Andy and Heather's Blog

Pumpkin Carvings 2011

2011-10-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

Torrey Pines

2011-10-09T15:50:00.001-07:00

For Andy's 30th Birthday we spent a weekend in San Diego. Andy played a round of golf at Torrey Pines. Here is a picture of the signature hole.

Pictures

2011-07-25T09:54:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures if the video doesn't work:

Kitchen Is Done!

2011-07-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

We finally have our kitchen back! Buddy came over to see how it looked and we put him to work. We finished off the microwave venting and installed the gas cooktop.

It took 43 days from first cut. We stripped the kitchen down to the studs, removed the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room, and built it back up. Heather and I learned a ton along the way and added to our tool collection.

We could not be happier with the way it came out. It was all definitely worth it. With the wall gone, we can see straight through to our fountain in the backyard. The cabinets exceeded our expectations and the tile floor looks great. We got the little things that customized it to what we wanted: recessed lights, pendant lights, a spice rack, a swiffer cabinet containing an outlet to charge it, soft closing doors and drawers, a cabinet with glass doors, glass shelves, and lighting for display plates, and the curved breakfast bar.

We'll take pictures tomorrow when the lighting is better.

Andy

Dishwasher Installed

2011-07-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

I installed the dishwasher last night. Of course, there were two trips to HD involved. Why would they not include a power cord? While I did that, Heather painted the corbels.

The dishwasher took longer than it should as I'm down to one eye. I had severe burning in my right eye and it turns out I scratched my cornea and it was infected. I'm without one contact until at least Monday. I'm sure a piece of wood got in my eye and scratched it.

Tonight, we'll attempt the microwave.

Granite Installed!

2011-07-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

We have granite. I also was able to connect our faucet, garbage disposal, and drain pipe. All that's left are the appliances and touch-up painting.

Handles On

2011-07-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

Today, Logan returned and we put on the handles and the rest of the items we had to finish up (soft closing doors, install lazy susan, etc.). Here's a pic of the baseboards we worked on over the weekend and the handles. We also moved the fridge into position.

Baseboards and Paint

2011-07-18T08:28:00.001-07:00

Hi,

We installed baseboards this weekend and did some touch-up painting. We also sealed our grout. We're looking forward to Wed when the granite arrives.

Andy

Not Much Right Now

2011-07-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

We are finishing off a few small things while we wait for the granite.

We buffed the tile with cheesecloth and it should be ready for grout sealer today or tomorrow. We touched up some paint areas and we'll put in the baseboards by Monday.

Monday, Logan will be back to finish off the cabinets and handles.

Wednesday, we are scheduled for granite install. Then, it will be the mad rush to the finish: Sink plumbing, garbage disposal, faucet, and connect the microwave and dishwasher.

Andy

Grout Complete

2011-07-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

We successfully grouted the tile. I googled around before we started and found that we should caulk around the perimeter (cabinets) instead of grout. Apparently the grout will crack to to expansion/contraction. So, I ordered some colored caulk that will match our grout (khaki). Tomorrow we'll go order some more tile so we have some backups since we used everything we ordered. We can also put our fridge where it goes and install the dishwasher.

Tile Done, Pendants Added

2011-07-11T22:18:00.001-07:00

We finished off the last few tiles. Our pendant lights also arrived, so we installed those. There's a picture with them both off and on. Tomorrow...grout.

Tile Progress

2011-07-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Sunday), Heather and I spent the entire day tiling. Here is a picture at the beginning while trying to figure out the best layout. We almost finished when we ran out of thinset at 9pm. We'll finish it off tonight and post pictures. Tomorrow we'll grout, then after 3 days we will seal the grout. We can then install the dishwasher and put the fridge back.

Cabinets Done (Almost)

2011-07-08T20:45:00.001-07:00

We're 99% done with the cabinets. Logan will be back for a few final touches and to install the handles. The granite has been measured and will hopefully be installed in a week or so. Next for Heather and I is to install the tile floor.

Cabinets Started

2011-07-06T17:18:00.000-07:00

We started the cabinets. Logan did an awesome job and we got a lot installed. Today, he finished making the crown, so I had a "day off." I fixed out toilet and weeded our backyard. Luis also came to touch up a few drywall spots.

Ready for Cabinets

2011-07-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, luckily Home Depot was able to color match our paint. So, that solved one issue. The other...the ceiling paint didn't match. Our only choice was to repaint our ceiling over the dining room. That was not fun. It was about 90F here which wore us out. We finally finished all the painting, installed the LED recessed lights, adding the air vent cover, replaced the valves for the water lines, and cleaned up. Tomorrow we begin cabinet install!

