After months of not seeing a whole lot of progress, a sudden surge of work has occured. My dad came up last week and we cut the wall we intended to make a half wall and taped and mudded the drywall. After a few more coats of mud and sanding, we're essentially ready to begin tiling, which is very exciting.
The shower stall is covered in almost-raw latex which dried a deep blue, almost black. This will provide the outermost moister barrier under the tile.
I went through two revisions of the bench in the shower and ended up with a stable shelf with a slight cant to allow drainage.
Two new light cans were placed above the shower to improve lighting.
What's left now is a final mudding, sanding and laying out the tile. Once the shower is tiled, I'll do the floor.