Remodeling Progress

We have slowly been able to put our home back together after Scott's floor demolishing party last week (this party I speak of included . . . just him). Let me start from the last place we left off.

Scott finished taking the tile out of the entry and the guest bathroom. The nightmare wasn't in taking the tile out, but in chiseling off the thin set from the concrete floor. Yes, that is the toilet in the shower behind Scott.

This is me attempting to scrape up the rest of the carpet pad that was glued down to the floor. Apparently I didn't do a good enough job, so when Scott's parents got here on Monday, Gail got down on her hands and knees and redid what I tried to do. It looked much better when she was finished. (Pardon the scandalous tank top.)

Scott's dad, Dennis, spread this bubblegum-pink stuff on our floor that's supposed to keep the tile from cracking with the foundation as the house settles. It dried a rancid red . . . Pretty.

These are the tools that we used to get the thin set off. There were four of us working on it (Gail, our friends Tiffani and Andrew Morgan, and me) for a total of about three hours (That doesn't include the time that Gail and I worked on it earlier). We still didn't finish after all that time, and it wasn't even a very big space. Gail hit her hand so many times with the hammer that it was swollen and black and blue. She's such a trooper!

After the above mentioned amount of time we spent getting the thin set up, our neighbor from two doors down came by with this tool. He plugged it in, and within five minutes, the thin set in the entry was all up. We were shocked, wanting to cry in pain at having spent so much time at a task that ended up being pointless, as well as for joy at not having to chisel away chunks of mud from the floor anymore.

Andrew, Tiffani, and Scott taking turns with the relief party

Laying tile in the living room.

Laying tile in the dining room. The rag is hanging from the chandelier, so they won't stand up underneath it and hit their heads.

The living room: All that's left are the edges of the room. Dennis has to do all the cuts for that while Scott lays the tile.

The hallway and dining room.

The entryway - connected to the dining room.

Gail sweeping so Scott can lay tile. She's such a hard worker and always has a smile on her face.

Dennis cutting tile. Cool apron, huh? It's a trash bag that keeps the water from the tile saw off of him. It looks like an obscure kilt.

Wakeboarding

Earlier today, my brother Brad came up to Folsom Lake to take a youth group out on his boat. He arrived a few hours before any of the kids or other leaders got there, so he invited Scott and me to go wakeboarding with him. Note: I haven't been wakeboarding in eight years. This is partly from not having many opportunities, but mostly from a hurt back.

Scott getting ready to get in the water. He came straight from work, so he was pretty tired. It's so nice that he has the type of job where he can go out on the boat on a Friday morning.

My brother, Brad

No jumping for me. I was just glad to get up. I'm actually surprised there are any pictures of me standing, since I was in the water most of the time. I could only get up with my left foot leading, but once I was up, I wanted the right foot in front. It was confusing trying to sort out my ambi-foot thing. One time after falling, I got stuck on my stomach and couldn't flip the board over. I felt like a crab when it's stuck on its back. I was laughing so hard and trying desperately to keep my head above the water so I didn't drown. I looked like a complete idiot . . . but a funny one.

The water, by the way, was so warm! The thermometer on the boat said it was 80 degrees both in the water and outside.

Scott attempting to barefoot-ski. It's been a long time since he's tried.

This is Scott after he failed at barefoot-skiing. You can somewhat see his feet through the spray, and his sandals are flying in the air. He did a full flip before landing in the water.

Let the Games Begin

Not many people buy a brand new home and then tear it apart a few months later for remodeling. Now that we've redone the counters and backsplash in our kitchen, we're moving on to the floors. We're taking out the carpet downstairs (except for in the family room) and are tiling the entry, living room, and guest bathroom to match the kitchen floor. We were really lucky that the place where our original tile is from still had enough left over from the same batch. Scott, his dad, and possibly a few extra friends will be tiling about 550 square feet of flooring. Needless to say, our home is a mess.

Our entry way: We also have to take out the tile that's right in front of the front door, as well as in the guest bathroom right off the entry, so that the tile running away from the kitchen will match up with it. That will be a day long project by itself.



Our formal room

Wish us luck!

Mommy-Daughter Trip

It has been six years since the last Carter-Edgren mommy-daughter trip. The last two days, we finally had another one. The trip started out with Caitlin, Kathy, and my mom coming up to visit me at my new home. My cousin Dani and her husband Paul also came up for a few hours. All of us went to Pei Wei for lunch before Dani and Paul had to take off.

From there, the Carter/Wilson and Edgren/Perryman girls ran a few errands and then ate at BJ's for an early dinner before taking off to San Francisco. (We first discovered BJ's on our last mommy-daughter trip to Maui.)

Sidenote: I have been telling Scott about BJ's pizzeria since we've been married (almost three years). I kept telling him that if we ever went to Maui, we had to stop at BJ's for dinner because they have the best pizza and dessert (pizookies). . . . Now, Scott and I have lived in Roseville for just over a year, with me always telling him about BJ's in Lahaina. Little did I realize that the BJ's brewery we have driven past countless times since we've lived here was the same BJ's I've been raving about. How did I go for so long without making the connection between the two restaurants? I've been a fool.

