Molly Beth Purcell

We have another granddaughter! Jared and Nikelle welcomed Molly Beth Purcell into the world on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at 9:23pm in Idaho Falls. She weighed 7 lbs, 4 oz and was 20 inches long.  She made her appearance about 12 days early! What a little sweetheart!

Her Mom and Dad are so excited to have her here! She looks a lot like Jared did when he was a baby.

Randy and Courtney and I were waiting at the hospital for her to arrive. Blake felt really bad that he had a bad cold so he decided it was not a good idea to be there. We were so excited when they told us we could come meet Molly.

Here are some fun pictures the next day, Wednesday, April 1st. No joke, she's a little Dolly Molly!

It was also no joke that she has some Grandmas that love her. Great Grandma Purcell, and Great Grandma Beth came to meet their newest great grandchild.  I'm so blessed that I live close!

Thursday, April 2nd, it's time to go home! Got all dressed up and fitted in the car seat. Jared decided that his hands are way big to be handling something so tiny. Because Nikelle's mom lives in New Hampshire and her plane tickets were scheduled for April 14th, Jared and Nikelle asked me to come and stay for a few days. What fun to be part of all these firsts.

Made it home! She looks very tiny in the pack and play. Mom and Dad are trying to file those sharp little fingernails.

Friday, April 3rd. Getting some cuddling with Daddy, and Uncle Randy and Aunt Courtney.

Saturday, April 4th. First bath at home. She loves the sound of running water and having her feet rubbed.

Grandpa finally felt better, so he got to come meet his "little tiny baby girl". Luckily, he is a master at cutting tiny baby fingernails. Much better!

While Molly slept in the swing the four of us colored some Easter eggs.

Monday, April 6th we took some pictures with eyes open! 

Tuesday, April 7th, One week old!

Friday, April 10th we decided to do a bit bigger photo shoot. We used a basket, a nice soft blanket and a fabric rug Nikelle made. I think they turned out pretty cute for real amateurs using an iPhone!

Now we added the headband and crown. Such a precious little Dolly Molly!

These are a little later, after a change of clothes became necessary and her eyes were open.

She was wide awake and so pleasant. I love her little hands.

Just a few other snapshots....top right, first outing so she needed a headband! Look at her hands folded snuggly and tight in the very top right picture. In the bottom left, Jared is outside washing the windows while we were taking pictures. I love the one of Nikelle holding her little princess.

We are so thrilled to welcome Molly into our family! It's amazing how much I love her already. It will be so fun to watch her grow! Thanks Jared and Nikelle for letting me be part of this experience, it was such a privilege to be in your home at this very special time with you and your little princess.

Last and Final House Transformation!

I've saved the best for last! The kitchen! It's been a long process, but oh my, it's worth the wait! 

Before:

It's a nice big kitchen, but with dated, plain cabinets. The plan for the kitchen; completely gut and start over!

One of the first things to happen in the kitchen was having a new window installed. Then Randy C. changed the doorway to make the laundry room. Then, Jared came and moved some of the wiring around.

Next, it was time to move out of the kitchen.  My mom came and helped me box everything up.  Blake unhooked the plumbing for the sink. The fridge had to be moved to the living room.

On Saturday, November 22nd, Randy C., Jared, Blake and Randy demolished the kitchen. They had to dump the horse trailer at least twice. It was a dusty mess!

It's now all cleared out. We are officially "kitchenless"!

Next came all the wiring.  Jared, Blake and Randy worked hard! But look at those wonderful lights!

Next came sheet rocking. It was very nice to have Dad's help holding these heavy sheets in place. Randy C. was worried about patching the ceiling and blending the texture with the old ceiling and the new pieces, but he didn't need to worry because it looks amazing!

More tiling! Tanner turned into the Grout Man.

Finally, so cabinets arrived! It was really exciting when the first one went up, we had been very patient waiting for them to come.  Tanner really had to use his head to get this one installed. I'm so grateful that Tanner was able to come help his dad install these!

The granite is being installed! That was a heavy piece! It was an interesting process to watch.  The first time I sat at the bar to eat breakfast the day after the granite was installed, I cried! It was just amazing to me to see this beautiful kitchen taking shape, I was simply overwhelmed. Blake is actually holding up the end plate while it's being screwed in from the other side.  There are so many details to get this all finished.

Randy's not really napping on the counter, he's working on the backsplash!  I got really tired of making decisions, but I'm so happy with the way this all came together!

Now it's Jared's turn to come back and work his magic. They installed the microwave, and range. He put under counter LED lights, above the sink lights and lights up in the little window cabinets above the sink. It's all amazing!

