Halloweenies

Rooooooaaaaarrrrr!!!!!! Did we scare you? Our little girl may have been a lion for Halloween, but she wasn't a ferocious one. Her roars are much to subdued to be considered a threat. So we told everyone that she was Lambert the Sheepish Lion. If you're not familiar with Lambert take a minute to watch this classic cartoon. It's one of our favorites.

Rar...

The little Miss didn't much care for the headpiece, but we figured her crazy hair was a more than adequate replacement. Our ward party was fun as usual. We were in charge of the "Halloween Man" booth. We brought a box full of fingers, fingernails, and teeth for our table. But we spent most of our time sampling the different cheeses, chicken wings, hummus, grapes, chips and dips, and donuts, lots of donuts. Instead of trunk or treating they decided to decorate different rooms and let the kids run around getting their candy inside the church. Good times were had by all.

It's Not Quite the Great Pumpkin, Brynlee Burk

It may not be the patch of the Great Pumpkin, but at least there were still a few shady characters lurking behind the benches.

On a whim we tried to find a rural pumpkin patch in the big city. Turns out we had to drive about an hour outside of town to find goats and pigs and sheep and cows and on an on. We ended up at Cox Farms, an annual fall festival near Manassas Virginia, you civil war buffs will recognize the town name. 

Apparently kids here bite animals with regularity

We hit the slides, sat on big pumpkins, and saw all the animals. Bryn of course loved the bunnies and sheep, but didn't care much for the pigs. There were also the usual goats, chickens, ducks, and even a few texas longhorn steers. We had a great time out at Cox Farms and capped our day off with a good ole fashioned hay ride, a bag of fresh apples, and even a free little pumpkin just for coming out. Man! Those apples were delicious! Nothing like a fresh picked apple.

Bryn didn't much care for petting the goats.

She'd rather sit on them.

We may need one of these for our "timeout" corner

Our cohorts, Libby, Phil, and Amy. Always up for a fun trip. Did I mention Jen just so happened to find the one pumpkin farm within 10 miles of a Cafe Rio? Guess where we went for dinner afterwards?

When Jen's away, Nate will play

We've been contemplating an upgrade in the kitchen for some time now. For reference this is what our kitchen looked like when we moved in.

Then we bought a stove and a fridge, knocked down a pantry wall, and it looked like this.

But, after replacing all of our major appliances it didn't feel right to keep our dingy old cabinets. That's where I told Jen in an off-hand way that if I found cabinets while she was in Pheonix, I might remodel the kitchen.  I don't think that this is what she had in mind.

Jen left for Phoenix on Wednesday morning and things started happening right away.

Wednesday: found cabinets at Re-store which is a second-hand building supply store much like the D.I or Goodwill is for clothes and furniture. Builders and home-owners donate new or used materials and all proceeds from the sale of the items benefits Habitat for Humanity. After finding cabinets at Re-store I turned to Craigslist and found a used Corian countertop. My new problem was finding a way to install the newly acquired items in our kitchen. Not easy especially when you consider that the new sink would have to be relocated to the corner. I had some planning to do.

Wednesday Night: Old kitchen was gone. Everything ended up in Brnylee's room except the appliances and cabinets, which ended up in the living room.

Thursday: Home Depot and I begin a long and torrid affair. This trip was the first of several dozen trips I would make over the next 10 days. I bought a flatbed full of supplies and set off for home. Thursday night the backer board went in, thin set mortar went down, and I laid the final tile at about 4 a.m.

Friday: Down went the wall. Fortunately there was only one electrical line that had to be re-routed. The phone line couldn't be moved so the entryway could only be so wide. I had hoped to have some flexibility in that regard but alas, it wasn't meant to be. That led to the first of several drawings on the existing walls.

The mind of a mad man.

Saturday: I recruited my old friend Phil to help me pick up cabinets. We rented a U-haul and brought them back. After several days of trying to subsist off of bagged potato chips I took a break for shrimp fest at Red Lobster, an annual tradition in the Burk household (at least for Nate it is.)

Saturday night: Drywall went up, did some electrical work adding outlets, moving the disposal lines to the corner, and tried to figure out where everything was going to go. Picked up the countertop and moved it in the house around 1 a.m. Not an easy task to haul a 6 foot by 7 foot countertop on your own. I don't recommend it.

Sunday: largely a cleaning day. Did some minor adjustments here and there but after stake conference and home teaching the day was almost over. Homework that night.

Monday-Wednesday: School. Class all day, meetings at night. Drywall patching until the wee hours of the morning.

Thursday: Rented a circular saw and went to work. Cut the countertop. Framed the new wall. Cut countertop supports for the new corner cabinet I will have to make. Finally figured out how everything was going to fit into the new space. After literally moving every appliance the fridge ended up on the opposite corner, the stove was moved over a few feet, the sink of course was in the corner, and the dishwasher ended up on the new wall adjacent to the washer/dryer.

Thursday night: Hung cabinets. Being that it was late at night I didn't have very many volunteers. So I ended up screwing a 2x4 to the wall and resting the wall cabinets on it while I secured them to the studs. Worked out pretty well actually. Through careful planning and divine providence I was actually able to find a way to utilize all but 2 cabinets. The only gap is where the new microwave will sit on some open shelving.

Friday: Countertop goes on with Phil's help again. We figured out how to mount the sink, installed the remaining base cabinet.

Saturday: Appliances went in, connected the sink, ice maker, disposal, dishwasher, faucet, and stove. Picked up Jen at the airport. She nearly had a heart attack when she walked in the door. Although a small spot of paint on my elbow gave away my activities to some extent, she thought I had bought new cabinets, and possibly painted. She was surprised, but we love our new kitchen.

Here are a few recent shots. We're about 90% of the way there and will update you all with our final pictures soon.