While my Mom was in town, she played Interior Decorator and helped me pick out new bedding, decorations, lamps and pillows for my Master bedroom as well as new towels and rugs for the Master bathroom. I hated the darkness of my bedroom and needed a fresh start after seeing Ryan spend his chemo days in the gloomy room. I forgot to take a "before" picture, but you can see the dark grayish brown that was on the walls before. My Mom and I tried many samples on the walls before picking out a nice gold-yellow. After painting an entire wall, I realized the color was going to overwhelm the room. Sound familiar? I tend to be quite bi-polar when painting.
By this point, my Mom was back in Utah so I had to run to the paint store alone. I picked out this light gray and finished painting all the walls. I really love the color, but it does feel a bit washed out in the room, so (this shouldn't be shocking) I will most likely paint it a shade darker at some point. I took these pictures before putting all the shams and pillows on the bed or hanging any decorations on the wall. I still need to paint the tray ceiling also.
It's been a hard month for Bella. With 12 people living in the house, including a certain Webb boy who is particularly rough with her, she's started finding hiding places throughout the house.
Deron and Mindy brought their oldest son, Ethan, to Kansas City to celebrate his 12th birthday. Since Ethan is a huge baseball fan, we saw the Royals play the Redsox twice that week as well as visiting church sites, eating traditional KC BBQ and showing them around town. Our house was VERY full of people this week (15 - whew) so Ryan and I moved our stuff upstairs and took over Brynlie's bedroom while the Stailey's used our Master bedroom. Each family had a level of the house to call their own. Hotel Ellefsen is open for business!
Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue is THE BEST BBQ in the world. We like to take our guests there to try the pulled pork and burnt ends. We took this picture while waiting in line with Webbs and Staileys. The line wraps around the inside of the restaurant but also has a long line that wraps around the outside. The food is worth every second spent waiting.
I saw this truck in our church parking lot one day and busted up laughing. Does this describe a stereotypical Mormon Missouri family or what?
Brynlie's dance studio had professional pictures taken of the Junior Staff members. My beautiful girl is growing up too quickly.
Bella's favorite time of the day is when I sit down to do homework. She immediately climbs up on my lap and tries to push the laptop onto the ground so she can cuddle. She's no dummy - I usually give in.
The kids have been B.U.S.Y. I'm always trying to juggle all the different activities. Sometimes I handle it well and other times I get super grumpy when I am in my car from 2:30 - 9:30 pm.
Brevan was in a parade a couple Saturdays ago, and then both girls were in a different parade the following Saturday.
Tyler watched the parade with high hopes of having someone throw candy in his direction.
Logan was excited to hang out with one of his best new friends, VaNessa, at the parade. They are an adorable little duo who even have their own handshake.
One morning I got a text from Brevan while he was at seminary. He told me to run outside quickly because he had been watching the most beautiful sunrise he'd ever seen. By the time I found my camera, the sky wasn't nearly as mesmerizing, but the colors were still amazing!
Bryn's dance team performed a Musical Theater number at the Liberty Fall Festival. I took the first couple pictures during the performance and the next couple pictures afterward. She has become very good friends with Siara and Kate, a couple girls she dances with.
Ryan and I were asked to be on a national podcast for a company who helps entrepreneurs balance work and family life. Yes, you read that right. We WERE the hour long podcast. Ryan thought it was a blast. I was incredibly nervous having someone ask me questions about the positives and negatives of being married to a natural entrepreneur. I will upload a link to the podcast after it goes live next week (after I listen to it and make sure I didn't make a fool of myself).
I am a very loyal BYU football fan. But after being ranked #18 in the country before suffering the loss of our star quarterback Taysom Hill and a couple important games, I'm having a hard time watching the season be flushed down the toilet. I was actually physically ill for a couple days after Utah State destroyed us in a home game. Oooouch.
No fear, the Royal's are here! How 'bout them Kansas City Royals making a run for the WORLD SERIES?? The whole town is electric while we gather around our TV's to watch the Boys in Blue do their thing. Take the crown, Royals!
