Home Improvements

One of the things we have wanted to do in preparation for the arrival of our new baby has been to enhance a few of the visual aspects of our homes interior. This involved completing a few projects.

Pictures on the Walls

Since we moved into our home in September, one of the things we had not done yet was to put our pictures on the walls. They have all been sitting nicely packed in a box in our garage. The biggest reason why we hadn’t put them on the wall (aside from the craziness of life) is that we were not sure where we wanted our furniture and future furniture to go. After living in our home for 6 months, we now have a better idea of where we want things to go, so the pictures can now go up.

One of the fun things Dayna decided to put together was a nice picture collage in our hallway. While it is still not completely finished (can you find the sideways picture?), it looks great and we look forward to putting the last few finishing touches on it.

 

Refinishing a Cabinet/Entertainment Center

Our computer and screen have been in our living room since moving in, but they have always stood atop some boxes of food storage (spaghetti and rolled oats to be exact). While this worked, it was a bit too mormon ghetto for our taste, so we began looking for some type of entertainment center.

We checked out Ikea, and there was one thing that might have worked but we didn’t necessarily love it and it was a bit more than we wanted to spend on this. Then, while Kent was cruising through DI, he saw the perfect cabinet. The only problems were 1) it was the wrong color (a light pine-ish finish) and 2) it had lots of deep scratches all across the top. All of which is fixable. So $15 later, we had a new entertainment cabinet and a much bigger project than we had envisioned.

We picked up mahogany stain and some varnish and started sanding. We sanded, and we sanded, and yes we sanded some more. Once we had sanded more than we thought was possible, we finally had something that was ready to stain. Unfortunately, we learned that stain accentuates any imperfections, so we had to go back to sanding. After much work, we were finally able to get the cabinet finished and it looks beautiful.

While it was a lot more work than we had planned on, it turned out great.  It is perfect for our living room, and it was a great learning and work experience. (Note, in this picture, we still hadn’t replaced the nobs, but these now look much better.)

Hiking South Mountain

On New Years Eve, we decided to hike a new part of South Mountain in Phoenix. It was a beautiful day, a great hike, and a good way to close out a year.

Anna, Elise, and Kent were able to make it to the ridgeline and the top of a couple of the peaks.

The only boy thing I could think of

Anna drew a special picture for each one of us in the family. She drew a flower for me, a heart for Gracie, and and rainbow for Elise. When she handed daddy his picture she said it was the sacrament. Kent told her it was lovely and asked her why she drew the sacrament for him. She said, “It is the only boy thing I could think of .”

Rock Climb’n Girl

I took Anna on a Mommy date, to a play, “Sleeping Beauty.” Anna loves watching dancing and singing and she absolutely loved it.  I didn’t think Elise would do well with it. So I told her I would take her on a special mommy date this month to somewhere special for her. Elise has always loved climbing things so I thought rock climbing would be perfect for her, and I know Anna would not do well with it. So rock climbing it was.

I was into rock climbing as a YSA but haven’t rocked climbed for years so I was excited to go myself. I definitely am not as good as I once was but successfully completed a 5.8 which I was happy with. Elise was awesome and most loved the repelling down!

She would climb so that she go repel down! And then she would laugh and laugh.

Elise Turns Four!

I told her she wasn’t allowed to turn four but she did it anyway. Since she was four she got to have four girls at her party. It was perfect! She invited her two friends in her church class Macie Mortensen and Brooklyn Martz and her sister Anna. They had a tea party and made princess necklaces, and had ice cream cone cake.

We also had a little family party that night that Nana and Papa came to.

Elise is such a fun, sweet, cute, happy girl. She is growing too fast. She loves to play, is quite the climber, loves being with friends, loves to learn and do workbooks and read books. She even learned how to ride her bicycle without training wheels last week. She got an “Anna” from Frozen dress to match her sister’s Elsa dress.
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For her birthday we went to the peach festival to pick peaches, a family tradition we started up when we moved out here to AZ.  I remember bringing her when she was only a few weeks old.

Elise with Mama picking Peaches 2011 and fours years later 2015!

Happy Birthday Elise!

South Mountain

Only a 15 minute drive, and after Kent’s work we headed to South Mountain. Perfect spring evening weather. Elise was a serious mountain goat, always ahead and running up the mountain. She takes after her father. Grace enjoyed the ride on top of dad’s shoulders holding onto his ears like handlebars. Anna stayed with me enjoying learning about Palo Verde trees, Saguaros, Creosotes, riverbeds and such.

What a beautiful hike. I love Arizona in the spring. The desert is abloom and it is gorgeous. And, of course, I woke up with sore legs the next day.

Grandpa and Grandma Come to Visit

We loved the visit from Grandma and Grandpa. It was so much fun. They flew down from a snowstorm in N. Dakota to sunny AZ to visit. We went to the river and Grandma climbed a tree with the girls. We also caught some fish in buckets and climbed all over big rocks.




Grandma made bubbles and big bubble makers with the girls. They made bubbles as big as they were. We went swimming with Grandma too.

Anna helped Grandma pick out stiches on the swimsuit Grandma fixed for Elise. Anna said, “I just love picking out stiches.” She really enjoyed helping Grandma at that. Elise loved showing Grandma how well she can say her letters. Grace liked relaxing on Grandpa’s lap playing games on the tablet with him.


Grandma made cookies with words in them with the girls and we dyed Easter eggs. It was even Grandpas birthday which the girls loved celebrating with him. Anna and Elise even decorated his chair and wrapped him a present. They put re-lighting candles in his birthday cake too as a surprise.

Grandpa read them, “Hyrum’s  Red Shirt.”