Aug 21, 2009

UPdate

OKayyy, a lot has transpired.

We are moving in the house on Tuesday. I won't let you in all all the wonderful details, but we're in.

The Honda Pilot is now in our hands and its great. We are getting the Bravada fixed, new engine and all...should be done next week.

Hailey starts Kindergarten on Monday....and we are NOT ready, but doing it anyhow. My hopes were that we'd be semi-settled in our new house by the time she started...wellll....it was close, right? Whew its going to be busy for awhile.

Meanwhile, Paul likes his job...and his job likes him. I am however missing work. But there is far too much for me to wrangle at home right now...again, waiiting to settle in, then I'll pick up a job.

Anyhow...gotta run....but all is well, just...going to start moving this weekend.

Loves to all!

Aug 7, 2009

6th wedding anniversary



Have I ever told you I have the most wonderful husband? I never wanted to get married, until I fell in love with Paul. He really was my most perfect match....and he still is. This picture was taken in SLC on Temple Square. Not a great picture, but holds sweet memories. He took me to the Anniversary Inn...Sultans Palace. If you have been do the Ann. Inn...then you know all the cool stuff. We had dinner at The Roof. It was incredible. Then we bought a car. LOL.

I think the coolest thing about Paul is he's so thoughtful with our dates. Maybe that's what reeled me in to begin with. He takes the even number years of anniversaries, and I take the odd years. I won't go into everything, but this was an amazing Anniversary. I will have a hard time topping that next year. The in laws watched the kids too over night. We haven't had an overnight get away since we had kids...um so 6 years. A huge thank you going out to the In Laws for watching the girls so we could have a great anniversary.

a process



Paul made fun of me posting this. LIke you all want to see another sub contractors butt. BUTT>..here we go (lol). OKay, I am standing in the master bed suit and looking out. Part of the master suit is a walk through closet, a master bath, and a nursery. The nursery is the door you see on your immediate left (okay fine you can just see part of the door jam. You can see where he's laying the tar paper down for the hard woods. The door you see on your left by the man is a walk in pantry, its just about hte size of Emmas room. The door on your right is the laundry room, at the end of the laundry room is the garage.(shown in another pic).

master HA H HAAA



Just thought it was funny. This is the master bed room....but they are in process of doing the master bath, so they use it to work...point is, it wont ever look like this again.

master shower



yep, the walk in shower...its bigger than it looks. we had them custom build a larger bench, you know, so you can actually sit your big can up there to shave your legs. Also, again, natural brown porcelain tile, travertine and slate. by the way, contrary to what i've been told the guys have the door and window ready to mount in the shower. wahoo!

master back splash



okay, I know how much you want to know about all the stupid stories...but its stressful. They say building a house breaks up marriages. I get it now. Paul and I are fine. ;-)

Okay, so I requested that the back splash on the counter top in the upstairs master bath run a consistent line instead of stair stepping into the backsplash of the tub. So...there are measurements you have to adhere to. And if you cut the natural stone looks a little silly if you cut on it...cause they have natural edges. I explained some in another post too, so I wont repeat....but it was a bit of work making this look the way it does. But I'm extremely pleased.

The counter tops throughout the house are all a tropical brown granite. When it showed from the quarry, some pieces were naturally lighter, so I just had them match it per the room it was in. I know, no one cares. But they thought it was a huge deal and I didnt care. As long as it isn't mismatched in the same room, its fine. So, if you look real hard (haha, right) the kitchen is darker than any of the bathroom counter tops. All of the fixtures are whats called an "oil rubbed bronze". ANd all the wood working is in knotty alder (its a hard wood for those of you who were so curious you wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if you didn't know).

master tub




This took me hours to do. Yeah, I know...you're thinking " hours?!?! Jody, its tile...give me a break1?!". Yeah, well, there are margins and measurements you have to fit it into. Some was already mounted and others are immovable to the patterns...like the backplashing had to stay, and the bottom slate had to stay, and somehow i had to make the measurements work with the tile I had. We ended up taking some 6x6 travertine out of the tile mans truck...just random pieces. The pieces we had on hand were numerous, but either were too big or too small...too small made it look too busy, and too big made it look bland. I then got on a kick that it shoudl have travertine in it because the shower did, and the tub didnt. So it got redesigned on the spot.

i know, it doesn't sound like much...but those tile guys....wow...um, its a skill.