Painting

2011-07-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

We started painting today. First we primed (see pic), then we ran into a problem. When we painted the house, we bought two 5 gallon containers of our color, Gobi Desert. We never opened the second one. Well, upon opening and using this second gallon, it turns out that it is slightly different than the other. We're trying to figure out what to do. We may end up having a slightly different "accent wall."

Drywall - Day 1

2011-06-27T20:55:00.001-07:00

Luis and the gang started the drywall today. The purple drywall is resistant to mold, mildew and moisture. Over the next couple days they'll be mudding and texturing.

Ready for Drywall!

2011-06-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

Buddy and my Dad came over on Saturday and it was time to remove the wall and add the header. We started by bracing the ceiling joists with 4x4s. We then removed studs we didn't need and cut down others that would become the pony wall. After adding the supports for the header we made the cut and put it up. We then finished the pony wall and added a couple more supports that make up the 16" walls on each side. Heather and I finished off all the electrical by drilling through the header for the pendant lighting and rewiring the pony wall with the horizontal boxes. You'll see the two mounts for future pendant lights just below the header.

Today, we tore up the linoleum and spent hours with putty knifes getting up the glue. We also put back the insulation, added a couple more metal supports for the header, and Heather cleaned up to get ready for the dry wallers tomorrow.

Prep for the Wall

2011-06-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Yesterday and today we are doing minor things to prepare for the wall coming down tomorrow. This morning we had a header delivered: 4" x 12" x 16'. We've been cleaning up, double checking outlet positions, and we'll put back a lot of the insulation tonight.

Andy

HVAC Complete

2011-06-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hi,

We successfully completed the move of our heating vent. Uncle Dick generously provided us the materials and Heather and I installed it. We cut a 2x4 and added them as supporting braces. We then extended the duct and attached it to the new vent.

Next step, double check outlet positions for appliances and cabinet lighting.

Plumbing Pics

2011-06-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

Here are the plumbing pictures:

Capping of old line, before and after:

Tapping into existing line for new ice maker line, before and after:

Plumbing...ugh

2011-06-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I took a crack at plumbing. Two goals: Cap existing water line for fridge. Tap into water line to add new fridge line.

The first was easy. There is a neat cap called a Shark Bite that you simply push over the line and it securely caps it. No soldering. I bought a little pipe cutter, cut the line, cleaned it, and pushed on the cap. No problem.

Then the fun began. I used a saddle valve and successfully tapped into the existing line. It's a cool little needle that pierces the existing line. Then I needed to run water line through a stud into a new box I bought for the ice maker water line valve. First the ice maker box cracked when I tried to nail it to the stud. Heather returned it and I got another one. I ran the copper pipe, hooked up a 90 elbow, and turned on the water...leaks. The 90 degree elbow was the weak link. If you try to tighten it, it moves the pipe, so other connections loosen. I ended up taking it all apart and eliminated the elbow. I left the water on all night and I didn't see any leaks this morning, so I think we are good. I'll post pics soon.

Next steps: Move HVAC vent. The current one comes out of the wall right where our new pantry will be. Our friend's Uncle (Uncle Dick) is going to help us extend it onto the ceiling about 3 feet off the wall so the cabinet does not interfere.

We also need to buy a light to put in one of our cabinets which will have glass doors for a display case, and while the wall is open, add another junction box for our bathroom lighting. There is currently one long bar lighting and we want to have two lights, one above each sink.

Andy

We Have Recessed Lights!

2011-06-20T22:46:00.001-07:00

Today, after talking to our cabinet guy (Logan), we slightly moved the microwave outlet and the gas cooktop outlet. Then, it was finally on to the recessed lighting. We put in six 6" cans with LED bulbs and ran the new electricity to them. That should finish off the electrical for now. After we demo the load bearing wall and put in the header, there will be some electric to do.

Next step, plumbing. I need to replace my valves under the sink as they started to leak when I turned them off. The big project is to tap into a water line and run a new line to the fridge. I've never worked with copper pipe, so we have tried to hire a plumber, but the two we were recommended have not returned our calls. I'm going to try it myself if we don't hear back tomorrow. Should just need a "T" valve, a blow torch, solder, and a pipe cutter. We'll see.

