The Kitchen is Done - Almost!

I'm being hounded to post kitchen pictures. I wanted to wait until it was completely finished, but even though there are still a lot of little things to do, it still looks ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!

A close-up of the granite. B E A U T I F U L ! ! !

My faucet... I love it!

We (Brady mostly) still need to do the backsplash (need to decide on one first), finish some molding, painting touch-ups, install the microwave, and put in the railing, etc. But at least it is a usable kitchen again. And such an improvement!

Kitchen Update - Sneak Peek

A sneak peek at the cabinets. They should be done by tomorrow...

Kitchen Update - Paint

So I always forget what hard work painting is. There's the primer, taping, molding, ceiling, etc. Bleh! Here's some pics of the painting progress:
Before, the kitchen was this red color. Nice at the time, but we were definitely ready for a change.

Now the entire upstairs will be this color (the same as the basement). The wall in the background is only half-painted because we are putting up white beadboard along the whole wall (about 2/3 of the way up).

The kitchen looks bigger painted this color.

It was nice because we didn't have to paint where the cabinets are going.

And this is a picture of the beautiful new ceiling! No more POPCORN! (Now we just need to do the rest of the upstairs!).

Kitchen Update - Tile

So I'm getting a lot of flack for not posting kitchen progress. But that's because I've been so busy WORKING ON THE KITCHEN!!! :)

So here's some pics of the tile progress:

The hardest choice I had to make was picking out the tile. I knew what cabinets I wanted, I knew what granite I wanted the first time I saw it. But I just couldn't decide on a tile. So we had to rush and get tile at the last minute and I was forced to make a decision. We went with a Tuscany Travertine in a Versaille pattern and I LOVE IT!!!

We brought home what seemed like hundreds of boxes of tile. However, they did not come with instructions. I had to find a "Versaille" pattern online and then I made this drawing to help us get started. The tile includes 4 different shaped-pieces which fit together in this pattern. It's a good thing we had my drawing, because by 3:00 am we could not figure anything out on our own!


This is the tile when we first laid it down. I numbered the different sized pieces to help us figure out the pattern.

And here's a view of the final tile! The sealant isn't on the tile yet and it will make it seem darker.

If you come over to look at my kitchen, I can point out to you my "favorite" pieces of tile! :)

Hummingbird in the House!

Yet again, our cat, Two, brought a Hummingbird into the house. It was in the office this time and it was very hard to get him out. We tried and tried to steer it out the door and window and it just flew up around the ceiling. We finally left it alone for a few hours (shut the door and it rested on a fake plant) and then Brady was finally able to steer it out the window. Poor bird.

Lagoon Day!

The Junior Tennis Team at the Sports Mall had a Lagoon Day this past week, so Gibson and I went. We had a great time!

Gibson with some of his best tennis buddies!

Gibson with his friend Charlie. They have been in swimming, tennis and kid's camp together - they are great Sports Mall buddies!

We first went to Lagoon-a-Beach where we had a ball! I even went on all the slides! And so did Gibson!

Gibson with his most favorite tennis coach, Coach Jane (and I think Gibson is her favorite tennis pupil!).

Red Butte Gardens

Today, I was going to take Gibson to Thanksgiving Point Gardens because it is $2 Tuesday. But he wanted to go to Red Butte Gardens instead. That was fine with me -less crowds! And it was nice - we basically had the place to ourselves!

I know Red Butte Gardens backwards and forwards and I took Gibson and his friend Brenna to all of my secret places. They loved it! This is Gibson sitting by the river that you get to using the hidden stairs. Then we went through the "tunnel of trees" and found this secret spot next to the river. There was a great waterfall here, too.

I love this pose on the moose statue!

Gibson and I by the pond.

I've never seen the ducks so aggressive before! They reminded me of the geese at Wheeler Farm!

And, of course, the water fountains in the Children's Garden were the highlight of the visit!

And no trip to a garden is complete without running down a huge hill!

A Hike to Silver and Twin Lakes

We have so much work to do in the kitchen. But on Sunday, when the sheetrock was being finished and there was nothing we could do, I said that we were headed to the mountains! So we went up to Silver Lake and hiked up to Twin Lakes. We had never done the Twin Lakes hike and really enjoyed it!

Gibson and I sitting by Silver Lake.

About 1/3 of the way up the trail to Twin Lakes - you can see Silver Lake in the background.

Up at Twin Lakes. A family picture taken with the timer on the camera!

Brady and Gibson standing in Twin Lake.

St. George - Family Trip July 2009

We had a great time on our family vacation to St. George this year! We spent a lot of time at the pool!

Gibson had a blast playing with his cousin, Carter, the entire week!

A family photo at Ancestor Square (by the Pizza Factory).

I think my mom and dad MAYBE got one bite each of their dessert. Gibson really chowed down!

My delicious "chili verde platter" from Irmitas! Nothing better!

We had a lot of fun at the Fiesta Family Fun Center. Gibson really wanted to go Minature Golfing.

Gibson and Brady LOVED the go carts! I loved watching Gibson's face!

(thanks for walking in front of my video, guy).

But the bumper boats, by far, where the most entertaining activity of the evening! They added a new water feature and all the boys were soaked by the end of the ride! Unfortunately, I didn't vidoetape the best part - where Brady grabbed Corbin's boat and dragged him into the waterfall. But while Corbin was fighting him, Brady was directly under the waterfall for a good 3 minutes. He got drenched!!!

The wet boys! Brady definitely got it the worst, though!

My dad in the batting cages. I even took a turn - probably the first time in 15 + years that I had hit a ball! Boy did my shoulders feel it the next day!

Brady and Gibson at our own little fireworks show that we had for the 24th of July!

Although we go to St. George a lot, we hadn't been up to the top of Dixie Mountain for years. In fact, none of the kids had ever been up there. Here's the boys with Grandma and Grandpa, looking out over the St. George Valley.

Brady, Gibson and I on the top of Dixie Mountain.

The whole fam damily on top of Dixie Mountain!

Do you think these 2 are best buds or what?

Gibson, Brady and I also made a stop at the old jail that was built on the mountain.

Gibson was really, really scared crossing this bridge!