The House that Love Built

For some reason I keep getting bugged about getting house pictures up.  Maybe because our house is awesome, and it's super exciting.  I don't know though.  Anyway, we have finally got the main floor to look almost home-like.  I mean, it definitely feels like home, but I'm trying to make it look like a home too.  We still haven't hung any pictures because we have really weird horsehair plaster walls and need to buy some drywall screws to hang our pictures.  Hopefully our walls won't crumble too much as we are decorating.  We've also got the basement nice and organized (although we do need to go through some of the boxes still and put things in permanent storage), but it's too dark to take any kind of pictures, since I didn't think to do this until it was already dusk.  Oh, and ignore the weird white balance issues...it was dusk, so I had to chose my white balance based on the internal light, so any external light looks weird and blue.

Ready for the tour of the main floor?

Here's the living room.  Our couches were delivered the day we moved in, so our old worn red couch went to the dumpster, and our backs couldn't be more grateful!  We got the rug on Saturday for $89.99.  Isn't it gorgeous?  It's got navy around the border, along with a lighter, brighter blue, with some yellows and greens and a cream background.  I loved it when we found it, and loved it even more once we had it in with the furniture and everything.  We got a couple of sheer panels for our windows, but need a couple more.  It's nice to have the glaring morning sun softened though.  We plan on hanging a huge family portrait above the fireplace, which is right now scattered with random decorative things.  To the left you can see the corner of our piano, which fits perfectly on that wall, and to the right is the computer desk I am currently sitting at.  We got the chair at the dump.

Oh, and I'm taking suggestions for the pillows.  I didn't like any of the options available, so we went with the ones that came with the couches in the first place.  They are UGLY.  The couches are a deep chocolate brown and have a wide corduroy micro-suede pattern, but I'm totally open to more textures and a pop of color.  The adjacent rooms are red and yellow, but this one is tan.

Turn around and you are in the entry way.  Sorry the picture is so dark.  It's normally happy and yellow.

Matthias found that mirror at the dump, and the dresser was a dump find as well.  I think I'm going to paint it white.  Oh, and it looks like that's where I left my lens cap.  I was looking for that!

I'm in love with our staircase on most days.  Not the ones where I push myself too hard on my run.  Oliver loves to climb the stairs, but he isn't interested in learning how to climb down them.  I'm ok with that, but we do have to keep an eye on him so that he doesn't attempt the climb alone.  He still tries to sit back on the air sometimes.  But, I love the white paint with the zebra wood handrail.  And that rounded bottom step:  Beautiful!  We may get a runner, but didn't find any we liked at the discount store, so we'll wait awhile.

Next to our happy yellow kitchen, with a beadboard backsplash, an original porcelain farmer's sink (I think it's porcelain at least, maybe you could tell me better!), and charm to boot!  The cupboards are all original, just repainted.  I love the hardware that is naturally childproof with built-in latches.  Please ignore the open one as well as the open spice drawer.  Oliver must have helped me with the staging.  Also notice that we only have things hung on the freezer, and not the fridge.  His playpen is to the left, and I never thought I would love a playpen so much as when I am making dinner.  Wow it's a lifesaver.  And you can see the corner of our stove with a pan that once had cinnamon rolls in it that we gave to the missionaries.

I know you wanted to see that sink close up.  And sorry again.  CF lightbulbs make me go crazy when adjusting the white balance.  We love our sink, and we love that it has the side for anything that you want to drain into the sink.  And we are lucky enough that it has a disposal as well, even though it's such an old isnk.  I love it. You can also see my little plants on the sill!

Here's my cilantro.  My old batch died while we were on vacation.  I transplanted it the day we moved, and then there was the New England heat wave, so I pretty much knew it wouldn't make it.  I even had 2 dreams about it while on vacation.  So happy to have my little plants growing again!  Someday I'll know something about gardening. 

Here are my strawberries that Matthias got me for Mother's Day.  They grow much slower than the cilantro, but they look stronger every day, and I'm not expecting fruit until next year or the year after anyway.  I'm sure I need to give them more sunlight, so I may move them to a larger planter outside.  But for now they are happy and standing tall.

(they usually face the window, but I turned them around for picture purposes).

 Our little nook for important mail and this week's ads.  The dishwasher detergent hides behind the ads (since there isn't a lock on the cupboard beneath the sink).  And don't you love the pictures we found at Target?  Only one is hung on an existing screw that was left.  And apparently my mask from when we were sanding is hidden behind there...
Anyway, back to the other side of the kitchen.

That tall skinny door actually holds a drop down ironing board!  And you can see the door to the sunporch and the door to the basement on the right.  In the center there is a coat closet, and that's the front door through it.  Oliver loves to crawl into the kitchen and close me out of that door.  Then he'll crawl over to the dishwasher or the half-bath and play with the dishes or toilet paper.  I really need to get better at closing both of them, but sometimes dishwashers need to be open so that the dishes will actually dry all of the way.

