gutted.

If you've checked your Instagram or Facebook feed this weekend, chances are you've noticed that we have been having quite the party in our bathroom. It has been a blast! (Seriously!) Being able to rip out the bathroom that we've disliked for the last 2.5 years was a great weekend activity. Are we weird?? Maybe :)

Some of you have wanted to see before pictures. Apparently I don't show off this room as much as the others...well, this is why:

//awkward placement of everything. We've never been able to sit on our toilet normally. The people who installed it must have been very short!

//the "beautifully" angled countertop has always been a fave. (not!)

//un-recessed, outdated medicine cabinets were begging to go.

//the curvy shower curtain rod was hanging on by a metal thread. Oh, and that shower curtain and plastic white clips (gaggg) were some of the first things to go.

//check out that heavily textured pink ceiling!! And the mold. We can't forget the mold. It was everywhere!!!

//the countertops were held together with tape. Quality, right?!?

//tiny little sink (again, made for short people)

//another medicine cabinet begging to go

//the shower head has seen better days

//short towel racks=small child magnet (the kids love to hang on this!!)

//peeling away "backsplash"

Are we all in agreement that this room needed to go?? I hope so :) Friday night we were able to send the kids to their Nephi grandparents, Nell & Chris for a sleepover. They had a blast and so did we! Win win. We started out by removing all of the easy stuff (medicine cabinets & mirror.)

We discovered this behind the main cabinet, of course! There were a few real tiles along the edge, the main part was painted on. I really want to meet the people who lived in our house once upon a time. It sure would be fun to ask them what they were thinking ;)

//it already looks so much better!

Should I even show this nasty picture?? Probably not...this was below our sink!!! Mold infestation.

//the tile wall is comin' down!

Proof we took safety precautions:

//taking the ceiling out from the attic. Genius idea!!!

 By the end of Friday night (12 am) we were completely tuckered out but Danny decided to finish up one last task before calling it quits. The bathtub!!! It was quite the feat to get our cast iron tub out of there. He smashed it with a hammer (name that movie!) while I worried that our house was going to crumble to the ground (literally all of our walls were shaking!)

Saturday morning we set out to tackle this beauty! The picture below is taken from the top of our staircase. The wall directly in front is where our toilet sat on the opposite side...does that make sense? It's kind of confusing. Anyways, I wanted that wall to go completely, so that I didn't hit my head on the way down the stairs.

//is that creepy or what? ;)

We had a baptism to attend at noon but Danny's parents came to the rescue!! While we were gone, they took out the toilet, cleaned up our staircase, and started removing part of the floor. They are amazing!!!

And that my friends, is where I'll leave you for today! Later on, our contractor (Russ Frame) will be here to get things started!! I cannot wait. Stay tuned this week! Hopefully tomorrow I'll give you a peek at the mood board that I've come up with for the new bathroom :)

a day in the life

I don't think I need to remind you that this blog has been seriously lacking the past few weeks. I'm not sure what happened. I've been having a hard time getting pumped up about writing anything down, and instagram has sort of taken over...however, I keep thinking about my blog books (which I love & adore) and I'm not quite ready to part with them. So I better get back into the swing of things.

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite blogger's did a "day in the life" post about what she did that day. To get myself excited about blogging again (and excited about the snowy, blustery day outside) I decided to make today our "day in the life!" Get excited people!!! (You may insert sarcasm here if you wish :)

7:15 (or possibly 7:30...) Danny wakes me up to say our morning prayers and kiss me good-bye. I promptly fall back to sleep. 

8:15 Max is kicking me from all angles in my bed. (How did he sneak in during the night again?!?) He's still sleeping, but I don't have much time. I take a few deep breaths before the day really begins :)
8:30 Max is up, and he promptly heads into his room and wakes up Ave. I take Ave to the potty (she stayed dry all night!) and then Max and Avery start playing a game of hide & seek. It's their current game of choice. I find them behind the dresser and in the closet and start making breakfast.





9:10 They both spy the pop-tarts on the top shelf of the pantry and won't be satisfied with anything else. I consent while I get the rest of our breakfast ready. I hear them playing in the dining room. Max has two peices of pop-tart (pretending they are people) and is saying "They're in the car!' he said" and then starts singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider. He says, "Do you like that song Ave? It's kinda silly, huh?"



