A little of this, a little of that...

Yes, I'm such a slacker with my blog lately. Okay, so I guess it's been a little longer than "lately" but in my defense, we have been quite busy but before I go into that I have a few photos I had to get posted.

A while back Cole had "Rodeo Days" with his kindergarten class where they learned all about barrel racing, bull riding and all the fun things to eat. Each of the kids were asked to make their own pony to ride. I thought Cole's turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself! It's been a while since I threw a craft project together like this and it was a lot of fun. I wasn't able to go see it but Weston did and he said the kids all had a great time and it was really fun.

I know I'm a tad bit biased but I just think he's the cutest kid in the world! I just love him!!!

Oh and I had to post this photo of Jalon because it's just too cool. I was giving him a much needed haircut and decided to give him a Mohawk instead. I made him keep it this way until Sunday rolled around and then I buzzed the rest of it off. It was just too fun!

And now for the good news....drum roll please.....WE FINALLY GOT A HOUSE! Hallelujah!!! I cannot express enough how relieved I am that this housing drama is finally OVER. It's been such a long and humbling journey to say the least. I've shed many a tear in frustration and anguish over losing properties and worrying if this was ever going to work out. I think we had put out at least 13 different offers on various properties. There's so much competition with investors that I was starting to be fearful that we wouldn't get a home before prices went up too high for us to be able to afford one. I really wanted to find a property with some land. We gave that search everything we had but I guess it was not meant to be at this time in our lives. We finally succumbed to the reality that we would have to find a regular'ol stick built home in a developed neighborhood. After much searching and waiting and searching and waiting....we finally got an acceptance. The home we bought was not my first choice by any means but we got a great price on it and it has hardly been lived in. For all intents and purposes, this home is practically brand new! I wouldn't have cared if it wasn't but to know that the water heater and HVAC have had almost no use means they will last for many more years to come. So anyway, it's located in Skyline Ranch. It's 1700 s.f. with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It also has a really nice sized study and a decent size back yard. All in all, it's nothing spectacular but at least it's ours and that feels REALLY GOOD!

I've decided that I'm going to post photos as we get certain projects completed. The first project that absolutely HAD to get done before anything else was the garage storage. We didn't do that in our first home and to my dismay and frustration, it never got done but NOT THIS TIME BABY! I had Weston paint the whole garage with some left over paint from a wall job, getting rid of the builders flat, white paint that shows every spec of dust. Then we built 256 s.f. of shelving for all our stuff...camping gear, food storage and all Weston's paint equipment. It's not all organized yet but it will be fantastic when it is! So one of the best parts to this little makeover is that we only spent $200 bucks for the wood and it was a fun, easy project for the whole family.

The next thing that had to get done, before the washer and dryer were brought in, was the laundry room. Again, this was a space that never got finished in my last house because I could never get Weston to move the washer and dryer once they were in. I'm learning! He had some left over plaster from a fire place he did in a really nice house in Scottsdale so we used that. This plaster will wear really well in this high traffic zone and it gives the laundry area a ton of warmth so it doesn't feel so utilitarian. I still have to build the storage above the washer and dryer that I designed but I love it!

BEFORE

AFTER

Now if I can just get unpacked and get the rest of the house finished.....hmmmm.