Hello!

Hey Guys! I can't believe that it is almost Christmas! Can you believe it?! Where did this year go? I have been so busy trying to get everything done for the Holidays, that I haven't even thought about posting on here. Oops! I am so excited though, I started a new blog that you can find if you click on my profile info. I did it for me, just to keep myself challenged I guess, but I have had a ton of viewers already! I am up over 1000 page views just in the last 3 days! Thats just nuts! The funniest part about it is that they are all looking at my snowman fridge. Not the crafts, but my cute little snowman fridge. Don't get me wrong, I am glad they are there, but it just makes me and Clayton laugh! It is so simple and cost us nothing, but that is what everyone wants to see. So go take a look!

The Boys' room is done (almost)

I have had the paint for this little "project" for a while now, and we finally got it done! Well, as much as its going to be for a while. We plan on getting some new bunkbeds since these beds are falling apart and doing a few small things, but I couldn't wait till who knows when to share! I have to say, I love the outcome! Its seriously amazing what a little paint can do for a space! We painted the whole wall with a grey primer and then did grey on the top and a red on the bottom. I don't have the names near me but I know that the grey was Glidden and the red was from Walmart (it was an oops color one day while I was there so I grabbed it)
I wasn't sure how the space would turn out, Brayden's favorite color is red, but I knew I wanted to tone it down a little since he shares with Bryson. I really love it! We just need to fill the nail holes in the chair rail and I need to figure out the curtain "issues". I know we need something else, but I don't know what. I can't decide what color to go with, but the blue just isn't feeling right. I do have a few more things I plan on doing to the walls (some vinyl for one) and for some reason it wouldn't let me add all the pics, but here is the ones I was allowed to add! Let me know what you think! Clayton told me he gets worried every time I say "I was thinking" because he is just sure that its going to mean more painting. He is usually right, but he does it anyway, thanks Honey!
this is the best before I could find.



the lighting isn't great, but here it is!

Fall Crafts

I have been in such a crafty mood! I think its the time of year, the fall weather is setting in and its time to find things to do inside. Clayton went hunting and for some reason I get a lot done when he is gone! Who would think! Having that extra few hours at night made a huge difference. I am glad he is back, and would NOT want to do that forever. I missed him like crazy, but it was sort of nice to feel so accomplished at the end of the week with all I got done.
Our ward had Super Saturday last week (a day of women crafting). I love going and was bummed I was missing it (due to no sitter), but now I am sort of glad I did! I went and picked up my craft kits and brought them home to work on and I think I liked the way they turned out better then the originals. The originals were good, but these are "mine" and I love them!
These blocks were cute for Halloween and I don't really have very many Halloween decorations. Not a big fan of all the gory stuff. But I am really liking the cutesy decor I've been seeing.

These Thanksgiving blocks were so simple, but I decided to sand and distress a little. That was not a good idea! They are so small and sanding was time consuming. But I love the look of them. I painted them 1st with a mustard yellow shade of craft paint I had on hand and then after sanding I added some stain to give it a little somethin somethin. ;) I love them now. Simple but cute.

I am a Christmas/ Nativity junkie so I knew I had to do these blocks. I am so glad I did! She had them painted in red white and green (I think?) but I am so glad I went with simple black and some sanding because it will go better with what I have and doesn't take away from the Nativity at the top or the saying. That is what Christmas is about and I adore this craft!


I love this little guy! I got the idea for him off a blog that for the life of me I can't find now! If you know where, please let me know and I will fix it. He is so cute and simple, just a paperback book with the cover ripped off and the pages folded. The branch in the top just didn't give it the umph I wanted so I took a piece of Halloween ribbon and gathered it and stuck it in the hole in the top. I think it gave it a little extra pizzaz. Nothing special, but I think he is a cutie.

My cute little kids wanted in on all the crafty madness and I remembered seeing this craft here and thought it was perfect for the kiddos. They aren't perfect but they were so proud of themselves. I think they turned out cute and can't be better than free! (we had all the supplies on hand). So this is a little of my madness, hope you enjoyed!
Linking up at

I love coupons!

