Cabinets (and the front of the house)

The cabinet maker (carpenter, I suppose) has been hard at work installing the cabinets this weekend.  I was most impressed when I was at the house on Saturday, working on my mosaic, and I heard him knocking on the walls to find the studs rather than using a studfinder.  John always tells me this is possible, but I've never seen somebody do it before.  Once he put the cabinets up, however, I was much more impressed with his carpentry than his stud finding abilities.  Of course, I have no need for that, having found my own stud ten years ago.  (Sorry.  Couldn't resist.  Not like he reads this blog anyway. :)

Here are pictures of the kitchen cabinets and the vanity from the master bath, as well as the view of the front of the house with more of the exterior courtyard completed and the final stucco color. The photos really don't do justice to the subject matter. Or maybe it's just the photographer!

Mosaic

Jared did this little mosaic out of travertine in the master shower.  It's lovely, of course.  The whole shower is lovely.

Of course, I was about 1/4 of the way into mine when he did this.  As soon as I saw it, I realized I should have just let him do something similar in the entryway under the arches/columns.  But I'd already planned it all, bought the tile, spent hours cutting and smashing it, and started setting the chipped pieces, so I had to finish.  Here are photos of the project as it progressed.

In retrospect, I realized I should have taken pictures every few seconds from a camera suspended from the ceiling and then I could have made a really cool, stop motion photography film.  But I didn't.  And I'm not redoing it.  In fact, I'll probably never do something like this ever again.  But I hope it'll look good when it's grouted and sealed.

Tile!

We spent five days in Salt Lake City during Joe's birthday so I could run in the Ragnar with Ben, Wayne, Catherine, and Paige. The Ragnar was awesome and will be even awesomer next year when we get an entire team with family members. It's on my birthday next year, so that's all I'm asking of John: to run in the Ragnar with me. Anyway, they worked hard on the house while we were gone, so there are more pictures to post, and these are fun ones. Take a look!
 
 This is the beginning of the exterior courtyard. Actually, i have to go up and take more pics today because it's progressed further than that by now.
 
 Front door...not done.
 
 ARCHES! COLUMNS!
 
 Bathroom tub surround.
   
Versaille pattern travertine. Because I speak French. ;)

Lagoon on Joe's Birthday

Lagoon was a magical place for me as a kid. Kind of like Disneyland for most people, only I didn't go to Disneyland until I was sixteen, so the magic had dulled by then. I think my favorite thing now is to watch my kids go. Their excitement fuels my own. Of course, I'm a roller-coaster junkie, so that doesn't help. Anyway, here are some pictures of the kids going on rides at Lagoon. Elijah on his first carousel ride. He chose one that goes up and down, but he wasn't sure about his choice once the ride started moving. Funny. I took him on a fairly intense roller coaster after that, though, and then the carousel wasn't that big of a deal. Auralee and Elijah on the rocket kiddie ride. Elijah, the girls, and cousin Owen on the spaceship ride. They all got out when the ride was over and just left Elijah waiting there. What?!? Joe getting ready to go on Rocket. It was the only ride he hadn't dared to go on last year. So this year he conquered that fear...several times. Guess he takes after his mom.

Walkway, roof, mudding and taping

It's kind of self-explanatory, but here are before and after pictures of the front walkway they poured, as well as most of the roof tiles set, and evidence of the mudding and taping that was done throughout the house. Actually, they've finished texturing everything as well, but when we went up last night, I didn't have the camera. The next pictures ought to be pictures of the tile work, which will be going on for the next few weeks. I'm going to be working on my own spanish tile mosaic for the front entry. Never done it before. Any suggestions?

Camping

We went camping last weekend with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Lew in the mountains near Monticello. It was just one night. There was a lake nearby where John and Joe got their fill of fishing. We slept in the tent. Yeah. So here are a couple of pictures of camping and one of the biggest fish caught (by Joe). John cooked it over the campfire and said it was the best lake trout he'd ever eaten. Joe, strangely enough, wouldn't try it. I think it's because we had already broken out the s'mores by then. :)

Sheetrock

Before we get into pictures, I just wanna say thanks to everyone for all your comments. I'm glad I'm not sending these pictures out into the void. And it's fun to share the excitement of the house with you all. I imagine the pictures to come in the next month and a half will be even more fun as we begin the finish work. Here's hoping it goes well and we can be in by July 15. That's what our builder's aiming for, and I think he just might actually do it. This is the master bedroom/bathroom. This is the kitchen. This is Auralee with her belly hanging out. I haven't got the heart to tell her how silly she looks, when she thinks she looks uber cool! And this, which has nothing to do with the house, is Elijah mowing the lawn with dad. He was just walking behind him, but then he remembered that he has his own lawnmower, and it was so much quicker with two. :)