May Randoms

May was like limping toward the finish line of school and that's about all I remember about it. We had a lot of baseball and soccer games, we got adjusted in the new house, and we took a fun vacation at the end of the month to Las Vegas! (but more on that later in another post). Here are a few pictures from May: 

Jace and his t-ball team

Mishell playing soccer. We were hoping she'd be quite good, because, well you know, South Americans and soccer, but alas, she is afraid of the ball. 

Apparently I took a picture of Jace and his popcorn snack after a game. Go me.

Cute sports kids

Apparently this is Devin and one of the kids playing something from way afar. Totally a relevant picture.

And another one...

Cute kids out to get drinks from Sonic

We were driving home from somewhere and Jace had his Book of Mormon clutched in his hands and Florinda was rubbing his head from across the way as he slept. Too cute.

The kids playing "train" with Flor's bike. Glad someone uses it as she's too lazy to make the effort! :)

Again, what this is? Jace and something he created with his legos and then asked me to take a picture of. Not sure what it is though! 

Jace was sporting a nice black/swollen eye for a few days. We aren't sure what it was from, but it looks like he was bit by some type of bug probably. Poor kid. He recovered just fine though.

Devin's awesome sisters came over to help us with some decorating things! Alisa and Shawna made us a vinyl lettering to go with our sealing picture that is just perfect. They are AMAZING!! Love them.

Final product...so awesome right?!

End of school projects are for the birds, especially when the parents have to do them, which is definitely the case with Mishell. She had to do this huge project on the State of Utah, so we worked on it for weeks. You can see that Devin's creative juices got flowing here and he made her float and cereal box displays. Love the little lego men with flags. Ha. So, after weeks of working on this, filling out everything in this huge packet on Utah, such as state bird, flower, flag, blah blah blah, we asked Mishell what she had learned about Utah. Her response? "What is Utah?" Seriously...(Hand slap on the forehead emoticon goes here). 

We babysat my co-worker Krystal's kids one day and Flor loved playing with her baby. The baby did not so much love her though and spent the rest of the time screaming after Flor got into her face a bit too close. Wish us luck on having a baby here full time soon....

Ok more to come on May. But probably at a later date as I am all blogged out now.

Moving

So, this is bit of a dramatic story and I'll try to tone it down. Since it has been a few weeks, I am now a little calmer about the whole thing, but at the time, I was rather angry for a few days. We were supposed to close on our house on July 7, but the buyers wanted to move up the date and since we were already moving things in to our new place, we decided that we could move up the closing date to June 30. We closed the afternoon after we got home from the reunion (don't worry, I didn't throw up on anyone), with the promise from both title companies that our sale would fund by the end of the business day the next day (July 1). We also had an email from the week before telling us that everything was good to go for the closing by July 1. The reason this was important is because if the sale didn't fund by the end of July 1, we would owe interest for the whole month of July on the house, which totaled over $1000. Who wants to pay that for living in the house a few days into the month!? NOT ME. We planned to move out July 5, that weekend. We had provisions in our agreement with the buyers that we had 14 days post closing to move, so we were good.

Monday, my Aunt Angela called me to tell me that she was coming the next day with a truck and trailer to come help me take a load to the new house. She knew I was stressed about being sick and having to finish packing my house, etc. So she brought her two boys and drove from Logan after she had just done a ton of driving from the reunion a few days before. She is a saint I tell you. And an inspired one. Before she even arrived Tuesday, I had a call from our realtor saying that the buyers were now changing their minds and saying that they would not fund the sale until Thursday since they didn't have possession of the house yet. WHAT? This was not our agreement. Granted, all we had agreed on was verbally and in emails, but I was really upset about this news. It didn't change anything on their end whether they started their loan that day as promised or two days later, but it did make a difference to us- a $1000 difference. I told our realtor that if the issue was that they needed possession of the house, we would be out THAT DAY so that they could take possession. This was July 1. So good thing my aunt was already on her way. We had one full load taken to the house by the afternoon and we had also moved everything else that needed to be moved to the front room. Angela was amazing- she packed my whole kitchen, kept me calm through the stress of the day, and was really just saintly all around. I texted all of Devin's family and some ward members and asked that they come help us that evening take the last load. Kirston came with her trailer  and my uncle Lynn with his truck, and between the two we got everything else loaded. (We had been moving things slowly over the course of the past few weeks since Devin was going up everyday for work anyway, so that was also a blessing). By the time I got back from Farmington with Devin (he had gotten off work), the people at our house had almost everything loaded and ready go to. Talk about family coming to the rescue!!

