Basement Bathroom

This bathroom was disgusting! It was old, rusty, yucky and had plants trying to grow through the window...which was clear, unobscured glass, talk about a lovely view :)





 Did I also mention there was no insulation, water damage, a sewer pipe sticking out of the wall, a blue toilet and matching blue 4x4 tiles, no fan, one light and no storage? Plus the previous owners had tried to "spruce" this bathroom up by painting but they didn't sand, prime, tape or cut in the edges and they painted the ceiling lights and never wiped it off...they must have forgotten EVERYTHING.

 Bart and I spend lots of time and money trying to make this bathroom, functional, comfortable and pretty.  We insulated the walls-which meant drywalling and framing, moved the heating duct so it would actually work, and added a fan, replaced the old electrical (it was a fire hazard) and got new outlets for bathrooms/water splashes.

Then we added light(S) so you can see yourself in the mirror and in the shower. Got a new toilet, sink and granite vanity, new tub and all new plumbing and hardware to go with it. Bart then installed tile in the shower and new flooring. Then we sanded and primed and painted, put in new hardware for the towels and toilet paper and lastly Bart made a cabinet above the toilet for storage.

Finally the finished product.

We are very close to renting this basement apartment. Keep us in mind for anyone looking to rent two minutes from BYU in Provo.



House odds and ends

    Before we left for Hawaii Bart finished tiling/grouting the kitchen backspash and when we got home I sealed the grout. The last time I posted about the backsplash we were still trying to decide if we should stop the tile half way up the wall or go up to the ceiling.  We decided to take it to the ceiling and I am very pleased.

Beginning

Middle



 Almost done

    The other projects that I am in charge of are finding rugs for the living room, nursery and hallway.  I've been perusing overstock, rugs USA, rugs direct, home decorator, west elm and even Target Home Depot and RC Willey for months looking for runners for the entryway and hallway. I finally found the color and style that I love 3 weeks ago from West Elm. I ended up buying 2 runners because our hallway is 14 feet long, someday I will tape/sew them together but right now I am just happy that I got them because this rug is already "no longer available". So I am grateful that I jumped in a bought 2 and didn't talk myself out of it.

    I also bought 2 rugs from Overstock with their Presidents Day coupon for the nursery.  I only plan on keeping one rug but Bart has a favorite and I have a favorite, so no decisions have been made.  I want to chose the rug first for this baby boy nursery and then build from the floor up-it colors and textures, etc.

I'd love your opinion on the rugs.

This rug is 100% wool and it's very soft and thick. It's more masculine, was less expensive and is Bart's favorite.

This rug is more contemporary, doesn't have the multiple shades of blue (to pull from for decorating), is thinner and more expensive BUT I like it.



Is that your final answer?

Canessa final answer: BOY
Bart final answer: GIRL
The Doctor: GIRL
Chinese Gender Calender: GIRL

Guess who was right?  It's a boy and we hopefully get to meet him June 30th.
He also has a big nose, big biceps, and big feet....just like DADDY.

XOXO

Hawaii booklist

I read a bunch of books while vacationing. Nothing is better than lounging on a beach chair with a lovely view of the ocean...and the occasional whale, with a drink, the right amount of sun and shade and a great book.  Since I don't do goodreads I thought I would given you my book review here.

Okay For Now. By Gary D. Schmidt

This was my favorite book...and "I'm not lying" :).  I like the way the author writes, I like that the character is a 8th grade boy and the setting is back in the 1960's. Doug, the main character has a terrible father and mean older brothers but when if family relocates he is embraced (slowly) into the town/people which changes his life forever. This book made me feel really angry, grateful, happy and it even had me laughing out loud.  If you are going to read just one book-read this, don't be a "chump" :)


Matched. By Ally Condie

This book reminded me of The Hunger Game series, with a mix of The Giver and a little bit of Twilight. This is easy to read, the character is a17 year old female and of course there is a love triangle. This is the first book of the Trilogy, written by an author from SLC...maybe LDS?. This is another young adult fictional novel. If you are interested, put it on hold at the library and you can decide if you want to read it in 3 months when it's available.

Anne's House of Dreams. By L.M. Montgomery

This is the 5th book in the Anne of Green Gable series.  I must admit that I like the first 4 books better.  Maybe it's because Anne Shirley is grown up, or maybe it's because she and Gilbert are "old married" folks or maybe I just needed a change for a while but either way I do really like the series and if you haven't read them before I would a least give Anne of Green Gables a try.

The Entitlement Trap. By Richard and Linda Eyre

My grandparents gave Bart and I this book for Christmas. This book talks in depth about our society of "entitled" children and how we can raise children who don't feel entitled and have respect and ownership for their own life. If any of you parents out there are interested in a "self help"/parenting/finances book I would recommend that you get this.  The authors (a husband and wife team) have been writing and lecturing on family and children for 30+ years. I would offer you my copy to read as long as you don't steal it :) because Bart and I plan on reading it again.

I think I read another book or 2 but I can't remember them, so they must not have been memorable or I am just forgetful.  I would love to hear of any good books that you guys have read recently.  My next book will be The Wednesday Wars. By Gary Schmidt.

Sites of the island

Volcano National Park

Waipi'o Valley lookout

Waipi'o black sand beach

Green Sand beach

Akaka Falls

La Kea-the southern most point of the USA

"Turtle magnet"- I used to call Bart a chick magnet but now I call him a turtle magnet. Every time we went walking, snorkeling or swimming...even boogie boarding, the turtles found Bart.