Still More Electrical

2011-06-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

We, again, spent an entire day redoing electrical. We finished rerouting due to the soffit, then had to reroute electrical that was hanging in the wall that will be removed. After fixing that issue, we removed the old light switch, added an outlet, and moved another outlet. We are finally onto the last step: adding the recessed lights. We put one up, but it started getting late for hammering nails. Hopefully, we can finish them off tomorrow and be done with electrical (for now, anyways. There will be some small routing of wires after the wall is demo'd and the new side supports are built).

Demo Complete - Now Electrical

2011-06-19T09:16:00.001-07:00

Hi,

We've finished our demo (except the load bearing wall). We can now see the kitchen from our living room:

We have spent the last day plus rerouting the electrical and we have much more to do. As you can kind of see in this picture, since we used to have a soffit, they cut the corners short, and ran the electrical into the soffit frame. Since we needed to remove this soffit frame, we had to completely undo all the electrical and run it out of the hole, then run it back down. The problem is that now the electrical had to travel a longer distance, and in some cases, we did not have enough slack to use the old wire. In these cases, we had to buy and strip new wire and run it:

I realized I never posted our plans. This entire renovation was based on the fact that we want to remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room. As this is a load bearing wall, we will need two small support walls. Here's the rough plan:

Today we'll continue running electrical for the new kitchen layout.

Andy

Continue Demo

2011-06-16T10:20:00.001-07:00

We removed the frame for the soffit and removed another wall of drywall. We also went to Home Depot (HD from now on, as I'll refer to them a lot) and bought six 6" IC recessed light cans and 6 LED lights for them.

Tonight, we'll remove the last wall of drywall, the one separating the kitchen from the living room.

Andy

More Demo

2011-06-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight we took down all the ceiling drywall and one of the wall's drywall...

Kitchen Demo

2011-06-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

Here are pics from our demo so far. We've started removing dry wall from the wall we will remove, we broke up and removed the tile countertop, removed all cabinets, all appliances, and started on the ceiling dry wall. Next is to finish drywall removal and add recessed lights.

The before:

The progress:

Last 4 Months

2011-06-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I've obviously slacked on this blog. Since Feb 13, we've gone on two big trips:

A week cruise in the Caribbean followed by a few days in Key West.
A trip to Scotland with a round of golf at St. Andrews.

Pictures are up on our website.

We've started demolition on our kitchen. We're basically stripping it to the studs and starting over, including the knocking out of a load bearing wall. Hopefully, all goes well. I'll post picture updates on this blog.

Andy

Another Project

2011-02-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

During our vacation in Maui, Andy and I found a canvas print of turtles and a wooden hand-carved turtle. We decided to make the display area stand out more, so we applied a glass tile back splash to the wall. Here are the before and after shots.

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-25T19:07:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

We've been busy since my last post. We had Thanksgiving at our place the Sunday before Thanksgiving as Heather and I left for Costa Rica on Thanksgiving Day. We had a great time and pics are on our website.

For Christmas, we hung out with our families and Sean is here visiting from Germany.

Merry Christmas!

Andy

New Closet

2010-11-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We decided to rip out our existing basic shelves in the master walk-in closet and put in a DIY kit from Home Depot.

We made some modifications to the kit, and I think it turned out well.

Here's a pic of the plan I created with a free program by Google called SketchUp:

And here's the final result from right to left. It's a little hard to take pics in the closet, plus for some reason the camera didn't pick up the blue paint above the top shelf. The entire wall is a light blue:

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

This is our first year celebrating Halloween in our new home. We're having a BBQ in the driveway tomorrow night with hot dogs, hot apple cider, and of course, candy. We're looking forward to the trick-or-treaters and hopefully meeting some new neighbors.

Here are some pictures of our first attempt in using a carving kit.

Happy Halloween!

Andy and Heather

71 (+1)

2010-09-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I've improved my personal best.

After the 78, I went back to the mid to high 80s. I rented some clubs in Hilton Head and played a round, but the clubs were these awful hybrids. I'm not sure what they did to my swing, but it worked!

Today, our golf league played Los Robles, and I shot a +1, 71. I had 4 birdies and 5 bogies. Sadly, it should have been better, but the greens were just plugged and heavily sanded. The sand caused me to miss 3 putts that were right online.

Hopefully, I can keep it up. Not too likely though.

Andy

Trips Since Last Post

2010-09-30T20:15:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

It's been awhile since I've posted. We went to visit the Hilgerts in PA followed by a few days in New York City from Sept 4-11. A couple weeks later we went to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. While we were there, we did side trips to Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC.

