We've had a super busy week. After one or the other of us being sick for nearly a month we finally felt well enough to get some stuff done around the house. Monday we went to Ikea to get some dressers to use as nightstands. (Our bed is really tall.) Which had the glorious side effect of giving the two of us enough storage to use Mike's old dresser in the baby's room. Mike put the dressers together while I finished re-painting the seams in the beadboard that he had re-caulked (with the right kind of caulk). Tuesday, Mike went mountain biking with Jason, while I spent time with my parents. We didn't get home until after eight, so we just did some much needed housework. Wednesday we had our birthing class, which meant we didn't get home until nearly 10, then we finished the touch up paint in the baby's room. Thursday we went shopping for some Closetmaid fabric storage bins, which were a pain in the butt to find at the Wal-Mart. I ended up not liking any of the colors, so we didn't even buy any. When we got home, Mike hung up the curtain rod in the nursery then we finished organizing and moving our clothes around. Tonight we shall: get Mike a haircut, go up to his mom's house to help her with her sprinklers, then go out to dinner and a movie with friends. After what I'm sure will feel like too little sleep (because even 12 hours feels like too little sleep these days) I'll wake up, attempt to make myself pretty, and go to a baby shower for my sister-in-law and me!

The crib is coming next Friday so stay tuned for pictures of the finished nursery!

For those of you waiting with bated breath to see the pictures of the finished nursery, we have bad news. It might be a while. Sadly, upon applying the 'final' coat of white paint to the bead board, we realized that we used the wrong silicone to fill in the gaps. We've been frustrated, disappointed, and down-right pissed all last week trying to figure out how to remedy the situation. We've tried scraping and peeling it off, which has not worked. We tried ignoring it, which also didn't work. Now we are going to try to put a thin layer of paintable caulk on top of the non-paintable silicone. Honestly, if it doesn't work we'll just have to live with it, but neither of us is very happy with that scenario. So wish us the best of luck, and the energy to try again.

We're about at the end. So no pictures for two reasons, to hold of the suspense of the final reveal, and two, not much interesting happened last night. When we got home Katie immediately got to work, while I cooked dinner. By the time dinner was done she had completely finished filling all the holes. After dinner she took at nap while I finished siliconing all the seams. Once it dries, the bead board is ready for paint! Katie wanted to get a bit extra done so she quickly finished painting the closet. We're going to take a night off tonight, and will be with family tomorrow, so the final painting should be on Monday. Stay tuned!

Tonight we got a later start. After getting home I first had to cook dinner (Salmon and grilled vegetables), before we could start. Katie worked on filling the nail holes, while I started applying silicone to the seams and corners. At 9PM I decided we needed to call it quits for the night, so we didn't quite finish.

Since I don't have many pictures, here's the results of my spraying the first coat on the bead board, along with a first coat on the trim.

Tonight when we got home I immediately started on the chair rail. I finished cutting all the pieces I would need, and dry fit them to ensure proper fit. Next Katie came in and helped me level them out as I nailed them in. I got to use my finish nailer, which worked great! We got all of them hung quickly.

The last thing I needed to do was trim out the corners. I took out my dremel tool to carve out a bit of the base boards for the trim to slip into. Once it's all siliconed and painted it will look great!

Tonight we got home and I got to work. I started cutting the last of the bead board. After all my pieces were cut we did a marathon to hang them. One, then the next, then the next. Katie electrocuted herself again. It actually went really quick.

After that I wanted to get some of the trim cut, so I measured the one that would be cut short and made that 45 degree cut. I also cut another quickie that would be full length, but just need 45's on both ends.

It's starting to come along much quicker, and I can see the finish line. Tomorrow I'll try to finish the chair rail, then will be some corner trim, putting silicone in the gaps, and filling the nail holes, followed by a last coat of paint.

