Easter with Rora

I know Easter was awhile ago, but Aurora was so cute Easter morning with her basket.

The True Meaning of Easter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0dAduc


This is an awesome clip from Elder Holland from this last General Conference. Check it out.

Rora's activities in the past few weeks

We went to the annual classic car show downtown Chandler. Rora wasn't too impressed with the cars but she had fun hanging out with Grandpa.
Sunflowers from our garden.

Aurora helped harvest the carrots from the garden and wouldn't let go of this one.

Here is just a pic of Aurora sitting down to breakfast.

She has just learned that sticking out her tongue gets a laugh out of us.

We took a trip to the zoo over spring break. Aurora's favorite animals were the otters. Probably because they play around in the water, and she loves to swim too. She mostly loved watching all the little kids around her have fun.

These pics are from the monkey exhibit.

Erik's family came down from Oregon to visit this last week. It was lots of fun to spend time with them. Aurora thought Grandpa was so funny trying to eat her foot.

One of Rora's favorite things is when her daddy lets her fly in the air.

Our cute little girl is growing up so much.

Our home, two years in the making.

We have finally finished fixing up our house to the way we have wanted it since we moved in! We knew that this house needed some T.L.C. when we bought it in, but I have a very talented husband and father-in-law and together, along with help from a couple of Erik's brothers and my Dad along the way, our home has come a long way in the past two years.
This is our back patio where I have a little space for my garden. We have lots of sweet peas this season and I loved having our nieces, Sammi and Katie, over yesterday to have fun picking and eating them.

Here is the tile and wood laminate flooring that we used downstairs.

One of the first things we did in the house was replace the back door. We had a broken sliding door that was not very energy efficient.

Erik's dad replaced it with a beautiful single french door. . .

then Erik finished it up with custom windows on each side of the door.

Erik and I also painted the walls soon after we moved in. This is our living room before. . .

and this is after the recent new flooring and and inherited couches.

This is the front entry in mid-demolition. . .

and here it is with the beautiful new tile and new base boards.

Here is more of the new tile in the dinning room.

Here is the great crown molding that Erik installed himself last summer.

This is our half-bath in mid-demolition.

more of the new tile in the half-bath

And here is the new sink in the half-bath with the new tile accent behind it that Erik put in. (it still needs some grout in the cracks)

The is our original kitchen when we moved in.

Erik and I worked long hours taking apart the cabinets, sanding, painting, sanding, painting, sanding, again and again.

But I think it was worth it in the end.

We also replaced the counter tops and the sink.

Then on his most recent visit Erik's dad brought us this awesome pot rack that he made custom for our kitchen. Thanks again Dad!

This is our original fireplace.

Erik made the wood mantel with help from his brother Tim when they were in Tucson.

Then he painted it to match crown molding.

It turned out great and then when Erik's dad laid the tile he fancied it up with some accent tile to outline the space.

There is still some small touch up paint work to do, but I love it and I am so lucky to have such awesome men in my life who work hard to beautify my home.