Painting, Painting and More Painting

When we purchased our home back in 2003 we knew that we didn't love our kitchen cabinets. We have always said that "someday" we would get around to either replacing them (maybe if we won the lottery...) or painting them. We complained about the horrible color wood, fake plastic sides, and gross handles (completely my fault... who knew you had to scrub cabinet handles!)

Well this weekend we had to go to Sherwin Williams to get some glaze for a different project. (Our fantastic neighbor is going to build us hand-rails for our stairs. I ripped ours off about 2 years ago with the intentions of replacing them with nicer ones. Yeah-- 2 years later it is finally getting done because we have such a great neighbor!) Anyway while we were there we noticed they were having a paint sale. There wasn't anyone else in the store, the salesman was super helpful, and we didn't have anything to do over the weekend so Derek and I looked and each other and decided we should just go for it and paint the cabinets. We were so foolish to think for one second this would be an easy, one day, project. Somehow we lived through it and have newly painted cabinets to show for it.

We are planning on getting a new counter top and new appliances (ours only decide to work sometimes). I'll post before and after pictures of the entire kitchen as soon as we get it all done. But for now-- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! For anyone thinking about taking on a similar project... GOOD LUCK! It is a TON of work, but I really love the end result.

WHAT A MESS!!

This is a great project to take on if you want to organize your cupboards. By the time we were done I had gone through every shelf and every drawer. I've never been so organized!

STILL A MESS! But at least there is primer!

Drum Roll Please........

BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES:

Register to VOTE!

I just want to remind everyone that the deadline to register to vote by mail is only 4 days away. It is so important that you all vote this year. Even if you don't agree with my political views, I strongly encourage you to get involved and make sure your voice is heard this election. Too many people leave it up to "everyone else" and then complain about what a mess we are in. Please visit http://elections.utah.gov/VoterRegistrationForm.pdf to print off a registration form. Make sure you mail it in by October 6th! After Monday you will have to go in person to the County Clerks office to register. After you are registered, don't forget to Vote on November 4th!

Disneyland!

I just had the pleasure of booking our flights to Disneyland! It isn't everyday that I book a flight to go anywhere-- let alone to Disneyland. Cooper and I are going to fly down for our big trip this year. We are super excited! This is our one big trip every year and it is going to be really nice to be able to fly there. Unfortunatly, the only thing missing will be my cute husband. He is taking the year off from all the Disneyland excitement! We are going with my parents, Katie, Luke and their girls and Holli and her kids are also coming down. We are going to drive back with my parents, but at least half of the drive time with a 3 year old will be eliminated. As you can see from my countdown on here, only 2 more months to go before we are out of here!

I am such a geek!

Day Date Flight Status Class City Time Other Cabin--- ----- --------------- ------ ----- ---------------- ------ ------ -------Sat 29NOV DELTA 4074* OK L LV SALT LAKE CI 145P 11B TY COACH AR LONG BEACH CA 240P *Operated by SKYWEST AIRLINES

Chris Cannon

This is a post from a blog of one of Jason's supporters. I thought it was too good to not post on here. Things like this make me remember why I have spent so many hours volunteering on his campaign.

Conservative Logic - http://logicalconservative.wordpress.com/

Nelson Family Picnic

I must have really done something right in heaven. Not only have I been blessed with the most amazing family, I also have been given wonderful in-laws. I have heard such horror stories of other people's in-laws and so I really feel like I have hit the jack-pot. We had a really great time last night at a family picnic. I tried to get pictures of as many of them as I could, but I know I missed a lot of them. Cooper LOVED playing kickball with all his cousins and we all had a really fun time.

Cooper and Tyler
(The rule was the little ones couldn't get out. It didn't stop Tyler from trying.)

Sally, Logan, Kara, Cooper, Angela and Jamie working out a strategy for their victory.

We think Cooper may be a kicker. We should have Jason give him a few lessons on place-kicking!

Paisley and Tyler looking cute as always. Cooper not paying attention, as always.

Kara!

You should see that girls muscles! She could probably beat up someone twice her size if she tried!

Say Cheese Paisley!

Totally Awesome Tyler

My Cute Husband

Adorable Abbey!

