Trunk or Treat!

October 29, 2014

We spent a super fun night with the kiddos 'trunk or treating' at Mom and Dad's ward house.

The kids enjoyed a Halloween carnival complete with games, treats and cousins.

Nic as a fire-breathing dragon and Isaac as a Knight. Perfect combo.

The older boys helped hand out candy to all the little kids. Check out some of these spooky trunks.

Cousins in the back go Gpa's truck handing out candy.

Meet Mr. Vice President for Online Programs at NEU

October 24, 2014

Say what?! Yep, you read that correctly. Chris has a new gig. He has worked diligently over the last little bit preparing, interviewing, and traveling back and forth to Boston - and he did it. He got the job, Vice President for Online programs at Northeastern University! IN BOSTON. We ALL are so excited. He's pretty much a rock star.

What does this mean for the family? Where do I start ... it means a move to the east coast. Timing TBD. City TBD. House TBD. Everything TBD. We have decided to have the kids finish out their school year here in Utah. That means the boys and I will continue to live here until Summer 2015. Life as usual. Chris will live on campus and commute back and forth from Boston to SLC for the next 6 months or so, as often as he can. We are so lucky to live in the time of technology, Skype, FaceTime, texts, etc. It will certainly keep us close during the transition. Our new adventure starts November 10th!

We've visited Boston many times and love the city and surrounding areas but are not as familiar as we would like to be regarding LIVING there. Advice WELCOME!

Congratulations to my dear husband and best friend! Hard work pays off. I sure love you and am so very proud of you. This will be an amazing adventure.

BTW - We have kept this very hush, hush. If you are reading the news here you pretty much are the first (ok, maybe the second) to know.

Headed home

October 16, 2014

We sure enjoyed having Grammy as an extended house guest. She stayed with us just over a month and offered me such wonderful help with the kids. We hope she enjoyed herself and the peek into our simple life. We will miss you... (jeeper's crow, not for nothing, wicked cool) all Grammy phrases Nic has picked up.

A few nights before she left we spent a gorgeous evening at the park, enjoying the weather and fall colors.

Yesterday she has packed up her car and started on a long road trip back east. She plans to stop in Florida and the Carolinas before finally landing home in Maine. She'll likely be back home in early November. Safe travels!

St. George weekend retreat

October 12, 2014

I drove home today from a fun filled weekend in St. George with mom. Girls weekend. No kiddos. I had a blast. We went down to attend Jill Olson's Fall Stampin' get away.

Mom and I drove down with Grandma Great Thursday night and dropped GG off at Julie's house in Cedar city. It was a fun drive chatting with mom and Grandma the whole way. I don't get to do this enough.

Friday, the day before the stamping event, we enjoyed a day of garage sales, thrift shopping, good food and a night at the movies. I did take a few photos of some cool things at Urban Renewal.

Urban Renewal has cool displays and random finds.

Saturday we both enjoyed a day full of stamping and chatting. We made around 15 projects. I didn't take very many project pictures but here are a few...

We spent the evening shopping some more and had a nice dinner at Benja's (Thai).

I made a few swap projects for the Stampin' event (most I posted earlier last week) I made one last-minute swap before I left for the event and that card won a prize ($25 gift certificate) woo hoo! I'll post a picture and supplies later this week.

A huge thanks to Leslie for helping Chris watch the kids so I could go down with peace of mind. Thank you!!!

Basement bathroom addition - FINISHED!

October 6, 2014

I spent most of last summer/winter and this spring working on adding a bathroom to our basement. The bathroom space was somewhat plumbed for a sink and toilet but I really wanted to add a shower and make the bathroom more functional for guests. I hired a plumber to move the pipes for the toilet, sink and also add the required plumbing for a shower. As I mentioned, I spent much of the last year working on the bathroom and (besides the plumbing and electrical) did all of the work myself. The room is now totally done and decorated (key word) and I wanted to share.

This is a really small bathroom but we were able to fit a shower, toilet and vanity. Sorry, It was difficult to photograph - I'll blame that on the size of the room and dark basement.

Here is the process low down...

1. Hired a plumber to move and add additional plumbing.

2. Hired an electrician to move the electrical and add wiring for a future wet bar. I also had him wire for a light above my craft table and replace our entry way light.

