Before & Afters

I've been promising these to several people for quite a while and there are LOTS of pictures so let's just get started. Here is our new house. We love it so much and don't care if we never move again. To many it's just your average home, but to us it's a real dream come true. A lot of sweat and blood went into this house...mostly by Andrew, but I did some painting and made some decisions so let's just say "WE" did this :) Here is the front of the house as we found it. Notice that you can't even SEE half of the house and there are two completely different garages. We saw potential!

Here is the front after. Just like a trip to the hair salon; a trim and color can do wonders!
The old entry. Notice carpeted walk-way, orange paint, non-existent base boards and early 90's light fixture.
We tiled the entry, framed the windows, new base boards and light fixtures...no more orange paint. Bye-bye orange...you are NOT missed.

The front door used to be an icky light beige color...Andrew chose this midnight blue on his own. He is one brave man and he's super lucky I loved it! Shows more of the framed windows...I love that part! I don't know if you can see the tumbled-stone design on the floor by the door. New light fixture...old one resembled that of the before pic above.

Before kitchen. Not bad at all actually. Notice laminate countertops and direction/size of island. Also ugly, old tile :)

New hardware on cabinets and granite. The granite is actually a green color, but this picture makes it look black. Sorry. We turned the island and added a breakfast bar. That was MY genius idea. I pat myself on the back regularly. There is a big open space in the kitchen now, room for several people to be in there at once. I love gathering in the kitchen.

Before master bedroom. Notice carpeted bathroom. ICK. Also notice nice brass features and cute little toddler in the corner.

New paint job and base boards. No cute toddler in this picture, but she spends plenty of time in our room...I promise.

Not a great after pic, but we changed the lights, added tile and SPRAY PAINTED the shower black. Yep, that's right. It's great too. That's how we do things in AZ.

Second upstairs bath. Notice shower walls and yucky tile. Also AWESOME padded toilet seat complete with caution tape.

Andrew tiled this shower himself. It's travertine and granite. New fixtures and bye-bye padded toilet seat.

Andrew tiled the downstairs shower too with white slate and a cool glass mosaic, but I don't have a finished picture of that yet. I'll work on it...I promise :)

Mom went to the hospital last night at about 8:30 PM because she had a mild seizure episode (not sure how any type of seizure can be MILD...). The hospital did an MRI which showed little and watched Mom for a while and then released her at 6:30 AM this morning. On the drive home she had another seizure in the car and so my Dad rushed her back to the hospital and they have now admitted her.

Mom is not in ICU, but a regular room for a change and they will be consulting with her oncologist in Seattle today. Her surgeon has seen her MRI and doesn't think it is anything surgical. They really don't have a lot of answers yet, but Mom is talking and moving well. Unlike last time, she is alert and has strength, etc. so those are good signs. They think it may be a side effect of the new chemo she is doing.

I wish I didn't have to write these posts. It really stinks and I'd rather keep it to myself, but we really need your prayers so here I am asking again. Thanks everyone.

Family Pictures 2009

Here are the BANG FAMILY 2009 PHOTOS! Our friend Beka Lowe took these pictures for us that I think turned out great! I am usually so picky when it comes to family pictures, but I am so thoroughly pleased with these. Check out Beka's website by clicking her name above or check out her blog at http://lowephotography.blogspot.com/. Thanks Beka! We love them!

This one of Owen shows off his beautiful blue eyes and just makes me think that he is the sweetest little piece of marshmallow you will ever meet!
Elly wasn't super thrilled about taking pictures this day, but check out that smile. I think it helped that she is holding her favorite teddy bear "Hickory" and that Grandpa is in the background hitting himself in the head with balloons to make her smile :)
We don't look too old right? There are so many other family shots and shots of the kids that I LOVE. Maybe I'll post more in a week or two. I'll stretch it out for everyone to enjoy right along with me :)

I'm Old

My birthday is tomorrow and I just realized it: I’m old. Not because I’m entering my last 20’th year, but for the following reasons:

1. I watched Bonanza with my Dad the other day and actually enjoyed it.
2. I don’t listen to rap music anymore. It’s all about sex and it’s just annoying.
3. I was watching a TV show the other night and this woman was coming onto this man and he told her he loved his girlfriend and I shouted at the screen, “Finally! Someone has morals!”
4. When I hear swear words, it catches me off guard.
5. I’ve cancelled several DVR events b/c I’ve decided it’s too “racy”.

UGH! What is wrong with me? I’m not enjoying the same old smut I used to and I’m actually becoming more conservative with years! Help! I’m my parents!

Update

My Mom is HOME! That's right. She has walked out of the hospital 2 days after brain surgery for the second time in a row. Everything went smoothly during surgery and recovery and she is officially the strongest person I know. Our family is truly the recipient of miracles and we are so grateful to everyone for your prayers and love for our family. We have been blessed so hugely by you all.
Now treatment continues, whatever that means. We press on right? I'm pretty sure my Mom doesn't understand the words "give up" and that's good with me. I never had much liking for those words myself.

To All Those Who Pray

My mom went to the hospital today because she has been having a lot of pain and extreme fatigue. Today she couldn't get out of bed on her own so Jon and Dad took her to the hospital where they did an MRI and found that there is a lot of swelling of the brain. The scar tissue and/or tumor are putting pressure on the brain....the short version of the story is that she needs a second craniotomy tomorrow at about 12 noon. They are going to be more aggressive this time and try and take out most or all of the tumor and any scar tissue left by the radiation. They say everything is very close to the surface, which gives them confidence, but who wants to go through TWO brain surgeries in one lifetime? So please pray for my Mom and Dad that they'll be strong and also that the Doctors will be successful. Thank you everyone for your love and prayers. We really need them.

We did it!

After an hour of coaxing and crying over Winnie the Pooh a week ago, I decided that Halloween was not about torture, but about fun! So I went out and got Elly a Dora the Explorer costume. Although she was initially skeptical, her love of Dora won out and she proudly sported her entire costume both Friday for the trunk or treat and Saturday for the real thing. Owen got to be the cutest Boots the Monkey I've ever seen and I made Andrew and I these nerdy t-shirts just for fun! Halloween turned into a huge success! As Dora would say, "We did it!"

Proof that Elly was a happy Dora!

This is a good view of her back pack. She put her stuffed monkey inside and I put red socks on him to look like boots. The back pack didn't come with a map so we rolled up some paper and viola!

Owen was pretty darn happy about being a Monkey. I love this little boy's smile!

I had to post this one last picture. We had our dear friends from Tolleson down for Halloween and were so thrilled they could all make it. We had a fun and busy house that night and I don't know if it was the kids or the adults who were having more fun. The only sad thing about our move is missing these wonderful friends! We are missing two little ones in this picture and there is one more on the way, but look at how cute these trick or treaters are!