Kitchen Craziness

My girls are both napping (which never happens) and at the same time! Which also never happens, sooo... It's time to blog!
Today I am going to cover our kitchen fiasco.


It was a rainy Tuesday morning in November. We had just left the Red Rock real estate office, our house keys in tow. I was giddy with excitement. It felt like we had been living in Ryans parents basement for years. We were grateful for the wonderful accommodations but there's something(s) about having your own space that is hard to beat.

Anyways, Ryan kissed me goodbye as he headed back to work and I sped to our new address, to get better acquainted with our lovely home. I bought some grapes and crackers to have a "picnic" there with the girls and brought some cleaning supplies so I could clean up whatever needed cleaning before we loaded our belongings in.

 I remember stepping in and wanting to run into each and every empty bedroom, just to soak in the fact that all this house was really ours! 

The excitement was short-lived, however. I went into the kitchen, set the grapes on the counter and immediately noticed something was wrong. The floor boards reflected the sun shining through the window like a rippling pool--the light glinting off in every direction.

 The floor boards were cupped and warped, giving the floor a wavy look. I knelt down and ran my hand along the rough wood. It was dry but it was obvious they had been soaked at some point. I texted Ryan to tell him about it, wracking my brain, trying to remember if there had been any problems with the floor when we put an offer on it. Could we have missed something this bad? I remembered thinking it really needed to be refinished but I knew there weren't boards jutting up in every direction.

It had passed inspection with flying colors, there's no way a home inspector would have missed this. 

So we called our real estate agent who called the sellers agent. The seller demanded that they hadn't done anything to it, they made it clear they weren't paying for it and that it was our problem.
Ohh boy.
We knew the entire kitchen and dining room floor would have to be ripped up and replaced and it was going to cost anywhere from $15,000-40,000...Depending on if the cabinets were damaged. And having just depleted a good portion of our savings on our home down payment we knew that wasn't possible for us to deal with.

So we fought it.

 We had some disaster repair services come out and inspect it. They all concluded that when the previous owners moved out they were careless when removing the refrigerator. The hose that ran water to the ice maker had been pulled out and left to drip on the floor. They all agreed that the water probably dripped for a week or so,soaking the entire kitchen and dining room. The seller or the movers working for the seller must have come back to pack up some last minute items and saw what had happened. Because that certain somebody had cleaned it up, put the hose in the bucket (that's how we found it) and manually shut the water off to the house. And they never said a word to anyone about it.

So since we had substantial evidence in our favor that it did not happen while we owned the home, the previous home owners insurance ended up paying for the repairs.

The entire kitchen floor was ripped out, the cabinets were ripped out, the dry wall was ripped out.

We were pretty much getting an entire kitchen replacement.

It took just a little more than 2 months to complete. 

Now that I think about it, the workers made pretty good time considering the huge job.

But it didn't seem like they were working very fast at the time. 

 We moved our fridge into the living room and lived in our home without a kitchen. The insurance offered us a paid-for room in a hotel while the work happened, however, all our stuff had just been moved in. We didn't want to move out and then move in again. We were so over moving.

So we stayed.
And it was horrible.
A couple months of living in a home with construction workers trudging in and out all day every day, lots of noise, gross smells, no kitchen and two kids who always want to eat was definitely not my idea of a house warming party. 
But we made it work.

(That was our view of the kitchen from our living room. All blocked off like one of those creepy crime scenes..) 

There was a lot that needed to be decided. What colors should the walls be (not burnt orange, thank you!) what floor materials to use, what color we wanted the cabinets, what material did we want the sink, what type and color of countertops we wanted... Our kitchen had become a blank canvas, ready for the artists paint brush. It was fun but kind of stressful. We had to choose all these items from different specialized stores at different locations, (which made for lots of driving around) and there was no way for me to compare and contrast each item to see if they complimented eachother well. I felt like I made a bunch of decisions in the dark and hoped they would look good together. 

But it all worked out! 

And now that it's all done I don't have to ever think about the horribleness of it all ever again. I just look at my pretty kitchen and feel grateful for the whole crazy experience. It's not often you get an entire kitchen makeover for free. How can I complain? It was one of those blessings in disguise, character building type experiences. The type of trial that your super grateful for but never ever want to have to deal with again. 

Goodbye, orange!  

Hello, beautiful. 

Random happenings

Random happenings. That's what our life has been made of here in St. George. We are tossed to and fro by the spontaneous opportunities that present themselves, and we thrive. 

Here's what's been happening with us lately..

SNOW CANYON.
The perfect place to condition your young kids for a life of adventure. We've loved exploring this place and taking the girls on small hikes. The girls love it, believe it or not. AddiLyn is awestruck every time we go, without fail. She loves the outdoors!
 I know Emma looks terrified in the picture below but she was actually really concentrated on putting her foot on Ryan's hand so he could pull her down. She's too brave for me to handle! She and Ryan are going to be serious hiking buddies when Emma is older.
Emma: "I'm a good hiker! I want climb like Daddy!"

Another very random happening I am choosing to include in this post: I cut the girls bangs... 

And I don't think I'll ever do it again. Emma looked in the mirror right afterward and said. "I'm a boy now. I really look like a boy." Doh! And AddiLyn's hair is curly so it takes a lot to get her hair to lay flat now. You live and you learn I guess!

Checking out the neighborhood. We have a seriously cool neighborhood. We are within walking distance to the library, an aquatic center, the elementary school (and the playgrounds) and near a bike path. Not to mention we have some great neighbors.

The Childrens Museum. 

If you are ever in ST. George and you have small kids, go to the Childrens Museum! It's so much fun and it's huge! It's a museum that is made just for kids fun and entertainment. We spent 4 hours there the first time we went. There's so much to do!

TRAVEL

I took a trip down to Idaho before we moved into our home. Emma is always begging me to take her to Idaho."I'm a Idaho girl. I live in Idaho!" AddiLyn did great there, she slept in my sisters room and didn't wake up once any of the nights. (Which rarely happens even when she has a room to herself.)

And last but not least we went up north to visit my dearest friend, Chelsea! It was so fun watching our girls play together, they are such sweet kindred spirits. And AddiLyn has been betrothed to Chelsea's son, Adam. Let it be written. Let it be so.

But seriously, there is something magical about watching your daughter become true friends (and so easily!) with your best friends daughter. It's like watching the stars in your life align and you see that this is simply how it is supposed to be. Love it! Life is good!