Jack is Eight!!

 Jack turned eight a couple of weeks ago, and was baptized into our church.  It was a special day that I hope he will always remember.

It was a short and sweet service and Jack did such a great job.  Jeremy also did a great job with the baptism and confirmation.

Continuing with tradition on this special eighth birthday year, I want to share a few pictures of my Jack Jack through the years.

Jack is such a sweet kid, and as you can see from all these pictures, he just radiates sweetness.  We are so grateful to have him in our family.

House Progress

It has been awhile since I posted any pictures of progress on the house, so I am putting up a few pictures I snapped the other day.  Please ignore the mess, construction dust, painter's plastic that hasn't been completely ripped down, etc.

Here is a picture from the kitchen looking into the family room. I am loving how this room is turning out.

My favorite part of this room is the ceiling.  We decided to use tongue and groove lumber on it, rather than sheetrock.  I think if you have a vaulted ceiling, you need to do something to highlight it, and this treatment goes perfectly with the feeling I want for the house.  When we were installing it everyone told me I was crazy for painting it.  I get it, I really do.  Once you paint wood, there is no going back, but I am not building a cabin.  I did not want a rustic look or feel.  This look is exactly what I wanted and I am so excited about it.  It looks even better in real life.

I also want to take a moment to say that I helped Jeremy install this ceiling.  The peak is 18 feet high. I have never thought I had a fear of heights, but let me say that standing on the top rung of a wobbly 12 foot ladder with my arms all the way above my head holding lumber in place while Jeremy is using a bowwrench to force the tongue and groove together was a little daunting for me.  It is a good thing I wanted this ceiling so badly.

Here is a peek at the kitchen.  We hadn't finished installing the hardware on the doors yet when I took the picture, and we also hadn't installed the  raised bar top yet, so that is why it is looking pretty crooked in this picture.  I have always wanted a white kitchen.  I have loved them since I was a teenager.  I designed this kitchen, so I was nervous about it looking like I envisioned, but I love it!  I also love that all of my bottom cabinets are drawers.  They are so much more practical and easier to deal with than deep, large cupboards.  I also love that my little photobomber made it into this picture. It will be fun to look back at these pictures years from now and see how little he was when we built this house.

Another shot of the kitchen from a different angle.  We haven't installed the sink yet, but you can see it in the background there, sitting in the dining area.  I also haven't peeled the ugly white protective film off my vent hood yet.  I will wait until construction work is completely finished in here.

We ended up going with butcher block countertops in the kitchen.  I really wanted quartz countertops, but the price tag was out of our price range by the time we got to this point, so butcher blocks were my second choice.  They are actually a lot prettier than they look in these pictures.  I hope they hold up okay.

That is all I have for today.  I will try to get some pictures of other areas of the house soon.

Soccer

My boys' soccer season ended a month ago, but I have been so busy working on the house that I haven't taken the time to sit down and post a few pictures.  So, these are a little late, but better late than never.


Jack didn't want to play this year, and Tad is too young, but the rest of my boys had a great season.

This was Drake's first year.  He had a great time being part of a team and attending practices and games.  It is always so funny to watch the littlest ones play.  It is amazing how much they develop their skills in their first few years.

Thomas moved up to an older age group.  He did a great job and had really good coaches and a good team.  It was a good season for him.  He was a great team player, and kicked a few goals as well.

Dallin moved up to the oldest boys league.  He was the very youngest player in that whole division. We were so worried about him moving up to play with boys that were so much older than him - some are in high school and he is only in fifth grade and wasn't even eleven when the season started, but he did great and was able to be a top contributor on his team.  He had such nice teammates.  They all treated him great and respected him as a player.  He lucked out again and was drafted by really good coaches onto a great team.  They had a fantastic season, and worked so well as a team.  They ended the season by winning the championship!!

A not so great picture of the championship team.

A little bit more of a close up of Dallin with his championship trophy.


Another fun soccer season.  Good job boys!!

House Progress

I have had several people request some pictures of the progress on the house.  I haven't been posting anything lately because the work we were doing didn't really show.  Jeremy and his dad put nailers up in the attic to support the board and batten that will be installed on the gables this weekend.  They also finished installing the chimney.  We finished the eyebrows on the front of the house.  But, the thing that took the most time was the tape and texture.  I am happy to say that is all done, but the pictures really don't show the amount of time and work that went into all these steps.

Here are a few pictures anyway. . .

This is a picture of the first fire in our fireplace.  We had to test the newly installed chimney and make sure that the smoke was being drawn up and that there were no leaks anywhere along the way.

This is a picture of the kitchen after all that tape and texture.  It had just been primed here and was ready for paint.  The texture we chose for the house was a difficult and time consuming one, but I love, love, love it.  Now that we are finally finished with it, I can say it was worth the extra time and effort.  We heard it referred to as the millionaire's texture because it is labor intensive.  We are definitely not millionaires, but we are pretty good DIY'ers. :)

Finally, I am just sharing a couple of pictures of  some of our paint - no, this is not all of it.  Yikes.  We are in the middle of finishing up the painting on the interior.  I usually hate to paint, but after all that tape and texture, painting seems like a total breeze.

More paint. (Still not all of it - it takes a lot to paint an entire house.)  You should hear the comments I get from people every time I go pick up a big old batch of paint.  I guess people just aren't used to seeing a woman with one or two little boys in tow dragging around big carts of paint.

The kitchen cabinets are being installed today. The gables outside will be finished this weekend.  Doors should go in next week along with flooring getting started.  I should have more interesting pictures to share with you soon.

Six!

Drake had a birthday last week and is now six years old!!  He was super enthused about his birthday and all the festivities, but that is pretty normal operating procedure for Drake.  He is such a happy kid and he loves life!  He is super smart and is sailing through Kindergarten.  He has tons of friends and is friendly to everyone.  He makes life way more fun around here and we will always be glad that he is part of our family.  Love you Drake!!  Happy Birthday!!!!

An Addition to the Family

The kids begged and pleaded, and I finally gave in.  This sweet little kitten is now a fixture at our house. We haven't had a family pet since our awesome dog, Andrew, died several years ago.

Back then Dallin looked like this . . .




Now he looks like this, so I guess it was about time.

The boys named her Caramel and they are loving having a pet again.

Eleven

My oldest just turned 11.  The night before his birthday I was thinking about  how I was feeling that same night eleven years ago.  I knew I would be having a baby the next day, and I had no idea what to expect.  I was excited, but also super nervous and scared.  As I thought about that night and the weeks that followed as I took care of my first little newborn and started learning how to be a mother, I was really glad that all of that was in the past, but then I looked at that big old eleven-year-old of mine and I wished that we could go back to that night eleven years ago, and do it all again.  Dallin was such a cute baby and such a fun little boy.  He has been so fun to have in our family and it is all going way, way, way too fast.  It breaks my heart to think that I am more than half-way done raising him, but at the same time, I am so pleased with how great he is turning out.  He really is an exceptional young person.

Dallin has so much going for him.  He is smart, athletic, and likable.  But what I love most about Dallin is what a good boy he is.  He tries very hard to do what is right.  He does what Jeremy and I ask of him without whining or complaining, and he is a great big brother who is always looking out for his little brothers.  We are very lucky to have him in our family!!

He had a fun birthday, complete with his traditional breakfast out with mom and dad.  His choice of dinner, birthday cake, and some fun presents.  He especially loved this new mountain bike we gave him.  He is loving riding to school and back and riding around the neighborhood and some of the dirt trails with his friends and (as you can see in this picture) perfecting his "no hands" technique.

Happy birthday Dal!  We love you!!