And Katie adds: "P.S. we still have to finish the missed spots in the *)(@#$ closet! (Don't ever paint a closet)"

Time for the complex stuff. I started measuring and cutting the bead board. We found out quickly that our base trim was not very level. Oh well, we'll do the best we can! So we started applying it. Liquid Nails on the back, some brad nails in the front. It was nice to be able to use my new nail guns, the brad nailer worked great! It was during this time Katie electrocuted herself. That got me a little concerned about what I may do to the boy, but he was moving around later in the day.

We kept working. I would measure and cut, then call in Katie to help glue and hold it, while I nailed it in. We got about 1/3 of the way done and ran out of glue. It was time for another Home Depot run.

This one we knew would be bad. Another gallon of paint, glue, other small needed tools, and the chair rail. Another expensive trip, hopefully the last one.

When we got home I started work on the chair rail while Katie took a nap. What I did was route out the bottom to fit flush over the bead board, and against the wall at the same time. Basically to look like this:

So I took each board and ran it over the table router a couple times to get the depth I wanted. It worked perfectly!

Once I was done I took them all downstairs and sprayed them with a first coat of paint. Back upstairs I hung a couple more sheets of bead board, and called it a night.
(cell phone pic)

Yesterday we did some errands to get ready for the weekend. First we stopped at Sears over lunch to pick up a router table I bought. Second stop was after work at my moms house to grab my dad's old router. Went home and I mounted them together, perfect fit! We then did a bit more painting. I had gone to far with the blue in some spots and hit the ceiling, so Katie covered those up. She also finished the window casing, and the closet frame. I got more of the bead board painted, along with the other side of the closet doors.

Tonight was more errands than painting. We ran over to Katie's parent's house to borrow her dad's jig saw. I didn't think about it when we were at my mom's to borrow hers. That was alright though as we also borrowed his miter saw for some trim cutting. After picking them up we went out to dinner with them then headed home. I did get the last of the bead board coated with a single coat of paint.

After taking the day off the nursery yesterday, we went back to it today. First step was a Home Depot run. We picked up an extra gallon of white paint, and got our bead board for the bottom of the room. At 4'x8' sheets, they wouldn't fit in either of our vehicles, so we had a worker there cut them exactly in half for us. The first one was way off, with one board being about an inch longer than the other, but the rest were fine. We ended up with 10 sheets 4' by 4'. We squeezed them into the back of Katie's Outback and headed home.

Once home I began painting downstairs, while Katie painted in the nursery. I got out the sprayer and started applying a first coat of paint to each of the boards, as well as painting the closet doors white to match the rest of the room. Katie continued in the closet but it was slow going. After I was done I brought up the sprayer to use in the closet. We masked off all the carpet in the closet, and I started spraying. It went so much quicker and better than rolling & brushing. Some quick back rolling and it was mostly done. It does look like I missed some spots, so we'll have to hit those again later.

Today after work we continued working on the nursery. Katie masked off the ceiling, and we cut in the rest of the blue on the walls. We decided to paint the closet as well, and decided to do that in white. So we slowly began that, and quickly realized how much it sucks. We didn't get very far on it. We also started painting around the closet door and window in white as well.

More to come!

The time is coming quickly, so it was time to start setting up the nursery. There was a lot that Katie wanted to do, so we planned to start early. Here's some before pictures (click to embiggen!). Wall and ceiling the same color. The trim and door were the same before we moved in.

First step was to pull down the speakers and the light fixture. We were finally going to get rid of the beige ceiling paint. Katie picked up 2 gallons of ceiling paint, which is pretty flat, and kind of thicker. It actually went up pretty quick. We waited about 20 minutes after finishing and did a second coat. After the bulk of that dried I reinstalled the lights and speakers into the ceiling while Katie did the edges.

We did some cleanup to prepare to paint the walls next. We had painted a spot of the color we wanted, and were happy with the color. So we started off the walls. (This picture shows the color well.)

The nice thing was we weren't doing the whole wall, as we had other plans for the bottom. Two coats and we were done for the day. Here's a few shots of the room at the end of the day. These two are cell phone pictures, so the color is off.

So Katie wrote this and was going to post it on her section of the blog, but since that is only viewable on our family site (http://www.mnkjohnson.com), I'm going to post it so it's on both sites.

