Justins Office Makeover

Justin was leaving for Wyoming for his pronghorn hunt.  I decided that since he was going to be gone for 7 days I was going to redo his office for him.  He has now worked from home for almost three years and his office is HORRIBLE.  I have NEVER liked the paint since we moved into the house and the BizMart furniture was so big and bulky and looked cheap.

Since I figured I could not do everything I wanted in 7 days I went ahead and gave his old desk away and credenza.  I did not even want anything for it, I would have paid someone to take it away!

So, he had no idea what I had planned but I did have to put the new desk, credenza and shelf in there just to get it out of the way.  I did not put any decor out because I wanted him to be somewhat surprised.

There was NO overhead lighting in there so first things first... I got an electrician out here and of course ordered a chandelier.  He was going to have to damage the sheet rock to feed the wire up to the ceiling so we were going to have to have the sheet rock repaired too.

Justin left Tuesday at 6:00 am and it was go time!  The painter was coming out to fix the sheet rock and luckily he did not have to go through the entire wall so that was nice.  We got the wall and ceiling patched and the primer on the walls.  

So the primer dried and we noticed the wall swelling... this cannot be good!  Apparently there had been a water leak, hmmmm... news to me!  So, the painter scraped the drywall and had to repair it.  He then informs me that the crown molding had never been painted!  I just love lazy people!  

The walls are finally painted and it is starting to come together.  The rug is too small so I had to take it back to get a bigger one.  

Mom came over Friday and started sewing the curtains.  

Nori had some left over fabric so we recovered the piano bench.

The final product!  New chandalier, paint, rug, curtains, all new furniture and decor!  Hope he likes it.

So, now that the office is done and looks so good, I am NOT liking the paint in the formal at all!  I could not stand it either when we first moved in.  So, it should not take long to paint... right?  

to be continued...

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Formal Living/Dining

So now that the office looks amazing, the formal living and dining looked HORRIBLE!  Mom and I figured we could paint in no time!  Mom and her gimp hand cut in as I started rolling.  Of course we had to take the drapes down and the blinds (thank goodness Fagan came and took down the blinds).  

So, it is now day 5 of 7 that Justin will be gone.  The clock is ticking... then we get the text that they might come home early! WHAT? NO, you can't!  You have NO idea what we are doing and I need to be done before you guys get home and everything needs to be put back together :)

So, we whip out the dining and living and get the drapes hung back up and it looks SO MUCH BETTER,  until...

to be continued...

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Guest Bath Redo

... we look into the guest bath and it looks horrible!  Off to Lowes I go for another gallon of paint!  I knocked this out in 45 minutes.  

Going forward a few weeks we decide it is time to get rid of the pedastool sink... in fact, it is past time!  I got the go ahead and of course called my personal shopper right away!  Nori got on it and we went shopping and found a new mirror, sink, faucet, lighting and some accessories.  

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First Day Of School

6:20 came really early for a 5th grader and a kindergartner!  Sophia popped right up when I went to wake her up.  She was SO excited to get ready and go.  We met at the gazebo for the annual neighborhood crew pic and Sophia was NOT having it.  She sat and pouted and I thought that the rest of the walk to school was going to be horrible.  After the picture we started walking and thank goodness she perked back up.  

We walk into the school and to her pod and she takes her backpack off and hangs it up, talks to Mrs.  Lowrey and then walks in the room and sits down.  I asked if I could take her picture and she looked up at me and said, "sure" and smiled!  WHAT THE WHAT.

I took a picture, hugged and kissed her and ran out of the room.  She did AWESOME!  

I could not wait for them to get off the bus so I could hear about their day.  She got off that bus like she had done it a million times!  She told me she had a great day.  Momma was relieved.  

Walking to the gazebo and Sophia yelled, "I'm free"!

First Day Of 6th Grade

Jonah was so excited to be able to sleep in this year, he does not have to leave until 7:35 to catch the bus. 

I walked Luke and Sophia to school so I did not get to see him off but Justin said he did not seem nervous at all. 

So, we are still in the first week of school, praise the Lord and we have until Friday to get a schedule change request in.  I know I am mother of the year and I did EVERYTHING I could think of to talk him out of orchestra and maybe change to art or theater.   So, Jonah has now changed his mind about the violin, he now wants to play the cello!  HUH?  WHAT?  Do you even KNOW what a cello is or how big it is???

