The Wrights came to visit...

In August, we had the privilege of meeting Ella Marie! Kurt, Katie and Ella traveled all the way down to Medford from Ellensberg, WA! It was so much fun to have Kurt and Katie here, and especially to meet their new addition, Ella. She is such a wonderful baby and super cute!

Re-finished wood floors! (More house remodeling!)

Our living room started out with wonderfully dated wood paneling and new carpet. I pulled up the carpet on my days off this summer and we had them refinished. Also, we had 7 recessed lights put in (there wasn't any lighting in the room when we moved in.

Here are the finished floors and they look beautiful! They had to patch a section, by the sliding glass door, in the dining room since we found plywood there when we pulled up the carpet. We have to wait until Wednesday to put furniture in and to let Dallas walk on it. Carl has finished nailing up all the base molding in the dining room and the living room now. It's amazing how much a difference a small detail like molding makes in a room!

Our annual camping trip!

This year we went to Diamond Lake for our annual camping trip, which was so much fun. Although we missed seeing many of the Ardts (since they were in Slovkia), it was so much fun to have the Muellers, all the way from Arizona, camping with us. The kids looked like they had so much fun! Here are some pictures....

Lucas sporting his hat from Peru.

Tyler, Ryan and Grace..... the kids had a lot of fun

Lucas and Leslie

Grace is holding Mandy's dog Lucy. Grace loved carrying her around!

Quality camping looks from Kristen....

Our family room "den"

DURING CONSTRUCTION.... RIPPING OUT AWFUL DARK BROWN CARPET..... DON'T WORRY THERE IS STILL VINYL FOR YOU TO SEE
In the same room as the pictures with the fireplace we put in new maple floors. Notice the wonderful yellowish vinyl flooring which was just partially covered by old dark brown carpet. Debbie and Frank had the priviledge of helping us move furniture and rip out the carpet during their vacation visiting us. I was quite glad Frank was here to help move our furniture since our couch can barely fit through the door. Thanks Frank and Debbie!!


AFTER NEW MAPLE FLOORS.....

Our house is starting to look like it might be finished someday! Then we will actually be able to keep it clean rather than always having tools or furniture piled in different places!

Our kitchen

Here is our kitchen when we first moved in 1 year ago (in June). Notice the lovely hardware in the middle of the cabinets and look at the size of the window compared to the pictures below.

Our kitchen is in the works and I was so excited to have countertops again! As you can see we refinished the cabinets (painting them white) and Carl tiled the floor.

Here is our kitchen as of now. We have a new, big window, a new dishwasher, granite countertops and soon Carl will finish building the cabinetry so we don't have an opening under the sink.... and we still will add a tile backsplash as well. Lastly, we need to add our hardware to the drawers and finish painting those little black lines on a few of them. Oh, so much to do, but doesn't it look better??

Our family room or "den" as Carl calls it when we first moved in more than 1 year ago.







Our frame is up.... and Dallas does NOT like this as a cage.

A textured wall with primer.... more pictures will be coming soon

Summer time..... remodeling

Well, our house now looks like someone broke in and rummaged through all of our things after getting remodeling projects on their way with our contractor, who is wonderful. Carl has also been working like crazy after work to do many of his own projects to compliment theirs. He is the best husband and comes home after a 10 hour day and will spend until 11:30pm-12am working on projects. I don't know how he does it! Recently, he has tiled our laundry room, put up new base modeling, and began to change some of our kitchen cabinets. We have also had a new fireplace framed in with a gas stove insert, a larger window cut in our kitchen and this afternoon, we will be getting our granite countertops. They will be a welcome change from our old countertops and especially from most recent days with no countertops. I am also looking forward a brand new dishwasher, sink, faucet, hot water tap, and garbage disposal! Supposedly our dishwasher is one where you do not need to rinse off dishes and it can sense how clean or dirty they are, so it will run for longer or shorter; whatever need be! I will let you know what I think..... And our sink will no longer be in the corner, so we will be able to get into the dishwasher and use the sink at the same time!! This is a luxury I have been missing!