again, we spent this fourth of july in monroe with our families and the usual festivities.
the girls loved the parade, beth finally got the concept of chasing down candy :)
miles was cute and cuddly and we all had a good time. my brother, travis, and his daughter, megan, were in town so they joined us all day.
after the parade, we all went over to central for the town lunch on the park.
the girls raced in their age groups, but i think beth got overwhelmed or scared, or both, and sort of froze up until the race was over. then she charged her way over to me ;)
they had a huge slip and slide again this year and kate had the time of her life. she was totally upset when it was time to leave! beth, on the other hand, wouldn't go near it because of the constant sprinkling of water (to keep the whole thing wet)
shhhh...... but i think i scarred her for life (or for a year or so) by giving her cold showers every time she pooped her pants... ooops, sorry babe!!
couldn't be the fourth (or twenty fourth) without an afternoon golf game! i know i'm always the one taking these pictures, but you better believe i'm out there playing, too!!
we ended the night back in richfield for fireworks. we met with weston's family at the rotary park and let the kids run crazy with glow in the dark stuff. i don't even know how much of the show they paid attention to, to be honest!
it was just as well - it was a looooong fireworks show. towards the very end, the rain clouds rolled in and started a small storm. i have to admit, i took the opportunity to end the night, be done watching fireworks, and head home ;)
weston's department had a summer party for employees and their families held at the provo beach resort. we had about 2 hours to do whatever we wanted, so after grabbing a quick bite and a couple rides on the merry go round, we took the girls upstairs for some bowling.
kate's got a great technique - just look at that foot turnout ;)
beth cheering her sister on
beth's ready for her turn
and once that turn is over, quickly realizes the concept of actually taking turns.
after several frames, we headed downstairs to the arcade and let the girls pick whatever games they wanted (the company had provided payment for all the activities, so we could go for anything - it was really great) the girls took their turn on dance dance revolution. it was basically a riot - kate was just jumping on all the arrows while beth stood in the center and twirled like a ballerina :)
i threw a bridal shower with annie for jessica. i themed it around their dates and dating history.
the food coordinated with specific, sometimes special dates, we played the "how well do you know each other" game around their dates, and we asked the guests to bring gifts to be used towards date nights. it was a lot of fun!
first date: ate chinese food and looked at the stars
first valentine's: went out for mexican food
best dates: lots of outdoor, hiking, running dates
first trip: munched on Golden Delicious apples in Yellowstone
first kiss: watched a movie - couldn't remember which movie, though! ;)
i painted those doors for days!!! then i had to fill all four edges with putty, sand cured putty, and paint finished edges. shoot me.
i had designated 2 doors next to the sink to be framed over ribbed glass. when kent sent me with the doors to get the glass cut, he had sent me with the wrong doors. doors that were only wrong by about 1/4"... we didn't find this out until they were ready to be picked up. big boo.
i had to take 2 new doors to get measured and wait another couple of days. but the biggest bummer of this mixup? not the cost, not the hassle - the painting of 2 new doors!!! seriously? i wanted to cry.
in fact, in the middle of painting doors, at some point in that week, i did have a little breakdown. i cried and cried and felt like the whole thing was going to feel homemade and super ghetto. i was feeling like we should have just gone with our original plan, which was to buy stock cabinets and have kent install them. there was no going back. we were way too far and had already spent close to what we would have spent on said cabinets. i felt stuck and sad. this was before i had turned the corner on the doors... once i could see the light at the end of the tunnel on that project, i felt a whole lot differently. that combined with seeing a couple of doors hanging - that helped, too.
anyway....
we had a plumber come in and update some of our plumbing: the washer hookups and under the kitchen sink.
i can't tell you how exciting it was to have a sink after not having one for a couple of weeks! and it's just so pretty! i love the sink - it's huge and gorgeous and white and pristine and the new faucet is awesome, too :)
i sort of joked about the backsplash the whole time we've been talking about and planning for this kitchen. i always planned to have a subway tile backsplash and weston seemed more wishy washy on that or just leaving the beadboard. i had watched enough home improvement shows my whole life that i felt like i could tackle the backsplash. so the joke became that i would just do it on my own when weston was traveling and he'd come home and it would be done. the funny thing is that when it came time to do the backsplash, he was gone! so i did it solo and it was actually really fun.
the only problem i ran into was that i had to leave the job halfway through to go to a bridal shower and when i came back, the thinset i had left here and there was set up. yikes. all over again, thinset is not my friend ;) but i scraped it off and made it work.
i had a tile scorer that i used to cut and trim the tiles and by the end of the day, i had it all set. i grouted the next day and wiped it clean. i l.o.v.e. the results! love it!
remember those glass doors i mentioned before?
how much do i love this cabinet?!?! so pretty.
weston and i both wanted a magnetic knife strip. one afternoon, as i was perusing ikea, i came across their version. perfect! since i had already finished the backsplash and wasn't about to try screwing into the tile, i ended up gluing an anchor piece of mdf to the wall and then gluing the magnetic strip onto that. i had tried using the provided screws to anchor the strip to the mdf, but all that did was split and crumble the wood. after several attempts to make it work that way, i realized i could try just gluing the metal to the wood and hope for the best!
so far, so good ;)
the last thing we did to the kitchen was replace the light fixture over the sink. we wanted a pendant and found this simple globe to hang. but of course, nothing can just happen easily, right? the wiring and switch for this location basically refused to work, no matter what configuration was attempted. we had kent, my dad, and a construction-minded friend in the ward give it a go... no dice. however, scott (the friend) stuck at it for a few hours and called his dad (who really knows his stuff) and together, they figured it all out. thank goodness for awesome people!!
i love everything about this area of the kitchen - the sink/faucet, the natural light at the window and how it bounces off all the white, the little shelves, the styling... i just love it here :)
ready for the big reveal???
these photos were taken before we put handles on the doors, but most everything is in place and finished..
the pantry
the laundry storage
and, if you want to see the whole thing complete, here's a video i made for my brother so he could see the results.. just go ahead and turn your volume off or ignore my commentary for him ;)
i am beyond glad it's over!!!! i, of course, love it. i will say, however, that i'm still sort of emotionally drained and i think, because of that, i am sort of ambivalent in my reaction. like, people will ask, "do you love it?!?!" and i have like no energy to respond in kind. i just sort of sigh and say, "yes, of course. i do love it. i'm just so glad it's done." which, i'm sure, doesn't sound like i really do, in fact, "love it."
we are the coltons. we have been together since 1996, husband and wife since 2004 and parents since 2008. life is busy but that's the way it should be!
