Welcome 2019

Helping with Harvest

The day after a snowstorm that closed the roads for two days

One of many trips to Lowe's with kids

Shad helping syringe feed the runt puppy from Aunt Rylee's litter.
He died shortly after from a birth defect. 

I finally got my Speed Queen dryer delivered.
But I still don't have my washing machine from the trailer. :(
Yes, I'm part of the Speed Queen cult following. We do 20 loads a week
and I have loved Speed Queen. They are commercial,
solid and made with mostly all metal, no plastic junk. I've had the fancy
curved, front load washers. They fall apart. I talked to the repairmen before we
made the decision. They said they rarely see Speed Queens. 

The hardwood floors...here's what happened. We ordered these floors months ago and when I looked at pictures online, I wasn't that impressed. They were too patchy, but they are tough and that's what we need. They are acacia which is basically like teak wood. It's a shrub from Asia and is harder than oak and water resistant. But, it was patchy. So I ended up, with help of kids, going through every single box and separating them into color categories. All the darkest boards went downstairs, and the lighter ones are going upstairs. There are still plenty of in-between boards so the upstairs won't look like a completely different wood. But below you can see the crazy contrast from light to dark. It looked like a patchwork quilt. It was fun picking all my favorite boards for the first floor.

Isn't that a crazy difference? Is it just me?
One of my sons decided these lighter boards looked cowboy,
 so they are gathering all those into their rooms.

This is the hearth, sideways. I really couldn't find any hearths
I liked the looks of and I didn't want wood underneath.
It's a big stove and it'll be used a lot. So, we got this dark grayish color tile.

That's my four-year-old's apple.
He takes a bite and leaves. :( 

We had company this weekend. My brother, sister in law, and her sister and husband,
all came to help with the house. It was a fun time!
I enjoyed having help sorting and the men calked and painting and laid flooring.
We went on a date and swam with the kids. 

I was really grouchy on this day and it was lucky for our kids,
they got invited to go on a sledding playdate. 

James let them get the snowmobile out and ride around the yard.

James trimmed these windows. I was so proud of him.
They look wonderful. He spent a lot of time making them look perfect and painted them very nicely.
They are even better than I expected.

From my little brother's wedding. (Left to right: Me, brother Garrett, brother Grant) My sister and other brother were unable to make it. So was my husband. :(
It is nice to see them happily married. The've known each other for almost 10 years I think. He inherited three children and he's a great dad.

I've been a little whelmed the past few months and a little grouchy this week...ok since Christmas. I hope no one thinks our life is just happy, fun pictures. I'm real, it's not. We were actually just featured on a pretty big website called Sullengers.com. They asked us to talk about our financial troubles from of the past.

The grouchies end though...the sun comes up and things seem to get a little better.