Bathroom Remodel....with our bare hands.

As we approach our house being paid for soon Payton and I decided to start remodeling one room at a time.  Our bathroom was our first major project as we had some roof leaks earlier this year that caused some damage in our bathroom.  We got a new roof earlier this year so we knew we could spend the money inside the house now. 

What started out as what I thought would be a minor remodel turned in to so much more. LOL. This was my bathroom before we got started with the remodel.

Shower Area

Garden Tub area

Vanity Area

And the remodel began....with some major demo.... We decided the night before to completely gut it and start over. Figured if we were going to be here forever we might as well do things right and start fresh.

This is where the shower used to be..... just a hole now! LOL

And this is where the garden tub used to be.

And where the vanity used to be.....

It took exactly two weeks and more money than I care to mention (things are so expensive now).  We did search and look for the BEST deals on everything that we bought.  Payton, myself, Blake, Baleigh and Jonathan did every bit of the work with some help from Payton's brother Brian and a friend of his names Shawn.  I am so proud of Payton and the things that he learned.  Neither of us had ever laid one tile let alone all that we did lay in this bathroom.  It was hard to get used to doing but once we figured it out it was kind of like working a puzzle with very large pieces.  

So here is the FINISHED project minus a few decorations cause I have not found any pictures that I like so far to hang on the walls.

This is the new tub and shower combo with tile that we picked and laid ourselves. 

I decided that I wanted Wayne's coating along the bottom part of the wall, that is painted white.  The top part of the wall is a guacamole color. Very pretty... I love the color.  

The new vanity area.  

Payton and I found this awesome table the other night at World Market (one of my favorite stores). Just need something to put it in the basket..... just have not found the right thing yet!

And my new HUGE closet.  This is where the shower used to be. It is such great storage that I am not used to.  I don't know what to do with all the space.

So, I am very much enjoying my new space in the house.  The other day I took a shower and a bath in one day just because I love being in that room.  I am very proud of the work we did.  My husband is awesome!!! Stay tuned for our next big remodel project.

Wildman....U better believe it!!!

On December 3rd, 2008 we got a call from DCS asking us to take a 3 year old male.  I without any hesitancy said YES. A little bit later they called back to say they had messed up and he was 3 months old. I said OK big difference but YES I will still take him.  They called back yet a third time to say oops he is actually 3 days old!  So, Payton and I jumped in the car when we got the go ahead that he was ready to be discharged from the hospital to pick him up.  We were all immediately in love with this little guy.  

Sadly in April of 2009 just before Bryce was scheduled to go home in May that he had a very serious heart condition.  He has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In May we went for some testing and the next day the doctor called us and told us that he would need to have open heart surgery that Friday at Vanderbilt in Nashville.  We were devastated but we knew that it was what had to be done in order for him to survive so we packed our bags and headed to Nashville.  He has the surgery on Friday and we were heading back to Knoxville on Tuesday.  He did amazing.  Today he is doing quite well but we never know when things could get worse.  I still believe to this day that God allowed that horrible illness to keep him from going back to his bio parents because after the surgery he never did another over night visit with them again (he had been doing them before the surgery to prepare him to go home).  

He is quite spoiled, LOL since we had not had a baby around since Baleigh and she was 10 when we got him.  This picture was taken last year when Payton and I took him to Disneyworld for his 2nd birthday, his first trip to Disney he was 6 weeks old.  The lipstick you see on his face was from Cinderella, whom he loved VERY much.  

I really do not know what I would have done if he would have went back to his bio family.  It would have killed me and almost all of my family members.  Luckily on May 27th, 2011 we were able to adopt him and he became Bryce Oakland Cooper FOREVER. 

He is a fun, energetic, mean little booger.  He has some behavior issues that we are working hard at trying to correct or at least improve.  He attends a local Christian preschool here in Knoxville and he loves every minute of that.  Everyday he comes home either in trouble for being mean to another child or he comes home trying to persuade me that another child as mean to him. LOL

He will be turning three this year, OMW! He is the funniest little thing you will ever meet.  He loves his daddy and all his brothers and sisters.  He loves to play outside and do anything that Payton is doing.  Right now his favorite things are saying "I help" with whatever you may be doing and asking "What's that?" about 12 million times per day.  But I am so thankful for everyday that I have with him.  I am so blessed.