Wow. We suck as bloggers. No wedding pictures. Limited number of house pictures. No baby pictures, granted he’s not born yet, but we have ultrasounds. A ton has happened since March 5th of last year and we’ve blogged very little of it.

March 5th 2011---Wedding Day!

Today I got to marry my best friend and soul mate. We met at the Wight House in Bountiful around one to take the pictures so it wouldn't be forever between the actual ceremony and the reception/dinner. Mike hadn’t seen my dress and I wanted a picture of his face when he did. It was priceless. We had fun with the pictures and the photographers. Our good friends Jason and Jenn were helping us out. I found out that Mike hadn’t eaten anything, so I asked the lady at the reception center to feed him. She forced him to eat some food they had in the kitchen. The ceremony was beautiful and simple. My dad walked me down the aisle, one of my favorite moments. He was happy to give me away; he didn’t even tell me it wasn’t too late to change my mind! The ceremony was emotional. Mike was crying, my sisters were crying, apparently several other people were crying. I just couldn’t stop smiling. I was just so incredibly happy, I knew things were just going to get better and better as time went on. I just kept thinking, I’m marrying this incredible man, who adores me. I can’t believe how lucky I am. It was a nice, calm reception with good friends and family members. We left the reception around eight p.m. in our jeans and went to the hotel. We drank sparkling apple cider, ate munchies from awesome gift baskets (thanks Kristi, Jason, and my brothers and sisters), washed the 400 pounds of hairspray out of my hair, and did some other stuff that is inappropriate for polite conversation.

The next day

We washed the car and vacuumed out the dove and heart shaped confetti, which we still find pieces of occasionally (thanks Jason), and drove to St. George. We got there at about six, checked-in to the time-share condo we were staying at (courtesy of Mike’s mom), and went to find a place to get dinner. Nothing was open. So we went to the grocery store, bought some salmon and potatoes, and took them back to the condo. Mike undercooked the salmon and I undercooked the potatoes. We still ate it. Then we watched some TV and went to sleep. We didn’t manage to sleep well the entire first week of our marriage. We are both night owls with a tendency to sleep in so we’d go to sleep around 12 or 1 am but my darling husband would still wake up around 7:30 or 8. Despite the lack of sleep, our Honeymoon was wonderful. It was beautiful, and warm, and beyond relaxing. We did some shopping, some hiking, some swimming, and some more stuff that is inappropriate for polite conversation. We also watched some History Channel TV.

We came home on Thursday that week to give ourselves time to a) move me in to the ‘bachelor pad’ and b) get settled before having to go back to work. We got wonderful gifts from all our friends, neighbors, and family. I attempted to write Thank You cards, couldn’t force my hands to do that much writing, and resorted to creating a generic Thank You card on the computer. I even printed them out and put them in envelopes. I never did get around to addressing them or sending them out, because I suck, and eventually I was just too embarrassed to send them because of how long it had been (six months). But you should all know, Mike and I are both incredibly grateful for every last gift and well wish.

Several months later:

We started looking for a house. We used a realtor recommended to us by Tony and Chelsey, Dave Maltby (if you want his number just ask). We ended up loving him so much that we recommended him to my brother and sister-in-law. He will do anything to help you find the house you want. Dave spent months with us going to roughly 10 houses a week (usually on a Wednesday night). Through losing the first house we loved, finding out that the second house we loved was a block away from a slow moving landslide that was causing houses above it to be condemned. Finding a third house we loved just to find out the next day it had been under contract for a while (the stupid realtor that Dave set up the visit with had said nothing about there being an offer on that house). And finally after three or four months of an exhaustive search, finding the house we bought. Dave explained everything to us and held our hands through the whole process. We consider him a friend now. (He helped my brother and sister-in-law find their house, I believe the first day they went looking.)

Our family room/dining room/kitchen.

Our back yard.

