January and February

It feels like nothing happened here for the last two months! But actually so much did. That is why I haven't posted in two months.

The first of December, we took the plunge and began a bathroom remodel. John and I did the demolition and then Kory started the rebuild. We wanted to turn the two tiny, old, outdated bathrooms into one nice useful one. Kory gave us an estimate. We thought we understood that it would be 2-3 weeks. Well, it turns out that it turned out to be 3 months! what we heard as 2-3 weeks was actually how long until he would be able to begin working. ugh!  If we had only known, we would have been able to handle the time waiting better. Since the bathroom was not able to be used at all, we used the toilet in the shop and the shower in the trailer. Of course we were doing this at the coldest time of year!  What were we thinking!?!

Before: master on left and guest on right

After demolition

It took 3 weeks for Kory to get the floor ready from underneath. It had to be braced up to hold the weight of the planned heated tile floor and prepare for the plumbing. He had to build a space for the shower tray. Behind that is the closet for John.

It was a real celebration to have the toilet temporarily installed! I lost count of how many times they had to remove it to do other work around it.

Finally the sheetrock went up! It felt like progress was finally being made.

The shower tray had to be special ordered because we wanted a curbless entry. The first one arrived with curbs on three sides, so it had to be reordered.

The sheetrock was done and sanded and I was able to get it all primed and painted. One coat of primer and two coats of paint.

Then the endless layers of flooring went in. First they sealed every screw, poured on leveler,  

then the red concrete board, more sealer on screws, 

 and finally the heating cables, another layer of leveler 

and then the tile was finally laid!

Before and after grout, it really made a difference.

Next came the shower wall.

And finally the tile work was done and it was time to start putting in the fixtures.

Bathroom mirror has storage, is fogless and has different light color and brightness. Vanity was wired to be able to keep my toothbrush and hairdryer plugged in all the time.

Heated towel rack, why not?

and the toilet goes in for the last time!

Done!!!!

It was a long process, mostly because we had not been prepared that it was going to be that long. It also went way above our estimated cost, but now that it is done, I am so so happy with it all. It is the bathroom that I have always wanted.

This is how our garage looked while they worked.

John was extra happy to be able to shave and get a real shower after all that time! and here is his new closet space from our bedroom now instead of having it in the bathroom like it was before.

Even though it seemed like that was all we did for those months, there were a few other things that happened.

we celebrated John and My Dad's birthdays.

The bathtub became a part of our dining room for a while.

We had a lot of crazy weather.

I discovered that I can actually see Mt.Hood from my bedroom window!

Did I mention crazy weather? It just keeps on snowing, melting and snowing!

The one year mark of the plane accident. As expected, it was just a day, nothing changed. We still miss them so much and it still does not seem like it is real. I don't think we will ever stop missing them. Actually, I don't want to!

Arianna has been busy with volleyball tournaments.

Rachel was nominated for the Crystal Apple Award!

Beau keeps on growing up and has really become a smiling charmer!

Josh is still in Japan. He was promoted to Corporal.

Dennis set it all up with Jessi to take me to the spa! He made sure it was a full day of pampering. Wow! What a special day it was!  

And here we are at the first of March and it is 

Still Snowing!!!

The bulbs are saying it is enough!

And so are we!

Come on Spring!!!