Another Home Improvement

About a month ago I decided that it was time to ripe the carpet off of the stairs leading downstairs.  I had this plan to take off the carpet and then paint them.  I thought it would be a job that would take about  week or two to complete.  

 Not knowing what was underneath the carpet didn't concern me as Kent was sure it was cement.  Underneath the brown carpet was a layer of ugly green vinyl that just peeled right off.  But, underneath that was a layer of uglier brown/tan vinyl that was glued down.  After scraping for hours and not making much progress, Kent figured out the best and fasted way to remove both the vinyl and the glue (towels soaked in hot water and then scraping the glue off).  We were done in no time.   





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Look, it is good wood underneath these stairs!  Good news.  



The bottom part of the stairs were another story.  After scraping off the two layers we discovered that 4 of the steps were not in good shape.  In fact they were disgusting.  We also discovered that underneath the these stairs there were cement stairs.  After taking out the rotted stairs were we able to rebuild them and glue/nail the new ones in place.  

Next step was to prime all the steps.  I chose to paint the steps a chocolate brown on the treads, and pain the risers white.  I also added molding along the outside edges and also the joint where the riser meets the treads. 

In all, this project took longer than i had planned (just a little over a month to finish).  I am pretty happy with how they turned out.  I also painted the walls a lighter color which just makes it looks that much better!

Kitchen Island

We replaced the countertop on our kitchen island.  Out with the formica and in with the granite.  We love it!  We also made the island look much better by doing some board and batten.  Not bad for our first attempt at it.

Here are the last pictures from our great trip to Hawaii!.  Enjoy!

Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii

We spent a few days at Mount Kilauea where we stayed at the military camp. It was so a lot of fun. There were so many different kinds of scenery to enjoy.

Hawaii

We had a great time on our trip to Hawaii! We had so much fun that it's hard to decide what we liked best.Here we are after we got to Kona, not dressed for the warm weather!

Stayed with our good friends Carol and Harold Parker. They were great hosts.

This is the view from the Parker's lanai. We were able to watch whales, boats, kayakers, and parasailers from here.

Hapuna Beach. The most photographed beach on the Big Island.

We went to Church while we were there. It was Fast Sunday and a great meeting. Next to the ward building was the Kona Temple. This is Pololu Beach, a black beach at the End Of The Road on the north shore of the Big Island. It was quite a hike down to the water but worth it. Just a few of the pictures we took. Will post more later.

3 Months Old!

Can't believe that our puppy is 3 months old! His name is Apollo 2, but we just call him Apollo. Kent wanted to keep the name in the family:) Not sure where he is on the charts, but he weighs around 47 lbs and his paws are HUGH.

Out With the Old (and I don't mean Kent)

We made some changes in our bathroom. We got rid of our medicine cabinet, it was very old and outdated.
We installed a new bigger mirror so now one person (Kent) doesn't hog the mirror all the time!

I think it looks so much better!

Puppies!!

In July our dog Charlie had her puppies! She had 8, three boys and 5 girls. They are two weeks old today and they are so cute!Here is picture of the dad to these puppies. He is a big German Shepherd dog and has long hair. Hoping some of these puppies are big like him!

Visitors

We were able to have all of our kids home with us in June. Heather, Trevor, Jakoby, and Taylee were here for two weeks and then Kelly, Mike, and Rylie, and Tyler, Kati, Quincy, and Braxton were here for a week. We had a fun time with everyone here! The grandkids had a fun time playing outside, going for rides on the 4-wheeler, playing with Charlie and Rocky, watching movies, and other fun stuff. While everyone was home we also had the chance to take new family pictures. My niece Christa took them for us and she did a great job. Thanks Christa!

I also helped Heather make a blessing dress for Taylee. It turned out pretty cute.
We also went to Malad for this cute little girls baby blessing. It was a great day!

Indianapolis

A few days after Taylee was born, we were able to go to Indianapolis and help out Heather and her family. We had such a fun time and our week there went by very fast! She is such a quiet and sweet baby. Already miss holding her!!

Our first adventure was spent at the hospital where she had to be weighed and have her bilirubin checked. It was only supposed to take an hour but our wait time for everything was more like 3-4 hours. Poor Jakoby, he was getting very bored. Jakoby is going to make a great big brother.These two became great buddies. Having lunch at Hardees.

The cute mom and baby. Heather, Trevor, Taylee, Jakoby. On our sightseeing tour we passed through Carmel, Indianapolis. It had the cutest main street with quite a few statues of people, like this one. This is also the town where the new temple will be built.

We had such a great time and can't wait to see how much Taylee has grown when we see them again this summer.