Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Family Pictures Wheeler Farm Round 2
Miss Laura Mecham Collard did it again!! Another successful family photo shoot at Wheeler Farm. If only she knew she is going to be taking my family pictures until we are old and grey... ;) I'm so thankful for her willingness to share her talents and the bonus of having her as one of my dear sweet friends.
Jillian:: A Name and a Blessing
THE NAME:
When Lance & I got pregnant the first time we developed a long list of girl names with a very short list of boy names. When we got pregnant the second time I was hoping it was going to be a boy since I already had everything “boy” but a name. We had three ultrasounds from 16-22 weeks and sure enough Bennett was going to become a big brother to a little SISTER. So there we were, back to our long list of girl names. The top contenders were Lyla, Laney, Jillian, & Kinsley. Once I notified Lance (who loves the “L” names) that my dear friend was naming their little girl Lila the name was officially off the table. At that point we were down to Laney and Jillian and somehow I won and Jillian became this little girls name.
THE DRESS:
Lance & I got married in the Salt Lake Temple. I had bought a beautiful silk temple dress that I absolutely loved. After the sealing ceremony I was in the bridal room trying to change into my wedding dress when my temple dress refused to unzip. I literally had 4 women (including a seamstress) trying to get the zipper to work and after almost 20 minutes without success they decided the only way to get me out was to cut me out of it! So we cut the shoulder seams and I have held onto this dress (although it is unwearable) because of the sentimental value it held. Once I became pregnant with a little girl the thought came to mind to trying to turn that temple dress into a blessing dress. I brought the dress to Lance's grandma who to my delight said she would make the blessing dress. A few months later we received it in the mail and I was ASTONISHED at how absolutely gorgeous the dress was. The elaborate lace all the way down to the inner most layer, my temple dress.
THE DAY:
On the sunny, warm, and beautiful day of March 8, 2015 Lance blessed Jillian as Jillian Christine Gummersall. The blessing was beautiful. Lance blessed Jillian with the ability to accomplish her goals and desires, to be healthy, to find joy in the gospel, and to know how much her Heavenly Father loves her always. We had a slew of friends and family come out to support and since it was the first day of daylight savings our ward was slim in numbers, but our family and friends I think almost outnumbered the ward members in attendance. Lance’s family alone took up 4 entire rows in the middle section of the chapel.
After sacrament we ventured back to our house where we enjoyed a delicious waffle bar and breakfast burritos and one another’s company.
Its days like this one that make me #1 so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints. #2 to have such amazing friends and family who are willing to help host and attend special occasions. #3 that I have the ability to bare children and how much joy they bring to my life. #4 for a husband who honors his priesthood and is such an amazing father and husband, who is always there to lend a hand with the kids. I don’t think I could have survived the past 3 1/2 months without his daily help. #5 for this beautiful, mild winter we have had where we have been able to go out and enjoy the sunny back yard.
Casing Windows
When out basement was sheet rocked we failed to ask the guy to Sheetrock the base of the windows... This turned out to be a wonderful thing because it gave me a reason to case the windows! Lance is a stickler to everything looking the same and matching so eventually I will case our upstairs windows but for now I glowing with happiness from how beautiful a cased window looks and its super easy!!
Materials:
Miter saw
Jig saw
Finishing nails & gun
Liquid nails
Caulk
Spackle
Wood:
1x5" poplar (or pine or oak... Some kind of solid wood)
1x4" mdf trim for the apron and sides
1x6" mdf trim for the top piece
We chose to match our window casing to our door casing... Simple, thick, & craftsmen style.
1. Take cardboard and measure where
You Will have to cut your jig out. Then trace it onto the poplar board and cut. I have 47" window width so I got a 55" board so I would have 4" on each side.
2. Dry fit until you have a perfect fit. Then liquid nail the back and install wig finishing nails
3. measure window height and cut 1x4 to size. Liquid nail and install with finishing nails leaving a 1cm gap from the edge of the drywall to where the 1x4 starts for more visual contrast.
4. Measure length from end of 1x4 to other and of 1x4 and cut apron to that size. Mine were 54.5 inches. 
6. Match the top board to the size of our sill which for Me would be 55" and install that.
7. Spackle all the nail holes and caulk around all the edges. Sand when dry. Prime and paint. And there you have it.
Basement Breakdown
Do it yourself is definitely my motto. Lance has learned since marrying me and embarking on 1 remodel and 2 basements start to finish that some things are easier than professionals let on and others we will just leave to them (aka sheet rock and mudding).
