Remodel

Last weekend Tyler came over and remodeled our kitchen closet for us. Our dryer used to be next to our stove and the washer was in a cute little hole in the wall in our kitchen. We now have ridiculously nice front loading machines that are stacked on top of each other in a nice clean little closet area. I am pretty sure he didn't realize just how much work it was going to take to make such a simple change for us, but props to Tyler for giving up his entire weekend and working like crazy until it got done. It took knocking some stuff out, cutting up the ceiling and moving some vents, but it was so worth it (especially since we didn't have to do most of it:) Thanks Tyler, we love it!


When we were buying the machines we also got a new dishwasher, as our old one stopped working about 6 months ago. At first I didn't mind hand washing everything, but by the end our kitchen sink looked like this most days:


For some odd reason that seemed to have motivated Caleb to break down and spend the money to get a new one. Speaking of money though... I was too cheap to pay someone to install the new unit for us, so we got to spend half our weekend learning all about dishwasher installations. Just so you know, it turns out if they tell you to use plumbing tape... you probably should.


You really learn to appreciate modern inventions when you go half a year without them. It got me thinking... I am a mediocre housewife at best as it is, I would have never made it 100 years ago when you actually had to cook meals totally from scratch, hand wash clothes and dishes and what not. Man, how did they do it?

Anyway... after all the dust settled (not just figuratively either, there really was a ton of dust!) and things got put back together, we needed to repaint our walls to fill in the places that we redid the drywall on. I meant to get it done after Corbin was in bed and let it dry over night so he couldn't undo any of our hard work, but things just got too busy. So I ended up doing it in the middle of the day instead, so of course Bean comes running over, "I wanna be a helper!" And as usual, what a great helper he was!

Oh Corbin...

Add one more mark to the emergency care tally. This past week Corbin fell and bashed his head into the corner of the coffee table, resulting in his third trip to the instacare in one month and four stitches. I don't know what we are going to do with this boy. Makelle better have the best health in the world in order to even begin to cancel out the handful that Corbin is.

New(ish) Car!

This past week has been a whirlwind of things all going on at once. We suddenly got quite busy. And amidst it all we got a second car! We spent about 4 months going back and forth on what kind of car to get, but we finally settled on a Honda Pilot. And I LOVE it! Big thanks to Benson for helping us get such a good deal.


Everyone always asked us how we got by sharing one car for so long, and it never seemed like a big deal. But after one day of having my own car to load the kids into and run errands during the day, I don't think I can ever go without again. It is so great being spoiled.

Singing in the Rain

It has been raining A LOT lately. However, after that glimps of summertime we had, Corbin has not been content sitting inside all day anymore. So despite the rainy weather, we have still been enjoying playing at the park and taking lots of walks.


Who doesn't love running around in the warm rain singing preschool songs and jumping in mud puddles?

Lazy Summer Days

Playing outside, every child's favorite summer pastime.



We can't get enough of this girl's sweet smile!


I have been cleaning out closets and reorganizing the house and Corbin has been such a great helper (as always).


I don't know what we are going to do when we move eventually and don't have our own pool, because we LOVE IT!