Saratoga Springs Utah

We flew out to Utah June 30th, 3 days after I got back from girls camp. (Yeah that happened.) Our flights out there went great. Lydia and Jared were great little fliers and we had no delays.  All of Mark's siblings met up at his Mom's house for a family reunion.  The reunion was sort of in the middle of our time out there and it was nice to see everybody.  Jared and Lydia loved playing with their cousins and we loved being out of the humidity.  While in Utah we did some of our favorite things and some new things.  We got ice cream at the BYU Creamery, played at the Provo Rec. Center, went boating, visited the Curiosity Museum, enjoyed Grandma Sue's bubble guns, shot off rockets, visited the new Payson, Utah temple and swam so much, almost daily. Visiting the Payson Temple as a highlight for me.  It was so beautiful and different from other temples.

We also made sure to stop by the Lehi Cemetery where Mark's dad is buried. Jared and Lydia really wanted to "see" Grandpa Elmer and I hadn't been either. Mark had gone to the burial but the headstone was not in place then. It was nice to go and visit.  Mark has quite a few relatives buried in that cemetery so he enjoyed a little family history tour with his Mom.

 Lydia often requested Grandma Sue to read to her before her nap it was sweet. 

I didn't go out boating because it is not really my thing but it was a definite highlight for Jared and Lydia. Lydia loved being on the boat. She was brave enough to get on the tube but didn't like it once Steve started diving. Jared loved it and just wanted Steve to go faster and faster.

Lydia loved this little zip line at the museum. 

 Mark's Mom took some of the Utah grandkids to BYU for their science day and they were shooting off these rockets.  Sue and Mark's sister Shannon bought some kits so we could make them and enjoy them.  They actually went super high and it was a lot of fun!

She was pretty excited about that cookie in her hand. 

The Payson temple is really so pretty.  They have all stained glass windows with beautiful vines/leaves. I love how they didn't make it just a flat square with a spire.  It was so peaceful and nice to be there. 

Our flights back did not go quite as smoothly. We were flying from SLC to Phoenix to Charlotte NC then to Charlottesville. Each of our flights had really short layovers so it was kind of stressful. We only had 35 minutes in Phoenix so we got off the plane and rushed to the gate and made it with plenty of time. We boarded the plane and learned that it had a flat tire and we would be delayed 20 - 45 minutes. As they were fixing it they had to turn off the AC in Phoenix when it was 104 degrees out.  Not so fun.  But they were able to change it in 25 minutes and off we went.  We only had 50 minutes in Charlotte so I was pretty sure we would not make our flight home.  We got to Charlotte rushed to our gate only to be stopped by a friend of ours from Charlottesville informing us that our flight was delayed by 2 hours. All that stress for a 2.5 hour delay. By this time it was already 10:35 EST so that meant we wouldn't be flying out until 12:55 EST. Our poor kids were exhausted.  We hung out in the airport and once we boarded the plane for our 45 minute flight they crashed.  Lydia was so upset when Mark picked her up to carry her off the plane. He set her down on the couch at baggage claim and she just kept sleeping. Mark had parked our car at the church which is only like a quarter mile from the airport so while I waited for our luggage he ran to get the car. I got our bags just as he pulled up.  It is also nice because our new house is only about 5 minutes from the airport.  We got home and put Lydia to bed without even brushing her teeth or changing her clothes. They were so tired. We had a nice time and are glad we could visit with family.  We are ready to now enjoy our summer here in Charlottesville.

Twin Falls Idaho

We spent a weekend up in Twin Falls with my family after Mark's family reunion in Utah.  It was nice to visit with Susanna and her family and my Mom came out with Katie, Cade and Cameron. We got there Friday night and headed over to the community college there to see Lisa's end of theatre camp production.  She is becoming quite the performer.  For their short (but it didn't seem that short) play they provided (many) methods on how to survive a zombie attack. I know some people really like zombies but I have never gotten it.  Around method 8 (of 12) Lydia who was sitting with Mark said,rather loudly "No more zombies!" It was kind of funny and the people around us got a good laugh.  It was fun to see Lisa doing her thing and to attend a theatre event as it is a big part of their lives in Twin Falls. We went out to dinner downtown after that and Jared and I spent most of the time outside as he was super sensitive ( a sadly reoccurring theme that weekend) and just needed some alone time.  It was a nice evening outside and I am much more familiar with the downtown area of Twin Falls now.