Here's the half-bath, decorated with my new $0.69 cent sea glass bottles.  They probably won't all stay there, but it's a good place for them right now.  And that picture was $1.  I bought it at the Family Dollar by the Ghetto Fry's in Tucson.

I've been wanting sea-glass bottles (or at least imitation ones) for a long time.  I love the color!

The sunporch is nothing to look at at dusk, or with our stroller, mop, and shoes on it, but look at the old windows!  (and ignore the crazy white balance differences, the paint is white, not orange)  They are actually made to come out and be exchanged for screens, but we haven't done that yet, so it probably won't get done this year as we are excited for autumn to come again now that the heat wave is over.  Seriously, I love having seasons!

The kitchen also has a swinging door to the dining room.  Oliver will play with it if it's closed, so we keep it open.  It's easier that way.  But, we do have a way to completely close off the kitchen if necessary.  And yes, I meant it to be a weird self-portrait.

So now onto the dining room:

haha! The idea is to maybe put an island in the kitchen and bring the table in here, but then we'd have Oliver's carrots all over our semi-nice wood floors.  For now it may just be a play room/craft room.  And that AC Unit is amazing, by the way.  In the corner are the boxes with all of our wall hangings.  Amazingly, Oliver doesn't go toward those cords too often.  We also finally got the boxes that were in that corner taken care of.  Except for that random cardboard bit.  hmm..

The built in hutch is beautiful though.  And we finally have a place to put our glass wares that they won't get grimy kitchen dust all over them.  Oh, and notice that dimmer switch?  The people who lived here before us LOVED dimmer switches and replaced most of the light switches.  We find it strange, and will probably change them.  Especially since CF bulbs don't dim well.

Anyway, that's our house right now.  Upstairs still isn't much to look at, and we have a bedroom rearrange planned as well so that we can see how we like the rug we bought for it.  We really need more furniture.  At least another dresser, and maybe a desk/table or two up there.  Oliver's room is okay.  Well, today he had fun moving toys all around his room, so it's a bit messy because I didn't clean it up.  But we will hopefully paint it soon so that he won't hate us for having him live in a *gasp* purple bedroom.  We will need shelves in there, but it's okay right now.

I hope you've enjoyed tour de la yellow house!  Stay tuned for more tours eventually!

Our 11 Day Boycott of Arizona - Part 1

Not to get political or anything, and as anyone here knows I LOVE Mexican food and miss it dearly, but we took our summer vacation in California this year, and got tons of family from Arizona to join us.

Well, really it was the Whitney 2010 Reunion in San Diego like it has been for the past two years, and I convinced my parents and sister to meet us at my Grandparent's house near L.A. for a mini reunion.

And we didn't have enough room in our 48-lb suitcases to stock up on real tortillas.  Sad day!

Anyway, we flew out on the 1st and finally got to my grandparents' house way too late.  Oliver was amazing on the flight, and we kept him awake on the car ride home (remind me to fly to the Ontario airport instead of LAX.  LAX is absolutely insane!), so he woke us up right on time at 7am PST, putting him right on schedule (aside from the fact that he rarely even sleeps until 6, 7 is the ideal we are always going for).  We spent the day relaxing, Matthias and Oliver went on a swim while I was adding the adjustments to my swim suit.  Kind of a blah day, but perfect with plenty of sweet rolls and relaxation.  Just what we needed!

On Saturday, Matthias, Oliver, and I went to the 4th of July scouting fundraiser breakfast with my Grandpa.  Fun was had by all, and Oliver loved the sausage.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

We went swimming again (gotta love Grandma's swimming pool!) and were excited for my Dad and Kathleen to arrive that night (my mom had flown in on Tuesday I think).  We had a big dinner with them, and Uncle Jeff's family came over too, and much fun was had by all.  Uncle Jeff had been in charge of their ward's breakfast, so we got lots of oranges and eggs (we made delicious deviled eggs) from them. Seriously, there's nothing like fresh-squeezed orange juice, no matter what those cartons tell you is in them.  I did miss my calcium supplement though.

Sunday was Independence Day.  Boy was it weird to go to Sunday School and Relief Society. I've been in nursery and then primary for too long.  Both were really good though, and I even got a copy of the Constitution in Relief Society.  It never ceases to amaze me how inspired that document is, no matter what history teachers tried to teach me.

We took a family picture outside of the Redlands Temple.

and later took a bunch of 4 generation family photos, but those are on my mom's camera and I was too lazy to get mine out, so I'll have to wait until she sends them to me.  I did, however, play with  my new nifty fifty lens that I got using some of my FREE Amazon giftcards from Swagbucks.  Check out some adorable Oliver shots (you know that's why you read our blog in the first place!)

