Baby Party (aka Beer Party)

Thank you so very much to Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Mike Wright - for hosting our baby party at their house in Longmont CO! We had a blast and hopefully let Nancy and Mike recooperate from the party! Thank you all to our friends and family that attended - it was YOU GUYS that made the party great! Thank you as well for all of the wonderful gifts- we are really honored to have such great friends!

Lots and lots of beer drinking - was this a beer party or baby party???

Family History

Grandpa Cooper (Ryan's Dad and MaryJo) visited from Iowa City over Memorial weekend. They brought with them a number of special family items! Paul brought with him a very important cradle that was part of Nancy's family from when she was a child. What a beautiful cradle!

Ryans' Grandfather (Leon Cooper) the expert woodworker he is, handmade a special wardrobe for his daughter Pat in 1943. Great Grandpa Cooper and Grandpa Cooper decided it would be a special treat to refinish this wardrobe for the new 'mini Cooper'! Grandpa Cooper (Paul) spent a great deal of time re-finishing this wardrobe for our 'mini Cooper'! They transported the disassembled wardrobe from Iowa to Boulder, CO and spent Sunday afternoon putting it together!

Ryan (Dad) hard at work while Paul (Grandpa) Cooper is drilling !

After some unexpected turns, some compromises and changes of plans the wardrobe came together beautifully!

Here is a photo of the finished wardrobe - Thank you to Great Grandpa Cooper, Grandpa Cooper and Dad who all contributed to this beatiful piece of furniture!

Profile photos of the 'belly' changes

So, we thought we would share with you some photos of the 'belly changes' that accompany the 'mini cooper' adventure, here is what we have to date !

Thanksgiving 08
Early January 09

Late Feb 09

April 09

Memorial Day Weekend 09

The Kitchen Project

Ryan (and I) decided before our 'mini cooper' came into the world that we should complete a 'semi-major' remodel of our kitchen. We really like out house and location, however the kitchen was too small, had terrible pastel blue (great quality) Kohler sink, and some not so great laminate (bluish + tan) countertop. So we decided to knock down the kitchen wall, make an island, replace the countertops, replace the floor, and get some new lights / switches etc. Our 'quick little remodel' turned into a fairly quick, larger than expected endeavor. However, we love the outcome - well worth the 4.5 weeks of mess!! Here are some before and after photos !!

So this is out kitchen before we started working (this photo is a bit old) but you get the overall picture!

This is a photo of our blue Kohler stove (there is nothing wrong with blue, but it is just not 'us') and our blue backsplash. We actually sold the sink on Craigslist for some cash!

So this is the tear down time, down goes the wall, the new stove is already in, and our old stove is already sold (yeah)! Since the wall was load bearing, we had to support with a new beam - which meant a big hole in the attic (filled with insulation). It rained insulation in our house. Oh yes, we decided that we needed to get rid of a flue (exhaust for water heater and furnace) that was going thru the kitchen, which was 'scope creep' - but certainly thr right thing to do. That just meant we needed a new water heater and furnace ! (scope creep!)

So, there was about 4.5 weeks of coming home to insulation / dust filled house, vacuuming a walkway thru the debris only to grill / microwave (creative) dinners for a bit of time. Again, it was well worth it. And I do have to say out contractor were exceptional - especially our general contractor who stuck very well to the schedule. ( I suppose it helps to be a pregnant woman indicating there is a schedule to work too!)

Wow !! What a difference!

We were very thankful we were able to do this work on the schedule we did and the results we obtained. Thank you to everyone that made this happen!!!