Slideshows are on our website at:
http://www.andyandheatherkappes.com/2010.html

Andy

78

2010-08-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

I've been playing in the Amgen Golf League as much as I can. Each week we play 1 of 5 courses in the area. Yesterday was Camarillo Springs and I shot a 78. That's an 18 hole low for me in both score and relation to par (+6). I had 4 birdies, but 3 double bogies, so there's definitely room for improvement. On a 154 yard par 3, I was 18" short of a hole-in-one. Maybe next time.

Andy

Trips Planned

2010-08-03T09:45:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Not a ton has gone on over the past month or so. We went to a Dodger/Cubs game and we took Ryan to the Long Beach Aquarium.

I've been playing a lot of golf, and my last shot last Thursday was a 160 yard 8 iron that went right into the hole. The problem, was that I hit my drive into a hazard and had to drop. So, it was a 160 yard birdie.

We are packed with upcoming trips. We've been playing the credit card game getting free flights (30,000 miles if you sign up) and we're using the last of our Delta credit from our bump when we went to Greece. On tap we have PA/NY, followed by JAX to see Matt and Steph and 1/2, then Costa Rica. For 2011, we have a Caribbean Cruise planned and a return trip to Scotland to meet Sean and Katja and play St. Andrews.

Andy

Waterfall Pic

2010-06-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

I realized the picture previously posted didn't have the waterfall flowing. Here it is:

More Backyard Pics

2010-06-16T18:20:00.001-07:00

Here are some more pics...

Backyard Complete

2010-06-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Our backyard landscaping is done! We love it. The pictures don't quite do it justice because I tried to make a panorama, but it looks great. Here's a few pics. You can click on the pictures for bigger versions. Previously we had three 50' Cypress trees removed to pave the way for this landscaper.

Here's what we had done this past week:
1. Wood shavings/chips left over from Cypress trees removed
2. Tons of roots from the cypress trees removed
3. A 70' trench dug to run electric from the breaker box to the backyard.
4. 300W transformer and 11 x 20W spot lights added.
5. New row of sprinklers run in the front of the new plants.
6. Replacement of sprinklers along back wall
7. New dirt added
8. All new tropical plants
9. Wood Chips added
10. Replacement of some sprinklers in the front and 2 new sprinklers added.

Back From Maui & Backyard is Underway

2010-06-08T13:45:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We had a great time in Maui from May 1 -8. A slideshow is up on our website:

http://www.andyandheatherkappes.com/maui_2010.html

Work also began today to complete our backyard. We're really excited and hopefully the landscaper's vision will match ours.

I'll post pics of the backyard when it's done.

Andy

Broken Toe

2010-04-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it. Of all the times I've stubbed my toe and nothing serious happens. Of course this time, I broke my little toe, very similarly to how Heather broke her's 5 years ago. I had something in my eye, and went to go to the bathroom and stubbed my toe on the baseboards. It hurt like hell and my little toe didn't look quite right. A day and a half later, the Dr. confirmed it to be broken. 4-6 weeks heal time. Horrible timing.

In-progress Waterfall

2010-04-25T16:39:00.000-07:00

Heather and I got started on our waterfall Saturday at 8:30am. Buddy came by around 10am to help us out and he really helped us with setting the stones with mortar. We worked until around 7:30 and finish the main part of the falls.

Today (Sunday), Heather and I worked on running the hose from the pump and building up the sides. We finished around noon and started the pump for a test run. Leaks everywhere. We sprayed some expanding foam, which helped, but there were still some more leaks. We're going to let it dry and add more foam tomorrow.

Here are some in-progress shots:

Waterfall/Fountain in Backyard

2010-04-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we are going to attempt to build our own waterfall in our backyard. We ordered this waterfall from Costco, and they delivered it a few days ago:

Costco Waterfall Link

We have no idea what we're doing outside of the instructions and a DVD they gave us. Heather's dad is going to come over and give us a hand.

Here's the before...

After we install the waterfall, we're going to have a landscaper put in some plants.

After picture to come when we're done!

Andy

Back from Mammoth

2010-03-17T20:32:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We're back from Mammoth. We had a great time. We did some sking, snowboarding, and sledding. Our condo was right next to the Canyon Lodge at Mammoth, which was great for taking lunch breaks. We had snow on Monday, which we used to ski in the morning and play in the snow in the afternoon. There's a slideshow on our webpage.

