Homemaking

First of all, remember when "Homemaking" was actually a thing?  And once a month your mom would disappear for a few hours to homemaking and return with crafts and other amazing things and you were jealous?  Tell me that wasn't just me.

Anyhow... in preparation for moving to my new house (in less than 2 weeks now!!!!) I've been doing some boring things, like packing, and some fun things, like house decorations.  Let me show you.

First up, a "whiteboard" calendar, shopping list and cleaning chart:

I'm tellin ya, that white picture frame I bought when we were first married was totally worth whatever I paid for it (which I'm sure wasn't very much).  It's been so good to me the past few years!  I've been using it as a shopping list board, but decided it was really bigger than I needed for that, and I'd rather have a calendar that I could write the month and days in and erase it and start over each month!  So I just bought a little fabric, busted out the Sharpie and ruler and got to work!  I drew the grid on the fabric, stuck it in the frame and voila!  A calendar!  The smaller black frames are a shopping list and a chore chart with daily, weekly and monthly chores to do.  Imagine these three frames on a perfect shade of light blue in my kitchen... aaaaah....

Next in line, pillows:

Now, I got pillows for free with the couches when I bought them in the spring, but they weren't super cute.  I didn't really care (I had a new baby, come on!), but now that I'm moving, I want my house to be aDORable!  So I took the old covers off and made new ones!  I must say, I love them!!!

And p.s. the walls in my new house are grey, with a couple light blue accent walls on the main floor and dark dark brown laminate floors.  So yellow grey and blue are clearly prominent here.

My next project was curtains.  Oh, the curtains.  My house doesn't come with blinds (new construction, remember?) and I refuse to live in a house without window treatments because I'm not okay with people being able to see in at night when the lights are on.  Naturally, I decided to make curtains-- which, by the way, will be hung the day I move in... I want my privacy, thanks!  My living room has 2 windows, and they're on a blue accent wall.  Here's an idea of the curtains for that room:

Of course, that's just one panel, and it doesn't look nearly as cute on a couch as it will on the wall.

Next are my bedroom curtains:

I wanted to keep them really neutral so I can decorate however I want in there.  These curtains are actually a sheer overlay with the floral pattern, then a light grey layer underneath, with a blackout panel behind it all.  Hard to tell in the picture.  But they're awesome.

And my crowning jewel curtains:

Lexsi's curtains!  So awesomely cute, right?  I saw a shower curtain like this at Bed, Bath and Beyond, and they were selling it for $50 I think.  I thought, "Hey I could make that!  And for cheaper!"  And I did... but now I understand why they charge what they do.  It took a looooooooooong time!  The ruffles are sewn onto blackout fabric, so it'll be nice and dark for that girl!

Finally, I refinished my piano.  My dad bought me this piano when I was about 10 years old.  He bought it used from CMU, and it sat in our garage for a long time while he sanded and stained it.  I was excited to re-vamp it, but I did feel a little guilty when I thought about all the hard work he put into re-finishing it for me 15 years ago... and I covered it all with paint in the matter of a few hours.  In the end, though, we've always said that when I had my own house I was taking the piano, and it just really wouldn't go with the other furniture and decorations in the room how it was!

Anyway, here's how it started:

And here's how it ended up:

I really love it.  Cause, come on... who else has a yellow piano!?!  My mom helped me re-cover the seat, which I love too.  I know it seems like a lot of yellow.  But trust me... it's going to be so cute!!!  In just a couple weeks, it will all come together wonderfully!

And now, just for kicks, a picture the creation I'm very most proud of:

Perfection.

Chop-Suey!

Here's the thing:  I've been considering cutting my hair for a long time.  But, I've really loved having it long.  On Saturday, I finally took the plunge and whacked off 8 inches!

Yep, that's the new me, holding 8 inches of the old me!  [Please ignore the way I'm popping that hip out... awkward... but I'm too lazy to take another picture!]  I'm loving having short hair again... it's been a lot of years since it's been this short!  It's sooo healthy now, which is awesome!

The best part is, I found a donation center who will accept bleached hair for wigs for children with cancer!  I was so excited!  I've never donated my hair before, but I'm so glad to do it now!  I was worried I would regret cutting off my hair, but there's no way I'll regret it now, knowing that I donated to someone who needed it much more than I do!  All in all, I think it was an excellent decision!

Big Girl!!!

