Fall break lowdown + basement progress.

If I don't start somewhere, I'm going to get very very backlogged, so I'm gonna dig deep and git 'er done. I'm sitting here on Bill's old old laptop (with a broken backspace key, which can be so annoying since I backspace A LOT, and Mr. Old Laptop randomly morphs the cursor without notice, so suddenly I'm typing along and SHAZAAM, I'm typing in the middle of some previous sentence somewhere... also annoying).

I've spent the morning painting, running to a paint store in Parker, then painting again, finishing up just in time to chat with Mar at lunch and help her email in a two weeks notice to her employer at the Parker Rec Center. She has decided to find a job closer to home (like the Castle Rock Rec Center... I hope they're hiring). It doesn't hurt that her {boy}friend works there, too haha. That girl and her boys.

So I'll back up a bit and hit you with a boatload of pictures and limited commentary.

(I always say that, then say way too much haha)

10.11
We headed to Utah for Fall break... we admired the beauty along I-70, even if we missed the true brilliance by about 2 weeks. It was still pretty amazing.

That evening, as we were driving through Spanish Fork canyon in the darkness, Mar and I had our heads out the windows in awe of the amazing stars arrayed above us. I don't ever want to forget that... the music turned up (we were singing along, of course), the windows down, wind in our hair, admiring the sky. 

Billy-my-hero just had to keep his eyes on the road and drive. He's such a good sport.

We pulled in late to Britt's, so Scarlett and Ellis were down for the night. It was fun to wake up to their sweet faces.

10.12

We had made plans to drive out to Bountiful to have lunch with my parents, then to visit J's grave on this, the 2nd anniversary of her leaving us. I'm so grateful to know that this separation is only temporary. It is still hard, though. 

Gigigi (Great Grandma G.) gave Wonderful Sweet Scarlett some purses... of course, she loved them. 

Note to self: this is not a flattering pose for me. I must be aware of where my chin and tummy are in relation to a camera lens at all times haha.

I love Scarlett's face in this picture.

Gigigi has baby sleeping skillz. And yes, Ellis is in his second outfit of the day.

Ellis has been such a good baby. I'm so glad that he's been a bit easier than his big sister for his mama's sake!

It was another perfect fall day. (This was a screenshot taken from a slow-motion video Mar had taken of Scarlett throwing the leaves. So. Cute.)

After an amazing lunch, we headed over to the cemetery to decorate J's grave.

We had to smile that the only mum my mum could find was on the smallish side, and the only mum I could find was on the ginormous side. They balanced each other out perfectly.

(There's my unflattering chin shot haha).

It was good to reflect again on life, it's brevity, it's sadness, it's joy, and it's purpose.

I love a phrase in Jacob 7:26: "...the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream..."

Yes, that's what the passing of time often feels like to me... a dream. 

After visiting the cemetery, Mar and I headed even further north to Logan to meet up with our friends, the Hawleys. They moved from Parker a while before us AND WE MISS THEM.

(Chin, Tina, chin! You would think I would have learned from my latest drivers license picture... which looks very much like this picture, but worse because they wouldn't let me smile)

We got a tour of their new house, ate dinner at Sweet-o Burrito, then had Aggie ice cream. YUM!

I wish we would have had more time to spend with them.

We met up with the rest of the fam at Grandma and Grandpa Syddall's that evening, then Bill, Mar, Lo, and Kody (I'm still trying to figure out how to shorten his name to a single syllable... it just may not work, much like Scarlett and Ellis haha) headed off to Nightmare on 13th.

10.13

Friday was pretty much a prep day for Ellis' baby blessing the next day.

We had our good morning play time before running a few errands.

When we got home from our errands, Nae and Evie came over to play.

I love spending time with these precious souls! I'm seriously so blessed to have the privilege of being a Gigi. I also love seeing my children be parents. So so rewarding {wink}.

That night I gave a few haircuts... but this was the funnest.

That was rewarding, too haha.


10.14
Saturday afternoon we decided to try once again to get a family picture. Our last attempt was somewhat successful, but could have been so much better had the weather cooperated. Lucky for us, Saturday's weather was "okay." A little chilly, but without the crazy wind.

I think the retakes were successful. My only complaint is Bill's transition glasses. UGH.