Ok, so I have been couponing on and off for a while now. I love it. I love the savings, the free items, I just love it! I don't go all crazy and buy out the store or anything, but when I can get something free it is such a rush!
I dropped the kids off at school today because Brayden is starting a new program where he will be going all week instead of just a few days a week like it was. It was his first day, so I thought it would be nice of me to take him. He was a champ by the way and went like a pro. I was so excited! I adore those kids and to see them grow is so exciting! Anyway, Bryson and I stopped at Albertsons on the way home for some much needed "retail therapy". I am easy, what can I say? I don't need the mall, just give me groceries! :) I think this is the best I have done in a while. I got everything pictured here for $9.13, without coupons it would've been $93.81! That is some good savings! I had to pay $1 for each of the 6 bags of candy, and .20 for the 5 boxes of popcorn, but other than that all I paid was sales tax. So I ended up with 6 bags of Halloween candy(pixie sticks, so I won't be tempted to eat it before Halloween), 6 bottles of milk, 5 bottles of Gain dishsoap, 6 Yakisoba noodles, 4 bags of pasta, 5 boxes of popcorn, 2 lg Miracle Whip, 8 Mentos gum. Not too bad, if I do say so myself!

1st day of school...I had to do it twice!

Well the school year is finishing up its 2nd week today. Wow, it goes fast! Courtni started 2nd grade and loves it so far. She is so smart and always seems to love to learn. I am so glad that is the case and that she really enjoys it. In fact, she is always wanting to play school when she isn't actually at school. Silly girl! She went just fine, she always does. I can tell she is nervous, but she doesn't cry or anything. That should make it easier on me but I think I cried harder this year than the last 2 combined! Maybe that had something to do with Clayton not being there and me having to do it alone. He really is my rock and I lean on him a lot.

Brayden actually started school the day after Courtni. That really was nice because this way I was able to go to the class with each one of them and spend a few minutes together. When we walked out to the kindergarten playground, Courtni got really clingy and wouldn't go over to the "big kid" side. She just started bawling. Where was this coming from?! I was in shock. She said she had held it in for the first day but just needed to cry now. I couldn't argue with that, since I felt like doing the same thing. Luckily Brayden didn't really notice and acutally played on the toys a little bit. I have to say I was so nervous to leave him. He is so stubborn and can be a real turd when he wants to be. I can't get him to do anything that resembles learning for me so I honestly didnt think it was going to go too well. When the bell rang and they all lined up he wouldn't let me go. The principal had to carry him into the classroom by his armpits because he tried to throw himself on the floor and she caught him. I felt like a horrible mom! Here is my super shy guy and I am just leaving him in a building full of strangers. I didn't want to leave! I know he plays it up for me, I am not dumb, but it was still so hard!
When I went to pick them up that afternoon his wonderful teacher told me that he did so good. He even participated!!! That is HUGE for Brayden. She thought I was kidding when I told her that I never ever volunteered an answer in school but I wasn't. Maybe I did in grade school, but once I was old enough to remember very well I didn't. I was so scared. To know that he was participating made me so very happy! What a big boy he is!
I know I say this a lot, but my kids are my life and to know that they are having a good time while they are at school is such a relief! I am one proud Momma!

more craftiness

I have still been in the mood to craft and decorate like crazy! I don't get near as much done as I would like to, but have gotten a few things done recently.
First up is this cute little family sign. I don't think my crappy pic does it justice. It is metal and was painted brown when I bought it at my new fav store Hobby Lobby. It was cute, but I thought it would be even better black with some white distressing. So, I primed it with white primer, and then painted it black. I sanded around each letter and the decorative edging so that some of the white would show through and hung it in my stairway where I am working on a photo wall that is all black and white. Looks great there, I think.
Then I had a gift card to TJ Maxx (that I got free for doing surveys through Lightspeed consumer panel) and found this finial there. It was hideous and gold, but I liked the shape. I put it back down and kicked myself the whole way home. Fast forward over a month, I was in Boise again, so I stopped in to see what I could waste my money on(hehe!) and it was still there. Not only was it there, but it was marked down to $2!!!! Poor ugly little thing. I didn't put it back this time! I was so excited when I got it home. I am pretty sure Clayton thought I was nuts! I taped off the pretty red glass section on the bottom and gave it a good couple coats of primer and spray paint. I wish I had gotten an antique white, but I goofed and got regular. I still think it turned out pretty though. It is broken on top, but it went up on top of my cupboards, so you can't see that part anyway. Not bad for $2!

