there's a light at the end of the bathroom tunnel!

today is the day that our bathroom will (mostly) be finished!! today! can you believe that?? i'm still kind of in shock (probably because i haven't seen it since last thursday) but let me tell you, having someone else do all the dirty work for you feels gooooood.

danny has been monitoring the progress while we've been away and he's taken a few pictures (to keep me happy!)

want to take a peek at the latest??

here is the shower covered with beautiful sheetrock, tape, and mud! the tub will be in the same location, but we added a little cove/shelf/inlet (whatever that's called) for shampoo, soap, etc.

here is a night shot of where our fake window will go (the toilet will go right below that). we decided to go with a simple picture window but that won't be done until this friday. so when i say the bathroom will be "mostly" finished today, that's what i mean. the window will still need to go in...along with primer, paint, trim, etc... (ok, there will still be a lot to do, but the hard part will be done!)

our pedestal sink will fit right in that little area (see the outlet on the ceiling for the hanging light?!?) we didn't want it to feel completely enclosed, so the wall only comes up about 7'. i really like how it turned out. oh, and the area cut out of the wall will hold our recessed medicine cabinet.

forgive me for these absolutely nasty pictures but i think it's pretty amazing! russ was able to completely change out the pipe for the toilet and fit it up right against the wall. when we get around to finishing the basement, all those pipes will be built inside a wall!! woot woot.

look how wide open our staircase is!!!! now if we can just figure out how to drywall that...

and a few more of the bathroom (the next day...i believe these were taken on friday). the green stuff you see surrounding the tub is apparently prep for the tile (which looks amazing!! pictures to come!)

...a better view of the "half" wall between the sink & tub areas:

i am beyond excited. for those of you who have had to live with an absolutely, completely disgusting bathroom for an extended period of time, you know exactly how i feel ;)

i've currently got the camera so danny has no way to take more current, updated pictures, but as soon as i get home, i'll get some up. it's gonna be a beaut!!

we're gainin'

Alright, so I wasn't able to get the mood board up "tomorrow"...but this is better than next week right?? This week has been full of decisions and lots of trips up & down the stairs (our only toilet is down in the dungeon!) but overall it has been great and I am so so incredibly excited about how the plans are unraveling. Our contractor started Monday and is doing great! Today the sheetrock goes in & plumbing will be wrapped up!! Exciting stuff.

Many of you have asked where in the world our toilet is going?? Valid question. My CAD days are lonnnng gone (I took 3 years of drafting in High School and loved it!) but here is a very rough sketch of what we've got up our sleeves as far as the layout is concerned:

I know, it's not the prettiest draw-up you've ever seen. The scale is all out of whack and it looks pretty horrible. But hopefully it'll give you a little idea of what's going on. 

We're closing off the entire area where the toilet used to be, and just so we don't lose out on any precious natural light (I need all I can get!) we're installing a "faux" window. I'm really excited about that. The tub will stay in the same place, besides the fact that it will be brand new!! In fact, it's currently sitting in the bathroom and it is a beaut. In between the tub and the pedestal sink (which actually isn't round, but squareish) Russ built us a wall that goes up about 7'. We didn't want it totally closed off and from what I can tell with the 2x4's, it's going to look great. 

One question you may be asking yourself is...where in the world are we going to store everything?? Well, I've decided that we really don't need or even use 90% of the things we used to have in the bathroom so I'm going to condense and keep it simple. Sometimes I think when I've got too much storage, I keep everything under the sun...and then it never gets touched. We are putting a recessed mirror/medicine cabinet above the sink with a surprisingly large amount of storage. So that, along with the large hall storage I've got right outside the bathroom door, I think we'll be set.

Last but not least, here is a little mood board I came up with (which is now a little outdated; we've added a few more things since then...) I want to keep it sleek with pops of color and I'm so happy with what we've decided on!!

1. I love the curviness of the handles, the higher arch of the faucet, and especially the price tag.

2. I spotted this gem in Better Homes & Gardens and I can't stop thinking about it.

3. I was sold on this sink for a number of reasons. For a pedestal sink, there is quite a bit of space around the perimeter. And, I love how it flares out near the bottom. With so many rigid lines, that feminine touch will be appreciated (if only by me!)

4. Classic subway tile. This will be used as the tub surround. It will match the backsplash in the kitchen (which has been fabulous).

5. You may have seen my dilemma on Instagram about penny tile. I really love penny tile and we were pretty set on it. BUT, after contacting The Tile Shop and realized that the tile we wanted was on backorder (we first spotted the tile on John & Sherry's backsplash)...we came up with an alternative. I think I'm secretly happy that the penny tile didn't work out though...this hex tile makes me happy :)

6. Nothing too fancy here. But just like everything else, we're pretty pumped! Especially since we'll be able to sit on it like normal people.

7. This navy striped shower curtain is a million times better than what we had before. 

8. I'm probably only going to buy one (maybe two) of these adorable hand towels from Anthro. But are they not the cheeriest?!

9. Woodgrain pattern in towels=awesome. 

So there you have it! I.can't.wait!!!

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.