At this point, I am dying!  The cello is as big as him, I even told him he would practice for an hour a day on top of homework and going to martial arts.  He was NOT changing his mind folks! 

He brought home the list of everything he would have to have for playing the cello. 

* the cello of course

* music stand

* music book

* binder

* other supplies for class

* a $100 fee to the school to use their cello since it is too big to transport!  Yep, let's purchase one for the house to sit and collect dust while we fight daily over him practicing!  ;)

So, we are now one day away from the cut off for a schedule change...  tic toc folks!  So, Thursday he brings home the orchestra calendar of events.  This little calendar folks was the best thing EVER!  It listed the concert dates, the SOLO dates, the camps/workshops he would attend on WEEKENDS.  We went over it and he looked at me and uttered the words, "I'm out".  Those two words were music to mommas ears, almost as good as the three little words, "I love you"! 

Friday morning first thing I did was head to the school and fill out the change schedule request form... now to play the waiting game until next week to see if he got into art! 

HE DID!!!  WOOHOO!

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Meet The Teacher

We went to meet Sophia and Lukes teachers tonight.  Sophia was really excited... until we got there.  As you can see she did NOT want her picture taken with Mrs. Lowrey. 

We then went to the 5th grade pod to meet Mrs.  Ivarra. 

After unloading our school supplies we headed to the annual neighborhood Palios dinner.  Food was not that great but the kids always have fun with all the other neighborhood kiddos.

Jonah Husky Camp

Today Jonah went to Husky Camp to pick up his schedule and get his locker.  While the parents went to hear the principal we left the kids with their schedules so they could walk through it so they would know where to go on Monday.  

So, notice Jonahs first period class, orchastra!  I seriously can not even imagine what possessed him to choose this as an elective.  First he was going to play the violin... does he even know what that is??? 

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Stefanie Here

Stefanie and the kids came for a quick visit.  We swam and cooked out.  The kids had a blast seeing each other and swimming.  They even had a dance off on the rock, we only got video and no pics.  They were doing the whip and nae nae!

Cousin Sleep Over

Stef and the kids came in town for a quick visit.  We cooked out at our house and swam and decided to have a huge sleepover.  I finally got all eight kids settled and in bed about 10:00.  Around 11:00 I heard one of the kids crying so I flew out of bed and ran into the living room to where the girls were sleeping.  It was Harper... she was having a night terror.  

I have been fortunate enough never to have experience it but Harper has had them and so has Stefs kids.  I remember them telling me you cannot wake the child and just to hold them and try to calm them.  I am pretty sure that Harper is the STRONGEST FOUR YEAR OLD EVER!  That poor baby was screaming at the top of her lungs that it was her turn to dance but she was NOT going to do it.  She was stiffening up, throwing her head back and yelling.  I was a nervous wreck.  I just held her close and rocked her.  

She finally calmed down after what seemed to be hours and then 5 minutes later would start again.  I start searching Google to see what I can do.  I was NOT going to call Julie, she is 45 minutes away.  After 30 or so minutes I text her and she answered and told me she should stop soon.  

I just put her in bed with Justin and I and got the you know what beat out of me all night!  

The next morning Sophia walked up to Harper and said, "what were you yelling about last night"?  poor Harper had no clue what she was talking about!

Zane and Luke

Jonah and Sawyer

Marinn, Sophia and Harper

Heading to Mimi and Papas

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Noah said...

Carlie sent me this text!  Love my sweet Noah.

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Mean Girls: Coming Home

We got up and had breakfast at the hotel before heading to the airport.  Mitzi FINALLY got her DIET COKE!  It was becoming a joke because every time she ordered one they NEVER brought it to her.  

... and the chips, we took these chips everywhere!  

At the airport heading home and telling Daph goodbye!  Hate that she could not come with us... until next time ladies!

Mean Girls Trip: Day 3

We woke up this morning and packed up the car and headed to Denver for the rest of our trip.  We stopped for breakfast right outside of Mt. Princeton and then hit the road.  We arrived at our Hotel, The Monoco.  We got two rooms and were all bunking up for the last night.  We went down to the lobby for free happy hour and a massage.  Then headed up to the rooms to get ready for dinner at Work and Class.  

For some reason we decided to WALK to dinner.  It was a little further than I cared to walk seeing as how I think my body was bleeding all over from the 10 miles DOWN the mountain we had walked the day before.  I was smart and wore flat shoes at least.  

It was going to be a while before our table was ready so we walked across the street to Dada for a drink.  

