The Shower is Complete!

Tiling, tiling, tiling. That's all we seem to be doing these days. Above is a cut that Matt is very proud of. He had to "plunge" cut four sides to make the opening for the shower control. That means he had to take the tile and push it down on the blade blindly until the blade comes through without cutting all the way to the edges. It was very scary for me.
Today also took a lot longer because Matt had to Miter cut all of the edges of the tiles for the corner here so that they match up.

The border on the end of the wall here gave us a lot of trouble. The border is stone and very delicate. It took a few tries before we got it mitered just right.

Before

After - Beautiful! (We still need to add the fixtures later after we grout)

Matt's B-Day at his Parents'!

Matt got a Compound Miter Saw for his birthday! This will really help when he starts cutting the baseboards and trim in the basement.
His mom made delicious mint and chocolate frosted brownies! (Of course Matt has to act like a dork in front of the camera.)

Tileing the Walls in the Bathroom!

Matt started tileing in the middle and worked his way out from there.
We also put a border on top.

Before

After. (The holes are where the fixtures will go: i.e. towel bar, shower shelf, etc.) If you look close, the spacers are still in between the tiles. We only got one wall done, because it took longer than we thought. But now that we're professionals, I'm sure the other walls will go quicker. There was one incident I wish I could have caught on camera - Matt was trying to do a "plunge" cut where you cut a short line in the middle of the tile without going to the edges. He wasn't exactly sure how to do it without the safety guard, and ended up spraying water into his face, on the ceiling, and the wall! It was hilarious to watch!

Video of Matt tileing.

Matt's 26th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Matt! He turned 26 today! We celebrated by going out to Texas Road House and then coming home for cake!

Trevor learned to say "Happy Birthday, Matt" and then I recorded him singing the ABC's!

We Passed the Electrical Inspection!!!!

Today Matt got the FINAL electrical inspection on the basement! Everything went well and there's nothing that needs to be changed! The next steps are hooking up the cable/phone outlets, putting trim up, finishing the tiling, and carpeting!

Thanksgiving in Wisconsin!

For Thanksgiving we went to Wisconsin to see Matt's mom's family. Grandma Bernice has 8 children; 6 girls and 2 boys, and many are married with children and grandchildren. Not everyone could make it to Thanksgiving, and some people were not there on Friday. I tried my best to get everyone pictured, even though many were camera shy. Hopefully someday I will get the whole family in one photo. We ate our Thanksgiving meal in John's kitchen at one long table with 16 people around it. There was no way in or out once we were there! The 7 kids plus Nancy ate at the kids table in the living room. It was cramped with 24 people total and very loud, but it was lots of fun and great to see everyone again!

Matt & I at the hotel
At Aunt Judy's

Matt's dad Jerry, mom Kathy, Aunt Janine & Aunt Judy

Me, Grandma Bernice, & Matt

Matt's sister Melanie, Aubrey & Jason
Our hosts for Thanksgiving: Uncle John & KJ

Aunt Nancy & Ashley ( Not pictured: Uncle Mark & Maggie)

Uncle Dennis, Tracy, Aunt Barbara & dog Max (Not pictured Reggie)

Matt's cousin Christie & children. In front: Zachary & Amanda. In back: Brooke & Olivia. (Not pictured: their dad Dean)

Matt & Baby Aubrey
All of the cousins playing together and enjoying Aubrey's baby toys! From left to right: Zachary, Aubrey, Olivia, KJ. In back: Amanda.

Matt's Aunt Judy lighting the candles on the cake with a giant match!

Since we were all together, we decided to celebrate the December birthdays! Matt (Dec. 5th), Grandma Bernice (Dec. 10th), and Tracy (Dec. 17).

We also had a pinata for the kids! Matt and Aunt Janine held the rope to make it move. Here's KJ breaking it open.

The Basement is Painted!

