry. It's because the ride is in motion and the ability to get a picture on a spinning ride is near impossible, at least for me. This is the ladybug ride in Downtown Disney. I actually really liked this picture despite it being blurry. It shows the girls and Susie having a really good time. We had a great time at Disneyland and can't wait to go again. I'm contimplating getting passes again but still have to talk to Kelly about that. We would have to go more often in order for them to be worth it. There is nothing like taking your children somewhere and watch them marvel at everything that they see. Disney sure takes advantage of that but as a parent it really does make it worth it to see their bright smiles.