The Search is Over

After months of searching we've finally found our new home sweet home.  It's a strange thing to leave a place that you have fallen in love with for a place that feels foreign and new.   

 We are sad to leave the neighborhood that we have become so comfortable in,

but we are so excited for the new adventures that wait for our family in our new home. 

With so many things that feel uncertain right now there is one thing that we know for sure: Heavenly Father has led us to this home in this area and although we aren't sure why, we trust Him and know that His plan for us is better than our own.   

If you are going to do this... don't move afterward

When we moved into our home (7+ years ago) we had a list of a few minor things that we wanted the builder to fix.  They were small repairs that didn't seem terribly important at the time. But when several small things either never get done or don't get done right they slowly become more and more important.  Well, our banister was one of those "small things" that our builder never got done.  So, after all these years we decided they probably weren't going to get to it and thought we would tackle it ourselves.  (Side note- Of course we knew a long time ago that the builder wasn't going to do it, but it was a project that seemed extremely overwhelming to me so we kept putting off until we had to take care of it. If you are like us, you know what that means, we put it off until we decided to try to get our house ready to sell and then we had to get it done. Why do we do this? Big projects like this should be done for YOU to enjoy not some stranger who is going to buy your house.  Never again!)

Refinishing the banister was a huge project.  It was tedious and took a lot of time. Thank goodness I am thrilled with the final product but I would have been even happier with it if it was my family that was able to enjoy it.

The problem-  Our banister was never properly sealed.  The wood was bare and after time became very dry and started to yellow and crack. 

 

  

Each spindle had to be sanded, as well as the handrail and every other nook and cranny.  The lighter spindles in the picture below are the sanded ones.

  

The top half of this bigger post has been sanded.  See how yellow the wood had become?  Bleh.

After all of the sanding was done we taped everything off.

 Then we started rubbing the stain on each and every piece. 

 

At this point, I was not happy with the color of stain.  It looked splotchy and sloppy.

So, I let it dry and added another coat of stain.

And then another, and just for good measure...one more. When all was said and done,  I was so happy with the final product! Yay! I think the dark stain looks so sleek! (Try to look past the walls that were being prepped for paint.)

And then... about a week later the for sale sign went up in the front yard.  Like I said, never again!

Aubrey's First Gymnastics Meet

 It is so fun as a mom to watch my kids do things that they love. 

The Best (and easiest) Valentine's Day Cards

 

And some cute Valentine's Day hair too!

Funny How Things Change

   We started going to the cabin between Christmas and New Years when I was about 17.  My parents were excited to take us up there and spend time with each other without a lot distraction, but as a know-it-all-teenager, distractions were exactly what I wanted.  I didn't always have a good attitude about going.    

As a parent myself, now this is one of the traditions I look most forward to. 

And best of all, since my kids aren't know-it-all-teenagers yet, they look forward to it too. 

After all, who wouldn't want to spend 5 days with your best friends in one of the most beautiful places ever?

 

  Funny how things change.

Christmas Morning (a little blurry but oh so happy)

A Place of Love and Beauty