July 2014

I wasn't very good about taking pictures in July. We were trying to get as much done at the cabin as we could.

For the Fourth of July we went to the Murray parade, then had breakfast at CJ's, a BBQ at my aunt and uncles for dinner and then finished with fireworks at my parents house. And sadly this is the only picture I have to show for all of it. The boys ended up lighting that dirt/dead grass pile behind them on fire during the main firework show. Boys love burning anything. And Olivia HATED the big fireworks. She was inside the house and still screaming and crying because she was so scared. It was sad to see how scared she was. Side note but she also hates changing tables in public restrooms. As soon as you walk into a public restroom with her she starts crying and has since before she could walk. Not sure where that come from but just today I had to take her in one and she still hates them.

July 4, 2014

  

Here are a couple of "during" pictures. We changed the bricks under the wood burning stove so they would all be the same and then after taking out the carpet and floor it was on laid down another layer of sub-floor.

July 5, 2014

  

We starting taking down the drywall to the "new" bathroom that they were building and Matt started to redo all of the electrical and plumbing. The first 4 weeks without a working toilet weren't so fun. Not so bad for boys but I either had to head into town or just wait. Whoever built the cabin had done some of the plumbing wrong and the electrical was really scary. The place should have burned down with what they did. Wrong wire for the stove, hidden junctions, it was a mess. So to be safe and know that everything was done right we had to start at square one and change everything including a new breaker panel since the other one was old and each breaker cost almost $70. We were able to buy a whole new panel for almost that price. At least with new plumbing and electrical we know where everything goes and how it's all connected but it's been a slow process.

July 5, 2014

 

I found this picture on my phone that one of the boys must have taken. It shows out the back windows where eventually we'll build a deck and where we made a fire pit. The dirt is hard clay and we had to pick ax everywhere we wanted it to be level. My dad and I also stained the outside of the cabin.

July 12, 2014

 

 The only thing the realtor said that people had mentioned to her was wrong was that there might be issues about the foundation. We knew even if there were costly repairs that it would still be a great deal so we did our research and realized there were already two piers but on one side of the foundation. Which is where they drill down until they hit rock and it has a shelf that the foundation sits on and it holds it in place so that it can't ever slide or move. The back end of the cabin you could tell sloped downhill. We found the 2 main companies in Utah that do them and had one of them come out to see what it needs. He told us the other company put in the piers (which we called them and confirmed) and that it really shouldn't go anywhere and should be fixed. We asked if we should put them on the other side to make sure and he said if it were him he would wait a couple years and see if anything happens as far as cracking between the joints and if so then do it.

At least we knew he wasn't trying to sell us something we didn't need because he suggested not doing anything if we didn't mind the water in the basement since it's all concrete down there. Also, it was to our advantage that people were probably scared off not knowing what the piers were or what the state of the foundation was. The problem is the dirt around the foundation had all been dug out years ago creating a mote around the cabin for water to come down and flow through the basement. We heard from neighbors water just flowed over the slab and out the back. We wanted to back fill the dirt and waterproof the outside so we could finish the basement eventually and we didn't want to have to move the dirt twice if we found in a couple years we should put piers on the other corner. So to be safe and know that everything is 100% fixed we had them put piers on the other corner of the foundation and also waterproof the exterior and back fill the dirt. With the piers they were able to lift the corners up that had settled and make it so that it wasn't slanted to much. The guy couldn't believe how cheap we bought the cabin for. His grandparents has a cabin about 10  miles away and he knew the area really well.

July 16, 2014

 

In this picture you can kind of see Ashton's serious/angry face he made while batting. Matt's parents were in town for this game too so Ashton had a large cheering section with both sets of grandparents and aunts and uncles there to watch him.

July 22, 2014

 

  

A couple of days later Matt's parents took Kaleb and Ashton with them to Colorado for grand kids week. The older grand kids had a full week with each other and they went swimming, went to Rocky Mountain National Park, to a model train museum and hiking. The boys had fun being with their cousins that they don't get to see very often.

  

I don't drink pop very often but when I do I love Barq's root beer. I was so bummed when McDonald's stopped offering root beer but I guess it keeps me from drinking it as much. So this day working on the cabin Olivia and I had to run to Home Depot in Park City to pick up some things and stopped to get a root beer. She was mad whenever I tried to share with her, she wanted it for herself.

 July 25, 2014

 

Matt's mom made this cute skirt for Olivia.

July 27, 2014

Olivia spent a good 5 minutes this night blowing on her arms. She also thinks it's funny to do the same thing to her brother's tummy's.

July 28, 2014

The boys were still gone to Colorado and I wanted to get stuff done around the house so Matt took Olivia out on a date the two of them. They tried Buffalo Wild Wings and Olivia enjoyed dipping her fries in fry sauce.

July 29, 2014