The LONG awaited update!! :)

Way to go Heidi!!!

Young Women Cake Decorating Night... This was just the beginning of the whole frosting filled event! We have so much fun, these girls are the greatest.

Fun new haircut :)

On to the KICHEN!

Here are the before and almost after pics.

In March Shawn got electricuted changing out our front room outlets.... We DID turn off the power in that room but apparently one wall was on a different circuit. It was horrible but since the cut was from the electricity it healed quite well without stitches even though it was to the bone!

Goblin Valley, Utah

Memorial Weekend 2009

with Yates extended family

You can do it Alyssa!

It rained, and rained, and rained!

Alyssa and Makenna with Lizzy the lizzard

It's FINISHED!!!!

Shawn's Fabulous Family

Shawn's Flickr Page

Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/drawntoconclusion/

We're going to paint our kitchen and Shawn loves playing with his camera... just another evening at the Yates' !

(This may have been hillarious to Shawn and I only because it was about midnight, but you might get a chuckle out of it too.) :)

The Low Down

Howdy hey everyone! :) I thought it'd be fun to post a quick update on our front room project. It's actually been at this point for a couple of months now and I wasn't going to post until we finally got the lower cabinet doors on... but here it is.

BEFORE

AFTER (almost done)

Pretty fun!

Shawn changed jobs and is now enjoying a LOVELY 40 mile commute (one-way) each day to Spanish Fork. He is tired by the time he makes the drive home, but is absolutely happy with his boss and co-workers and just his overall job of being a data and financial analyst at Provo Craft. I have to give him a hard time sometimes because he never was one to understand the purpose of scrapbooking. In fact he's told me before, "It makes no sense to spend money on 'scraps' why don't you just go out in the garage and use all those scraps out there." He admits now that he's embarassed to know so much about scrapbooking and all the tools, papers, and embellishments. It's pretty darn cute. :)

My work has picked up a lot lately and I'm so glad. It was really slow for a while there and I'm glad to be gaining some new great clients. It is so gratifying for me to pull spaces together that people can truely enjoy living in every day.

Best of all... I got to go visit my fabulous sister Stacy and her family in Texas!! She had a baby girl (Liberty) on Dec 22nd and she was so darn precious. Her other kids just keep growing too, Christsia is now 5, Jack is 4, and Stephen is 3. All of them are way too loveable and huggable and kissable to be living so very far away. :( Mike, Stacy and I also got to play some fun new games like Acquire and almost a full game of Cash Flow (that's a whole other story). I miss them terribly and treasure the fun we had just being together.

Jack and ChristsiaStephen

oooooh!

Waffle House... YUM!

So Sweet.

It's so funny, these guys do every thing on the counter, their favorite is puzzles.

Lastly, I must mention my little sis. She is so great. I was in Tooele one day and was about to make myself some lunch when she offered to fix me something. I quickly agreed and she whipped up a marvelous chicken alfredo dish right there on the spot!!

And yes, it was simply delicious. Thanks Heidi.

House and such

Oh yeah, I'm updating our blog. :) I'm excited to show you what more we've done to our front room, slow and steady wins the race!

Yes indeed, we dyed our maroon leather sofas.... twice! The first attempt ennded up looking more like a brown you'd find in a baby diaper. We then ordered a more deep chocolate brown for the desired aesthetic. What a process! The last step is to condition the leather, then I'll post the finished pictures.

Another big project was replacing all of our inefficient aluminum single payne windows. That, too, was quite a process especially since I was in the middle of being super sick and in bed (thank goodness for antibiotics!).

I still need to get the "after" shots from inside, but we need to paint the new sills first.

And then we have the drapes... aren't they fabulous! :)

Pictures of the pillows I'm making will come soon too. Enjoy!

Shawn and I just returned from an exihllerating trip to Yellowstone with my family. We saw a ton of wild animals and had some great laughes with each other. Here's a glance:

13 people in a 15 passenger van for many, many hours.




What does that sign say??
Shawn and my dad... Look at those grins!



In and out, in and out, in and out.


Good 'Ole Faithful

Look! A Julie Tree.... What a rare and beautiful find indeed!

In front of the Tetons.