Basement Bathroom is DONE! And other projects

We bought a quarter of a cow a few weeks ago. You  might ask what does this picture of kids and fish have to to with buying a portion of a cow? Well, we met my friend RiKelle at Scheels to pick up our frozen cuts of meat. Since we were there anyway, we went inside, visited the fish, played in the play place and generally had a fun time catching up! They moved to Logan about a year ago and we sure have missed our friends! It was nice to catch up and we have been loving having a freezer full of beef.

Some time in the past few weeks Dustin also climbed up on the bathroom sink, ate 5 Pseudoephedrines (30 ml) and about gave me a heart attack. He was fine (poison control told me not to even worry about taking him to get pumped), but it was scary. That punk can climb anywhere! For now the only safe place is on top of the fridge... He can get everywhere else in the house.

We really enjoyed the 50-60 degree weather while it lasted. We went to the school playground, the park and played in the sandbox. It's good we got it in, because this week it's been snowing again. I'm so ready for spring. I'm so done shoveling.

We had a lot of fun this weekend! We were ALMOST done with the basement bathroom, so we made time to have a bonfire in the back yard and roast marshmallows. It was freezing out, so we came inside and made s'mores in the toaster oven too (our chocolate and mallows froze outside. We still ate them (of course), but we wanted good ones too.

Saturday morning we asked the boys what they wanted to do that was fun. They decided a trip to the Dollar Store to spend their allowance and a dollar they got for Valentines Day. Dustin almost always picks out one of these squishy guys with a strobe light inside and it always pops before we get home. But this one lasted 24 hours! That's a pretty big deal. Logan picked some dinosaur toys which are still hanging around.

For FHE on Monday we had a lesson on testimonies, then we all practiced sharing our testimonies. We're hoping to be able to share our testimonies by our selves at church on Sunday. After we had Dirt Dessert for our treat! The boys never had it before and were quite impressed that it looked like dirt but tasted delicious!

The boys have been fascinated with the completion of the bathroom downstairs! They helped me hook up the toilet and were fascinated with the inner mechanisms. They also both had to test out the toilet several times to make sure it worked. They will announce to everyone that asks about the toilet that it "works for both poop and pee. I have tested it." In case you were worried.

The mirror is a built in medicine cabinet too!

Yesterday I touched up the paint again and Dave screwed the medicine cabinet in place! Saturday we finished calking, installed towel and hand racks, attached the shower curtain rod and cut out the hole for the medicine cabinet. And I whipped out a cute soap dispenser. So now we just need to install trim around the door and we're done!!! WOO HOO!!! Well, and Dave left a hole in the wall above the towel rack that he's going to make a built in shelf for decorations. He is still deciding how to finish that.  And I guess the calk is curing until tonight at 9, but all we have to do is wait for that time to pass so we can use the tub. I'm so glad! I'll probably clean out the tub one more time too (it keeps getting dirty), and we have to clean up all the tools and put the exercise/spare room back together, but that's just minor compared to what we have done.

It feels like everything that could have gone done with this project did (redo electric, plumbing, replace toilet flange... the list goes on and on). But the end results look fabulous! We love the more open space. It used to be the shape of a triangle so opening the door almost grazed the toilet and completely blocked the tiny sink. So I guess I should decorate... maybe in a few months... I'm exhausted now!

Sink before (see the triangle shape?)

Tub before

Other than that the at home phone survey lady called me again so I've been making political calls a few hours a week again. They're not half as bad as the ones I did right before the November elections (those were so intense). But every once in a while someone will go off for or against Trump (which these surveys aren't even about). It's an easy way to make some cash on the side, so I tolerate the crazies. The best was a deep manly voice asked after my intro "are you going to ask if I'm a Lesbian?" me: no. "well ok, as long as you don't ask that or if I'm a black woman I'll answer your questions"... I had to contain my laughter until the end of the 40 questions! What the heck kind of surveys has he taken in the past?!?

Work Work and Partying

February has been busy but more fun. For the first two weeks of the month we did a Love Challenge for Family Home Evening. Each day we had a way to show love like show patience. Logan would wake up and ask "how are we going to show our love today Mom?" and we would discuss. Some of the ideas were more advanced than our boys, but we adapted them.

We've been done for a few days now and every once in a while I will hear the boys discussing what they learned. For example today at church Dustin's granola bar broke in half (this is devastating, one simply can't eat a broken granola bar). Logan turns to Dustin "you need to look beyond looks Dustin. The bar tastes just as good as it did before, it's just in two pieces." Dustin was not convinced.

Logan loved celebrating Valentines Day at school! He was excited to write his classmate's names on all their valentines, attach the tattoos, and try out a few to make sure they worked. He had fun making his box and partying the day of. For Dave and I Valentines is always low key, but this year more so than ever. We didn't make a fancy dinner, dessert or anything (constructions is still consuming all my free time) but we did get frosties and fries after the boys went to bed.