Plumbing- It helps to have someone in the family. My dad was a plumber for over 25 years so he was able to turn the stubbed plumbing into a functional bathroom. For pipe, a stop and waste, delta shower fixture 3 piece, toilet, tub, tile, grout, and adhesive we spent about $1200. We still need to get a vanity, but we are pleased with the free labor and help! The oil rubbed bronze shower fixture alone was $190, tub $200, and toilet $100... bathrooms just add up quickly in cost. We chose to go with a long rectangular ceramic tile for the floor that resembles a marble pattern and white subway tile for the shower walls. It doesn't seem like it but the shower took 480+ subway tiles to complete! I thought it was never going to end!!! Vanity we are trying to find a deal, but it'll be somewhere between $300-850 depending on if I can find a deal on a granite counter that will fit the space on ksl.
Gas- A random addition that tickled my fancy was my dad adding a gas line through the joists so eventually I can turn my standard stove into a gas stove. The parts for that cost about $150, but it'll be well worth it once we replace the oven.
Carpet- This is where we splurged. I absolutely HATE how you get "nice" carpet and within a year or two the high traffic areas are all matted down and it looks 10 years old already regardless of vacuuming and shampooing. We wanted something high end that felt super soft and full of cushion. Our friends have this dream carpet and Lance and I looked EVERYWHERE and touched many a carpet samples until we found THE ONE (which happens to be the same one they have but in a different color). For the pad, install, and carpet we spent about $3000 (88 sq. yards), but ohhhhh just wait until you feel the dreamy softness. You'll be so envious!
Doors & trim- We have an estimate for $975 for all the trim, 1 storm door for the cold storage, 3 regular doors, and 4 slabs for closet sliders. We also trimmed out all the windows for an additional $100 well spent.
Our basement has been our 2014-2015 project and it is nearing completion!!
Framing: Back in the summer we got a brief tutorial from Will (lance's uncle) on how to frame. We invested in a miter saw and went to work. We nailed in the treated boards into the cement with 2" cement nails (looking back we should have used 3"). We also placed header 2x4s in line with those foot boards then we went to work on the studs spacing them 16" apart. The exterior walls were pretty easy because we could line things up with the cement wall. The areas where we had to jig the ceiling lower to cover duct work became a little more complex. We simply used 1x4s and 2x4s to drop the ceiling down and made sure things were level as we went. $700 total for the miter saw, wood, & nails.
Insulation: We thought insulation was going to be expensive but it turned out to only cost $160 for all 900sq feet of our basement. We used the construction insulation that was on the cement walls and shoved it inbetween the ceiling joists (free) then we insulated the exterior walls with rolls of insulation purchased from lowes. We made sure to insulated the wall between the bathroom and bedroom to help control noise.
Electrical- we did this by ourselves with the help of Will. It is CRAZY how cheap electrical is if you do it yourself. we bought two 50ft spools of wire, kid safe outlets, switches, a dimmer switch, GFCI outlets, 2 new brakers, speaker wires, and 8 can lights and ended up spending $300 total. Compare that to our duplex where we paid $800 for 6 can lights and outlets.
HVAC- while it seems pretty basic (just wrapping tubes together and connect to to the furnace we chose to hire out spending $400. We've got a guy who does a great job for cheap.. let me know if you want a referral.
Sheetrock and Mudding- When we finished the duplex basement Lance and I went to town sheet rocking and mudding all 600 sq feet and it took us ALL summer. We would go to work, come home and work until the wee hours of the night and there was sheetrock dust EVERYWHERE. We decided to save our time and energy and hire out. I was in awe that just two men were able to sheetrock the entire place in an 8 hour day! It took an addition 4 work days for the mudding and to be honest they did a better job than the pros did on our upstairs house. A weeks worth of work for $3000 was money well spent seeing as how we definitely didn't have the time with an infant crawling around and my 6 months pregnant with B #2.
Paint- Paint was definitely more expensive than I had budgeted for partly because we painted all 3000 sq feet of our house. Total we spent about $900-1100 in paint and that is with a 40% off discount I have at Kwal. We painted 3 coats on our ceiling with white paint, 3 coats on all of our trim, sprayed all of our blinds and doors which ate up a ton of white semi gloss, and 2 coats on our walls with grey paint, as well as primed the new basement sheetrock and painted our stairs and cement floors. If I were to estimate I would say about $300 of that total cost was dedicated to our basement.
