the coltons

happy valentine's day!

2012-02-14T22:45:00.001-07:00

kate's fall fashion

2012-02-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

last fall (remember i'm playing catch up) we decided kate needed some new threads since all of her pants were starting to look like floods or almost-there-capris and her shirts were getting slightly snugger around her tiny tummy. what started out as a simple trip shopping ended up in a day and a half of shopping back to school sales for our not-in-school toddler. we obviously couldn't help ourselves. hey, we saved like 1/3 of our purchases for christmas and birthday gifts... so at least there's that :)

true to weston form, he lined her up against the wall and held an impromptu sunday afternoon toddler fashion shoot.

***there really isn't much point to this post, but i had all these cute/goofy/attitude-filled shots of kate that i wanted to share. if you don't feel like seeing a bunch of very random photos, you should probably move onto the next blog on your reader... ;)

the end.

beth's first birthday: 09.07.11

2012-02-13T14:07:00.004-07:00

yes, you read that right.

SEPTEMBER!!!! of 2011!!!!! i am such a slacker. but i figured it should at least be documented here on the blog, so if you don't want to read about an event that took place several months ago, i understand. also, there are going to be WAY too many photos on this entry, but it's a girl's first birthday, she deserves this plethora :)

first up: the invitation

then, the spread

when it's a baby's birthday, there's not much else to do but eat...

guests

kate and oliver

ali girl

the birthday girl, herself!

the gift giving

beth got a swingset for her birthday

(yes, you are free to laugh at a 1 year old getting her very own swingset)

it's either they get one at christmas in the snow or february when it's kate's bday

not sure what to make of all of this

ok, she's catching on

kate loves showing beth how to do everything

i had to include this photo because it reminded me too much of a picture of my dad:

my brothers took this picture, printed it, and hung it from the hotel room bed the night of my wedding... a message for weston???? :)

back to the party...

time for cake!!!

i tried making little hot air balloons for the cupcakes (we didn't get a picture of all of them, i guess) but the "balloons" were so heavy, they kind of sunk onto the cupcakes... oh well, good effort?

you can see the "balloon" on beths' cake

i love her face here

she wasn't shy about digging in

during the course of cake-eating, beth seemed to periodically get mad at her cake...

then she just got silly from a sugar high...

at least she had fun with it :)

and finally, finish off the day playing with the new toys

kate showing karli beth's new doll, just like the one kate got on her first birthday

there's that sugar high again

awww... sisters

happy birthday, sweet beth!!!! we love you!

is anyone still there?

2012-02-13T13:06:00.003-07:00

ok, i know i always say "wow, it's been a long time since i blogged! i promise to be better now..."

riiiiigggghhhhtttt.

well, i might be back. after all, i don't keep baby books or journals or scrapbooks.. this is as good as it gets. i might want to try recording some things from our little life.

thanks for coming back :)

december 25

2011-12-21T10:28:00.001-07:00

merry christmas everyone!!!

we hope you have had a wonderful christmas season and that you enjoy every ounce of this wonderful day with your families and friends. we are so grateful for Jesus Christ, whom we celebrate, and the gifts He gives that we enjoy.

december 24

2011-12-21T10:26:00.005-07:00

december 24th:

drive around and look at the lights

well, we haven't officially taken our drive yet, as we still have to eat dinner and open pajamas, but it's on the schedule for our christmas eve activities. kate always enjoys a drive and beth seems to like it as well. we turn up the music and let the girls dance themselves silly and give us a good laugh. hope you all have a great christmas eve tonight!!

better get to bed early so santa doesn't skip your house - and like my mom always says:

if you don't believe, he won't come.

and like someone else said on pinterest:

if you don't believe, you get socks.

december 23

2011-12-21T10:26:00.002-07:00

december 23rd:

make rice crispie treats

i had to get jessica's top secret rice crispie treat recipe :) weston says it's the best, and he's right. every time we've sampled hers, it's always the perfect combination of flavor, chewy, and crispy. i whipped up the batch and promptly handed the pan over to its rightful owner. looks pretty happy :)

december 22

2011-12-21T10:25:00.004-07:00

december 22nd:

make gingerbread cookies

we quickly made the dough and then spent the next hour or so letting it chill - all the while i heard several renditions of "mommy! is it time yet?"

she was beyond excited for cutting out cookies. kate also loved eating whatever pieces of gingerbread dough she could sneak from the countertop. once the dough was ready, we rolled it out and kate went to town cutting out shapes.

once they were cooled enough, both girls wanted a bite. while kate is more of a gingerbread dough fan, beth loved her entire cookie!

december 21

2011-12-21T10:25:00.001-07:00

december 21st:

see the lights at temple square

last year, we went to salt lake late so we were on temple square around 9pm. it was great - while it meant a late night with the girls, it also meant slightly fewer crowds of people. we chose to do this again this year.