Here's the living room! The color is a blueish-gray called "Silent Tide". Matt thinks it's too dark, but I love it! Eventually we will have beige carpet that will lighten it up.
We painted the stairway the same color. It was very difficult because it had high ceilings and nowhere to put the ladder. Matt had to set the tall ladder on the stairs and lean it up against this wall straight ahead in the picture.

Here I am dusting before painting. We used the short ladder on the landing. Matt almost fell down the stairs while using the short ladder because it bent under him, but luckily I was there to catch him!

The Whole Family on My Mom's Side

Kenny's funeral brought almost everyone from the extended family together again, even Denny & Becky from North Carolina and Gregg & Terri from Texas. It was so nice to see everyone again!

Top row: My husband Matt, Eric(Kacie's husband), Damon(son of Josh), Denny(uncle), Josh(cousin), Craig(husband of Karie), Nick(cousin), Terri(wife of Gregg)

Middle row: Me, Kacie(sister), Cindy(mom), Becky(my aunt/Denny's wife), Heather(wife of Josh), Mark(son of Leone), Karie(cousin), Jenny(fiance of Nick), Gregg(uncle)

Bottom row: Amy(sister), Trevor(Amy's son), Laurie (friend of mom's), Makayla(daughter of Josh), Lane(son of Josh), Leone(great aunt/sister of my Grandma), Pat(daughter of Leone), Terese(daughter of Karie), Kevin(daughter of Karie)

Sitting in front: Deb & Beth (Aunt and cousin)

Uncle Kenny

On Wednesday, November 19, my Uncle Kenny suddenly and unexpectedly passed away from a blood clot in his heart. He was a great Man of Faith, with a loving personality and amazing sense of humor. He will be greatly missed. The funeral was held in Iowa on Saturday, and he was laid to rest in Chaska, Minnesota on Tuesday. This is just a small dedication to his memory.

Wife Deb, daughter Beth & Kenny
Wife Deb, Daughter Beth & Kenny

Daddy's girl & Kenny

Enjoying a nice summer day.

Just keeping warm.

Me and my Uncle Kenny playing puppets.

Kenny, Deb, my sisters Kacie and Amy (left to right), and baby Beth on Deb's lap.

Kenny and his wife, Deb.

What a handsome guy!

Kenny & my dad (they are together again!)
Kenny trying to sit on my dad (what a goof)!

One of the greatest things about my uncle was his sense of humor! He worked on furnaces for a living, so pictured here he is "Furnace Man"! We will all miss his wonderful humor, but we still laugh at the many jokes he told us and stories we have about him.

Bathroom Tile!

Matt cutting tile with his new wet-saw. I was very nervous that he would chop off his finger.
Finished!

Before


After

Girls Night!

A fun-filled night at Kacie's house just hanging out with the girls! Margaritas, mexican casserole, chips & salsa, fried ice cream, girl talk and laughter! What more could a girl want? (Pictured from left to right: Julie, Nicole, Amy, Lindsay, Kacie, Lindsey, Carrie, Bridget, Lena, and Mary - not pictured: Sara)

Painting!

We've started painting! Now it really looks like a real basement! We finished painting the bathroom and did the first coat in the bedroom. The bedroom was extremely difficult to paint, because the type of paint was an accent base with a ton of pigment and it made it dry super quick! Matt had to paint at the speed of lightning to keep up with it. Tonight we will do the second coat in the bedroom and start painting the living room next week. On Saturday Matt and I will start installing the tile in the bathroom! We are so excited, it's almost finished!

Basement Priming

Me priming the walls
Matt priming

Before

After priming

We're finished priming! Our mudding and taping was finished on Wednesday. Matt's dad came over on Saturday and helped Matt prime the ceilings. Then Matt and I finished priming the walls by ourselves. Next weekend we hope to paint the ceiling and bathroom! We have the tile all picked out and purchased for the bathroom! We're getting so close to the final stages! I can't wait to see the final product!