Andy

Another Home Project

2010-03-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

This house down the street has spotlights shining down on their garage that looks really neat. I told Heather I wanted to do that to our place. Well, great plan, except I have no clue what I'm doing with electrical outside of watching my friend, Sean, run a new outlet behind his TV. I didn't let that stop me as I turned to the internet for guidance. The great followers of Doityourelf.com provided me very valuable feedback and ideas. After a week of postings, I was confident I was ready. Sean came over and we went to work. Everything worked out great and the lights look fantastic! The internet is a wonderful thing. You can read all the details if you want at:

http://forum.doityourself.com/electrical-c-d-c/418405-adding-floodlights.html

What a wonderful surprise...

2010-02-13T13:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a great day! Andy surprised me by sending one hundred beautiful pink roses to my work for Valentine's Day! They are absolutely amazing and I thought you would enjoy seeing them.

Got a New Toy...

2010-02-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

I was at Target over the weekend (no surprise there) and wandering through the clearance aisle when I came across this! Normally $130 on clearance for $32! I couldn't pass that up. Heather asked where we were going to put it and I said I'd make room for it. I loaded it in the Camry and we built it yesterday. It's a ton of fun! Now I just need a pool table, ping pong table, and a pinball machine and we're set.

Andy

So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu

2010-01-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Heather and I sold the Vette. It's sad to see it go, however, the money will come in handy with the new house. This leaves us with the Camry and Highlander.

Over the holidays we spent time at my parents, at Tamera's, with Grandpa and Jeanne, and with Sean and Katja as they were visiting from Germany. It's amazing to me that I can play so much golf in the summer, yet Sean is still able to beat me when he comes out here. I did get him once though, but it took an 80 at Buenaventura to beat him.

Not too much on the horizon. We signed up for Disney's "Give a day. Get a day." promo where you volunteer at an organization for a day and get a free day at Disneyland. We signed up to pass out water at a Marathon training session, but we're waiting to hear back from them. We're also going to go to Vegas for Heather's birthday next weekend.

Andy

Our First Tree in Our New Home!

2009-12-27T20:24:00.000-08:00

It all started with an innocent trip to Home Depot to choose our Christmas tree...

We've always picked a 5-6 foot tree, so that's the section we headed to. Then we saw the "perfect" tree. Another couple had already calmed it and were discussing whether or not it was too big for their house. Andy and I had selected another tree, but it didn't even begin to compare to the other one. I told Andy to stand with our tree and wait to see if the other couple was going to actually take the tree. The other couple decided it was indeed too big, so Andy asked if we could have it. The lady was a little hesitant to give up the tree, but when Andy mentioned it was for our first house she exclaimed, "It will be perfect!" After giving the tree a last twirl another family asked if we were going to take the tree and, if not, they wanted it. Andy and I made the final decision to buy the 8 foot tree!

Well, we soon realized our biggest problem wasn't deciding what tree to get, but having enough lights to put on the tree. After four trips to Home Depot and Target (we think the tree was eating the lights) we finally filled the tree with strings of lights...12 strings of lights to be exact!

Here's a picture of our fat, jolly tree.

Snow Scraper Needed in Thousand Oaks?!

2009-12-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

To our surprise, Heather went out to the car to head to work and found a layer of ice on the cars in the driveway! I guess it got down into the low 30s last night. We obviously don't have a snow scraper, so we got a couple pots of warm water and dumped them over the windshields.

I guess we better clear out the garage a little faster than we planned.

Everything else with the house is going well. We got a Christmas tree, but it's the biggest one we've ever bought, so we ran out of lights and everyone is sold out. Hopefully, they get more in soon.

Andy

Video of Our Home

2009-11-29T22:40:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I did one better than pictures of our new home...I put up a video. This is our version of MTV's "Cribs."

www.andyandheatherkappes.com/ourhome.html

I hope you enjoy it!

Andy

Learning by Trial and Error

2009-11-23T19:42:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone,

With Buddy's help, we've been able to get about half the house done with base boards. The rest will have to wait until this weekend.

Meanwhile, Heather and I are learning how to do all kinds of things. So far we've:

1. Replaced our garbage disposal
2. Installed vertical blinds
3. Mounted our TV on the wall and hid the cables in the wall
4. Installed a motion sensing light

Each one takes way longer than it should, but I think that's the way most projects go. Twice as long as you think, and at least 2 trips to Home Depot for each.

We will take pictures this weekend. By the time we get home from work, it's dark, so we can't take them during the week.