Here is a link to Bryce's favorite show right now.  You must understand that nothing keeps him still for any length of time.  One day I was just flipping through On Demand and found this and he LOVES it.  It will watch it for about 15 minutes without moving, which is saying alot for him.  

Aloha, meet my artist..

In September of 2009 Payton and I had went on a cruise...when we returned to the US I had several messages on my phone from a great friend of mine who is also a foster parent.  She was telling me of a 16 year old girl who was available for adoption. I quickly erased the first message and thought to myself there is NO way in he.. double hockeysticks I am taking a teenager.  We have all heard the stories about teenagers that are in foster care.  Well, I got another message a few days later and than an email.  Payton and I talked and prayed about it and agreed that we would at least learn more about her from DCS and possibly meet her.  The next week I found her worker sitting in my living room telling me everything she could about Cyndi.  We decided to meet her and on October 1st, 2009 we met Cyndi Miyuki Yokota. 


We met her at East Town mall for the first time and we went shopping with her.  I will never forget her smiling face when I laid eyes on her.  She was gorgeous..I had saw a picture of her about a week before at a meeting at DCS when they were giving us an adoption report.  As soon as Payton and I laid eyes on her our eyes filled with tears.  Could this be our daughter? But that picture could not even begin to do her any justice.  She had the most beautiful skin. She is orginally from Hawaii and so I loved the fact that I was finally getting my dark skin baby that I had always wanted, LOL. She had just had her wisdom teeth out the week before and she was so worried that we would think she looked funny cause her mouth was swollen.  She did not talk ablot at first but after several minutes she opened right up and began talking.  We were left alone with her at JCPenneys for her to do some shopping and that is when she really opened up.

She told DCS she wanted to take it slow and we were more than fine with that.  However, the following week she told them she had changed her mind and was ready to move in. Wow, we were so excited!! So she moved in about a week and half after meeting her.


She is one of the most energetic funny people I know. She can say the darnest things and will crack you up.  She is so talented in her art skills. She will blow you away at her drawings.  She has even drawn me a tattoo recently that I need to go get.  It is really awesome.


I will not lie, there have been some hard times and sometimes we do not see eye to eye.  I only pray and hope that one day she will see it is only because I love her that I was so tough on her and did not see things the way that she saw them.  But yet I saw them form a mothers perspective. She has a very strong personailty and so do I so I guess sometimes we just go head to head.  We are alike in ways like that.

She graduaded from Hardin Valley Academy in May and I could not be more proud of her.  She had a long road ahead of her school wise when she came to us but he pushed through and conquered in the end.  I am so proud of her and very blessed that in July of 2010 Payton and I officially became her forever mom and dad.  She would forever be known as Cyndi Kaori Cooper


She is expecting our first grandchild in Feb. 2012 and we could not be more excited about meeting this bundle of joy.


Since I do not really know alot of the songs that she likes nor the music (it is quite foreign to me, LOL).... I am going to give this a shot. I think this is the type of music she likes....

A Hunting HE will go.....

Payton Blake Cooper was born on Monday January 1st, 1996 at 12:00 am.  Yes, he was the first baby born in Knoxville that year.  It started off with a bang let me tell you.  The previous day, Sunday, Payton and I went to church as we always did on Sunday mornings.  We went to my nonna and papaws after church for lunch like we did every week.  While we were there I kept telling my mom and nonna that my back was hurting and it felt funny.  Around 4pm they said to me, "Mandi, do you think it could be contractions in your back?" I told them there was no way it did not in anyway seem like I was in labor.  However, after closely monitoring these "back pains" I realized they were coming in a pattern.  Around 7pm Payton and I headed to the hospital and sure enough I was already like 5 or 6 cm dialated.  I started the birthing process around 11:30 and at 25 seconds after midnight on Jan. 1st he was born.  The doctor said it was so close we could either have a tax deduction baby or we could shoot for the first baby of the new year.  So, we chose to try for the first baby of the new year.  We had got it, the next baby was not born until several minutes after midnight.  