I know, stud, right?  Can you get any cuter? Especially with those little flippy curls and shiny blue eyes?

Oliver just loved that little yellow man.  He was happy in the pool with that little yellow man and a turtle that the man could ride in.

Eating a California leaf...

Meanwhile we were serenaded on the harmonica.

And Auntie Kathleen was enjoying every minute of it!

We all agreed that his face could have made us millions.  We enjoy working our way through life though.

And to prove that he isn't always quite so studly, here are some of his sillier faces, that he makes all the time!

That night we had a big BBQ with Uncle Jeff's famous ribs.  They were oh so good, and Oliver just devoured them up, along with some watermelon.

Matthias and I wanted to go find some fireworks, and my Grandma got really excited because usually no one wants to go see the fireworks with her, so we drove all around the city to end up at a new school that is right across the street from some orange groves that separated us from the fireworks arena.  It was tons of fun, and such a random and fun adventure with my Grandma.  We got to learn a lot about her spontaneity.  I knew I had to get it from someone, and definitely not my list-making mom.

On Monday, Matthias, Kathleen, and I went on a run to the temple, and back again.  Boy did that move set me back in my running skills.  I need to get back on track.  Afterward we went for a swim, and played an awesome game where we picked an orange off of my grandma's tree, and tossed it around until it broke, at which point we made a juicy mess eating it, not worrying because we were in the pool.  It was way too much fun for how simple it was, and poor Matthias and Kathleen got sunburned because they weren't expecting to swim so long (by the way, I think that is the first time EVER that I was the only person who didn't get a sunburn.  I was smart and applied, but I've learned the hard way many a time.)

That afternoon we saw Toy Story 3, which we loved.  The ending was perfect.

On Tuesday was our 3rd Anniversary!  Hooray!  We thought we'd try to relive our honeymoon a little bit and visit Newport Beach, and a little restaurant we randomly found and fell in love with called Mama D's.  It was raining much of the drive there, and cold and cloudy, but Matthias, Kathleen, and I had a blast boogie boarding, and my parents enjoyed playing with Oliver.  We only played for a couple of hours because we knew we had his schedule to think of, but we had Mama D's to look forward to, so it was all right.  After some fun beachin', we headed out, only to find that the power was out at Mama D's.  Super disappointing, but we have a free appetizer whenever we make it back there again.  Instead we went to Mimi's Cafe, which was good, but we were sentimentally a little disappointed.

Oh, and it was really fun to watch Oliver sleep on the ride to and from the beach. 

Seriously, he was an angel baby on our vacation!  We put him through so much, but he just went along and was happy.

On Wednesday we went to Six Flags!  Well, Kathleen, Matthias, and I did.  We couldn't convince anyone else to come.  The rides were great, the Tatsu was still my favorite, and if we had stayed any longer than we did, 99% of our time would have been waiting for rides, so even though we missed a few and weren't able to finish on the Goliath (where you HAVE to start and finish), it was a ton of fun.  Kind of wished we would have ridden the new Terminator ride and the X2, but we had a blast and didn't have whiplash headaches and were alert enough to drive home so that we could put Oliver to bed.  Although we did miss the earthquake because we were driving.

Here are some fun photos we got with the characters, including the illegal one with both Wonder Woman AND Foghorn Leghorn in the same picture (it's only illegal if you are paying for it, and since we didn't buy these pics it is just fine.  I think the individual companies get part of the proceeds or something like that.  They were just fine with us taking pictures.).

We seriously fulfilled a couple of Kathleen's childhood dreams with those photos with Batman and Tweety Bird. 

On Wednesday we headed out to San Diego, and that will make for another post because I've already posted way too many pictures, and still need to get some from my Mom anyway, plus I want to go to bed so that Oliver's wake-up call won't feel as early.

Nom, nom, nom, Happy Birthday, Matthias!

So sometimes Matthias is boring and practical when it comes to what he really wants.  I try to spice things up a bit, especially since he spoils me, but there were a few really practical things that I wanted to get him this year.  I went with a ladder, since we will inevitably need a ladder, and it seems like something to get a guy for his birthday.  Not very creative, I know, but what's a girl to do?
What's funnier is that I knew what kind of cake I wanted to bake him, and I was really excited to do so.  You see, when there are just two of us to eat baked goods, our waistlines can only really afford to bake for special occasions, so I haven't been able to justify baking a deluxe Red Velvet cake before now.  

The recipe included a cream cheese frosting, but so many comments said that they always used a cooked frosting, so I decided to try both out, since when is the next time we'll be eating a red velvet cake?

We decided it's a greasier chocolate cake, that is oh-so rich.  This is my first attempt at a stacked cake, so I had no idea how to cut it, and that piece was too large for the both of us to share.


For dinner I made bacon-wrapped chicken and corn on the cob, with a side of salad.  I had him at bacon.