Sheetrock and Mudding- When we finished the duplex basement Lance and I went to town sheet rocking and mudding all 600 sq feet and it took us ALL summer. We would go to work, come home and work until the wee hours of the night and there was sheetrock dust EVERYWHERE. We decided to save our time and energy and hire out. I was in awe that just two men were able to sheetrock the entire place in an 8 hour day! It took an addition 4 work days for the mudding and to be honest they did a better job than the pros did on our upstairs house. A weeks worth of work for $3000 was money well spent seeing as how we definitely didn't have the time with an infant crawling around and my 6 months pregnant with B #2.
Paint- Paint was definitely more expensive than I had budgeted for partly because we painted all 3000 sq feet of our house. Total we spent about $900-1100 in paint and that is with a 40% off discount I have at Kwal. We painted 3 coats on our ceiling with white paint, 3 coats on all of our trim, sprayed all of our blinds and doors which ate up a ton of white semi gloss, and 2 coats on our walls with grey paint, as well as primed the new basement sheetrock and painted our stairs and cement floors. If I were to estimate I would say about $300 of that total cost was dedicated to our basement.
Plumbing- It helps to have someone in the family. My dad was a plumber for over 25 years so he was able to turn the stubbed plumbing into a functional bathroom. For pipe, a stop and waste, delta shower fixture 3 piece, toilet, tub, tile, grout, and adhesive we spent about $1200. We still need to get a vanity, but we are pleased with the free labor and help! The oil rubbed bronze shower fixture alone was $190, tub $200, and toilet $100... bathrooms just add up quickly in cost. We chose to go with a long rectangular ceramic tile for the floor that resembles a marble pattern and white subway tile for the shower walls. It doesn't seem like it but the shower took 480+ subway tiles to complete! I thought it was never going to end!!! Vanity we are trying to find a deal, but it'll be somewhere between $300-850 depending on if I can find a deal on a granite counter that will fit the space on ksl.
Gas- A random addition that tickled my fancy was my dad adding a gas line through the joists so eventually I can turn my standard stove into a gas stove. The parts for that cost about $150, but it'll be well worth it once we replace the oven.
Carpet- This is where we splurged. I absolutely HATE how you get "nice" carpet and within a year or two the high traffic areas are all matted down and it looks 10 years old already regardless of vacuuming and shampooing. We wanted something high end that felt super soft and full of cushion. Our friends have this dream carpet and Lance and I looked EVERYWHERE and touched many a carpet samples until we found THE ONE (which happens to be the same one they have but in a different color). For the pad, install, and carpet we spent about $3000 (88 sq. yards), but ohhhhh just wait until you feel the dreamy softness. You'll be so envious!
Doors & trim- We have an estimate for $975 for all the trim, 1 storm door for the cold storage, 3 regular doors, and 4 slabs for closet sliders. We also trimmed out all the windows for an additional $100 well spent.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Jillian :: 3 Months
- started to coo and smile, but NEVER on command
- enjoys a good foot massage with lotion after a bath (it's calmed her from screaming her head off as I get her dressed)
- adjusted okay to mom going back to work (has some days with great 2-3.5 hour naps, other days with quick 45 minute naps)
- her 3 month pants & onesies fitting a little snug
- a disgust for head bands or beanies... anytime I put one on she screams her guts out
- eats 4 oz every 3-4 hours, at night we put her to bed at 8:30, dream feed at 10:30 and she has slept until 4:30 the last few nights, then goes back to sleep until some time around 7-8am.
- a need for it to be completely dark where ever she is sleeping. We have a black out curtain in her room, but she also enjoys the comfort of her play n play which is set up in our closet.
- is still in size 1 diapers.
- started to enjoy baths. Bennett likes to "help" and dump water on her and pretend to wash her with the washcloth.
7:00: start the day, eat 4oz
7:30: change diaper, get dressed, awake time
8:30-10:30: nap
10:30: eat 4oz
11:00: change diaper, awake time
12:00-2:00: nap
2:00: eat 4oz
2:30: change diaper, awake time
3:30-5:00: nap
5:00: eat 4oz
5:30: change diaper, awake time, family dinner
6:15-7:00: nap
7:00pm eat 2-3oz
8:00: awake, bath, put pjs on
9:00: eat 4oz, last feeding of day
9:30 put directly to bed after eating
10:30 Dream Feed (2-3 oz) if needed
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