The next morning there were news reporters calling, coming in doing interviews, local stores bringing gift cards, formula and diapers. We were showered with lots of things and so many visitors.  It was really a neat experience. Something we are for sure proud of.  

Today Blake is 15 years old and is in 10th grade (at home of course).  He is an avid hunter all around.  He hunts anything from ducks, geese, turkeys, deer, wild boar, squirrels, etc.  You name it he will hunt for it.  He is awesome at it too which helps.  He has supplied our family with lots of meat!!!  He has a passion for it like non other.  He also loves to fish.  he spends every dime he earns on fishing, hunting or guns.  Sometimes it drives me crazy but hey that is how God wired him.  


He is an awesome son, friend, brother, and such a hard worker.  He can do just about anything that he puts his mind too.  Very hands on.  He is still undecided about what he wants to do when he grows up although his talk for the last few years is to open  some sort of business by himself.  He wants to be self employed as he has seen the benefits and downfalls (but mostly benefits) of his daddy owning his own business.  

I am so proud of the young man he is becoming and I know that he will make an awesome husband and father when he gets older(much older)!


And here is a link to his favorite song right now....

JoNnY B

Jonathan Tyler Cooper was born on January 6, 1994.  He is the oldest of our biological children.  He was the cutest thing that I had ever laid my eyes on.  Nothing could have prepared me for the good/bad/ugly and fantastic that was going to come with being a "Mommy"! What a crazy roller coaster.  I had Jonathan at the crazy age of 15, ALL odds were for sure against us.  However, Payton and I were determined to make it work and care for him the best that we could.  

If you have never got the chance to meet Jonathan, well you are sure missing out.  He is by far one if the nicest, most friendlist people that you are sure to meet on this Earth.  He would give you the shirt off of his back, literally! He has a way to make you laugh and always has.  


I remember when he was about 3 Payton and I bought him his first Bible.  It was a precious moments Bible and he carried that thing everywhere he went.  He would go around the house (in only underwear I must add) preaching.  He would have that Bible open and he would just be preaching up a storm.  When we would ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up he would say a preacher.


Well, of course that has all changed now! LOL He does love the Lord but he is not sure what he wants to do as of right now.  He is in 11th grade (homeschooled of course).  He is currently and has always been very into sports.  He can tell you football stats from years ago, even before he was born.  It is really crazy.  He doesn't like to be outside a whole lot.  He mostly enjoys time alone in his bedroom watching TV or playing Playstation or XBOX.  

I am so proud of who he is becoming.  There have been ups and downs as with every teenager but overall I am very lucky to have such a sweet boy.  I am truly blessed and for those who thought it was all a huge mistake 17 1/2 years ago.... well here is proof....It was NOT a mistake. He is a prized possesion, one that God allowed Payton and I to be a part of.  


Here is a link to his favorite song right now.... LOL

Oh So Talented

I thought it would be cool to kind of introduce my kids one at a time over the next little bit here on the blog for those of you that don't know my kids that well.  I have some pretty awesome children and I can't wait to tell everyone about them.

Baleigh is on my heart alot today because she had a very unfortunate thing happen to her this weekend.  She has been working really hard lately babysitting to make her own money so that she can buy the things that she wants, makeup, clothes, purses, etc.  You get the drill if youu have teenage girls.  I have been so proud of her.  She had been looking at a purse on the internet called "The Sac, sp?" She found one not long ago at Marshalls and bought it with her own money. We went to a birthday party this weekend and apparently someone stole her purse.  She also had her wallet with her babysitting money in it:<( It breaks my heart for her and I know that she is so sad.  It also makes me want to slightly KILL the person that stole it.  This is baby girl that we are talking about.  

So, I chose to start with her since my heart is heavy for her.  Baleigh was born on July 7, 1998.  She was the girl I had been waiting on.  She was practically perfect in every way as Mary Poppins would say... She is your all around girly girl if I have ever saw one.  She tried to play soccer a couple of years ago but determined that you had to run and sweat in order to play and so she gave that up really quickly.  She cheered for Sharks for 4 years and done wonderful at that but she gave that up several years ago because it was a huge "Time Hog". She is one of the sweetest girls that I know and just has the greatest heart.  

