Hunter is 15 years old

Hunter turned 15 years old today. Yesterday we went shopping, and I bombarded her with questions. Where to shop, what she wanted, what to have for dinner today, cake or cupcakes, what flavor of cake and frosting. Hunter and her brothers spent the night. Family came over after church for enchiladas and strawberry cupcakes to celebrate.

I was blessed to present at her birth and every birthday except those while on our mission. I'm so lucky to have her live nearby and watch her grow up.

A side note: both Kelly & I were present at her birth on May 16, 1995, but we seem to remember that date as being the 15th...we decided her birthday is really the 15th, only she was a day late.

New Grass

New Grass

Axel helped Papa all day laying pavers

Anyone that knows Larry, knows how much he loves to mow the lawn and keep it beautiful. He also likes to keep it short. We found out the hard way it should be left a little longer in the winter. But the previous 6 winters were different than the last. At one point we had 5 days of below freezing temperatures. Well, when spring came and everyone elses yards we greening up, this is what ours looked like. Apparently ours froze to death, not just dormant. As with any other project, it became more than just grass. We decided the tree had to go. It was badly shaped , killed the grass, and was too close to the sewer lines. The tree stump needed to be removed...it was cheaper and easier to pay someone to grind it out, we also contracted him to remove the dead turf and lay new sod. I also wanted a brick path in front, we used the pavers removed from the back when we put the deck in.

New Floor

This last 6 weeks has been WORK!. But I can say I love the finished product. Prepping the floors was hard enough, but the actual work took ten 6-8 hour days. But everytime I walk on it I'm happy. In addition to the new floor, we have new baseboards, and paint. I just have a little more painting to go, and then putting things back on the shelves. We did get a cowhide for an area rug.

At times I felt like crying, my arms still ache and my knees are peeling. I didn't dare go barefoot and was afraid to put food on the counters for the gritty feel on everything. But once the grout was down, I was able to clean up and it stayed clean.

After

Before

At first it seemed a bit overwhelming. We used 52 boxes of the 60 we ordered. At times it looked like there wouldn't be enough.

I was responsible for cutting most of the tile. With this saw it wasn't too hard, but sometimes I felt a little dyslexic when trying to figure out the cuts

Brody came over and helped tile the first day and also helped with some of the grouting. Brody & Stephanie want to tile their home sometime. He came for the experience.

This was the last piece of tile placed.