April was another busy, productive month. Two steps forward, and one step back. Here we go...
Some days life just calls for a giant blanket fort:
There is a show that Ryan and I like where one of the main characters really likes calzones, but no one else does and they all make fun of him. Funny enough, I really love calzones and this inspired some calzone making (and regular pizza). They turned out amazing.
Another fun Home Depot day. This time he made a butterfly feeder. You are supposed to put fruit it in and it attracts the butterflies. Currently it is being used as a home for his rock collection.
To give you an idea of the undertaking of tilling in bags and bags of manure and mulch, here are some pictures of how much Ryan went through. Actually no, this was only a fraction of what it took to get the whole back yard done. I wish i could say I helped with this, but I didn't. :( However, you can see in the background of this picture another grow box. We added two more from the February post.
Conference weekend was great. I finally had enough of the Neapolitan wall and decided to fix it. I don't think painting all the way up was every going to happen and quite frankly, I really like the look of just having it straight across! I traced a line from ceiling to ceiling, added tape, and finally painted it all one color. Doesn't it look so good?! I was super proud of myself. There were a few areas where the electricians had cut extra holes that Ryan's dad had patched and tried to texture. The texture did not match. Granted, we didn't know how to make it match because it was nothing we were familiar with. We had planned to address these areas, but it just wasn't happening. So I painted over it and called it a day.
We went to Lowe's between sessions on Saturday and purchased our first peach tree. This particular tree doesn't need another tree to cross pollinate with, which is great. It may be little, but I it is amazing how much character that tree has added to the backyard!
Just as the last session of conference was ending on Sunday, I heard a strange noise. It kind of reminded me of static from a radio that hasn't been turned off, but also kind of like a faucet that's been left running. I wandered around trying to find the source. As I approached the half bath, something caught my eye and I looked up. There was a huge wet spot on the ceiling. I called to Ryan thinking that maybe the faucet up in the kids bathroom had indeed been left on and flooded, but that was not the case.
Ryan sprung into action and cut a hole in the ceiling to figure out where the leak was coming from. He pound a pin prick hole in the pipe - tiny, tiny. But even a tiny leak can cause a lot of damage. With little choice, he headed out to Home Depot to get a pipe cutter and a shark bite (bit?) to fix it.
Can I fell you how much I love having a handy man as a husband? There is nothing that boy can't do. We turned off the water, he cut the pipe, and attached a new piece within a few short minutes. It was awesome! We turned the water back on and there was no leak. Go Ryan! I will admit that as this was happening, all I could do was laugh. Ryan did not find it as amusing and asked why this was so funny. I just told him that we were so proud of the progress we were making on the house that it was about right that something should go wrong. I really did find it funny. Got to keep us humble, right?!
Now Ryan is also very capable of fixing the sheetrock and putting up texture. However, the texture on the ceiling is super thin and we didn't know how to replicate that. We thought it might be best to have someone come fix it for us so that it wouldn't stick out. The hole in the ceiling would just have to wait.
In the mean time - back to the zoo where we got to ride the carousel for the first time. Pierscen was SO excited!!! Devry thought it was pretty amazing too.
So while we waited for our ceiling to get fixed, I went to work on another project. Remember how I said the bathroom and office were both colors I didn't mind and planned to leave? Well... the bathroom needed some touch up in areas, especially around the top of the wall following when I painted the ceiling. I scrapped some of the paint off the baseboard and took it to Home Depot to match the color. It appeared to be a perfect match, but when it dried, it went much darker and the tone of the paint totally changed. So there went the idea of not having to repaint. I asked Ryan if we should pick a new color, or just go with something we already had. I don't remember his answer, probably because he didn't care, so I opted to use the same gray as we used in our master bath since I had just enough leftover. I painted around the edges and then opted to remove the toilet tank to paint behind it. I've done it before. It's not terribly hard and I really dislike it when people DON'T paint behind the toilet. So I went to work. I got the nut off the bolt on the right side with no problem. The one of the left put up a big fight. I kept wondering if I was losing my mind and turning the nut the wrong way, but I couldn't figure it out. So I turned it the only way that it would turn. I turned and turned it until CRACK!!! A large crack spread across the tank and though I had turned off the water and flushed to drain the tank, there remaining water at the bottom of the tank began to leak onto the floor.
