A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh

Last Saturday I took the girls to see The Lion King at Capitol Theatre. IT WAS AMAZING! It was a Broadway Across America production. Capitol Theatre is pretty small, so I can only imagine how spectacular it must be on a bigger stage.

The costumes, sets, and music were completely mesmerizing. I would encourage anyone to see it if they can. It's worth the money, and your kids will love it! It follows the Disney movie verbatim, so the kids knew all the songs (there were a few more in the stage production than the movie).

If you go see it, get seats by the aisle because the animals come right through the audience several times throughout. It was so incredible how they have designed the costumes to be puppets--the giraffe, elephant, cheetah, ALL of them are amazing. Ican't even describe it. I loved it! Megan came home and said she never wanted to forget it.

We're seeing lots of progress this week! The brick is almost done, and the soffit is being installed. I am so pleased with the way the details are turning out around the windows, and the arches over the front bedroom window and double garage. Our bricklayer is AWESOME!

I love these 3 little windows in our master bedroom. We wanted some more light in there, but that side faces our neighbor's backyard, and we wanted privacy, so we kept them little and up high.
And here they are from the inside.

Another touch I love is this play area for Megan under the stairs. She wanted to make this her reading/play area. She wanted little windows so she could pretend it was a fast food drive thru/post office/ticket booth. She helped me attach studs to the framing for the sheet rock installers to go around. The slot was her idea--I think it turned out pretty cute!

My most favorite thing so far is the mudroom. I have been wanting one since we bought our first house. And the dream is coming to fruition! Our finish guy (Rich--Stratford Finish) completed this today, and on the opposite wall will be another row of hooks with bead board. I love, love, love it! I can't wait to paint it.


We had a little problem on Monday. Our framer (Tony) offered to do the finish work, so we decided to hire him. He's an excellent framer, but we weren't thrilled with his style of finish work. So Mike talked to him about a few things and he got really mad. So Mike told him we were going to hire someone else. He started throwing a tantrum and chucking his tools into his trailer. He wouldn't even talk to Mike, so Mike left. Then Mike got a message from him saying he ran over one of the fence posts that keep the horses in next to our property (which happens to be an electric fence). So Mike called the bricklayer, who luckily witnessed all of this, and he told Mike that the guy was backing his trailer out in a rush and almost took out the next post too. So I had to go over and figure out how to disconnect the fence and get the horses into a smaller adjoining pen because the owner was out of town. Mike drove all the way home from work to assess the damage. Luckily it all turned out okay. The horses didn't get out, and no one got electrocuted.

We got the fence put back together, but the electric fence wouldn't turn back on, so hopefully those horses will just "think" it's a hot fence and mind themselves! Thankfully Rich with Stratford Finish was able to start the very next day, so we didn't lose any time.

We are getting very close to painting and tiling!

4+ Years Later...

I finally finished a quilt top that I have been working on. I bought the fabric in Las Vegas when we still lived there. It is made out of 14 fat quarters. All the prints are retro-looking calicoes. It turned out very old-fashioned looking, which is what I was hoping for. Now to just get it quilted!

This and That

House update: we had blown-in foam sprayed into our upstairs walls before rolling in the fiberglass batting. This is apparently supposed to create a vapor barrier, and add R-value to the walls. Once it is sprayed on, it hardens up. It looks like cottage cheese! They put it on really thick above the windows. I hope this means we will be toasty warm in winter and cooler in the summer. Mike and I did a lot of the batting, which was oh-so fun. Fiberglass all over us and in our throats for a couple of days :)

The brick is coming along nicely. They are about halfway done. Here is a close up of what we are having done under all the windows. The brick in this picture looks kind of grey because it has mortar residue on it. They have acid washed the finished parts so they look darker now. I just haven't taken a picture yet.

Yesterday I went to Manning Orchard and bought 2 boxes of Lemon Elberta peaches. They are heavenly! I will be busy for the next few days canning them and making jam. They make my house smell so delicious!

Danika has been working on an assignment for her Studio Art class. She had to draw a front and side view of someone. She chose Natalie Portman, of Star Wars fame. I am totally amazed at what a great job she did!

So I haven't posted in a while, for fear of sounding like I am bragging about the house. While we are very excited, I don't want anyone to feel like we are trying to show off or comparing ourselves to anyone. I just want to document our progress. So, I have stopped emailing posts to people (except my mother-in-law), and I'm letting you find things on your own if you happen to stop by my blog.

Since the last post, we now have shingles, doors and windows, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and insulation. The mason has started on the brick too. Things are moving along quite well. Mike and I have to finish up the insulation tomorrow, and then we will have our next inspection. After that--sheet rock! Yay!


Brooke had her 14th birthday last Thursday. I took her to lunch with her friend Savannah, and after school she got her hair cut. I forgot to take a picture of her when she was finished, but she got about 6-7 inches cut off! It's cute, but very different after having long hair for so many years!

She also got a Nook--an e-book reader. She is a voracious reader, and I don't have enough room on my shelves to buy books at the rate she reads them! Now she can store 15,000 books on one little device! Wow, modern technology! Think of what the Book of Mormon prophets/authors would think of that!