Captured

My friend Lyndsey @ SeenBoxPhotography came over to our home and took pictures of my little ones and myself. The pictures turned out so beautiful. I love how she captured the personalities of my kids. It was fun to be able to do the photo shoot in the comfort of my own home as well.

8.9.03

Thanks for the Happily Ever After six years ago. Oh, and thanks for the Scooter to celebrate that six years with.

Frame It

This picture, found at the thrift store for $5, was faded. However, when I took it out of the frame I found $10,000.
Just kidding. I wish. You always hear the stories on the news about people finding treasures in their old things. Every time I buy something old and crappy I always hope I might get lucky one day and find a real treasure. Hey- it just might happen. I buy enough crappy stuff.
Anyway, I bought this picture and took it out of the frame to create ......

This! I love vintage frames so I thought it would be fun to create a magnet board with it. My hubby stapled the metal to the back and there you have it. I then Mod Podged paper on it to hide the ugly metal. (I'll post a picture of the finished project later.I forgot to take one.) It now hangs in my pantry where I hang notes, letters, invites and other things on it. That way my fridge stays clutter free.

Be Our Guest

This little guy thinks he needs two bedrooms. Apparently one room is needed to house his toys and clothes. The other room, our guest bedroom, is for sleeping.However, I don't blame him. Why sleep on a toddler bed when you can enjoy a big comfy queen sized bed.

If any of you would like to make the trek out to our home and be our guest, the little man will surely give up his lap of luxury. The bed and side table were previously my grandmother's. I painted them an antique white. The desk is from the thrift store. A $45 find. The chair is from a consignment shop. I covered the headboard and chair cushion in the same fabric.
This mirror has been several colors. At first it was black, then I painted it gold, and now it has new life in cream.

Please come and be our guest. We would love to have you. We will even turn down the sheets and leave a mint on your pillow.

Coupon Commotion

As of yesterday and for the next two days Smith's is doubling coupons. When I discovered this while reading Sunday's newspaper I was ecstatic. At 12:05 a.m. I was at my local Smith's with about 12 other crazy coupon shoppers making out like bandits. We were the only shoppers in the store. I kind of felt like I was on Supermarket Sweep. Do you remember that show? Running around the store, trying to find the sale items. Below is a sampling of some of what I purchased. Almost everything I purchased was on sale. I also bought some produce and 6 gallons of milk. My total came to $199.50. After coupons the total was.... Gotta love that! So many free items I could hardly contain myself. Candy bars, tuna fish pouches, yogurt, salad dressing, mustard, toothpaste and more. It was worth going to bed at 3:00 a.m. this morning to get these good deals.

Summer?

Why is it that winter seems to drag on and summer flys by in the blink of an eye. Easton is very distraught just thinking about it. He has been having such a fun summer and will be starting pre-school once the school year begins.Easton has enjoyed frequenting several local carnivals. Apparently the carnies and germ-infested rides don't deter this little dare devil. He would ride on all the rides if he were tall enough. What is summer without going to a parade or two? It took all my willpower to not jump out in the street and help Easton gather up candy. He did a pretty good job of gathering goodies, with some help from his cousins. He's still young yet.

Easton ran in the Kid's Fun Run and I don't think it was that fun for him. Halfway through the race he threw in the towel and had a mini melt down. However, he managed to pull it together and finished the race. I guess we'll have to do a little training for next year.
Each day we try and have mini-school. Pants are not required at this school-just come as you are. Easton loves to put on his backpack and come knock on the door to the "school house" located in the guest bedroom. We spend about 30 minutes (or as long as I have patience for) learning about the ABC's, numbers, colors and more.

This crazy guy doesn't slow down for a minute. Not even to try and get a family picture taken.

Little Miss Marielle

Look at that face. Oh how I love my baby girl. She is quite the chub weighing in at 13 pounds 10 ounces which puts her in the 95th percentile for her juiciness. She is in the 85th percentile for her length at 23.5 inches.