What do you think? Was it worth a couple bucks? I wish I had gotten a before pic, cause this baby was bad I am linking up to a couple parties again. At Thrifty Decor Chick And tatertots and jello

Drumroll please...

We have a yard! (Please ignore the sad excuse for a garden that didn't work in the background) Finally, there is grass in our backyard! I am so excited...the only bummer is that they told not to walk on it for 3 weeks, just in time for the kiddos to go back to school. Oh well, it will still get plenty of use! It is gorgeous! Who would've thought that grass could be so stinkin pretty?
Clayton told me that he checked out our blog the other day and that I don't have any pictures of our shed finished. Oops. I took them, honest! Life gets busy! So here is for you Clayton, our purdy new shed :)

And here is one with the nice new grass
(ignore Courtni's little booty in the corner, the kids were enjoying the sprinklers from the patio since we can't go in the grass!)
Oh, I almost forgot! We have a nice new patio too! Our friend Matt came and poured it a couple weeks ago along with adding to our front step so noone would fall off and sue us!
It has since cured all the way and is the same color as the existing section.
We have been so busy since we got back from our little vacay. To top it all off, Brayden just turned 5! That is so hard for me to believe! He is going to be a kindergartener in a couple of weeks! He had so much fun! His party (which he decided to have this year after opting out of having one last year) is tomorrow, and I will have to post some pics. He is way into legos this year. Especially Indiana Jones Lego video game so he got some Indy legos as well as just some regular legos. He loves them! He is growing up too fast, I love getting to celebrate bdays with my babies, but sometimes I just want to freeze time and not let them get any bigger!

Our family vacation

Ok, so Clayton has always gotten vacation time, but this year is the first year in our lives together that we have gone on an actual vacation. Crazy, I know! It seems like something else always comes up, we don't have the money, there is a family reunion, something. I mean, don't get me wrong, we love the reunions and the quick weekend trips to see his Grandma, but we have longed for a trip where we got to do what we wanted to do and we finally got one!
We still went to Utah, because we figured there is a lot down there that we have missed and the kids have never seen,plus we really wanted to see Grandma and my sister Lora and her family. First on our agenda was seeing Clayton's gma who lives in Lehi. I don't know what it is about her, but Courtni has always been so attached. She sends her letters regularlly, wants to call her all the time and just talks about her a lot. It is special and we really want to nurture that. We went there first and spent 2 nights with her. We didn't really do anything, just sat and visited. It was great! Relaxing and easy, the kids adjusted really well and Brayden even asked her to go to the park with him!!! (Anyone who knows him knows that this is a HUGE thing for him.
When we got done there we headed to Salt Lake. I don't know what it is about Salt Lake, but I have always been in love with it. I am sure that a lot of it has to do with the church history there, but its more than that. I love it. All of it. We were supposed to stay in a hotel just outside of SLC but it ended being scary. Long story. So we got out of it and were able to get a room at the Crystal Inn downtown SLC. We wanted to stay downtown so we could be closer to everything, so that worked out nicely. It was a nice hotel. The kids loved the pool. Even Brayden! He wouldn't get in the 1st day, but the 2nd while I stayed in the room with Bryson to get him to nap, Clayton took the kids to the pool and both Brayden and Courtni swam all over. They had their float ring things of course, but they were everywhere. I was so proud when Bryson woke up and I went to find out where the rest of my family was and found them in the pool still.
We crammed a lot into our 2 days there. We went to temple square (at least for a little while the kids got tired and bored but part of that was the fact it was lunch time. Shoulda planned that better). We also went to Hogle Zoo, This is the Place monument, the school where High School Musical was filmed (I had forgotten it was there until we passed it), and then got to see Lora for a while and went to the church history museum with her. I was bummed we didn't get to see her family, but we crossed paths. She came to Idaho for her vac and we went to Utah. Next time we will have to plan better. I was just glad to get to see her for a little while anyway.
There is so much more we couldve done, so much we wanted to do, but we only had 4 days, so I think it was pretty successful. I am just greatful we got the chance to make those memories. It was rushed, hectic and very tiring, but so worth it in the end!

