Our beautiful new bathroom!

Kurt and I took advantage of the empty nest we had for a little while and completely renovated the hall bathroom. We ripped out everything except the bathtub and the tile around it. It took a lot of time and hard work, but it was so worth it!!

The before- a dated, functional, but not pretty bathroom.

The gutted bathroom- pulling up the old linoleum and scraping off all the glue was quite a chore
Kurt putting down the first of the tile. He got pretty sick of doing all the tilework, but he had a great assistant!!

The finished bathroom- a big change!

The new vanity and mirror

Next I want to redo our bathroom and replace all the hall tile, but I think I'd better wait awhile before I bring it up- right now the mere sight of tile makes Kurt run screaming the other way!

My new front yard!

The front yard was looking sad with overgrown bushes and dead or nearly dead rose bushes. It was time to take some action! So we pulled out all the old bushes and had all the old brick planters and concrete walk torn out. We had beautiful stamped concrete put in and even added a new porch. I have had fun picking out lots of pretty plants and some new trees that will grow up and give us much needed shade. Now all we have to do is put up our new house numbers and add some new rock and the front yard will be all done! I'm not sure our missionaries will recognize our house when they come home next year!!

Our new entryway with an added small porch and a beautiful new front door

The new stamped, curved walkway and concrete planters with all my new colorful plants. The planter on the left was expanded by about a foot to make our new porch and give me lots of room for my pretty flowers.

San Marcos in a Chili's?

A couple of weeks ago I went out to lunch at Chili's with Jennie and her mom. As I'm sitting in the booth waiting for them I look up and see a sign that's posted on the wall in the waiting area. I couldn't believe my eyes!!! It was a sign for the San Marcos chili cook-off!! Before Kristi started serving there a few months ago I'd never heard of San Marcos Texas!! So of course we had to get a picture to send her!!

A Great Trip to Disneyland!!

On the way to Cali!!

Yep, I get the front seat!!

The four of us in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle

Kurt, Keith, and me after getting wet on Splash Mountain

Keith demonstrating his driving abilities!

Should we bail 'em out or leave 'em there?

Saying hi to Mickey!

Having lunch at our favorite out of the way spot- Whitewater Snacks

Waiting in line for the new Toy Story Ride - modeling the newest in 3-D eyewear!!

The lovebirds at the Blue Bayou

Having a yummy dessert at Blue Bayou and watching the Pirates of the Caribbean boats go by

Kurt and I took Keith and Sarah to Disneyland for their 1st Anniversary. It was so much fun!! The ride over was full of "Name That Tune" 80's style. Kurt is really good at it and beat both Keith and Sarah combined!! I couldn't play because it was my ipod playlist (that would be cheating!!). Keith got carsick on the way there which wasn't fun, but by the next morning he was fine as we hit the park! Kristi had asked us to take a picture in front of the castle and to say "Hi" to Mickey for her. Kevin asked us to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride for him (I know, interesting request!). We had so much fun running around the park all day- the lines were pretty small so nothing was more than a 15 minute wait (with fastpasses) except for the new Toy Story ride. I even got to ride Tower of Terror and California Screamin' because Keith and Sarah went on them with me- Kurt won't do those. We spent time in Toon Town (which we haven't even been in for a couple of years) and even rode Gadget's Go-Coaster!! Kurt almost couldn't fit his long legs in the tiny coaster car!!
The next day was more of the same. We had dessert at the Blue Bayou which is inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It's a really neat experience. The park was supposed to close at 10 pm but they extended it an hour because so many people came into the park in the evening. Keith was determined to eke out every last minute of rides so he ran poor Sarah's feet ragged!! They were able to go on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and run over to Pirates just as they were closing the doors. They were the last people on the ride and they got a whole boat to themselves!! What a great way for them to close out their Disney time!
We slept in on Saturday and then went to Downtown Disney for a little while and then the Aquarium. Sarah really liked taking pictures of all the interesting species of fish. After dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (yum!) Keith and Sarah headed back to Downtown Disney to finish their shopping and hang out. Kurt and I decided to pop into Disneyland for a few hours instead (that's the benefit of annual passes!!). Sunday morning we visited with Kurt's aunt and cousins and then headed home in a car that was loaded to the brim!! It was a great trip full of lots of fun times and many great memories!! Now when do we go back???