After pictures, we hurried back to Britt and Austin's house for Ellis' baby blessing.

As I haven't been to a baby blessing at someone's home before, I wasn't sure how things would go. 

It was awesome. I love this picture. Ellis has some really great men to look up to and learn from, lucky guy.

(Ellis' facial expressions are the best... check them out!)

10.15
We made the long drive back to CO to find the tree in our front yard in the middle of it's fall metamorphosis. We weren't sure what we were going to get, and we were so so happy to get THIS.

Crazy enough, in the past couple weeks the leaves completely changed orange, then fell from the tree. There are a few stragglers, which I only know because Bill spent the morning raking leaves to beat the rain/snow that's supposed to come later today, and since his meticulous leaf removal a few more have fallen. 

Also on Sunday, Britt snapped these pics to commemorate Ellis' blessing.
So adorable.

I was finally able to give her the quilt I made for Ellis. My regular machine-quilting friend is moving, so mi mamita referred me to one of her friends to quilt it. I think it turned out beautifully, but it took a bit longer than I had hoped.

10.18
Since Fall break, it's been back to the grind.
The grind being teaching seminary... and working on the dang projects in my basement.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE seminary. I wish I was a better teacher. I wish I was interesting and funny and insightful. But I love these kids and feel honored to be with them each morning.

The daily grind to teaching seminary is all in the lesson preparation. I'm hoping to figure out how to not take 5 hours a day preparing. My goal is two max, then fill in the gaps with the spirit. Easy to say, hard to do, especially, I've heard, for first year, non-professional sisters. My fallback is food.


10.19

I made it to the temple with some RS sisters from my ward. It hit me that I had not attended an endowment session for a long time, with all the weddings this summer. It was so good to be there.

10.21

Mar decided to be the corpse bride for Halloween, and had a party lined up for Saturday evening. She borrowed Nae's amazing dress and wig, and we had this veil from the last time she was the corpse bride, circa 2010. She decided it could use a little more visual effect, so went to work on it.

It was kind of a bummer that her boy bailed earlier that day, but she was going with or without him.

I went wild braiding her hair to put it up for the wig.

She did a great job on her make-up, then was ready to go.

She had a great time at the party, then brought 3 friends home with her to watch a scary movie.

Bill grumbled a little, as we were getting ready for a movie night of our own, and were then relegated to our bedroom and our lowly 32" TV. Another reason to GET THAT BASEMENT DONE.

10.25

Finally a few basement pictures.

Walls are painted except for touch-ups (there are many).

Most of the trim is painted.

I've been spraying the built-in bookcase, shelves, and doors, hoping to NOT get overspray on my freshly painted walls (that still need touch-ups).

In the corner, there, are our cabinets. Our builder should be here tomorrow to install them (I hope!). Also we should have the area measured for carpet tomorrow (I hope!).

This is our partially finished bathtub tile, which we have recently decided needs to go to the ceiling. I may or may not work on that tonight. If not tonight, then Saturday, as it's a little uncomfortable for me to work on things while our builder or other workers are here.
Plus I have VT appointments tomorrow.

As of today, the two doors on the floor are finished (both sides), and the other two doors have one side done. I'm definitely git'n those done tonight (all by myself -- think Barry Manilow -- while Bill is at the temple and Mar is at play practice).

The only area still needing paint is our play/toy room. Hopefully that will get done Saturday, too. Along with our assignment to clean the church, make food for our ward Trunk-or-treat, and then attend it. I think we'll do Mr. and Mrs. Potato head again... if I can find my parts. I know I trashed the big potato pieces in the move, but they were fairly easy to make. Oh yeah, I'll make those, too, with all my extra time. {Hint of sarcasm}

I'm git'n tired of house projects.
I can vaguely see the end in sight, and I'm praying it will be done in time for Tay and Nae's BIG MOVE. I've got some rearranging and baby-proofing to do to get things ready for them AND FOR EVIE. Things will be different around here, that's for sure. I definitely think it will be good for my lone child at home to have some extra peeps around.

Mar has had hours upon hours of play practice. Next week is tech week, and practices go until 9pm. The following week is showtime. SEVEN shows in one week. I hope by then it's just all FUN.

And I hope by the time Les Mis is done, my basement is finished, too.