Tile, Cabinets, Granite and ALOT of driving

The house is moving along nicely. The tile is completely finished and we are soooo happy about that. That grout is really messy stuff. I started trying to clean off all of the grout haze last Friday night and it was not coming off. I scrubbed and scrubbed for about 2+ hours until my arms were so tired. We finally figured out that if we just dumped vinegar on the floor the grout came right off. Don't worry though we cleaned the vinegar off. Last Friday after I was frustrated with cleaning the tile we put Sam down to bed and Danny and I went to dinner just the two of us. It was wonderful and we loved it! We haven't been seeing each other very much b/c either he is at the house and I am with Sam or I am at the house and he is with Sam so it was great being able to just hang out together.
Saturday was another busy day at the house, go figure. I haven't taken a picture of the completed tile yet so I will have to make sure to do that next time I take the camera. I have to be honest after staring at the tile and scrubbing it I didn't even like the tile anymore. But after getting it cleaned and not having to stare at it for a couple days I like it again. So glad tile is done, it was so much work for so many people.
Next on the list is the cabinets, THEY ARE IN and we love them. I thought you would enjoy some before and after pictures. Even though we aren't completely done with the kitchen.

We can't believe how much more room it gave us to knock out the soffet (spelling?) that was there. The cabinet guy was telling me it generally give you about 1/3 more space when you do that. I am so glad we  did. As small as the kitchen is the cabinets are tall and deep so I will be able to fit a lot of stuff in them. Danny and I both love them so that is good. It is so nice to actually see things come together. I forgot to get pictures of the bathroom vanities but they are the same color and also look great. Unfortunately getting those in reminded us how small our bathrooms are, they are tiny. I mean really tiny. When you come to our house you might have to sit on the toilet sideways so that you will fit. :-) Ok, maybe not that small but close.
Moving onto the granite. Oh the drama of the granite. Danny went to Arizona tile about a month ago to pick out our slab of granite. He loved it and we were both excited about it. Well, yesterday I got a call from Paul (guy we are getting all of our stuff through) and he tells me that they released our slab of granite to somebody else. What the #$%^! Why would they do that? We still don't know but I will move on. So he tells me that he needs me to run down to Arizona tile to pick out a new slab as soon as I can. I was in Layton running errand so I drive all the way down to Salt Lake to Arizona tile. Keep in mind I have Sam and he is a typical 14 month old baby that is into EVERYTHING and really doesn't like driving in the car for a long time! Anyway, so  I go out into the warehouse and they have two slabs set out. One is super, super yellow and just kind of blah. Not a ton of character just a bunch of little dots. I didn't really even consider it b/c it was so yellow. The other slab had a lot more orange in it but it is a beautiful slab and has a lot of character. So since I didn't like the yellow one at all, I went with the orange. Don't freak out, it isn't orange granite but it does have a lot more orange in it then our original piece. Anyway, so I leave and immediately start freaking out that it wasn't going to look good with our tile and cabinets and that Danny won't like it, etc. I mean I was sick about it. Sick like I get before a big race, felt like i was going to throw up. A bit dramatic I suppose but granite is expensive and we are going to have this in our home for a VERY long time so I was just super nervous that we were going to hate it. So I call Danny to tell him how I was feeling and he tells me to call creative granite who is going to be cutting and installing our tile to see if they had started cutting it yet. I called and the lady was nice but told me that she thought they were cutting it already. Great huh? I call Danny and I really was next to tears just b/c I didn't want to be responsible for choosing the ugly granite that was going to be in our kitchen and our bathrooms. Danny took it upon himself to call creative granite and used his charm  and talked the lady into letting him come look at it before they started cutting it. This story is really dragging on so I'll cut it short. Long story short, he got to creative granite and saw what I was saying about the granite being really orange but also being a beautiful slab of granite. He called Paul and Paul ran down and looked at it since he knows all of the colors we had chosen for out house. He thought it would look great but Danny ran over to Arizona tile to see the other slabs of granite they had. I'm sure you are bored with this story by now so I will just let you know that after all that we stayed with the slab I chose in the first place. I felt bad b/c Danny missed  a few hours at work for the whole fiasco but I guess it is better to like your granite then hate it every time you walk in the kitchen. Dan got some samples at Arizona tile and I took them to our house to see how they are going to look and I think the granite is going to be beautiful, I am really excited. So much drama b/c some idiot released our original slab for some un-known reason. So when you come to our house or see pictures and you hate our granite, don't tell us please. Lie or just don't say anything at all. :-) Here are a couple of the sample pieces. It isn't identical to this but it is similar so you get the idea.

The granite should be installed Monday or Tuesday at the latest. Also, the appliances are all being delivered and installed on Tuesday. YIPPEE!! Our plumber is coming this weekend to put our toilets and showers together. A flushing toilet, I can hardly wait. Our electrician is also coming Saturday to finish putting outlets and light up. Seriously, sooooo exciting.
I have continued to paint and paint and paint. I re-painted the kitchen and dining room, both bathrooms and the back entry way. It just looks better with two coats in my opinion. Oh, I also got the hall closets painted. I still have a lot of painting to do. Well not a lot but I need to do all the trim and I want to get that done so that we can put the doors back on all of the rooms.
I have been driving back and forth from our house to the Simmons at least twice a day if not three times. It is pretty annoying especially when I was so used to running down the street to our apartment. It is really weird driving by our apartment. I am going to be so glad when we can actually live at the house. That way Sam will figure out that it is where we are living and can take a nap and I can get things done there. We tried putting him down for a nap there last Saturday and that was a complete joke. He cried and cried and screamed. He really does like it there but it will take some getting use to. He loves to explore the new place. I originally posted that I thought he was done with his morning naps but that must have just been a small phase he was going through b/c he continues to take pretty good morning and afternoon naps.
Oh and here is a picture of the huge tree in our front yard. Pretty big huh? I think so.

And as a completely random side note I am sooo out of shape and it makes me sad. I have made it to the gym a few times this week and that is how I know I am so out of shape. I was struggling through 3-5 milers. I just want to get back to normal life so I can get up and run while Sam is napping or run to the gym that is 3 minutes away to work out before Sam wakes up. I am suppose to be doing a turkey trot with the fam on Thanksgiving and I am pretty sure that it will be my slowest time ever. I'll get it back once life gets back to normal, I hope! More very exciting before and after pictures to come in the next few days. Stay tuned.....