Maybe I'll learn to slow down a little in the future

A couple of weeks ago I posted about my busy life and adding umpiring to the already busy schedule. Well I've done it again. We're not finished with our own kitchen remodel and last week we started remodeling my parents bathroom. Thankfully, I've had a lot of support from my siblings. That has made it easier. I really do have good siblings!!!! The willingness to help out has been phenomenal.

For some reason I didn't take before pictures. But the bathroom was very outdated. It was comfortable for my parents, so they felt no need to make a change. But right before they left on their mission, we found that there had been some leaking problems. They were going to have it remodeled at that point, but were so busy they couldn't add anything else to their plate. The problem has continually gotten worse and worse and needed to be fixed now.

Here's a picture of part way through the demo. Notice the harvest gold shower to the left and the patch of wallpaper that was behind the toilet and couldn't be painted. Like I said, outdated.

We have done the demo and reinstalled new subflooring. We've also installed the shower basin. We are waiting for the mud to dry on the basin before we start moving forward on everything else. I don't want to post too many pictures because I want the overall remodel to be a surprise to my parents. They know we are doing the remodel, but they do not know what the end result will be.

Here is a picture of where the shower used to be.


And here is my brother Brian putting in a line of studs to line up the walls where the shower used to be.



My parents' already know this, so it's okay to post. We are going to put in a heated floor so that the tile is nice and cozy when you go in without any shoes or socks. Won't that be nice . . . . . .

Tiling the Kitchen Floor

Well, when Em's parents came to visit over Christmas time we remodeled the kitchen. Uncle Walter also flew up to help. We are SOOOOOOO appreciative for their help and the help of other family and friends. One of the things we weren't able to do was to tile the floor. So that has taken me about 3 1/2 months thus far . . . . .

Well yesterday I was doing some tiling, and it turns out, I had a little helper. . . . . .


Here she is helping to lay some spacers


What a cute little helper!!!

She just loves to do what mommy and daddy do. Mirian loves to work along side us, she loves to clean the house along side us, and she even loves to do exercises right along with us. We always have a fun little chuckle when she stretches and does her exercises with us. It's just so cute!!!!!

We just love our little monkey!!!!

What??? You thought we moved to Hungary?

So we haven't been posting much on the blog lately because we have been SUPER busy. We have been remodeling the kitchen since the beginning of December and that consumes our "extra free time". We did take some time to go to Cali for the purposes of helping with projects for Em's family since they came up and helped us huge on our kitchen. The kitchen is progressing, but it definitely takes time. . . . I attached a picture so you can see some of the progress. We will be very happy when it is all finished.

The kitchen went from this




and this



to THIS



We've done work since this picture, but this is the best "comprehensive" picture.

A HUGE thank you to all who have contributed on this project!!!!!! It is looking sooooooo good.

New Blog

Well Russ has enjoyed the benefit of having a blog. It's a great journal opportunity and it shares family experiences and pictures with everyone who wants to enjoy it.

That being said, Russ has decided to start yet ANOTHER blog. However, Russ has also delegated Emily to keep it updated. It is just barely in the beginning stages so it is definitely rough around the edges . . . . . and in the middle.

The new blog will be a journal of Home Remodels. It will also serve as a help to those looking to do work on their own homes (maybe we do something that gives an idea) and vice-a-versa. If people have ideas, they can throw them out and maybe help us create our home. It will also stand as a way to monitor our goals and timing on the remodels that we do. Finally, it will act as a sales tool (I said tool) when selling this home as potential buyers can take a look at what we've done and see the befores and afters.

Have a look at the new blog and fill free to pitch in on thoughts and ideas of how to set up the blog and possible polls that we could run. We are VERY open to suggestions. Feel free to share the blog with friends as the more that look at the blog, the more thoughts and ideas we can get for our home remodel. Check it out!!!!!

Matthew Robinson/Kitchen Cabinetry

This post is dedicated to Matthew Robinson and our kitchen Cabinetry.

What a good man and friend Matthew is to us!!!! Many have offered and tried to work out a time to come help put together kitchen cabinetry, but always scheduling conflicts come up with each others' schedules. Matthew Robinson has twice been able to come help put together cabinetry. He is SUPER busy with school, work, family, etc. I mean this guy does homework ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT, practically every day of school. But he found some time for us. Thanks for all your help Matthew!!!! I wish we'd have taken a picture with you working on cabinetry so we could prove to everyone that you do actually work . . . . .

The cabinets come from the shop like this.
You open the box and this is what you see.



You pull out the VERY underdetailed "Assemble Literature". This one below is actually very detailed compared to some. One set of instructions literally said for one of the steps, "Assemble all the pieces". They are horrendous.

