GREAT NEWS!

I wasn't going to write anything until I had some new photos. Brad has been so busy with his photography work that I don't want to bother him for a photo lesson for me and my friend. But there are a few things I wanted to write about so I am posting without pictures this time.

Brad has a plan, and he is really focused on his photography work. He has a new web site, www.saltlakeimages.com, and that is his plan. He is focusing on Salt Lake City mostly, with some photos of the surrounding areas and Utah. He has been going downtown for several days photographing downtown sites and scenery. In fact that is where he is now. He has some pictures on his website that I refer to as "WOW" pictures. He is working on strengthening his search engine to have people locate his web site more easily. Brad is also working on advertising ideas and getting his name out for people to buy his stock pictures. He is so excited about this and really upbeat for the first time in quite a while. He has decided that portrait photography is really not his strong suit, but he will continue to do some for friends and family that are interested. I am excited for him, because there were so many directions and areas of photography that he thought about pursuing. So now, he has a plan!

We have two new grandbabies coming! Rachel and Jason are expecting a boy in Dec. They have two beautiful little girls now, so it will be fun and exciting to have that little boy added to their family. Megan and James are expecting in February. They don't know what their baby is yet but they are excited. Their little boy, Griffin, says it is a girl and her name is Nicole. When asked what to name the baby if it is a boy, Griffin says "no baby brother, just baby sister." Our family is growing and we are so excited about these new little ones. And of course, we are excited about the older ones and their accomplishments too. We love them all!!!

Finally!

I finally have the before and after pictures of the house! I regret not taking more before pictures, oh well. We are very pleased how the new colors look in our home. This is a before picture of the arched window in the home teaching room. It's not a very good picture because the original one had dark shadows and I tried to lighten it up so that the painting around the arch would show. But it gives you the general idea of what was there.

This is the new and much improved home teaching room. In the picture to the right you can see that the one wall is darker than the other wall. We are going to repaint the "accent" wall so that it shows more contrast. In some light you can't even see the difference in the color.












Here are the before pictures of the family room. We love this room and the openness of it. But I could not stand the birdhouses and the birds and the vines. No regrets with covering them up. In the middle picture below you can see some cubby holes next to the fireplace. We would like to put some cupboard doors over them and paint them white for accent. The wall behind the TV is where we painted the accent wall but you can't tell that it is a different color. So we will repaint it like the home teaching room.










When we first moved into the house there was a wallpaper border that was just above the splash board all around the kitchen. (I wish I would have taken a picture.) I removed the wallpaper and to my surprise there were apples stenciled all around the splash board under the roosters.
I don't have any before pictures of our bedroom or the office. The office picture looks like it has white walls but they are actually a light gray. I love the green color! We painted the laundry room the same color. It's relaxing to me.









We are so happy with our "new" home and wanted to share the pictures with you. What a difference a couple of coats of paint make!

Big Changes!

When we moved into the house we knew we had to make some changes. In the home teaching room we have a big arched window. Above the arch the previous owner had painted some vines and flowers that looked like hydrangeas. And in the family room above the fireplace there were vines, birdhouses, and birds painted on the wall. That is so not me (us). So we contacted Dave Biddison (Emily Sharp's husband) about painting the house. Now this was back in May or June. We knew he was busy and that it would take a while for him to get back to us. But it is finally happening! They started last week. They are painting the laundry room today. All that is left is the entry way from the garage, the kitchen/family room and they will be done. We are so pleased with how it looks now. When they are totally done I will post some before and after pics.
We hope all our family are having a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. We are in a bit of a mess, but that's ok, for now. My mother will be coming over, and because the painters asked if they could work today, we also invited them for dinner. It should be really interesting because they speak very little English. It will be a quiet dinner for sure. Aaron and Heidi are planning on coming over later too.
We want you to know how thankful we are for all of you and for our beautiful grandchildren. We love you all and miss you so much. We are thankful for many blessings that enrich our lives and those of our kids. Knowing that you are all happy in your marriages and that you and the kids have been blessed with good health, employment, beautiful homes, active Church involvement, and testimonies of the Savior is a huge blessing in our lives as well as yours. Thank you so much for being a wonderful part of our lives!