Court's 4th of July dress

I did it! I made a cute little jumper for Courtni. I think it turned out pretty cute. I was going to make it all one color (the white) so I bought the material that way, but then decided at the last minute I liked the blue better. What to do, what to do? I didn't have enough blue, dangit! so I thought it might be cute to divide it and just do the bottom section in the white. Not only did I sew the dress, which pattern I found here, but I changed it a little bit and veered off of the pattern and still managed to make it look decent! I am shocked! I don't have any talent in this area. Zero. Nada. This pattern was just so easy to follow, if I can do it anyone can, trust me! I know it isn't perfect, I made a couple adjustments, but it is all straight anyway! Now she can show off her festive side at church Sunday and still wear it to the bbq afterward to celebrate her cousins blessing day! She looks gorgeous in it, even if her hair hasn't been done yet. I can't wait to try to make some fun accessories to add to the festivity!
I can honestly say that I didn't know you were supposed to iron while you sewed, what a difference it makes! It looks so much more professional this way. Anyone who has a brain is probably saying, "duh" but I was clueless, now I am hooked and can't wait to sew some more!
I am linking up here

Meet Lexi...Plus the longest blog post ever!

I did it. I tried to talk myself out of it for so long, but I caved. I got a puppy! Clayton has been wanting a pure bred boxer pretty much his whole life. It just so happens that he married an avid dog hater. Ok, so not so much a hater, I don't mind petting a puppy occasionally, but I don't like being licked, or followed, or to clean up after them. Call me selfish, but I have enough to clean up after at home! I managed to get out of having a dog around pretty much our whole married life(except for a brief time when I was preggers with Brayden, but that didn't last very long).
Well, the kids decided to side with dad, oh, um, I mean wanted a dog. We told them that we would when we got a fence. We have a fence now. The excuses don't work anymore. They are smart! I decided to man up, and give in.
It actually wasn't really planned. I was trying to decide what to get Clayton for father's day that he wouldn't find out about and that I might actually be able to surprise him with this year (if you know Clayton you know that is pretty hard to do). So I got on ZIdaho.com and did a search. There I found the cutest litte girl boxer puppy ever and her 2 siblings. They were registered, cute, purebred and a lot cheaper than regular price. So I debated about what I should do. (Ok, I tried to talk myself out of it). When Clayton got home I decided I needed to talk to him about it. Surprise or no surprise, a puppy isn't exactly a decision you make alone without discussing it with your hubby. I showed him the ad and told him what I was thinking. He just stared at me. Yep, just stared. I think he thought I was joking. Unfortunatley, I was not.
Our conversation went something like this: Him: "But you said you didn't want to have to take care of a dog because I am always at work."
Me: "I know, but I changed my mind"
Him:"You can't just change your mind on that. It is a big thing."
Me:"I know, but you are never going to find a boxer in this pricerange again, and I am actually excited about it. The kids would love her."
Him:"Whatever, you are lying."
(Apparently I am evil and would show him pictures of cute little puppy dogs that he has wanted since forever and then say, just kidding!)
He fell in love with the same one I did. I breathed a sigh of relief because her brother was not so cute. He was the ugly brindle fur color that is gross.
We called my wonderful mother in law who watched the kids for us. I didn't want to bring them, get their hopes up just to squish them back down when we left empty handed. We didn't leave empty handed. I have since questioned my sanity several times. What the heck was I thinking? But, then she looks up at you with those so cute puppy dog eyes and you can't help but love her. There I said it. I love her. Most of the time.
Most importantly, my family loves her. All of them. Brayden is terrified of dogs, even Betsy's microscopic chihuahua terrifies him. Not Lexi. He lets her chew on him, chase him, lick him and love on him. I am so proud!
I have figured out why God made puppies so cute. Its the same with babies. If they weren't cute, and did all the gross things they do, and you have to care for them the way you do, then you would get tired of it really fast. You would always be annoyed at them, and you would never want to do it again. He makes them cute so that when they look up at you with their innocent faces, you love them no matter what they just did. This way they grow up into a not so cute do slowly, gradually. You have already grown to love them by the time you realize the cute puppy is no longer,its now a grown up dog that isn't nearly as cute or cuddly. Pretty smart, because if we were born looking like adults who in the world would want to change our bums, or feed us?