Below are two of the finished cabinets. One of them is a Base Corner piece with two lazy-susans and the other is a 3-drawer base cabinet.

So far, this is our stack of cabinetry. It's going to look great once we assemble it all into the kitchen which appears to be taking place over Christmas break. Can't wait!!!!!

Thanks again for your help Matthew!!!!!!

Happy Anniversary to My Sweetheart!!!!

Today we celebrate 9 years of being married!!!!!! Woot!!!! One more year and we will be "an old married couple".

Emily is such a sweetheart and has been wonderful to me!!!!

She's quirky, which is absolutely perfect for me.

She puts up with my stupid obsession.

And she's creative!!!!And she puts up with my strange desire to move out of a home right after we finish it.

I love you Emily!!!!! Can't wait for our cruise!!!!

Calling in all Favors . . . .

Prior to Russ' surgery, we went down to Cali and bought cabinetry and granite for our kitchen remodel. Emily's parents and maybe Uncle Walter are going to come help with the installation. However, some assembly must take place on the cabinetry before they are installed. Anybody who would like to pitch in on the assembly (and probably get a free meal out of it) since Russ can't do it would be more than welcome. We don't have set times as to "when you must come", just the sooner the better. Let us know if you are available.

We appreciate your help.

Trip to California

We recently took a quick little trip to California. Emily's brother, Jeff, decided to finally tie the knot to his girlfriend, Marlena. It was kind of a last minute trip, so we packed up and left right after Russ' doctors appointment last Monday. We drove all day Monday, and arrived at Emily's parents house around 8:30 at night. We were so tired. The wedding was on Tuesday at 9:00 in the morning. They wanted to be married on a mountain top, but because of the weather, they had to settle for a vacant house on the top of a hill in the middle of Lake Oroville. The view was beautiful and the ceremony was nice and simple. Emily's dad performed the ceremony. After the wedding, we headed back to Emily's parents house for a nice, big breakfast. It was fun to get to go and see everyone and to be there to support Jeff and Marlena.Jeff and Marlena

Mirian with Great G-ma D

Mirian with her cousin Sydney

Crazy Carter Clan

Mirian and Daddy

Mirian with Uncle Jeff

On Wednesday, we drove down to Oakland to Sincere Hardware, to pick up our kitchen remodel things. We picked up our granite and our cabinetry. We also got a pretty tile back splash and some tile and granite to remodel Russ' parents bathroom. We got a great deal on all of the stuff and we are so excited to install it sometime this summer. On Thursday, we hauled it all back to Washington in the back of Russ' dad's pick-up truck and a U-haul trailer. There was only one minor casualty. A piece of back splash cracked on the trip, other than that, we managed to make it with 5 slabs of granite. We were pretty proud of ourselves.

All in all, it was a quick trip, but it was so fun to see family and friends. Congratulations Jeff and Marlena! We love you both!

Happy Birthday Emily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's no April Fool's Joke, today is really Emily's birthday. She turned 29 today (she doesn't mind people knowing her age). She is such a sweetheart!!!! And what did she do for her birthday you ask???
She worked on the house. This picture was taken a few days ago, working on removing popcorn ceilings, but you get the point right??? We just finished painting the upstairs. Em was fantastic. We had a couple of Russ' former young men helping out with the work as well.

The paint gives a whole new feel to the house AND we were able to move upstairs in the house. We are so excited!!!! The downstairs isn't bad, but we preferred the upstairs.

Em got a certificate for some new dishes and silverware and glasses for her birthday. She also got some flowers . . . .
And a lot of love from passers-by.


Love you Emily, Happy Birthday!!!!!

AND WE'RE BACK!!!!!!

Through lots of patience and perseverance and being homeless for a month and a half, we made it. We are in our next home. We love it!!! We are very excited to be

1. Not homeless
2. In our own home
3. Not living in a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom trailer with 2 other people and their dog and cat
4. Planning our first remodel project (the kitchen)
5. Able to make our own schedule and not have to work around that of others
6. Able to have a larger shower.

Wow, didn't know what we had been missing . . . . actually, yes we did. Our new house is great though. We bought it as a fixer-upper, so there are some things that need to be redone, but the projects are larger than the last house, but not as labor-some (like redoing an entire basement). We have attached a few pics for your viewing pleasure.

Our new address is 306 Hillcrest Drive Selah, WA 98942.

Yes they left the pool table. As you can imagine, Russ was ecstatic!!!!

Here is a view of the kitchen and the living room(which will be removed in March and redone to be a kitchen with an island and a dining room).


The backyard. It looks just as good as our front yard!!!! Needless to say, it needs work!!! And a sprinkler system.

The house is bigger than we were looking for, but we have room for visitors, so we'd love to have you.