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Yippee!!

The washer is hooked up!!!

...the dryer is not.

When we moved in, the laundry room (or what we were planning on using as the laundry room) was a kitchen, with no laundry hookups. We tore out the kitchen right away, but didn't get to hooking things up until later on. Will was able to turn the old sink connection into a washer connection. It took him a while and two trips to Lowe's because nothing would fit right, but he got it and it's great! There were washer and dryer hookups outside in a little addition on the side of the house. (They sure did a lot of weird things with this house.) The addition is right in front of the kitchen window, so we're going to tear that out as well, as soon as we get to it. Problem is, when they put the hookups out there, they also tore a big old hole in the brick wall. So not only do we have to get all the electrical lines back down to the basement, but we also have to patch the brick, which hopefully won't be too hard, but who knows.

Sneak peak:

This is the wainscoting that we're putting in our kitchen. I LOVE it! It's going to be so pretty when it's done.

The house: Before

Will and I are officially homeowners as of three weeks ago. We bought a fixer-upper in the South-West Salt Lake area. I am SO excited about it! Sorry for taking so long to put pictures up - I just haven't been able to until today. Honestly, I have always wanted a fixer-upper. I love home projects, and turning something old and ugly into something beautiful. If you've ever seen any shows like "Flip that House", that is my favorite type of TV show. Our house is around 2200 square feet, with 6 bedrooms. (Yes, that is a ton of bedrooms for 3 people. BUT...there will be more people eventually, and I've always wanted a place for sewing!) Unfortunately there are a few things that have to wait to be fixed (such as the flooring) because we have a limited budget. Here are some pictures of the house:

This is the front of the house. I couldn't get Will out of the way so there he is! Notice the 7 or 8-foot-tall rosebush.

 Here is the backyard. Nothing too special. Of course it needs work, just like everything else. There is, however, an apple tree that I am very excited about! I hope the apples are good for some pie making this fall.

This is *going* to be the master bedroom. They obviously didn't use it as one, but we've got some big plans for it!! (Tractors not included)

This is the bedroom right across from the master, and it will be Kaylee's room.

This is the living room. Lovely black marble flooring...in the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway and bathroom. What were they thinking?!?

The kitchen left a little bit LOT to be desired. Greasy DISASTER. I don't know what these people did, but it was a mess. Everything was covered in grease. The countertops were falling off from rotting wood underneath.

Water damage? That's what I thought it was at first. Nope...grease stains.

This is...a chili pepper. Stuck to the ceiling.

The kitchen window - half broken out, covered with a piece of drywall, the other half covered in cardboard and spray paint.

This is the cupboard underneath the sink. There was a drip, and it certainly caused a little problem down there - tons of rotten wood, mold and mildew, and cockroaches. Gross!

The dining room. Should I keep that chandelier? The walls in the kitchen and dining room are all a lovely green stucco. Don't know why they wanted stucco inside their house, but whatever.

You know those little buckets of spackle? This was one BIG bucket of spackle - or at least what we used AS spackle, sort of. We used two of these buckets (5 gallon buckets) plus a box of top coat to fill in the stucco kitchen and dining room walls. That was a lot of work.

The ceiling in the living room was like a cave. Not because it was dark, but because it had hundreds and hundreds of stalactites.

 Here I am sanding them down!!

Will and me after an exhausting 3 hours of scraping and sanding.

This is a stain on the wall after 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of paint. It was fascinating - I would paint over it, and it would be gone. Then it would slowly reappear right before my eyes. Finally a coat of oil-based primer did the trick!

And of course..can't forget my little helper here. She watched me scrub the floors and then she decided to take a shot at it.

These last three weeks have been great! We have gotten so much done. No more pictures for now though, you will have to be patient to see the "one-month" pictures, then in a few months (maybe years...) the "after" pictures.

We love the neighborhood here. People are so friendly and nice. We're the worst house on the block and everyone is so excited to have us move in and start fixing it up. The ward on Sunday was especially welcoming - I have literally never felt so "wanted" before in my life! It's kind of an older community, but plenty of babies and kids as well. I think it's a good mixture. I really think this will be a great place for us to live! Stay tuned for more updates...

Mini-Update...

Things you don't want to hear while redoing a house:

"Where's Kaylee?"