we loaded up the girls and the van with a crazy amount of warm gear - but we used it all except for one blanket! it was definitely a cold night so we were glad we had all of the layers.

beth missed out on most of the lights because she was so wrapped up in the back of the stroller - she was in her own little cocoon. at the end of the evening, though, weston bundled her up in his arms and showed her what she'd been missing. her audible gasping was reward enough for the drive :)

kate loved looking at the different nativities on display and her favorite part was looking at the model of the salt lake temple inside the south visitor's center.

if you have or haven't seen it, here's an interesting sidenote: weston got to work on that project a couple of years ago. he assisted the church photographer for a few days inside the temple. they went everywhere - including the very top, up to the cantilever that holds the angel moroni on top of the temple.

i was able to see a handful of the photos and it was incredible to see the innards of the temple, not to mention the gorgeous meeting room (can't think of what to call it except maybe the priesthood room?) they photographed every square inch of the building so the model maker would have a plethora of reference photos to create what you see in the visitors center. anyway, take a look at the model next time you're there.

december 20

2011-12-21T10:13:00.001-07:00

december 20th:

go get hot chocolate

this is a simple activity for the calendar, which i love. aside from weston's love affair with soda, none of us are big time on drinks. but when the frigid weather hits in the season leading up to christmas, i love hot chocolate. kind of like the snow, once christmas comes and goes, i have no use for it :)

we went low-key and picked up some cocoa at the gas station. this year was the first time kate would try it (i told her it was like chocolate milk) and she loved it.

beth watched her big sister drink from the mystery cup and gave me the look like, "ok mom, well where's mine?!?!?" we filled up the spare sippy cup with some of kate's cocoa and beth drank it down in about 10 seconds.

happy girls!

december 19

2011-12-19T19:53:00.002-07:00

december 19th:

take treats to a friend

in the evening, we loaded up a plate full of caramel popcorn and sugar cookies and drove out to see weston's grandparents. kate was thrilled to pick out cookies she had painted to take to grandma and grandpa. while we were there visiting, she even talked grandma into sharing the treats with her :)

you all know how trying to get a picture works... you end up with a few outtakes instead of what you were really looking for :)

december 18

2011-12-19T19:52:00.001-07:00

december 18th:

go to a local christmas activity

i've sort of turned these couple of days (local activities) into "spend time together as a family, out of the house" this turned into going bowling as a family and with some good friends, the scott family.

back in high school, weston and i had to take a hiatus from bowling together. at that time, i was pretty decent and he was not so much. therefore, a fun date night turned into a night with a pouting boyfriend which is never very fun. i'm sure he would love to be reading this... good thing he doesn't ever look! anyway, as the years have gone on, we haven't bowled more than once a year - if that. so i wasn't sure what to anticipate about our respective games. i started off my first frame, and the game, with a strike!! i felt the luck :) i finished my 2 games with 142 and 127, respectively. we had a great time, weston got a few strikes (and won both games, by the way), kate loved pushing her bowl off the dragon slide, and beth loved the freedom and excitement.

december 17

2011-12-19T19:51:00.003-07:00

december 17th:

read a christmas story

weston's mom gave us this "kit" a few years back. there is a wooden tree and then several ornaments to hang while you read a story. in the story, santa claus entreats you to "teach the children" the meaning of christmas, as well as the individual meanings of the symbols with which we celebrate.

kate had a great time listening to the story and hanging each ornament on the tree as we talked about it's particular symbolism.

it's been a good teacher for me, too!

december 16

2011-12-16T15:48:00.001-07:00

december 16th:

make christmas cookies

we woke up this morning and got out the paintbrushes, food coloring, sprinkles, and cookies that were baked the night before.

while none of us particularly like sugar cookies, kate loves the decorating and so, we make them again and again.

hopefully we can give them away to sugar-cookie lovers...

i decorated a handful, kate decorated a lot, and i even got weston to decorate 3 or 4.

december 15

2011-12-16T15:47:00.003-07:00

december 15th:

make caramel popcorn

it always surprises me when i do any christmas baking - wowza that's a lot of butter and sugar in every recipe!

halfway there

kate and beth are excellent helpers

yum!

december 14

2011-12-13T16:44:00.005-07:00

december 14th:

make a gingerbread house

beth was excited

step 1 - start by gluing the pieces together and hope they all fit somehow... i have yet to make a gingerbread house (using kits even) that don't have to be "jerry-rigged" together with ample amounts of glue...i mean frosting

step 2 - give toddler smallish amounts of candy to decorate each section so you don't end up with one side of the house decorated and the rest plain, brown gingerbread

step 3 - ask toddler to smile at the camera and show off her finished gingerbread house.

step 4 - slightly monitor the amount of frosting and candy consumed by toddler in place of afternoon snack (but mostly spend your time blogging and facebooking...)

