Adam and Heather Hayes

Adam didn't tell me to clean before he took the pictures so, I swear I woulda.  

As you can see we have a very old styled bathroom, early 70's carpet, blue porcelain everything, super blah cabinetry and vanity. 

Actually, as you can see, HALF of the toilet is blue and half is white, classy.

There's also the ripped off piece of Formica in this corner. We painted it white to match better before we moved in.  We will post some "During" and "After" pictures in the next couple weeks.  Gorgeous bathroom, here we come!

I know you've all been waiting months for me to finally post this, so here it is.

As you can see, we are no longer assaulted by 1972 when we walk through the bathroom doorway.  The toilet is all one color and NO CARPET!

This may not look very different, but the medicine cabinet and mirror are tons bigger now.  The cabinetry has no holes or broken runners.  The sink is not baby blue and the vanity top is all one big piece, easier to clean and less caulking. I used to have 2 drawers, now I have six.  I don't have anything in the bottom 2, it's wonderful!

The cabinetry is new and beautiful.  I have several more shelves now to keep me organized.  The tile is beautiful and not near as cold as I thought it would be.

Goodbye blue porcelain, hello jetted tub and cultured marble.  I really like taking baths and showers now.  We got a bent shower curtain bar and it is amazing how much more elbow room there is.  The cultured marble is pretty, sturdy, and very easy to clean and I would recommend it to all who like how pretty tile is but don't have the patience to clean the grout.

Well, it has begun, no turning back now!

We salvaged some tile and a bunch of the old stuff for Adam's parents' addition.

Then everything got ripped out, sheetrock around the tub, carpet, the top layer of floor, toilet, vanity, cabinets, and in a quick timely manner I must say!

Bye, bye carpet! (You can kind of see Vi's haircut above)

Bye, bye blue porcelain. 

Our remodelers are quick and thorough.  We are very pleased with how it's going.

Well, this is as ugly as it gets so, all the pictures from here on will just get prettier!

Where have I been the past few months?  Well, this is Idaho, and it is winter, so believe it or not, I've been cooped up in the house.  Reading books, watching old movies, and for the past couple weeks exercising! 

I have a goal to lose at least 30 pounds this year. I've joined a group of ladies in my ward who walk 3 miles every morning (5 days a week, M-F) and lift weights immediately after on Tuesday and Thursday (our whole stake is invited to that).  I hope going from nothing to this will be a big improvement.  It has already helped my mood a ton.  January always makes me so stir-crazy.  I'm usually broke after Christmas, thus I don't leave the house much.  I feel like everyday is the same, and there is nothing to look forward to, and I just get down and sad/grouchy.  So I am LOVING the happier mind-set exercise gives me, and I'm sure my family is too. 

We are going to do a complete overhaul on our upstairs bathroom when we get our tax return back.  (Since we incorporated in 2008 we had to pay 90% of Adam and Heather Hayes' AHFX 2007 earned income AND AH Digital FX Studios Inc., so this years return should be a good one) 

Our bathroom is straight out of the 70's from baby blue sink, toilet, and tub to the blue plaid carpet. Yeah, gross, I know. So all new everything, even cabinetry.  Yes, the carpet is going, it will be replaced with: most likely tile.  Post on the comment section the likes and dislikes of all your flooring and counter tops.  We are leaning towards tile floors and granite counter tops.  (Is tile to hard and cold on your feet and does granite show too many splatters and fingerprints?)  We will do before and after pictures of it.

We'll be adding more toys to our swingset, and hopefully... laying some cement for a basketball/volleyball court. It should be a fun, busy year! 

Well the other day the bottom step of our front deck broke. It has been threatening to break for the past...umm..... 4 years, so I knew this day was coming. Heather and I have a bad habit of not being able to "just fix things". We normally say something like this:

1. You know, while we are at it, we should replace all of the stairs,
   
2. and if we are going to replace all of the stairs, why don't we extend the stairs to be the full length of the deck,
   
3. and since the new stairs are going to need stained, why don't we sand and stain the whole deck while we are at it.

So our simple fix a bottom step turns into quite a large project. However, we are always happy with the results, it just takes longer than a quick fix (just look at our bathroom project to see a similar pattern of just tearing out the carpet to a complete master bathroom makeover.

I just finished sanding the whole deck today and we'll probably be doing the stain tomorrow. The above picture was taken when we finished installing the new stairs but before any sanding began.

We've also done some modifications to our blog. Hopefully pictures from now on should be expandable (horizontal pictures that is) by hovering over them and clicking if a magnifying glass comes up. Let me know if you have any problems with the new feature. :)

Erith and Tricity have started school again.  They are really enjoying it so far.  They have lots of friends on their bus route, and it's the shortest amount of time they've ever had to ride.  

Vi, Clara, and MOM really misses them while they're gone.  Erith and Tricity help so much with the little ones.  When I hear Clara screaming to get down from her highchair, my natural inclination is to say "Erith can you get Clara down from her chair?" But alas, I have to do it.  And when it gets way to quiet I want to say "Tric can you see what Vi and Clara are doing?"  But now, I find them, or just Clara covered in permanent marker plus my front entryway covered in permanent marker, just a few minutes too late.  I should have taken a picture but I was too mad.

