Transparent blessings

We have been blessed recently by receiving free windows and a few other things. Yes you read it right, free windows!

Our family and old home were candidates for the Salt Lake County Lead Safe Housing Program. They came and painted our lead-hazardous paint and gave us free windows on the main floor and basement. We applied for this grant/program back in June and they finally finished the work today.

Here are a few before and after shots:


We had to be relocated last week for about 24 hours so they could install the windows. They said they'd either provide a hotel or let you stay with family. I was tempted to go with the hotel since that was going to be free too, but the hotel's pool was outdoor and too cold so we decided that Grandma's house would be more comfortable. Thanks mom for letting us come crash for the night. My boys, of course, loved the vacation to Grandma's and the night wouldn't have been complete without a nice soak in a bubble bath.

They were having so much fun that they wouldn't even pose for a picture.

We arrived home the next day and the windows were installed and the white on the porch was painted. Now we'd love to tackle the rest of the porch next spring. We'll see...

Don't fence me in

We put a fence in our yard this weekend. The purpose was to separate the front yard from the back yard and so the kiddies don't run into the street. The boys thought it was fun until Darrell put up the chain link part and found out what was really going on! :)

Darrell did a great job. After he put in the fence I planted some flowering vines so we'll have a gorgeous "green" fence with pink flowers! Yeah!

Trashy idea

Someday when we redo our kitchen, I'd love to put in this cool trash receptacle.

It's a good use of a corner cabinet. There are three sections, I'd use them for: 1- Trash 2-Compost 3-Recycle

http://www.amazon.com/Rotary-Recycling-Center-Hardware-White/dp/B0006NIFNK/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1CLW0QB9J12PI&colid=2A5WBR73LIEHE

Barefoot and...

Barefoot and...carpet! We had the carpet installed in our room downstairs that we've been working on. It's actually been done and ready for carpet for a while now, and today was the happy day to get carpet! :) Right after the carpet guy left, Salem, Oaklen and I took our shoes & socks off and "snuggled" on the new carpet to read books, it was great!


Now we just need to put the furniture back in there. It'll be a spare room/bedroom.

Home Improvement Weekend

We made the most of the long weekend and started redoing the "orange room." This is the last of the bedrooms that has been waiting to be changed.

Darrell is amazing! He got up bright and early on Saturday and Monday to work the WHOLE day. (And also went to The Home Depot 5 times.) Our boys were in utter delight to watch Dad use the cool power tools and see him build a new wall.

My job was to make sure Salem & Oaklen were safe. It was sometimes hard since they wanted to be in there with Daddy. They got their fair share of enjoying the construction. Here are some pics: