Updated Pictures of Remodel

I have had some requests for some pictures of how the remodel is coming along. I was waiting until we finished everything, but who knows how long that might be! Actually, we are pretty darn close. As can be seen from the picture below we still need to put the tile back splash up, caulk and touch up paint the baseboards, and tile the base and wall around the pellet stove. Really not too bad if we can just find the time to get to it. We are so pleased with the way everything turned out. It was a lot of hard work but we are sure enjoying the fruits of our labors. My pretty new kitchen. We are just thrilled with it. The only thing that got us a little were the doors on the Appliance Garage but he has ordered some new ones that will be detailed like the rest of the doors. In fact they are in and he brought them over the other day to test them before he stained them and they looked wonderful.

My pretty dining room. Looking in from the living room. It is hard to tell but the "archway" is a beam going across rather than a full wall. So when looking at it there is open air above it. It helps to keep th area looking more open. We think any way.

The entry. I'm not real thrilled with the curio cabinet here but that is where it will stay for now.

My pretty new living room.

-Roger will be so mad when he sees himself sleeping in the picture!

We are loving this room now. Having moved the pellet stove out of the corner and to another wall we were able to open the room up so much. We didn't add any square footage to the room, in fact we closed it in a little when we extended the kitchen wall and put the beam across the rest of the way but it still feels so much bigger and open. I am pretty excited about the sectional to. It is my first brand new sofa since we have been married. Which will be 16 years the first of January.

Over all we are just so happy with everything. I have been working on the decorating now. It seems to be so much harder now. I don't know if it is because I'm not in Home Interior anymore so I'm not thinking about it all the time. Or more probable, that I'm just too busy to really put in the time and energy that it takes.

Happy Halloween 10/08

We always have a lot of fun with Halloween. This picture was taken after we got home from our Ward's Trunk-R-Treat. It was a lot of fun.

The Pirate sweeps away the Witch making Super Sam unhappy!

This is a fun picture of our decorated truck. Nothing fancy but the kids sure enjoy it. I think we need to stock up on somemore decorations for next year.

Indiana Jake with his friend Kyle Jones

Queen of de'Nile Madisyn with her freind Jessica

Super Sam

Super Luke

He would not wear the cute Dino costume that I first made for Jake and then Sam wore!

But he was still cute in his Superman jammies someone gave us.

Luke's Quilt

Yea! I finished my second quilt and the first one I made all on my own. There are a few imperfections here and there but it sure turned out cute. Obviously Luke is pleased with it.

Minnie Me

This isn't the best photo but I had to add it.

I got home the other evening form something or another and Madisyn came out of the house and met me at the car saying, "Hi I'm Shawna Kunzler."

I had to laugh so hard. She had my wig, clothes, shoes and bag on. I must say she was a pretty good likeness of a younger, cuter me. I told her to go into the house and have Dad take a picture.

None of the pictures turned out very clear though, but at least I have the memory!

Sam Reese Soccer 08

Not surprisingly Sam really enjoys soccer. It is fast moving, involves a ball, is outside and has a team so it is a social sport. -All things that make him a happy boy. He is kind of funny out on the field. Sometimes he is all business and scores some great goals, but other times he is just out there to run around and say hello to his friends. This was the last game of the season and he was a little of both. He is the one in the jeans in these pictures.

There are actually two reasons he is wearing jeans. 1) It is October and is getting cold in the evening and 2) Somehow just before his 2ND to last game he lost one of his socks. The whole family searched and searched. I truly felt I had looked everywhere for it at no avail. So the 2ND to last game he wore his last years socks that were a bright florescent green. But this game I really needed to take picture of him since I didn't have any from the whole season. So since it was cold I decided the jeans would help keep him warm and hide his off color socks!

As a side note to this story: On the Saturday after his last game I found his lost sock under the chair in my room. How could I have not looked there!?!

Madisyn Soccer 08

Madisyn has played soccer since she was five but we think this will be her last year. She has never been really into the game but has always had fun. But this year it has been more of a chore for her than fun. She enjoys playing in the games most of the time but dislikes going to practise and really never puts much of her heart even into the games. So mutually we have decided not to sign her up next year. She would have been moving up to the age group that Jake played this year and she is smart enough to know that most of the kids playing at that age are serious players and aren't too happy if their teammates are just there to fill there time. -Let alone the fact that some of the kids start getting pretty darn big and sometimes things get a little physical out on the field. But she has had a great time over the years and is glad she had a chance to play.

Jake Soccer 08

These are some fun pictures of Jake this soccer season. He has played AYSO soccer since he was 5 but this will be his last year. He has enjoyed the sport and hopes that he will get to continuing playing on the high school team.

Lunch Bunch

Our ward has a Relief Society Enrichment Group called Lunch Bunch. It is a chance for us to get together once a month and have a good time eating and visiting. Something we all love to do. In September it was at Mary Noriega's home. Pictured here on the left in blue is Mary our hostess, then we have Tonya Henson in pink, Karen Phipps, May Fruge, Paula Schofield and Jenny Jones. I put this picture here because I always want to remember these ladies. Most of these ladies have become very dear friends over the years and all of them are women that I am so blessed to have met and spent time with.

As a side note:

Mary's house is one of the homes in our ward that was hardest hit by the flood here in Fernley in January. Their basement was completely filled and they lost every thing that was in it, except their children. Three of their four children sleep down stairs and were down there sleeping the morning of the flood. Anyway, she is the one that called our family and told us to get up and out of the house. (she only lives on the other side of the next street down from us)

Thankfully our home was not affected but I am so appreciative that she would take time out of a crisis and call our family. A true Friend!!! They have been amazing through the whole thing. Way to go Noriega Family!! It was neat to be back in her home for such a fun afternoon and see how they have put it back together.

Madisyn's B-Day Party

Like Mother like Daughter!
Madisyn' s number one wish for her birthday was a camera. She was very excited when that wish finally came true. We didn't give it to her at the party though, she had to wait 2 days until her actual birthday!

She has already taken tons of pictures. We need to get them downloaded so she can put them on her blog.
This is a picture of one of the games Maddy made up for the party. If you can't tell they are applying makeup to each other -blind folded!

Another of the activities was letting the girls make their own pizza's. They used refrigerator biscuits for the crust and then topped it with what ever they pleased. They had fun but I don't know how good they were because quite a few ended up in the trash. I liked it though.
This picture is blurry because it is a fast acting game of unwrapping the gift that has been wrapped in several layers of paper before it has to be passed to the next person. Whoever opens the gifts gets the goody inside. Thanks to Jessica's mom Tonya for wrapping all of the three giant candies.
Pizza?? No CAKE! Yep this was the birthday cake per Madisyn's request. It is white cake, pureed strawberry pie filling, coconut, fruit roll ups and M&M's. It was pretty tasty!
Another of the activities was letting each girl decorate her own pillow case. It was neat to see all the fun ways the girls did theirs.

The guest list was: Sarah Schroeder, Allison and Heidi Burleson, Adrianna Noriega, Jessica Henson, Miranda Jones and Ashton Thatcher. I think everyone had a really good time, although I don't know what the parents thought of the grouchy girls that went to bed at 4 am!