Birthday Girl

July 4th was Tuffy's 12th Birthday. Tuffy is Bill's second Brittany named Tuffy. The first Tuffy grew up with Jeff, I guess she was such a great dog, he had to have another one.

Tuffy goes by many names, including Tuff, Tuff-Tuff, Tuffer pupper, and more recently Nervous Nelly-loud noises are starting to really bother her, in fact we had to get some natural calming medicine to help her thru 4th of July fireworks. Thankfully, they really work, last night was a breeze.

Brock 6 months, Tuffy 6 weeks

Brock 12 1/2 years, Tuffy 12 years Tuffy swimming at Rainbow lake along the Tucannon last summer.

Here you go Sunny!

I won't mention names, but I was starting to get a bit razzed by a friend to get some pictures of my kitchen blogged.

The cabnets you can see thru the opening is the laundry area, those run down that wall, they will be painted the same color, but I decided to give my husband a break, so they will get done when they get done!

I need to look for new metal stools.

This picture really show's the color in the slate.
I love it, it was well worth the wait.

Hair By Hailey

Don't you wish that as big girls we had the guts to run around like this?Just being happy and proud we thought of adding that second hair band? The second picture in this post should be a photo of me after little miss decided I needed a headband as well. She applied it in true 4 yr fashion! I decided to be happy and proud, but the batteries died in the camera after I took this picture, so this is all you get, but you get the idea!

5 months of sweetness

Audrey came and hung out with us for a while tonight. What a sweet baby girl.

LJ to the rescue!!

The garden's rescue that is!
Bill has been working so hard on my cabinets. When we started the kitchen, little did we know that 2 of the 3 meat cutters would soon go out for surgery. For the past 3 months he has been working 6 days a week, spending his only day off, and many evenings on refinishing my kitchen cabinets.
I really didn't know if the garden spot was going to get rototilled. No rototilling=no garden, since our soil is hard as rock.
On Friday, it suddenly hit me! LJ, I knew he would love to help his Grandpa! He had rototilled Great Grandmas garden spot this year and borrowed "the beast" to do his friends mom's garden, so he is seasoned! (He is convinced it has a car motor!)
So yes, we can now plant our garden, and yes Grandpa Bill was surprised, and very proud.
Thanks LJ, we seriously probably wouldn't have had a garden this year if it weren't for you!
Grandsons are the best!!

LJ and Aunt Paige

RIP

I came home to a very sad husband, his trusty friend the sander had bit the dust

It's in a pinch replacement, only temporary, I promise

He made me go on line and browse sanders as soon as I got home from work. My very dedicated hubby, working hard on the cabinet doors-

now that's one beer he really earned!

Oh, and it's good to know the hot tub is good for something!

We have grout!!

Maybe not that exciting to you, but it is to me! The tile still needs to be enhanced and sealed, after the grout cures for a few more days. Bottom cupboards still need to be sanded and painted. But it's getting there. We decided to just go clear polyurethane on the oak nose- the edge of the counter top, it really warmed it up a lot, I'm loving it.

Fun on a nice day

Brock and Ashton

Hailey she said she was a bird, looks like she is trying to take off here!

A beautiful smiling baby
and her mommy

Grandma's Flower Garden

Grandma's flower garden is huge and beautiful.
I am hoping to get pictures of all the different phases this spring/summer. The daffodils start it all. I would love to know just how many daffodil bulbs she has planted, And how many she has dug up and given to all of us. We are talking boxes of bulbs.You can see by the clusters, that they had just started to bloom, with many more yet to come. I am not sure what will pop up and bloom next, but it is non stop beauty, let me tell you. She has many many peony's bleeding hearts, those tall purple ball thingies and so much more. By mid summer, it will be so lush with all the plants that you can't see dirt, it is amazing.

Progress

It's coming along. I love it, it is very "us". The pictures are in reverse order, because the more recent, the much nicer the pictures are!
This is the medallion I designed, over my cook top. We used two different color families of slate. The filed is Multi-Peacock, and the small ones in the medallion and three tile mosaic strip are Autumn. It is such a fun natural stone.
My 4x4 metal, there are 2x2 metal's in the corners as well.

Tile up to the window, the window sill will be tile as well you can see tile sitting on it in this picture. This picture also really shows the great color variation. Out with the old!

We are SO proud

Our little girl is considering pursuing a career in the Air Force! Paige, Bill and I met with with the recruiter last week. She is studying hard for the ASVAB every free moment she has.
Maybe nursing, maybe law enforcement, who knows. What we do know is we couldn't possibly be more proud of her!