Progress and some big news.

We are soooooo tired. It's been an exhausting few weeks. Bill and I have been madly working away on our house, and Mar has had endless hours of play practice each day. We keep telling each other that we can make it through the next two weeks. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Here's a little of the progress we've made. I doesn't look like much now, but, believe me, it will be awesome when it all finally comes together.

Here is the island countertop AFTER we had a little Friday night demo party with the raised bar:

Here is it after the countertops have been removed and the raised bar lowered...

And here is it with the new quartz countertops installed.

The faucet and accessories have yet to be connected back up (tomorrow... please??), so it's not quite a functional kitchen again, but soon. Very soon. We will also be installing a subway tile backsplash along that back wall... sometime in the next two weeks.

Aaaand I'm trying to sell my Christmas gift on Varage Sale, as these 30" tall barstools will no longer fit under the counter. AAAAUUUUGGGGHHH.


We have pulled up all the old carpet and tack strips in the master bedroom and bath, changed out the fixtures, painted the cabinets, and added hardware. On the left of the picture below is the new shower door, yet to be installed (sometime... in the next two weeks).

We had carpet (yes, carpet) up the side of our bathtub. Don't ask me why. We will be beadboarding and trimming it out, which will look much, much better.

I know I mentioned the brass fix we did. We went from this...

...to this

And from this...

...to this

I'm telling you, people, spray paint is the answer.

Ahhhhh.... I love it!
(We ordered the oil-rubbed bronze hinges on Amazon at only a buck each, and we'll be changing out those door stoppers after the floors get refinished to the same finish, also cheap on Amazon)


Yep, we had to move out all of our enormous and heavy bedroom furniture to pull that carpet up. We thank our lucky stars that a few years back some workers left those easy glide sliders behind, which we have held on to for such a time as this.

We found all kinds of fun surprises underneath our carpet... sunflower seed shells... a double edged razor blade... lots of words written on the floor. It's crazy to think they've been there ALL ALONG. We are installing some wood-look waterproof laminate in these two rooms -- I can't wait to show you when it's finished. Bill and I have been camping out in Lo's room, which has been very comfortable and cozy {wink}.


So you may be asking WHY we are making all these long-dreamed of changes so suddenly and with a time-frame...

...we're selling our home of 15 years and moving to Castle Rock.

We closed on our new-not-so-new place today.

It's a bit of a fixer-upper, so we'll get to do this process all over again.

I'm really really excited.

It's smaller (hallelujah).
It's conveniently located. So close to so many things.
5 minutes from the freeway,
5 minutes from a hospital,
5 minutes from a movie theater,
5 minutes from the outlet stores,
5 minutes away from Cafe Rio,
Smashburger,
Mad Greens,
Mod Pizza,
Crave Burgers,
etc, etc, etc.
6 minutes away from a brand new King Soopers Marketplace.
7 minutes away from a brand new Sam's Club, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Ulta.
6 to 7 minutes to the high school (should Mar decide to transfer. 20 minutes away from Legend, which is comparable to how long it took to get to the high school Tay and Britt attended.)

Maybe all of that excites me a bit because I have spent over 15 years driving 7 mins+ just to exit my neighborhood, with another 5 mins+ to get to ANYWHERE.

More on all of this another day... Mar needs the computer and I have stuff to do.
Always always stuff to do.

Pray that we'll make it through the next 2 weeks (our goal to have our house listed + 7 Fiddler On the Roof performances + Bill's annual St. Patrick's Day parade participation in Colorado Springs).
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Winds of change.

I have neglected the blog due to busy-ness. I'm hoping to start catching up soon... so much to share, so little time. Things are happening and changing, and I definitely want to document them, for memory's sake.

Here's just a little glimpse of life lately:

I took another quick trip to UT to hang out with my girl Evie, who is home at last.

AND I got to hang out with my girl Scarlett, too!

Ahhhhhh... the blessing of being a grammy. I love these girls.

I also visited with all my UT kids - some multiple times. I love spending time with them all!

(Bill and Mar had to stay home to go to work and school... I'm so glad to have the flexibility to go!)

Once I was home I went headfirst into home improvement projects.

My apologies for the blurry pic, but it's what I can quickly access at the moment.

See all that brass???? UGH! I've been wanting to rid myself of it FOR YEARS.

It's happening. In fact, it's happened. 

I thought I had pictures, but remembered that I had Snapchatted the pics to my kids, thus I don't really have them. I will take some and share... soon! I'm telling you, I wish I had done this simple fix long, long ago! And no, I didn't spend upwards of $800-$1000 to change out the hardware. 

Today I am purchasing paint.

I was hoping to be able to match the existing paint, to no avail.

These walls were painted 15 years ago, and we know the painters who did them thinned the paint down like crazy. I can't get the color to match OR the flat finish to match, so it looks like I'll be repainting the entire master bedroom/bathroom, rather than just a quick touch-up.

We are getting new kitchen countertops, refinishing the wood floor on the main level, and replacing the flooring in the master bedroom/bath. I'm telling you, it's been a bit crazy! I'm excited for the end result, though, which I hope to share in the next couple of weeks.

Once we're finished, we'll begin again.

More on that to come!

Birthdays galore.

The day before Evelynn made her appearance, MY baby had a birthday.

She's 16.

SIXTEEN.

I have no pictures from that memorable day.

It was a Sunday.

