Westward Ho! The Oregon Trail

Dan is a huge fan of making sure the kids learn something on every trip we take, like school.  I like the gift shops.  I tried to make this trip a better mix of the two so everyone was happy! 

First up for shoving information down the kids throats was The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon.

 It is a few miles off the interstate but not so far you start to feel like you are losing major travel time.  

It's easy to spot high up on a hillside.

There were several wagons circled round, one authentic and others replicas that the kids could climb up in.

 Inside the center is really nice.  There are large exhibits that show the scenes of wagon trail life and the many animals that came along with the pioneers.  

The center is a decent size but not so overwhelming that the kids got bored.  It had an entry fee but it was nothing huge, maybe $30 for all of us? 

I would say if you ever want to stop there, plan on about an hour of your time.  Worth it for sure!

 Lauren tried on a prairie girl hat and the bought this little rag doll with her own money.  She named her Charlotte and she was her constant companion this whole trip!  The sweet lady who worked in the gift shop makes these dolls and seemed pleased that Lauren wanted one.

 At the front of the center.  The sun was so bright!

We headed down the hill right by the entrance to the the center and that is where I thought we were showing the kids the coolest thing ever.  

Wagon wheel tracks!  

The Oregon Trail tracks!  

The REAL ones!  

From over 100 years ago!  

The dirt is so trampled and packed down that after all these years, nothing still can grow in the tracks!  

 Greg was super unimpressed. 

 So I made them pose and took a picture of them so someday they will see that their parents took them to some cool places. 

Back in the car kids.....

Fall Break Road Trip to the Pacific Northwest!

With our oldest now in Jr. High, the kids are on different schedules.  His school is traditional and the younger two are on a year round schedule. 

 Graham had the entire week off for fall break so we decided to pull Greg and Lauren out to play hookie for a few days.

Years ago I lived in Vancouver, Washington, working across the river for Delta Airlines at PDX.  

I just love that area!   

Dan had never been before so I got to planning and off we went!

I am one of those weird trip planners, like with a spreadsheet type of planner.  Some things are good to wing it with but I like knowing where I'm going to sleep every night!  

We took off from Salt Lake last Sunday morning with out first stop being in Boise, Idaho.  

 The kids were a little wound up from being the car for five hours

 but they still managed

 a little silliness at the Boise LDS Temple!

 I really wanted this trip to be a no fast food one - its fun to try new local places and have the kids try some new foods along the way!  We stopped in Meridian at the Flatbread Neopolitan Pizzaria in the older part of town.  It had a really nice town square park next to the patio so the kids could run around and play while we ordered.  They loved making their own pizzas and the food was delicious! 

They were most looking forward to swimming that night at the hotel, it was a great first road trip day!

Lauren's Paris Birthday Party

I haven't been great at blogging this past year but I feel like doing a few posts, especially now that all three kids are back in school all day!

Lauren celebrated her birthday earlier this year and doing a Paris theme was a total given.  

 

She LOVES Paris!  She likes to watch language videos on YouTube and teach herself French.  Not.kidding.  It's pretty much adorable to me!

 Welcome to Paris, Utah!  Ha!

She has the cutest bunch of friends!

 

 The girls tied fabric scraps onto flip flops for their craft and then we had a fashion show to model them. 

 

Some of the girls didn't know how to tie (??) so thankfully big brother Graham came to the rescue along with his friend that was over.  The fashion show quickly turned into a conga line around the kitchen island!

 The house got VERY loud.  

We then had the girls be fashion designers with le toilet pa-per.  You know, like you do at every single bridal shower you have ever gone to in your 20's. 

 They thought this was both disgusting and hilarious.  

 

We pinned the flag on the Eiffel Tower poster while getting ready serve cake and ice cream.  

 

 My sweet little Parisian girl.

 

 

 I usually let Lauren have one or two friends stay over to play after a party.  She gets to play with her new toys and games with friends and it feels like the party lasts a little longer for her while we clean up the aftermath!

