Ch-ch-changes (Part II)

As I was looking back through our 2013, I reread this post HERE and it was really fun to see how different the house looks now.  We have had a lot of fun working in the house and dreaming about projects we can do.  I thought it would be fun to document what we've done so far.  Some rooms have drastic changes.  Some look very similar to the "before"(as in BEFORE we moved in) pictures.  I'm not sure there's one spot in the whole house where we can say it's completely finished, but that's part of the fun, I guess. So now...On to some pictures- for progress' sake!

Outside-
Before:

After:

Haven't done much to the front.  We took down the old/breaking security door and trimmed the tree.  We'd like to paint the front door, add some landscaping, create a front court/seating area?, add shutters by the front window?

Master Bedroom-
Before:

After:

In my experience, the master bedroom seems to be neglected/the last thing to get any attention. Even though we put/replaced the carpet everywhere else upstairs we left the wood in the master.  One day we'd like to:
paint, put in new baseboard,  curtains, art work, new nightstands, reading lamp?, maybe bookshelves along the wall by the window?

Kitchen-
Before:

After:

Took this picture before Christmas cards came down.  They are just so fun to see.

We are still saving up for a big kitchen update. We changed out the light above the sink and the light above the table.  We haven't painted the kitchen yet because for some odd reason there is a different texture in there than the rest of our home's textured walls.  I don't know why we have to have textured walls period but we aren't going to paint it if it doesn't match the rest of the house.  So you'll have to stay patient along with us for more kitchen updates.

Harry Potter 1/2 Bath-
Before:

After:

I should have made a separate post for this room because it's gone through a lot of changes with a lot of help from Michael's dad.  We took down the full mirror,  had to texture the wall behind it (read my opinion on textured walls above), painted, added a small tile backsplash behind the faucet, new baseboards, added framed mirror and shelves with a few accessories. DONE!

Backyard-
Before:

After:

The pool was a huge blessing during the intense summer and the fence is a must.  Other than that, we haven't done much out there yet.  I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit intimidated.  I want it green and pretty, but I don't want to plant things and have them die.  (My mom made gardening look so easy. I haven't developed my green thumb yet.) I want to create some more "privacy" but I don't want to create multiple places for scorpions to dwell.  I want some color, but I don't want messy plants/flowers to get in the pool.  So we are brainstorming what we want back there.

 Family Room-
Before:

After:

^We love 'Daniel Tiger'

Phew! A few changes have gone on in here! ;) We had a carpenter build in the entertainment center.  Interesting fun fact: There used to be a window on that wall.  We are grateful someone walled that up so that we could put our build in there. We still need to paint the added cupboard doors on the entertainment center.  We painted, added new baseboards, got a new (to us) couch, new chair, new table behind the couch, new glass in the ceiling fan, put in a rug, added curtains, and beefed up the fireplace (for more about that, see HERE)

 Laundry Room-
Before:

After:

Haven't done anything in here- except lots of laundry.  We'd like to paint the walls, add new baseboard, paint cupboards and add hardware, update window treatment?, and add hooks like we did in our Avondale house HERE for our pool towels in the summer.

Dining room-
Before:

After:

Living Room/Dining Room-
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After:

Staircase-
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After:

Front door-
Before:

After:

Upstairs-
Before:

After:

We are in the process of updating the railing.  Hopefully it turns out.  Stay tuned.

Guest Bedroom-
Before:

After:

Still needs: paint, window treatments, new baseboards, new light fixture.

Laila's Room-
Before:

After:

We are wanting to make her room look like it did in our last house with a few updates like a build in bench/ princess reading corner by the window with some pretty window treatments.

Upstairs outdated bathroom...

After:

This room looks much happier thanks to my mom.  There's also a nice, new light fixture in there instead of the gold strip of lightbulbs that was previously there. There are a few more gold fixtures that need to be removed from there, some paint added, some wall molding, new countertop?, and stain or paint cabinets?

Spare Bedroom-
Before:

After:

Again, paint, new light fixture, baseboard and window treatments are needed.  We will see what else this room could become one day.

It's fun seeing such a big chunk of our to-do list scratched off and I like seeing how we are starting to finish projects downstairs.  Our projects/updates are starting to inch their way upstairs.  Looking back at the "before" pictures was also a great reminder for me to see how great of a blank slate we had to work with.  We loved this house the second we walked into it and we knew that even though some of the things inside it might not be our style, things were in functioning condition.  So we've been comfortable as we keep loving on the house and making it our dream home.

Wow! Anyone make it through that? What do you think? Any tips?

Ostlers in Oahu

You read that right!  Christmas this year was unbelievable!

About a year ago, Annie and Victor moved to Okinawa, Japan.  We quickly realized how far away that is and so we all comprised and agreed that we would meet in the middle for Christmas.  As luck would have it, Hawaii was about halfway from Japan and UT/AZ.  Rough, right?  Through a lot of planning and saving, it actually happened!

Melanie and Will flew to Arizona on the Saturday before Christmas which was so fun to have them here.  Then on Christmas Eve, we all flew out together to Honolulu for our first official Mele Kalikimaka!  It was very nice having Will & Mel with us on the long flights helping out with our well traveled toddler.  Christmas Eve we had a great dinner at the hotel with everybody except our missionary sister, Camille.  Michael and I also got to talk to his missionary brother in the Philippines.  It was great to see him happy and safe since he was serving in the hardest hit area, Tacloban.  We also had our traditional (with a twist) family night where we read the incredible accounts of the Savior's birth in the scriptures together as a family.  Laila didn't make it to this part of the night.  She practically fell asleep mid-wave at dinner due to the time difference.

We thought we would miss having a White Christmas, but I have to say, it was a pretty good trade.  We walked the two blocks to the beach Christmas day except for when we rushed to the hotel so that we could enjoy skyping with Camille in Guatemala.  She's amazing -by the way.

The rest of the week we bounced around different beaches, went to the Laie Temple, Pearl Harbor, North Shore, the Polynesian Cultural Center, "Saving Mr. Banks," church, the Pineapple Plantation, and Waimea Falls.  Melanie, Michael, and Victor went Sky Diving!  It was a fully packed week in paradise!

Most of the week we stayed in beautiful ocean view rooms at the Hilton on Waikiki Beach.  For two nights some of stayed at the JW Marriott on the other side of Honolulu next to the Disney Resort on a quiet cove.  We got upgraded to an amazingly HUGE suite with an incredible view.  It was fun to have access to some fun beach toys like a kayak and beach chairs.  Laila loved every second of beach time.  She loved burying herself in the sand and she loved jumping in waves. She was pretty dang adorable and such a trooper all week!

 ^My Aoteoroa Man.  I've got to get him to New Zealand!

 ^My cute parents going for a kayak ride

Our red eye flight home made leaving that much more awful.  Laila slept for the first few hours but when she couldn't wiggle around and stretch out, she woke up and was complacent with watching "shows" while her mom and dad slept off and on.  This is how she was most of the flight: (The diaper on top helped her fit into the headphones. ha!) 

As we were landing, Laila crashed and soon after we all slept until noon! We were exhausted!

Being in Hawaii feels like a dream now.  We loved that we were able to go and spend some much needed time with family.  We are extremely blessed to be a part of the Ostler family! So many great memories!