This particular day was a really bad day already. I was struggling with some very dark depression - something I've never had before. Sure, I have bad days here and there where I am down on myself, but for the most part, I feel pretty level headed. But this day, I felt like there was a total mist hanging over me. I was deeply depressed. I knew without a doubt that tomorrow would be a better day and that I would find my way about of this oppressive sadness, but in the mean time, I couldn't fight it.
I burst into tears and threw the wrench. All I wanted was the remove the stupid tank, and I couldn't even do that! I sent Ryan a text telling him that if he wanted to be mad at me for breaking the toilet, then fine - but leave it at work. I told him I couldn't handle him being angry with me. To my relief and surprise he ended up laughing really hard, replying that "not ever man can honestly say their wife wrecked the toilet." I will admit it did make me smile and I am grateful beyond grateful for my amazing, loving, patient husband. After work, we went and bought a new toilet. (The previous one wasn't a great toilet anyway, so hey - I did us all a favor!)
With the tank off, I was able to peacefully paint around the toilet with no further incidents. And I have to say, I like this bathroom gray much better anyway. It's lighter, softer, and makes it seem bigger.
Following the toilet episode, we made a quick three day trip to Colorado Springs to meet up with Ryan's siblings for a mini reunion. We stayed at Nicia's, though we hardly saw her at all. The cousins had a great time and even though it was short, it was a great trip.
We went to a park in the Black Forest area and few kites, played kick ball, played comando, ate lunch, and rolled down the hill. Following the park we went for a swim at the YMCA. It was a great visit!
The grass arrived in six boxes. Each plug of grass has to be planted individually. It has no viable seeds so you can't grown sod. It grows as a vine, spreading roots and runners.
I got to work, hoping to get as much done as I could before Ryan got home, but let me tell you what. It is long tedious work. Breaking up the roots, making sure the plug is at the right level, and then filling in the dirt takes a ton of time. I only got a few rows done before he got home.
We spent the better part of the day and clear until the sun had gone to bed trying to get the rest of the plugs in. And we still didn't have enough holes in the end and were still out drilling more until it was bed time. Together we planted 864 plugs. What an endeavor! I will post more pictures on the progress soon.
Pierscen was pretty proud of this sidewalk art his made for Oma totally on his own. I was impressed too!
I just love the picture below because it shows his dedication. His shorts fell down and he just kept on working. Go P!
April means birthday month to our amazing Ryan!I managed to get him a few gifts he hasn't not expecting like some new work shirts and his favorite German mineral water. (Thank you Trader Joe's for sharing this by the case!) Our friends watched the kids that night and Ry and I went to Red Lobster for his birthday. :)
Some just because with this little lady, especially since she has a bow. They don't normally last long.
My favorite little pal helped me make a new 5 gallon bucket of laundry soap. Thanks P!
We opted to paint our front door this month. The brown was okay, but I wanted something different. Red it is! P was dying to help out with it and I can't help thinking about the Israelities painting lambs blog above the door to avoid the angel of death that struck so many Egyptians long ago. I love the way that it turned out though. It is a really beautiful dark red.
A group of us gals went to the zoo on earth day. That was a mistake. There were billions of people there. But the boys had fun.
