Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Life Lately

We had the best, low-key weekend!
And I don't think I took any pictures...but here's some from the last few weeks of our life, lately :)

My mom's Buttermilk Cake. Delicious.
I made it for my birthday, and then again for a get-together.

Our get-together (mentioned above) was our last Hangout with our Summer Group, from church.
We went to this really beautiful spot - ate dinner, played and ended the night
at a playground nearby.

The two boys (Zeke and Zane) crack me up!



There are actually 4 little boys the same age and they have had a blast together!


The playground was so fun!


These two boys....I love them!


Last week, Jaxen had the opportunity to attend a church camp, at a friends church.
He had a wonderful week.
On Friday, the families were invited out for sno-cones, hot dogs and play time.
Jaxen got the award "Wise Dolphin" -
he knew lots about the Bible, and never stopped moving - lol!



Snack time - pool side!


Zane wanted an "extra big" broccoli one night. He ate almost all of it!


Just another day, in the life of Zane!



Friday, July 26, 2019

Zoo Fun


Last Saturday the boys and I took a trip to the Zoo and had such a great time!

We started the morning off with Breakfast.
They were providing a free breakfast to anyone who had a Zoo membership.
It was pretty good, too!

Along the way and after we got to see...

a lion...

a snake...

a stingray....

and a tortoise!

Next up, we watched the Sea Lion show.

Then the boys met some of the "Angry Birds". Don't ask me their names.

And we enjoyed the Bird Show, Wings of Wonder!
They introduce different type of birds - and they even fly over our head!

We were bummed we did not see the polar bear - but it was too hot for him.
Which I understand!

We all "refreshed" with snacks and water while riding the Tram.

And our last adventure was riding the Boat!
By the way - at this point, it was sooo hot!

It's hard to see..but so many giraffes were out!

By that time, we were hot, sweaty and hungry!
So we took a few more pictures on the way out and called it a day.

Monday, July 22, 2019

House Updates

Here is the latest and greatest house update:


HALLWAY:

We needed to paint our baseboards and add quarter-round to our hallway - that has been done!

As I was painting the hallway baseboards and quarter-round I realized our hallway closet needed to be tackled too! So Nik laid the quarter-round and I started painting. As some projects just do...it morphed into something more :) I found myself cleaning out the closet, taking out the shelves and painting the entire closet white. I had planned on painting the cabinets too - but I want to make sure we have enough paint for our doors - so I ended up leaving them alone. After it was all painted, I put our closet back together (with only the things that made sense to be in there). It felt good to have the closet purged and freshly painted!

Do not mind the streaks of white paint on the gray walls...this hallway needs to be painted. 
Before (left) and after (minus shelves, and stuff - right) 
 
I am in the process of painting all the door trim, and removing the doors to paint them. We decided on white trim and a dark color door. Originally we wanted a really dark gray for the doors. However, the paint turned out to be more of a navy. I'm okay with it - just not exactly what we had in mind. We are only one door down - but I think I really like it!


LIVING ROOM:

Some of the boring things we have done is purchased 2 new floor vent covers, a wall in-take vent, and some electrical outlet covers.

One of the more exciting things we have done was to frame out our 2 windows! We purchased the materials and spent some time measuring, cutting, nailing, caulking and painting our window frames. They are probably not "professional" - but we think they are pretty good and we are very happy with them! Now, we just have to purchase some 2" blinds for these two windows.

It's hard taking pictures with the lighting in this room - Plus, it's pictures of 2 different windows!
Before (left) and after (right)

I have also been painting our white fireplace, white. It was a pretty grungy-white…but it's slowly becoming a nice, bright white!

Which leads me to our built-ins…

When you walk in our living room there is a bunch of white: white ceilings, white beams, white fireplace, white windows, white blinds (eventually) and white built-ins. I thought if I painted the inside of the built-ins gray, it would help - and it did. Some. But I was really wanting more of a contrast. So I am in the process of painting them navy. Yes, dark navy....and I think I really like it!

But before I could paint, I had Nik cut out the top scalloped piece and replace it with a rectangle piece....


I have one side completely finished!



I can't wait until all the trim and doors are painted in our hallway! That is what I will be spending my time on now :)