So, I am relearning to shut the bathroom doors all day long so I'm not cleaning up toilet water, and not leaving things on the kitchen table that a 16 month old can easily pull a chair up to and make a mess in.  I am determined to buy some child proofing devices.  My old rubber band-it-shut trick doesn't work on this trouble maker!

Vi has grown up enough that she's okay passing on the trouble maker mantle to Clara.  Vi has bonded with a kitten this summer and they spend a lot of time together.  The kitten just lets her pack her around, arms around the tummy, squishing her quite hard at times.  I keep asking Vi what the kitten's name is and she always says "Baby Kitten."

Oh, and no, I don't let my kids outside in their pajamas...

I really thought we didn't have anything exciting to write about, but today I realized that I'm doing this blog so I can have a history of our family.  So if every entry isn't that exciting to you, I'm sorry, but it's information I want to remember.

I need to remember my first time calling Poison Control, which happened last night.  My sweet little two year old Viola has learned to use chairs and stools to climb onto tables, counter tops, pianos, and anywhere else we thought was a "safe place."  She climbed onto the bathroom counter and grabbed an Air Wick scented oil with fan refill and sucked on the wick like it was a straw.

She started bawling and ran to me.  She smelled very strongly like Harvest Orchard oil and said she needed a drink.  We gave her lots of water to drink and Poison Control said we probably gave her too much to drink which might make her throw up, which might get in her lungs, which might give her pneumonia, which might start an infection, but most likely she would be fine.   Which she is, just fine today, didn't even wet the bed after all that water before bed.

She is definitely in the terrible twos though.  She has to do everything her way. Don't even think about helping her out of the car.  She fell flat on her face at my mom's house a couple weeks ago getting out of the SUV by herself and skinned her forehead and nose. I had to cancel her picture appointment that week.  Since Erith and Tric are at school five days a week, Vi has 2 less sets of eyes to watch her.  She  is quite the adorable trouble-maker!  She is communicating so much better though.  She says simple sentences and knows how to count to 13 in English and 6 in Spanish.  She can say the ABC's pretty clearly and knows the color red.  She can play several games on the Ubuntu computer that Adam set up for the girls to play on. She knows who's turn it is for family prayer which we do by order of birthday! Crazy huh!

Erith lost her fourth tooth last week.  She has lost 3 on bottom and 1 on top with two more quite loose.  She can read quite a few books and verses of scripture without any help now.  She knows how to change Clara's diaper and draws and prints picutures on the kid computer nearly every day. (We had to give her a paper limit per day recently.)  She is taking piano lessons and doing quite well, when she practices!

Tricity is quite the social butterfly.  I hear story after story about all the kids in her kindergarten class when she gets home.  She loves to help me cook.  She likes to draw and play on the computer as well.   She is quite good at remembering to practice the piano.  She is doing great at school and has helped me find homes for 10 of our 19 kittens.  (You heard me right, 19!)

Clara is jabbering a lot and she seems like a permanant hip ornament on me.  She is definately a momma's girl.  She laughs when Vi or I entertain her.  She rolls like crazy but is not wanting to crawl or sit up on her own much. She is eating lots of new foods and seems to never get full.  She's very cute and sweet and I love her a lot.

Adam's business is picking up again, it usually does right before year end.  His brother is working for us in the evenings so Adam's challenge is to NOT stay in the office from morning till 11 at night.  He got to meet Dallin H. Oaks when his stake presidency got replaced, that was cool.  He likes the boys in his scout group really well, they are going swimming tonight.

I have been crocheting baby booties for humanitarian newborn kits.  I am still quite slow and have a lot of mistakes, but they keep Clara's feet warm, so I'm sure they are good enough.  I have lots of Primary stuff to do before the end of the year and I help a lady I visit teach quite often, and the PTSO have something they want at least once a month.  I just keep busy without a whole lot to show for it.  It's kind of frustrating, but I hope I'm making a difference.  Adam and I are going on a date this week if it kills us!  It's been about a month.  Between his schedula and mine, there's never a free night.  I really want to do a session at the Rexburg Temple, I haven't done one there yet.  We're still in the Idaho Falls temple district.   Have a great day!

Well my latest project has come to a close, (for now at least). We finished off the main components for the swingset recently. It was quite the project. It went through a couple of revisions as we worked on it and we added a number of features as we saw just how large a 12 foot swingset can be. 

We will be adding a rockclimbing wall on one side and possibly another slide and a zip line. (I mistakenly joked with Heather that all it was missing was a zip line... and next thing I know she wants one added.)

Anyway, we figured we should get it done before it snowed. Unfortunately it snowed on it the day we were planning on staining the whole thing. So it got snowed on once before the stain was on.

