We finally got the keys to our first home at 5pm on December 30, 2010! We are elated!! And, we have a lot of work to do!! James had only one day before he had to go back to work, so we got busy right away. That first night the boys and Savanna and I cleaned most of the house while James got to work on de-winterizing the pipes. That is when we discovered a bunch of our leaks! We also had a friend come over and help us install our new stove. It looks awesome!

We got up early on the 31st and went back to the house. Some wonderful friends and the missionaries helped us prime the entire place, do a bunch of repairs, and we made a battle plan for the next week before we have to move out of our apartment!

The boys really wanted to help paint. I wasn't too sure, but our friends who were helping us assured us that if we let them paint they would get bored after a little while and then leave us alone. They were right! I think the boys lasted about 20 minutes and then went off and watched movies and played cards for the next 4 hours!

Savanna spackling.

Nathan teaching them how to roll out the paint.

You can see to the right our first bedroom is baby pink. I thought we would tackle that later, but James looked at me in horror and said, "We ain't leaving that pink!" So, we primed that room too!

Here is the primed pink room- looks better already!

My poor Ben had the flu through all of this. It really started to hit him later in the afternoon and he just rested and watched his DVDs. He was a really great sport though.

The primer covered pretty well! We had it tinted to the paint color I chose- Tuscan Beige for the walls with Polar Bear White for the baseboards. :)

The place looks twice as big already! Overall, I think it went well. The priming was a little hurried and sloppy. We are going to start the actual painting tomorrow. I'm hoping it will turn out nicely.

I didn't even realize it was New Year's Eve until about 8pm that night. No, we did not make it until midnight. I think my head hit the pillow at 10pm and I was asleep by 10:01!

Happy New Year, Everyone! It sure is happy here!!

December 31, 2010