Before

Here are some shots of our home right as we first began to work on it.

 

This is the family room.

 

 Through that doorway on the right is our master bedroom.  I really like having the master on the main level.  It makes it so nice when I need to grab some shoes or a brush real quick.

 Right after we closed on our home Clint, Adriana and I left our 3 older kids in Utah and came down to work on our home.  The trip down was not the most pleasant of trips.

  It was the day after Christmas and we got a late start because the flooring we had purchased weighed our truck down so much it became clear our truck was not going to be strong enough to pull the trailer and haul all of our new flooring.  Our friend was kind enough to let us borrow his big truck.  Once everything was loaded into the truck and trailer we left around 7:00 pm.  After a detour in Springville to pick up our paint sprayer from Clint's brother we were on our way.

While traveling through the gorge by St. George we got a flat tire.  Some nice lesbian ladies pulled over at 12:00 am and shone their headlights so Clint could see and let him borrow their jack.  Such nice ladies.

We get to Vegas and take a curve a little too sharply and our tire blows off the trailer.  Just blows right off- we cannot find it.  It's about 2:30 am at this point.   Because we can't find the tire that blew off, we no longer have lug nuts to be able put on our last spare tire. After much thought trying to decide what to do we felt our best option was have someone tow the trailer.  We call a towing company who says they will come in about and hour and it will cost between $300-400.  Umm, no thanks.  Clint being ever so clever decides to take a lug nut off of each tire to put on the spare tire.

 We hobble to our home and almost make it when the tire comes off AGAIN.  We were so tired at this point we basically dragged the trailer to our house. 

We get to our house and it's nearing 5:00 am by this point.  Clint goes to unlock the front door and realizes he doesn't have the keys- they are at home in Eagle Mountain.  So what does one do confronted with this situation after an exhausting night?  Clint went ahead and Chuck Norrised it by kicking the door a couple of times and busting it open.

We quickly got into bed and slept a couple of hours but Clint couldn't sleep much longer so he decided to just get up and start working on our house.  He goes to the trailer and is unloading things when he accidentally scrapes his hand on a razor blade dispenser which has a razor blade sticking out and cuts his hand- bad.  It's a deep wound and it needs stitches. 

We find an urgent care clinic that cauterizes the wound because it won't stop bleeding and stitches Clint up.  His poor hand was so swollen and sore but he still came home and continued to work on his projects like a champ.

Clint is seen here with his bandaged hand fixing the front door he kung-fued. 

 A view of our formal living room area.

 This is another angle from the front living room area with the view as you walk in from the front door.  That's the loft area up above.

 The beautiful kitchen.  The bulk heads above the cabinets were so big and such a waste of space.

 Kitchen and dining area.

 The formal living room can be seen through the archway on the left.

 Clint's poor, poor hand.  His hand subsequently got infected due to a little piece of the silvery stuff they cauterize with being left in his hand.  He had to go back not once but twice to get antibiotics because it would not get better.

 My little baby playing peek-a-boo in the cabinets.

Get ready for some after pictures of the new kitchen.  Coming soon...hopefully.

This Guy

 I sure love this guy. 

I just had to add this picture because it made me smile.

 

 

Clint is such a good father. 

 And then I've got this amazing Dad who is now an amazing grandpa.

 Clint can do anything- literally anything.  He just figures out how to do stuff.  Even when his hand is all stitched up and all swollen and infected he continues to work hard and power through his projects.

 He spends a great deal of time reading to the kids, especially Easton.  He is a devoted father and makes sure each of his kids are well loved.

 Easton pointed out in his Father's Day gift to Clint that he is easily recognized by his "bald head and pinpoles (pimples)."  Clint always says I'm the only 37 year old who is bald and still gets acne.  It's alright though.  I don't mind.  The kids and I love him just how he is because he is amazing to us!

This Little Girl

She makes me happy.  I could just eat her up she is so cute.

 

Heavenly Father knew a lot would happen in our lives during the first year of her life so He blessed me with Adriana.  From the get-go she's been a mild-mannered and mellow girl.  Unlike my other baby girls who were so fussy, always needing to be held, Ana was so good.  I didn't dread the evening time where it seemed the crying would be nonstop and who knew when I would be able to go to bed.  She would just eat and go to bed. 

 She is starting to talk more saying: that, bye, hot, shoe and more.

