Our House projects

In so many ways we absolutely adore our old 1923 Craftsman style house. I find it utterly charming. But, now that we have lived here for almost four year we have experienced what it means to actually live in a very old house. It is quirky. Well, this spring we have been working on getting the last of our list of projects for the house completed. Truthfully it never ends. I take the blame because I keep coming up with more projects. But, after almost two years of being in the process we are (almost) landscaped!

This is how our house looked in 2009 when we bought it. 

Then in the spring of 2011 after feeling a surge of energy and motivation a week before I had Milo I convinced Scott to tear out the front hedge because I'm crazy like that. 

Then we had a newborn and life was insane. We finally got around to painting the house in the fall of 2011. This is how is has stayed for a long long time.

Finally this spring we got our act together and ordered some dirt. It was a lot of dirt. I mean, a ridiculous amount of dirt. Thus, it took us about 2 weeks to get it all in place and off the street. In that time we had some spring rain and some people running their sprinklers so slowly a little pond started to form in front of our house next to our huge dirt pile that was blocking the gutter. One day I looked out my front window to find that a lovely duck couple had made our front-yard-dirt-pond their home. 

Hello ducks!

Here is what hours and hours of hauling dirt in wheelbarrows will get you. Doesn't look that impressive but it was seriously so much work. We had 3, at times 4, of us filling wheelbarrows and dumping it and we only got through half our pile of dirt. 

Then we got some edging and placed it around our dirt mounds. 

Then came the fun part.

We are no landscape designers but I think that it turned out pretty well. We chose all perennials that are native plants so that it should be low maintenance. But, some of them are quite small so they will take time to grow and fill in. 

This isn't the best picture but I am pretty proud of my painted, landscaped and charming little house. (Please ignore that we still have our Christmas lights up)

As we were trying to get the outside of the house done, we had some workers fixing the inside of our house and giving us a new shower. Remember when this happened? 

There was lots of drama and delays. I'll spare you the details but it involves someone getting fired (but then showing up again the next day) and many, many phone calls. A project that was supposed to take 5 days max ended up stretching to 3 weeks and just finally got finished today. Why does that always happen with home repair projects? First it started like this and we were kinda freaking out that our plaster was right on the brick and didn't know if they were going to be able to retile without it costing a lot more than we were planning on. 

Thankfully they were able to repair it all (that is where the firing of the first tile guy came in) and make it as good as new. That isn't without finding out there was a leaking pipe that damaged the downstairs ceiling and having to replace the pipe and valve. Now everything literally is a good as new because it's all new. 

Here is what the finished walls look like. We decided not to retile the whole bathroom so we were kinda worried about how the transition from the old to new would look. We chose to do a detail piece to try and help the transition. We decided since we were replacing everything else we might as well get rid of our toilet that always ran so we got a new one of those too. 

Here is the whole shower refinished. I really love it. 

I was worried about doing gray and white pattern on the shower might look too busy with the already patterned floor but I think they go together quite nicely. 

Because the previous owner had laid vinyl over the original honeycomb tile when we tore it up there were some damaged parts of the floor and we had to be kinda crafty about how we finished it all off. I think it actually looks pretty good. 

Olive's Preschool Birthday

Oh how I love this phase of Olive so much! Since she has a summer birthday, they get assigned a day to celebrate their birthday in class. Olive new exactly how she wanted the day to go down planned to every detail. She specifically told me that she wanted to wear one of her Sunday dresses to "look fancier" and to "make it special since it is not sunday". Funny girl! She also had decided that she needed a "princess bun" to have fancy hair perfect for celebrating her pretend birthday. 

She told me very specifically what she wanted to bring to class to give to her friends. She wanted to pick our airheads for their treat. She chose pink for the girls and mystery flavor for the boys. Then she needed fun fetti cupcakes with pink frosting for the snack treat. I told you, she knew everything she wanted. She also knew that she was going to get to be line leader and helper on her birthday so she was quite excited about that. 

It really is so special that Ms Jani makes each kid their own personal cake on their birthday. Olive's was pink of course! Here she is with her birthday crown, cake and certificate. All treasures in Olive's eyes. 

For snack after school she insisted that I sing her happy birthday, but the unbirthday version since it was just her pretend birthday. She also blew out the candle and had a piece of her special cake. She requested that she eat it while Milo was asleep at nap time so that she didn't have to give hime any!

Our New Car

After much searching and months of work we finally found our new car! We had been in the market for a new car for nearly a year. It was a slow process since test driving cars is kinda a crappy reason to get a babysitter. After doing lots of research earlier this year we had decided that the car that fit our budget but had the things we most wanted was a Kia Sorento. I know, I never thought I'd be driving a Kia either. We have needed a third row of seats for quite awhile now, especially with car pools and elementary school starting soon. The thing I liked so much about this car was that it had the extra seats but it didn't feel like a huge monster car. 