Somewhere in this time, our realtor called us back to tell us that she had been going to battle with the other realtor all day and at the end of the day, he was still saying his clients were refusing to fund the sale. I don't know how much was the realtor and I don't know how much was the buyers, and I think some blame rests on the title company as well because they didn't fulfill their end of the bargain, but I was just so heartsick to hear this news. Here we had been busting our behinds all day to get things packed and moved so that they would honor their word and yet they still didn't. I generally like to think the best of people, but this just felt downright nasty to me. I told you I was angry-- and I was. I totally spent the next two days sending nasty emails to our title company (not that it was their fault, but I needed a target and the poor guy got the brunt of it) about how unfair it all was and how blindsided we felt. I think a lot of my emotions were based on the fact that I kind of felt shoved out the house and that I didn't have the time to prepare emotionally to leave since we were planning on moving Saturday. In the end, I think moving earlier really benefited us and I had all week to get the house straight (plus Angela had stayed up in Farmington after the load we brought and put our beds together-- told you she is amazing). We were then moved in by the weekend and could really celebrate the 4th of July and have Saturday to get groceries bought, etc. and feel a little more settled before going to church Sunday. So, really I think moving earlier was a good thing, but the way it happened felt horrible. It still makes me upset that we ended up paying an extra $1000, but I have no control over that situation.

That's the tale of moving. I was seriously sad for the first few days after moving, missing our little house. I loved that house and it truly was our first "home". We had amazing neighbors and a great little area for our kids to run and play. We have really, really enjoyed our new home, too, though. We have had the ultimate friendly neighbors and the little area we live is beautiful and so cute. I think we will be very, very happy here. Change is just hard, though!

Here are our pictures of our last walk through of our first home:

Jace's room

Our room

The bathroom

basement family room

Girls' room

Girls' room

Storage Room

Kitchen

Front room

This picture must have come from Devin's phone because I can't find it. So this one from my Instagram will have to do. Sad, sad day when we drove away from that house. Loved it.

My poor little neglected blog

I haven't been this long without blogging since I began, I am pretty sure. I have a lot to back up and catch up on, but that may happen and it may not. Onward and upward I guess. I wouldn't worry about it too much because really I think hardly anyone reads the blog anymore (and I am okay with that), but it is really the only way I keep a historical record of any sort for my family. I used to be such a great journaler in high school, and now when it matters, I am not at all. I am so glad I have 17 journals full of random ramblings about various boys and what I did on weekends, though. If you're ever bored, come on over and I'll read some to you. Quality entertainment.

Anyway, these past few months have been among the most stressful and crazy that I can remember. Maybe there have been other periods in life that have been this stressful, but I have blocked them out. So, now, while I should be writing a home study, I am instead going to do a little writing therapy, since that tends to help.

I have so much to be grateful for and I want to start with that first. I am so incredibly blessed. I graduated yesterday with my Master's Degree. It feels surreal to say that. I have had this as a goal for a long, long time and now that I have actually achieved it, it seems almost like it didn't happen. I am sure the reality will set in. Devin has been such a big support and has truly sacrificed so much for me this year as I pursued this goal. I love him so incredibly much, it's hard to describe. I am so grateful for all that he does for me and count my blessings every day that he is mine. He is an incredible husband. Sure he has faults, but his goodness far outweighs any faults that he has. I'm blessed.

Devin started his new job about a month and a half ago & is loving it so far. There was a little stress with that for a minute, but it seems to be resolving itself and for that we are grateful. What we are not loving is the commute. The poor man is commuting 10 hours a week or so in addition to the already full weeks he works. He is a trooper though and doesn't complain like I have a tendency to do....I don't even know what I mentioned here as far as our house goes. The house was listed about two months ago and we had an offer within two weeks. We felt amazingly blessed....that is until the house inspection happened and we found out that we had water damage in our attic, that we needed a new roof, and that we needed a new swamp cooler (the culprit causing all the damage). UGH. This was super stressful to find out. The buyers didn't even send a repair addendum, but instead just cancelled their offer completely, which was a big blow. We debated what to do for a while but ultimately decided it was worth it to re-do the roof, repair the attic, and get a new swamp cooler. This has all been done now and the house is still up on the market with the new changes listed, but the showings have slowed way down and we haven't seemed to have much interest. This of course is stressing me out, but I am trying to maintain faith in the Lord's timing. Really, the first offer falling through seemed okay because the timing to have us move would have been horrendous- right in the middle of all my final papers, my taking my licensing exam, and another sadness that I will get to.

