The end, the beginning, and everything in between.

Just thought I would do a quick update because yet another {two} weeks have come and gone.
Time is flying.

The CVHS musical has come to an end. Phew! We survived.
I did this to Mauri's hair EVERY DAY.

I was so impressed with the whole show.

AMAZING talent. Great set. Great costumes. Excellent music.

{Tuesday - Opening night}

Being the budget-conscious mama I am, I bought a beautiful bouquet of mixed roses from Costco, then split them up to cover the performances I attended. I made them really cute (kraft paper and jute one night, ribbon and cellophane another...) and 2 dozen roses go a long, long way. {wink} RIGHT, TAYLOR?? haha

{Thursday night}

(Mauri is on the right near the top of the stairs...white shirt, black shawl, gold skirt)

I was seated in different areas of the theater the three nights I attended the play.

In the middle the first night, the back right the second night, the front left on Friday night (my last night attending). Each seat was great, and it was fun to get a different vantage point each time. In the back I loved how the full cast numbers were so loud and impressive. In the front it was fun to see the facial expressions and acting skills of the performers, but the big group numbers weren't quite as impactful. Overall, it was amazing. I loved it. I could have gone to every performance and still enjoyed it.

Thursday evening, Robyn, Kade, and Cole came, along with my friend Marci.

It's fun to finally have some family nearby, and I am so grateful that these wonderful people took the time to come support Mar!

{Friday night}

(Mar is second from the right... in case you didn't recognize her in costume. She's not yawning or burping... just blowing a kiss haha)

(Back in her position on the stairs)

On Friday, the Weeds came to see the play.

Again, it meant a lot to Mar (and me!) that they would take the time out of their busy schedules to come see it. I love these people!

{Saturday night}

Tay, Nae, and Bill got to see the final performance. Tay and Nae had just rolled in from their long day-and-a-night packing, and a full day of travel. They said the play was awesome. It took extra effort for them to get to CO in time to see it, and I know they were probably wiped out, but I am so grateful they were able to make it! Welcome to a new beginning in Colorado, peeps!

And the cast was finally allowed out in the foyer in costume after the show. Hip hip hooray!

I got to chill with my lovely Evie that night. She did great for the first 45 minutes or so, then she realized she was in a strange place, with a strange woman, and she couldn't find her mama and papa. After several attempts at entertainment, I resorted to wrapping her in her blankie, taking her out on the front porch with the lights off, and gliding away until she drifted off to dreamland. Such precious time! Did I think to snap a few pics?? I did not. Bummer.

{Sunday}
Mar's flowers from closing night. It has been really fun to have all of these beautiful flowers brightening up the kitchen this week.

(Mar is in the center in the gray striped shirt)

Grandpa remembered to snap a pic with Evie. Good job, Little Billy!

{Monday}
I got these mailed off.

That was a whole lot o' work, but it was very satisfying to get it done. I have to thank Taylor for helping me organize the list, sort it, alphabetize it... it was so appreciated by this Excel-illiterate mamita. I had run out of envelopes, so once my order for more arrived on Tuesday, I addressed a few more, then packaged up the invites, pictures, and envelopes for Kody's mom, and took yet another trip to the Castle Rock US Post Office. It's fairly new to me, and the three times I've gone, I've reminisced about my very familiar Parker US Post Office. Most of the people that worked there had been there the bulk of our 15 years in Parker. Let it be known that the Castle Rock Post Office has not disappointed. The people there have been wonderfully nice, conversational, and smiley... not necessarily the traits of my old friends with familiar faces at the Parker office haha. 

{already Thursday again}

Last night Taylor cooked us up some steaks. He had watched a youtube video, had defrosted some almost-freezer-burned steaks he had found in our freezer, and put his skills to the test. He did an amazing job.

Okay, Tay, you can stay. {wink}

We've had to make a few adjustments along the way this week as we've tried to get Tay, Nae, and Evie settled, as well as trying to clean up the construction mess and move stuff into the basement. There are still a few things that need to be finished up (I'm dreading the paint touch up!!!), but it's very close. Things won't be as perfectly placed and in order as I would have liked for this upcoming holiday week, but I still can't wait until the gang's all here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The longest week. Ever.

This past week was a doozie.

