Home Improvements, Stage 2, Part B

As promised earlier, here are a few "AFTER" shots of our latest painting projects and the new furniture in our Living and Family Rooms. (Note to self: Work on taking straight panoramic pictures!!!)

Cam really wanted a "Patriotic" room in our house and since he was being so nice and letting me pick everything else, I figured I could give in just this once. So, we painted a GIANT wall in the Living Room dark blue! We framed copies of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the famous painting of Washington crossing the Delaware. We will soon be adding an ADA-commissioned print, photos of the military men (past and present) in our families and other red/white/blue accessories as we find them. We also need to find a coffee table, end tables and bookshelves to fully complete this room. Until then, here is our partially decorated Living Room:

Panorama view of 1/2 of the Living Room
(No, the beam is not crooked, the panorama is ...)

Walkway into the Kitchen/Dining Room from Living Room

We decided to stay more neutral with the Family Room, Dining Room and Kitchen. Since these 3 rooms all flow into one another, we chose to use a dark gray-brown accent color in the Kitchen and fireplace wall of the Family Room. We also liked the light brown color we used in the Living Room so much we continued it in the other 3 rooms of the downstairs. We busted butt on Saturday to complete the Family Room, Dining Room and Kitchen.

Family Room with new comfy couch

Dining Room
(Please excuse the mess on the table. The Kitchen still needs a few touch-ups done!)

*Almost* Finished Kitchen!

Now we just need to finish the 1/2 bath and hallways for downstairs to be complete!

Easter Adventures

To celebrate Easter 2010, we invited our very good friends, Jason and Charla Welch, over for a little egg-dying fun. Charla and I had found a Camo dye kit and decided that our Army boys needed to try it out!

Unfortunately, the kit was a big disappointment. The colors were not very colorful, the stickers that were supposed to be used did not stick very well, and to achieve a desired look almost all the camo stickers were required. Oh well! I think we all had fun ... and had some yummy hard-boiled eggs to enjoy afterward.

The egg dying gang

Concentration required!!!

Cam's one camo egg

Jason's camo egg progression
(R to L: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly)

The Smiths' contributions

As for actual Easter, Cam and I attended a local Lutheran church that we found a few weeks ago. (While it's not perfect, it might just have to do until we decide we want to keep looking at other local churches.) We were dressed in our Sunday best ... including Cam looking very handsome in his Army Dress Blues. Unfortunately, we were in such a rush to get changed so that Athena couldn't: 1) get Cam's uniform dirty and 2) snag my nylons that we forgot that we were going to take pictures of us all snazzed up ... so please enjoy this artist rendering!

Artist Rendering:
Sunday Best

We were invited to join Susan, our realtor, and her husband and friends for Easter dinner. The food was delicious and we got to meet a few more new Army people that have moved to the El Paso area. It was a great way to cap off the day.

We hope that you enjoyed your Easter and were able to get together with friends, family and loved ones to celebrate this joyful time. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!!!

Home Improvements, Stage 2

So much for our original plan of tackling the small home improvement and beautification projects first...

We finally received our tax return (with our $8,000 first-time home buyer credit!!!) and immediately headed to the furniture stores! After traipsing through at least fifteen different stores one Sunday afternoon, we determined that the first store had the two couches we wanted most. (Murphy's Law, of course!) We then decided to focus our painting energies on finishing the downstairs Living and Family Rooms before the new couches arrived and tackle the remainder of the upstairs at a later time.

Prior to our shopping spree, however, we did manage to finish painting the upstairs guest bedroom. We chose to do one wall a slightly darker color so as to have an "accent" wall. Both colors are in the same family of sage greens as our guest bathroom.

Painting the Accent Wall

We (really, Cam) took on the Living Room first. He patched holes, removed baseboard trim (and ALL the caulk from the trim), scraped popcorn texture from the underside of beams, taped, prepped etc. I just showed up for the fun painting part! :)

Taping off

The Living Room proved to be a little tricky as it has two two-story walls that required the purchase of TWO new extension ladders and thankfully Cam has no aversion to heights!!!

2-story walls are a PAIN!
(And yes, he's standing on the support beam ... halfway up the wall)

Safe and sound on the ground!

Once our furniture has arrived and everything is decorated, we'll post the "After" photos. Until then, hope you enjoyed the "During" photos!