Anyway, so now we are waiting to sell our house again before moving to north. Devin is really good not to complain, as I mentioned, because he is bearing the brunt of the hardship right now with the commute and all his work hours. He is in good spirits though because he loves what he does. I am so happy for that. He deserves to be able to do something that he enjoys and that he is good at. I don't know if I mentioned what he is doing either, so I best do that. Devin got a job at a country club in Davis County. He gets to work on the grounds and specifically works with the pesticide (is that the right word honey?) and this big machine that he thinks is pretty cool but dyes his pants green. And they have to wear khakis there since it's an uppity country club. Who wears khakis to work on the grounds? I have a feeling he is going to go through a few pairs of those in his day.

Anyway, while Devin began his job, I was still at my internship 20 hours per week, so we had a child care dilemma. Luckily, my amazing cousin Sarah stepped in to help. She took Jace and Hals three days per week so I could finish and Che' took them on Thursdays while I was at school. It was so nice to be able to leave them with people I completely trust and that I know love my kids. They were in amazing care. Sarah took them swimming at least once per week, took them to the new aquarium, to play places, out to McDonalds, to the park, the list goes on and on. Now they think I am boring and want Sarah to come back to play. Sarah and Daniel are now moving to Las Vegas for a great job for him, but I am super bummed (despite my happiness for them) because it is so nice to have family close by. They truly became our closest friends, too. We will miss them so much. Anyway, so with their help, I finally finished my internship hours. I was sad and happy to leave there. I realllly loved the work I did there (clients with substance abuse addictions), but I had a really hard time with some of the other staff's personalities there and the way the program was run. I won't say much more than that. :) On my last day there, a drug court case manager that I had worked with and had gotten to know (we had staff meetings each week and had mutual clients) told me that she thought I was an incredible intern and that she can tell that I have the "therapeutic mojo". She said that some people just have the right personality fit for this field and she said that she can tell that I am one of them. It was one of the nicest compliments I have ever gotten. I never want to come across as bragging of course, but I do feel that this is the right field for me. I know that one of my talents that I have been blessed with (and it took me a long time to figure this out...I spent a lot of years thinking I had no talents because so many others have such visible talents) is the ability to connect with other people. I can connect with most people and I think help them feel secure. I don't know how my therapy skills are...but at least I can make them feel comfortable, I think!

I am totally rambling here.....read on if you dare.

In the midst of all the sheer craziness that is described above, I found out that I was pregnant. This was something we had planned on since we feel that there is one more child waiting for our family and Jace is already 3, so we didn't want to have too large of a gap between kids, especially if we are only having one more. I was super sick in the beginning and felt like I was dragging myself just to get through each day. I told a few close people, like the receptionist at my internship because she started noticing that I looked a little green some days. We didn't really tell anyone else, though some others suspected. I had my first appointment on a Friday in April. I dropped the kids off at Alisa's house, telling her that I was going to take my licensing exam (which I was, after the appointment). When I went to the Dr., everything seemed fine and they sent me down for a routine ultrasound just to check dates. When we did the ultrasound, I immediately suspected that something was wrong. The tech asked a lot of questions that indicated to me that this was a miscarriage. The doctor came in and confirmed it, basically saying that it looked like the baby had died a week and a half before. I hadn't had any symptoms or anything (and in fact had still been super sick) so this was unexpected. I held myself together long enough to get to the car and then cried all the way to my licensing exam. Talk about terrible timing. I went to lunch by myself to try to calm myself down, but that didn't really work as I called Devin and told him. I am sure the people around me were worried about the lady crying into her salad while sitting there by herself. Ha.

I made it to my test and to be honest, the first half was horrible. I knew I was prepared for this test; I had been studying for months and taken like 5 practice tests, all of which I had passed. I had four hours to take the test. The first half, I read and re-read every question probably 5 times because they just weren't registering. Everything seemed fuzzy. Oh, and just in case you wonder why I didn't just take it later- these tests are scheduled months in advance and you pay like $400 to take them, so if I missed it, I would get to pay that money again. No thanks. After half the test, I finally went out to take a break. I walked around the hall a little bit and then went into the bathroom and said a prayer. I felt like the only way I was legitimately going to pass the test was to ask for divine intervention. I went back in and the second half seemed like a breeze. It was crazy to note the difference. I had serious butterflies in my stomach when I pushed the submit button. I was really unsure about the result that was going to come up, but luckily, the word PASS came on to the screen. I know for certain that my passing was an act of God. I did not do that on my own. My head was not in it at all. I am so grateful though. Then I cried tears of gratitude the whole way home. :)