Employee at Lowes:
"Back for more?"
Our answer "Always"

Another employee at Lowes:
"You guys almost done?"
Our answer "Just getting started!"

"Ohh, THAT'S what that was hiding..."

*groan* "You guys have a LOT of problems. There is no WAY this is going to fit. Ahhhhh..." *groan* (For the record, with a bit of wood and creativity, it fit)

"Kaylee, NO! Don't eat that! Yucky!!!" (this is the most common one)

"Oh man, we're out of that again??"

"There's a huge hole in the brick..."

"Is that a cockroach or just dirt?"

(Note: I have heard all of these the last two weeks)

4th of July...a little late

I've been meaning to post this for a few days now, but 1. I have been so busy this week and 2. it's really not that exciting, so...I took forever. But we had a fun 4th of July! It was a little spread out, though. On July 2nd, we watched fireworks from up high behind Will's parents' house and saw basically all the fireworks in the area at the same time (in Provo, a lot of the fireworks were on the 2nd because that's when they did the "Stadium of Fire" show). On the 4th, we went to see the Provo parade. Kaylee loved it. After that we went to a little barbecue, also at Will's parents' house. Then that night, Will and I watched part of the last Lord of the Rings movie (it was too long to watch the whole thing at once, because I'm a wimp and can't handle more than a couple of hours). Anyway, that was our Fourth of July.

Here is Kaylee in her dress that I made for her! She had a matching bow as well, but a little boy ripped it out of her hair at church and it got lost. She has a pretty funny expression, but it's the best one I have. I sure have a hard time getting smiles out of her for the camera. She sees it and immediately gets serious.

Waterpark!!

Kaylee and I went to Seven Peaks waterpark today. We have season passes so we'll probably be there a lot this summer! Kaylee absolutely loved it. She got so excited when the "ocean" waves came in the wave pool, even though one went over her head. She didn't seem to care one bit. She got a little bit adventurous and tried to crawl into deeper water, but I wouldn't let her - so she tried to stand up and walk into it, but that didn't work out so well. She did, however, stand up without holding onto anything today. I think that's the first time she's ever done that. I guess there's nothing like a big pool full of kids for an incentive! She is probably the friendliest baby I know. She LOVES playing with other kids and babies.

Here we are! Kaylee doesn't look too happy for this picture. She was about ready to go home.

And...the end has come

My original pumping goal was one year. I toyed with the idea of trying to go longer, but the thought of that usually didn't last too long because I DESPISE pumping. I mean really, really despise it. At first I didn't mind it because it was so much better than what we were doing before, but after a few months I slowly starting hating it more and more each day, till about a month ago I honestly could not stand it anymore. Neither could Kaylee. She knew what it meant when I got hooked up to the pump and would start crying and trying to climb on me every time. Part of it, I'm sure, was she could sense how much I disliked it, but I also know it was hard for her because the more mobile she gets, the more she wants to play. It's hard to find enough time for my baby when I have to spend 2+ hours pumping every day, plus cooking and cleaning, and taking care of Kaylee in general. That leaves...well, no time at all for me, which didn't help either.

It got more and more stressful because my milk supply was slowly but surely dropping - even with 7 pumps a day, and often one in the middle of the night, I could barely keep up with Kaylee's eating. I'm sure my family noticed at Christmas time (and my husband's family the past few months) how cranky I was. Now, my family might not think that's anything new (I've always been the cranky one), but pumping made me a MEAN person, and I just kept getting meaner!! I was starting to be really shocked with myself. I didn't want to be so horrible and mean, but I felt like I couldn't control it. Mainly taking it out on Will, which of course is not fair at all. He is amazing for putting up with it.

So, I am quitting. 9 1/2 moths - it KILLS me that I couldn't make it to my goal. I remember crying when I started pumping, and now here I am crying that I'm not anymore. But I know for a fact that this is the best thing I can do for my family at this time. Just like I knew that pumping was the best thing I could do for Kaylee, now NOT pumping is the best thing I can do. I need to get my life back, and be able to be the mom that I want to be. Breast milk is irreplaceable, but so is this time with my baby, and I need to focus on that instead of pumping. I want to thank everyone who has supported me in this and especially thanks to Will, because he had to deal with everything first hand, and he was amazing. I pray that the next baby will nurse like a pro, and I will never, ever have to deal with anything like this again!