Swing Set

Before we knew that we would be up to our ears in medical bills, Matt worked a couple extra shifts at work so that we could purchase a swing set for our backyard for the kids. And even though I love the swing set, that money would be nice now that we have these medical bills.

But, money aside, Matt looked for a long time on line and in stores before we picked a metal Lifetime play ground. We wanted metal because then we wouldn't have to worry about splinters, or sanding, or staining it, or warping.

It took Matt, a couple of weeks to put it all together because he was doing it in his spare time. Now that it is up, it looks awesome. The kids love it, we love it, and it definitely makes the yard feel like more of a play space. Before, when we would go to the backyard to play, there wasn't really much to do. I really had to entertain the kids myself the whole time. But now, I can send them to the backyard to play and I don't have to entertain them and it is awesome.

Here are some pics of us playing on the set.

 This is my favorite pic. Look at Dan's eyes! They could pierce you!

Here is a pic of the whole swing set. It has the swings and the clubhouse and slide. All the basics you need. This should last us forever.

Action shots! Oh yeah, I'm getting better with my fancy camera.

Sun Shade

Our backyard does not have any shade. We don't have trees that shade the yard and the kids want to be outside everyday! They love being outside and playing in the yard and we are constantly slathering them up with sunblock. And, as it gets hotter, it is just blazing hot to be sitting outside in the yard.

So, Matt came up with the idea for building a sun sail just outside the back porch.

It is a pretty simple concept. Four posts, cemented into the ground and a sail that is tethered to each post.

 To posts are high and two posts are low, so when you look at the sail, it kinda looks like a triangle, but it is really a square.

 And now we finally have shade in the backyard all day long!

 It isn't waterproof, but we don't really see ourselves being outside in the rain anyway, so it just shades us from the sun. The kids love the shade, but I think that I love it a little more than the kids do.

It didn't take Matt too long to build and because we did it ourselves, it wasn't too expensive either. Much cheaper than buying a gazebo or canopy that you just assemble.

Nicole was obsessed with the ladder. She kept trying to climb the ladder and help daddy when he was putting up the sail. She is getting more adventurous all the time.

Much, Much to Tell

So, much has occured since my last frivolous post. I told Matt a couple weeks ago that I would like a toy chest for Nicoley as I am tired of her toys being scattered around the house. So, last Saturday, Matt announced that he could probably build a toy chest with scrap wood that we had. This is the result.

This is pre hinges, but the top got hinges after the paint dried and it looks great! It is purple and matches Nicole's room and I now have a place to store her toys! I have an amazingly handy husband.


Thursday of last week the In n Out in Orem opened. Matt is a huge fan of this burger place, so we had to go on opening day to get burgers. The line was out the door and about a 30 minute wait. Getting a seat seemed more difficult than waiting in line, but we survived and got our food and a seat. It was delicious. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries and I only got this one picture of Matt, but I think you can see the excitement.

Nicole rolling around

Saturday, I went to see New Moon with my sisters. It was definitely better than the first Twilight movie. I was on team Jacob before and my place is more solidified. Yes, I know how it ends, but I've got alternate endings in my head that do not involve a weirdly named baby.

Nicole in her new Sunday dress

Then, on Saturday afternoon, Sarah had her bridal shower. My camera was still batterless, so you will have to visit Marie's blog for pictures. Sarah had a pretty good turn out and the food was really good. Mom out did herself with this one, it was great. I think that Sarah had a good time.

Sunday Matt was sick so we stayed home and lounged. I'm tired of sicknesses going around. It should just stop.

This week is Thanksgiving, so I am excited to have extra time with Matt and my family.

Things Matt Builds With His Bare Hands!

A few weeks ago, we had Anne, Carlitos, and little Lucy over for dinner. We put on a movie in our downstairs family room for the kids to watch. Little Lucy has learned to crawl and loves to pull herself up on things. She also likes to be right in front of the tv, touching it. So, she decided to pull herself up on the tv. But, our entertainment system is not deep enough for our ginormous tv. So, we put a board under the tv to get it to fit in the entertainment system. This makes for a precariously balanced, front heavy tv. We immediately realized how dangerous this is for small children when Lucy decided that playing with the tv was a fun game. The tv didn't fall when Lucy decided to play with it, but it made us realize that it will not be too long before our little Coley O is crawling around and also trying to pull herself up on the tv. We needed a new solution.

Matt first suggested that we get a new tv (flatscreen of course). I countered that we just needed a new entertainment system because all the dvds, game systems, and satelite were down at kid level where they could grab and destroy. Matt came around to my way of thinking and we decided on a new entertainment system because it is a lot cheaper than buying a new tv. But, Matt wanted to build it himself to save money and so that we could customize it to our needs.

Unfortunately, I neglected to get a before picture of the entertainment system because once we decided that we were going to build it and we had designed on paper what we wanted, Matt immediately started to dismantle our old entertainment center. He used the wood from the old center to help build the new center. The following is a step by step picture montage of the process of building the new system.

