SURPRISE!!!

Lilly and Laura got bedroom makeovers. Brandon and I had been talking about it for quite sometime now and we finally were able to do it. We spent almost an entire day looking for what would be perfect and then one night we put it all together, we stayed up until 3:00 a.m. rocking out to music. Brandon worked so hard to make the space their own. The basement in our house is unfinished, except for one bedroom. We were originally planning on putting Lilly and Laura in the downstairs bedroom together. Before we moved in, Lilly asked if she could "create" her own room out of a section of the downstairs. Of course, Brandon and I didn't care. We told her to knock herself out. She worked hard to divide off the section and create her own room. Lincoln and Jamie (Brandon's brother and his wife) bought Lilly a carpet remnant so that her room would have carpet. All four kids had shared one room at our home in Kaysville, so Lilly and Laura have been beyond happy to have some space!!! It was fun to make it more of a bedroom for Lilly and to personalize Laura's for her.

We like to joke around about our "Downtown O-Town" basement, but really, it is. The basement of our house is unfinished but fairly big. We decided to create a sort of family room down there where the kids could be. Again, this turned into a neat experience for us. We found some couches on KSL and bought them from a family in Ogden. The mom and dad only spoke Spanish and Brandon didn't really have a chance to let them know he spoke Spanish. Apparently our buying the couches couldn't have come at a better time for this family, the Dad had just come home from the hospital. It makes my heart smile to know that this cute little family was able to help ours by selling us their couches and we were able to help them. We bought a large rug from a man in the Air Force. I just get excited about that. I'd rather buy something from a serviceman then buy it at a Walmart. So we have this funky little basement. We love it.

We didn't tell the kids about it. When they came over that next Thursday, we still didn't say anything. One of the girls went downstairs and came running up (I believe it was Laura). Brandon and I followed Lilly and Laura back downstairs to watch as they figured it out. Lilly was so excited about her room. Her smile and laughter is something we will forever remember. Laura just giggled over her room as well. It was so hard to keep it a surprise but so worth it. All four kids love the little family room. Luke loves that he can eat on those couches. Ha! It's funny how some small and simple things can make all the difference in a home.