Home Improvement and Organization

I am usually laughed at by my family (immediate and extended) when I get excited about organizing things. No one can seem to understand it (I don't understand it myself to be honsest). But I love to organize things - whether in the house, out in the garage, outside in the flower beds, or even my sock drawer - I am addicted to organizing. I even jumped at the chance to organize the primary manuals and pictures we have in our ward primary. Now who in their right mind would get excited about doing that??? Sadly, I have to admit it would be me.

Well, the last couple of months I have been making a list of home improvement projects I wanted to tackle this year (hey, at least it wasn't a spreadsheet!). We always try to do some sort of improvement to the house every year. Instead of a big thing, which we have typically done in the past, I decided it would be a good year to do a bunch of little things. Since Jeremiah is home this summer, I thought it would be a good time to get a bunch of them done (I think Jeremiah might have had other thoughts). So we've been working hard getting some of these things checked off our list (yes, I'm a list person too, but that's another story). Anyway, today we decided to hang cupboards in the pantry and put up a pegboard and work surface for Jeremiah's tools in the garage. Thank goodness my Dad, brother Taylor, and soon to be brother-in-law Jedd offered to help us with the pantry cupboards while they were down watching Zachary's t-ball game today. I can only imagine how crazy it would have been for Jeremiah and I trying to do it all ourselves. Thanks to all of you that helped, we really appreciate it! I have to say that both projects turned out great. Here are a few pictures:












For those of you who don't know or might not remember, we only had one wimbly little wire shelf above our washer and dryer - so these cupboards are a definite improvement. Not only do we get more storage, but they look a lot nicer too. And the garage is a bit more finished now with the pegboard and work surface.

I do have to say though, that the best part of both projects was being able to organize everything into the cupboards and on the pegboard. My wonderful husband was just more than happy to let me do it all by myself. I think he's learned that I thrive on organizing and that letting me do it myself is more of a gift to me than trying to help. And he's even smarter than that - he's realized that when I'm all done and pull him over to show him what I've done, he acts very excited and praises me for my good job - even if he could care less and doesn't care how it looks. Is he good to me or what?

"GIRLS ONLY" Special Day with Aunt Kylie

Today was Hailey and Aunt Kylie's special day together. They have been planning it for over a month now. Aunt Kylie came down and just she and Hailey went out for a fun afternoon. They went to lunch and then to Build-a-bear where Hailey got to pick out her very own bear. She was able to see it made - as she likes to explain, she watched them put the fluffy white stuff inside and then sew it up. She also got to pick out an outfit for the bear. Of course the outfit she chose would have something to do with princesses since she is so into that right now. Aunt Kylie helped her find an outfit that had princesses on the shirt and boy was she in heaven. I don't think she put the bear down all day or quit smiling all afternoon and evening. In fact, during dinner, she had to sit the bear on the floor next to her chair so that she could keep an eye on her bear the whole time she was eating. Hailey is such a girl and she loves to spend time with her aunts. Thanks Aunt Kylie for taking her out for a special girly day - she had a blast!

Just like Dad

Our kids look up to their Dad so much, they are always wanting to do what he does, go where he goes, and now wear what he wears. This morning when they got up and came downstairs, Daddy gave them each a piece of his clothing to wear. Even though the clothes drowned them, they were so excited and kept running around saying they were just like Daddy.