(I did none of the work and Matt did it all. He is very skilled and it was his first piece of furniture that he ever made.)

We decided that it would be safest to mount the center piece to the wall so that even if Nicole did climb up on it, it would not fall on her. (Matt is paranoid about this because a few years ago a child was killed at Circuit City from climbing on a tv display.)

He used the bottom of the old system and cut it to fit the size we wanted. He made a frame mounted to the wall and put up backing that would serve as the back of the system.
Then, he was able to salvage wood from the old one for the sides and the top of the system. You will notice the hole in the side there, that is for the computer to go in and out.
He walled off the section for the computer so that the computer can come in and out of that side compartment. We are using the tv as a monitor so that we can watch media online on the tv (like Hulu.com).
The side door flips up and out and the bottom slides out like a drawer so that the computer can be slid in and out. Matt came up with this idea and used the drawer rails from the old system to make it work.
Then, he built a bunch of shelves inside to fit all of our components and some dvds. He also built rails out of wood for sliding doors in the front. He used his table saw to build his own rails rather than buying premade rails. Here is a pic with him testing the rails.
Then, he built shelves on each side of the main unit to house our dvds out of the reach of small children. These are also securely mounted to the wall.
Then, he bondoed it all together, caulked, and painted them all for a sleek, clean look. I did nothing of this, but I did watch the baby while he worked on it every day after work for two weeks. So, I feel like I contributed a little. Plus, I helped to design it.
The other day we were at Target and we noticed this 42 inch flat screen on sale for $400. It was a discontinued tv and it was on clearance. Plus, the only one they had left was the display, which they sold to us for an addition 30% off. So, Matt got his wish after all and got his flat screen tv.

Here is the finished product with plexiglass doors and plenty of dvd and storage space. I love it! It turned out better than anything we could buy. And, we did it all (tv included) for about $500. I'm so glad that my husband is handy and willing and able to build things with his hands!

My Mother's Day Gift

This is the first year that I got to celebrate Mother's Day. It is a little surreal. I often don't think of myself as a mother. Matt came up with the perfect gift for me though. He built me a linen closet. It is an open shelf linen closet in our bathroom. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a before picture. But, there was just a closed wall next to the vanity in our bathroom and Matt punched holes in the wall to see if there was empty space in there where he could build shelves. Luckily, there was!

Here are the shelves in phase three. It was an open hole for a while and Matt had to frame and drywall the shelves. He is all amazing and stuff.
Here's my man hard at work. It took him only a week to build the shelves, he was determined to finish before mother's day.
Stage four, with the boards up, but pre paint.
Matt also fixed some spots on the wall in the hallway.
Completed shelves! We kept them open so that it would have that "spa" look. I ruined the look with putting a bunch of stuff on the shelves.
I have top and bottom shelves. I forgot to rotate the pic.
Here's me with my new shelves! I had a great mother's day! We relaxed, went and saw my mom and came home and bathed Nicoley. It was a good day.
In other news, here are my latest pictures of Nicole. Here she is sleeping on the bed. I thought she looked so cute with her hands clasped like that.
This pic os from Mother's day. Coley O was smiling for me. It is rare when she smiles, but Matt was able to snap the pic because she didn't see the camera. When shse sees the camera, she usually stops smiling and looks confused.
This is Oley O just hangin' with Mommy during the day. She often gives me this look. I don't know what it means.

Our New Floor

Last week Matt began work on our new kitchen floor. We decided to go from ghetto linoleum to awesome tiles! Matt ripped out the linoleum earlier in the week and I neglected to get pics of the floor before hand because I'm the worst! Then, on Friday, Matt started laying down all the tiles. Here is a shot of the beginning of the process.


Matt's hands took a beating during the process. His right hand was all cracked and not good looking, so he is showing his displeasure at his ruined hands in this pic.


Matt got all the tile down on Friday night. Then, on Saturday morning, Sarah came over and helped Matt grout and clean the tile. I was not helpful for the whole process because I'm all pregnant and deficient. It is hard for me to get down on the ground and move around on my hands and knees (as is required for tile work). I blame the baby entirely. Luckily, my prettier and less fetus like Baby came and was a good helper.

Here is a pic of the floor after all the grout is in. It has been cleaned once, but it is still all grouty.

Then, on Sunday, Matt cleaned the floor again and moved all the large appliances back into the kitchen. Which I loved because I disliked my refrigerator in my dining room. Matt is showing off his mad dust panning skills in this pic.


And then we were done and I have a brand new tile floor. I love it! It matches the cabinets better than the green linoleum and it is less white trash. It also makes the kitchen feel bigger. Kudos to Matt for all his awesome and efficient work on the floor. I really did nothing during the process. I fetched food for my husband worker and took pictures. I take no credit for all the floor's brilliance.