Living Room Remodel

Ray and I have been working on our living room all summer. Ray spent many hours repairing a ton of cracks in our walls and ceilings. That was, by far, the most time-intensive part of this project. My mom helped out a lot once we got to the painting stage. We have a huge living room, so we went through a lot of paint!

The living room is more or less done now (I just have a grate and some shelves to paint, yet... and pictures to decide on and put up). I figured it's time for some before-and-after pictures!!!

Before:

My mom came up with the idea to do an accent wall, and after going back and forth on it for awhile, Ray and I decided to go ahead with the idea and make these two walls the "accent" walls.



We have "blonde" woodwork that definitely has a yellow tone to it. The walls AND the carpet in the living room also had a yellow tone, so everything just kind of washed out. On top of that, the carpet was worn and the padding underneath was almost non-existent. It was time for an update!


After:

We love how the accent walls turned out! As an added plus, our tv is here, so it makes for a good dark movie-watching background. I still have to find something really cool to put on the wall over the fireplace. Ideas, anyone???


The new color in the living room is a very light gray, with the carpet also having a light gray tint. This really dresses up the woodwork! The room looks a lot more elegant, and the carpet actually has padding under it!

Ray and I are both very happy with how the living room turned out, and even happier that it's over!!! We don't plan on repainting this monstrous room again for a long time :) Ray is especially excited to get back to the bathroom project I dragged him away from. It's quite awhile off yet, but those before-and-after pictures will be really awesome!

Orthodontic Update September 2008

The Hyrax came out last Wednesday and top braces went in! The top braces made my mouth a lot more sore than anything else has so far. Hopefully it won't be this bad every time they get adjusted. Today was the first day I could eat normal food without wincing in pain.

My next appointment isn't for two whole months. That surprised me. I guess things are going to go more slowly now that the braces are on. Bummer.

I asked my orthodontist for an update on the likely-hood of surgery. He said he wouldn't know anything more until next year at this time. Grrrr! I hate not knowing! *sigh* I guess the Lord needs to teach me patience somehow. ;)

A New Jochman

Welcome to the family, Liz!

My little brother, Neil, got married on Saturday, August 23rd. I don't have any of the professional photos yet, so the candid above will have to do! It was taken in the limo, which the wedding party took to the photo shoot and then to the reception hall.

It was a fun, busy weekend! I took a half-day on Friday and got a pedicure with Liz, my mom, Liz's mom, and the bridesmaids. There was a quick rehearsal at 5:30 and then we all spent the evening out at my parents' place. Very fun. :)

The ceremony wasn't until 3:30 on Saturday, so I didn't need to get my hair done until 11am and then I got to go home until 2! That was pretty sweet. The ceremony was really neat - Neil and Liz wrote their own vows. Then, they did their signature "high five" before kissing when the pastor said, "You may kiss the bride". Those two are hilarious!

Ray and I had to do a dance for the grand march that we were pretty nervous about. We practiced a cha-cha on Friday night and it went over pretty well on Saturday. We also did some swing dancing and decided that we need to take more ballroom dancing lessons!

And now we have a new Jochman, and a cute, funny one at that! :)

ps- Here's something interesting I realized recently. Three Jochman kids are now married. All three of us have married a middle child that has one older sibling and one younger sibling. Weird, huh?!?

I'm An Aunt!!!

Malia Jane McKnight was born on Saturday, August 2nd, at about 3:20pm. She weighed 7 pounds, six ounces at birth. She's tiny and absolutely adorable, but she has really long feet! She definitely doesn't take after her Aunt Becky in that department. ;)

Malia with her mom, Julie.

Malia with her Uncle Ray.

Malia's Almost Here!

Way back in March, I mentioned that Ray's sister, Julie, was going to have a baby. Well, she's almost here! The baby's name is going to be Malia Jane McKnight and she is due on August 7th.

Ray's family had a baby shower/picnic for Julie and Duke last weekend. At that time, Julie had just had a doctor's appointment and found out that Malia was breach. Not good. Well, Julie had an ultrasound yesterday to check on Malia and she's back to the correct position! I'm thrilled for Julie as a breach baby makes for some difficult decisions for Mommy.

I'm really excited to meet Malia. I am sooo looking forward to being an aunt!

Orthodontic Update July 2008

I went in for my first braces-tightening today. My teeth are a bit sore! Dr. Olsen checked out the Hyrax and said that it gets to come out next time!!! Yes! I hate that thing.

My next appointment is August 27th. I will be getting the Hyrax out, but a bar will be going across the top of my mouth in it's place. I'm not really excited about that, but at least I'll be rid of the Hyrax. I will also be getting braces on my top teeth at that appointment! We're moving right along. :)

We Made It!

On Tuesday, Ray and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary! I can't believe it's been a whole year; the time has just flown by. It's been an awesome year :)

Ray and I both took the day off of work to celebrate our anniversary (Ray had the whole week off, actually). We slept in, and then spent the morning doing yard work. We took a bike ride to a local park for a picnic lunch. Our picnic spot was under a couple of willow trees on the edge of the river. Very romantic :)

We took a nap in the afternoon and went for a nice, relaxing walk after dinner. It was a very enjoyable day!

Oh, yeah, can't forget the cake. It was actually pretty good! The outside was a little dry, but the inside was moist and delicious. Nummy!

Another highlight of the day was the adorable card Ray made for me. He spent a couple of hours on Monday taking pictures of the cats (the cats were less than thrilled!), photo-shopping them, and working on the poem. Don't I have the most amazing husband?!