Distraction

I feel like I am generally an easily distracted person, but lately the house is all consuming. This is bad. Mostly because it seems to be moving sooo slow and I am so incredibly anxious to move in. My hope is by Thanksgiving. That particular hope is fading at the moment. A few months ago, Mark decided he wanted to go the BYU vs Georgia Tech game. Since my brother lives in Atlanta and BYU looked like it might be good at the time, we went ahead and booked the trip. As the trip rolled around, Paige came down with yet another double ear infection, a million decisions needed to be made on the house, and BYU's season had ceased to be exciting. I almost cancelled, but I really wanted to see my brother and his family. The big, freak snowstorm clinched my desire to visit a warmer climate. I was hoping the trip would be a big distraction and that when I came home I would find a bunch of progress. At least part of that sentence happened.

Paige was AMAZING on the plane. The snow delayed us by 2 hours and we missed our direct flight to Atlanta, instead we had a few layovers and 2 connections. We left our house at 5:30 AM and reached Atlanta at 10:30 PM.  It was a long day and my little one was a trooper. I also discovered that first class is a luxury I only wish I could afford every time I traveled. It makes a big difference, especially with a little one.

Georgia is beautiful and I have once again fallen in love with the South. I love everything about it. I would pack up and move in a instant! I loved seeing my family. It is a rare occasion and I cherish it. My sister-in-law basically puts me to shame as a mother and threw the most amazing He-Man party ever. The BYU game turned out to be really fun, and winning GT's homecoming game felt pretty good. The Southern hospitality was evident at the game, minus the protesters that I thought only hit up the Conference Center. Apparently they follow us Mormons around, hoping that they are more effective at other venues. I learned on my way to the game that Brigham Young is burning in hell and I will soon join him. Not too worried as of yet. There are days I feel I might burn in hell, but not because of Brigham Young.

It was a pretty low key trip, we did hit up the Coke museum where Paige fell in love with the Polar Bear and the rest of us fell in the love with the tasting room. The other exhibits were pretty ridiculous. We ate to much which is the standard on any vacation, but the melt-in-your-mouth BBQ and amazing birthday cake were more than worth it.

We had a 5 hour layover in SLC. We spent the time enjoying the wonders of the airport including but not limited to the moving walkways, sensored soap dispensers and faucets, riding vacuum cleaners, and helping Dad cart luggage.

 

Mark and I enjoying the game

Despite the confused look, Paige LOVED this bear. It was pretty amazing for a person in a costume. The eyes and mouth moved and Paige was enthralled. It was a constant fight keeping her from darting back to the bear.

Paige channeling her inner Sh'Gora. The girl loved the sword and was one of the few kids who refused to put it down. At one point, she stole another one and was packing two. She gave the pinata a good whack with it but didn't produce much results. I love watching her with bigger kids, she thinks she fits right in--I guess she does!

They had this really cool swing, much better than the black harness things we have here. She loves a good swing.

Paige has never met a stranger and loves anyone who will give her attention. She could be found climbing into any unassuming lap. She feels like sitting cross-legged is an open invitation, whether your have lap space or not. Here she enjoyed some good bedtimes stories with Sam and Caden. She was pretty much in love with them both.

This is Caden's roller coaster ride that Paige wishes she could steal. She rode this thing over and over and over again.

Ya......Courtney made this, yes all of it, from scratch, and yes it is edible. This cake also is dairy and egg free yet still tasted delicious. I can make a killer cake from a mix, and if lucky, can frost it.

Gum paste people, this is gum paste.

Here are a few pictures of the house all trimmed out. This is how it looked when I left it. I haven't been inside since we got home. I do know nothing happened on the outside, I am hoping the painter has made a lot of progress on the inside. The paint will make a lot of my trim features actually visible on camera.

Bonus room to bonus bedroom. On the left is the bathroom.

Bonus room looking from the bedroom. This is gonna be cool someday when we have furniture for it.

Looking into the master. There are 3 windows, but couldn't get them all in. The brown in the tray is bead board.

My pantry, better learn the art of food storage!

My cool transom my builder lovingly put up with. I was really excited about this request. He was not, but he figured it out and did a great job!

The kids' bathroom. This bead board also highlights one wall in each of the children's bedrooms. It will look great bright white contrasted with my dark paint.

