Epiphany

A few days ago I had a bit of a breakdown.  It's been a really busy week filled with lots of decisions and it finally got to me.  After talking with Nick briefly on the phone about a certain decision we needed to make, I sat in front of the computer and just cried for a few minutes.  Later that evening I was back in front of the computer, working on the same decision, when I decided to take a mini break.  I got up, stretched, and grabbed my scriptures.  I opened up and read the first highlighted scripture I saw...'wheresoever your treasure is, there shall your heart be also'.  

It wasn't until today that those words really sunk in.  I realized that I have been stressing way too much about the small things. I've also completely misplaced my focus.  Me and Nick's overall goal is to create a warm and inviting home in which the Spirit can dwell and in which we can raise our children to be happy and loving and faithful individuals.  I've lost my perspective, though, as I've had to make all of the 'little' decisions. For example, the type of knobs to use on our drawers.  In the end, that really isn't going to matter.  Sure, I want to like them, but my knobs are not going to affect my ability to raise my children, nor are they going to be something I think about every single day! (If so, shame on me.) 

 What really matters is that (a) I remember to be grateful for all that I have, and (b) that I keep my heart in the right place.  I know I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father and that He loves me. I know that my Savior Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again, so that I (everyone!) might have the chance of return to live with my Heavenly Father.  I have a beautiful family that I know I can live with through the eternities if I live as I'm supposed to.  I am blessed everyday more than I even know.  I need to remember these things.  I need to keep my focus on what matters most and have an attitude of gratitude (not one of stress!), especially now that things are getting busy and crazy and everything else.

Updates 

 The Piano Room was finally painted.  

We think the color really pops and we love it!

The kitchen island is getting closer to being finished. Rod put on the end posts this week and they look fabulous. He really did a great job with them.

Our mudroom lockers just need doors and knobs (& we need to take out the lower shelves) and they'll be good to go!

We have steps from the deck to the backyard!

And most importantly, Maliya and Cole have survived another crazy-busy week of house stuff.  Things are really coming down to the wire and it's getting intense.  We went to the house twice on Wednesday and Thursday and spent a number of hours both of those days and Saturday running around doing house errands.  Craziness!

The Slide, Continued 

It's almost finished! After hours and hours of work, this beauty just needs to be sanded once more and then it'll be ready for a top coat and stain.  Nate has put so much time into this and it has turned out completely over the top. Wow.  You can't tell from these pictures, but he actually had to take really thin strips of wet wood and staple them in one at a time.  He then sanded it into oblivion (and almost fell down the slide multiple times while doing so). Next he'll coat it with a few things and stain it.  Sweet!

This is how Nate saves his poor ears while he's sanding.  Cole thought they were cool and of course had to try them on. I think he looks pretty darn cute in them.

Front Entryway 

Nick has been waiting forever for this to be built, so you can imagine how excited he was when they started it last week.  We both knew it would be big, but I don't think we really had an idea of how massive it would turn out.  It's huge and we love it.  It's not finished yet, but wow, how cool. It was built on site with 12 foot tall blocks of wood and then lifted with a crane.  I wonder how much it weighs...

 

A temple, according to Cole

Just wait until it's been stained....then it will really pop!

The Slide

I've mentioned the slide before, right?  The one that Nick and Nate are both quite giddy about.  Well, they started it last week and it is going to be so so fun!  A handful of people have worked on figuring out the physics of it all and assembling the actual slide (including Nick and Nate's boys [they're our official sanders - they do it by sliding down, lol] but primarily Nate and Jose).  It's going to be a solid wood stained dark to match the rest of the house and I'm super excited to see the final product. I think it's going to be gorgeous!

Here are a few pictures of the progression of the slide...

Jose, Nate, Cole, and Nick

 Nick and Nate's dad Rod hard at work

I think Cole's going to love it!

A shot of the thin strips of 'wet' wood used to create the slide. It's been quite a process.

Stone and Granite 

We love stone so much that we figured we shouldn't just leave it on the outside - we should bring it inside as well!  We're going to have quite a bit inside once all is said and done. Ledge stone (different from the field stone used on the outside of the house) will cover both fireplaces, a niche in our master hallway, our master tub and the wall behind it, part of our kitchen island, and our kitchen backsplash area. Our stone masons started on all of these projects this week and I'm loving how they look so far.

Granite was also started this week.  We're not going to have a ton, since granite isn't my favorite thing ever. We did want some though, and I really love the granite that we chose. It's called Juperana Arandis. Fun name, don't you think?  (Thank goodness for the parade home in St. George where this particular granite caught our eye.) 

Our deck is coming along well.  It feels huge now that the floor is in place.

Here's another landscaping shot, this time of the backyard

A few updates

Wow! Now that the hardwood floors have been put in there's been an explosion of activity going on at the house. Here are a few of the latest happenings...

Landscaping has been started! There's not much done yet, but these should make for some really great 'before' pictures once everything has been finished

Kitchen cabinets are going in

Lighting is being installed

And our sweet upstairs bathroom counter tops are almost done

Hardwood Floors 

Our hardwood floors are in and we are in love!  As with many other things, figuring these floors out proved to be a tad difficult.  Choosing the wood and the amount of distressing wasn't too difficult, but the stain was another story entirely.  Nick and I knew what we didn't want - basically all of the samples that we were shown initially - and we had an idea in our heads of what we did want. The problem was conveying that to our builder and Greg, who installed the floors (and did an amazing job!).  We couldn't figure out how to describe the color we wanted, so we relied on trial and error w/ different samples.  We were getting a little worried and frustrated when Nate decided to take us down to a paint store to look at even more samples.  While there Nick told the employee helping us that we wanted something more 'chocolatey' than what we were seeing.  That kind man when into the back,worked some magic, and whipped up a new stain color for us to look at.  He threw a coat of it on one of our wood samples, brought it out to us, and we honestly both gasped.  It was PERFECT! Hallelujah, the right color did exist!  It was such an exciting and relieving moment.  Days later we were able to see the stain on the floor in our home and we were reminded of just how perfect the color was. We love, love, love our floors!

So beautiful!

It's actually darker than this in person, but you get the idea.

Surprise Again! 

The Tophams, our wonderful friends from dental school who now live in Texas, stopped in last night on their way to Utah. They willingly added an hour to their already long drive so they could see us and stay the night. We were so excited to see them and were grateful that they stopped in. We all enjoyed a wonderful evening together! 

Part of our evening with the Tophams had to include, of course, showing them the house. Why? They've actually known about the house all along! We knew they wouldn't tell our family and figured it wouldn't matter if they spilled the beans to their Texas friends, so we let them in on our mega-secret back when we first started the house. We've been updating them all along and knew when they stopped in that we may not have another chance to show them the house for quite awhile, so we went for it. The were so kind to let us walk and talk them through every little detail (hopefully we didn't talk their ears off!) and we had a blast being able to share our secret again. It's getting harder and harder to keep it in! 

All of our cute kiddos together 

(I forgot to get a picture at the house)