My heart is full

I just had to take a minute tonight to express how very thankful I am for everything that Heavenly Father has blessed me with. I get so wrapped up in the day to day monotany that sometimes I forget how truly blessed I am. I have the absolute best kids in the world. Sometimes I feel like I just need a break, I think that is natural, but at the end of the day, all it really comes down to is that this is where I want to be. I would be lost without them. Them and my wonderful husband Clayton complete me. As cheesy as that may sound, it is so very true. Today there was a tornado warning in our area. It was no big deal, but the only thing I could think about is how I would keep my babies safe and what I should do in an emergency. I am blessed to live in a part of the country where we really don't have any major weather situations like in other areas of this nation where it seems like there is some crazy weather situation. I love that.
I have really been working on my attitude, because honestly, I get really grumpy easily. I am not an easy person to put up with. I want things done my way or no way, and I know with kids (and husbands) that just isn't going to happen. I want my kids to be strong, independent, brave, spiritual giants when they grow up, and I have to let them learn things their own way. I have been really trying to let them do more and stretch their wings. It is hard for me, but to see the joy on their faces when they vacuumm all by themselves, reminds me that it is so worth it.
I wouldn't trade any of what I have, these kiddos were given to me to look after and raise into the best adults they can be. I really can't say anything more than that. My heart is just so full when I look at all I have and see the smiles on my babies faces. I love them with all my heart and just hope that I can convey that to them.

Great giveaway

Ok, I have to admit something. I had never heard about a Bosch mixer until a few months ago. I know, I am a loser ;). But, I have always wanted a kitchenaid. This baby has cured that want! From what I hear it is so much better! Go to this link for Deals to Meals and enter her giveaway to win one. Make sure you put on your entry that I referred you pretty please! She has a great site, with or without the awesome giveaway!

Still got the craft bug!

I tell you, I have a major craft craving goin' on right now! Usually I just sit and drool over everyone elses beautiful crafts (my favorites list is always growing) but this week I have been making my own. What I have really been jonesing for is to get my home painted so I can hang up my awesome vinyl lettering that my awesome sister gave me for Christmas. But, since it is nice weather, the outdoorsy stuff has to be done first. :( No, I am looking forward to some fresh tomatoes and cukes this summer, not to mention needing a yard for the kids to play in, a garage that we can move in without holding your breath and squeazing through a narrow passageway, so I will gladly get that stuff out of the way first! So, while my hubby was outside putting the windows in on our beautiful new shed that he built (I am so proud of him!) I was inside keeping the kids busy with crafts!


In the beginning...


all we have left to do is put in the windows and paint. The color won't change much, but it is just primed for now. Didn't he do such a good job? He loves to build stuff and it always turns out so beautimous! Check out our yard, isn't it fabulous? JK, hopefully that is coming next along with some trees for shade!

Anywho, now that I have bored you to tears, on to the good stuff! I got the idea for these letters here. I copied her capital templates and then just went into microsoft publisher and made my own lower case. It was so easy! I love them! Mine aren't anywhere as cute or as perfect as hers, but I still think they are pretty good for someone who can't sew very well!

Ok, I know I am a doof. My lower case a is backwards. Oh well, it wasn't worth taking the pic over again by the time I discovered it.

I love them. I got most of the material from scraps from my mil and my stash. So basically all I had to buy was the batting. Not a bad little project. I have been playing with them with my 4 year old who puts his breaks on everytime he thinks he is about to learn something. Sneaky, sneaky! He doesn't even know he is learning, he just thinks we are playing a fun game!

This next project is my favorite. I bought some gaudy gold frames on good ol craigs list a while back with the thought to paint them black and start a pretty little black and white collage on my staircase. I was bummed though, because my favorite of the frames I got had this wierd defect. The paint would do this bubbly thing all around it. I don't know if it was something to do with the finish or what, but it just wasn't working. So, I decided to modpodge some scrapbook paper on it. Genius, I know! But really, it turned out even better than I expected! It is absolutley gorgeous! The paper I picked is black with silver writing on it. Not the greatest picture, but most of the frame did this wierd bubbly stuff.