december 13

2011-12-13T16:44:00.002-07:00

december 13th:

go to the movies as a family

we took the girls to see puss in boots. it was quite an adventure - i haven't taken beth to a movie for at least 6 months and hoped she would do better than last time when i spent about 70 minutes of a 90 minute movie in the lobby...

this experience was only slightly better :) but kate liked the movie and i was just glad there were only two other people in the theater when beth started the "squealing with delight" phase...

family movie night is always memorable!

december 12

2011-12-13T16:43:00.005-07:00

december 12th:

mail out christmas cards

it always feels good to drop that huge pile in the mailbox!

now, if only we got as many back in return.... ;)
are christmas cards going the way of the dodo???

december 11

2011-12-13T16:43:00.003-07:00

december 11th:

watch a holiday movie

kate's pick was rudolph's shiny new year.
thank you, abcfamily

i tried to take a picture of her watching with her huge popcorn bowl,
but these are the results...

taking a huge handful of popcorn

me: look at me
kate: i am!
little liar... ;)

december 10

2011-12-13T16:42:00.004-07:00

december 10th:

christmas sewing!!!

ok, this is no fun for the girls, but i have to squeeze it in somewhere...

first, the christmas dresses

i had envisioned something entirely different, something that included matching dresses with a fancy overskirt... didn't quite happen. i had many a tim gunn "make it work" moment :) but actually, i am glad the original plan didn't come to fruition - i really dig the coordinating but not matchy- matchy dresses.

kate got a "princess" dress - complete with large ruffles that twirl to her heart's content

beth ended up with a sweet little baby dress with a single deep pleat and bow

and, as usual, we used buttons from great grandma colton!

and next? the christmas eve pajamas

it was slim pickings at the fabric store for christmas fabric... i wanted something wintery, preferred some pink/purple (can you even believe it??), and really wanted something warm - think flannel or maybe some minky fleece or something.

couldn't find it.

so i compromised - i found this cute cotton print and picked up some checked flannel for lining. yes, i lined their pjs...

so it will be like they're wearing little jackets to bed... yes, they're on the heavy side....

oh well.

december 9

2011-12-13T16:42:00.001-07:00

december 9th:

read a christmas story

i got out one of our books full of different christmas stories.

we read a couple of stories about giving over receiving and then a poem about the star on christmas night. when i asked kate what one of the stories was about, she threw her hands up in the air and said, "pirates!!!"

one of the boys in the story had received a coloring book about pirates so, while i wish that wasn't what she took away from the story, at least she listened to some of it :)

december 8

2011-12-13T16:41:00.005-07:00

december 8th:

go to a local christmas activity

grandma and grandpa cottle took kate and beth around monroe to look at the christmas lights.
kate tells me her favorite part was "looking at the reindeer and the lights on the houses.
and all of the lights on grandma's christmas tree."

december 7

2011-12-13T16:41:00.001-07:00

***disclaimer: my parents came and got my girls so i could recover from the onslaught of winter germs that hit me all at once. we took a break from the advent activities until the 13th. needless to say, you will be seeing kate wearing the same clothes on some of these as we double up to catch up ;)

december 7th:

write a letter to santa

kate has been hoping santa would bring her a kitty this year, well that and an elephant...

she drew everything on here except santa's hat... she also wrote her name!

we had to assist beth a bit in the writing department,
but kate wrote beth's name as well as the artwork...

december 6

2011-12-13T16:40:00.002-07:00

december 6th:

do a christmas craft

we made a rudolph hat. kate wanted rudolph to have blue eyes and pretty eyelashes...

love my cute reindeer!!

december 5

2011-12-13T16:18:00.001-07:00

december 5th:

take a family photo

here's a teaser/test shot from our impromptu shoot

nothing fancy about doing your annual photo on your front porch

with whatever clean clothes we all had!

december 4

2011-12-04T22:22:00.001-07:00

december 4th

watch a holiday movie

kate has been excited about all of the holiday movies for a few weeks now. today, weston and the girls watched mickey's once upon a christmas while i was at a meeting.

apparently i really missed out because weston was laying on the couch, kate was snuggled up in front of him, and beth had crawled up onto his chest and was lying there sucking her thumb. i can't believe i missed the picture!!

and the cuddling :)

december 3

2011-12-04T22:13:00.001-07:00

december 3rd:

pick out new ornaments

we spent most of the afternoon out running errands and doing some shopping so getting new ornaments was a welcome treat for kate.

being the controlling type that i am (just ask my husband), i chose a about 6 ornaments for kate to pick from. she picked this cute wooden santa claus.

i gave beth 2 to choose from and she repeatedly pointed to the adorable gingham reindeer.

cute additions to our tree, don't you think? now i just need to figure out a way to attach a tag or something to each ornament with their names and years... ideas???