Logan and Grandma Nelson

You would never know she had hip replacement surgery with that kick!

Cooper and Paisley playing together. These two have had a rough time in the past, but lately they have become really great friends.

More Adorable Abbey. We have become best buds!

Chad thinks Abbey and I were soul mates in heaven. :)

Paisley, Abbey and Cooper riding bikes. And look-- nobody is fighting!

TIFFANY!

She is amazing on the violin and a darn good kick-ball player!

Chad and Derek. Look at that form!

Sorry to everyone I missed. I'll get ya next time!!!

So You Think You Can Dance

I was SO lucky to go to the "SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE" concert this week. I went with Angela, Pam and Melissa. We had a great time and the concert was AMAZING! It was really cool to see all my favorite numbers from the show in person. It was well worth the expensive ticket price and I will definitely go back next year! If you didn't watch the show this season, I highly recommend you check it out next summer.

This picture is awfully lame, but it shows where our seats were. We were back a little ways, but right on center 8 rows up, they were great seats.

(For anyone who watched the show, the picture is of Will)

ZOO Days!

We had a great time at the Zoo! We felt like we had the entire zoo to ourselves. We got there just as the gates were closing for the night, but had an hour and a half to see all the animals. It was perfect timing and the weather was beautiful. Cooper's favorite animal was the tiger.

Tough Guys!

Sorry!

Maybe someday I'll have time to catch up on here!

YOU ARE ALL AMAZING!

So I have spent the majority of my day on the computer reading all of your blogs. (Yeah yeah I know-- I should be cleaning, working on the campaign, planning things for YW, and being productive....) But I just have to tell you all that you are all so amazing! Some of the things I have read are so funny, sad, entertaining, and touching. Thanks for allowing me into your lives! You are all such great friends to me and I am so thankful to know all of you.

Lock Your Car Doors!

We had a great time at the State Fair this past week. We have made it a tradition to go the past 4 years. Cooper loved seeing all the animals, especially the bunnies and sheep. His favorite thing was definitely the pony ride. The weather was a bit chilly and we had a late start so we didn't get to spend as much time there as we normally do. There was a free concert going on and only about 15 people in attendance so we had a good time listening and dancing along to their music. Cooper had the group of ladies next to us in love with him.

This was Cooper waiting for his turn on the pony ride. He was so excited!

We did have a really crazy and somewhat scary thing happened as we were trying to leave. We had just parked on one of the side streets and as we were pulling onto the road a lady came up to our car like she was going to ask us a question. Luckily I had locked the doors because she tried to open up Cooper's door and get in the car. We have NO clue what she was doing or what she wanted so we just drove away. She did not look like she was all there so we are guessing she was either drunk or high on something. I am so grateful that I locked the doors before she got to us! I was a bit shaken from it, but it really scared Cooper. On the ride home, every 3 or 4 minutes he would say "what that lady doing mommy?" He was very concerned that she was trying to get him. We finally calmed him down by telling him she just wanted a ride, but we didn't let her get in because she was a stranger and didn't say please. I think he is finally over it. He at least hasn't asked us yet today "what that lady doing?". So everyone LOCK YOUR DOORS! You never know what kind of crazy people want to get in your car!

Watch Out Bob Villa!

I am totally aware of what a dumb thing this is to blog about, but because we worked on it ALL weekend, I figured I would document all of our hard work. We put new floors in our kitchen and living room over 2 years ago. We didn't ever know how to finish them with the quarter round along the edges. I am so proud of Derek for figuring it out and doing without any help. Cooper tried to be a big helper, but would get scared every time the nail gun or saw would make a loud noise. Thanks to Mom and Dad and Richie for letting us use their tools. Now that Derek is so handy with tools, I am going to find all kind of projects for him to work on.

Congrat's Smith Family!

Cindy had her baby on Sunday! When we went to visit the hospital the baby was still nameless. Hopefully they have given her a name by now! She is really cute and looks just like Kenzie to me. Cindy looked great and said the delivery went really well. Boy how our family has grown!

Cooper wanted to take her home with us.

The boys were being so cute while we were there.

Now all we need is to know what the babies name is!