Lex turned 7 months old on Saturday.  Seriously-- wasn't I just barely blogging about her being 6 months?  Slow it down, little lady!!!  Here are her pictures with her lion:

 Can you even handle how tall she is?  

 This is the growling face.  She is such a growler.  

In the past month, this girl has become so much more stable.  She sits and sits and sits.  AND she's quite the scooter/roller.  She still hasn't mastered the forward scoot, but she moves a LOT.  I'll sit her in one area of the room and within a few minutes she's several feet away, with a combination of scooting and rolling.  She's getting into stuff, and I kinda love it.  Don't tell me I won't eventually-- I'm choosing to enjoy every stage, thanks very much!!!

She's a really good eater-- she'll eat any vegetable we give her, as long as it's mixed with sweet potatoes (go figure), and she loves every fruit she's tried as well!

Her eyes are starting to turn brown-- I know everyone thinks they've been brown all along, but they've actually been a dark grey/green.  They still look green some days, so I think she probably just got the same eyes as me, only hers change from brown to green instead of green to blue like mine.  I'm kind of grateful her eyes are getting darker, cause the girl is so ridiculously beautiful that if she ended up with light eyes with that dark skin, I'd be in serious trouble!  I still can't get over the fact that she's the darkest baby on either side of our family-- and I'm her mom.  Haha! 

For a few weeks now, "Dada" has become her favorite thing to say.  She babbles it all day long, but she also does recognize that DJ is her "Dada," and it's freaking adorable!  As soon as she sees him she yells "DADADA!!" and grabs at his face.  She's in love with him.  A few days ago she was in her jumper and I noticed her saying "Mamamama" and I got sooo excited!  She's not the best at saying it yet, and I realize she does not know that I am "Mama,"  but it still thrills me to hear her say it!

Time is flying by, and things are really busy around here but this little sweetheart brings so much light and happiness to my life, I can't even describe it!  I adore you, Lou!

My Family Is Forever

I have this cousin.

When we were kids, we did NOT get along.  As in, every couple years when we actually saw each other (we lived in very different parts of the country), we got in crazy fights.  Bawling your eyes out cause you're so mad kind of fights.

Fast forward to our teenage years.  We now lived only a few hours away from each other, but still didn't see each other much.  For spring break of 2002, my aunt invited Meg and I to come to Saint George with her and her two youngest kids.  We went, and I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous to spend several days with Cade.

I shouldn't have worried.

On the way down, we each took turns choosing music to listen to.  Cade was the only boy and he put up with a lot of girly music on that trip.  He was such a good sport though, and I particularly remember him doing an interpretive dance to Tim McGraw's song, "My Best Friend."  It was awesome.

That weekend was great fun. Someone in the group may or may not have peed their pants at some point during the weekend.  I won't disclose who, but if you know my family, you can probably make an educated guess at who it was.  We stopped at just about every quarter machine we saw and bought trinkets.  We ended up with several dozen dice, I believe, and made up some silly games to play with them.  We had a great time together, and it's a weekend I'll always remember.

A week ago, I lost my cousin to brain cancer.

We have known for a while that his time on earth was coming to a close, but that doesn't make the situation any easier.  As soon as I heard he had left us, my thoughts turned immediately to his wife.  She is one year older than me.  She has a baby 2 months older than Lexsi.  Quite frankly, I don't know her very well.  Because we're in similar times of our lives, however, I really really feel for her.

My thoughts turned to my aunt next.  My sweet Aunt Treebee who I've always adored.  You should never have to bury one of your children.  It's just not fair.  

I've been thinking about Cade a lot this past week as well.  I'm grateful that I have a knowledge of what happens to us after we die.

I know Cade's body is whole again.
I know he is happy.
I know he is sealed to Aly and Luke for eternity, as well as the rest of his family.
I know that Heavenly Father allows hard things to happen in our lives for our good.
I know that He makes us equal to the challenges He gives us.
I know that Christ came to Earth and performed the Atonement for each of us.  He knows precisely what Aly and Treebee and everyone else who loves Cade is feeling, because He already felt it.
I know that in the end, everything will be okay.  It isn't right now.  But it will be.
I know that we're all going to be reunited one day, and it's going to be beautiful.

Until then, I'm going to snuggle my baby a little more, be more grateful for my husband, and do my best to make the most of every moment I have with the people that I love.

"As a child of God, I've learned this truth: a family is forever."