P.S.
Athena helped in all of this process too ... by staying out of the way in "Puppy Jail". She was blocked from entering the living room as we painted, so she watched from between the stair railings.

Bataan Memorial Death March 2010

The Bataan Memorial Death March is an annual event held at the White Sands Missile Range, NM to commemorate the 60-mile forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war by the Japanese in 1942. At least 6,000 of these men died or were killed on the march. The Memorial March is a 26.2 mile course that traverses paved roads, sandy paths and desert terrain over hills and valleys.

The 2010 march drew 5,704 civilian and military participants from all 50 states, at least 4 of the armed services, and 5 countries, including more than two dozen Wounded Warriors (amputees from Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam.) There were several categories to choose from, but Cam and his friend, Jason, chose the Military Individual Heavy category. This meant they were required to be in full service uniform (ACUs) and carry a 35lb rucksack (not including their own water supply.) Cam and Jason trained together several weekends a month by rucking trails around town and tackling the Transmountain Pass.

The day began at 2:45AM and saw all four of us (Cam, me, Jason, and Jason's wife, Charla) at the Missile Range in time for the Marchers continental breakfast at 4:30AM. It was a brisk 24 degrees and breakfast was scarffed down in the truck with heaters at full blast! After a pretty painful Opening Ceremony (still @ 24 degrees), the sun began to rise, the boys grabbed their rucks and headed off into the desert.

For the next 9 hours, Charla and I entertained ourselves by: warming up with a lovely breakfast, gabbing non-stop in the truck, napping in the truck, and when it finally warmed up, talking a walking tour of the White Sands Missile Range. (We decided that if the boys do this next year, we'll see them off and then come home and wait it out!)

After a grueling day, Cam and Jason crossed the Finish Line together with an approximate time of 8hr 33mins. Their rucks were immediately weighed and found to be 55lb (Cam) and 50lbs (Jason). While these measurements did include their remaining water, both boys decided that they hedged their bets a little TOO much!

Following a quick bite on post, we headed home to long, hot showers, dinner, and finally collapsing in bed. Cam was a little sore, but his well-worn-in boots prevented any serious foot injuries. He was glad that he participated and happy he trained for it, through he swears that this was a ONCE IN A LIFETIME activity (at least the Heavy category)!

Freezing at the Opening Ceremony

Gearing Up

Start of the March

How Charla and I spent most of 9 hours

FINISH LINE!!!

Weighing Cam's Ruck = 55lbs (20lbs over required limit)

Lunch/Dinner after the March

Athena the Wonder Pup

Our little puppy is growing up so quickly! She's already doubled her height and now weighs at least 20 pounds. When Cam got home from being in the field for a week, he couldn't stop remarking about how big she's gotten. Since I see her all day long, I don't notice... until I have to pick her up to put her outside when she refuses to go.

Athena follows me everywhere and usually plants herself right at my feet, including under the table as I sew, at the edge of the kitchen when I cook (though I think this is because she's just waiting for me to drop food) and in the office as I blog! But every time I convince myself that she truly is "my" dog, she treats me like chopped liver as soon as Cam walks in the door. If he's been gone for a while, I'll also catch her whining at the door to the garage (where he comes in each night) or sleeping on his shoes...she must miss the big guy. :(

Chillin' in the office while I blog

Thankfully, potty training went relatively quickly. Athena was very eager to please and didn't like to get in trouble when she had an accident, so she learned to alert us by barking/whining at the back door. After weeks of success, the only accidents have occurred when she's really excited to play and forgets that she has to go.

Athena also enjoys her two daily walks. We take different routes each time which allows for all kinds of new smells and terrain to experience! I think she needs the exercise too, because if we miss a walk, she tears around the house like a crazy dog right after dinner.

The newest experience for the Wonder Pup has been learning to traverse the stairs. We tried for weeks to try to teach her how to climb up and down, even breaking down to placing treats on every stair, but she just wasn't interested. Suddenly, one afternoon I couldn't find her downstairs anywhere. Then I heard her knock something over in our bedroom and went to find her in the midst of Cam's field gear. Since then, we've learned to keep the upstairs' doors closed as she's snuck away with rolled up socks or fabric/paper from the office.

Finally, our smart little Athena has learned two new tricks/commands. She's very good at "Sit" and understands "Outside" and "Kennel", though she doesn't always want to obey. Her latest accomplishments include "Shake" and "Down". Cam hopes that some day Athena will be able to master "Roll Over" and "Play Dead".