Lonnnnnnng. And hard.

That's not to say there weren't some really amazing things going on, too.

I think I'll share THOSE {wink}.

 Our ward's Trunk-or-treat was a little over a week ago (Oct28)

Mar had play practice all day, so, as a dutiful momma, I ran around and purchased supplies for fishing poles and the fishing pond she was in charge of making assignments for, setting up, and running.

Our Trunk-or-treat started at 4pm (seemed a little weird to start that early, but, hey, we're new here), and Mar arrived at home after play practice around... 3:30? She still had to get into her costume, do her make-up, then do Gavin's make-up. Needless to say, they arrived at the event a good hour late, just in time to hand out candy. It was a very low-key activity compared to my past Trunk-or-treat experiences. I was told that our ward has foregone this particular fall activity the prior two years, so maybe it was a bit new to everyone. I liked how they set up the cars... so the kids stayed on the sidewalk (...never even thought of that before... so smart!), and it was kinda nice to have daylight to enjoy the costumes, although I love a good Trunk-or-treat in the dark... it makes the lights we've used FOR YEARS to decorate our trunk much more... visible haha.

Another {somewhat} new family to the ward, also down-sizers (with no children currently at home), set up this amazing car display. Gotta love that intensity.

I really would like one of those giant rubber rats, tho.

Once we got home, I snapped a few more pics of Mar and Gavin.

Such a perfect couple costume, right?

 (I think Mar was thoroughly enjoying the scenario haha.)

On Sunday Bill requested a belly shot of Lex, and she sent him this.

 We are getting so so excited to meet Baby Boy Paull 

(possibly on our 30th wedding anniversary... how cool would that be?).

In Parker, high school kids were not allowed to dress up on Halloween, but we're not in Parker anymore. None of the boys in my seminary class dressed up, but all the girls did. I had to snap a quick pic of them on their way out the door Tuesday.

 I love these amazing and beautiful young women!

 This is what Mar convinced Gavin to wear to school on Tuesday. He must really really like her.

I have no comment {hahaha}.

I finally got my Halloween decor put away, and made a brief attempt at decorating for Thanksgiving.

 Yep, those pinecone garlands are about it. 

I might find a printable on Pinterest to put somewhere... and I've thought about doing a thankful tree like I did back here, but it will just depend on how much creativity and energy I can muster. I'm super excited that EVERYONE WILL BE HERE for Thanksgiving! We (Bill, Mar, and I) discussed if we should get our Christmas decorations up before everyone shows up, but decided that we have limited room as it is... no need to add a Christmas tree or two, and a bunch of other unnecessary (however delightful) space-sucking decor. 

I'd much rather fill my space with people. 

And food. Lots and lots of food.

Billy-my-hero has been working like a madman on the basement.

 He finished up the bathtub tile...

...then tiled the backsplash.

 We got countertops on Friday, and the sinks, toilet, and faucets were hooked up today.

And hallelujah, we have lights with actual switches as of today as well.

Bill tiled the wet bar, painted trim, and hung doors on Saturday.

This tiny door is exclusively for my little lovelies.  I think Scarlett will find the most enjoyment out of it this year, but Evie is not far away (and Ellis and Baby P will grow much too fast, too). 

Speaking of Evie... she'll be living with us in a short 5 days. 

Holy moly. I got stuff to get done.

And that cool little play place now has light. Light is good.

I'm going to start filling that bookshelf... today, I think.

Andddd, here's the wet bar, minus mini fridge. I think Bill will be grouting all the tile tonight, and I'm pretty sure he's planning on my help. Good thing there is no school (and thus no seminary) tomorrow.

Carpet will be installed on Wednesday.

Tomorrow I will most likely be mopping that disgusting cement floor in preparation.

In between all this jazz, last week was Tech Week for the play, which meant Mar was at the school until 8:30/9 every night. I helped with 3 meals for the cast and crew... I think there around 150 kids involved. It's been an exhausting week!

But this week will be awesome.

Opening night for Les Mis is tomorrow... I can't wait.

They will be performing the show 7 times this week (counting one performance today during school, but not counting the dress rehearsal after school). The show is completely sold out every night, as well as the Saturday matinee.

We'll be attending Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening.
Sooooo exciting.
Break a leg, Mar!

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.