To do list

Michael and I made a "to do list" for around the house awhile back and have hardly scratched anything off.  It has been WAY to hot to do anything outside and Ryan likes to be right in the middle of whatever we are doing so that makes it a little hard to get anything done :)

We were in need of a date night so Ryan stayed the night with my parents and we combined date night and work day.  

Date night started out at the shooting range.  Michael's dad had given me a new gun awhile back (thanks Mike!) but I had not gotten to shoot it yet.  I feel a lot more comfortable with it now.  So glad we went.

Then we went to eat the The Grill.  I had heard good things about it but never been before.  It was really good!  It's more pricey than we normally go for but it was nice to eat somewhere extra nice :)

My "to do" project was the fireplace.  This is the before picture:

The fireplace was one of those things that I did not like when we looked at the house.  It looked dated and "deer camp-ish".  I did not know exactly what to do with it.  Jenny saw a before and after picture in a magazine that was very similar to ours so it gave me the confidence to do it!

After 6-1/2 hours of priming (with a 1" brush because there were so many deep grooves that I had  to get into) and 3-1/2 hours of painting, this is the after picture:

I love it now!  Looks so much brighter and more updated.  Not like the dark spot in the room anymore!

We missed Ryan but it was good to get this done.  Ryan had a good time!  This was his big accomplishment:

climbed into the chair all by himself!  He tries to do that with our couch and recliner but they are just a little bit too tall.  This chair was just right :)  

Love him.