She loves to wear layers and layers of clothes.  She gathers armfuls of clothes from her sisters drawers and wants them on.  Often several pairs of underwear, a pajama shirt and maybe a couple of pairs of shorts for good measure.  You can never have too many layers in the Vegas heat.

                                        Adriana loves to nurse- loves it.

                     She is 14 months old in these pictures.

 Look at those cute chompers.  Teething has not gone well for her.  When her front teeth were coming in she had a difficult time sleeping.  We were living at the hotel at the time so I would end up just holding her through most of the night.  She would sleep if I held her. As soon as I put her in her pack-n-play she would immediately wake up and begin crying.  That was a rough time.

 Adriana loves her big sisters and brother.  She doesn't mind being toted around by them. 

When Clint gets home from work Ana is right there to greet him with a hug and lays her little head on his shoulder.

She just melts my heart.

Home Tour

I wanted to document our second house where we lived for almost 6 years.  We moved to Eagle Mountain when Easton was only 20 months old, back in April of 2008.  We added 3 more children to our family and created so many memories here.  It was hard to say good-bye.  (At least I know our home is in good hands now as some friends from our neighborhood bought it.)

 

I'm going to miss growing pumpkins and corn every year to decorate the front porch with.  It's far too hot in Vegas for pumpkins to grow.

Prior to moving in we worked on the house for about a month.  Although the house was brand new, we did a lot of the upgrades ourselves to save money.  The wainscoting was one such upgrade.  We also did the two-tone paint, installed hardwood floors and new carpet.  The crown moulding we had installed several years ago by a friend. All of the furniture in the living room was purchased off KSL classifieds.  The chairs were painted and then I had them reupholstered.

 I loved our fireplace and the many chilly nights spent laying by it with the family.  The fireplace mantel was another KSL find, installed by Clint.  The couches and ottoman were my 30th birthday present purchased at Bassett furniture

 Clint put up this board and batten for my Christmas present.  It is beautiful and was so nice to hang coats, bags and keys on.  I didn't get too enjoy it for that long because several months after it was installed we found out we were moving.

 The half bath was completed shortly after moving into the house.

 In the kitchen we put the granite countertops in for only $926 installed, including the sink. ( I found the receipt while packing and couldn't believe that was all we paid.)  We also sold the builder basic appliances and purchased these clean steel ones.

 The buffet and dining table were another KSL find and then painted in a creamy hue.

 The girls' room was painted and a chandelier was added when I was pregnant with Esme.  Prior to that it was our guest bedroom.  We purchased the beds and dresser on KSL as well. 

 For Christmas when Easton was 4 we re-did his bedroom.  We put up the board and batten, painted it blue and bought the bed off of ....you guessed it -KSL!

 

 The master bathroom received a coat of paint and moulding was installed around the mirror.

 The craft loft saw many a mess.  We love doing all sorts of crafts here in our household.  All of the furniture was purchased at the DI thrift store and painted a nice crisp white.

 Clint built these shelves two years ago to hold all of our crap.  I miss having a basement to store all of our items.  All of this stuff is now stored in the garage or spare bathroom.  That's right- I said spare bathroom.

What I miss most about our home though is our friends and family.  The kids miss their amazing friends they had to play with all the time.  I long to be able to run and talk to my friends real quick or have game night at our house.  I know in time we will make new friends but it seems to take at least a year to get to that point.  We miss having all of the grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins so close.  Birthday's are a little bit quieter here.  However, we are really enjoying life in the city and look forward to building new memories in our new home.  Pictures to come soon.

 

 

Beach Bums

While in California we went to the beach.  Ah, the beach.  Enjoying the waves, sun, warm sand and the $71 parking ticket.  I don't think life gets better than relaxing at the beach.  Or in Easton's case, getting wiped out over and over and over again by the waves.

 

  Now here is a child who I think he might be half fish.  He could live in the water and spent his entire time either gathering seaweed or getting knocked over by waves.

 

 

  Easton told me he wanted to help clean-up the ocean by gathering all the seaweed he could find.  Dad even helped out.  We are so environmentally friendly here in our household. The good news was after Easton had made huge piles of the smelly seaweed, flies came and set-up camp. 

 

It was well worth the $71 parking ticket.  Next time we'll know- you have to pay to park by the beach.