Backsplash and prepping floor

Bryan is taking Thursday and Friday off this week so we can get things done in the basement.  I started working on the backsplash to the 2 vanity sinks. I was having a rough time but Bryan got home and helped out.  We got it taken care of.  The tile is the same accent tile we used in the shower.

Bryan worked on getting the floor cleaned so we could lay the flooring down while I pulled up the little landing of carpet below the stairs.  They had nailed it to the cement so there was a lot to pull up and clean.  We are hoping to get the flooring laid over the next couple of days while Bryan is home from work.

Mini-golfing

Courtney's favorite thing to do is play mini-golf.  Since it's Spring Break, we decided to do something fun with her.  We went to dinner and then to Fiesta Fun (where Ethan worked one summer) to play golf.  It's been a while since we were there and they had a second mini-golf course.  Most people were on the new course so we went on the old one.  They had made a few changes to it and it was fun.

Courtney and I aren't very good at golfing.  Bryan, luckily, has a lot of patience and is happy to help us figure out what we are doing.  He even let us redo the first hole when we lost count after 8 strokes. We had a great time and the weather was beautiful.  There weren't too many people either so it was a fun night playing together.

Grumpy Courtney

It is Spring Break but Courtney still got up to talk to Ethan when he called on Tuesday morning.  She was pretty tired when she came out.  Ethan likes to take screen shots of Courtney when she is being silly or tired.  He sent these to us.  Even being a state away, Ethan still has the gift for teasing Courtney.  You can tell how much he is enjoying teasing her by the smile on his face.

Plumbing is done!

The plumbers came to finish the hook up for us.  I was so excited.  We had finished installing the vanities over the weekend so we were ready for them to come in.  They put in the shower kit, the faucets, and the toilet.  They also did the initial hook up for the kitchenette sink and the washer/dryer.  We haven't finished those things yet but they are preliminarily hooked up.

Here is the sink.

They used a really stinky glue and Courtney was not impressed with the smell.

You can see the shower (nothing too fancy).

An oval toilet, at Courtney's request.

Things are moving along in the basement!

Just another beautiful day

 Another view of the beautiful Red Mountain in Ivins.

We hung a door!

Months ago I went to HomeDepot to find out prices for doors.  They told me that the doors were one price and another price if we wanted the installed.  It wasn't much more so we figured we could have them install the doors and save ourselves some work.  I went today to order the doors and was told that the second price doesn't include the doors.  So there is one price for the doors and another price (that is about 1 1/2 times the price of the door) for installation.  That was going to be way too much money.

We had one door with the frame in the basement so Bryan and I decided to see how hard it would be to hang the door.  He watched a bunch of youtube videos (that's been a life saver through this process) and then we were ready.  We decided to hang the old door in the exercise room.  After a few adjustments and some trial and error, we hung the door and it works great.

We now feel comfortable with hanging all the other doors in the basement when it comes time to do them.  No, the door will not remain this color.  We will be painting it but we will do them all at once.

Tiling the bathroom floor

We tiled the bathroom floor in the basement! We laid the tile out to see the pattern and figure out where cuts needed to be made (luckily, the room with the vanities was perfect so we just had to cut tiles in half to make the pattern work). Then I spent one day laying half of them and Bryan and I spent another day laying the rest.  It turned out really well.

I then spent another day grouting the tiles.  It turned out really well and I am proud of us!

We are going to put carpeting in the bedrooms and wood laminate flooring on the rest of the floors.  Courtney decided to draw on the floors before we put them down.  She designed and worked on something in her bedroom floor.  We think it will be fun to for someone to find a drawing if they ever change the carpet out.

She planned it, drew it, and then started painting it in.  What a fun idea!

The middle will have the word "Courtania" in it.  That's the name of the country Courtney invented when she was little.  She printed money and everything.  It was fun!