The Heart of Our Home

Mid July marks the one year mark that we have owned our house in Houston.  When we bought the home, there were many things we liked about it but there were definitely some things we did not.  Over the last year, we have slowly changed out and upgraded most of the dated and non functional parts of the house to make it just about perfect for us.  

Our biggest project was completely gutting and rebuilding the kitchen.  We knew when we bought the house we would eventually do something to the kitchen because it the original layout was not meant for more then one person in it at a time and it had so much wasted space. 

Before the remodel, the kitchen space always felt so closed off (even in an open floorplan) and it was hard to have the kids in there with us without tripping over them or running out of counter space.  Our priority of the remodel was to create a family space that could hold us all as our family grows.  

We wanted a kitchen that could be a gathering place for our family and friends, that had enough space for the kids to join us in cooking and food prep and a place that we could all spend time together and make family memories.  We feel like we achieved what we wanted.  The pictures don't even begin to explain how much more functional the space is.  

In the few weeks that the remodel has been finished, we have been enjoying being able to cook together as a family more.   It was almost a year since Aaron and I could comfortably be in our kitchen together, so it is a huge treat to have enough space for all four of us! 

The kids LOVE being little chef helpers and are learning a lot as we talk together as we prepare the food.  I underestimated how much changing the flow of the kitchen would change our day to day life.  

And the time before dinner is so much less stressful now that E & Kels are part of the process, sitting at the counter reading books as I cut or helping mix ingredients, rather then trying to distract them to be outside of the kitchen while I quickly get a meal made. 

   

Living through a remodel was interesting, but actually not as invasive as I was prepared for.  I think the kids actually enjoyed seeing all the different people in our kitchen and watching the room transform.  And once it was all done, we did a celebration dance on the new countertops.

They definitely enjoyed all the boxes the new appliances came in... 

...and the messes that could be made in the construction zone.

Luckily, even clean up is easier in the new space, especially when they take care of it themselves.  :)

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One more before...

...and after.
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It is true, the kitchen really is the heart of a home.

Camping for the 4th of July

We were super excited for July to roll around this year so we could head up to Calgary to see Aaron's parents and explore the Northern Rockies.  And then the city flooded.  Since cities in disaster recovery mode don't seem like a ton of fun, we decided to postpone our trip a few months to let the city recover.

Which meant we had the long weekend for the 4th of July to find somewhere else to explore.  We had headed south to Padre last year for the 4th, so we decided to head west into Hill Country this year (after I talked myself out of the long drive to Florida!).

We were lucky that two of the State Parks we have been wanting to explore had an opening one night each.  Even planned at the last minute, we ended up having a fantastic weekend of seeing new things.  

  We spent a day and night at Pedernales Falls State Park, which ended up being very pretty and had the perfect swimming river to cool off in the heat of the day.  

The afternoon we arrived, we took the short walk down to the river just to see it and play on the shore.  

But Kelsey did not see the point of just looking at the water, so she jumped right in with her clothes.  

This girl LOVES water.

The next day, Ethan led us on a morning nature walk, 

which meant that we stopped often to see the parrots and peacocks and other jungle animals that happened to be in Central Texas that weekend.  

And then we really hit the river.

The water was warm and the current weak, so we had a great afternoon of splashing, squirting 

and picnicking.  

That afternoon we took the short drive up to Inks Lake State Park.  Aaron and I had tried to camp there years ago, but it was booked up so we were happy to get to check it out.  

The area surrounding the lake is very pretty, but so very dry this year.  We were only a few hours west of Houston and it was amazing how much more they had been effected by the drought.  

Luckily the lake is controlled by the dam and was still full to play and swim in.  

Ethan saw some bigger kids cliff jumping into the lake, which he thought was a fabulous idea.  We spent that swim session catching Ethan as he jumped off the rocks like the big guys.  

Besides swimming, we escaped the heat by staying in the shade, either playing games or hanging in the hammock.  

We played our first family game together of Yatzee (Grandma Dolly will be so proud).  It was actually fun for all of us, although I think Kelsey enjoyed it the most.  She loves throwing dice.  

Ethan had fun as well, but it only entertained him for a while before he was back to digging.  

We celebrated the 4th of July with a glow stick, glow ball party,

we enjoyed being in nature, 

 and we played in the dirt.

And played in the dirt.

And played in the dirt.

And played in the dirt.

Camping is Ethan's most favorite thing and I am pretty sure it is because there is dirt everywhere to dig in.  

We have taken our hammock on most of our camping trips, but it usually doesn't get a ton of action.  This trip however, it was a hot commodity.  

Aaron had talked for days about how he was looking forward to relaxing in it, but once it was hung he couldn't get the rest of us out of it.  

The kids and I read books, E played and Kels and I napped in it.  

Once the rest of us were done, he finally got  turn!

It was a happy 4th of July!

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While E was playing in the dirt, I snapped several pics of Kels:

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We have to drive through Austin to get to and from Hill Country, which worked out perfectly because it made it easy for us to stop and spent time with my Aunt Kitty, Uncle Ferol (who was visiting from California), cousin Patrick and his wife and son, Sukyi and Hook Yong.  

On the way there, we stopped for lunch and had a nice time with all of these guys walking around Austin.

The timing worked out even better on our drive back because we were able to celebrate Hook's first birthday and spend more time with all of them.

Getting to see family was a nice ending to a great holiday weekend!

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"In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks."  John Muir