Here are some of the cool cabinets.  I love the spice rack on the lazy susan cupboard door. I also love the garbage next to the sink with a towel rod for a handle. This drawer works really well for cookie sheets and cooling racks.

I also love these drawers inside the cabinets! I want to thank Julie again, she came and helped me organize my kitchen! She really has a talent for organizing and planning! 

We put these new fangled "lazy susans" in both corner cabinets. They work really well. 

Here comes the finished Kitchen!

I still marvel at how beautiful it is! It's not just beautiful, it's very functional and easy! Sometimes, I just can't believe this is my kitchen!

Here are a few details.  The tap is awesome, you just have to touch it to turn it on. I love the shelves on the end. I love the granite, it sparkles! I also love the window cabinets above the sink.

I love my "new" house! We started this remodel on Sept.15, 2014 and it was finished on Feb. 20, 2015. It got long, but it was worth it! Thank you, Randy Chambers for your willingness to take on this project. I am amazed at your talents and abilities. You are such a hard worker, with such great vision. I actually miss having you come every day! We had some great times. You can forever call me "your highness"! I will forever think of you as the magician, because you definitely worked magic in our house.

House Transformation - Part 7 Dining Room

Before:

We have a very large dining room. I love it because we can expand the table and fit a lot of people here, and it's open to the living room.

The plan for the dining room was to remove the carpet, and replace it with the same hardwood looking tile, change out the desk for an updated one, and make a larger mantle on the fireplace.

They took up the carpet on November 22nd.  As they took up the top layer, we found the lovely original green carpet that was here when we bought the house.  Then there was the black foam liner under that, then the sub floor, it was a lot of layers coming up.

And of course, more tile! Luckily Tanner was here to help with this monumental task!

Once again, the cabinets were what we waited for. Once they came and were installed Jared had lots of help with the wiring! He changed out all of the switches and plugs from ivory to white. They wired lights under the shelves and in the upper window cabinets.

Here's the finished desk. I love the little window cabinets at the top. It all turned out very nice.

Randy C. had to really think hard how to install the new mantle.  He glued some boards onto the old little tiny piece of stone that was the mantle, then built around it. He stained in the same color as the tile floor. Blake cleaned up the brick so it's nice and bright.  It turned out perfect, I love it!

Here's the finished product! It's absolutely beautiful!

After:

The finished room! I love how it all came together! Another beautiful room!

House Transformation - Part 6 Laundry Room!

That's right, it says Laundry Room! I've always had a laundry closet, or more recently a laundry hall that you could see from the dining room. I have to admit that it was MY idea to create a laundry room by changing the doorway into the kitchen! Usually it's Randy C. that comes up with the great ideas, but I claim this one!

Before:

As you can see the doorway into the kitchen, is directly across from the dryer. And it was just a long hallway.

First, Randy took out the flooring, and portions of the wall that had been part of the laundry closet, then closed off the doorway into the kitchen, and made a new doorway into the Laundry room!

Then there was some patching of sheet rock, texturing, painting and of course tiling! When he installed the door, it truly became a laundry room!

After:

Again, it's amazing! Even though it was my idea, it is better than all of my expectations!  I love the rod where I can hang clothes to dry, and I can shut the door when I want! We changed the pantry and outside door to white. I love it!

House Transformation - Part 5 Living Room and Basement

Basement

We had new carpet put in the entire house, the basement included! It was time to lose the orange carpet! I've always said that I need to move out of my house and then move back in, because it would help me to declutter! Well, this worked out well, as we had to move everything out of each room before the carpet could be laid.  We did the basement in 2 stages, and it was a lot of moving! 

Good riddance orange carpet!

Much better! I really love this carpet! I guess that's a good thing since it's everywhere in my house!

While I was recovering from my hip surgery, I had a huge added bonus! My sister in law Julie came and totally reorganized my storage rooms! She said it was her dream job! (The rooms have been my worst nightmare!) It is amazing whenever I walk in them, I just want to cry, I can actually find things and I can actually walk in the rooms! Thank you, thank you, Julie!

Living Room

The living room was transformed 3 years ago, so this time around it's main change was new carpet. But, during the time other rooms were getting worked on, it became the the storage room!

All the contents of the kitchen ended up in the living room.  We covered the furniture because there was always so much dust.  Nikelle and Courtney were even able to take a nap among all the confusion.

Blake and I got along pretty good having just a microwave and a fridge.  We were so lucky that my mom helped us out so often by bringing us food, or having us eat at their house. We moved the fridge into the living room on November 22nd. The new carpet was laid on January 9th.

It's just beautiful! It's amazing what new carpet can do for a room! Thanks again to Julie for coming and helping me decorate!