I think this cutie had a great day!  So far being seven is great!

The Final Result - Our Finished Kitchen

This is what we had as our cute kitchen for nine years...until cabinet doors started falling off faster than we could fix them and countertops started peeling away.

 And here is our after!

I still am working on the fun details like a roman shade over the sink and the fun knick knacks.  

It will come.

For now we are grateful to have the working kitchen and that we lived to tell about it!

 

Picking Out the Granite

I finally went to Dal Tile in Salt Lake and found these beauties...Yellow River....they were in stock and were just what I was looking for.  A little more than what I was hoping to spend but at this point, I didn't care. 

Dan had not been along for the ride on these shopping adventures.  He HATES things like this.  We work like this on large purchases:  I shop and pick things out, he takes a look at it and then says "Whatever you want baby." 

 He did look like a very convincing inspector in his orange vest.

 

We picked out the two slabs we needed and placed our order.

  

I love it!

I also ordered this beauty of a faucet from Amazon.   

 The Bellevue Faucet in brushed nickel.

Don't Take a Counter Top For Granite!

Not this girl!  

Not after what we went through to get ours!

We had a friend recommend the company Bedrock Quartz to use as our fabricator and I cannot sing enough happy praises about this company!  

They had a large in stock selection to choose from IF...I had liked what they had.  

But I tend to have a vision of what I want in my mind and then it takes me forever to find it, if I am lucky.  More often than not, it doesn't even exist.  

So I started the hunt looking in granite yards all over the Salt Lake Valley and ended up choosing a slab at a place called Contempo.  Which I later found out is the most expensive place you can go to.  

 

I knew I wanted something with "movement" in it.  Not splotchie or spotted or that looked like throw up.  I fell in love with this slab called Crema Typhoon.  

Done!  

They had five slabs in stock and I only needed two!

Not so fast.

They were all spoken for, even though no one had put money down on them.  Because that makes sense to hold items for people when there is me standing there with cash in my hand ready to buy.

But they can order me some!  

Great!  

From Brazil! 

Not so great. 

They told me to wait two weeks.  

Which didn't seem like that big of a deal.

Two weeks passed and they told me to wait another week.

Then I called to check (three weeks without a counter OR placing an order anywhere with my cabinets already in)

and the counters were...

stuck in customs. 
Still in Brazil. 

I LOVED that Crema Typhoon.  I searched everywhere to see who else had it.

 No one did and I knew I needed to move on.  Who knew when it could come in and if it would even look like these slabs?

Lesson learned for any future build or just to pass along.  

Your counter tops should be the FIRST thing you look for.   I could have at least had slabs on reserve that would have been ready to go when the cabinets were in had I known!

I Left You Hanging!

We have a fully completed kitchen, I promise!  I realized that I haven't blogged in a long time (does anyone really blog anymore?) but I should at least post pictures of our finished project!

We finally got all the cabinets in and the doors were being finished. 

 I then had the thrill of appliance shopping. Not my favorite thing to do so I made it easy on myself and hit Lowes.  We knew we wanted stainless steel and I knew for sure that I wanted a double oven, a quiet dishwasher (with our open floorplan that is a must!) and I went from there.

I ended up with a great deal on an LG suite.  I chose the French Door Refrigerator with Dual Ice Maker.  Don't let the sleek design fool you, this fridge can pack it in, it's HUGE!

I love the three separate drawers and the large deli drawer underneath.  The doors hold a TON and the shelves slide in and out to make room for different items. 

For the stove I went with the LG 30 inch 5 burner Double Oven with Gas Range.  I love that I can cook two things at once!  It was really the only way to get a double oven into this space and I've been really pleased with it!

We were really excited to finally have appliances back in the house and a semi working kitchen again! 

 We saved the old kitchen laminate counter to set on the top until the counter tops came in.

Doesn't it look classy?

Next up? 

THE COUNTER TOPS!

Also known as, the entire reason our project went over budget and seven weeks past our time frame.