 

In other news, Mark's cancer scan was clear again---minus the reoccurring pneumonia he can't seem to kick. They initially thought it was reoccurring NHL without taking into consideration Mark's current medical history, gave Mark a few goosebumps seeing those words on the report. Depending on his blood work, he might need some sort of infusion to help him survive flu season.  Here's to hoping next post shows lots of progress!

Snot, Snot, and a Little Construction

Oh September, glad we survived you! A wicked virus invaded our house and refused to go away. We all had a cold for weeks until it turned into double ear infections for Mark and Paige, a sinus infection for Mark, croup for Paige, and a secondary infection complete with mouth sores for me. It was a lot of fun. Paige and I are feeling much better, but poor Mark is still struggling and we hope he gets feeling better soon.  This particular day, Paige was fighting a 104 degree fever. It stuck around for two days. The following week, she had the flu. We were pretty grateful for the washing machine.

After we finally felt like we could leave the house, Paige and I went right to work making some important decisions. Paint----how I loathe picking out paint. I have the perfect scheme in my head, but trying to translate that is becoming a challenge. I have seriously agonized over paint for months, pinning, googling, researching, being super forward and inviting myself over to look at other people's paint, and hitting up the home show. The home show didn't help at all, unless you are looking for beige, there was plenty of beige. Paige and I finally hit up Sherwin Williams and few other stores and bought about a dozen sample pints. The sheetrock guys gave me some scraps and away we went. My mom came out to help and set up Paige with her own little paint project.

Grandma is so smart! Paige took her rock painting pretty seriously and left the really messy stuff alone. I really liked a lot of my choices, but narrowed it down pretty quickly.

The top color will go in Mark's office where there isn't much natural light. The darker shade will go in the entry, main room, kids' rooms, hallway, and bathroom. It will be set off with a bunch of white trim, built-ins, and bead board. I like the dramatic look of dark paint contrasted with white. They are the same color, just different percentages. The blues are different and have caused me anxiety. I want the perfect gray/blue. I have seen one of these shades in two different homes and love it, the other may have a little more gray in it, but I am afraid to commit to it since I haven't seen it in person.

Yes----they really are different! I am being teased for agonizing over colors that are very close. I probably can't go wrong either way, right!?! Feel free to weigh in on your favorite. I still don't know what I will do. I do feel pretty confident about what I want for my kitchen and bathroom floors.....

 

This is also my cabinet color, minus the bead board. I want a simple, more shaker style look. I know, I am crazy and won't be doing real hardwoods or tile. Honestly, I have had them both and hated them. Someday when I live alone and have a maid, I will have them again. I love this vinyl for so many reasons. It looks really good, is essentially indestructible, and easy to clean. 

 

The sheetrock has since been taped and textured, but here are some shots of actual walls in the home. The sheetrock guys were awesome and super fast. I am getting so anxious to see things move along. We have officially been in our disgusting rental for a year. I have once again channeled my inner Laura Ingalls to heat our home. I hate the fire building and want a real furnace again!

A little out of focus on this last one, I take all these on my old school phone.

 

 

I wish this picture was better and you could actually see Paige. She is sleeping in the tractor buddy seat. Lately she hates nap time and it is a daily fight to get her to take one. She still really needs a nap and if she doesn't get one is crazy tired in the evening. Mark has been doing a lot of the excavation work and is really good about letting Paige go along. She loves the tractor which makes Mark very happy. Before too long, she was fast asleep sitting straight up. So funny! I am hoping the nap hating is a phase. After an hour fight, she will usually succumb, but I would rather not have to fight her to do it.

 

General Conference was last weekend and it was wonderful. I LOVE conference weekend! I need it so desperately. I was worried I wouldn't be able to watch it much with Paige around, but she played pretty good and really loved the choir. She was enthralled and clapped when they finished. I can't wait to read my favorite talks, there were so many good ones. I needed the pick me up and re-commitment to better myself and repent for all my short comings. I love the Brethren!

 

 

Last but not least, I can't help myself and must post Paige's Halloween costume. I saw this initially on Pinterest and found a gal who could make it for me. I wanted Paige to be a scarecrow last year, but couldn't find one that was girly. I saw this and gasped. I can't wait to see Paige in it. Paige doesn't want to keep the hat on, and I am plotting ways to make her. It is so darn cute! The girl that made this is amazing and is doing a bunch of cute costumes this month.

 

Pretty stinkin' cute!