KITCHEN- Before, In Between, and After

Wow, this whole blogging thing is very time consuming! I've been trying to get this post finished but my life is crazy and never have a second to just sit and relax by the computer! Finally, here is my first post of our newly remodeled kitchen!

This was what our kitchen used to look like. I wish I had a better picture before Brett started going to work! We had ugly upper cabinets on both sides, making it feel very closed off and small. Which it was small!

Aren't these cabinets just so pretty?! LOL The grape stickers really put  the cherry on top!

We took out a wall to extend the kitchen an extra 70 square feet

New plumbing, Dry wall, texture, floor, electrical and lighting.

Pretty much, we started from scratch!

Love the canned lighting we put in.

Found brand new upper cabinets at a warehouse that happened to fit perfectly in our kitchen! We got so lucky!! Only $345  

Brett and his friend built the lower cabinets from scratch.

Cream with a brown glaze

Then he painted the lowers a dark blue

Brick Backsplash

The most time consuming project of all... Concrete Countertops!

They turned out awesome

Lastly, we did stain concrete floor

ALMOST Done!  We still need to finish the drawers and get a pantry door. Little things here and there.. It's a long process for it to be 100% complete, but we are definitely getting there! From where we started to where we are now, is a huge difference and I am so proud!! It's fun getting to design your house exactly the way you want it! I am just lucky to have a wonderful husband who made it happen! He is the hardest worker and I am so grateful! 

I'll do more post of the rest of the house! 

Home Sweet Home

We were so excited to be able to buy a house almost 2 months ago!! We got a forclosure, so this house definitely needed some TLC. But for the price we paid for it, we were more than happy to start ourselves a little project and fix it up! Well, that little project turned into a huge project! With us both working full time and doing the house ourselves, it's going to take some time. Sure, we could hire it out, get it done quick, and spend a fortune! OR do it all ourselves, save A LOT of money, be tired 24/7, and learn to be very VERY patient! I am so lucky to have Brett!  He is the handiest man I know, and it's sure paid off with this house!  I've learned that he can pretty much do anything! I've also learned that I'm not too bad of a painter either! That's been my job, since I'm not the type who loves labor work. But what girl does? I painted the whole inside of the house! With the help, of course, from my mother! My sister helped when she could when she didn't have the kids! Kids around paint... no good! Even though this has been one stressful project, I know it will be worth it! It's pretty cool because we can customize this house to exactly what we want. It's fun to see the progress, where we started to where we are now! One thing is for sure...I can't wait for this house to be finished and have a home sweet home again! Here is a pic of the outside! Once we are finished with the inside, our next project with be the outside of the house! One step at a time! I'll post before and after pics when we are finished remodeling! Hopefully just another couple weeks! I love my mom and all but we are so ready to move out of her house and into ours! 

My Fairytale Wedding

Lets just say that pretty much my wedding day went PERFECT!! It's funny because so many people said "you know there are things that are gonna happen and not turn out the way you planned it but just try and make the best of it.  No need to stress!" Let me tell ya...my wedding day...zero stress! The days building up to it....lots of stress! I had so much help from my awesome family, that the day of, went flawless! I also hired Lettie Peterson as my wedding coordinator. http://rustandlace.blogspot.com/  I couldn't have done it with out her! Everything turned out more amazing than I could have even dreamed of! When we left the reception I seriously wanted to turn around and do it all over again. I was so sad it was over! But at the same time I was ready for the honeymoon and for the fun to begin! Im not gonna lie, it was strange to be home from the honeymoon and have so much free time on my hands. I kinda missed planning a wedding and being stressed 24/7!

Here is our video from our bridal shoot!

HayleyandBrett Bridal Video

 Here are a few of my favorite pics from our wedding day!  Our pictures were done by http://sloanphotographers.info/

We also were featured on  http://ruffledblog.com/pretty-vintage-bluearizona-wedding/

The Proposal

After dating for a year and a half, which is FOREVER in the mormon world, I was sooo ready to marry Brett! But I was still waiting for that dang ring!! We had definitely talked about it so I knew it was coming, but I still had no idea when that actual day would come! Every day I kinda would get my hopes up, wishing he was going to propose that night. It was pretty hard not to be disappointed when I felt like it was never going to happen! Then one night I just had this feeling it was going to be THE night! He was saying all week how we were going to do something fun on the weekend! But then the night came and he acted like he had no plans, we even tagged along with my family at dinner? Then we went back to his house and he was laying on the couch saying he didn't feel good.  I was so thrown off and so sad because I really thought it was going to happen that night! He could tell I was sad and said you know what... how bout you go home and get your swim suit and meet me back here and we will go hot tub somewhere. When I get back to his house he had the boat out, hooked to his truck! We weren't going hot tubbing, we were going to the lake!! He just needed a reason to get me gone for about 15 min to get the boat set up.  He was acting a little weird though. He kept saying he had to go to the bathroom and went in the back room. One time he was in there for 15 min! I thought for sure he was super sick and asked if he needed me to go get him medicine. What he was REALLY doing in the back room, was trying to get the safe open, where my ring was!! But of course I didn't know that at the time and I thought he just had bad diarrhea!! Finally, he was ready to go and we were off to the lake! The whole idea was very spontaneous, especially since it was already like 10:00. But it made it way more fun and exciting!  I honestly thought he was just trying to make up for me being a little upset earlier. When we get there he had chocolate milk and powder doughnuts, which is a little tradition we have. (The first night we met at the gas station we shared those to snack on) I honestly felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and it was only us two that existed in the world. He pulled the boat in a little cove area and we floated there in black night, listening to our music. Train was playing, when he said " hey I have something for you!" He opened the little black box and there was my sparkly ring!  That night then turned into one I will never forget! 6/6/10

This is the ring he proposed with...It is the actual diamond but not my setting. He was having my setting made at Christopher Diamonds and let me wear my diamond in the temporary setting until theirs was about done.

On my birthday before we left for the airport to Cali, where we were taking our engagement pics, he surprised me with my actual ring!!  I had no idea what it was going to look like. He designed it himself and did an awesome job!