The next day we went over to a new park there and had a picnic.  We hadn't been to a park in awhile and this park was super fun.  The park was so interactive and really different than many other parks. It was great.

Saturday night we went fishing.  We didn't catch anything which was a bummer but it was nice to be out on the lake.

This umbrella made me smile.  When Susanna and I were little we each had one. One was pink and one might have been this color.  I am pretty sure this is not one of them but it was fun to see it.

Susanna asked Lydia if she wanted to touch the worm and Lydia surprised Mark with her death like grip on it. She and Jared have worms from our yard as "pets" often so I wasn't too surprised she was fine touching it.

When we go back from fishing we had a glow stick party. A few weeks ago Lydia was sad because she did not get a glow stick when she and Jared went to bed. I was talking to my Mom at the time and she promised Lydia and Jared we would have a glow stick party when we met up in Idaho. So we popped some popcorn, got the glow sticks ready and danced around in the dark with the glow sticks. It was probably my favorite thing we did in Idaho.  Lydia and Jared's favorite part of Twin Falls was playing with Lyra and Lisa.  They both loved using their dress up clothes. Since Susanna and Ryan are involved in lots of theatre productions they have lots of costume pieces. Susanna put together a super cool pirate costume for Jared and he was thrilled.  He had told me earlier in the trip that he missed his pirate costume. I love how he is making his finger a hook.

Kitchen Remodel

When we bought our home we decided that we wanted to put money into updating our kitchen.  The kitchen layout was just fine, but everything was a bit dated.  The cabinets were original (1981) and the floors were linoleum.

The fridge was somewhat new, but the stove and dishwasher were at least 15-20 years old.  When we closed on the home we went to Lowes and selected the cabinets and countertops.  We debated on dark wood or white painted cabinets.  Either would have looked great, but ultimately we chose white cabinets.  A week later we demoed the old kitchen cabinets and countertops, ripped out the floors and threw out the old stove and dishwasher.

It is amazing how empty a kitchen looks without appliances, cabinets or anything.  The next step was prepping the floor for tile.  We decided on 2ft x 1 ft charcoal gray porcelain tile.  It looks almost like slate.  We didn't have the required tools, but some friends willingly let us borrow their tools.  Additionally, they offered to come and assist in the project, which was a HUGE help!

The project lasted several days, but we only had evenings to work on it.  The top picture was after day 3 and the 2nd and 3rd picture are day 4.  We used the doorway as our center point.  Also, we staggered the tiles like bricks to reduce any visible crooked lines.  

When the tile was finished we were very happy with how it looked.  The grout lines were nice and straight and the end result was beautiful.  In spite of the beautiful tile, we were frustrated by the delay in the cabinets.  We had placed our order on April 30th (the day we closed), hoping that they would arrive before memorial day.  Unfortunately, the order wasn't confirmed by the cabinet company until May 8th.  Because our cabinets were delayed and wouldn't arrive until June 4th, we decided to move back our move-in date from June 6th to June 13th, knowing that we would have to live without countertops for a couple weeks.  We were able to find a local contractor to install our cabinets a couple of days after they arrived, so the countertop company could come and do their final measure.  We were pleased with how the cabinets looked, especially contrasted with the tile.

The wall cabinets were off by 3 inches, so that the microwave would not line up with the stove.  We were glad we caught that, so that we could have the cabinets moved 3 inches to fix it.  Once the cabinets were in we moved the appliances into place and installed the microwave.  We kept the refrigerator, but purchased a new stove, microwave and dishwasher.

We moved in on June 13th knowing that we would have to wait for our countertops, but we anticipated that they would arrive before the end of the month.  We were leaving for a family reunion in Utah on June 30th, so we assumed they would arrive sometime before, but we were disappointed and frustrated that they did not.  We received a phone call when we were in the airport to let us know that our countertops were in and asked for an install date.  We would return from Utah on July 14th, so we set up our install appointment for July 15th.  We also made plans for our friend to come in to hook up the faucet, so we would have a fully functional sink.  I took a picture of the first piece of the countertop to show what it looked like and to show the process.

Although the trim is not yet in, here is the finished product so far:

We are very excited to use our newly completed, fully functional kitchen!