Fall is Here!

I can't believe how fast time is flying! It's already the middle of October already! This weekend we were able to visit with Amy and her girls for a bit after we stopped by Cabellas on our way home. Here are some photos of the kids with Bella! =)

First my handsome boy with his favorite pumpkins.

All my kids taking a photo with Bella!

Bella and Kaylie are buddies! Bella was so cute carrying her purse and her cookie monster with her in the store. She was wearing the giraffe overalls I gave her when she was a newborn!! I can't believe she is big enough to wear those now! She looked darling!

Here's the group of us at Cabellas!

A Different Fridge

Well yesterday I spent about 2 hours cleaning out a fridge we bought (used, about 4 years old) in preparation for the swap. It was a LOT of work and my hands are all dry! I should have used gloves. Anyhow, here are the boys playing with the clean drawers. The boys were really helpful in drying them for me and I appreciated that. It was a lot of work.

Here is our white fridge, which I love and it still works great!! But with our kitchen renovation the white just stands out too too much. Well it has always stood out too much with our dark counter tops and dark island, but we weren't motivated to do anything about it until we got this new awesome oven combo! And so we bought a used fridge in stainless so that everything will coordinate better.

Here is the after photo...phew..it was a lot of work getting it in place (thanks Tyler!) but the guys finally got in in place and it looks awesome! It's a GE Profile just like our oven and has the matching handles so that was one of our motivations for getting this one. Our other motivation is that it is one of the types that does NOT show fingerprints very easily and that was important to me. I can't stand fingerprints on stainless!! So this was a big priority!! The kitchen is coming along, it is very exciting! =)

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month we bought some pink ribbon cookies. Not that we need any reminders, I think our family is well aware, but we are pink ribbon fans around here so I just had to get the cookies too!

Two Anniversaries

This past week we celebrated 2 anniversaries. Monday was Scott and my 13th wedding anniversary! We took the children out to celebrate the happy occasion that brought about life for all of them!! We went out to dinner as a family and its been soo very long since we have done that, so that was fun!

Here is the lovely rose bouquet Scott gave me! =) The other anniversary happened last week and that was my 3 year anniversary of my diagnosis with cancer. How grateful I am to be a 3 year survivor and I hope to live for many more anniversaries! =)

Oven Project Update

Well if you have been following the blog lately you'll know we are working on our oven project. This last week Scott got the top cabinet out finally (it was really stuck) and he rebuilt the side cabinet where we fit the cookie sheets. He also rebuilt the side drawer and built a casing above the oven that will support the counter top when we get that rebuilt. So it is coming along!


Here's a sneak peek of what we are thinking about for our kitchen...back splash and new paint on the cabinets....we are still making decisions so more to come on this later!! If only Scott didn't have a full time job!! Then our kitchen would be done in a snap! But reality is that he has a real job he has to complete before he can play around with our kitchen project. So we have to be patient!!

New Paint

One room that we have wanted to paint is our music/guest room in the basement. Scott chose the new colors for it, as it will be his beachy themed music room. It was a dance room for the previous owners and the pink just wasn't working for us!

So we hired our favorite painter to paint over the pink. Here's the before photo...



Here's the after photo...it'll make more sense once we finish decorating, but the idea is that it's SAND and WATER!! Hence the wavy line across the wall. I'll show you more photos once we finish the decorating, but I'm excited to have the pink gone and more calming colors replacing it!

The Hair Truth!

Ok I have been keeping my hopes up these past few weeks, but I think reality is really sinking in! I'm losing my hair, lots and lots of it! I have been losing my hair for the past 3 weeks pretty intensely. It's been wild! I think I've already lived through this haven't I??? I really can't believe its happening again! No one told me this would happen....of course I am a rarity...but really, this is ridiculous!!

We thought at first my hair was coming out due to the steroids I had been on, as that has caused my hair to thin in the past. However, with how much is coming out the past 2 weeks, Scott now thinks it is a result of the chemo in my brain. That chemo was not suppposed to cross the blood/ brain barrier but it appears to us that is has! Why else would I be losing my hair?

So I can't wear my hair down anymore because it is so thin and shows bald spots like crazy. I wore it down Sunday and it was really embarrassing since there were so many bald spots! And remember my hair is curly now. I LOVED it when it was thick and curly....well that is a thing of the past!

So the past 2 days my hair has been coming out from the roots, in handfuls...it is scary beyond scary now. I'm really praying that I get to keep some...even just a little bit. It was such a journey for me before, I REALLY don't want to go through that trial again.

Keep your fingers crossed for me..I can hardly put my hair in a clip now...there isn't enough hair to put up! =(

Our Oven Project

So all those weeks I laid in bed watching home design shows I just wished I had the energy and ability to DO something about the ideas. Of course I had to wait until our life calmed down a bit!! =) Well this past weekend Scott and I decided to tackle the Oven project. The oven project has been a year in the planning so I am excited we are finally THERE!

Here are our ovens before...We had two small ovens in this space. We wanted to open the kitchen up more and so we are taking out the ovens and putting counter top where they were previously. The double ovens will be replaced with a single oven sized unit that has two ovens in one spot! It's a new oven from GE! We are replacing the white appliances with stainless ones.

Here is the progress on Friday Night. Scott and Tyler successfully removed our double oven unit!!

This was Saturday afternoon...Scott was able to cut the unit apart...what a sawdust mess..it was pretty crazy in our kitchen!

Saturday night....5 pm, this is what we have! The new unit in screwed in so it won't fall, but its several inches too low and Scott still has to build the supports for the top so that the counter top folks can work their magic. It will probably take us a few months to get this project finished but I'm excited we are started. Scott has to modify the two side cabinets before the cabinet maker can come back and measure for the new doors he is making for our lower cupboards. Meanwhile I need to find room for the dishes that were displaced removing the lower cabinet. But I am so excited to have more counter top and to have a microwave ABOVE the oven instead of on the counter top! Hooray!! I'll post photos as we progress. =)