I know how much you wanted to see some .......***



yeah, okay, tile man working on the tile. The master was particularly difficult to arrange because I was specific about the line continuing over from the backsplash on the countertop to the backspash of the jet tub. We had to account for the mirror going in and the already mounted sconce. That was hard actually. Anyway.... There is porcelain tile, travertine and slate. The travertine is in the shower too, and i wanted to tie it together. yeah, i dont want ot talk about that story....but glad i did it. the pattern is to match the walk in shower too.

Laundry room



the washer and dryer go the first thing on your right. this is right when you walk in from the garage. the pic was taken while standing in the garage. there is a half bath done in the same backsplash pattern and all matching materials to your left when you go in, in the latter end of the laundry room.

Kitchen sink



I know it doesn't look like much. But I wanted an undermount kitchen sink pretty bad. The granite is a tropical granite. the sink is some pricey composite thing "black moen stone" or something of the like. The faucet comes apart and is a sprayer too. I even have a window to look out (the back view by far is better than the front). There is a sizeable deck out the kitchen for outdoor dining as well. Its about double size of the kitchen.

THe kichen



Just try to envision...I'll post pics when its done.

No, the radio is not a part of it



more.

Hard woods



For those of you who know, the hard woods have been excessively timely, costly and frustrating. I just wanted to show what all the fuss was over. Its Tobacco Road Teak (acacia wood) in 3/4 full thickness (the real deal) and 5 inch plank...hand scrapped. If you've ever shopped hard wood floors...you know what I just said and how much crap I had to go through to get it.

Anyhow...again, house in process. They have left over carpet padding on the granite as to not to scrape or scratch the granite or the tile they are using for the backsplashes.

Fireplace in process



We finally started the fireplace (completely designed by yours truly). That mantle was custom, specially made by some local mantle making man. The stone was specifically chosen and they are doing a great job placing it. It will have natural river pavers on the sitting pieces of the hearth and the river rock stone will lead into the mantle up the wall (same stuff thats on the bottom) (you can see they place mesh to adhere it too)...those boxes under the mantle are the mountings for the corbels....they look to be quite large. It should look insanely awesome when its done. This was my baby. Paul got the front door. BTW...they lost the door...we are back to scratch LOL LOL LOL...sorry, thought it was funny. How do you lose a custom front door!??!?!

Jackson Hole



We stopped by the Tetons and Jackson Hole on the way home from Yellow STone.

and after Abbys play time



Hey...the water was warm!

Abby likes dirt



She played and played and played and played in the dirt. YOu'd think her Mom never lets her :::cough:::::

Yellow Stone Hailey



I love this pic.

Helping climb



HA< see the pic below. This is Hailey trying to help Emma climb.

I'm the worst Mother to think this is funny....



So, Hailey, being the master climber...of course inheriting her climbing skills from her MOM....decides she wants to conquer this rock....and then invites Emma to do it too... HA HA HAHAAA>...Emma isn't our climber!

I love this...




This is Great Grandma Pont and Hailey. Hailey LOVES Gma Pont...well, who doesn't, shes amazing. They went to the Temple Open house with us.

WE LOVE YOU GMA AND GPA PONT!!!!

Oquirrh Hills Temple Open House



Yeah, I know I spent the Ocrque wrong....someone correct me?

Join our Tea Party?




We even do tea parties (with juice)...here Gaga and the girls being....girls.

Hailey the Junior Ranger

Yellow STone



We went to Yellow STone too....

uploading pics right now is a a huge pain, so thats why im dragging my feet all the time, nothign is fancy and there isnt a lot. bear with us.

Abigail



We go up to the lake too....

Emma




We do actually do more things than just build a house...LOL.