A Good Weekend

Today is a prelude to a really crazy week for me, so when I started losing it before 8am this morning, I knew I needed some extra juice. I said a really big fat prayer and actually, the day hasn't been too bad. We did our usual Costco shopping and I blew off music time and the park to save my sanity. This weather is awesome. I love my house 100% more than I ever did before and if you read, you will see the reason why.

This actually isn't the reason below, but I remembered that I never posted pics of our update to the master (*cough*closet) bath, so I thought I would post some. Here is what it looked like before. Yes, I do wonder if someone barfed up blue everywhere. (These pics are from when we did our inspection, so this isn't our stuff!):



Here is the after. We used a shade darker than our bedroom. You can see our new window in this pic. I love that I can open it!
We put in new floor. The cheap tile stuff, but it looks nice. I also repainted our vanity to an espresso color. I love it. So worth the headache. But it wasn't too bad actually, cuz I spray painted it!
New fixtures. No new mirror though, too expensive. Since space is small, we got a double rod towel hanger, you can see it peeking on the side and in the mirror.
So we really did have a great weekend. I took a small break from callings and laundry to enjoy my family and conference. The weather was fabulous and earlier in the week, the kids played in the sprinklers. Around Wednesday afternoon, Matt started making small talk about taking out the porch thing that has plagued us since we have lived here. "Functional" is what we call it, but that is code for "beat-down UGLY." It was just too confining and I was sick of the blue outdoor carpet with white cat hair in it.

So Matt started tearing it out....and tearing it out...and kept going! For 3 days he worked on it tirelessly, ripping, unscrewing, hammering it all out. The end result was phenomenal. We couldn't believe our eyes when it was gone what a huge difference it has made. Our front rooms are MUCH lighter. Our kids literally open the door and go straight outside to play, instead of just kind of walking around the porch, feeling confined. I love it. Did I already say that? Is there an echo? :)

Here is Nolan helping out with Matt's tools. Yeah, I totally took it away after the pic, he was bawling.
The trash pile waiting to be taken out.
Oh wait, random picture! We also planted a vegetable garden this year. Matt built me these planter boxes and we used leftover humus as the soil. The kids went with me to pick out veggie plants and we planted them on Saturday. We are trying our hand at cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, green red and yellow bell peppers and green beans. Zucchini and summer squash and we left some space for pumpkins in a few months. We will see how we do. Not many high expectations, but I am sure we will learn a lot :)
Allright, back to the porch garbage. Here is Matt taking it all apart. In case you are confused, the previous owners took the original porch and extended it to make a "florida room" (common in the south, NOT so much in California). It was screened in, with 3 screen doors on each side. Blue carpet on the inside. Rain shutters as the roof. You get the idea, right? Totally ghetto.
We took a break to play outside, soaking up sunshine in between conference talks. Since we listen on the internet, we take turns listening to the talks. Matt takes an hour while I play with the kids, then we switch. Much more efficient. Although this year Reagan was attentive to President Monson and she totally remembered President Uchtdorf when I explained to her that he was the good looking man with the funny voice :)
Okay, so here is what the porch looked like before...again, it is from our inspection, so all of the previous plants, rocks and stuff is where our grass is now. And that is not our patio furniture.This is how it stands now. The blue carpet will come up when we haul away the garbage. Obviously touch ups are needed, such as painting where the boards were, but all in all, SUCH a huge transition. Like I said, I have a much better relationship with my home now.
Oh and lastly, Reagan really wanted to make a chain to her birthday. Her birthday is in June, like 80 days away. Sigh, REALLY? But she begged so much that eventually I obliged. We spent Sunday evening making her a countdown chain till she turns 5. Every night for the next 80 days, she gets to cut one off. Fun!
Happy Spring!