Andy

Almost Done Moving

2009-11-18T13:29:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Well, last Saturday we moved into our new place! Thanks a lot ot Mom, Dad, Tamera, Heather and Ivan. We would have been in a lot of trouble without you guys.

Heather and I have just about finished unpacking. The last step is the painting and installation of our base boards with Buddy's help. They were delivered today, and Heather and I, with help from Gretchen, are going to paint them so they're ready to go on Saturday for install.

After that, we can move the furniture against the walls in the bedrooms and the place should look decent enough for pictures.

I'll post pictures when the place is complete!

Andy

Paint, Paint Everywhere...

2009-11-09T14:11:00.000-08:00

Thanks to our family, especially my dad, we were able to complete the task of painting our dining room/living room, hallway, and three bedrooms in one weekend! We pulled 14-hour days, but were able to finish it all by Sunday night. Our moms did a wonderful and extensive job in cleaning the kitchen, windows, and a million other things. We are extremely grateful to everyone who helped!! Our house looks great and Andy & I love the colors. We decided on a taupe/sand for the dining room/living room and master bedroom and a dark, blue/grey for the two extra bedrooms. We even painted the ceilings and closets in the bedrooms. We are getting the carpets installed tomorrow and are making the big move on the 14th! Like Andy mentioned, we will post pics soon.

Closing Day!

2009-11-05T08:50:00.001-08:00

Well, this is it. We are set to get the keys today. We signed papers on Monday, and I dropped off a check on Tuesday, officially making us poor. But, we have a really nice house to show for it.

Our plan is to do a lot of painting this weekend, install baseboards early next week, and get carpet in towards the end of the week. Then we'll be all set to move in next weekend (the 14th).

We are in the same community as Aunt Linda and Uncle Dan, and only about a 2 minute walk away. We're really excited to be so close to them, and so close to my work. Amgen is literally across the street.

We'll post again with pictures of the new place!

Andy

House Update

2009-10-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

The bank finally accepted our offer!!! Our new closing date is November 12th, but it could still change. The lender scheduled the appraisal, so we should get a report by the end of next week. We had the inspection on Saturday and the inspector said, "It's a clean house." We were both relieved. Eventhough the house checked out fine, there is a laundry list of preventative and maintenance items that Andy and I will start once we move in. Ah the life of a homeowner...

Heather

Back From Greece

2009-10-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We had a great time in Greece. We spent 2 days in Athens touring the sites, 2 days in Crete where we met up with Tamera, Joey, and Ryan, followed by 3 days in Santorini which was beautiful. I'll try to get pics up on the website this weekend.

We had a little adventure on the way home as we were offered to bump our flight for $1000 Delta credit each. So we all did it and went to Paris for the night before a direct flight to LAX the following day.

On the housing front, we have had a bid in on a house for awhile, but we are waiting for the bank to accept the offer as it is a short sale. The process is very long and drawn out. Hopefully, we can get an answer soon and get finish up the process.

Andy

Cubs Lose...Again

2009-08-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We had a great time this past weekend. Friday night, we went to the Cubs vs. Dodgers' game with our friends Leslie and Myra and had amazing seats. Cubs lost, which is no surprise, but we had a lot of fun.

Saturday, we headed out to Moreno Valley to play some golf with our UCLA roommate Mike and his girlfriend Amy. It was great to see Mike for the first time in a long time (5 yrs in and out of Iraq). Amy is extremely nice and a hell of a golfer. They are getting ready for a year trip around the world starting in September, so hopefully we can meet up again when they make their layover in LA.

We put in a bid on a house and we are waiting to hear back from the bank as it is a short-sale. We'll keep everyone posted!

Post again soon!

Andy

Graduation and Vacation

2009-08-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I am finally finishing my MBA! Tonight is my last class and graduation is on Saturday. I'm so happy to be done.

We are also starting to get ready for our next trip which is to Greece with Tamera, Joey, and Ryan. They were nice enough to let us tag along and we're going to see Athens, Crete, and Santorini. We are really excited. Ever since the olympics I've wanted to go.

We're also starting to look at houses. We're having a hard time meeting all of our criteria in a price range we can afford. We're patient though, so I'm sure we'll come across something.

Andy

Back From Jamaica

2009-07-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We're back from Jamaica. We had a great time with Matt and Steph. The resort was really nice and Matt and I did a lot of golfing.

A slideshow is now up on our website:

www.andyandheatherkappes.com/jamaica.html

Enjoy!