There is a lot more drama associated with the miscarriage, which I will try to sum up shortly (haha, shortly for me, never going to happen, I know).. Some of you may feel this is too personal to share on my blog, but I don't feel that it is. It is part of our family history and it is something that has not been overly emotionally traumatic for me. So, that night when I got home, the doctor called back and said that the radiologist had looked at my ultrasound pics and felt like it was still a viable pregnancy, but that I was earlier on than I thought I was. I tried not to get too hopeful about this, but of course I did. The doctor (who is an amazing man, by the way. I absolutely love my doctor. He called me literally every single night that week to see how I was doing) recommended that I go in for blood tests to check my HCG levels the next day (Saturday) and then again on Monday. I did both and he called me Monday to tell me that my HCG level had stayed nearly identical. I had totally predicted this to Devin. I said that I was going to have to make this as complicated as possible and I certainly did. Had it been a viable pregnancy, the number should have gone up alot, but if it was a definite miscarriage, it should have gone down. So the doctor said he was "98%" sure that it was miscarriage, but he was not 100%. He told me that he recommended I wait another week to see if it would pass on its own, or I could schedule a D&C if I wanted. I took one day to think about it and thought that a D&C was the way to go, since it had already been about 2 weeks since they predicted the baby had died and also because I was graduating in another week and a half and I wanted to have it over with before then. So I called him the next day to schedule the D&C for the next Monday, which was about 5 days away. He had me go in for another ultrasound that Friday just to be 100% sure that it was a miscarriage. That ultrasound took forever and was very in depth just to tell me what we already knew. Not fun. But finally, after a week and a half of ups and downs, I knew for certain. That was a relief.

So, nothing happened in those 5 days and so I went in for the D&C this past Monday. It wasn't bad, except for having to be at the hospital at 5:50 am. :) I don't remember any of it, of course, other than being wheeled into the operating room with some extremely loud rock music blaring and asking the nurse "whose choice in music is this!?" (Still don't know) and telling the anesthesiologist, "This bed is too skinny for me. What do you do with fat people?" (I think the drugs were already working by then...you know I get loopy!). I woke up a big mess of tears, which must mean I am grown up now because back in the day the anesthesia only made me really crazy. Now it makes me very weepy. I think I called a few people in the recovery room while I waited for Devin to come get me (he had to get the kids to school. And a big fat thanks to Devin's sister Alisa who came to our rescue more than once that week. She is such a lifesaver. Truly. Everyone needs one like her.) So I do apologize if I made some reckless phone calls to you while I was sitting there drugged up. I can't even remember now. The doctor also called later to give me some instructions and asked if I recalled our conversation in the recovery room. Um no. I hope it wasn't embarrassing. Probably was though,
which is why he was probably asking, to make sure I didn't mean any of what I said. Oh dear.

Recovery was fine, really no big issues at all. I was up and going the next day. I think the dirty diet cokes my neighbor so kindly supplied me with, the cupcakes and cookies from my dear friends, and the delicious dinner from my sister-in-law Kirston all helped.  I have some awesome people surrounding me and I am so grateful. I was glad to have chosen the D&C route. I think it was emotionally easier and I had control over the timeline, which helped considering I had a lot going on at the end of the week that I needed to be ready for.

Whew. Is that enough drama for one entry?

The kids are all alive and thriving. I should mention them here too since they are a large part of the family. Jace is as wild as ever and I am not sure what to do with him (just one example: He goes around yelling all the time "liar liar, girl on fire", although girl sounds more like geerl, or something... (WHERE DOES HE GET THIS?!)).  He can be very sweet too and those times make it extra worth it. Hallie is a sweet girl and such a helper. She is so kind hearted and I am grateful every day for her. She is reading really well with the help of her online preschool (since I am not that kind of mom to actually sit down and teach my kid to read. Thanks computer preschool!) Flor is learning and growing and really has calmed down with the help of ADHD medication that we have started her on. That was a really great decision that we made with the help and advice from other 1P36 Deletion Sydrome parents. Many said that the ADHD meds help their kids calm down, help them to concentrate better, and help them have fewer behaviors. All true for Flor, too. Lovin' it.

More to come on graduation, Easter, what else did I miss?

