The Obandos: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Before and After: Part 2

Once upon a time there was a mango-colored house with overgrown bushes.

With a little bit of paint and a lot of plant control...

...a trip to Home Deopt...

...and some hard work...

...the house was magically transformed into a home with a lovely little flower garden where the Obando family lived happily ever after:)

Saturday, January 28, 2012

After 8 months of renovations, our kitchen is finally finished! I am really excited to share these dramatic before and after photos because I think everything turned out even better than I had imagined. All of the work was done by my wonderful father and husband. I really love watching the two of them work together and am so thankful for their patience with me because I can be a little picky when it comes to home decorating.

This is what the kitchen/dining room/family room looked like when we bought the house 8 months ago.

I think it was the same week that we looked at the house that I woke up in the middle of the night with this “vision” of what it could become.

We really had to fight for this house and plow through a bunch of roadblocks to finally close the deal. Roger told me later that he didn’t understand why we didn’t just find another one...but now it looks like this and we LOVE it!

We pretty much kept the same layout of the kitchen but took everything out and started from scratch. We added a dishwasher and a farm sink which required some professional plumbing.

We also added these cabinets to the kitchen and flipped the bar area to the outside. I think it makes a lot more sense this way - not only do we have extra cabinet and counter space but the new bar is the perfect place to set out food during parties...and serve breakfast to little ones down the road:)

I’ll post some more before and after pictures of the outside of the house later this week. Thanks again to Dad and Roger for all their hard work!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Happy Holidays

This year we got to do something new for Christmas - we spent the 1st half of the day in Colorado and the 2nd half in Nebraska. We got to spend some quality time with my family and Roger got to experience Nebraska - the 15th state he has visited in the 2.5 years he has lived in the US. I think all 50 by age 50 is a good goal for him:)

Baby's stocking:)

After Christmas we spent a few days in Greeley and got to visit some of my closest friends from my high school days. The guys even taught Roger to play their favorite game from back in the day, Russian Ping Pong...some things never change:)

And if that wasn’t enough fun, family, and friends...I got to spend New Years with 3 of my roommates from college who flew out to CO from TX, CA, and OR...what a reunion! My sister and nephews also joined us in the mountains and kept us all entertained.

The boys sledding...

...and breakdancing

Love and prayers for a wonderful 2012! Check out the baby bump at 23 weeks:)

In the words of Nelson Mandela...

"Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?" Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God; your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."