Life Lately

Life lately has been crazy chaotic and a bit stressful. I have a cold sore on my nose to prove it! (Unfortunately, I get them from stress)

Right now, my life consists of:
Helping my parents find a condo in the Utah Valley area (as an investment)
Prepping a living space (in our home) for little brother coming home from a mission
Finishing up all of my DIY to make my home presentable for his^ homecoming
"Playing" wedding planner for my brother and his darling fiancé
Continuing (my favorite) teaching preschool
Working as a nanny for two darling little girls
Not to mention the rush of the Holiday Season

I'm not complaining, looking for pity or sympathy - I just want to remember how crazy busy it has been.
Better, than it being crazy - it has been pretty fun :)
I have been busier than I have been in a long time and it gives me this "high" of energy when I'm having to go non-stop. I am losing sleep, my mind is reeling, and sometimes my house looks unacceptable more than it should - but that's ok, because we are making great memories, making awesome things happen.
Planning a wedding is fun and a lot more tedious than I remember, it's exciting to think of our whole family being together again within the next week or so, I'm finally finishing projects I just haven't had the drive to finish, it's fun "practicing" buying a home, and STILL nothing is better than my "kid fix" from preschool and nannying - still makes me the happiest.

I don't think I've ever done a post without a picture, so here is a picture of my latest DIY that I'm trying to finish up.

                                    

Home Remodel

As I've mentioned before, we have been doing some remodeling in the basement. We are finally at the finishing stages and I am THRILLED to be at this point. I was starting to forget what it was like to live in a fully functional space. After a lot of hard work from a lot of people, it really looks great.
My mom and I decided we wanted to change out the tile in the basement. We also decided we wanted to make the laundry closet a more appealing laundry "nook". Along with that we decided to make a couple other updates to complete the look.
We've ripped up more tile than I ever want to see again. (I made Brad promise me he would never let me commit to that kind of project again). I seriously spent over 24 hours, of just my labor, ripping up tile - that doesn't include anyone else's help (Brad, Jeff, Mom, Dad, Shane, Jason). We ripped down walls and a closet, built a new wall, moved a door, put in new baseboards, repainted walls, painted baseboards, did some redecorating, and voilà! It's becoming a masterpiece!

I will let the pictures do some of the talking:
 

 (some of these will be a repeat from a previous post - I just want it documented together as a project)





before any changes



the beginning



trying to block dust - didn't really work



brad's friend, jeff helping out



more progress



and more progress



cleaned up, making the space more livable



the worst of it



even more of the worst of it



so we moved this door over about 1/2 a foot to the right



took out this door and tore down the wall



rebuilding the space



before they closed up the wall (used to be a closet in the bathroom)



before they build a new wall for the commode

 

AND VOILA!!!

Presenting the final product!

 



new TILE! Yes, tile that looks like wood flooring... SO AWESOME!

 

MY NEW LAUNDRY NOOK!!!

behind the cabinet doors... I LOVE IT

a few functional knick-knacks for the new nook

 

new wall color - much better

 

 

 

you probably can't tell, but the door is moved closer to the shower
more wall space - for dresser on the other side of the wall
I love my new baseboards too!

 

refinished dresser for extra storage in the bathroom
your view as you sit on the toilet ;)

There were a lot of little changes that gave the space a whole new look. I am SO excited to have it finished and am loving every minute of  using my new laundry nook. Also, these floors are much easier to clean and I LOVE the way they look. I guess all our hard work paid off. Thanks mom!

 

 

 

Officially Auntie Em and Uncle Brad

This is almost a month late, but I had to make a post just for this life-changing event.
We are officially Uncle Brad and Auntie Em!
We are SO excited to finally be an aunt and uncle - not to mention it is to the most adorable little girl you could every see.

Introducing Elizabeth Ann Ryan - Born Wednesday, October 9th, 2013.

look at all her hair!

The proud parents are Rob and Hannah Ryan (Brad's sister and her hubby)

photocred. lil' sis: Clara

We have loved getting to know her over Skype and learning more from the "new parents". We are SO happy for them and look forward to being able to have a little playmate for Elizabeth, hopefully someday soon. Unfortunately we won't be able to actually hold and see baby Elizabeth until December and it can't come soon enough!!!
We love the little Ryan family and are so excited for their new adventure :)

Halloween Festivities

Halloween this year was great. Honestly, I think what made it so great was my darling little preschool class. It was so fun to celebrate Halloween with a group that had so much energy and excitement for one of my favorite holidays.


SO adorable!!!

Earlier in October we had a Halloween party with some "neighbor" friends and I was in full costume. Unfortunately Brad had to work late and showed up too far into it to make his costume worth it. His costume made its grand debut on Halloween night and we I must say, I think we made a great team.

Your insurance favorites: Mayhem and Flo :)

We started Halloween night by sitting on our porch in our costumes, handing out candy. No one really seems to come to our door, so we sit on our porch and just hand it out so we can see all of the adorable costumes. We had fun seeing all of the neighbor kids and sharing our fun costumes with everyone else.
After all of the candy was gone, we headed over to Shaylee and Jason's. We finished up their trick or treating with them and headed back to the house. They had more family over and we enjoyed yummy fall soups and breadsticks while watching Hocus Pocus (a personal favorite).
All in all it was a fun Halloween night, enjoying sweets, seeing all of the fun costumes, and spending time with family and friends.
However, our fun didn't stop there. With all of the Halloween parties going on, we decided it was too hard for my friends from high school to try to have a party before Halloween. We decided to have a day-after-Halloween, Halloween party. It was fun to have some of us together again after it being months of not seeing each other. We also got to know a few "significant others" of some of our dating friends. We enjoyed a night of funny costumes, yummy treats, and catching up on each others' lives. It's so fun to have so many friends still close, but so sad to have some missing...
We hope everyone had a happy Halloween!
Maybe next year we will have a cute little one to take trick or treating? Who knows?..