Like I said, we have been on the look out for a long time and checking KSL every day trying hard to find what we wanted but it was proving to be very hard to find the model we wanted. I was starting to get discouraged and so we took a break looking for a car for about a  month. After we got back from our trip one random night I thought I should just check the listings and see if anything new has been listed. I found this car that had all the features that we wanted and it was in our price range. The next morning we contacted the seller, test drove it that night, and bought it the next day. It's so crazy how it all came together and I feel that we were really blessed that it was basically brought to us. 

I will say, even though it is used it is in amazing condition and it for sure is the closest thing I have ever had to a new car. I love driving it and being able to carpool kids or just pick them up to come play at our house. It has been a real blessing and we are so grateful!!

Our 8th Anniversary

Yesterday was our 8th anniversary. As we were talking about it, it seems impossible that its been eight years. It has been twice the time that we were in high school. It is 2 2/3 the time that I was in college. It is 4 missions for Scott. How? How!! How amazing it has been? How do those things seem so momentous and important and this time has flown by? It has been momentous and important too. It has been so many things. Here we are eight years and two kids later and somehow I feel like we are entering the craziest time yet. I know that someday we will look back at when we had been married eight years and think how that was such blip on our journey. 

We spent our anniversary with the kids at Olive's soccer game and we wouldn't have it any other way. That is what it's all about and there is no better way to celebrate our marriage and relationship than with our kids doing their favorite things. And because Olive is so busy these days and has a big dance recital coming up we are going to have to postpone our official celebration for a week. Kids grow up and get busy! 

Last week at a girls night we were talking about opposites in relationships. My friend said to me "You and Scott aren't opposites at all. Everything is "ScottandMaren". What do ScottandMaren like? What do ScottandMaren want to do? " In so many ways that is so true. I feel enormously lucky that I found someone who I could spend every moment of every day with and still feel like it wasn't enough time. We love the same things and have a lot of the same interests and that has helped us create a rich and full life. These have been such an amazing eight years it is almost hard for me to put it into words. There have been too many happy, funny, joyous, proud, fulfilled moments that I can't name them. I am so blessed to be married to Scott and I sincerely love him with all my heart. 

Scott sent me these lovely flowers and this cute note: 

Mare-Bear I am so lucky to be married to you. This 8 years has gone so fast I cannot believe it. It has been such a fun time to be married to my best friend. I love doing everything with you. I also cannot believe that we have a little girl going to Kindergarten next year and a little two year old. We are a legit family and I love hanging out with all of you so much. Have a great day. Love you.

Best 8 Years Ever!!!

Olive's first season playing soccer!

We signed Olive up this spring to play soccer for the first time. One of her friends, Bo, from preschool, told us that they were signing up and wondered if we would like to sign up with them.  Olive was really nervous to play. A few days before her first game she said to me "I don't know the first thing about soccer!" That girl cracks me up. Anyway, we explained to her that by joining this team you get to learn how to play and that her coach will teach her what to do. That kinda eased her worries until we were walking to the field for her game. She was holding my hand and looked up at me to say,"I'm still nervous". When we got to the field all the kids were running around with balls and no one told her what to do. She just stood in the middle of the field looking so scared. She looked over at us sitting on the side lines and burst into tears. She ran over to us and jumped in Scott's lap. It kinda broke my heart. I remember that feeling of not knowing anyone and not knowing what to do. Fortunately, her coach, who is a really nice guy, brought her a ball and asked if she wanted to come out and kick the ball with them. She perked up after that and hasn't looked back since. 

Here is her team practicing before a game. I will say that Olive loves her uniform but was shocked when they weren't a "pink" team. I told her, I don't think any of the teams are pink. 

We are really proud of Olive. She has practiced with Scott a little bit but has gained a lot of confidence in playing. She goes after the ball and will even get in the big group of kids. She has gotten better at kicking the ball down the field and almost scored a goal at her last game. She is having a lot of fun. Of course her favorite part is talking to her other friends on her team. Bo hasn't loved soccer as much as Olive, so she has met some other girls. They often are chatting on the field instead of following the action. 

Look at our cute soccer star! She likes "taking breaks" during the game and comes over acting so exhausted. It's kinda funny how dramatic she is about it all. I feel like I've seen her confidence grow so much by playing this year. She is pretty proud of herself too!

Scott's First Half Marathon

Back in April Scott ran his first half marathon in the Salt Lake City Marathon. It was like a week after the Boston bombings so that was a little stressful and we were both wavering all week about what to do.  After much back and forth he decide this was his first big race and he didn't want to miss it, he just needed to do it. But he didn't want us to come watch, which I was sad about, but kinda ok with because that would have meant getting both kids up and dressed and downtown by like 8 am, also, it was rainy and cold that day. So we cheered for him in our sleep. 

It has been his goal to run a half marathon for a long time. I am super proud of him. The timing wasn't perfect since we had just come home from San Diego, but he did it and finished without having to stop. I am so impressed, he ran the whole time! It's such a big accomplishment and we are really proud of him!

If you had a bib for the marathon you could ride Trax for free. Scott said it was really fun riding down with everyone else going to the race.

