Monday, September 6, 2010

We have been busy

Prepare, this post is full of pictures.  We have been in our house for almost 2 years.  We have been busy making it not look like a short sale.  We have worked really hard with the help of various family, friends, and of course HGTV (He he, i love that channel.  But Eldon says it gives me too many ideas.)  We have made some significant changes to the house and it is looking alot more like my vision of it.   I love when people from the ward come over and see the house because they knew the previous tenants (it was a rental before we bought it).  Everyone who has seen the house before, has a hard time believing it is the same house.  So since we are so proud of our house, i thought that i would share some of the before and after pictures.  We are not bragging, but definitely beaming.  The first big change we made was painting every room in the house.  I dont like white walls and now no walls in the house at all are white.  We also tiled the kitchen and entry way because the disgusting blue laminate flooring definitely was not working in my house.
 
The next big step was putting in granite counter tops because the ugly blue definitely had to go!
 

Next was getting our entertainment center, couch and book shelf to make the living room look comfy, cozy and stylish.  
 
Then we decorated the guest bathroom and bedroom.  I am really glad to have a nice and comfortable place to offer family and friends when they come to visit.  

 
Next I got a desire to texture the walls of the master bathroom.  It looks like venetian plaster.  i love it!!!  And I am so proud that I did it all by myself!  
 
The office and the master bedroom came next.   The master bedroom is still missing some beautiful art pieces that my nephew is working on, but he is holding them ransom from me, so once he finishes them, the bedroom will be completed!  


I also have been working on the Shadow Memory Boxes for my baby boys.  They are finished for now, but i am sure with how picky I am, and how precious they are, that this may change in the future.
The next big projects came after we lost the boys.  I needed something to occupy my mind and help to bring some joy into my life, so Eldon let me do alot of the projects that had been on hold for a while.  So i textured the kitchen and with the help of friends put in fake bricks.  I got a buffet and painted our table.  



I got my coat rack and bench for the entry way.
Then we put in carpet because the old carpet was beyond disgusting!  
 
We also put in french doors where the ugly and annoying sliding door was. 

 
It made a huge difference.  I added curtains, new light fixtures in the kitchen and hallway and master bathroom.    
 
Most of our changes have been made on the inside of the house.  We really havent done much with the outside, but after the boys died, we bought baby rose bushes to go outside the house.  They have only bloomed sparatically, but they are still growing.  
 
We will do more in the backyard and front in months to come.  Most recently for Mother's day, Eldon bought me cupboards for the laundry room, so that was finally painted and the cabinets added.  I absolutely love it!


There are definitely more projects that i would like to complete like the nursery, changing the cabinet colors through out the house, tiling the bathrooms, changing the countertops in the bathroom, adding canned lighting in the living room and then moving to the outside for grass and a pool.  Poor Eldon :P  Oh well, its a good investment, and I am having a blast discovering new abilities and talents as we transform our house into our home and into something we can be proud of.  

Larson Family Reunion 2010

It was time again, for the Larson crew to get together for the annual RH Larson family reunion.  As always, it was alot fun.  This year, Mack and Valerie were in charge, and our reunion fell days before their baby boy Dax's 1st birthday.  So it was only right that we throw him a birthday party.  The morning started out with fun games of capture the flag and then an interesting game that included shaving cream and cheeto puff balls.  The kids had an absolute blast. 

 
After a tasty lunch, it was time for Dax to have fun with his cake, as is tradition with the first birthday.

It took him a bit, but he finally dug into the cake and made an absolute mess all over.  It was adorable.  We all got to join in on the yumminess (a different cake).  After a tasty treat, the kiddos all had a blast on the slip n slide.  I couldnt resist taking pictures of them.  It looks like i only have a few pictures, but really there are over 30.  They were just too cute, so i couldnt resist their different poses as slipped and slid.  






Following that fun, we all went to watch our older nephews (Garett and Caden) play a pre-season football game against Red Mountain.  They totally won!  It was wonderful!  We had a blast and created wonderful family memories.  That is what good family reunion does.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Our Disneyland Anniversary Adventure

For our 4th anniversary, we decided to celebrate by going to the happiest place on earth.... Disneyland!!!  We had alot of fun for 2 days at Disneyland and California Adventure.  So much fun, that i really didnt take out the camera much :(  Oh well, i got a few great shots to share.  Since we had both been to Disneyland several times before, we decided to do some of the things that we had never done before.  We started out at California Adventure.  We did the normal fun rides like the Tower of Terror, and talking to Crush the turtle.  We had never done the Animation Academy, so that was a new treat.  We learned how to draw "Dopey" from Snow White.  We found on the back lot a Monster's Inc ride.  It was cute.  Eldon had never been to Muppets 3D, I think he had fun at that.  We rode on the Farris Wheel, that was fun to see the view of the park.  For a special treat, we had a fancy dinner at Wine Country Trattoria to get amazing tickets for the new World of Color.  The dinner was alright, definitely not worth the money, but the seats were!  Check out some video...of course I love Pirates of the Caribbean, so I was ecstatic when this came on....

Also, this one gives a better view of the show.... Amazing!!!  Sorry about my camera's focus, but still amazing!

 The next day we spent playing at Disneyland.  We went on the pirate boat, went to the pirate island, went and saw Michael Jackson's Captain EO...much better as child (definitely lame now).  For our anniversary lunch, we went and ate at the Blue Bayou, which is the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  Again, big fan of pirates, unfortunately, the lunch was much better in my dreams, but still something that i had always wanted to do.  We of course rode some of the awesome rides like space mountain, the jungle cruise, pirates, and Finding Nemo Submarine rides.  For Eldon's sake, we rode on the Chevron Race way, and because i am a nice wife.... i let him drive :) We had a really good time, and a very happy anniversary.  I think the best part was the buttons that Disneyland gave us.  Everyone in the entire park, including other guests were wishing us Happy Anniversary.  It was alot of fun!  It also got us a few perks, like cuts in a few lines.  Cant beat that.  Although we had a blast, I will say that by far, Disneyland is not the happiest place on earth, the happiest place on earth is at home in the arms of my loving husband.  I am so grateful for four amazing years of bliss.  They have been the happiest years of my life, even with the heartache we have experienced. I am so in love with you and so excited for a future full of love and happiness with you.  Happy Anniversary my Love!!! Thanks for a wonderful time at the second happiest place on earth.