9:20 I finally sit down to join them with my quinoa/brown rice/stevia breakfast and almond cinnamon rolls (which taste just about as good as they look). Going sugar-free is tough! Ave says our breakfast prayer in her darling high prayer voice and Max falls over in his chair during the prayer. Typical. We look through the New Era and the Friend. I ask Max who is in the picture and he doesn't want to admit that it's Jesus, but he does get a smile on his face when I ask what Jesus is holding. He tells me it's a lamb and then we have a short & sweet discussion about Christ as The Shepherd. The kids run off, Max closes Avery in their closet; I go intercept.





9:42 Danny walks in the door. Surprise! It's always great when we get to see him for a couple minutes. Ave goes potty, we get our things gathered up for story time.





10:01 Danny drops us off at the library. Max goes to the "big kid" group, Ave comes with me. Halfway through she says she needs to "poop" (code for using the bathroom. Hah!) She goes!! In a public setting! I think she may be getting the hang of it.

 

10:49 We're back! Stephanie kindly gave us a ride home since it was beginning to snow. Max immediately gets out his Clifford puzzle (from the library) and Avery wants a treat for going potty at the library. I finish my half eaten bowl of hot cold cereal, and we read stories in the living room.

11:28 Ave runs to toilet with her story "The Poky Little Puppy." I quickly check my email.
11:38 Avery is getting grumpy, must be lunch time! I clear out the contents of the fridge and clean up our breakfast dishes (bad habit!) I pull together a "meal" of cottage cheese, crackers, cuties (we should have studied the letter "c" today!) hummus, peppers, and leftover chile. It's pretty haphazard. The kids don't buy it. They take a few bites and start playing hid & seek again.
11:45 They're both in our closet again. Avery comes out and her undies are a tiny bit wet but she still says she needs to poop. Max decides he needs to poop too, and tells me to go out. They are both in the bathroom, without me...could be trouble! One minute later I hear Max yell "Ave pooped!" Most of it is in her little pink potty but I see two little runaways (gross!) I clean up, wash lots of hands, while Max sings the "ABC's."



12:10 We're finally all together at the table again. They eat a few bites. Lunch must be bad today, because usually they eat fairly well...
12:20 They're off again to play hide & seek.
12:33 Catch up on my Insta-feed.
12:34 I hear giggling from my bedroom and Max yells, "Mom! Ave's spraying everything!" Not sure who was totally to blame, but the spray bottle is confiscated and I clean up everything she sprayed.

12:40 I take the kids into their room and have them help me clean up the toys that are strewn about the floor. Avery is a good helper; Max, not so much. I read a few stories with Ave, she goes down for a nap without any complaints.

1:05 I set the timer for Max's quiet time: 40 minutes. He does his Clifford puzzle again and reads through a stack of stories. I clean up lunch, do dishes, check email, and begin working on some invites for the Dr. Suess party we're having at the library next week.
1:50 The timer has beeped, Max now wants to watch a show. I let him watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates while I finish up the invites & do an assignment for Family Share.

2:53 Wow, where did the time go?? Avery is now awake. She was very proud when I found her in her room like this:

3:05 Potty time, snacks, Max hits his head on the kitchen counter as he's running around the corner. He's just that height! :( The kids pretend it's Spring (it most definitely is not!) and play outside.

 3:55 Danny gets home! We all play hide & seek yet again (it never seems to get old!)
4:10 We finish up the last round of hide & seek and get the kids ready to go on their daddy date to the tire store.
4:20 The kids leave with Danny, I throw on Pandora (He Is We station) and Regina Spektor comes on. I crank it up and bust out the dishes.
4:40 Read through a few blogs and tidy up a bit more. Relax in an empty house.
5:20 The house is noisy again! We get dinner ready for the kids since we'll be leaving. Rice, gravy, chicken, and green beans. The kids pick at their food, again!! I don't know how they have so much energy with so little food.
5:40 Get ready for etiquette dinner, gather things up for kids.

