Back to School

 This summer went by so, so, so fast. As our kids are getting older I am having so much fun hanging out with them. We get to do so many fun things that we couldn't do when they were younger. It really made me sad this year as they got ready for school for their first day. 

This year Caden is in 5th grade. His teacher is Mrs. Crane. Gosh, he is looking so handsome lately. 

Makayla is in 6th grade and her teacher is Mrs. Allen. Why does this have to be her last year in elementary? I don't know if I'm ready for her to be done with elementary. 

Brynnli is in 2nd grade and her teacher is Mrs. Hill. Brynnli was nervous because she heard her teacher was really mean, but Mrs. Hill is truly the best teacher. 

All of our kids are going to have a great year. They are such good kids and are all so smart! I'm excited to see what this school year holds for them. 

And now that the kids are all back in school, Bella can resume her normal napping schedule. 

Well, unless Caden sneaks her into his backpack and takes her to school with him. 

Do you know what might be the saddest thing of all? Makayla didn't want me to stick around before school to snap pictures of her, and said it would be cringy if I tried to give her a hug, so she just walked ahead of me and waved good bye. Caden indulged me and let me give him a little side hug without any of the other kids seeing him. He also didn't want me hanging around to take thousands of pictures of him. 

Luckily I still have Brynn who wanted me to stay around until she walked into school. She was not afraid to give me a hug in front of her friends and she let me take pictures of her with her friend Paizley who is also in her class. 

Can't wait for another great year!!

One Last Trip to Alaska

Last Christmas my dad gifted Tyler and my brothers another fishing trip to Alaska. Tyler was so excited to be able to go again. They left early on Saturday morning. I took them to the airport and they were off. They went salmon and halibut fishing again with Kenai Jim. Jim would take them out for guiding fishing during the morning/ afternoon and then at night they would fish by the river. They got a lot of fish again and we are all excited to have yummy fish dinner. 

Thanks to my dad for really spoiling all of the boys. I think they have so much fun and make so  many memories together. 

My mom stayed at our house while my dad and brothers were gone. I was so glad we could spend some time with my mom making memories with her while we still can. It was a hard week emotionally to see how much my mom is declining, but I am so glad we got to do so many fun things with her. 

We went swimming, to Lagoon, to a movie, to Classic skating, and of course out to eat. It really felt like a vacation of our own. 

We introduced my mom to Crave cookies and also made a panookie. 

It was a fun way to spend our last week before the kids went back to school. 

A Little House Tour

 Hey, remember how we pretty much finished remodeling our house back in January, but remember how our couches were supposed to take 4-9 months to finish? Well back in May our couches were finally delivered, but we were so busy and I didn't have time to hang up decorations. Then remember how our decorations were finally up, but I didn't have time to clean our house, so I couldn't snap any pictures? Well we finally had day where I could clean our house so I could take pictures of our remodel. Let's start with the piano room.

Walking into the house you can see our amazing piano room. Just for a refresher, here's a before picture: 

And the after. I love, love, love the way this room turned out. I was so scared about this light I picked out. I was worried it was too unique and wouldn't fit our classic decorating style, but I really think it compliments our piano with out distracting too much. I also love our chairs and bookcase. 

Then moving into our living room... here's a little before picture: 

And the after!!

One thing is for sure, our old railing was so bad! I hated the yellow wood color, but now that it's white I love, love, love it!!! Our couches are perfect for the room and now we all can sit on the couch to watch t.v. Tyler added the mantle on the fireplace and it just makes the room look so complete. And we also got new carpet throughout the house. I like the color of our carpet, but the carpet shows foot marks, which kind of bugs me. Luckily I took these pictures after freshly vacuuming the carpet, so it looks great. 

Onto the kitchen. The only picture I could find with just our kitchen was from 2016 before we had a back splash, but you get the idea. 

Here's the after. These pictures don't do our kitchen justice. I probably should have taken these pictures during the day because the natural sunlight just makes our kitchen look even better. We got all new appliances and a new dining room light. Tyler added can lights and new hardware to the cabinets and the painters stained our cabinets a little bit darker to make it all pop again. 

Moving from the kitchen into our half bath. Nothing too new here, but Tyler added the frame around our mirror and we put up a few new pictures. 

I don't know if I ever showed a after picture of our laundry room. 

I really love the extra room with the washer and dryer. It makes mornings so much smoother when the kids are all in there trying to get their backpacks for school. 

The only other change is our master bedroom. At the last minute, Tyler added can lights to our bedroom and it might be my favorite part of our bedroom. 

I'm still looking for a new bed spread to change things up a little bit, but I can't find anything I like quite yet. 

Well I think that's about it for our remodel. Thanks for reading our little house update. I think it will be so fun to look back on this in 20 years to see how our house has changed.