Summer fun with the family. Swimming and then lunch out by the pool. Jennifer, Jessica and Courtney after swimming, ready to eat.

Barbecue chicken salad and fresh pineapple. Girly lunch

Jaxon and Boston eating their hot dogs.

Sorry Tyler, he was at the pool party also, just didn't have a kodak moment with him. Loved having everyone over to swim and eat. Afterwards I was thinking this is the only way you can eat lunch outside in Mesa, Arizona during the summer. Swim and get cooled off first.

Jennifer made a bench for Kenny for Father's Day. We don't know where she got the talent to build/make things, cause neither Kenny nor I have the patience for it. She sawed, cut, leveled. We don't have many tools for her to use. She borrowed the drill from Jason and sander from neighbor (Darwin Hall).

Sawing each wood piece by hand.

Staining the bench.

It's nice an sturdy! Good job Jen!!!

One of the fun things that I do at work is decorate the bulletin board in the Health Office. I really enjoy doing this. It's probably what I enjoy most at work (that's a secret). April - Spring weather - needed color. "Sky's the Limit" with balloons. Love the color - I think I'll leave it up for May also.

The valentines bulletin board. I love the polka dot wrapping paper for the background. I die cut hearts out of magazine pages for the tree. Traced my hand and arm for the trunk.

St. Patrick's Day

I made my own border. I shredded several shades of green paper, secured them on tape, folded them for double thickness and stapled around the board.

Kitchen Remodel

It has been so long since I have blogged, that I couldn't remember how to log onto my blog - sad I know. We had a pipe break behind our kitchen sink around Christmas. I smelled a musty smell, but I couldn't find the culprit. Early one morning (the end of March) Kenny walked into the kitchen (barefoot) and water squished between his toes in front of the kitchen sink. Water was seeping between the seams of our wood floor. We knew we had a problem. The pipe in the wall had broken. These are the pictures of our remodel journey. They're not in order, but there are so many that I'm leaving it. 1. We put in Pull Out Drawers. Love them. So much easier to retrieve the stuff in the back. Sawmill Cabinets installed them and did a wonderful job.

2. Old kitchen for 26 years. Oak cabinets. I had a hard time breaking down and painting them. I loved them. I was drawn to white cabinets while researching them in magazines and online. So, decided to paint them white - encouraged by my daughters, discouraged by Contractor (Monty Hogle). Red paint served it's purpose but now it's time for a change.

3. Old dishwasher, and windowsill. I didn't always have everything that is pictured in the windowsill there, I had to remove everything off from the corian counter tops because they had to remove the counter tops to replace the damaged cabinets. We were hoping the corian would break so we could get new counter tops, but they didn't.

4. All the cabinet doors removed and in the back yard being painted white. Microwave used to sit on shelf, now it is removed and will be over the stove, and the shelf will be made into 2 cabinets. Paint samples on the wall, trying to choose the color of gray I wanted.

5. Sawmill Cabinets replaced the damaged cabinet where the sink was. Old dishwasher removed, no sink, no running water for 4 weeks. No running water in the kitchen was the hardest part of the kitchen remodel for me. I had a new dishwasher the 2nd week of the remodel, it had to sit not being used for 2 more weeks, we couldn't have running water until we received our new faucet in the mail.

6. Kitchen after remodel. Things that are new: White cabinets w/ hardware. Pull out drawers. New microwave and dishwasher. New faucet. Backsplash. Corian in window seal. Crown molding on top of cabinets. Gray paint. Wood floor replaced in kitchen. New kitchen table (Thanks to Jason and Courtney)

7. Where microwave used to be, now 2 new cabinets.

8. Kitchen taped off for painting. Two days

9. New white cabinets. I love how it brightens my kitchen. It seems more open, even though my kitchen has always been very open.

10. New limestone backsplash. I was going to put in subway tile and Jessica went to Monterrey tile with me and talked me into putting these cute limestone colored stones in. We brought home samples and the family was united in the decision of the limestone backsplash. Love It!!!! The color pops out a little more after Monty sealed them.

11. A closer look of limestone backsplash. Hardware on cabinets. I had to get used to using the handles on the cabinets, but now it's a no-brainer. New corian window seal, matches my countertops. New Price Pfister faucet. Price Pfister replaced the old faucet because the sprayer was broken. (luckily I had saved the paperwork on the old faucet). We had a miscommunication with the company, they told us they didn't make the white faucets anymore (yes!) and that they would send us a sterling silver faucet for free. They sent us a piece of the sterling faucet, not the whole package. We called them and told them that wouldn't work, a piece of stainless steal on a white faucet. They agreed. They said they would send us the whole faucet and we would get it in 5-7 days. We waited patiently - 14 days, I called them. They said they didn't have any faucets in stock, I would have to choose another faucet similar to the old one and they would send it if I paid for the freight. Deal. I let them know that I was unhappy that I had been 1 month without water in my kitchen waiting for a new faucet - which I thought was on it's way. Oh well. Kitchen faucet arrived, but our plumber was out of town - patience being exercised again. Kitchen is pretty much finished, cupboards were cleaned out, Goodwill received boxes of unused kitchen items, and I love my new bright, clean kitchen.