One fine Saturday morning in January (1/21/12) we were busily cleaning up the house. The kids were doing their chores and cleaning up messes. Pretty soon Javan strolls in and asks the kids to come get all their stuff out of the living room. "Not a big deal" I thought. That's what we were working on doing anyway. Then he says "I need to call someone to help me move these couches." So I'm thinking in my head, "Wow, he is feeling really ambitious today. He wants to vacuum under the couches." I'm also thinking "You know, I am 8 months pregnant, but I can probably help slide the couches around to vacuum under them." And then he says "I'm going to tear out this fire place and wall today." WHAT?!?! So now I'm thinking, "DO YOU KNOW I'M 8 MONTHS PREGNANT! I AM TRYING TO GET THIS HOUSE READY FOR A NEW BABY. I HAVE LOTS OF CLOTHES AND BLANKETS TO WASH AND FOLD. THIS IS NOT WHAT I HAD IN MIND FOR THE NESTING STAGE OF MY PREGNANCY." (Yes, I was yelling this in my head.) I also said this and many other things out loud. But through all the conversation, Javan promised that he would get it all put back together before the baby came. So thus it began. (Some of the pictures aren't very good quality, but it's what we have.)
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| Javan tearing down the ugly old fireplace that I have hated passionately since we moved into this house. |
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| Tearing out the wall. |
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| Looking into the dining room from the living room. The wall being taken out is a load bearing wall so temporary walls were built to support the ceiling until we got a beam in place. |
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| Javan had to climb up in the attic and move the insulation out of the way so it wouldn't keep falling out onto the floor. It wasn't his favorite part. |
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| Now, looking into the dining room from the living room. New beam and post in place. There used to be a solid wall there with just a doorway into the dining room where the post is. And see that blue chair on the far right. That was my seat during this project. |
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| We had to make a trip to Salt Lake to get the materials we needed for the house. At one of the Home Depot's we went to there was a guy selling puppies. He had about 8 puppies in a basket. Ryan had to hold everyone of them. He wanted to bring one home so bad. I told him we were going to have a new baby, instead of a new puppy, and Mommy couldn't take care of both. |
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| New fireplace all framed up and ready for the rock. |
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| About half way done. |
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| Ethan and Ryan helping lay the cement board, getting ready for tile. |
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| Starting on the tile. |
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| Almost done. I even scooted along on my bum and helped him grout the floor. |
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| Now on to the hard wood. |
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| And here's the final product. With new banister and all. Just putting on the finishing touches. This picture was taken on Ethan's birthday (2-18-12). |
So while Javan was doing final finish work on the living room. I climbed my very pregnant self up on a ladder to wash the blinds. I heard Ryan yelling something a few times but I couldn't tell what he was saying. After a few minutes, I asked Javan if he could go see what Ryan was yelling about. So he set off to find Ryan. Meanwhile I kept washing the blinds. A moment later Ethan comes running up the stairs saying "Mom, I'm bleeding!" I look over to see Ethan cupping his other hand, and blood pouring out. I hopped off the ladder and grabbed him and ran him into the bathroom. At first I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from. I stuck Ethan's hand in the sink and started the water. At the same time I can hear Javan yelling my name from my bedroom, telling me he needed help. "There is poop everywhere in here!" I'm yelling back at him "I can't come, I have blood everywhere." After rinsing off Ethan's hand I see that he has about chopped off his thumb. Unbeknown to us, Ethan had taken a large dagger/sword thing outside and was chopping weeds and sticks with it. He then decided to hold a stick in his hand while he chopped off the end of the stick. Unfortunately, his thumb was on the stick and in the way. Ethan doesn't do very well with blood and injuries, so when he saw his thumb he got very lightheaded and almost passed out. With my pregnant belly, I couldn't lift him, so I half carried, half dragged him into my room and on my bed. All the while trying to keep pressure on his thumb to stop the bleeding. We had now entered the "poop zone". Apparently, Ryan had done his business in my bathroom and was trying to take care of it himself. He slid off the toilet and made a trail of poop as he went. Then while trying to clean himself up, would wipe and put the used toilet paper on the floor next to him. And this is what Javan came in to find. (I know this is very graphic, and too much information, but I'm trying to convey the few moments of chaos we experienced that day.) After a few minutes, Javan had Ryan in the bath, a load of laundry in the washer, and the bathroom all cleaned up. When we finally got the bleeding to stop on Ethan's thumb we decided that since the cut was on the fingernail, stitches would not be possible so there was no need to visit he ER.
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| Ethan's birthday injury. this picture was taken the day after. The top portion of his thumb nail eventually died and fell off. |
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| A picture of the living room a few months later. We finally got rid of our 12 year old couches and upgraded to these. |
Javan finished the remodel just a few days before the baby was born. So glad I have a husband that is driven and hardworking. I love him to pieces And we love the new room. It has opened up the house so much. And I can't express how happy I am to be rid of the old fireplace. Now, what should we tear down next?
I guess that makes this the big kid table. They're pretty cute too.
Jax's first Thanksgiving. He was loving the yummy food.
The next day Shan and Mike took us to Durango to ride the Polar Express. We were all super excited. I dug out the Polar Express movie and let the kids watch it on the way over. We arrived in Durango, got checked into our hotel, changed into jammies and headed over to the train station.
A family photo at the train station.
Here comes the train!
Ethan and Ally amazed by the train.
The boys with their golden tickets.
And the girls.
Finally made it to the North Pole to see Santa and his elves.
Ally couldn't believe it. Wouldn't it be great to be a kid again.
Santa even got on the train to come see all the kids.
Santa giving Ethan and Ryan a jingle bell.
Then they sat on some horse statues.
That night back at the motel the kids had a great time in the pool with their cousins.
What a fun weekend spent with family. Thanks Mike and Shan for the early Christmas. We had a blast. Love you lots.