Also, Devin surprised me with a trip to San Francisco and Oakland next week (the 12th-16th) to see the BRAVES play!!!!! I am so excited. He is the best husband ever. I am really looking forward to some time away with just him. The kids will stay with my mom and sister. Wish them luck; they'll need it!

Thanks for hanging in there with me for this long and dreary entry on the blog. I feel better already. Life really is good.

Curveballs in Life

Sometimes life goes the way we plan it to. Most of the time it doesn't.

We are in a phase of life that I can just describe as sheer craziness. There are a lot of unanswered questions, but we have a new path and one that I feel is right and good for our family. Devin accepted a job this week at a country club up north a bit. This is fantastic news because it is just the type of job that he wants to do, plus it is in Utah still, which means that I can continue to do what I have been building for the last few months- which is the Utah Adoption Specialists business. This new job for Devin seems to be a big blessing and I am trying to view it totally that way, because honestly, we have seen very few jobs posted of this type in Utah and we have been looking for years! So, it feels like a big blessing from Heavenly Father and I am first and foremost acknowledging it as such.

Of course there are always worries with every new step we take in life. This job only offers benefits after 1 year, so that means that Devin will need to keep his current job as well in order to maintain benefits. He only needs to work 24 hours a week there for benefits, so three shifts, but still- 3 shifts on top of an already full-time job is a lot! He has done it before, though not for a year. He will hopefully transfer up to a store closer to where we will be so that he can do away with the commute once we move. Also, his start date is March 17, which is VERY soon. I am committed to my internship down here until the end of April, so we are going to have some overlap there. He will be commuting each day, about an hour each way, and then we will have to get childcare for Hallie and Jace during the day for those 5-6 weeks. I'll just have to be home by the time Flor gets off the bus so that we won't have issues there.

We also are getting ready to list our house and look for a new home up near Devin's new job. We have been running around like crazy people trying to get the house in order to list it. We have been re-doing the basement, including painting it, doing baseboards, and getting new carpet. We also need to replace part of a fence in our backyard and re-paint the kitchen and then we will be ready to list the house. It is nerve-wracking doing that too because we want to get some money out of our house, especially given that we have now completely remodeled the whole thing, but we also want/need to sell it quickly. So finding that balance of the right price is going to be tricky, I think.

I am also sad about leaving where we live. It honestly took me years to adjust to our neighborhood and ward. I didn't feel like I quite fit in for a long time, but now the thought of leaving the comfort here and the good people that we have come to truly know and love is hard. I don't do well with change, so I can imagine that it is going to be emotional for me. I hope that we can find a new great neighborhood and a new great ward. I of course worry about schools for Flor (and for Hals who will be starting kindergarten in the fall!) and making sure that we can meet her complex needs.

The other thing that will be weird- at least for a time- is that I won't be working, other than running my business from home. Do you know how weird this will be? I have had a job (like show up to a location type job) since I was 15 years old. I have never been a full-time, stay-at-home mom and that honestly scares me quite a bit because I know myself well enough to know that I am the best mom I can be when I have a little time outside of the home. So...wish me luck (and the kids!) on that one. Luckily, with my business, I will still get to escape in order to visit couple's homes for interviews. So that's a good thing. I'll just coordinate those around Devin's schedule as much as possible.

I do want to find a part-time job again at some point, primarily because I want to work toward my LCSW. I am studying now for the licensure exam (another thing on the list to do!) to become a CSW- a certified social worker.  I can take that anytime and graduate with the license. However, I then need to work 4000 supervised hours in doing clinical work in order to obtain my L- a licensed clinical social worker. This is a big deal because once you have the L, you can practice completely on your own without supervision.  I need supervision as a CSW in order to get the L, and I really do enjoy clinical work, so I will look into that sometime down the road. Right now it is not that pressing. I enjoy so many things in my field that I imagine I will be happy doing anything as long as it is challenging and something I feel that I can contribute to. I have LOVED my internship in the addiction/substance abuse arena and I really didn't even think I was going to like it. I initially chose it for convenience sake only, but I have learned an immense amount and it is an area where I think I would feel comfortable practicing. However, I enjoy all different populations and types of issues, so like I said...whatever comes my way, I think I can be happy doing it. Down the road though... I have to try not to get to eager about that. haha.

We have some things we are working on with Flor too, but I will write more about that at another time (Like there is ever even a guarantee that I will write on the blog at all. I know it has been so hit and miss these days! But just think about how much I may be blogging once I am home more often...I may annoy you to death.)

