October Highlights

Ever since we got our new granite counter tops I have been calling our granite blueberry granite because it looks like little blueberry pieces are in the granite.  It seemed only fitting that I make blueberry muffins so I could compare the counters to the real thing.  They look very similar to me.

 Holly made a lego model of the main level of our house a few months ago and in October she made the upstairs.  It is very accurate.  Holly is so talented with legos.

 In October both Megan and Emily got their braces off at the same time.  It was an exciting day.

 We took advantage of a sunny Saturday and tried out the trails at Cougar Mountain.  There were lots of tall trees and leaves that crunched when we walked on them.

Nathan lost one of his front teeth.  The other one is loose so he may be singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth"  this year.

 We colored lots of Halloween pictures and hung them on the wall in our kitchen.  I love children's artwork.

Megan completed her first season on middle school badminton.  She had fun participating with her friends but hopes she wins more next year when she isn't the youngest.

Megan also had her first band concert.  She is in a beginning band and plays the flute.

 Grandma and cousin Amelia joined us at the band concert.

  Emily and Holly were at the ward trunk or treat that night.

 Scott, Melissa, Megan and I went to a fun Halloween party together.

I got to meet Scott for lunch at his new office.  He showed me all around and I even got to pose at his desk. I sure appreciate that Scott goes to work everyday to support our family. 

 I bought some crafting supplies at paper source so I could do a few new projects.  I love paper crafting.

 My first project was making birthday cards.  I had bought the patterned cards at Target a few years ago.

 Don't they look good with the new Happy Birthday labels on them?

A Birthday and Clay Sculptures

Last week Nathan turned 7 and we celebrated as a family.  Here he is posing with his presents.  This is his cool guy pose.

Here is his cheese face.  He got legos and some of his favorite snacks.  That beef jerky was the first to be eaten.

 Here he is with one of his completed Lego sets.  He loves building new sets and never needs any help from us.

Melissa loves crafts so we ordered some sculpey clay for her.  You cook this clay after you make things out of it so your creations last a long time.  We got a multicolored pack in the mail and these three were pretty excited to show me all the colors.

Melissa got right to work making cute small animals.

Here are some of her creations.

 Nathan tried his hand at clay animals and he was pretty good too.

 Here are his creations.  A small shark, a turtle, a bird, a narwhal, and scary black bunny.

Today I am thankful that:

*Emily and I have had fun going to some model homes and open houses together.  We aren't planning to buy a new house but it fun to see houses.  In this fancy model home the granite was the same kind that we put in our kitchen.  We were happy to see that.

 *Holly had a great time at Husky band day at the University of Washington with her band and about 15 other high school bands.  She is out there on the field with her band.

Here is a closeup of her band.  Holly is in the middle of the back row playing the piccolo.

*Scott safely returned from his work trip in New Orleans.  We really missed him but we are glad he got to have some new adventures like riding this Segway on a tour of the city.

Granite Countertops

When we moved into our Washington house 8 years ago we said maybe someday we will replace the tile counter tops in the kitchen with granite.  Well that day has finally come.  On our wedding anniversary Scott and I went and looked at granite.  I picked out this pretty piece of granite.

Last week I snapped a few pictures of our old countertops and we got the new granite installed.  Our tile was actually in good shape and a nice color but the grout was gross.  Really, who ever thought it would be a good idea to put grout on kitchen countertops.  

The one good thing about the grout was it made a perfect place for an egg that you needed to use in a recipe.  The egg would stay right there.

Our sink was ceramic and very scuffed up and the grout around  that was especially disgusting.

 One the morning of the install a man came and hauled away our old sink and counters.

 There he is taking out the island.

 Here is a picture with all the counters removed.

 Then the new under mount sink was installed.

 Then the new granite went in.

 They rolled in the island granite on a dolly.

 Here is the completed look.

Here is another look at the tile. 

For one day the new sink looked like this.  We really missed having a functional sink in the kitchen.

 Nathan kindly posed for a picture from below for me.

 Then our home teacher/handyman came and installed the faucet and sink hardware.

Here is a reminder of the what the old sink looked like.

The granite by the window was cut too short so that still needs to be fixed but other than that we are happy with the result.  The one thing I miss about the tile counter top and sink was that it was old and strong and I never worried about banging it or scratching it.  I feel like I need to be a lot more careful with the new granite and sink.

Today I am thankful that:

*The kids had a good first week of school.  Usually the first week is super stressful for everyone but this was better.
*Scott got a new job at Microsoft that he will begin in a few weeks.  He had been looking and we had been prayed for months that he would find something new so this is an answer to our prayers.  This new group is friendly and organized and the work will be more interesting for him.
*I got to attend Relief Society in my ward yesterday.  I serve in the young women's program in my church so I rarely get to attend RS as it is the same hour as the lessons I teach.  Yesterday was a combined YW lesson so I ducked out and enjoyed RS with the great ladies in my ward.

A week of celebration

Last week both Megan and I had birthdays.  We started out the week celebrating Megan's birthday. She opened her presents first thing in the morning and then had her friend Lucy from church over to play.

Megan and Lucy put fruit on Megan's fruit pizza.  Normally I make a fruit pizza for my birthday but this year Megan wanted one for her birthday.  It is such a yummy summer treat.

Then the next day Megan had two friends from school come with us to Idylwood beach.

 On our way home from the beach we stopped by McDonalds for an ice cream treat and present opening.

The next day it was my turn to celebrate.  Holly and Megan hung streamers across my bedroom door while I was showering that I could break through.  I often hang streamers across their doors when it is their birthday.

 The highlight of my birthday was getting a new dryer.  We got a new washer about 5 years ago but kept our old dryer because it was working great.  Unfortunately last week it stopped working (it was 15 or more years old) so we ordered a new one.

 The new dryer was delivered around 2pm. Delivery time was between 8am and 2pm and of course they came at the very end.   First they pulled out the old one and gave me time to clean up under it.

 We keep baby wipes on hand for cleaning and they did the job perfectly.

Here is the new dryer.  They didn't have one that was a perfect match for our washer but this is pretty close.  We were without a dryer for 1 week which equals 8-10 loads of laundry for us.  I was able to do our laundry at my mom's house which was a blessing but doing it in my own house is best of all.

After the dryer was installed I took my kids to McDonalds for treats (we had been hanging out at home all day waiting for the dryer).  I got a chocolate milkshake and we ate our treats in the van.  We laid down one of the seats to make it like a picnic table.

 Scott was waiting for us when we got home with flowers and donuts.  He made our dinner that night.

 Then the next day I was able to go and celebrate with friends.  My good friend Leticia organized this birthday lunch for me.  I have so many friends at my church and 7 of them were in town and came to the lunch.  They all brought me presents (which was so sweet) and then they paid for my lunch.   Since it was my birthday the waitress said I could get a free dessert.  I got brownies and ice cream that I shared with the ladies.

 I am so grateful for my friends and Megan's friends and our great family that helped to make our birthdays so special.  We got lots of cards and that we can continue to enjoy on our mantel.