A Basement Bathroom and a *finally* finished Basement!

Remember back in 2019/2020 when we worked hard to finish our basement? Our dads came and helped us on a weekly basis to teach us, bring tools, and do work on our behalf! My dad singlehandedly laid the bathroom floor for us on a week that we were particularly busy plus helped us drill a hole through the outside of the house (which was fun) when he installed the vent fan. Cal was incredible as he planned and carefully framed each tricky area and did all the waterlines. They both did more for us than I can even list here: installing the tub & surround, figuring out how to make a drop-ceiling, framing, electrical, water lines, drain pipes, oh so many things! We are so blessed to have dads who are so willing to teach us and help us with this huge project.  

We probably mentioned this when we wrote about finishing the basement, but with even more time between now and then, I can say with much more perspective - finishing the basement when we did was such a HUGE blessing. At the time we started, Lucy was only about two months old. Starting a huge project like that with a tiny baby seems like a wild idea but it felt like the timing was right. With both of our dads donating their time and diligent effort, plus the decision to hire out hanging the sheetrock and painting, we finished almost everything RIGHT before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down. (I remember going to Home Depot by myself in the evening that first week of shut down to get the wood for our storage room shelves because we weren't sure that stores would even be open and we didn't want to not have the wood to finish the project.) We didn't know it then, but having a finished basement would be a miraculous boon for our family in a year when we really couldn't be anywhere other than our own house. Having the finished basement was a blessing that we couldn't have forseen that we would need but made a huge difference to us. However, COVID-19 brought additional stress and our mental energy was needed elsewhere and we ended up locking the bathroom door and deciding to come back to it later. 

So, spring of 2021 we unlocked that door and decided to put in the work to finish it out. The biggest hurdle was the backsplash because the backsplash we ordered with the vanity didn't fit together right. (That's one of the big reasons we locked the door and walked away in 2020, we just didn't have the mental capacity to make a decision about how to handle this.) 


We found a peel and stick tile that matched the vanity decently well and decided to just go for it. Perfection matters less than having a finished bathroom (and a huge check mark off our to-do list). We installed it and slowly but surely started making way through the final details that always take much longer than you think they will. Shelves, towel rods, caulking, adjusting doorframes to fit better, etc... 

('m really happy with the way this turned out!) 

Then summer hit and the final few things got put on hold, because who wants to be inside doing house projects when you could be outside living your best summer-life?? (ha, I say this a little facetiously because I should have finished it this summer. It really shouldn't have taken the extra four months to finally finish. But... #summer.) 

Finally over fall break this last week - I took a day (one day was all it took!) to come downstairs and finish the final details. Finishing all of the caulking, fixing a chip in the tub, painting the yellowed caulk (from using the wrong tube in the spring), and hanging the shower curtain. 


And just like that, it's finished! I'm so happy with the way it turned out and just so incredibly grateful all over again for our dads who made this a reality. I can only vaguely remember when this space was storing two sets of washers/dryers and a ping-pong table. Now it's a fully functional bathroom and it's beautiful. We can now officially say that our basement is FINISHED! (Other than the few holes in the sheetrock from some energetic playing that we need to patch, but that's life.) 

David Birthday

It's that time of the year again - the time when we get to celebrate our favorite guy in the whole world. We sure are glad that he was born and we are grateful to spend another wonderful year with him. 

Birthday celebrations were simple this year, but filled with love. The weekend before his birthday we went on a date: hot chocolate and book pursuing at Barnes and Noble bookstore. The weekend after we took Lydia to the Secret Garden at the Hale in Sandy. His actual birthday was filled with some pretty excited kids, a chocolate trifle cake, and a handful of presents. 

David is such a wonderful dad. I was reading his birthday post from all the way back in 2012. Lydia wasn't even one yet, but I wrote that I was looking forward to seeing David with our children and truly it has been a pleasure and great blessing to watch him with each of our children. 

We love you David. The kids and I are so blessed to have you. We love your kindness and your laughter. Your silly made up songs and the way you pull us into big hugs and make us feel better when we are sad. We love to have you work from home and wish we could spend all day long with you. You're a treasure and we value you. 

Happy Birthday! 

General Conference October 2021

We were so excited for general conference and for the chance to listen to the guidance from our Heavenly Father. Here a few pictures from our conference weekend and a few thoughts on a couple of talks that really stood out. 

We did all of our usual conference bags. Instead of cups this time, the kids had there own little container and could eat a candy every time they heard one of the words. It was really cool because on Friday night Lydia was making her very own conference book. It had activities, coloring pages and she even included note pages. During a President Nelson's talk she sat next to Shantel and I and took notes in her notebook about his talk. 

It was also really good, because even though we had to make sure to be helping and caring for the kids, I felt like we were blessed just to have conference on. I was 

Between sessions on Saturday we put up our Christmas lights. 

Sunday morning we built a tent to watch conference. 

In between Sunday sessions we visited the Saratoga Springs temple to check on the progress. They are almost done with the exterior. 

I am grateful to have a prophet, apostles and sister leaders to lead and guide the church and send us messages from our Heavenly Parents. Here are a few things that stood out to me. 