Andy

New Website Design

2009-06-09T09:55:00.001-07:00

Hi,

Well, I'm playing with the look of our website, and it's almost done. All the links should be updated to the new version in a week or so.

Take a look and see what you think!

Andy and Heather's Website

Andy

Counting Down the Days to Jamaica

2009-05-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Andy and I are counting down the days until we leave for Jamaica (42 days to be exact)!

Andy has been trying to get to the golf course once a week to practice and I have been on a hunt for a new bathing suit. We are also trying to walk/jog down by the beach a couple of times during the week. It's so nice with the sun staying up longer.

Andy and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary on May 6th! We went to a nice dinner at a new steak and seafood restaurant (thanks to the gift card and recommendation by Sean & Gretchen). I also made Andy watch our wedding video and, of course, got teary eyed.

We will post again soon.

~Heather

Next Trip Planned!

2009-04-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

The pictures are up from the UK on our site.

We have planned our next trip! We're going to meet Matt and Steph (friends we met in Tahiti) at a Sandals in Jamaica for a week. We're really looking forward to it. It's an all inclusive, including free golf.

I'm about to start my last term for my MBA...finally! It'll be 3 2/3 years total (they're on trimesters). I can't wait to be done.

Post again soon (which means like a month)!

Andy

Back from the UK

2009-04-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We just got back from the UK. We had a great time! Pictures will follow soon.

We had excitement our last day as we saw the wrong time on our itinerary for our return flight. We were getting ready around 8:30am to go to Westminster Abbey when Heather realized our plane left in 2 hours at 10:30am and not 1:30pm as we thought! We jumped on the Tube (subway) and train, power-walked through the airport and got lucky with a short security line. We walked up just as they were about to board.

I'll post again when pictures are on our website!

Andy

Vacation Details

2009-02-25T10:18:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

We decided on our side trips while in the UK. We'll see York, Edinburgh, St. Andrews, and London. It should be a lot of fun. Just a month away!

We had a major setback last night. Our DVR died! Dish is sending us a new one, but we'll be about 5 days without it. Life is rough.

I get to go to Seattle for a week for work which I am excited about. Other than that, things are the same.

Post again soon,
Andy

Cars Fixed, New Vacation Planned!

2009-01-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

We got the cars fixed. The Vette was just the battery and we got the dings and the side mirror fixed on the Camry.

We just booked our next vacation...London! We're going to meet up with Sean and Katja there. We still need to plan the details and any side trips we want to do. We're really excited.

Post again soon!

Andy

Stupid Cars

2009-01-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I lightened up the look of the blog and our website. Hopefully you like it.

Two of our cars have issues. Heather got backed into in the Camry last month, so we're trying to get that fixed. It needs two dents fixed and the side mirror replaced. Meanwhile, I got in the Vette yesterday to go to work and it wouldn't start. It looks like it may just be the battery, so I'm going to buy a new one today. Hopefully it works!

I ended up winning one of the two bets...the Eagles covered. Stupid Texas couldn't put away Ohio State by more than 8 pts. Oh well, at least they came back and crushed OSU's dreams at the end.

I guess that's really all. I'm trying to post more often.

Andy

Win in Vegas...Finally!

2009-01-04T14:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally won in Vegas! The bad news is that Heather lost to offset my wins. But, I still have two pending bets:

1. The Eagles to beat the Vikings by more than 3 points (Currently Eagles are up by 2).
2. Texas to beat Ohio State by more than 8 points.

If those both win, I'll be up another $150.

Class starts up again on Friday. I have Friday/Saturday classes on 5 weekends and I have a one unit class on 2 weekends.

Next up are the January birthdays...Heather, Mom, Chrissy, and we'll meet my Uncle Tom for his birthday.

Andy

Christmas and New Year's

2008-12-26T10:15:00.000-08:00

Hey Leanna! I'll try to post more...sorry (Although Heather could post too!). We had a nice Christmas with the family. Tamera's on Christmas Eve then my parent's on Christmas. For New Year's we're going to Vegas. It should be fun.

We are really enjoying the Highlander. We took it to get our Christmas tree and it came in handy for hauling the Christmas stuff to everyone's house.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Andy

Back from The Big Island

2008-11-25T10:54:00.001-08:00

Well, it's obvious we don't really use this blog. Oh well. We went to Hawaii a couple weeks ago and our pictures are up...www.andyandheatherkappes.com/bigisland.html.

