The Hazard Chronicles

Hold on, because we have a doozy of a blog coming up here. Just to give a roadmap, we'll start out with Maren's birthday, and then go into some of our recent activities. From there, we'll go over this wonderful weekend we had with my parents in town, and then finish up by showing the finished work on some of the home projects we have been busy with. There will be lots of pictures, and I'll try to keep the text to a reasonable minimum so that we can get through this all.

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So...Maren. I'm going to use Rachel's Facebook update here, because it says all the same things I would. I would also add that Maren is just a super sweet girl that is still my movie watching partner. It's sort of become a thing with us. We sat next to each other at the theater yesterday for Frozen II and it brought back such memories of watching shows while cuddling with her as a baby, and then as a toddler, and then I looked down and saw a magnificent little girl there who was just overflowing with personality and my heart just swelled. She is My Maren.

My Maren is 8!

This girl is full of spunk and sweetness! I never know what crazy thing is going to come out of her mouth, and I am constantly surprised at how eloquently she words her thoughts. Maren is loving her jazz dance class. She has a drive and fierceness that will get her where she wants to be in life. Maren is growing up to be a lovely, thoughtful, energetic, and introspective girl who is not so little anymore. She is always up for a challenge and I sure love her! 

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Besides Maren's birthday, we have been busy doing lots of meetups, going on dates, skiing, and even getting out for some hiking. Weather has been nice, and we are doing our best to take advantage of it. One of the things that Rachel has been getting more and more involved in is an organization called CDAide. It is a charity organization that started with our church a few years ago, but has blossomed into it's own separate thing that operates in the community. Rachel helped out a lot with the annual auction dinner at the resort, and she may be getting involved in the very near future on a more regular basis.

Here we are at the resort (Rachel, obviously, in uniform). She was radiant that night, and I've been proud watching as she confidently talks with some of Coeur d'Alenes most influential people in order to make good things happen. When it really comes down to it, she's a rock star. I am lucky to have her.

The older three kids went off to camp (actually staying in cabins, so the term "camp" is used pretty loosely if you ask me). We don't have any pictures of that since we weren't there, but here we are enjoying time with the other two while they were gone. :)

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Last weekend the kids had a break from school on Monday. My parents, who are both teachers, also had a break from school on Monday. This combination led to a lot of fun times. They drove up on Friday night.

We spent pretty much the whole next day at Silver Mountain resort, first skiing, and then swimming at the water park. We went home for Maren's birthday dinner, and got some good rest that night. On Sunday we went to church, and then stayed there afterwards for lunch and a movie (Toy Story 4) with a few other families. Monday was out to breakfast, a quick hike, and then Frozen II at the theater. It was a quick trip packed with activity, and I think everyone had a good time.

Most of the pictures we took were of our hike. I think that everyone was having so much fun doing the other things that they forgot to take any.

Besides the scheduled activities, we also had good unstructured time at home playing games, having long conversations, and yes, making music. Here is my dad at the drums.

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Now it is time to show off some of our hard work! It turns out that new paint, carpet, trim, and just a couple furnishings go a really long way to spruce up a room!

Kitchen (Before)

Kitchen (After)

Dining room (Before)

Another before picture of the dining room

Dining room (After). We commissioned the Teton painting from a local artist who is also a rock climber. She did an outstanding job and we couldn't be any happier with her final creation. If anyone is looking for some really cool art, let me know and I'll pass her name along.

A little larger view of the finished dining room

Living room (Before). I believe the lump on the couch is actually a child.

...And a couple pictures of the finish. So, kind of all around, the lighter walls, blue accents, and white trim really lightened up the room.  Like, a lot. The blue wall going down the stairs was almost an afterthought, but I think it really adds a cool vibe to the area. Also, you can't tell from the photos, but the carpet is actually really good carpet and it feels sooo good to walk on. Like a cloud. It's lovely.

If you look in the corner of the room, you can see our music set up. We actually have a full band in this room- bass, lead, rhythm, keys, and percussion. It's pretty unobtrusive too, which is also nice.

Oh...and that black guitar you see hanging in the corner. It's brand new and it's all mine and it's my dream guitar that I have wanted for a long time. For those who care, it is a PRS Custom 24 in a "charcoal burst" finish. I couldn't do it justice with my phone camera, so I included the promotional photo below. It makes me happy. 

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Alright, we made it! We have Evelyn's birthday coming up tomorrow so we'll focus on that next time. For now...

Have a good week!