Youth Costume Party 2008

Last Friday we had our Youth group costume party. While about half the kids decided to come "as themselves" (lame!) we did have a few exceptions...

This year's winner, and reigning champion was Osama Bin Laden. He got serious props for wearing that beard almost the entire night, it looked pretty itchy...

Near the end, our "pimp" wanted to make sure I got a picture of him choking Osama...

An 80's diva and one of our "I came as myself" kiddos

And the whole group - I was Sara Palin (in the middle) Although I didn't have my McCain '08 pin, just ran out of time...

I made some pretty sweet decorations - I should have taken more pictures of them, but here is the only one I found...

Ta-Da!

Ok - so here are some after pictures finally! We still have a little bit of touch up work to finish - like putting up the veneer on the back of the cabinet, as you can see!

The new sink... and the second faucet (we had the first one all hooked up, ready to go, and it was a leaker!)

Closeup of the counters - so you can see the color/texture

Overview of the whole kitchen!

Original Kitchen

So i dug out the original pics from when I bought the house 4 years ago for a little comparison... it's amazing to look back!

This is the view from the living room in to the dining room - notice the carpet in the dining room? And note that lighting fixture - yeah, that's right. Pizza Hut called, they wanted it back.

Looking from the kitchen to the dining room - notice the wall!!

Get a glimpse of the hot linoleum an awesome fruit wall paper border... Yipes!

You can just barely see the little globe light over the sink... it was brass - with frosted "flowered" glass. Again. Yipes!

and the stove - wedged right up against the wall...

Remodel - In Progress!

So for anyone who has been to my house in the last, oh, 2 years - you may know we have a kitchen remodel in progress! Well my friends - the wait is almost over... And I couldn't wait to share it via blogger!

Our new counter tops and breakfast bar should be installed by the time I get home this evening - and needless to say, I am SO excited! Stay tuned, because I'm sure everyone else is just as excited as I am... I'm sure...

Here are some "before" pictures from a couple days ago - although I will have to dig up some of the "original" before pictures to compare later... back when there was a wall dividing the two rooms and carpet in the dining room... yikes!

Pulling off the backsplash to do the final touch up-painting


And a partial "after" of our new fridge! Gotta love that freezer on the bottom...

Fall Photo Shoot

Thankfully - before the snow flew, we had a chance to get some pics taken with my good friend Renee Vanni (check her out - she is an amazing photographer!)

Chris always looks like a model in his pictures... how does he do that??

Thanks Renee - you are the best, we always have a great time photographing with you!!

Ladies Retreat

Had a wonderful and relaxing weekend hanging out at Laverne Griffin camp outside Wasilla with the ladies from church. I brought my mom along and we had a great time playing games, chatting, doing crafts and being rejuvinated. The weather a bit chilly - but it was still lovely.

Line up for the group photo!
Mom was making Christmas gift tags - expect to see these in a couple months!
I love playing games - especially with a bunch of ladies. The laughter never ends!
The lake was just beautiful in the mornings - a little fog, and there was a big group of swans, but to far away to see in the picture...
Everybody made a hand print and all weekend we went around and wrote little notes to each other on your hand. It was so fun to go back after and see what people wrote to you!