The Laundry Room Makeover

Slowly but surely we are tackling one room at a time

to make the space in our home more efficient.

Project Laundry Room

Key Mission: More Storage!!

(Ryan's ulterior motive: getting Katie's crap out of the den!)

Three years ago I tackled painting the laundry room

from boring white

to perky sunny yellow

and adding a few decor items

in order to make it a happier place to spend my time.

When I moved into this house over 6 years ago one of the

things on my list was to install cabinets in this huge waste

of a space laundry room.

But you know how that goes.

It never got done.

Until now!!
(ok that "now" was actually almost a YEAR ago!)

Ryan went on a mission to find the right (priced) cabinets

which of course we know I'm going to change anyway!
He installed them,

ripped down the current cheesy single board shelf,
(yes the ONLY storage this entire room had!)

and even went as far as to install a counter top for me too!

Then it was time for me to take over.

Those brown bad boys were going to become crisp white!

(Taylee wanted to help me one day so she got her own cabinet backing board to paint!)

Each time I do this I wonder,

 on the 4th coat of the same dang thing,

why the heck I don't just spend the extra money to buy the shade I want originally

or pay someone else to paint it?!?!

But it's the thrill of the challenge right?!

Or the stupidity? ;-)

I trudged on and finishing painting.

Taylee and I picked out the hardware at Home Depot.

Ryan installed it all.

And the finished cabinets....

(well thus far!)

Then we had the Mortensens move in with us for a month after their house fire

and all home improvement projects were postponed.

When the multi-family commune went back to just one family,

I talked Ryan into building me custom shelves underneath the new counter

to store the laundry baskets!

Ahhh I could almost taste the much anticipated organization!

Then I went on a hunt to find the right stylish yet functional laundry baskets.

Mission Accomplished!

My "want" list for this room wasn't quite complete.

We then designed a huge built in pantry closet for the other wall

and then Ryan built it for me!

Ahhh finally the junk was hidden behind closed doors!

Then we had a baby and everything stood just like this for 6 months. 

Well that is until this past weekend

when I decided I wanted to repaint and change the decor in the laundry room.

(lol yes I have decorater ADD)

Besides we still had that nasty white area to re-texture and paint

from ripping down the shelf last year!

So I got Ryan on board

(by promising new decor would make me want to do laundry and keep it clean in there!)

and away I went.

So NOW after three years of working on this room

IT'S FINALLY DONE!!!

(Ryan is cheering louder than me right now!)

Now when I walk in from the garage carrying 163 bags and a baby

I can glance in here and smile instead of cringe!

I LOVE IT!

Crisp! Clean! Organized!

And finally how I envisioned it could be!

Oh but wait I'm still searching for the perfect chandelier/light fixture

to really make me feel like a domestic queen! ;)

lol guess it's never really done!

Super Bowl Festivities

Date: January 26th

We decided on a whim to snag the kids a little early from school

and head downtown to check out all the Super Bowl festivities!

Hey the Super Bowl in your home town is a rare thing!

To really make the outing memorable

we even decided to ride the light rail.

While waiting to board we had to quickly inform

 the kids that we weren't in Anthem anymore.

Taylee asks confused, "Mommy why did Ryan say not to stare at the crazy people?"

I smiled and replied, "Oh honey you'll soon understand" lol

So we held our children tight and braved the train.

The kids thought it was pretty cool though

that people can bring their bikes onto the light rail,

and that they talk to themselves,

and that they don't have to comb their hair.

I told Anden if he sets his bar high that maybe he can live like that too one day :)

We made it safely to our final destination.

Super Bowl Central!

They blocked off about 5 downtown blocks and turned it into 

Football Heaven!

Some of the main stuff in the plaza wasn't open quite yet.

So we made our way over to the Phoenix Convention Center

where they were hosting the

NFL Experience.

We paid and arm and a leg (literally outrageous) and ventured on inside.

For that price I better get a super bowl ticket with this experience!

(Oh wait those are $5000 a piece!)

(C'mon Anden!  I was intrigued also but at least I didn't touch it! lol )

We immediately headed to the First Level to the Play60 Kids Zone.

They had tons of activities for the kids.

Needless to say the kids had a blast!

 

 

 

 

Laiklyn even got to throw a ball!

Time out for Baby Feeding!

Throwing practice

They were really excited to try on REAL pads and jerseys!

 

Of course you know I was going to let Laiklyn try too!

And yes the NFL media cameras were following us around filming Laiklyn.

I'm sure she's all over the internet by now. 

Last minute instructions before knocking any and everything down! 

 

 

Now hiking practice

I personally think all hikers should have to use Taylee's form!

One jazz hand straight in the air! :)

More kicking practice

Next up: Face Painting

Sorry wee one!

No face painting for those precious cheeks!

Anden went back for one on the other cheek

Which meant Taylee had to also

And which meant I might as well get one too.

But at least I stayed true to my team!

At this point the kids had seen others scarfing on Skittles

and were dying to go find where they were getting them.

So we walked around the corner and there was a huge Skittles exhibit.

Me: "Oh look kids! How pretty is that huge rainbow!"

Ryan: "What is this? The Michael Sam Experience!"

Taylee: "Who's Michael Sam?"

Me: "Just eat your skittles!"

Ok well at least I tried to keep it innocent! lol

 

 

 

Ryan took enough bags of skittles to justify our admission price.

Needless to say we all had sugar belly 10 minutes later!

This was Laiklyn's exercise for the evening...

climbing up Daddy's shoulder! 

Another skills challenge...

that even I participated in this time!

Anden nailed it right through the uprights!

If Anden can make it so can I!

Ok harder than it looks.

But I do get a point for hitting the middle bar! :)

We each ran the obstacle course.

Ryan made it more realistic by using Laiklyn as a football!

My only goal was to make sure my time was faster than his (with a baby!)

Phew! It was was!

Moving Target Practice

The boys were off at another exhibit when good ole

Big Red came strolling by.

He took a liking to us girls out of everyone else crowding him!

As he was eating my head, literally, I asked him to take a pic with Taylee.

Whoosh he scooped her up and spun her around! lol

Then he wanted one with me and Laiklyn too

after he petted my leggings of course

(and to his bad luck Ryan walked over right then and scolded him! lol)

 

The boys showed up at just the right time

I personally think this should be next year's Christmas card! :)

We said our goodbyes to Big Red and headed to the next event.

There was a entire football field set up and a flag football game in progress.

The kids were miffed that I wouldn't let them run out and crash the game!

So they practiced running their receiver routes instead

You run your route past Richard Sherman and cut to the left

and then they throw you a ball.

I was so proud of Taylee that she caught the throw with a regular size ball!! lol

Cardinals Team Photo

It was getting late so we decided to was time to head out.

We started walking and noticed a circle of people gathering nearby.

So we headed over to see what the hype was.

And there in the middle...10 ft away from me....was

KURT WARNER

(he's one of my athlete crushes!)

and Deion Sanders!!!

My heart literally skipped a beat! lol

Ryan gave me permission to drool!

They were filming a segment for NFL Network.

Ryan finally told me I had passed the normal stare time and was entering creep mode,

so we loaded up and headed out.

I figured on that high note we could officially end our night! lol

So we had a late dinner at Five Guys Burgers and then caught the light rail back!