Our fish in the water!

Elise's last day of swimming lessons.. level IV.. and she passed with flying colors.

Doing her back stroke.. she was so graceful...

I love that she is smiling the entire time she is swimming.. she loves it!

Elise doing her Butterfly... I am impressed.. that is a LONG pool and she is rocked it!

Soccer Galore!

I know there are a ton of videos but I have been so busy lately it just all has to go on one post. The movies are quick but got some great shots of Lauren working her tail off.. love watching this kiddo play. She is #3 in the grey shirt.

Homecoming Parade ~ 2013

Johnston's Homecoming Parade

The girls love walking in the parade, throwing out candy and Frisbees and of course.. socializing!

Dragon Spirit Cheer leaders!

Elise's buddy Haley Cross.

Miss Avery Peterson

It was an absolutely GORGEOUS night and there were so many kids out for the parade.. a good time.

The Doors and the Bead Board.. not fun.

So we debated if we should paint these first before we put them up.. we decided to paint and that was fine.. but, they still got pretty scuffed because we ended up having to cut the board because it was going to be too high and be above the vanity.. so that was another set back, and then my paint job was scuffed. I think I can just do touch ups but I will have to wait and see.

I had to paint everything inside because it was SOOO hot and humid I knew it would take forever to dry.

Next stop.. the doors. I was originally going to just paint the doors we had but they are pretty cheap and doubt they would have looked nice painted. Eric thought we should just replace them for the 6 panel doors for and updated look. I agreed 100%.. but.. the doors didn't quite fit. They wouldn't close.. so.. we had to take them all over to a friend of Eric's dads who has the right kind of saw and trim the doors down. Oh.. and before this, Eric was just going to chisel out the area for the hinges.. well.. 2 hours into it with a lot of sweat and maybe some cursing.. we opted to by a router with a template for the hinges.. took at the most 5 minutes.  Money well spent when we are replacing all of the doors.

Getting close.. it's all up.. but needs a lot of TLC to make it looked finished. I do love it though. It's very bright and cheery!

So for this corner and along the base board will be corner round to seal it all and finish it off. We just haven't gotten that far yet.

This really is not white and yellow... picture just turned out strange. A few nicks here and there but I think I can fix it.

This was the biggest problem. Our walls are not square so we had to shim the chair rail to get this to even remotely line up.  I am really hoping the caulk will hide this... of course this is the one corner you can totally see when you enter the room.. no way to hide it.

Corner round will cover the majority of this gap.. and then more caulk.. I hope.

So now everything is bright and cheer but now the vanity counter top looks like crap. I tried to pick up some of the white swirled in it but it just looks yellow now.. really mad because there isn't anything I can do about it besides replace it and that is just not going to happen.. at least right now.

All the doors on the main floor have been painted (TWICE) and installed. I painted all of the handles the same as the hardware in the bathroom.. forgot to take a photo of the beautiful brass that they were before I painted.. I will get one on here eventually. So now all of my doors are done and have the lovely look of honey oak trim still. This will be a good winter project to get all of the trim done.

SOOO much better than the brass.

So that is it for now on the bathroom. Projects to finish will be the corner round for the base boards and corners, caulk, caulk and more caulk, wood fill the nail holes, trim out the mirror... and decorate!

Oh.. and did I mention that my husband is really thrilled with "my" project. I don't think we will be doing much more of this stuff any time soon! :)

Bathroom vanity.. LOVE!!

So this is what my entire house is.. honey oak.. and I hate it.. I feel like it's stuck in the 90's.. definately time for an update.

This bathroom is so small so I couldn't get a great photo of the drawers.

I first did a light sand on the doors.. and just for future reference... it needs to be a VERY light sand because it shows scratches on the wood when you stain.

Here are the drawer fronts.. I did another light sand after the first coat dried.. don't be scared.. the first coat looks terrible.

I used General Finished Java Gel Stain.  You can only get it at the Woodsmith Store. I applied it with an old T-shirt to keep the lint off.

Coat #1 on the vanity.

The sides are horrible because it's Veneer so it scratches super easy.. next time I would NOT sand and see how it works.

After 3 coats of Gel Stain and one coat of Polyurethane ( I chose the Satin finish to keep some of the shine down).

Next was updating the hardware.. we had brass and silver.. time to go.

Two coats of this, followed by a coat of clear acrylic spray to help prevent any chipping and it looks like new hardware!

Time for a change...

So we are just about done with our bathroom makeover... and I have to admit.. it was a much bigger job than I had anticipated. Many lessons learned with the first being that when you are replacing trim work.. don't start in a small place with 4 corners, especially when you are not a carpenter. Originally I told many people that I was going to to this one myself.. well.. without my hubby and father-in-law.. it just wasn't going to happen.

I am going to buy some flat brackets to put on the mirror and then frame the mirror out with wood.. but.. first things first.

Ripping up the baseboard was not an easy task.. the nails were super long and it was really jammed in there.  It was hard not to damage the walls.

I was going to go safe with a grey or beige but then I talked to my sister and she gave me the courage to go bold... in a small room it's easier to do because you don't have to see it at all times.  So I went with Aqua.  It looked horrible with the first coat.. then second was better but it needed 3 COATS!!!  Ugghh. I would have primed if I knew that.

More to come on the cabinets and walls...

The BIG game has finally come and gone!!

Another King Ladies Day/Night Out! It the annual Cy/Hawk Challenge Game Day.. this year in Ames so we all ventured on up for a FULL day of tailgating.  Myrna was there at 10:00 or so, I was there by about 12:30 and the game started at 5:00.. that's a long day of tailgating.. but so worth it.. had a blast.

Back Row: Me, Joyce, Myrna, Lea
Front Row: Mal and Haley

It was a little toasty in the afternoon but by late afternoon it was perfect.. just wish the game would have ended on a high note too.

Haley and her boyfriend Gaelen (not sure how to spell that one)!

Andy and Lea Harrison

My awesome Uncle Dick and Aunt Joyce Barta.. we weren't sure what colors Dick was going to wear.. thought it might be black and gold.. but he came through!

So this is it for photos.. because when I got to Ames I realized that my camera didn't have a memory card in it.. I was SOOOO mad.. so this captures the "early tailgate".. too bad no photos of my cousin and her friends "later" in the tailgate.. it was quite entertaining.  Such a fun atmosphere to be in Ames for the ISU/Iowa game.. even if I didn't have tickets.. and even if we didn't win.