August 15th, 2011

I started my new job at 3M HIS today. I feel like I’m totally out of my depth here. It’s a completely new style of writing with completely new tools (software). I do feel a little better that the writing team here has only been using this software for two years and they are still learning how to use it. It’s always scary to start a new job, especially when it’s in a new field. I miss my co-workers and friends but I am happy to not be traveling anymore. It was starting to get really hard to leave my husband in my nice warm bed at four am to make a flight.

September 24th, 2011

We moved in to our new house. I’ll let you read Mike’s post about that if you’d like more details.

October 6, 2011

I was a couple days late so I took a test, completely expecting the results to be negative. I’d been late a couple of other times and wasn’t really worried about it. Guess what? It was positive. You could have knocked me over with a wet noodle. We’d only gone off birth control the month before. I was expecting it to take at least three months to get pregnant. I was freaking out privately in the bedroom. I had downloaded a pregnancy app to calculate my due date, and was just looking at the screen that said “Congratulations, you’re 3 weeks pregnant!” when Mike came in. He said, “What should we use as the password for the wireless internet?” I held out my phone and said, “how about this?”

His eye’s got really big and he said, “Really?” I just nodded. I thought he was going to pass out, or freak out, or something. He said, “Really?” I think he thought I was pulling his leg. I had to show him the test. Then I had to take another one (for both of us). He wasn’t unhappy, just like I wasn’t unhappy. It was just…a lot. To find out so quickly after the move and so quickly after stopping birth control. I think we were both shocked.

Our baby at 19 weeks old.

December 27th, 2011

By this time Mike and I had gotten used to the idea of having a baby and were no longer freaking out. (Well maybe a little, it’s a big change!) Mike really wanted a girl. I really wanted a girl (they are more fun to shop for). Today we went to the doctor and found out that it’s a boy! He was not cooperative and didn’t want to move his little hand so we could see that he was a boy, but I poked him until he moved enough for the doctor to see it. Mike was still holding out hope that the official ultra-sound in two weeks would show a girl. It didn’t, he’s still a boy.

February 14th, 2012

Our second Valentine’s Day together. Mike spoiled me :D He sent me beautiful tulips, a teddy bear, and chocolates at work. After work he took me to P.F. Changs for dinner. Thank goodness he made reservations weeks earlier, we were seated in less than five minutes, even though the waiting area was full (standing room only). Best Chinese food I’ve ever eaten! The lettuce wraps were wonderfully flavorful. I had the shrimp with candied walnuts for dinner; I’m salivating just thinking about how delicious it was. Then we went home, I gave him Lego Pirates of the Caribbean for the Wii, he gave me Sims3 Pets for my PC. (We are a geeky couple aren’t we?) It was a great day and a great night.

Beautiful tulips from Mike.

February 16th, 2012

I’ve had a really easy pregnancy, and I know that. Both of my sisters got deathly ill and threw up a ton when they were pregnant. I was nauseous for a couple of months. I’ve been exhausted. I’ve had ‘growing pains.' But I’ve had a really easy pregnancy. Today, I couldn’t feel the baby moving, he is usually active in the morning, and I was having strange sharp pains in my lower abdomen on the right side. After five hours of random pains and no fetal movement, I called the doctor. He was delivering a baby, so his nurse told me to go to the hospital to check things out. I was pretty calm, Mike was not. We got to the hospital and about 30 to 40 seconds after they got the heart monitor on me, the baby got the hiccups. He was swimming around so much! You could hear it every time he swam past one of the monitors, it would make a funky sound. They tested me for everything. Blood was taken, I got to experience my very first catheter (shudder), and they did an ultra-sound to check the fluid levels in there. Things ended up being just fine, but it was a little scary.

Today

We are less than a week away from celebrating our one year anniversary. Things have calmed down a bit. I feel more confident at my job. I’m excited to meet my crazy active baby. Mike is now used to the fact that it’s a boy, and is getting excited. We are planning to move some furniture and start painting the nursery in the next couple of weeks. We bought a rocker/recliner to make feeding easier. We’ve created a great plan for the basement. We’ll be working on that a little at a time, as funds become available. We love our neighborhood. Overall, things are great. I feel like it’s the calm before the storm, but I’m ready for it. I’m excited to see what the next 365 days bring into our little family’s life.