After a great dinner we decided to WALK some more to tour downtown.  We stopped for a drink and dessert then back to the hotel.  

Mean Girls Trip: Day 2

We were up bright and early the next morning and ready to hike!  Daphne had done her research and we knew we needed to be on the mountain by 7:00 a.m. and get started and we estimated that we would be done by about 1:00 p.m.  Jenny's back was hurting and she decided she would stay back at the cabin so the 6 of us headed out.

This was my very first selfie!

After we took the selfie and got back in the car Autumn noticed that her bladder had leaked,  it was almost empty.  (remember this for later).

Next, we started up the mountain.  Not sure I was expecting the "road" to be this bumpy.  On one side it was the side of the mountain and on the other side it was straight down!  I was in the front seat thank goodness and we were bouncing all over the place.  Julianne was in the back with her head between her legs talking herself out of a frenzy.  

We were attempting to drive up to 10,500  ft. because that is where the trail head started and there was minimal parking at that point.  I asked the question we all had, "WHAT IF someone was coming down?  What would we do?" and seriously less than a minute latter it happened!  We were nose to nose with a truck... then a jeep.  

At this point we were all a little shaken up and freaking out!  Julianne had to jump out and get some air.  We finally got passed the first truck, we went close to the mountain and he was on the edge!  NO WAY were we going on the outside.   Had he moved over about 2 inches, he would literally go off the side of the mountain.  We were finally past the truck and the jeep and now there were a few other cars behind us.  

Made it to where we were parking and we were off!  I knew it was not going to be pretty, I was already gasping for air at this altitude!

First of MANY potty breaks.

After hiking a couple of hours and thinking that I was going to die every other step we turned off the road and up a path to get to the top of the tree line.  This folks is where I made the BEST decision of MY LIFE...  Julianne was having a panic attack (she is terrified of heights) and I was literally trying to catch my breath and trying not to pass out.  Julianne and I decided to turn around and go back down.  Julianne kept telling me I did not have to go but a) she was NOT going alone and b) I was DYING and needed to get down this mountain ASAP!

Here we are showing that we made it to 12,000 feet!  YEA US!

Here we are heading back down the mountain.  At first we were going to wait for the rest of the girls back at the car.  We made it to the car and had a snack and potty break and then told ourselves that we WERE NOT getting back in the Suburban to drive back down this crazy mountain, NO WAY!  So after a break and some thinking we decided to google how long it would take us to get down the mountain if we walked since we did not want to drive down or wait at the car for 3 plus hours waiting on the others.  

As we opened the car door we heard something... it was rain!  SERIOUSLY!  We decided to call the girls and check on them and make sure they were OK.  None of them answered so we just left them a message that we were going to walk back down and see them at the cabin.  So, off we went.  

We have NEVER been so happy to see the road!!!

So, 8-9 miles later we were back down the mountain!  Let me just say that Julianne and I became REALLY close on this trip down with the things we did on that mountain!  Our legs were jello and we could hardly move.  We may or may not have held out our thumb a time or two to try and catch a ride.  HOURS later, I cannot even remember how many, we made it to the base.  We called Jenny and asked her to meet us at the hot springs with our swimsuits because we seriously did not think we could make it to the cabin!  She met us there and we jumped in and relaxed for a while before we headed back to the cabin to wait on the other girls to get back. 

We got back to the cabin and were getting worried because we could not get a hold of any of the girls.  We finally heard back from Autumn and Mitzi and their phone was running out of battery and they told us that they had split from Carley and Daphne.  I had plugged my phone in to charge and did not hear it ring but some unknown number called and left a message, it was Daph and she said that her phone had died and she stopped some guy to use his phone.  

Long story short Daph left Carley because Carley was getting sick at this point and could not walk so Daph went ahead to get the car and drive up as far as she could and pick Carley up.   She found Carley  and then they could not even see Mitzi and Autumn.  They knew that the had made it to the summit but Carley and Daph had come down since it was snowing and they were freezing.  Autumn and Mitzi were right behind them, or so they thought... they got lost and could not find the trail.  Daph and Carley charged their phones and then Daph went back out by herself to find them.  A couple of hours later Daph found them and got word to us that she had found them!  

We were so worried and trying to figure out the next step in trying to get a search team out to find them.  When they finally got back to the cabin their were many tears and emotions running wild!  We were all telling what happened to each of us and showing wounds and were physically and mentally exhausted!  We ordered dinner in and we called it a night.