A couple of Tales

 Still love peeking out the front door cam at this gorgeous weather and the growing yard!

A Child's Hope Foundation throws an annual Gala. It is a lot of work, but one of our biggest fun-raisers of the year. I went to Thanksgiving Point to help with set-up all day, then ran home to get ready and grab Jonny to run back up.

It was a beautiful night, a delicious meal, and we raised more funds than ever before! It was fun to all work together and help accomplish such an important night. 

Speaking of getting fancy...

I was thrilled for these cuties to get all dressed up and head to Homecoming together! I mean, how fun is that? They all looked so cute. I just love hearing these cousins laugh and chat together. They are so darling!

Paisley's date was a "Blind Date". Someone from work set them up. Paisley was a little sad about her recent breakup, and was not super thrilled with this date. She said the night was a little weird- between her date and the twins dates. They left from our house to take pictures, then dinner, then the dance. At the end of the night they ended up at someones house for a movie and treats and the girls were just ready to call it a night. Her date was not super thrilled about that, and hopefully Paisley learned how to bow out a little more gracefully?

I had spent my morning at PHS with Dian and several other moms decorating for the "Sunset" theme dance. This feels a little silly to me, all of us fussing so over bins and bins of decorations. I'm trying to picture Mommy doing this- and I can't see it!

I spent all of my time on a ladder in this spot. It was HOT.

Photo drop backdrop!

It was quiet the setup, and it all looked real fab when we were done.

Fall is in the air! I changed up my wreath and added the Trader Joe's pumpkins. Darling!

 

And of course, had to do the same at the ACHF Headquarters. Fall stems and pumpkins as well as a cinnamon broom for the smell!

Our party mom from work, Meredith threw her annual "Murder Mystery Dinner". We all got our characters and dressed up accordingly. I was a celebrity secret agent. You can't see it, but I have an ear wire and gold gun tucked away.

The silly thing about these parties, is I cannot for the life of me remember all the details of my character. It gets pretty complicated and the more rounds there are, the more confused I get.

Fall House!

Ok- Brace yourself. This project is going to take some time. I may not have documented this, but late summer I decided to remove all the warped baseboards in my bathroom and lay down laminate tiles. For such a small space, this was complicated and had a lot of cuts. I also had to keep ordering more tiles, because I always under-estimate. (I hate bothering with returns.) Being on my knees on hard tile for a couple weeks gave me some lasting nerve pain. Is this getting old??? At this point, we decided we may as well replace our toilet. I told the kids they better have a spotless bathroom for the few days we would all be using theirs upstairs. I figured it would just be a day or two of inconvenience, but somehow the toilet was the wrong size and wouldn't line up with the hole in the floor, so we had to order a different one. Toilets are too heavy to be hauling up and down the stairs over and over! It's funny how just not having a toilet a few steps away for an entire week can make you feel like your world is sideways.
I painted my vanity, doors and trim this gorgeous wine color. I found a khaki that looks great with the wine and painted the entire bathroom- including the ceiling.
My intentions were always either to wallpaper or paint a mural. When I couldn't find a wallpaper I loved under a million dollars, I decided on the mural.

Jon was very skeptical when he saw these orange polka-dots. And rightly so. I told him to just hang on, it's the weeee beginning stage.

I had visions of a fresh orange grove. I kept painting- adding more colors...

Then I realized that while I love a trim that doesn't necessarily match the walls, I did need to try to tie in some of that wine in the florals...

Hmmm.... I think this needs some white to brighten the space...

I found some deep wine velvet curtains to hide the unsightly clothes. It matched perfectly with the trim and didn't contrast too much...

Mind you, this took weeks. I could only work in-between work, chores, running kids around, other obligations etc. This was quite the project.

One evening while hanging out with Paisley in my room, I asked her if she wanted to hear a secret. She immediately said, "Of course!" I said quietly, "I hate my bathroom".

She started at me, shocked. "But you've done so much work! It has taken you so long!" Yes, I know. But I hate it so much. And now I have to change it immediately.

Ok, quick break, let's do a project at the office to cleanse my palette. I had Jonny come help me hang these shelves so I have a place to fold the new employee sweatshirts!