I took some generic pictures, which you can see here: http://www.waterman981.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=54887

Well, since I first started this post the wind has finally died down. I've gone up and fixed the chimney. 2 new screws, and some waterproofing. Put the fence all back together. Wow vinyl fences are easy to repair. During the wind I roped off a bush that would have come down had I not done so. The only thing broken is our Christmas lights. A wire got pulled out, and a bulb broke. Due to the wire I'll probably have to buy a new strand. Oh well, it only cost $19.

I do feel really fortunate that was our only damage. So many of our neighbors lost their shingles. I saw tons of homes where the wooden fence that was there is now missing completely. We really were blessed for this event.

Huge thanks to everyone who was able to come out on Saturday to help us move!

Last Friday night we were supposed to pick up the Budget rental truck at 5 PM. During the day they called us to say they wouldn't have it, and present us with other options. We could drive down to Provo (the closed at 5, with game traffic there was no way), or 8 AM in SLC, or 10 AM at the original Murray location. We decided on 8 AM. So rather than getting the truck we just went home. Kristi & Dana came up to spend the night, and help us pack. They were a huge help in the kitchen getting everything boxed up.

Saturday morning we got up early and headed downtown to pick up the truck. We were a bit early so we went to get donuts first. We arrived at Budget of Salt Lake and were told that our truck wasn't there. We were getting seriously pissed with this company. The guy running it was checking out another customer when our 24' truck arrived. Whew! We were able to get the truck, and for all the crap they pulled we got their best discount (20%), and unlimited miles (which was good as we had further to drive now). The guy was really good to us once the truck arrived, but still overall it was a bad experience, and we'll never deal with them again.

We got home and got the move going. My realtor Dave was waiting for us, and just after backing in Steve arrived. They got started with the first boxes as more people arrived. Jason first, then a truck with my in-laws... Father-in-law Wes, Uncle-in-law Kent, brother-in-law Andrew, and nephew Harrison. The loaded up the garage stuff (saws, 4-wheeler) in the trailer they brought. Everyone continued moving items out.

I was running around coordinating everyone, while trying to finish up the last few things. Take all the stuff off the dresser, take apart my desk... Lots of last minute stuff. About 2 hours after we started the truck was all loaded up and it was time to head out. I drove up to the new house with Dave & Jason following behind me. Wes, Kent, Andrew, & Harrison had taken their truck and my car up already, and when we arrived they were finishing up the trailer. All that was left was the big truck.

We got started unloading that. Things went quickly. Steve got up to the new house with his whole family to check it out. Eric arrived after getting off work and continued helping. My neighbor came over and helped unload. We were done unloading everything shortly after 1 pm. The pizzas arrived a few minutes later.

After eating lunch, many had to return home, so we decided it was time to take the truck back. My mom followed me up to drop it off, then take me back to her house. I had inadvertently kept the keys to the van which had some glass panels and our TV's in it. So I drove it back up to our house to unload those last things. When I got there my brother-in-law Spencer and Harrison took the TV's in. I found out that Katie's mom and sister had unpacked and folded clothes, putting them in drawers for us. Before that Kristi helped unpack lots of the kitchen.

Once everyone was gone we both kinda crashed. We were tired, and just laid down on the bed and watched a movie. After the movie we had a few things we needed... 4 wire dryer cable, new washing machine drain hose... so it was time for another Home Depot run. Got what we needed then went and got dinner at Wingers. We went home, and crashed again on the bed.

So many people helped, that really made this move go well for us. We couldn't have done it without all of you. So again, huge thanks to Kristi & Dana, Steve, Jason, Eric, & my realtor Dave. My in-laws Wes, Laura, Andrew, Kent, Spencer, Maren, & Harrison. Sorry if I forgot anyone. And I know some of you wanted to make it, but couldn't due to work. Thanks for checking on the move when you were available!

