Update on the Smoot House

Allie had Tuesday morning off from cheer so we burned up to Star Valley to see if we could get some work done on the house.  I feel like we're getting through some of the worst of it and now we're close to being able to make things better.  It was encouraging that when we walked through the door, it didn't stink. (We are crossing our fingers that we've fixed that problem).

We tore out the carpet in the back bedrooms.

It wasn't pretty.  Years and years of spills and mouse poop.  Ugh.

But underneath the carpet was a beautiful hard wood floor. The red oak floor has many different colors of paint and it tells the story of the family who lived in it.  We're hoping to be able to strip it down and save it.  Mike's called a company who will come next week and sand it down.

So we spent today pulling tack strip and nails from all over.  It's not finished, but we got started.

Allie pained Joe's room.  She's good at just getting in there and getting it done.

The boys pulled nails and were great at the heavy lifting of old nasty carpet.

I spent the day helping where I could, but I was also sorting through Joe's old clothes and other things.  I set aside some shirts and I'll make some pillows with them. He's funny...when he found a shirt that he liked, he bought several of them. Same size, same color. So now I know why it seemed like he was always wearing the same shirt...he was.  :)

I got emotional when I went through his hospital bag.  He went to the hospital so much in the last 6 years that he had a bag already packed with everything he'd need and he just had to take it along when he went.  I miss him and wish he could see what we've done with the place.

He was content living here and didn't think things needed to be fixed up, but we're ready to clear the place of mice and mouse poop.  We'll see what we can do to make it feel clean and welcoming.  I'm sure he'd be happy with the end result.

It wasn't all work for Allie.  She got to take off and go fishing.  Nate did too.  This is the pic Allie sent me. She caught a few and Nate blamed her when he didn't catch any.  Never mind that he went 2 hours after her, he blamed her for scaring the fish off.  :)

It was a quick trip up and back because Allie had to be at a game and the boys had practice.  We stopped at the landfill and added more to the pile there.  I hate knowing I'm contributing to all of that, but I guess that's the price of making the house more beautiful.

I hope we have some awesome "after" pictures to share soon.