Sunday, October 21, 2012

Rio's 1st Birthday Party

September 23, 2012


Rio and Miss Morgan 

 Rio and Miss Kylen

 Rio and his MomG

 Jen, Ryan and Ky

 Rio and Matthew. Matthew is Jen and Ryan's boy who is always adorable with Rio. Ryan coaches with Gabe at the U. I am so sad I did not get any pictures with Mason (Matthew's brother) who is also super cute with Rio. They all play together at the U of U soccer games.



 Rio's favorite place at the little gym! Notice Ashton holding her earring... Rio yanked that thing off real good :)

 These two cannot get enough of each other.



 We got Rio and Parker's Birthday cake from City Cakes. They were able to make it Vegan and gluten free!

 The Aunts and Uncles were able to make it.



 Our dear friend Alexis and her kids, Eva, Will and Markus. 


 "The Fam"

 We had Parker over to take pics for the boy's invitations. Gabe took the pictures while I tried to distract Rio. Parker was so patient and acted like a sweet big brother while Rio kept climbing on him, trying to wrestle him, and relentlessly attempting to take Parker's ball. Gabe made them on Shutterfly. Great job babe! We actually did not end up using them as the Little Gym sent out their own invitations for the party. 


For Rio's 1st Birthday, we celebrated by having a birthday bash at the Little Gym where Rio goes for his weekly Bird class (they call his age group little birdies). Because Parker's b-day is a couple days before Rio, we decided to have the party together. It worked out extremely well. It was the perfect place as the little kids and big kids all had stuff to do- thankfully! There were a couple of instructors who played games with all the kids and made sure the big kids were careful and aware of the little ones. For some reason I was a bit nervous during the entire party and therefore my mind was not on top of snapping good photos. I wish I would have had all the kids get together for a group photo and an individual of Parker and Rio. Oh well... next year! You learn as you go, huh Court :) The party was on Saturday and Rio's Birthday was on Sunday. I will post Rio's stats and official b-day pics shortly.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Basement Rental

Basement is finally finished and ready to rent out!

 Separate Entrance. We will doll up the curb appeal next Spring.

 Backyard patio the tenant has access to. They will have their own little patio in the Spring when we have the funds to put up a fence with a gate. Will post pics of the patio shortly.

 Front door access. This is the living area. This is the wall we added with french doors. They can use this as a second bedroom or office. We did the french doors, so the tenant can use both rooms as a main living area if they want. We chose a light colored tile to mesh with the gorgeous wood panelling:/ It actually has grown on me!

 Second bedroom with a fake fireplace. Yes, the fireplace is just for show! It was sealed when we bought the house. We were thinking about putting an electric fireplace in there when we were ambitious in the beginning, but then the basement budget quickly caught us off guard and we decided to just leave it as is.

 Bedroom #1 with closet space

 The washer/dryer. The kitchen is huge so we put this in the corner. It worked out well.

 The bathroom has double sinks but only has a walk in shower with no tub. These mirrors were brown and in our main living bathroom and a room upstairs (random). We painted them white to match the trim and cabinets.

 Can you tell which cabinets are new :) We replaced old old metal cabinets and a rotten sink with these new ones. The countertop is new as well. We replaced all the handles too. 


A big must have for us when we were looking for homes in SLC was a basement that could be used as a mother-in-law apartment. The basement needed A TON of work but we were up for it or rather willing to spend the $ to get it ready :) We got all new flooring (had brown carpet), painted and touched up all the rooms, added a second bedroom/office, new cabinets and sink, new toilet (craigslist find for free), tiled kitchen counters and used tile as backsplash, added custom blinds, updated and grounded all the electrical outlets, new light fixtures in all the rooms, and plumbed for a washer/dryer for tenant. It took longer than expected but we have a renter now and get $695 monthly. The biggest lesson we learned during the remodeling process, is you always have to consider electrical, plumbing, and HVAC work may need to be done as well. I love this type of stuff and hope to become a landlord of many more properties. You cannot beat someone else paying your mortgages and having your money work for you instead of you always working for $! From the mouth of Scott McGillivray (Income Property).. "Taking checks to the bank!"

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Home Cooking

I am so thankful to be able to stay at home to take care of Rio. Some of our best days have been spent at home playing games and spending time in the yard.














The Little Gym






Every week Rio has his Little Gym Playgroup class. It is for infants/toddlers ages 10-19 months. He started about a month ago and loves every second of it. The instructor is amazing with the kids and although Rio is the youngest in the class, he enjoys trying to keep up with the older kids. Gabe and I are both able to do the class with him. A big part of the class is letting your child explore and basically let them do their own thing. A couple times we have tried to make him do certain things and he throws a little Rio tantrum... arches his back and makes this gnarly high pitch sound.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Hanging Out In the Front Yard

 Our little Man

 Our little Boy


 My Mini-me



 Our sweet and simple abode.

 One of our many neighborhood cats. Rio freaked out a bit when he first saw the cat. He was only a month old when Moose disappeared. With a little encouragement, he warmed up quickly. 

"Mom, are you done taking pictures yet?"

I feel so relaxed and at ease in our new home, that I love taking Rio in the front yard daily to just hang out and play in the grass. We know all our neighbors close to us and have neighbor hellos and little chats quite often. I am embracing the diversity of SLC and finally feel completely comfortable, safe, and secure with our family dynamic here. UT County was great but it was definitely a different vibe...