And then do another little organizing and sprucy-spruce to the supply closet.


And in the meantime, Adren is doing splendidly. I get updates all of the time from the Lemon's. They adore Adren. Sis. Lemon texts me pictures all the time of them at lunch, at the park, at meetings. We chuckle because a lot of them are candid. I show them to Adren and he says, "I don't even remember her being there when we were eating lunch!" And yet, there is Adren at a table, minding his own business eating while she snaps away. It's sweet.

And now it is time to throw another ACHF party! Our Celebrate Hope event is every year, we throw it for all of our continual donors that are a part of our Aunt & Uncle Program. Because of them, we are able to help all of the orphanages in Baja that we sponsor. This is a Thank You dinner, and it gets better every year!

We all meet at the Provo Library and set everything up in the morning. Then we rush over to Kent and Mary's and chop and broil everything for the Carne Asada. Then, we load everything back over to the Library and start cooking up a million tortillas just in time as the crowd starts pouring in.

There is always a program, dancers, flan. It's a fun and exhausting day & night!

A friend, Meredith posted us all working hard prepping food at Kent's.

And then we were chuckling at the intense surgery this cake needed to be sliced and plated and still look appetizing. I was in this kitchen most of the night!

Lastly, the time has come when little Paisley flies all the way across the country to spend a week with Esme! She wanted to visit her while she lived in Washington for 9 months. And she did it! She bought her plane ticket and worked it all out. The days leading up to her leaving made me feel a bit anxious. Little P flying all that way? Oh my! The morning of, we made sure we had plenty of time. She was flying out of Provo Airport, which made it so nice!
Before backing out of the driveway, we said a prayer together. It was a dark, rainy morning. We got to the airport and went to check in her bags. There was a sign with her airline and an arrow, so we got in line. When we made our way up to the front, the worker said we were in the wrong line and pointed to the desk next to us- our desk never had a line! I told them they might want to move the sign. (They did). When we went to check Paisley's bags, they said we had just missed the window to check. But we are so early! They said they close the check-in line extra early- only on Tuesdays. Whaaaaat??? This was bizarre. I really didn't want Paisley to have to deal with her suitcase on the flight- it was so big! I couldn't see how she could lift that up over her head into a compartment. Also, she had a bunch of toiletries in there that now she was sure she'd have to take out and somehow re-buy there? Oh no! I said a little prayer- Why did this have to happen? We arrived in plenty of time, now things feel stressful and complicated for this journey :(

We went through security, and surprisingly, they did not take any of her liquids. Phew! I was grateful she was still a minor (for one more week!) so that I could accompany her to her gate. We had some time to get her a drink and a few snacks. When they started boarding, the guy at the gate told her to pass off her luggage to some guy outside by the stairs. That seemed sketchy. I told her she'd probably be better off to just lug it onto the plane and ask a steward to help her. I gave her the tightest hug and kiss, and she was off! I sat, watching the plane in the dark morning in the rain until it taxied. She texted me, "A nice person helped me put my luggage overhead, I'm all settled with my snacks and headphones!" Ahhh, little P! 

As I drove away, heading to help set up the fiesta at the library, I offered a prayer of gratitude. As I was praying, it dawned on me that everything actually worked out better than I had planned. It is probably better that she has her luggage with her! The Washing airport is a bit crazy, and now she can just head straight outside to be picked up by Kelly! She won't have to maneuver all of that and wait. She agreed that she was glad she had all of things with her. I realized that all of our prep, our departing prayer, was all we needed to do on our end. The Lord had an even better version for Paisley, and I knew she was being watched over.

It was neat to see that Paisley was closer to Adren than she was to us!

My dear friend Kelly picked her up at the airport and whisked her off to lunch until Esme returned from school. Kelly actually really pulled through that whole week, taking the girls to museums, rallies, a Halloween parade etc. Paisley even got to see Kamala Harris right before the election and of course all of the big landmarks! I told her this is such a significant time for her to be in WA, with the big election just a week away! She'll always remember that. 

Needless to say, I was so happy to pick up my happy girl from the airport and hear all about her adventures.