Thurston Lava Tube

Tomorrow is our last day. We'll see what it brings :)

Hawai'i, the Big Island

We said good bye to Maui and boarded our 9 passenger plane.  Have you ever been on a commercial flight with 9 passengers and the pilot?  The girl at the front desk, check us in, took our bags, weighed us with our personal item, then she and the pilot loaded the luggage and she walked us out to the plane and assigned up our seats according to weight and then she closed the airplane door. On a side note it is rather depressing to get weighed on a scale at the airport...in front or your family, PREGNANT, with clothes and shoes on...and holding your large personal item/purse...after you've eaten breakfast.  That was not a fun number and I'm not looking forward to getting "fluffier".

Flying over Maui

The main crop is still sugar cane

The 45 minute flight to the Big Island was great.  We flew over Maui, saw the Molokini Crater, saw the other islands around Maui...Lanai and some other name, saw whales off the shore of the Big Island, and flew over the lava fields. It was great and I didn't even get motion sick.  Speaking of motion sickness that is one of two down sides that I have found with being prego and travelling.  I am much more prone to motion sickness.  I vomited at the top of the Haleakala crater-I got out of the van and started to feel better but then walked passed the foul smelling outhouses and that put me over the edge-literally and figuratively. I also felt queezzy on our flight from SLC to Phoenix.  The other downer of vacationing is NO hot tubing and I love sitting in the hot tub.

Molokini Crater-has great snorkeling and scuba diving with one of the smaller islands in the background.

We made it! Only a couple minutes of bumps and turbulence but a much noisier flight than a jet.

We read, napped, walked on the beach and....ATE, after landing in Kona.  Bart found us an "all you can eat crab and prime rib" buffet.  Can you guess how many crab legs Bart ate? Just Bart? 20, twenty, two zero.  Yep that's my boy-I told him he can gain all the sympathy weight he wants to with this pregnancy.

Bart's crab

Aloha and mahalo to all those that left such nice comments about our "announcement"/Bart's goal making :)

The Art of Goal Making

As I'm sitting here on this geologic equivalent of a ticking time bomb - and enjoying the false sense of "I've made it in life" - I would be remiss if I did not do a blog post. The topic I have been assigned to blog on today is goals. The blogopric asked that I keep my thoughts short and to the point, and since the youth blogger has already taken care of our blogging needs in the last couple of days, I feel inclined to shorten this even more.

Goals are something many of us make each year, and even more of us fail to fulfill each year. However, this new year, I learned a very valuable lesson from my wife. It is a new method of accomplishing goals. I have coined the term "canecessarily accomplishing your goals".

A couple of weeks ago, i was out of town for work. In the evening, as is our custom, I called to chat. Our conversation went well...... Well, that was until I learned of one of her new goals. Her goal was for me to update our finances. In case you could not tell, this necessarily requires me to do something in order for her to accomplish her goal. I must admit, the hardest part of the goal was convincing me to do it, so I must give her some credit.

Anyway, she thinks she had the upper hand by cleaverly manipulating me into accomplishing her goals (this was just one example), but in truth I am the one to have pioneered this method in our relationship several months prior.

It may not be common knowledge, but I have had a longstanding goal of procuring offspring and an heir/heiress. Little does she know, but my wife is "canecessarily accomplishing MY goal" this year.

So I Guess this ought to be considered our official announcement to those that may not know...... We are expecting our first baby around the end of June/beginning of July. We will find out if we are having a girl/ boy on February 15th. We are very excited.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Middle of the Mid-Pacific.....

Haleakala National Park

We heard from numerous people that while on Maui we should go see the sunrise over the Haleakala crater and then bike down the mountain-so that's exactly what we did. We got picked up from our hotel at 2:50 AM from Bike It Maui and shuttled to the 10,000 foot elevation of the crater which is 7 miles across and 22 miles around.  The stars were beautiful when we first arrived and we left with a lovely sunrise.

If you are wondering why I am wearing a beanie, 2 coats, 2 pears of pants and gloves it's because it was COLD. 30 degrees with a wind chill.

After the sunrise we shuttled out of the national park and started our bike trip.  Big sturdy bikes, comfy seats, full helmets, and a 7000 foot decent over 28 miles. Lots of fun.  I loved the wind in my face and the different smells-we went through a eucalyptus grove and then a street with lots of plumeria flowers.

This last photo is of a pineapple plantation that we stopped at. It was a fun day but I was pooped by 2:00PM.  I'm lounging around the hotel tomorrow for sure :)

Maui

We are staying in Kaanapali, in Maui. The resort is lovely, the beaches are nice but the water is too cold for my liking. I got in anyway and I'm glad I did because Bart and I ran into 2 sea turtles munching on moss. It was fun to float over them and see the other marine life.

Other than snorkeling, we have sat, read, ate, napped, swam, did some site seeing and watched whales out in front of our hotel.  We are waking up at 2AM today so we can drive over to the volcano, watch the sun rise and then ride a bike back down the volcano. I'll let you know how it goes but I plan on napping on a beach chair tomorrow afternoon.

O'ahu

Since Bart has never been to Pearl Harbor, I thought it was worthwhile to spend a little extra time and money to go over and see the USS Arizona Memorial.

Bart likes to read and watch movies about World War II and he truly appreciates the men and women who fought that war and those who are in the Armed Forces today. Bart's Leeflang grandparents were in the thick of the war over in Holland and Germany and my both my grandfathers were involved in WWII-one on a boat in Korea and the other doing engineering.

The movie that the Memorial plays is touching and shows actual footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

We also decided to go tour the USS Missouri-were the peace treaty with Japan was signed. It was fabulous. I've never been on a battleship and I loved it.  I would highly recommend that you spend the extra $22 and 2-3 hours over at the USS Missouri.

It was a quick 24 hours but I'm glad we went.  Next up Maui.
Aloha