Quick catch-up here.
Some pictures from the last week +, courtesy of my phone since we can't locate our point-and-shoot in all our chaos.
First up, Tay's graduation.
Luckily Evie made it just in time to see her dada walk.
This was her first public outing since her birth, so she was pretty darn fascinated with it all.
Scarlett was there, too, bunny in tow.
Her bunny is her favorite comfort item, so Britt and Austin tracked another one down on ebay (I think), just in case the original gets... lost, which it almost did this very day. Thankfully we were sitting across the aisle from the Billat clan (Hailey was also graduating), and Rebecca texted after our not-so-discreet early exit that the bunny was left behind. Phew!! That was a close one.
I nabbed a few pictures from the jumbo-tron. Bill fought the crowd to go down near the floor to snap a few pictures, but I've yet to see them. Ain't nobody got time to collaborate around here.
I'm so stinkin' happy for Taylor. I think he's pretty happy, too.
I love this picture EXCEPT for the funky way I'm wearing my purse. It was so cold, I just wasn't thinking about anything but getting the coat ON.
Nae's parents came, too.
It's nice that even as a college graduate, Tay can still be himself.
Lo wanted a picture by the BYU sign, too, since this was also her final semester, as she will be attending cosmetology school in the fall. But we didn't get THAT shot, so this was the next best thing.
Then we threw Mar in the mix, since she was there... in line... freezing too.
We got to meet Shi's newest boy, Kody.
A fine young man that also served in the England London Mission.
So grateful for wonderful grandparents who made the long drive to support Tay.
Afterwards we celebrated at Cheesecake Factory at City Creek.
That's my boy.
That evening the girls all drove back out to Springville for Hailey's bridal shower.
Thus my post title "back and forth." Eagle Mountain to Provo to West Valley to downtown Salt Lake to Springville to Eagle Mountain to West Valley to Eagle Mountain... all in one day.
That's how I roll lately.
On Saturday we spent the day preparing for family pictures.
The whole day.
Oh, how I wanted the pictures to turn out.
But it was sooooooo windy. And cold.
AAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!
Hailey was taking them for us, and she gave it her best shot, but Evie was just not that happy about being in the cold, along with the rest of us.
But a few shots turned out pretty good regardless.
This one is my favorite:
(Note: Bill isn't wearing his glasses because he has those darn transition lenses that turn into sunglasses outside. Something we forgot to think about hahahaha.)
This one is pretty cute, too.
What I hate most is my darn pants. I thought I was grabbing my favorite pair of jeans when I threw my suitcase together, but instead ended up with my least favorite pair. In fact, as of this week, the pair I'm wearing here are now painting jeans.
I also love this shot:
A big thank you to Hailey for being willing to work with a large group, and a shout out to Austin, a genius at editing.
Evie's baby blessing was on Sunday. She was so adorable in her "princess dress," and handled her first week of church amazingly well. Taylor gave her a beautiful blessing, and afterward we snapped some pictures. I took an old point-and-shoot with me, which some of the pictures are on, but I can't find the connector to get the pics off the camera in the limbo-ish state we are currently living in. Ain't nobody got time to track it down (although, I admit, I have looked several times).
Evie slept through the pictures... but that's better than screaming, amIright?
AND we took pictures looking into the glaring sun, so they are especially squinty pics.
It was great to have such great support from our families.
(Matt and Angela's family were also there, but left before we took pictures. Bummer.)
Lo invited Kody again, so I suppose it's a good sign that we didn't scare him off.
I am a fan of sister pictures, so I had to include this one, too.
We had a dinner at Britt and Austin's after sacrament meeting. Again, I snapped pics on the point-and-shoot that is missing it's connector (and has the wrong size of memory card for my computer). I will add them as soon as I can get them off of the camera.
We loved spending time with our two beautiful granddaughters.
We drove home on Monday and spent the rest of the week working on our house at every opportunity. I have had so many friends come and help (mainly with painting), and I realized today that I have not properly memorialized their service by taking pics. I hope to improve. As I go into each room in my house, I think about those who helped paint it. They are all such great examples to me, and I hope to be better at offering that kind of service in the future.
So I don't forget (I know I will) here's the quick overview: entryway ceiling and hall = Marci Stewart; family room = Marianne Bandy and Holly Van Blarcum; office = Annie Lawson, Kelly Anderson, and Jen Otteson; Mar's room = Natalie Jones; laundry room = Misty Weed. All of this ladies made sacrifices to serve ME. It seriously moves me to tears.
Mar was assigned to make a photo backdrop for the YW camp fundraiser on Saturday, but since she is obviously the busiest person at our house, Bill and I helped her out late Friday night after a long day working on the house. Billy-my-hero stuck it out until completion, and we called it date night.
Then he let me take a fun picture. He's the best.
Saturday I started another painting project. All of this will be black - my favorite color.
Unfortunately, I ran out of paint and had to order more on Amazon, so I'll start back up tomorrow.
I love getting snaps during the week to break up the monotony and tedium of endless projects.
Speaking of sister pictures... these cute Sisters stopped by to say goodbye.
Sister Nelson (left) is going home on Wednesday. Sister Stewart will stay, but we are officially attending our new ward, which means we aren't even in their mission anymore.
We have been blessed to get to know so many wonderful sister missionaries. I love them!
That night we attended the reception of another sister that served in our ward (right before our Stake was put in the Denver North mission boundaries... so in Castle Rock we are back in the Co. Springs mission)
Ashely Jane and Jessica (aka Sister Tucker and Sister Carson).
I love keeping up with these sweet girls and seeing what they are doing after they get home.
Later that night Bill took me to see all the renovations going on at his Colorado Springs office.
Yep, he's living in chaos everywhere right now.
Then we went to a nearby Italian restaurant. It totally made up for our poster-making date night from the night before.
On Sunday we attended our new ward for the first time. It was good.
I may have said a few stupid things (I hate being the one that doesn't know anyone and it totally takes me out of my comfort zone), but I will survive. I will like it so much better when I get to know a few people and feel less like everyone's checking me out. I'm not a fan of that.
Late late that evening we gave the pups haircuts. It needed to be done sooooo badly that I felt it was compassionate service, thus a worthy Sabbath activity.
The pups have been visibly happier today. I am dead serious.
Mar had her final choir concert of the year tonight... Rockin' the 80's.
You know I loved it and totally wanted to sing along.
I grabbed a picture of her with one of her latest crushes {Brady}.
Don't worry, she has more than one boy she's interested in, and has more than one boy who's interested in her. We have to ask lots of questions to keep up with it all.
We have taken the 25 minute drive to Castle Rock at least once a day this past week.
That is a lot of back and forth.
I spent about 7.5 hours there today, and plan to spend most of the day-into-the-evening there tomorrow. I keep thinking it's just a little house, but man, it has a darn lot of walls and doors and trim and stuff. Excited for it all to be finished. We are t-minus-17 days until we need it to be move-in ready. Bill just said, "Seventeen days. That's scary."
Wish us luck. And stamina.
