Living Room Make Over - February 2020

We had been talking about getting new couches for over a year. We had only ever had second hand couches and wanted to finally buy brand new ones. We finally found a set we liked at the end of January.

 

 They arrived the day before Sean's trip to Mexico. He was excited to see them before he left.

While he was gone, I decided to do a room make over and surprise him!

I told Sean that I found a set of end tables for sale on Facebook Marketplace and that I was going to get some lamps for them but that's all I told him about. He didn't know about anything else I was doing.

I got them lamps on clearance and then painted them white.

That weekend my friend was getting rid of her tv stand.

It need s a little work but was a total upgrade for us and would add to the surprise of the transformation.

We had been talking about redoing the accent wall for a while now. I was over the bright aqua. When we moved into this house after 8 years of renting and having white walls I just wanted color. Now that I've been in the house several years I've decided what color palette I really want and am ready for some changes. I had been thinking about doing Nimbus Gray. I finally bought decided to go for it.

My kids watched a lot of tv that weekend while I painted but no one complained.

The next big change I made was switching all the light bulbs in the room from warm to daylight. I actually had been thinking about making the change for a while, ever since I did during the bathroom make over. Sean was against it though. But since he was out of town, I decided to go for it. 

I will admit that I think warm light is more cozy but it casts a yellow glow that makes it hard to pick paint colors. When I wanted to pick a paint color for the room. I painted several poster boards. I like several blue ones during the day. But I didn't like them at night in the yellow lights because they all looked green. I like the daylight bulbs keep colors their more natural hues.

Here's warm light...

Here's a daylight bulb...

Here's a look at the room all finished and ready to surprise Sean.

He was surprised and loved it. He loved it all in the daylight. Once the lamps turned on, he was surprised and not excited. But after a few days he was completely used to it and now likes it.

I also took down the boards with clips that held the kids artwork in the dinning room.

It was always cluttered and looked busy. I was ready for a change.

Sean's Trip to Mexico - February 2020

 Sean's brother Josh is a flight attendant and travels frequently and cheaply by flying standby and purchasing his ticket last minute. He and Sean decided to travel to Peru together this way. Sean hadn't been to Peru since his mission and wasn't able to got to Cusco or Machu Picchu. He was so excited to finally make it there. As a family we watched several travel videos on YouTube so the kids could see where Sean was going. I bought him a new travel/ back packing back pack, an outlet converter and he got several immunizations. The night before their trip, Josh called and said the plane was full. They'd have to pick another day or location. Sean already had work off and was excited to travel so they decided to pick a different location. They looked at flights all over the world and finally decided to go to Cancun Mexico the next day. Sean had a great attitude about everything and was still excited.

Josh's boyfriend Travis went with Josh and Sean on the trip. They've been together for a few years and Sean hadn't met Travis yet. So he was excited to get the chance. Sean really liked Travis. And since Travis hadn't met a lot of the Christensen's yet, it was good for him to get to know Sean.

Here's some of the food Sean ate.

Some buildings Sean walked past.

They didn't stay in the tourist part of town. Instead in a hostile. It was super cheap. Here's their pool.

They took a bus out to Chichen Itza and did a tour of the ruins.

Then rode a bus a bus out to a cenote. That's an underground swimming hole.

Before he got in, Sean took bunch of pictures. Right after he took this picture of Josh, he put his phone away and started down the stairs that lead into the water. He slipped on the last step and fell. On his way down, he dislocated his shoulder. He never got to swim. Instead he rode in an ambulance to a hospital. Sean is lucky that he had Josh with him because he speaks Spanish and isn't afraid to tell someone off. He got Sean the medical attention that he needed. Sean got a sling and was okay.

When it was time to come home, all the flights from Cancun to Salt Lake were full. Sean just wanted to get back in the U.S. so he took any flight he could get. He ended up spending the night in Minnesota. He didn't have any long pants of a warm coat. He had dinner at the Mall of America. And got on a flight home the next day.

I told the kids that we'd pick Sean up from his flight at night. I really picked him up while they were at school. He wanted to surprise them. So he hid in the trunk while I picked them up.

Sean brought home candies and pesos.

And showed us pictures of his trip. We were all happy to have him home!