January - Gennaio

HOOVER DAM

DIGA di HOOVER

Ismar and I went to get this bunny on January 5th to surprise the kids for the Befana, also known as the three kings day on January 6th.  He was sooo good.  We don't know the gender yet.  He is a lion head, Hotot mix.

La sera del 5 gennaio siamo andati ad adottare un coniglio per fare una sorpresa ai bambini per la Befana.  Ancora non sappiamo il sesso, ma e' un coniglio di due razze diverse.  E' stato bravissimo durante il tragitto e lo shopping in diversi negozi.

Look at what the Befana brought this year!

Guardate cosa ci ha portato la Befana quest'anno!

Getting ready to go into Wal-Mart to get some rabbit supplies. I had to hide him.
Nascosto nella giacca pronto per entrare nel supermercato per comprare cibo, paglia e cose varie per il coniglietto.

A gift from my visiting teacher.

Un regalo dalla mia insegnante visitatrice, era da anni che non li mangiavo.

Emma's guitar concert

Concerto chitarra di Emma

Master - Stanza matrimoniale

  We decided to do some paneling on the accent wall.  We love it.

 The tiny master bath is coming along just fine.  This month we did the flooring and part of the back splash wall were the sink is going to be.  It will be nice to brush our teeth and wash our face in our bathroom.  Ismar did a great job moving plumbing and lights to the new wall.

January 1st - 1 Gennaio

First selfie of the year of me and Ismar.  Last year has been a roller coaster ride from the moment we lost Paola, to the time we moved to a different state.  We experienced a lot of sadness in 2017. All we ask for this year is for a lot less death, and more stability.  My goal this year is to learn to love Layton and the people around me.  I want to think positive and be positive, I think we can transmit a lot to the people around us, as for me to my children and husband.  I choose happiness this year, I want to flourish were I am and I want to help my children to do the same.  I know there is positive here and we can find happiness.

Il primo selfie dell'anno con Ismar.  L'anno scorso e' stato un anno difficile, e' cominciato male con la morte di Paola, ed e' continuato con la notizia del trasferimento nello Utah.  Per noi e' stato un anno molto triste. Quest'anno non vogliamo morti, e vogliamo essere stabili.  Il mio obbiettivo e' di imparare ad amare il posto dove viviamo, sia la casa che Layton.  Voglio essere positiva e trasmettere questo ai miei figli e mio marito.  A volte il nostro comportamento puo' influenzare il nostro prossimo.  Quest'anno decido di di essere felice, voglio "fiorire" dove sono ed aiutare anche i bambini ed Ismar a fare questo. So che ci sono cose positive dove viviamo ora e che possiamo essere felici anche qui.

December- Dicembre

Matt's birthday, we got him the gift of hair by giving him that wig.  He is bald.

Matt e' un collega di Ismar.  Per il suo compleanno gli abbiamo regalato una parrucca dato che e' pelato.

Tamales

Franky's birthday

Chruch Christmas party, poor Sofia, she looks like a lizard.

Festa di Natale in chiesa, povera Sofia, sembra un rettile con quel coso addosso.

We got a couch for the downstairs!!!!

Abbiamo comprato un divano per la taverna.

Christmas

Natale

This year it was perfect timing.  It snowed on Christmas eve and we woke up to this.

Quest'anno madre natura ha fatto si che nevicasse durante la notte della vigilia e ci siamo svegliati con tutto ricoperto di bianco.

View from my room

Vista dalla mia stanza

December 26

26 Dicembre

This year we spent Christmas alone and decided to spend New Years with family.  We have been really busy with house renovations that we have spent a lot of time on our own.  It was a much needed break from all of this, unfortunately I didn't take many pictures.  We had a great time with family and friends.  We will be back this summer.

Quest'anno abbiamo passato il Natale da soli e il capodanno con famiglia in Arizona.  Ultimamante siamo stati molto impegnati con i lavori in casa e non abbiamo socializzato con molte persone.  Questo viaggio ci ha dato l'opportunita' di staccare la spina e stare un po' con i nostri familiari e amici lontani.  Torneremo in Arizona fra 6 mesi durante l'estate.

Las Vegas

Cousins

Cugini

Geppetto and me - Family room

This room is a lot smaller then it looks.  I didn't have time to take a picture with the carpet intact, Geppetto jumped the gun and started tearing before I had the time to take a picture.  Good for him.  We really thought we could get this room, and the boys room done in a week before family came over for the weekend....well it was a little unrealistic.   It always takes longer to get things done.

The plan for the family room is to install wood tile, change the lighting, install thicker baseboards, paint walls, create 2 accent walls and wainscoting on the back wall to help give the room a little character and texture, create an area for a kid's computer like we had at the beloved house where we used to live, and some new furniture would be nice too, since we don't have any.  

Tearing out the carpet

   

 Once the carpet has been removed the white paint underneath needs to be scrapped in order for the thinset to have a better bond to the cement.

It feels like this room is taking forever....

We have had company over, a wedding to go to, Geppetto has been sick, I have been sick, grapes that needed to be made into juice, a garden removal, and leaves to rack and place on top of the garden plot. That is a few reason's why we are still working on this.  It's been a month, we are hoping to get this done in the next couple week.

We decided to add some wainscoting to one of the accent walls, to give the room some texture and create a focal point in the room. The top and bottom board are 1x4.5 and ones going up and down and across are 1x3.  We also changed the dimming lights to a more modern look.

I love how this wall turned out.  It seems easy but there is a lot of work behind doing a wall like this.  A lot of measuring, cutting, leveling, sanding, filling gaps, sanding some more, caulking and painting.  It is a very time consuming project.  But what a beauty in the end.  This wall will really dress up this family room.

Grouting time!