Visitors...

We were lucky to have my parents come visit for a week. We were really hoping to have them over Christmas, but it just didn't work that way. Looking at how much we got done over the course of one week, I'm glad they came when they did!

I had grand vision and plans for my parents visit. We were going to knock walls out, resurface the fireplace, unpack boxes, decorate a little and if there was time perhaps do some painting. Did any of those things get done? Nadda! My grand plans were all made before moving into the house - after living there for two weeks, we realized there were much more pressing projects that needed to be completed.

It started with the leak in the closet which led to a quick closet revamp with new and improved shelving! (here)

Then of course there was the large storm we experienced which showed us that the sky lights were leaking. So we fixed those. (Its been raining on and off for a couple days and no leaks!)

The garbage disposal didn't work - fixed.

Hallie's door was unusable - fixed.

The fridge water line leaked - fixed.

The house was in desperate need of an exterior paint job, so we prepped. We ripped out gingerbread. (here) Powerwashed. Sanded. (Painting starts tomorrow - lets hope we love the paint color that we just bought gallons and gallons of!)

The exterior lights needed some tlc - fixed.

The closet doors were all sorts of messed up - fixed.

I think there was a trip made to Home Depot every day for something we were working on. We were busy. My mom organized some things in the house and answered to every whim the kids had. But even with all that busyness we still managed to fit in some fun.

Two of the days we dropped my dad off at Bass Pro shop for hours while we went shopping.

We saw the beautiful temple lights, which really is quite the show.



We went out to lunch with Steve on his afternoon off.

We went to an incredible train show. Two weekends a year (near Christmas) a homeowner in the area opens his home for everyone to come view his outdoor built-in train set. It was crazy! And it was huge with extreme detail. Hunter was in heaven.


So although we didn't accomplish any of my grand plans- we got down to business and fixed a whole bunch of stuff that had been neglected for quite a while. I'm so grateful for my parents who spent their vacation working. They really were amazing and we loved having them here.