Life Lately, continued...

It's been a bustling time as of late.

It was UEA Break last week, which meant it was time for my baby shower. It also meant that the Elmer padres rolled into SLC for the long weekend.

I love it when they come to visit, mostly because we usually get a few days of quality time with them before we all scatter back to reality. Sam and Bob worked on the house while Lisa and I had girl time. We went shopping, got pedicures, enjoyed baby shower festivities, and attended church (where she got to hear me speak during Sacrament). I love the mother-daughter bonding time we get. I especially love how having her around brings a special kind of heart to my kitchen when I'm cooking. Again, I love it when they come to visit.

So, one of the house projects that Sam needed help with was tightening our basement hand rail. Bob concluded that the fasteners needed to be moved because the loose one was not anchored to a stud. They adjusted it, and left two decent fist-sized holes that needed to be patched and painted. In a moment of nesting, I voiced my desire to paint the basement; if we had to paint those spots anyway, why not give the whole basement and update?

And so began the tedious task of turned the dark brown walls bright yellow. I've been painting since Monday, and I'm really close to being maybe 60% finished. The goal is to completely finish the basement updates by November 1, and I'm pretty sure we will make it. This weekend will be about painting and finishing cleaning the carpets, and Monday will be when our new basement windows are installed! I plan on spending a lot of time in our basement living room/office after the baby is born, so creating a versatile space that promotes happiness and togetherness was an absolute must. Plus, it also feels like we're making our house our house.

Besides our home projects, I need to brag about Sam for a minute.

Back in January, he came to me and declared that he wanted to pay off his car loan this year. It felt a bit out of the blue, or maybe like a New Year's Resolution, but I was supportive and helped him crunch the numbers. Long story short, together we devised a financial plan to triple his monthly payment amount so that the loan would be satisfied by December.

Then in April we found out we were having a baby, due in December.

Regardless, I worked summer school, babysat, and worked my job searching side business to help bring in a little extra to help boost us for baby expenses so that Sam could focus on paying off his loan. Finally this last week, he mailed his last payment to the credit union and was told to expect the title in a few weeks!

We are officially car debt-free, and the only debt we have now is our mortgage.

I'm so proud of Sam for deciding to do this, and I'm so proud of us for working together to accomplish a goal like this. What a major milestone to hit, and especially before our son makes his debut. These random puzzle pieces of life are slowly coming into place as Charlie's arrival date draws near, and I almost feel like we are adult enough to become parents.

Yay Sam!

Also, yay me for single-handedly painting the basement at 33 weeks pregnant. I can't wait to have my basement back!