We're staying in Ventura for the holidays. No more trips planned...yet. We bought a Highlander and we're going to look to sell the Vette. It's getting a lot of miles on it, and I don't want to be stuck with a huge mechanic bill.

Andy

Fun Over the 4th

2008-07-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hey, we are up to two readers! Thanks Leanna!

We had a good time over the 4th. The weekend of June 28th we went up to Mammoth with Tamera and Joey. We had a lot of fun fishing, hiking, and just hanging out. The following weekend we went to Vegas with them. That was a blast as well. Heather and I saw Mystere and Tamera and Joey saw Jubilee. We all enjoyed the shows. Joey and Tamera did well at gambling. Heather and I...not so much. Oh well, we had fun. Watch out for that 00!

We don't have much planned for the near future so it will be nice to relax. Our next trip will probably be to Michigan for my cousin's wedding.

Tomorrow is Tamera's birthday...PARTY!!!

Talk to you soon.

Europe Pictures are Up!

2008-06-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Our Europe pictures are up!

I've posted a slideshow on our website with our Europe pictures and songs to go with for entertainment. The best way to view it is to open the link below, then right click on the "Europe Slideshow.pdf" link and "Save target As." Then just save it to your desktop and open it from there. It's a big file (~50MB), so it will take time to view. If you don't have time for the entire slideshow (~17 min), you can hit "Esc" and then just flip through them.

www.andyandheatherkappes.com/europe.html

Hope you enjoy it,
Andy

Back from Europe

2008-05-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

Hello to the one of you who reads this (Hey Tamera!). We are back from Europe. We've been really busy since returning, so we don't have our pictures ready yet, but I have left some general reviews for other travelers on the following sites. It's kind of a summary of our trip in Venice and Paris...

Paris:
http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/16923/paris--post-trip-review.html

Venice:
http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/17016/venice--post-trip-review.html

We're right back to the airport this weekend. We're going to Lake Tahoe to attend Brenda's wedding (One of Heather's coworkers).

Hopefully pics will be on our site next week!

More Keywords

2008-03-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

Cell Phones Don't Like Water

2008-02-15T22:10:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Heather and I haven't been up to much lately. We celebrated all the January birthdays (Heather, Mom, Chrissy, Uncle Tom, and more) and went to Hadleigh Hilgert's 1st birthday as well. We haven't traveled anywhere, but we're going to Mesa, AZ for Cubs' Spring Training in March. Neither of us have been and we'll meet up with Uncle Tom and also with Lachelle and Danny, a couple we met in Tahiti. We're really looking forward to it. GO CUBBIES!

I didn't check my pockets and my cell phone went through the wash. Needless to say, it's dead. I've ordered a phone on Ebay and I hope it works.

That's really all for now!

Andy

Happy New Year's

2008-01-03T22:24:00.000-08:00

We're back from Florida. We had a great time with Matt and Steph. We spent New Year's in St. Augustine on Mr. Cater's boat. Matt gave us some excitement on the boat on the way back, but everything worked out great. The weather then drastically changed, getting down to 30 degrees...in Florida!!! We were ready for it though. When we arrived at LAX, our luggage was a no show. After waiting for an hour, the Delta lady said that there was another flight from Atlanta arriving in 20 minutes, so we waited, and fortunately our bags were on that flight.

Pictures from our trip should be up this weekend on our website!

Here are the keyword links again... Andy Kappes, Heather Kappes, Andy and Heather, Andy and Heather Kappes.

The Holidays

2007-12-21T08:54:00.000-08:00

Well, the blog is up. I'm not sure how often this will be read, but we'll try and use it. We'll be here for Christmas, spending time with our families. For New Year's we're off to Jacksonville, FL to visit Matt & Steph, one of the couples we met in Tahiti. We're really looking forward to seeing them and taking a trip down to St. Augustine!

Everything else is the same for us. We're both working at the same places (Amgen and Griffin & Griffin) and we just finished a photography class at the community college. I'm about half way done with my MBA at Pepperdine and I will finish at the end of 2009.

That's all for now. Again, we'll try to keep this updated.

It worked for Google

2007-12-21T08:00:00.001-08:00

Well, my attempt to get our webpage found on Yahoo! search engine failed, however, it did work for Google. If you search for Andy and Heather Kappes or just Heather Kappes, our site is first!

Keyword Hyperlink

2007-12-20T15:08:00.000-08:00

Blog Creation

2007-12-20T15:00:00.000-08:00

I'm creating this blog in an effort to get our website listed on Yahoo! I hope it works!