Utah Fun

Some of the things we did visiting the ol' Fam...

Steve and the kids at Snow Basin on the gondola...

"Oh yeah, this is fun. There is no use for these where I come from..."

Swimming at Wolf Creek

Gotta do the Imax, right?

Dinosaur Park, all the cousins that don't think that the Dino park is boring...
My little bam bam...
"It's hot..."Sleepin on the plane:

Our Utah Trip

What fun times we had. I haven't been back to the Beehive state to visit since Amber's wedding 4 years ago. We must get back more often. It was fun to see everyone and catch up. I think the biggest shock to me were my baby cousins. HELLO! Austin had to stand there for a few minutes and finally speak up because I didn't even recognize him. They are 2 big men. Andrew's playing football for BYU this year, so keep your eye out, #22~

The whole Fam: Candice, Steve, Brian (my moms husband), Austin, Mom, Grandpa Dan, Grandma Alice, Bob, Jenni, Andrew, Amber, CT, Jodi, Mike, Jenni, Matt, Addison, Michaela, Megan, Alec, Braxton, Dylan, Lexi, Cori, and Nathan)

Amber and Addison

Me and my baby cousin Austin and Andrew...
Big Macho Men...(Steve, Austin, Andrew, Bob, and CT)
Playing Football
Jo and her new fiance Mike..

My Big Summer Job

So this summer I took on the Residence office at Monterey Ranch. This is a job that has been in the works for several months and I was just waiting to get approval on budget and design. I had a $22,000 budget to buy new furniture, paint, decorate, and do new flooring throughout. This may sound like a lot, but actually for an office this size, that goes quick. I did a lot of painting this summer, but this was my only decorating job. It was a lot of fun and Archstone seemed to be happy with it. I may be going to Houston to do some other office down there.

I am still waiting on a vendor to refinish the cabinets to match the new hardwoods, but I couldn't wait any longer to post these pictures. I had done a few things to the office, like the brown walls with artwork earlier in the year. There used to be some really wonderful farm pictures there before I got to those walls. Don't have the before pics on that though, but take my word, it was pretty bad. Infact, I believe that someone got some "antler candlesticks" at the Hackings Christmas party as our white elephant gift. Hope you are enjoying those :)...

Front Office Before:

Front Office After:

All the flooring was changed from an office burber to hardwoods. So area rugs had to be purchased, but it really flows a lot better in there. My favorite piece that I did keep in this remodel was the sofa table that you see above, but don't think that I didn't try and find a place for that in my house! I got rid of those old nasty ficus tress and put up "store purchased" drapery instead. Gotta stay in budget! Also the fans were replaced, that made a huge difference. Barstools were removed because no one ever sat on them and they just took up space.

Kitchen View Before:

Kitchen View After:

The ficus tress were replaced with large clean lined topiary's. They are not cheap, but I love them so much. Infact they were at my house for a couple weeks before they made it to the office and I had a hard time parting with them. The cabinets are still not refinished, Ugh! But they will be, and that will be huge. I wanted to get rid of that post there in the kitchen completely, but we couldn't fit it in budget. I did lighten the paint though to my favorite Oyster Bay and it made it look a little brighter and bigger in there.

Before (Fireplace close up) After Fireplace:

Office Before:

Office After

The function of this office has been changed from a "leasing office" to a residence office. There is no longer a need for lots of seating in here anymore. We got rid of the table and I used an old table that they had in storage that matched the sofa table that we kept. I am waiting on a new table top, but for now this is working. Very clean and serves its purpose.

Large Entry Desk Before:

Large Entry Desk After:
There was a couple things that I really wanted to focus on that I was unable to because of budget restraints, but I did what I could. We kept the lighting and just changed it up by taking the shades off. They were old and dusty and actually the bones of this fixture were pretty good. I also painted all the ceiling blocks with the Oyster Bay color. This wasn't as effective as I had hoped it would be because the light reflected off and unless you knew to look for it, you wouldn't really notice. But the biggest change of all - the handicapped bar. Holy Brass, has to go right?

Associate Desks Before:

Associate Desk After: This was basically the same. I just made flower arrangements for each desk and bought new lamps. I also took the old chairs that were in the leasing office and recovered them. They has an awesome finish on them and I didn't want for them to go to waste. Much better than those Star chairs. That was a big designer no no.

Womans Bathroom Before:

Womans Bathroom After:
Before:

After:

It was important that these bathroom still stay very functional and simple. I had the borders removed (cuz I am done with that show) and I painted these in Oyster Bay again. I also removed those huge ugly mirrors and added new light sconces and fixtures. Mucho better. But I think that the biggest change of all was the slate flooring. There was some horrible looking vinyl in there before. These cleaned up the whole thing. The curtains under the vanity were also replaced. Now people can pee and realize the beauty of Archstone.

Mens Bathroom Before:

Men's Bathroom After.
Mens Bathroom Before:
And After:

Away at the Oasis

So everyone that comes to Austin has to go to the Oasis, right? It overlooks the lake and its beauty. Food pretty much sucks, but it is so fun to go. I recommend just ordering an appetizer and the key lime pie.

We had fun. Steve found a mermaid to Grope, so I was pretty much off the hook all during dinner, which is rare. The kids got to sit in a space ship too. What a party.

I have picture taking skills...

And there she is...

Not as hot as the mermaid, but I can move...sometimes you just have to settle.

Prince and his princesses in their space ship...

Take off