3. Chris and I pulled all of the old sheet rock down and hung new sheetrock. See my stamp closet peeking out from under the stairs (far left)?

4. I did all of the sheetrock tape, mud and sanding. My least favorite chore - such a mess. This took me forever.

5. I debated on paint color. So I primed... and continued to ponder paint color. I eventually landed on a nice gray.

6. I debated on how to handle/finish the shower. I thought about tiling but I hate cleaning grout. I researched a prefab enclosure but getting one down the stairs would have been next to impossible. I really wanted something simple and easy to clean. So we went with a cultured marble look and had a few companies come and bid. I found a guy I liked and had the shower floor and walls created. They pour and make panels offsite and then bring them back in sheets for installation. Since I'm small potatoes in the contracting world it took forever to get the guys out here to actually install. I mean forever. What a nag I became.

7. I really wanted a EURO style shower door but due to the angled design of our shower it really wasn't the best option for our space and would of not been ideal for keeping the water in the shower ... basically the point of a shower door. I went with solid glass walls and door in a semi EURO style trimmed in silver and l like how it turned out. The door is rather tiny, since the space is tiny, but it works perfectly for our needs. Same drill - vendor came out to measure, order and then install. This time the installation turnaround was really quick and the guy who installed the door even fixed a fogged window we had a problem with in the basement.

8. I prepped the floor for tiling. I had to mix and lay a little concrete to even the floor out and fill in some the holes that the plumber created. I had hoped the plumber would of handled this but turned out I was the lucky one for the job. This was a new experience for me but in the end it turned out ok. I only swore a few times.

9. I knew I wanted 1" hexagon tiles. While these were fairly easy to find they were crazy expensive - IMO. I searched and searched for the best deal and found a place in SLC that was fairly affordable. I purchased the tile and then waited until I had a few days to tackle.

10. Eventually I finished the tile. I stressed and swore a lot. I've laid a lot of tile before and this harder than I anticipated because the room was not square and I had the weird angle of the shower to content with. I used my stain glass cutter to cut each individual 1" tile that needed to be cut. Time consuming. Boo. I was happy to move onto grouting and sealing the tile.

Hexagon tile floor and the bathroom rugs that inspired color scheme.

11. Chris installed the baseboard and door trim. I did the caulking, painting and other finish work.

Martha Stewart vanity and Mirror.  Magazine rack serves as towel rack. — Martha Stewart vanity and Mirror. Magazine rack serves as towel rack.

12. I searched for a vanity. This took me a long while to decide. I knew I had a small space and a pedestal sink would fit perfectly but I really wanted a bit of storage. I finally found a vanity, which happened to be a good match to the color gray I painted. Somewhat of a happy accident. Although I didn't love the look of all gray walls and gray vanity so I painted the one wall behind the cabinet white.

13. I called the plumber back to set the toilet and plumb the shower and add the hardware to the vanity. Again I waited, nagged and was happy once it was installed.

13. I added a simple mirror and I had the electrician come back and set the light above the mirror and complete the finish electrical. We had to work around odd duct work but I think the light choice turned out ok. You can't really see it in the photograph.

14. Then I moved onto decorating. So much more fun. I found these great rugs at target on clearance (under 6$ a rug). I coordinated the artwork colors to the rug color scheme.

I designed these various prints as a digital download product for Stampin' Up! You can purchase the For the Home template here. I found a bunch of second hand ornate frames and spray painted them all white. I measured each opening and then customized the art size and colors. This was a super easy project and quick to frame and hang.

I found the ampersand shelf at target, also on clearance. I can't remember how much I paid but it was cheap. The little vintage letters came from the Inspiration Ave shop.

I used an old magazine/book rack as the towel bar. Wall space is limited and I didn't want to use a traditional bar or even hooks. The moving rack works perfectly.

We are really happy with how this room turned out. The bathroom is right off of my craft/art room and it's so nice to have a sink close by. And now guests have a bathroom close by and do not have to trek up to the third floor to shower.

Nic sent grammy a message before she started her drive.

Grammy's in town

October 4, 2014

Grammy (Chris' mom Leslie) is in town and we are so lucky. She drove out here from New Hampshire in mid September and has been in town for a few weeks now. She will likely be with us a few more weeks ... whatever her schedule dictates. This is a rare treat for us as we only get to see her once or maybe twice a year.