This was my handsome cafeteria lunch date one day. I love being welcomed with a big hug and kiss when I greet him at the school. A couple of the boys in his class saw me when I walked in the room and said, "Wow, you are really pretty!" before they attempted to let out a couple whistles. Leave it to the 1st graders to make me feel like a celebrity!
There have been some rough days lately as I've dealt with some emotional stuff. I needed a day to refocus on the most important things in life. I found peace and clarity in the temple last week.
These two rascals climbed in my bed on a weekend night and fell asleep before I had a chance to tuck them into their beds. They were snoring away with chocolate-covered faces by the time I tried to crawl in next to them. After trying to get comfortable for a few minutes, I spent the rest of the night on the couch.
General Conference weekend was full of uplifting messages, delicious food and time together as a family. I feel rejuvenated and ready to become a better person. [Notice the group on the couch . . . Brevan on his phone, Kelsi (next to Brevan) on her phone, Brynlie, Ryan and Lindsey all sleeping. Haha, I guess I enjoy Conference weekend more than other family members!]
I am officially an actress. I played the part of an elf in the professional video we filmed for Kearney Family Foundation. We are hoping the video goes viral on local social media so we can encourage more people to get involved this year. We are using the hashtags #elfitforward and #elfie to spread the message. Ryan's company works with several infomercial producers, so we flew a guy into town and set up the Thorne's garage like a movie set. It was actually very stressful being in front of the camera! I think I had to be filmed 9 times before I finally did it correctly!
If you've never seen 6 & 7 year olds play flag football, you are missing out. It's hilarious and awesome to see my little dude play! The first two pictures were taken at a practice when he was running the ball. The last picture was taken at a game when Logan was a defensive tackle.
I love how Logan's mouthguard puffs out his cheeks (he's #11 on the black team).
And now the update on cancer. Ryan was uncharacteristically nervous about going in for more tests last Friday. We spent the majority of the day at the Cancer Center while he received a PET scan and some CT scans. Now we've been waiting. And waiting. And feeling tortured with all the waiting. We should hear back from the Cancer Center sometime today. We are obviously hoping that the chemo and radiation killed off the cancer cells and he doesn't have to endure more treatments. If all is clear, Ryan will be able to go 3 months in-between PET scans for the next year and 4 months in-between for the next 4 years.
We have completely adjusted to having the Webbs live with us and [no one was more surprised by this than me] we are going to miss having them here when they move into their new house this weekend! I never thought I could have anyone else live with me, including family and good friends, so I'm happy to prove myself wrong. It's been a great bonding experience for everyone, but I'm excited for them to get more settled into their new lives here.
I took this picture on Friday night when Ryan and I went with Brett and Keri to Garozzo's to celebrate Keri's 41st birthday.
Saturdays are always busy, but this one was even more so than usual. The agenda went like this:
8:30 - 9:00 Drive Brevan to Liberty High School for a Robotics workshop
9:30 Logan needs to be at the football field for warm-ups
10:00 Brynlie needs to be at her dance studio for a competition practice
10:15 - 11:15 Logan's football game
11:00 - 12:00 Live discussion with my online professor and other students
12:30 - 4:00 Kearney Kid-fest where me, Kelsi and Brynlie all volunteered in the face-painting booth
2:00 - leave Kid-fest to pick up Brynlie from dance studio
4:00 NMR work party at a local pumpkin patch
5:30 Keri and I quickly grab dinner while Ryan and Brett stay at the work party with the kids
7:00 - 10:00 Keri and I attend the Broadway production of Mamma Mia in Kansas City
11:00 - I quickly finish up homework assignments that need to be turned in by midnight
Midnight - I start planning my Primary lesson for the following morning
It was a very fun day but what a whirlwind of events!
Keri and I had a great time hitting the town for the Broadway show!
Super Mom fail. Yesterday Brevan was given several awards at the Court of Honor. I'm a terrible Scouting mom. Brevan's Scout shirt is far too small, only has 'Merica left on the United States of America patch, doesn't have any other patches sewn on, and is missing several buttons. He had to wear a polo shirt to the Court of Honor instead.
That's all for now, folks!
1 comment:
I love your new room! You are inspiring me to finish mine. How do you accomplish so much in a day? I am impressed.
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