Ryan snagged this picture of puppy Devry getting a drink. Haha
We finally made it out to the cemetery to find Sarah and Bill, Necia's sister-in-law and father-in-law that passed away in 2006. It took some work to find them since we had a section number, but there were no markers stating what plot was what. I called Necia and she gave me the general location, but we still couldn't find them. Then I got a hold of Pam, Necia's mother-in-law. She gave us the same directions as Necia, but this time Ryan found them. The instructions really were the same, but the both said they were right next to the road and I guess Ryan and I have a different view on "right off the road." I'm just grateful we found them so that we can go back to bring flowers. We sure miss them!
We hired a guy (not on Craigslist... or maybe he was, but he has a legitimate business) to fix our ceiling, patch the doggie door on the outside, do some stucco work, and fix all those spots we had patched and tried to retexture. Ironically, though the only art hanging in my house is a giant picture of the Timpanogos Temple right when you come in, it was a copy of the Teachings of the Prophet book that he spotted and started asking me questions about the church. It wasn't deep doctrine or anything, but at least there is one more person out there that now knows we don't practice polygamy. Hahaha!
The spots on the wall that he redid look way better. (You have to use a texture gun to get that to match. It's no wonder we couldn't do it.) But the ceiling... well, it was no different than what we did in Casper. We absolutely could have done it ourselves. His version wasn't as thin as the original either. Ryan was frustrated that we could have saved money and done it ourselves, but I just had to remind him that you pay professionals to get it done. Yes, we could have done it. But when would it have gotten done? It took us four months to fix the Neapolitan wall. And that was a really easy fix! So hey - at least it's done!!! Of course, being a painter, he noticed that our stairwell is only half painted. He offered to do that and the ceilings in the kitchen and living room (now that the lights were finally done and the patch work was all complete) for an additional $500. I should have taken him up on the stairwell at the very least, though he wanted me to supply him money so he could go buy his own paint. I already have the paint! Probably not enough, but I can get more without shelling out a bunch of money for him to get different stuff. But I must be a glutton for punishment, because I opted to paint the darn ceilings myself.
Anyway... more on that in just a second. The picture below I snapped of Devry after a bath because she actually has ringlets! I need to take a new picture because her hair has grown and they are even more ringlet-y. It is so cute!
Now this is big. As you likely know, I am a serious comitaphobe when it comes to decor. I can walk through a store and show you what I like, but I never buy anything. Ever. That's why there was only one item at this point hanging on my walls, and it was the temple pictures. But because I was redoing the half bath, I started thinking about what decor I wanted to put it in. I had a rough idea of what I wanted, and then I decided I was just going to make my own. And this is what I came up with:
I bought the wood, cut the pieces, painted, assembled them, found the jars and flowers and pieces everything together on my own. I love it so, so, SO much.
I am seriously so proud of myself! I've never done anything like this before, but I'm really happy with the results. They are unique pieces that are 100% me. I love it! See, there is a silver lining even in "wrecking" your toilet. ;)
When I'm not crafting... we fly kites at the park.
At home, Ryan replaced the existing light fixtures in both the kids rooms with this oiled bronze, low profile LED one. They produce a tone of light, but look much more updated. Once again, thanks Ryan!
And then there's Devry, who we kept finding with the unopened (thankfully) caulk up her nose. No, it's not nose spray baby.
As promised, back to painting the ceilings. Such a pain in the rear. No, we don't have money laying around to just spend willy nilly, but guys - ceilings are the worst. Especially when you are cruising along and almost finished when you run out of paint. Like completely run out. Noooo! I was so close! Pout, pout. Sadly, it's not like it really mattered because I had to do a second coat anyway so I wouldn't have been truly finished even if I had had enough, but still.
Though I don't have a picture, because it would just be of a white ceiling, I did get it done. A lot of work! Very tense neck and shoulders. But I did it. :)
And to end the month, here are a couple pictures of Ryan and Devry. When Pierscen was this age, he was right next to Ryan doing exactly what he was doing. Devry wants to be there too, but there are times it's less about what he's doing, as it is just wanting to be with him. It's pretty sweet. We sure love our kids! And I am so grateful they have such an incredible father!
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