Yummmm . . . Pizookie

Anyway. When the moms and daughters got to San Fran, we stayed at Roger and Kathy's home and stayed up late watching the Keira Knightley "Pride and Prejudice" while Roger served us coconut and raspberry sorbet. He was such a good sport.

Just like the old days . . . cheesy poses and sleeping in the same bed. We stayed up for hours talking and trying to remember how to do old dance moves.

Yesterday morning, we woke up and went to Mama's for breakfast. I am not much of a breakfast person, but I am still craving their food almost two weeks later. It is the best breakfast I've ever had. People wait in line outside just to get in the restaurant where they have to wait in line again to order food.

This picture isn't from when we were there. I just wanted you to see the line for people to get inside. It's like Disneyland, only smaller.

We then went to Union Square to get makeovers at Bare Escentuals and to shop. Looking at this picutre, I can't believe how much Cait and I both look like our moms.

While driving back to Kathy and Roger's from Union Square, I decided, with encouragement from the other girls, to get my hair cut. (I'd already been thinking about cutting my hair shorter for about 6 months, but kept it long because Scott liked it that way.) We pulled over on the side of the road at two different salons while Cait jumped out of the car to see if they had any openings for a walk-in. We had success at the second salon.

Katie, the hair stylist, cut off a good six inches.

From there, we met up with our dad's for dinner at Garibaldi's: another great restaurant.
After dinner, we (the girls) went to see Jersey Boys. It was so much fun, and it felt like we were at an actual Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons concert.

It was great to spend time with my mom, Kathy, and Cait for two days. I can't wait until our next trip, but that time we may have to bring our husbands. I'm thinking Mexico.

Why did the chicken sit on the pea?Te-hach-a-pi!

Scott hadn't been back to his booming hometown of Tehachapi in about a year, so this last four-day, we decided to go visit. Monday night, we went to the newest restaurant in town, called "Que Pasa," and then went back to his parent's home to watch "The Scarlet Pimpernel" (a great movie). The next morning, Scott woke up early to go squirrel hunting with his dad. We then went to see "The Bourne Ultimatum." The movie was really fast paced, and I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack during the car chase (I had to look away or peek through my fingers, so that I didn't get overexposed to too many visuals on the screen. I also plugged my ears a few times because the noise of crashing cars freaked me out for some reason. I was surprised that I responded like that during the car chase because I love action-packed "on the edge of your seat" types of movies.)

Anyway, back to Tehachapi . . . Scott and I just spent the majority of our trip relaxing and enjoying a break from reality back in Sacramento. It was also good to go visit some friends like the Gambels and the Smiths. (Mandi Smith was my roommate at BYU who made it possible for Scott and me to meet.) I'm so glad that Scott and I were able to visit his home. We had such an amazing time.

This is Scott with his grandma and dad (I'm pretty interested in family history right now, so I wanted to get a picture of the 3 generations . . . we're just waiting and hoping for the time when we can add a fourth in the picture.)

Being happy in Tehachapi.
Visit with the Smiths. Mandi and Chris have a really cute little girl named Peyton who was already asleep when we took the picture. Mandi's dad is holding Chris' and her two dogs. They are so little. The one without the scary eyes is extra small and can't even begin to jump on their couch. Her paws barely even touch the cushions . . . it's pretty pathetic, but cute.Just before leaving. We set the camera up on a nifty tripod and put the timer on for the picture. Pretty good, huh? I just wanted everyone to see that Tehachapi really is a beautiful place, even though it's generally associated with Bakersfield in its location.

Very close to the worst day of my life!, by Scott

Oh what a night . . . I was so excited because I was doing my first paid DJ gig in Danville: Justin Howard and Julia Draper Wedding. I set up my equipment early at Liz's house to make sure that it worked since it had been a while since I used it, and to my delight, it all worked. I took my equipment over to the reception hall earlier than normal, so that I could set everything up and still have time to hang out with Liz for about an hour before the party started. While setting up, my equipment decided not to work anymore. I was checking things over and over to make sure that I did not mess up any of my connections and thought that maybe my amp was bad. I quickly borrowed one from Liz's brother, Brad, hoping that would solve the problem, but to no avail. I was supposed to have about two hours of down time before the wedding, but now I was starting to panic because I had one hour left and nothing was working. Thoughts about ruining the wedding raced through my head. Thirty minutes left until the start and I was running around trying to find a new mixer (the brains of the equipment) when Liz's dad got a hold of Dave Bromley, a master with this type of equipment. Fifteen minutes until the party was supposed to start, and the equipment still wasn't hooked up, and I was only partly dressed. The whole wedding party was there and some guests were starting to show up. Well God answered my several hundred prayers because Dave showed up with the spare mixer and helped me hook it up. I started playing music at 6:32 while I dressed on the stage behind my equipment and shaved and did my best to look the part. Well the guests and family had no idea that there had been a problem. They all said that i did a great job, so that was encouraging.
Well now you know why I am bald. I don't ever remember being so scared. Those close to me saved me from going into a mental breakdown, and yes I lost it. Thanks goes out to all those angels that helped me.

Dave Bromley to the rescue.

Changing behind my equipment while guests were greeting the lucky couple.

Bev, Kathy, and Martha enjoying the party and each other's company.
The bride and groom.

Cleaning up after the party.