The weather has been in the 50's to 60's over the past few weeks. It's been wonderful, but especially for us doing construction. It warmed up the week we did tile. It was a little blessing in the nightmare of never ending construction that has been our lives recently. As of this weekend the tile is in and grouted! On Monday the grout will be cured and we're hoping to get the fixtures in so we have a second bathroom again. Or I'm at least hoping for the toilet to be in. We still need to touch up some paint, finish putting the trim around the door (and put it back on it's hinges), install the vanity and sink, the bathtub fixtures, the toilet, toilet paper roll holder & towel rack, medicine cabinet, and Dave is making some kind of built in shelf that needs to be finished. But the hard part is done.

We also celebrated Dave's birthday this week. The boys and I have been preparing all week for the big day. They helped me pick out gifts. Dustin got a bag of Peanut Butter cups "and maybe Dad will share with me". Logan picked out Spicy Cheetos for Dave "I don't like these, but I know Dad will." They helped wrap all the gifts then hid them under the bed in the basement so Dave wouldn't be tempted to open them early. When the boys woke up they rushed to the basement, got the gifts and before I was done feeding Brooklyn they had helped him open them all!

I tried to prep for Dave's birthday in advance, I bought the requested Ice Cream in advance, we ate half of it the day I brought it home, Dave decided on a different flavor ice cream and consumed half of that before the actual day of too. But we had enough left over for peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches on his actual birthday. We also tag teamed dinner. I made red potato salad and Dave made some fancy burgers. Both were fabulous. I haven't had a good burger in a while.

When I asked what he wanted for his birthday Dave responded a date night. His parents were kind enough to watch the three while we went to see Dr Strange in 3D at the Dollar Theater. We didn't plan to see it in 3D, but the showing we wanted to go to was sold out (along with every other show at the same time we were even mildly interested in). So we wondered around the mall for an hour until the 3D showing. Now I'm not a fan of 3D, but this one was pretty cool with the special effects popping out at you. If you have to pay extra for 3D, this was a good one to do it for.

Also on Saturday I spent about 2 hours cleaning out the tub in the basement bathroom (per birthday boy request). We decided not to replace the tub, so it got pretty dirty in the process of tearing out and installing. But it looks great now. There is one chip and some scratches in it, but I'm imagining nobody but Dave and I will notice that. I can imagine how it will all look put together and am so glad we are almost done. The hard parts are done anyway.

In Which We Snort. A Lot.

January was a rough month for us! For the first two weeks I was sick with two different colds. For the last two weeks the kids alternated who was sick. So it all kind of went by in a blur. Somewhere in there we took the boys to the Lego Mini Build the set was an igloo with 2 penguins. It was really cute, we have one of them sitting by the kitchen sink and it makes me smile every time I wash dishes.

My parents came into town for my brother Mike's son Gideon's baby blessing. It was great to see everyone! We went sledding, had a dinner and went to the blessing. It was a very family filled weekend. The boys were devastated that Grandma & Papa weren't staying at our house! "It's no fair! They stayed at Max's house last time they came into town!" I can't believe they remember that, but they love their Grandparents. I promised them next time we would make sure our basement construction was done and Grandma & Papa could stay at our house the WHOLE time.

So other than sick, construction has taken over most of our spare time. Who knew it would take THIS long to remodel a bathroom? It's almost done. We plan to tile this weekend, install toilet and sink next week, and install a door sometime. Maybe next weekend. Then everything will finally be done! It will be a relief to have two bathrooms again. It's been a strain to only have one. I know people do it, but they must be hardcore. We have poop wars at least once a week (I REALLY NEED TO GO MOM AND MY BROTHER IS ALREADY IN THERE!!!) But the bathroom is looking great! We painted last weekend and we set the new vanity in the space to see if it matched and it's going to look fabulous. Dave installed the lights last night, and I'm going to do some touch ups on paint today.

I've also been working on sewing bags for the Young Men to carry their scriptures and Preach My Gospel in. There are 15 bags and Dave volunteered me to make 8. I designed them, cut out all 15, sewed the example bag, and am almost done mass producing the other 7 (hoping to finish today during nap time). It's been a ton of work, but hopefully it will help the boys remember to bring their stuff to Church and activities. It ended up costing them around $5 a bag. So not too shabby for a messenger style bag. I'll post a pic when it's done. Oh and I'm going to teach them to freezer paper paint so they can put some kind of design on the front flap. We'll see how that goes.

Brooklyn has been growing and learning like crazy! When she was sick she was so congested that she snorted a lot, and now she's learned to do it intentionally. When she is bored or wants attention she starts snorting repeatedly. It always gets a reaction, so she's learned to manipulate us for laughter. She is such a happy baby. She talks to us all the time. We say she takes after Grandma Sheila because she only has one volume, loud. She and I got kicked out of Relief Society several times for her being too happy and loud. The boys just love her and she loves them too.

In November I started and in December I completed the Beach Body Core De Force workout program with a group of 15 other women and men. It's a 30 day Mixed Martial Arts DVD series. They give you a schedule of which workouts to do each day, and eating guidelines to maximize your weight loss. It was a rough time of year to commit to working out every day, but it was good to have a reason to HAVE to exercise every day. I won the money prize for most consistent worker outer and lost all my baby weight (I'm actually back down to my High School weight now!).  Oh and they send you a tshirt when you complete the program, so I got that too. Now I just have to tone up my stomach more and get back to eating healthy. I really fell off that bandwagon while we were all sick.