It's 100% official. We are homeowners. Katie & I closed on a beautiful house we found up in Kaysville yesterday, and today the sellers finished their paperwork, so we are all recorded and it's official!

Yesterday after closing I suddenly felt very poor. We had been saving and saving for our down payment, and suddenly it was all gone. I complained about this feeling to my coworkers and they told me not that you get over it, but that you get used to it. Ughh..!

Unfortunately we haven't gotten the keys yet, as the selling agent is booked tonight, but should get them tomorrow. The plan is to move in on the 24th, and I expect to see everyone there. (especially you neighborino Matt!) During this week before we move we want to do some painting. All the walls/ceilings/trim is the same color. We're going to keep it simple though and paint the ceilings & trim white. Just that little bit should make it even brighter and feel larger.

We're super stoked, and hope to have you all over soon for some fun!

Why didn't anyone tell me buying a house sucks! I'm so freaking stressed out right now. Working with a lender, being told all we need is our down payment money at closing (seller is covering closing costs). Then suddenly today I get the loan application and a request to use my credit card to pay for the appraisal. Money we weren't planning on. So I talk to another lender, won't need to pay that upfront, and a lower rate. Call the first back to say we're going to go with someone else. A bit later his manager calls me back to ask why. I told him how I felt surprised by the appraisal, and worried about additional surprises. As we talk he tells me their rate was high so they could over deliver at closing with a lower rate (which the lender himself never told me), explained the appraisal situation, which I understand, but agreed to take care of it if I wanted to continue. So tonight Katie and I should have two loan applications to go over and decide which to go with.

ARRRAGGUUGGGHH!!!

This sucks. So frustrating, stressful, stressful, and stressful!

Jason and I will be riding 33 laps of a 3.33 mile section of the Jordan River Parkway. We will be based in Germania Park, off of 53rd South. We'd love to have you come and join us for a few laps, or more. There is a playground at Germania if your kids want to just do that. Plenty of fun opportunities. Weather will be great, so come on out!

(In the event of flooding, I believe we'll move to Liberty Park. The only place it may be an issue is under 53rd South. Edit: Checked it at lunch. Looks good! River probably has to come up about 2 feet to be an issue.)

The government told me so! So if you need to get prepared for the coming Zombie Apocalypse, check the CDC site for some helpful preparedness tips.

I just signed up for a "bike race." The Fat Cyclist's 100 Miles of Nowhere. What is it? It's a bike race, kinda. It's a solo event, kinda. It's for charity, definitely.

The first 100 Miles of Nowhere was the Fat Cyclist and some buddies, riding their bikes on rollers (stationary) for 100 miles. 100 miles sitting in their garages, watching movies, etc. In the two years since then more and more people have participated. Riding on their own rollers, around the block, even on an aircraft carrier.

My plan.
As the scheduled day approaches (June 4th), I will decide if I want to participate that day or another, and the location. My current thought is to do laps around Falcon Park. It would be long and monotonous. I would ride, without going anywhere.

How you can help.
Come ride with me! I've talked briefly with Jason, and while I haven't heard for sure it sounds like he is planning to ride the whole thing with me. But we would enjoy additional company throughout the day. Rich has already said he'll ride for a while with us. Perhaps someone to count laps as we go around? People to cheer us on. People to spend lunch breaks and rest stops with. We don't have to ride 100 miles straight, we can stop and chat for a while. But chatting on the bike is better. I'm liking the park idea as those of you with kids can let them play on a playground, supervised by your spouses while we ride. They can even come do a few laps with us.

Additional help?
I'm also tossing around the idea of doing some fundraising with it. Why not? Perhaps ask people to donate directly to LiveStrong (tax deductible) for every mile I rode. Say you pledge 25¢. If I finish 100 miles, you make a $25 donation. If I do 50, $12.50. If I do 125 miles... we'll keep it at $25. Pledge what you like, 25¢, 50¢, $1. I won't ask you to donate more than 100 miles worth. As I type that out, I definitely think I'll do it. Watch for a link to pledge/donate!