I was in Utah.

Mar and Bill were in Colorado.

Bill had Bishop duties.

Mar had the biggest piano duet competition EVER.

That night they had a Stake youth fireside to attend.

Sorry, baby.

Our kind neighbors, the Weeds, had Mar and Bill over for a birthday treat late that evening.

Thanks, neighbors!!

I promised a get-together this Saturday (no biggie, just a month late) for her and some friends.
And today I snapped a few of our traditional Mauri birthday pictures:

Love her.

The next day (Evelynn's birthday), Bill took Mar to get her driver's license.

I'm just as excited as she is, I promise.

On January 15th, Bill and Mar were back in UT to see Evie, so we had a little family January birthday celebration at Britt's house.

 Little Billy got some awesome lovin' from Scarlett.

I had purchased a surprise birthday present for Mar (since the guitar she got for Christmas was also to cover for her birthday {expensive}... gotta love having a birthday close to Christmas, am I right?), a dress that her big sis Shi helped pick out. She loved it.

 Lex had made Jason his fave cake (confetti with sprinkles), and I had purchased a cake, so we decked them all out with one candle per person, sang a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, and let them each make a wish and blow. Seriously, these are the best times (I subconsciously must have stolen that sentiment from Lo's Snapchat post below, as I scrolled down after typing and saw that's exactly what she said haha).

By the 20th we were back in CO, so I made Bill a proper homemade German Chocolate inspired cake. It wasn't without it's hiccups, but it looked pretty good in the end. Mar was at a {boy} friend's house that evening, so Bill and I went to dinner, shopped for a couple pairs of shoes that he desperately needed, then invited Misty and Blair over for some cake and ice cream. A nice, quiet, unassuming birthday, unlike the grand party of last year.

 We don't usually turn off the lights when we light candles, but we decided that apparently the Weeds do, as Misty promptly hit the lights as soon as those candles were blazing. Made for some interesting pictures, though!

I'm a bit of a stickler when it comes to making sure Bill has all the candles on his cake. This year it was 51. I don't know why I get such a kick out of the crazy candle meltdown and all that smoke every year.

So, while we celebrated Evelynn's Birth Day this January, we also celebrated Mauri, Jason, Lynnea, and Bill.

Happy Birthday to all!

Meet Evelynn.

Here she is... Evelynn Rose Syddall.

8 pounds, 3 ounces; 19 inches long (I think).

Born January 9th... somewhere between 9:30 and 10:30pm (I'll add the exact time when I know it).

No known complications or concerns prior to birth.

Shazaam. Life likes to throw you some curve balls, that's for sure.

This is primarily a pictorial, with a few comments thrown in {wink}. All pictures are from my phone, either directly, or saved from your-favorite-family-app-and-mine, Snapchat. Aaaannnnddd I might have grabbed a few from Facebook.

January 10th

All I've got to say is OUCH!

Daddy Tay changing his first diaper...

...well done!

January 11th

January 12th

Grandma Fisher

Great Grandpa and Grandma G

January 13th

 It literally broke my heart to see this sweet baby try to cry, but having no sound come out due to the respirator tubes going down her throat (right up against her vocal chords). It felt so... incomplete. A good loud wail is one of the sources of satisfaction that come from crying. No satisfaction for Evie on this day {boo}.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Syddall (Grandpa had to step out due to a dry throat cough... and there's no coughing in the NICU haha)

 Gigi and Little Billy selfies with the Queen...

 Oh my precious baby toes!

Finally Lynnea gets to hold her sweet baby girl.

January 14th

No more respirator. Woot! Woot!

 Once Evelynn had vocal abilities, the nurses in the NICU referred to her as "the boss."

January 15th

Evie needed a little more oxygen, so was put on CPAP support for a few days.

 Great Auntie Lia... she's a pro at the whole NICU thing, so we were sooooo grateful for her visit!

January 16th

January 18th

Downsized {this time for good} to the high pressure ventilator... progress!

January 19th

January 20th

(Also Nae's birthday)

January 21st

 (I obviously screen-shotted this at the wrong moment... or did something funky as I did it to get the notification that Snapchat does not support split screen view.)

Jase and Lex finally got to come see Evie for the first time. Britt and Scarlett were there, too, so someone had to sit in the waiting room with Scarlett, then swap out to visit Evelynn. I think Wonderful Sweet Scarlett loved her time spent with Uncle Jason, don't you?

"Oh, her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like they're not shining...

Her hair, her hair falls perfectly without her trying.

She's so beautiful..."

January 22nd

January 23rd

January 24th

January 25th

January 27th

January 28th

(This was the cutest video ever... literally, within seconds, Evie goes from being awake, to peaceful slumber. I loved it!)

January 29th

Burp, baby, burp.

January 30th

Skin-to-skin with Daddy.

So there she is!

This week just might be the week. Tay and Nae had to stay overnight in the hospital last night, then again tonight... if all goes well, Evelynn gets to go home!!

I am so excited for them all.

Goodbye NICU.

Goodbye feeding tubes.

Goodbye little curtained, windowless room.

Goodbye tiny roommates.

Hello sleep deprivation.

Hello home quarantine {for a few months}.

Hello quart-sized hand sanitizers in every room.

Hello complete responsibility.

Best of all:

Hello precious baby snuggles whenever you want them.

I'm planning another trip to UT. I can't wait to hold this sweet girl myself!