Anyway, if the two of you who still read my blog would pray for us during this transition time and especially with the sale of our house and keeping sane during the next crazy few months, that would be ever so lovely!

Once Upon a Time...

...We re-finished our bathroom (FINALLY!)

 I know you thought you were going to get a good story with this post, but instead you get pictures of our toilet. Let me tell you, though, that this is about the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, after my marriage and the birth of my children of course.

We have been wanting to re-finish our bathroom basically since the day we moved in, but doing so costs time and money that we have little of. But, we finally got around to it with the help of our amazing brother-in-law Ren and his brother Skippy (not really his name-- but I totally forgot what his real name is because they just call him Skippy, poor fella). The project took much more time and much more money that we anticipated (of course), but it is SO WORTH IT!

Let me just describe in great detail (and then show you a picture) what we were up against. We used to have blue tile, a lovely blue tub, a see through window in the shower (hello neighbors!), glass shower doors, and a beautiful gold sparkly sink. This bathroom was clearly a gem in the 70s, but well, we are now 40 years past then, so it was time for it to go. We enjoyed all the blue while it lasted. Truly.

And so, after weeks of work where everything was completely ripped out and taken down to the studs, we have a new and very improved bathroom!

Oh, some pictures of the process first of course:

Our house was an absolute disaster for two weeks. Oh boy. You know how I hate disasters. I heaved a huge sigh of relief the day we finally put all that equipment away, dusted, swept, mopped, and scrubbed. Ahhh....

Working on cutting that board...whatever it is called.

Getting rid of the old blue tub. So long, tub! It sat on our front steps for two days first because it was cast iron or something equally heavy and it took all their energy to haul it from the bathroom to the front steps. It was so ugly that I finally insisted that they move it all the way to the dumpster in the driveway. It was quite entertaining to watch. :) 

I know it appears that Devin is doing nothing in all of these pictures. He might have been at that very moment doing nothing, but he actually worked quite hard. They all did. I was the one who really did nothing. I watched, though, and that is important. 

 And some pictures of the final product:

We went with a gray and yellow theme and I quite enjoy it.

Weird quality to this picture, but you get the idea.

Devin is a better photographer than I am, apparently. This is his picture.

Yay for a new bathroom!!!

Kitchen Transformation

I have been meaning to post these pictures for a while...but you know, things happen and time gets away.

So, without further ado....our kitchen transformation:

We bought our house in July of 2009 (we have been here almost three years-- crazy!) and knew that there were a few things that were going to need our attention. First and foremost: the kitchen.

Gotta love the yellow and green motif. UGH. Plus the boxy feel was kind of rough. Not the best designed kitchen ever. No room for a table, thus our table was in the living room for the first year of living here. Also, please notice the old yellow stove (you can just see a tiny bit of it on the left of the picture). Lovely.

First things first: We ripped out this floor immediately. We actually had just the dirty underflooring (what's that called?) for a few months before we finally got our new floor in. It was that bad.

About a year after we moved in, we finally got around to getting rid of the old yellow cabinets and replacing them with these beauties that we sanded and stained ourselves (with the help of a lot of family members- thanks fam!)

Specifically, my Uncle Lynn...he basically did the whole kitchen for us. What a champ! He was so dedicated that he worked late nights after he got home from his regular job (he builds sets).

And wah-lah! Much better, right? It's amazing what a few little changes can make. New cabinets, new flooring, new appliances, etc. Everything was done last year except for the backsplash. Lynn surprised us and finished it while we were in Ecuador. What an awesome surprise to come home to! We have a white fridge which you can't see in this picture, but it is on the right side, against the wall just out of the shot. So the white sink and the white fridge may be replaced someday...but not right now. We will see.

MUCH more counter space, which is fantastic. The fridge is on the right of the door that you can see here. Just in case some of you want a full visual. :)

Thanks Uncle Lynn for our fabulous kitchen!

Also, don't forget our Relay for Life Raffle! We have raised $360 as a team and would love to raise more for the American Cancer Society! Will you consider donating $10 to our team? You can go HERE to our donation page (feel free to type in my name, thus the donation will be credited to me! Or Devin is fine too...) and after that, be sure to leave a comment on the raffle blog letting us know that you donated for a chance to win an amazing prize. The raffle blog is HERE. There are some awesome prizes...an exercise basket with Itunes giftcard, a photography session, a gift card to a themed inn, multiple other gift cards to various retailers, and some adorable mother/daughter aprons (which I want for myself) amongst others. Please go check it out! Thanks all!