6:15 Leave for the Dansie's, drop kids off.
6:32 Arrive at the church, have dinner with a great group of kids, speak on dating etiquette
8:15 Pick up kids (they don't want to leave!), chat with Jeff & Natasha for a bit
8:33 Arrive home, get snacks and water. Brush teeth, sing "Army of Helamen" and Max says prayers. Avery starts saying the prayer too, and Max gets a little frustrated.
8:45 Max asleep, Avery is not a happy camper. I go in to soothe her...then Danny goes in...
9:45 Avery really starts to cry. I go in to see her at about ten.
10:15 Ave is finally asleep. I finish up this blog post.
10:45 Get ready for bed, read scriptures, say prayers, kiss my love good-night.

super monday

five years ago yesterday, danny and i met at a super bowl party. it was definitely a super bowl to remember! surprisingly, neither of us are very into football (or watching sports on sunday) but since that's how we met, we make an exception :) we celebrated with my family and had a fantastic time. (minus the fact that i've been trying to kick this nasty cold for almost a week...and it's not going anywhere!!) it's crazy that five years later we are married with two children! time flies when you're having fun ;)

speaking of our children, they are growing like crazy!! two weeks ago they spent the week with danny's parents while we got projects done around the house (those posts will be coming soon!) so this last week was a little bit of an adjustment, but they really are such great kids. 

lately, max has been:

//obsessed with coloring!!!! he's getting really good at it too. 

//mastering puzzles. he can do all four thomas puzzles (with 24 pieces) in 20 minutes flat.

//loving sunbeams! he was not a fan of nursery (at all!!) but now, as soon as the closing prayer is said in sacrament meeting, he is off! he sits on the front row and it's just about the cutest thing ever.

//wearing the same clothes over...and over...and over again. this has been quite a long stage! he loves any shorts (his & avery's) and short-sleeved shirts. he's also still very attached to his soccer uniforms. if you ever see him wearing warm clothes outside of our house, it's because he was bribed!

//letting his imagination run wild! i'll often find him talking on the "phone" to his soccer coach, trying to figure out when his next game is. (soccer is in his blood!!)

//an expert tantrum thrower. some days i honestly don't know what to do (this winter has almost done us in!) but every day i try a little harder.

//loving avery with all his heart. i love seeing them together! today, when we were walking home from the library (that's all there is to do here!) avery & max were holding hands but ave let go and started running in the road. a car was coming (it was still pretty far away, and was driving super slow) but max ran back, grabbed her, and hugged her tight. "don't run by the cars ave! i don't want you to die!" 

//sneaking into our bed every single night!! any suggestions for night-time visitors?? :)

//really good at doing his jobs. he can empty the silverware like a champ and is an expert towel-folder!

and avery has been:

//putting sentences together! she's getting so good at talking! the other day, we were playing our "special game" (this is the way the ladies ride) and she saw max playing by himself by the couch. she got up quickly and said "max turn!" also, when we were at my parent's, she was looking for my little sister cami, and she said, "where cami go?"

//the peacemaker. often, when she has a toy that max suddenly needs to play with, she will let him have a turn. 

//giving the best kisses around! she is such a sweetheart.

//testing out a new cackle-laugh. it is hilarious. 

//learning how to pray!! i need to get this on video. whenever she prays, she talks five times higher than usual. it is adorable.

//taking great afternoon naps (as long as max doesn't wake her up!)

//accidentally whistling when she blows on her hot food. 

us? we're pretty busy as well. danny is still plugging away at his master's program and has done so much work on the downstair's playroom (it's almost time to move the toys down!!!) i'm continually trying to learn more about eating healthy and trying to figure out this crazy hypothyroidism. (have i mentioned i have thyroid issues?? i'm sick and tired of it.)

oh, and last but not least, i've been tinkering around with the idea of starting a mother's club here in my sweet little town. my friend melissa is now the co-pres in her (much bigger) city and it sounds like a fabulous idea. i've been emailing melissa back & forth (you're awesome melissa!) and getting things figured out, but mostly all i've really done is come up with a few different logo's...since there are four choices, why don't we have a little vote??? and if you don't really like any of them, that'd be good to know as well ;)

has anyone else heard of a mother's club before? thoughts? i'm excited to see where it goes...