The Malletts are boring homebodies most of the time (work, school, carpool, sports, repeat) and having a visitor gives us a great excuse to get out and see a few things. We've mostly stuck to our routine of daily sporting events (practices and games) but we have branched out some and shopped, a trip the apple store, gone to the movies and visited the aquarium.

Leslie, Andrew and Nicholas (as a dragon)

Andrew was out of school Friday (due to PTC) and so we decided to head to Gardner Village and check out all of the shops and Halloween decor. I love Gardner Village this time of year. Always something fun to see. Nic had a good time at the farm and rode a pony and loved the petting zoo. Sorry we went with out you Ben.

It's been wonderful to have Leslie in town and she's been a great help with Nicholas. She watched him and the boys for us while we were in LA. She's also watched Nicholas a few times which allowed be to catch up with old friends for lunches and run errands. It's nice to have family close by.

Katy Perry

September 30, 2014

Nothing like celebrating your 40th birthday (9 months later) with Katy Perry. Chris and I had a really great time at the show. And boy was it a SHOW! Typically we don't go to pop shows but I'm a big fan and Chris gave me tickets for my birthday. The event did not disappoint and was super entertaining. Highlights: prism glasses, random giant parade balloons, Giant props, aero gymnastics, 10+ costume changes, colored wigs and tutus everywhere, neon, talking cats, pyro and confetti!

We had excellent seats (4th row floor) but my phone died and I was unable to capture much. Had to live in the moment which wasn't so bad.

I would totally recommend.

LA weekend - dissertation

September 29, 2014

Chris and I spent another great weekend in LA. This time without the kids. It was a school / belated anniversary trip.

Chris needed to go to present his dissertation proposal and defend it so he can move forward with research. The proposal went perfectly and his chair and team have approved him to move foward! Words like 'brilliant' were thrown around.

Afterward we headed to the Hollywood Bowl to watch Trey perform with the LA philharmonic. It was a great day.

The rest of the weekend was spent lounging at the beach, eating, shopping and sight seeing. A highlight for me was visiting the Melrose Trading post flea market. Lots of goodies to be found.

It was a great weekend with my favorite person!!!

Taunya banner, Tissue POM POMs and other party decor

Mom is retired! Let's party.

September 25, 2014

My Mom retired at the end of May. So exciting. After 25 years of teaching she closes the work chapter and starts in on a bit of leisure (maybe). Woohoo mom!

Back in May the family threw her a retirement open house. It was so nice to catch up and visit with everyone. I created an invite (just for the fun of it) that was mailed and was emailed to extended family and also made a few items of decor. I tried to create those fancy tissue paper POM-POM's you see on pinterest. Tried and failed. I consider it a total pinterest fail. But the other items I made turned out cute. We wanted her to feel special. We had wanted to throw her a BIG party but she wanted something more simple with less fan fair. In the end it was a perfect choice.

Simple decorated water bottles (paper flower with button & patterned patter belly band)

We had all the family (including the kids) offer up any advice, places to travel, books to read, etc and then I compiled it into a tiny project life style book. One cute kid said she should try 'running with the bulls'. Hilarious.

I used a mini book from We R memories that is sized for instagram 4x4" photos and includes pages for 2x2 pocket cards. This small size was perfect for advice. I designed a few pocket cards to fit into the book. If I get my act together I'll show these in a future post. I'm please with how the project turned out... but like a dummy didn't snap any pictures before I finally gave the book to mom.

Dave, Taunya, Uncle Loren and Aunt Julie and Grandpa Brooks.

With all of these fun photos I forgot to get pictures with my family with mom. We WERE there...

Thanks to everyone who helped, offered advice and basically showed up to show mom some love. You are the best!

Our Labor Day weekend! Look back

September 20, 2014

Impromptu road trip over Labor Day to California. Beach day, Angels game, Disneyland and various roadside attractions. It was nice to get away and spend some quality time with the family.

Back to school

September 16, 2014

Earlier this month the kids started back to school. Andrew 9th (highschool), Ben 7th and Nic 4yr old preschool. With the blog switch over I never posted about it. Playing catch up.

We've survived the first few weeks. The homework load is heavy and we have lots of after school sports (Andrew Jordan high baseball, Ben soccer, Nic soccer) and other activities. Busier than ever.