UT: Work Work Work

I love to work.  As much as Jake is a yellow, I'm a red.  I really like my projects.  So it shouldn't surprise you that I completed several projects while I was on "vacation" - GSD!  (Get Shiz Done!)

Year's of housing college kids has taken it's toll on my mom's pantry.  Hailey and I went to town on that little room!  It was a lot of work - but so rewarding when we were done.

My parents have a little room off of the living room that they have designated the toy room.  It was in upheaval after several home construction projects.  So I spent a few days cleaning it out and going through all the toys.  Jake and James installed slat board on one wall for DVD storage.  (It was actually while they were installing slat board that Jake had his contusion incident).

My parents converted the basement living room to a king bed guest sweet.  The opening to the room was larger than a door, so my dad constructed this bodacious sliding barn door.

While I was there James and my dad built this cool steam punk lighting fixture over the bed and the side table.

Along with this steam punk cart/table and iron piping clothes hangar - complete with pressure gauge!

The best feature of the room?  The fact that all 3 of our girls were TWO FLOORS ABOVE US!!!  My parents got two cribs and Scarlett had her blow up toddler bed.  Yes, that's right, any midnight screaming was Grammy's duty while I slept blissfully ignorant several floors away!

James and my dad finished the downstairs bathroom just before we arrived.  They did all the design, construction, and tile.  Jami bought some really cute decorations to put in here - but it's not "complete" yet, here's just a little sneak peak of this little oasis.  The shower is basically Jake's dream shower.  Dual rainfall heads, glass door, infinite hot water, bliss.  This picture doesn't show it very well, but the mirror is heated.  There is a perfect circle in the center that stays clear while the rest of the mirror fogs up.  You can see your hair on the door mirror by opening the door to different angles.

The mirror has LEDs behind it - they can change to any color and even have party flashes.  Jake's favorite saying was "what color shall we do today?"  One week he went in Rainbow order.  Scarlett appreciated that.  There's even a light setting that is ideal for putting on makeup!!!

I spent a lot of time organizing Jami's room for her.  They repainted the basement and while they were doing construction on the bathroom, Jami moved her stuff to the top floor.  She had to move around rooms a few more times over the past year but basically her stuff was all messed up.  And right when she got to move into her fabulous new turquoise room the whole seizure situation began to be awful.  Enter Jenni.  I LOVED going through and rearranging and organizing her stuff.  I pulled everything out of the closet and drawers and redid it all!  I even hung her clothes in order of the rainbow (Scarlett has really brainwashed us!)  Jami often would lay flat in her bed while I was working (cause after her seizures she gets really nasty migraines from the trauma of it all).  But it was fun to hang out with her and clean (I guess that's the Monica in me) all while my mom or Berlyn & Braxtyn were watching my girls upstairs.  I didn't get around to hanging her decorations, so I'll have to post more pictures when it's all complete.  But here's a small sneak peak of her fabulous closet:

Jami found something similar to this on Pinterest for storing necklaces, so we recreated it (but better, haha!)

I wasn't the only one working on projects.  Jake got to spend some "man time" digging dirt in the backyard.  The day I took these it was 100+ degF heat.  Jake said while he was digging he started getting tunnel vision and all of the sudden he couldn't see colors - like everything was black and white - so he went over to the shade and sat down before he passed out.  All while my dad was smiling down at the boys from the air conditioned CAT excavator cabin.

Jake got a turn inside the excavator, I think he mostly just sat next to the air vent rather than dig up any dirt!  Luckily the other days they worked out there weren't nearly as miserable.

Since Jake flew home two weeks before the girls and I did, he had lots of time to work on his own "projects" (remember that yellow personality?)

He went dirt biking with Jordan:

One Saturday he drove 4 hours up North to go mountain biking, hiking, swimming, and exploring.  then turned around and drove home!

Lake Michigan - sooo blue!

At Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes:

Jake sent me this picture so that I would know that he was eating healthy while I was away (those are no-bake cookies covered in a coconut ganash)!  haha!

You can see why I needed a nap after our "vacation" was over!