I am in love with this after though! The pic is the one that came with the frame (obviously), I need to get some printed in black and white to put in this. I love, love, love it! Who would've thought, such a simple thing could make me so happy?! Anyway, I did some more, but they need some finishing touches put on them, so I will have to reveal them tomorrow maybe. I am so excited to show them, I think once I get some plate stands, I may actually like the space above my kitchen cupboards with the crafts I did a couple of days ago. I am loving this!
I am linking up to the diy showoff again, because I am obsessed with her site and I love looking at all the other links on her showoffs!

And also here

I love, love these sites!

Feelin Crafty

So, since we moved into our home in August, I have had this obsession with decorating and crafting. I look at decorating/craft blogs all. the. time. Seriously, I have a problem! I look at them and think how fun they would be, but I am too busy looking to actually do them on my own! I have had a piece of wood I bought at DI probably about a year ago now that has been waiting. I've had it painted since Christmas time and was just waiting to order the vinyl for our home evening chart. I finally got it done! I love it! The only problem is that I wasn't paying attention and ordered 1 too many "jobs". There are only 5 people in our family, so I was just going to get 5 assignments, but somewhere along the ordering I ordered 1 too many and didn't notice until the craft was complete. Oh well, I still love it! I have several other small projects in the works that I am working on getting spray painted when the wind calms down enough, which, lately has been hard. I am finally trying to get the space above my kitchen cupboards decorated the way I want too. I have been watching that spot since we moved in and have a bunch of this and that up there. Clayton has all of his popbottles that he collects, I am trying to decide what to do with those. I am thinking the office to go with his MtDew ones that are already up there. Anyway, I am hoping to finally get it to resemble somewhat of what I am going for soon. I hope. Maybe. We will see. :)

So here are the pics of my fhe sign. It is so simple I know, but I love it! Originally it was someones chore chart and had 4 holes drilled in it for hooks I guess. I painted it black (thank you Glidden sample jar that was FREE by mail!) and then distressed the edges. I like it better that way, I probably could've done more, but I was rubbing it off in places I didn't want to so I stopped. Then I put a piece of sheet metal I got at the craft store and had my hubby cut down on with E600. Great stuff! After that I added the vinyl lettering. I don't remember the fonts I used but I got them off of scrapvillage.com. I like how the fonts the assignments are in is not super straight, it made it easy because then I didn't have to worry quite so much about making sure it was perfect. I thought I was being so original with the sheet metal because all of the ones I have seen were done with little hooks or something to hang the names off of, but then when I went to get the metal, the craft store had one displayed similar to it. Darn it. Oh, well, I still love it!



Oh yeah, I made the magnets at Christmas time with those little flat, glass marbles that you get at the craft stores and some scrapbook paper that I had on hand. It worked great because it had little sayings about family on it. I thought that was fitting since it was for a family home evening chart. I wrote our names on the paper and then stuck the paper on with E600. Turned out cute, and was so simple I should be embarrassed that I am even sharing it! But I'm not. Because I love it. Now if I could just get Clayton to hang it.


I am linking up with diy showoff but I can't figure out how to get her cute little button to post in this post so the link is www.thediyshowoff.blogspot.com

Bryson turns 2

I can't believe my baby is 2 today! Where has time gone? Really, I swear to you it just seems like a few months ago that I was feeding him out of a bottle and giving him baths in the sink. He was such a cute little guy, not much has changed there. The proportions are bigger but he is just as adorable as ever. He has the added cuteness of the "beginning to talk" phase where everything they say comes out so cute and soft spoken. I love it.

He started out not being so sure about the opening presents part, but picked that up really quick when he figured out that there was something for him each time he got that blasted paper pulled off (which, by the way, took for.ev.er.) He insisted on pulling it off one tiny piece at a time. Even after he could actually see what was inside the box. He was even so gracious as to give me a courtesy "wow" when he opened up a couple of shirts that he needed, (not so fun, but hey, they were cute.) before he tossed them at grandma and reached for another package.

I love this little guy so much. He brings so much joy into our home. He is a clown, and a mischevous little guy but that just adds to his charm. For now. Ask me if I still feel that way when he is old enough to bring spiders in the house to scare me. :)

Happy birthday, my littlest sweetheart! You may not be a baby any more, but you will always be my baby!