It's about time some good things came our way!

I know I'm being a little dramatic about that. But, if you been around in the last little while, you'd know that things just haven't been the easiest for us the last couple of months. But things are finally looking good again, starting with home improvements that we got due to some plumping problems back in December. The insurance paid for us to get new carpet on the main floor up to the top of the stairs (we decided to have them do the hallway up there as well, so that it wouldn't look weird). We also decided to pay a little extra ($850 total to be exact, which isn't bad if I do say so myself) so that we could get really good carpet that will last a really long time and that we really like! We were glad for all of your opinions a week ago, but we believe we made the best choice and we are in love with it!

So here are some pictures of all the hard work that went in, and the end result!

This is after the restoration place came and ripped out half the carpet and baseboards to clean. This is in the Master bedroom

Still in the master bedroom, this is where most of the water damage was

This is the downstairs hallway. We took advantage of not having to worry about the carpet and finish painting (we had not finished this because Emarie was born in the middle of it, and after numerous surgeries, hospital stays, health concerns and doctor visits, I'm sure you can all sympathize with why we didn't get done until now!)

Steve and I both worked together so that we could get the painting done fast. This is Steve painting the stairwell

This is the hallway upstairs after we had ripped out all the carpet. We did all the moving and tearing out of the carpet so that we could get this hallway done for free (since the insurance would only pay to the top of the stairs)

Steve working hard and the living room now bare! Steve's brothers Mike and Cory were a big help with all of this, we really appreciate them for helping us!

The master bedroom bare

After the pad was all placed. It's funny because this pad alone is probably softer than the carpet and pad put together that we had before!

A close up of the carpet as it was being laid. I was hiding out in the guest bedroom upstairs since I had woken up that morning with the stomach flu yet again and the smell of the glue and such was not helping! So, Steve was being sweet and taking pictures so that he could show me the progress!

After the carpet was all done while Steve was waiting for his brothers to come back and help move the furniture back in, he decided to put Emarie down here, doesn't she look small!

Emarie really loves the new carpet, she even helped pick it out! You can tell mommy was sick that day by what a mess her hair is!

The beautiful new staircase!

The master bedroom

A different angle of the bedroom

And one more, sorry, I just can't get over how beautiful it is now!

And the living room all done!

In other good news: Our tv is now fixed (this is important!), our dishwasher is working well again, and we THINK we may have everything figured out with our insurance (but keep your fingers crossed on that). Also, everyone in the house is well for the moment (aside from my weekend stomach flu, but we mostly care about Emarie right?), knock on wood!

On to more home improvement. We have discovered that we will be getting a pretty decent tax return and are in the process of debating what to do with it. Top of the list would be to rip up the carpet in the dining/sitting area and do "do-it-yourself" wood flooring. If we chose this, then we would probably have enough money to go to the conference this summer as well. So, for the moment, that seems to be the best choice! On the other hand though, we could use all of the return to finish carpeting the upstairs (Em's bedroom and guest bedroom), but that seems a little wasteful when it's not absolutely necessary, so there's always next year for that! But, we will be finishing painting both bathrooms downstairs and laundry room. As well as, painting and really doing something nice with Em's room, since well, let's face it, she deserves it! And her bathroom (which seems silly since she doesn't use it, but we occasionally have guests that do). We also bought a bunch of new rugs for the entry way and bathrooms, as well as towels for the bathrooms too. We are way excited about all the progress we have made! Thanks for reading, sorry it was so long!