10.17.2013

Finally, A Place to Rest My...





I've had these stools for over a year now and their frumpy, country-red blandness has been mocking me ever since I brought them into our apartment. Country style has no home in my home.  I much prefer clean, crisp colors and modern lines in certain pieces to contrast my love for nearly all things vintage, textural, and glamorous, so I set out to do some "research" on how to make these stools fit my taste- and by research I mean retail therapy and Google searches. I also combed through styles from furniture and decor sites that are designated for our post-student-budget home, and there I found the gem I had been hunting for.  All it took was some spray paint and stencils and A LOT of husband coaxing to transform what was previously an eye sore into a refreshing, styled statement.  One that you can sit upon :)
 





Spray paint: Krylon, primer in White, color is Pebble Grey, stenciled numbers Flat Black

A note on stenciling: use stencil glue! or you'll have some color bleeding like you see here (oops! lazy monster came for tea that day). It's usually sold right by the stencil paper.  Also, I cut my stencils out myself with an Exact-o knife, but a much simpler route would have been to take the stencil paper to a store like Archiver's and have their Cricut machine do it for me.  That's what I'll be doing next time.

10.15.2013

Autumn To-Do List








Every year as autumn descends on Happy Valley I make a mental wish list of all the wonderful things we should do to celebrate the season.  Now that Sawyer is big enough to enjoy practically any activity from hiking up the foothills to watching Halloween movies, that wish list is getting rather lengthy.  I've managed to whittle it down to our absolute musts that should keep us busy until the snow starts falling.

To Eat and Drink:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, done and done! We like the recipe from Erin Cooks
Apple Spice Cake
Halloween Candy
Cinnamon Rolls, check!
Butternut Squash Soup
Caramel Apple Cider
Pumpkin Hot Chocolate, but this one deserves multiple fulfillment

To Do:
Decorate for Halloween, done early to maximize the month
Get pumpkins
Carve pumpkins
   -Repeat....
Volunteer apple picking for the Utah Food Bank

Places to Go:
Alpine Loop in Sundance
Ride the Heber Creeper for the Pumpkin Festival
Cornbelly's Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point
Jaker's Pumpkin Patch

To Make:
Leaf Garlands
Halloween Dinner Menu
Costumes
Halloween Playlist, it drives Jeff crazy which makes it all the more fun




10.14.2013

29 weeks


Baby lady was a bit camera shy at her ultrasound; she was all too busy snuggling down tight, not to be disturbed, so we didn't get to see much of her sweet face but she sure is growing! Our dear baby girl measured almost 2 weeks big and weighed  well over 3 pounds at her ultrasound this week.  The good doctor shook her head and said we two must just make big babies, although lucky for us, she's a good deal smaller than Sawyer was around this time. That gets me hoping for all kinds of wonderful things, especially the prospect of a labor that is less than two days long. Mostly though, I was excited and so relieved to hear that she looks great and everything is developing properly.


10.08.2013

Daddy's Boy







Sawyer loves being with me day in and day out, but when his dad's around, I move over to watch the boys play.  It doesn't matter if it's actual play-like trucks and parks and slam dunking-or things that Sawyer may grow up to think are not fun at all-like homework and "Honey-Do" lists- whatsoever Dad does, Sawyer does also.

Of course, when dad's not here to play, he also likes to do whatever I'm doing. It frequently comes in handy, see:

{saying "sheese"}

Though, chore lists take twice as long with double the hands around here :)

10.07.2013

28 Weeks


28 weeks was a busy week for us, starting with a visit to the midwives. Everything is looking great, and one of my favorite midwives, Sue, said that she'd like for us to start seeing our old perinatologist again just to be safe.  This is actually great news, because Dr. Dizon-Townsen is fabulous, we always felt so reassured and confident in her care, and I've really been missing that assurance this pregnancy. Plus, more baby pictures for us! I'm excited to get some leads on an arrival date and would like to know, should I be buying more newborn sizes, or stick to the 3-month chunker outfits?....

I also had my glucose screening for gestational diabetes and a blood draw for my specially-mixed cocktail shot (a.k.a., RhoGAM) since I'm Rh negative.  That was like 3 trips to the Dr. in one week, which is a little unsavory, so Sawyer and I baked up some goods to counteract the hospital after-taste.  I'm craving anything cheesy, chicken-y and bread-y these days, and caramel and apples call my name from every direction. Sawyer is totally on board with these cravings, and I'm assuming baby girl is too, so together with my little partners in crime, I'm gobbling up comfort food goodness as we plunge into the last trimester. Only 3 more months to go!

10.04.2013

10.02.2013

Coming 'Round the Mountain


After years of trying and failing, we finally timed our drive on Alpine Loop in Sundance Canyon just right to catch the changing colors of fall.  Of course, I have no record, only a memory, because someone didn't want to stop or even slow down to capture a proper photo. And someone else was pleading to go to the park from the back seat. the. whole. time.  If I've painted this picture correctly, its easy to see that the experience was far from picturesque.

Here's to family time that isn't quite picture worthy, but still precious.

Fun fact: I didn't edit this picture a smidge.

10.01.2013

Hello, Fall





   






  










I get giddy every year when the season for sweaters and copious amounts of hot chocolate rolls in. I can't help it, I absolutely love fall, and we've have the most perfect start to the season that I can remember.  So this weekend we broke out the coats and headed to our favorite park to spend a crisp night feeding ducks and taking on the mammoth slide, then headed home to sip cocoa and snuggle.