This is his picture from the starting line. I was surprised at how many people were there. It took like 3 minutes from when the race started until he could run because it was so crowded. But he said the atmosphere and feeling down there was so fun and it made him really excited to be there and running.  

The only problem was that is was a kinda rainy day. Fortunately for his birthday Scott got some new, nice running gear so that helped. For most of the run it was a drizzle but towards the end it started to rain harder. By the end he was pretty soaked. When he got home he basically looked like he had dipped his clothes in a bucket of water. 

Here is my man after his race. He was tired but he did an amazing job. His time was 2 hr 15 min which blows my mind. I am just in awe that he actually did a whole half marathon. Go Scott!

I'm not the only one that was super proud. When Scott got home and showed Olive his medal she was literally giddy. It was so cute. She kept saying "Good job daddy! Way to go!" She also liked wearing his medal to show her pride. 

Milo's 2nd Birthday

Yesterday my little Milo turned 2 years old. How has this happened? These past two years have flown by. For the past few weeks we have been commenting on what a little boy he is becoming and it is magical to watch. We wanted to make it a special day and I think that Milo (and Olive) had a lot of fun. 

Of course we had to decorate.

I made him a birthday sign and the kids wore party hats to eat his birthday breakfast of donuts (that is kinda becoming a tradition around here)

YUM! Look at those cuties!

Then he walked into the dining room where his presents were waiting for him. His main gift was a cozy coupe car all his own and he squealed when he saw it. We had a hard time getting him out of that car. I think it was a pretty darn perfect gift. I love when that happens!

Since we couldn't get him out of his car he opened his next few presents in the car. Silly boy. 

He has been stealing Olive's water bottle for months now, so he officially got his own and as you can tell he was excited. 

Milo had a major melt down at a wiggle worms a few weeks ago because a boy had brought this Buzz Lightyear toy with him and wouldn't let Milo play with it. Milo wanted it so bad. It got crazy. So we knew that this gift from Olive would be a home run. He loved it and carried it around all day. 

The rest of the morning he just drove his car around the house.

He was in heaven.

I thought it would be fun to take a trip to the zoo to celebrate Milo's special day. We were lucky that it was a gorgeous day and not too crowded. Our friends came and celebrated with us. It was such a fun time. 

They have a Lego display at the zoo right now. When you first walk in there is a big play area with all these blocks and my kids loved playing in there. Olive asked "Mom, did we go to Legoland again?" but then by the end she was like "Legoland has way better lego stuff." and I was like "Well that is because this is the zoo" and she said "Ooooohhhhh!" It was pretty hilarious. 

It was one of our best zoo trips because the animals were out and playing and it was so fun. We watched the elephants for awhile because they were just hanging out and spraying water with their trunks right by us. Good times.

Then when we went to see the gorillas they were wrestling and fighting and the kids loved watching it. 

My little monkeys. 

We admired the Lego polar bear. 

Milo didn't like any of the exhibits where the water comes against the glass. He must of felt like he was in the cage or something and would freak out. So he found other ways to stay entertained, like feeling and touching everything he could get his hands on....

or playing with the touch screen tv for a long long time. 

The big girls however loved it and watched the seals and sea lion swim around. Oh hello there! I think this picture looks like the sea lion is trying to sneak up on them.

Best friends climbing on the lions. 

We had to ride the carousel. Olive of course wanted to ride a "baby" so we found the baby elephant.

Milo and Houston (and Boston) chilled with Cassie in the peacock. What more could a kid want? 

It was getting late and hot so we decided as a special treat to get a giant slurpee and the kids were SO excited. Look at this cute birthday boy. Oh me melts my heart. 

I love this picture so much because they are loving their slurpee so much that neither of them will stop drinking to say cheese. Must keep drinking!

Look at that giant thing! He loved every drop of it too.  He deserved it, sweet birthday boy!

It was such a fun time and these two had a great time playing together. 

Then we came home and while the exhausted kids slept I made Milo's birthday bundt cake. I think it turned out really good. 

We do their favorite food for birthday dinner, and since Milo loves just about anything, we got him pizza as a safe bet. 

We had to take a break for Olive's soccer game but when we got back we blew out the candles and sang Happy Birthday to Milo. He now knows how to sing the song and it is about the cutest thing you have ever heard. He loved blowing out the candles and kept saying, "Hot, Hot!" when it was lit. 

The night was topped off with a visit from cousins and more gifts. He got a fire truck and ambulance and let's just say he hasn't stopped playing with them. 

I love the big kids "helping" Milo. I think they liked playing with everything as much as he did!

And lastly, Milo modeling his new jersey. He was way more into his birthday and opening presents and being excited about them than I thought he was going to be. I think he had a really fun day and loved everything he got. He is such a funny, silly, energetic, and fun loving boy. He is sometimes very independent and intense but I know those will be huge assets for him. He really is a dear and sweet boy  and nothing quite pierces my heart like hearing him say "I wuve you". Happy Birthday Milo! You make us so happy and we love you dearly!