And a drum roll please!!!!

Here are the during shots!!

Technically, I was incorrect when I said we are "getting rid" of the pink countertops. They are still there, but better stuff was laid over them! It is a pretty cool product, it is engineered granite and they just lay it right over the exisiting countertops. We have a pretty small kitchen so it took them about 7 hours to lay everything and 8-10 hours later you can dance on the countertops if you wanted to!!


AFTER!!! (I still need to replace the nasty mini blinds and put the trim back up around the window, but already 100 times better!

I love the new sink!!!

If you know anyone that wants to buy a newish faucet and old kitchen sink, please let me know!! We are trying to sell some of this stuff to have some $$-since we have none now.

Walk through the Rose Gardens

The weather has been GREAT here in Portland and we have another great weekend on tap!! We have been taking advantage of this great weather (while also taking it easy) by checking out some of the local parks. Last Saturday we went to Washington Park again, but instead of visiting the huge play structure, we took a walk through the rose gardens. It is quite a beautiful place, with over 200 varieties of roses. It is just a neat place to walk through and admire the view of the city and the beautiful flowers. Liam and Tyler of course ran around like maniacs. I think they had lots of fun!

Here is Liam stuffing his face with some blueberries! (his favorite)


Here he is trying to get as many blueberries in his mouth as possible.
Tyler and Liam sharing the blueberries.
Tyler is giving his blueberries to Liam. He is such a good big brother!

Great view of the city. My camera isn't that great, but right behind that building in the center of the picture is Mt Hood.

I'm cute!!!

And he knows it, too! Watch out, this kid is going to get away with EVERYTHING!!

Bye Bye Pink Countertops!!!

FINALLY!!!

I never thought the day would come...I mean really, we had a house FULL of pink stuff, but slowly and surely the pink is disappearing from the house. Our latest pink victim is the kitchen countertops. The Asian lady that owned the house before us, was SOOOO proud of these countertops, I believe she told me in broken English that she tiled the countertops herself. Well, not as proud as I was to get rid of them....(I mean really, who picks out 2 x 2 light pink tiles?)


And the gross sink is gone too!!!

Here is a good BEFORE shot.

Now that I have you all excited...I haven't taken the AFTER shots, but it looks so much better....now I just need to get rid of the pink floor in the kitchen...I should have some AFTER shots by tomorrow. The kitchen is still a mess we haven't put anything back on the countertops.

Uncle Brent and Lisa tackle Portland....

...and our kids pretty much tackled them. Although, somehow Brent still managed to escape changing a messy diaper...hmm stupid Uncle pact...

Brent and Lisa took Liam and Tyler to the park, of course they ran around like maniacs.

They tooled around Stumptown and took some pics. No, this is not the worlds largest weed...this is the world's smallest park. Pretty dumb, huh? I think it costs the taxpayers a few hundred thousand for upkeep. They should charge admission to visit the park.


Fun with the fountain...or just relaxing after a long day?
Brent and Lisa are brave...they took Tyler and Liam to Dairy Queen!!

More fun at the park!

Labor Day Camping!!

Uncle Brent and his girlfriend were in town for a few days this weekend. We had camping plans and luckily Brent and Lisa were good sports and went with us!! (plus Lisa was a REALLY good bartender!!) Lets just say all had a good time on the mountain!

Brent and Ryan enjoying a beer by the fire!

On Saturday we hiked up to Lost Lake Butte. It is only a 2 mile hike, but it gains 1200 feet in elevation, so it brings you up to about 4500 feet. We left Tyler at the campsite with Uncle Brent and Ryan, Lisa, Liam, Alex (our friend's kid) went up. I carried Liam on my back with the baby carrier on the way up and I thought I was going to die...but the view was worth it!!

Liam and I with Mt Hood behind us (in the clouds)

Alex, Ryan, Me, Liam and Emmy!
Ryan and Liam taking a break at the top.Too bad Mt Hood was behind the clouds, if it was a clear day we would have had a very clear view!
On the way back down Liam would not go in the baby carrier, he screamed, so I had to carry him in my arms on the way down....baby was on the back on the way up and baby was in my arms on way down...lets just say I was sore the very next day!

As always, Tyler had lots of fun!! Here he is on a short hike from our campsite to the Lake. He went everywhere with his "walking stick".

Tyler stacking the wood for the fire. Ryan, Brent and our friend Doug built that fire pit...it worked pretty good!
Ryan and Doug shaving the pitchwood for the roaring fire!
Liam exploring everything!
Uncle Brent is teaching Liam "hook 'em" horns! I don't think he is so sure of all that yet!

New Roof!!!

A few months ago our neighbor was doing some home improvements....he replaced his window coverings, bought a new stove, painted his living room, got new carpet...and got a bid on a new roof. He "challenged" us to a game of who can spend $20,000 the fastest!

Well...after the new kitchen countertops come in next week.... WE WIN....

Check out the new roof!!