Demolition Day/Home Improvements

So as anyone who just bought a home can attest I am sure, that moving into a new house can lead to more projects than you thought possible. However we sure are happy having our own place and love truly making it ours. 

So as some of you know, our couch did not fit up the stairs, so for the past two months we have been surviving with a small love seat and recliner chair, which has made hosting and having others over very difficult. Well so we went and bought two couches!!! Here is the first one in the store.....

Here it is in our home with some new pillows I made for it. The other's weren't exactly my favorite.

However, the other couch we bought, a nice leather couch meant for the living room, which we measured to make sure it wasn't taller than the ceiling up the tight staircase in our house. But it didn't fit because you couldn't bend it to get it into the stairwell because of the back wall. The delivery men were super nice about it and tried very hard and knew exactly what they were doing, and to no avail. So back to the drawing board for that.

But on the plus side we were able to move these babies out of our family room and into the living room to give us some seating out there and something besides a lone coffee table. SO much better!!!  So here is the start. We finally finished the chair rail and painting. Next new couch, accent chairs, curtains, another lamp......ok you get the picture. :)

But here is finally the finished product with our chair rail done also in the dining room. Still a few things to fix but for now it looks great!!! 

So here is our dark entryway and the culprit for now two couches not being able to come up our stairs.

Here is a few from the front door. Too many tight corners and turns....

And the unfinished room on the other side of the wall.

Well, we got sick of furniture not fitting up, feeling cramped and dark when we came into the house, so  we tore down the wall!! (don't worry we checked first and it isn't load baring!). 

So with a little help and some borrowed tools and a bit of muscle and strength and just know how....here you go! 

And now the finished product!

Finished obviously being a joke. But we are now in the market for a good contractor to help us move a few things around, a bit of plumbing, electrical, add a door, make a closet, you know, things like that. But we are glad to not feel so tight now when we come inside! Now just to make it so people don't see my laundry when they walk in the front door....

Palmyra Pageant

We seriously got super lucky this summer to have Grandma and Grandpa Hinton be in the Palmyra Pageant! I grew up going and LOVE it! Such a neat experience and so fun to be around so many people and feel the spirit. So we were super excited to go together this year and bring Conner along. We also got really lucky and Sarah and Ben came with us as well. They are great sports and put up with a crazy Conner in the 7-8 hour car ride. 

Here we are waiting for dark when the Pageant starts. 

And we ran into some Nephites who wanted to take their picture with us!

Conner was having a hard time looking at the camera.....

Ben guarding our spot.

Conner sure loves them!!! And we're glad they are always to willing to play with him!!

Conner did SO great. We had people around us compliment us on how well he behaved. He was happy and just crawled around until the show started, watched a little bit, and then fell asleep on this blanket in the grass. He would wake up when it got loud, like at the destruction scene, but then would look around and just go back to sleep. Seriously how did we get so lucky???

The next morning we were able to go visit mom and dad before church. They have a sacrament meeting as a cast and we couldn't go, but were sure glad to get in some quality time with them!!!

Can you see the similarities in their smiles??

Walking through the Sacred Grove.

The Smith Log Cabin.

This is the room where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith. So neat and we sure loved going there and the rich history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Hanging with Gma and Gpa

So Conner loves loves loves going to Gma's and Gpa's. Probably because he gets constant attention and this kid LOVES attention and being around people. We stayed there one night and the next morning he woke up extra early (pretty sure he wanted to play). And with every sound he'd get excited and turn around or go investigate. Then when no one appeared he look at me like "Look mom, I know this is the house where all the people who play with me live, so where are you hiding them???"

Here he is getting some Uncle time. 

We discovered he loves to sit in the sink and see everyone. 

Movie night with Gma. 

Falling asleep with Gpa while watching Uncles perform for their Youth Conference. 

Yep he sure loves being around family!!