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!