I haven't yet finished decorating her room. I'm waiting to get a dresser and side table which will help me determine where I want to hang things up. I purchased the fabric online. My mom made her bedding and I made the curtains. I love this toile. Actually I have a deep love for all toile and would probably wallpaper our house in toile if Clint would let me. But alas, his love of toile does not run as deep as mine does so I'm lucky to have Marielle's room in toile, my craft room in toile and our dining room chairs upholstered in toile.
I painted the walls in a light cream color and then did a pink accent wall. We had a guy in our ward come and do the crown moulding. We actually had him put up the crown throughout almost our entire home. I will have to post pictures of that later.

She is my little angel now. The first two months were a little rough- I'm not going to lie. She would wake up every two hours at night to eat and didn't sleep all that well during the day either. At night she seemed especially fussy and suffered from a bit of acid reflux. However, at two months I moved her into her crib and out of our room and now she sleeps 6-7 hours at night. It is heavenly. Plus during the day she sleeps like a champ as well. After she wakes up from a nap she has about an hour of wakefulness and then I start our little routine to put her back down. If she gets tired she gets fussy- she needs her sleep.

Look at those chubby little legs. I can't get enough of this girl.

So Blessed

Marielle is now two months old. On Sunday we had the opportunity to bless her. Clint gave her such a beautiful blessing. My ever-so-talented mother made her beautiful blessing gown out of the same material my wedding dress was made out of. Almost six years ago Clint and I were married and to have Marielle's blessing gown created from the same fabric I wore on that very day we created our family was so special to me. Thanks mom.

Shots from the luncheon held at our home following the blessing.

I created a dessert buffet for our guests to help themselves to yummy treats from following the meal. We had ham, cheese potatoes, coconut strawberry salad, maple glazed carrots and seven-layer salad for dinner. The buffet featured chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing, macaroons and an assortment of pink candies.

It was such a beautiful day. I am truly blessed to have two sweet little children and a wonderful husband. I am grateful all of our family was able to attend.

3

Easton celebrated his 3rd birthday on June 30th. I'm a little slow at posting-as per usual. When we asked Easton what he wanted to do for his birthday he replied "roller skating!" We told him he could have a roller skate party if he went poo-poo in the toilet. Well, he did- and has yet to do it again. Ugh. However, on a side note- Number 1 he has got down. No accidents, even at night. Now if I could just get him to go number 2 because Clint and I are tired of cleaning out dirty unders.
I digress- so we had a roller skating pizza party and Easton loved it. I made him this roller skate birthday cake to match his party theme. I made the skates by filling two empty soup cans with batter and baking them along with the cake.


We were at the rink for over three hours and when we went to leave Easton had a huge fit. He loves to party. I made this edible centerpiece for the party. It's mint chocolate suckers I made from candy melts and stuck into floral foam.
Easton received so many fabulous gifts from his family. Thanks everyone. The next morning following his party was like Christmas morn. He came into our room bright and early while we were still sleeping and wanted his toys out of their packages. Apparently the skating did not wear him out enough the night before.A fun time was had by all.

I love my sweet little guy. He is full of energy and keeps me busy but he keeps me laughing all day long too. He has a love of 'junk' including ear plugs, rubber bands, combs, old credit cards and more. He likes to call me 'Ma' for some reason. He just loves to dance and when we are driving if I try to dance with him he says "No Mom." I guess I don't have the right moves. Happy Birthday Easton!!

4th

For the Fourth of July my family came over, including my aunt from California, and we had a weenie roast. Easton loved the fireworks show we did in our front yard. Each time Clint lit a firework Easton would turn and look at me to make sure I was taking pictures and then he would immediately ask to see the photo. The sparklers were also a hit. He was a little nervous of the glowing sticks at first but he quickly caught on.

I am so grateful to live in this amazing country. I feel so blessed for the freedoms I enjoy and the sacrifices that were made and continue to be made to make this country what it is. I love America!