From Sister Eubank - She was asked by the prophet to report about the Humanitarian efforts of the church. She shared so many moving and touching things of the way the humanitarian efforts are blessing people throughout the world. We have been really striving to set aside more of our budget to fast offerings, charity and CARE fund (money to help other people). However, this made me want to continue to increase what we give to those and also give to the Humanitarian efforts specifically. It was such a beautiful message and I hope that we can be the answer to people's prayers in many different ways as we open our hearts to give and listen to the Holy Ghost. 

Speaking of the Church’s humanitarian efforts, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland once remarked: “Prayers are answered … most of the time … by God using other people. Well, I pray that He’ll use us. I pray that we’ll be the answer to people’s prayers.”

Brothers and sisters, through your ministry, donations, time, and love, you have been the answer to so many prayers. And yet there is so much more to do. As baptized members of the Church, we are under covenant to care for those in need. Our individual efforts don’t necessarily require money or faraway locations; they do require the guidance of the Holy Spirit and a willing heart to say to the Lord, “Here am I; send me.”

From Elder Holland - He had a talk that I titled as I was listening, "All in - Wholehearted Devotion." He discussed that we can't take halfway measures if we want to follow the Savior, we have to be completely in regardless of the sacrifices which we will have to make. I love though that he also emphasized that our habits, flaws and history don't have to be impediments to us because our Heavenly Father is always there to offer forgiveness and the opportunity to change. 

All who speak in this general conference will all be saying, one way or another, what Christ said to this rich young man: “Come unto your Savior. Come completely and wholeheartedly. Take up your cross, however heavy it may be, and follow Him.” They will say this knowing that in the kingdom of God, there can be no halfway measures, no starting and stopping, no turning back. To those who requested permission to bury a deceased parent or to at least say goodbye to other family members, Jesus’s reply was demanding and unequivocal. “Leave that to others,” He said. “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” When difficult things are asked of us, even things contrary to the longings of our heart, remember that the loyalty we pledge to the cause of Christ is to be the supreme devotion of our lives. Although Isaiah reassures us it is available “without money and without price”—and it is—we must be prepared, using T. S. Eliot’s line, to have it cost “not less than everything.”

Of course, we all have some habits or flaws or personal history that could keep us from complete spiritual immersion in this work. But God is our Father and is exceptionally good at forgiving and forgetting sins we have forsaken, perhaps because we give Him so much practice in doing so. In any case, there is divine help for every one of us at any hour we feel to make a change in our behavior. God gave Saul “another heart.”

From Elder Uchtdorf - He had a great talk about daily spiritual restoration and the importance of this in our lives - which I think leads perfectly into the talk from President Nelson I reference below. In order to stay on the course and not get of track - we need that daily light of the gospel, otherwise, we can stray off course and not even know it, or thing we are still on course though we have strayed far away. I love that he indicates that spiritual changes, both positive and negative a gradual. It is vital that I take steps each day to grow spiritual to avoid veering off course. 

Most of the changes in our spiritual lives—both positive and negative—happen gradually, a step at a time. Like the participants in the Max Planck study, we may not realize when we veer off course. We may even have high confidence that we are walking a straight line. But the fact is that without the help of landmarks to guide us, we inevitably deviate off course and end up in places we never thought we would be.

This time of introspection is an opportunity for recalibration. It is a garden of reflection where we can walk with the Lord and be instructed, edified, and purified by the written and Spirit-revealed word of our Heavenly Father. It is a sacred time when we remember our solemn covenants to follow the gentle Christ, when we assess our progress and align ourselves with the spiritual landmarks God has provided for His children.

Think of it as your personal, daily restoration. On our journey as pilgrims on the path of glory, we know how easy it is to fall away. But just as minor deviations can draw us out of the Savior’s Way, so too can small and simple acts of realignment assuredly lead us back. When darkness creeps into our lives, as it often does, our daily restoration opens our hearts to heavenly light, which illuminates our souls, chasing away shadows, fears, and doubts.

From President Nelson - He had a marvelous talk where he showed a video from underneath the Salt Lake Temple during the construction. He noted how over time the foundation of the temple has been made more vulnerable through erosion of the temple foundation. I could feel him speaking as the prophet and truly felt the voice of warning when he said that in order to withstand the forthcoming perils and pressures, we must have a firm spiritual foundation. I felt him call on me to take all measures to fortify the foundation of me and my family. 

“The foundation of any building, particularly one as large as this one, must be strong and resilient enough to withstand earthquakes, corrosion, high winds, and the inevitable settling that affects all buildings. The complex task of strengthening now underway will reinforce this sacred temple with the foundation that can and will stand the test of time.”

We are sparing no effort to give this venerable temple, which had become increasingly vulnerable, a foundation that will withstand the forces of nature into the Millennium. In like manner, it is now time that we each implement extraordinary measures—perhaps measures we have never taken before—to strengthen our personal spiritual foundations. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures.

My dear brothers and sisters, these are the latter days. If you and I are to withstand the forthcoming perils and pressures, it is imperative that we each have a firm spiritual foundation built upon the rock of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

So I ask each of you, how firm is your foundation? And what reinforcements to your testimony and understanding of the gospel are needed?