She is growing up so quickly and becoming a young lady.  It is killing me and Payton both.  She turned 13 in July. She is in 8th grade this year here at home and she is the one that I don't even have to tell to start their schoolwork.  In fact she usually does days and days of work in advance.  She has a really big interest in fashion and photography. For her birthday she asked for a "nice" camera and so that is what we got her.  She takes some of the most unique pictures I have ever seen to be so young.  She just has the eye for different things and so to show you how proud I am of her I am going to post a few on here.

Pretty talented for a 13 year old.  She blows me away..... Of course  I am probably a little biased. LOL 

So to my baby girl.... I LOVE YOU and I am so proud of the Godly young lady you are becoming.  

Here is a link to one of her favorite singers right now..... Be ready!!!!

Finger Painting Fun

I love awesome fun decor for kids bedrooms.  However, I am kind of an out of the box person when it comes to decorating....especially in kids rooms.  I do not like for their rooms to look like they have been poured out of a magazine, instead I like them to be fun, creative, educational and for the kids to help as much as possible.  So, this project made for great fun while Bryce and I were waiting for Payton to finish up some painting at a cabin we were blessed to stay at last night.  

Yes it was quite the mess.... that is why he has no clothes on and the garbage bags are   covering the countertops.  

He had a great time. He mixed all the colors together.  Which was perfectly fine with me and dad. This is his finished project..... before the tape was removed and before the framing.

And this is the finished product framed.  It was an awesome, inexpensive fun way to let him be part of decorating his own room.  The frame was $9 at Wal-Mart, finger-paint was $4.00, paper was $2.00 and painters tape (of course was on hand giving Paytons profession, LOL)! I am very happy at how it turned out and we will be hanging this work of art tonight!

Let's give blogging a shot....

Well, here goes to my first blog ever.  I have been wanting to do this forever but for one reason or another I just never found the time. As I embrace yet another season in life I finally have a little extra time to give this blogging thing I shot.  I am so intrigued by the women in my life that have blogs and how their posts have been uplifting, encouraging, funny and very meaningful to me at different times.  
Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with lots of friends that I have lost contact with over the years.  They see my posts and I see theirs but not many of them know "my story" and they often ask so I will try to cover it briefly here.  

Payton and I have been married for 17 years now.  We had three biological children of our own, Jonathan, Blake and Baleigh.  In 2007 (9 years after Baleigh was born) we decided we wanted more children.  God blessed us with the finances to fly to Florida for Payton to have surgery so that we could try to have another child.  After a year of trying to get pregnant and no success we decided that we would open our home to foster kids in the Knoxville area and just take it that maybe God had different plans for us.  On December 3rd 2008 we got our 2nd call from DCS in which we took a 4 day old baby boy named Bryce.  The very next month we were shocked to learn that we were in fact pregnant!  That pregnancy ended in a devasting miscarriage when I was about 15 weeks along.  It was a very hard time in my life and Paytons but we learned so much and we grew in our relationship together and most of all in our relationship with God!  In October of 2009 we met a precious girl named Cyndi who we learned was available for adoption.  She was 16 years old and she ended up coming to live with us and we adopted her in July 2010.  Bryce also became available for adoption and we adopted him in 2011.  I hope you see know where I am going with this and the name of my blog "How Life has Changed"! We never dreamed we would be handpicked by God to be the parents of two more children through adoption.  

My family is my life.  I am a stay at home mom.  Cyndi is now 18 and has moved into her own apartment and is expecting her first child in February.  I homeschool Jonthan 17, Blake 15 and Baleigh 13.  Bryce is now almost 3 and is in preschool at a local church.  I am truly blessed to have a an awesome husband who stands beside me  in everything I do.  He believes in me and loves me for who I am.  We have had our ups and downs as every marriage does but I can thankfully say that we have an amazing marriage now I am thankful for everyday that I get to spend with him.  he is truly my best friend.  Well, I guess that is enough for now.  I am sure there will be many more posts and lots of time for me to talk about my awesome family and such.  Blessings till next time......