As to other projects, I hung two lights and replaced a ceiling fan that Heather got for our 8th anniversary. Unfortunately it included some crawling through the attic and digging through insulation so I could put in some extra supports for the heavier ceiling fan. All in all it went quite smoothly and it is giving the house a more modern feel compared to the older "brassy" lights we had up.

My next project will probably come around Jan/Feb as we tackle the master bathroom. Heather wants to completely redo it.

• New tile flooring/walls
• New deeper tub
• New cabinets
• New sink/toilet

The day before Adam's sister Sarah got married, I was in my bedroom reading a book when I saw out of the corner of my eye, Viola in the bathroom.  I distinctly heard the sound of scissors cutting something.

I said "Vi did you just cut your hair?" She bends over and starts picking up pieces of hair in a hurry and putting them in the garbage can.  "I didn't cut anything."  It took me a few minutes to find the lucky spot on her head.  If I part her hair to the side, there's enough on top to hide the short hair nubs underneath. 

Just in time for lots of family pictures at Sarah and Logan's wedding.  Oh well, at least the bride and groom looked gorgeous!

Well, I saw Viola with some scissors walking to the bathroom garbage can this morning.  I didn't see what she dropped in the can.  (A clump of hair)  I took the scissors away and told her not to play with scissors.  Then I saw the clump of hair on the floor.  I picked it up and said "Vi why did you cut your hair?"  She said " I want my hair pretty." 

I tried so hard not to smile, but it was so cute!  Adam freaked out worse than I did.  He likes girls to have long hair, and according to him it was finally getting long and cute.  I was going to have my sister cut Vi and Erith's hair in the next couple weeks anyway so I just thought it was funny! So, it's decided, ear-length it is!

I am sorry I haven't been up to writing lately, but Baby Clara is worth every minute!

She is absolutely beautiful! I have to say that even though I've had 4 girls now, each one is unique and I fall in love with each one each time.  Clara is great baby, very easy to fall in love with.  She's a good eater, a good sleeper, doesn't puke much, and has a happy disposition.

Her big sisters are great helpers.  They entertain her a lot, and she loves every minute of it, even if Vi is a little rough!  Speaking of Vi, she has had the hardest time.  She does all kinds of aggravating things to get some attention. Most of them happen in the bathroom and involve toilet paper.  She seems to be getting better as the days go by though.

I wouldn't trade Clara for a hundred boys, she is an angel and I love her!  Our family feels more complete and we all love each other all the more.  I couldn't be any happier! 

Sorry it's been so long. I've been run, run, running since school got out.  I am coaching Erith and Tricity's T-Ball team, it's not been the easiest thing ever for me, but I'm liking the time with the girls. 

Scouting is taking quite a bit of time right now, the constant rain is making the grass grow like mad, and I'm trying to plan our summer vacation.  Adam kidnapped me and took me to Boise for a couple days. 

Adam made the Miss Idaho website this year so we got free tickets and a huge table to advertise on.  It was really fun.  I loved it.  It was held at Boise State's Morrison Center.  It was a two day thing. Our hotel was within walking distance and they held the Boise IronMan triathalon right through the middle of campus.  The roads got blocked off and the judges for the paegent didn't get there till a half hour after it was suppose to start the second night.  So it didn't get over till 11:00pm, and that put us home at 3:30 am.  Then I had to get the binders with our ward's flag routes to the place they are stored by 6:00am.  I am still trying to catch up on sleep.  It was fun to get away from it all for a couple days though.  I have to put in a plug for the place we ate the first night.  It was right in between our hotel and Boise State  It was a locally owned Italian resteraunt called Papa Joe's.  They make everything from scratch and it is goooooood.  I still have not painted the trim in the bathroom, maybe I will finally do it tonight, and then I will post the after pictures.

Our bathroom is almost done!  It sure is looking nice.  The new cabinets are so much sturdier and pretty.  We decided on oak since our kids would ding the softer kinds of wood.

The handles are on their way.  The medicine cabinet holds  SO much stuff. It is great.

The jetted tub and toilet are so blinging white and beautiful and work flawlessly.  Well, flawlessly if you have more than a half inch of water above the jets that is.  Poor Vi got a tidal wave right in the face when we first tried it out! 

The cultured marble is so pretty and easy to clean, I'm really glad we went with it.

We just need handles, painted trim, and decorations and I think we'll be ready for the before and after comparison!

New waterproof sheetrock, tile and jetted tub!

Tape and Santa Fe texture.  Our remodel specialist suggested these little gray speckled squares in the corners of the tile.  I'm so glad he did, I love it!

Painting the ceiling white in the middle of the night.

Painting the walls gray, at 4:00 AM, we have to have everything ready for the marble by Tuesday morning, so we do what we gotta do.

There's nothing more satisfying to me than painting a white wall with color.  Painting something white a little whiter, like the ceiling, is tedious.  But white walls to Pewter... I could go all night!  (and I did)

I like the contrast of the walls, trim, and the two tiles.  They are putting in cabinets and grout today,  White and gray marble tomorrow, and I guess a white toilet and white trim.  I'm so excited to see it coming together!

Don't worry all you anti-dark paint people, it won't look like a concrete room for long!