december 2

2011-12-04T22:00:00.001-07:00

december 2nd:

play a game as a family

we played candy land while daddy was working.

kate loves playing games but hasn't really embraced how you actually play a game.

she usually just wants to play with the game pieces and walk them around the board.

i didn't expect much more when we got the game out this time.

but, she surprised me!

she was totally ready for this game and finally grasped the concept of moving her green gingerbread man to the colored spaces her card indicated - not just the green spaces on the game board.

as we played, kate was killing it and just when we thought she was going to win the game, she picked a card that sent her back to the beginning.

she didn't like that idea, but was a good sport about it.

she kept trying to clear the board back to the top on each turn and i had to gently remind her about going all the way around the spaces again.

for any of you that watch parenthood, i wondered if i was going to have a sidney/poor sport/meltdown episode of game playing :)

she made her way around that game board again and wouldn't you know, she won after all :)

kids, they have all the luck!

when we were done, kate and beth played to their own rules ;)

december 1

2011-12-04T21:56:00.001-07:00

december first is the easiest of the whole month:

make a paper chain

i got out some paper, cut the strips, and kate helped me put it all together - a great activity for a toddler to help with. i'm really not good at crafting with my kids, so this was more my speed.

peekaboo!

one day down, 24 more to go!

i just have to deal with the many requests throughout the day of

"can i rip off a chain?" or "what day is it? is it almost christmas eve?"

christmas advent!

2011-12-04T21:55:00.001-07:00

here we go again with our advent calendar of christmas activities, are you ready? am i?

let's see if i can keep up this year :)

a bit of thanksgiving decor

2011-11-12T18:41:00.001-07:00

so i put away all of the halloween-y things (i.e. ghosts, bats, boos, etc) but kept the pillows and pumpkins. i made a couple pillows to swap for the trick or treat pillows

and then swapped out my little boo ghost in the frame for a smidge of monica geller.

i made this in illustrator tonight and it was super fun. i love me some friends!

hawaii: kona

2011-10-28T09:30:00.000-06:00

we got to kona late.

after getting the 30 bags and 4 rentals (for 13 people remember), we took off for our hotel. being unfamiliar with the highway and not paying attention to signage, we managed to get a speeding ticket in a construction zone. rad.

we stayed at the waikoloa beach resort, another marriott resort. it was really beautiful - the architecture and design was quite clean and angular.

the hotel restaurant greeted us and made us all dinner just as they were closing. we felt well taken care of.

while it was great to get away from the kids, we definitely missed them. i was kind of surprised to hear weston talk about how much fun he would have been having with kate in the kid pools at the resorts. we tried to do a bit of this every afternoon.

kate loved to skype

although most of our group had a harder time adjusting to the time zone differences and found themselves waking up at 5 or 6am each day, we managed to sleep until about 11 without any problems.

consequently, this is what spending time in our room looked like.

did you forget this was a work trip for the boys? me too...

they had to spend a couple of days working

and don't you wish this is what you got to wear to work?

not to mention the office in which you got to work?

we ate and ate and ate again!

weston's dinner at the four seasons

dessert: real live bon bons

kona coffee ice cream shake - amazing (and no espresso!)

kona had the best sunsets! maybe it was just the weather and elements, but i was much more impressed with them here... different side of the islands perhaps?

sunset from our balcony

weston's iphone postcard of same sunset - those birds!!

relaxing before heading out for dinner

we spent a day at the beach for more snorkeling towards the end of the trip.

the bay on kauai made for such a different experience because you weren't walking out from your beach into the water.

you tied your kayak to the nearest tree and waded out over rock to get deep enough to start snorkeling.

on this beach in kona, it was just that. you walked right out into the water from the shore.

i know - you're thinking "why in the world is she explaining this to me as if i'm some idiot?"

the reason is because walking out from the beach completely freaked me out.

i love the beach, i love spending time in the water - in fact, i don't lay out, i'd much rather be in the water than on the shore.

but knowing what was right below my feet all the time i'm playing in said water?

i was completely invading their world and that thought just freaked me out.

i didn't let this keep me from snorkeling, but let me just say it wasn't nearly as fun or relaxing as before.

one more thing about this beach - apparently (and we didn't find this out until the next morning when we were going to go back) for several days before we went, and now the day after, the beach was closed for great white shark sightings!

and the even crazier part is, according to shane (weston's co-worker who is slightly obsessed with sharks), these sharks love feasting on sea turtles...

can anyone back that up? either way, totally scary.

anyway

the beach was gorgeous

ironically enough, there i am sitting on the sand in white, just to the left of that person standing...

the water was gorgeous

we saw a handful of turtles - feet from you, it was incredible!

we saw fields and fields of lava - it was surreal

definitely made you feel like you were on a different planet

and, strangely enough, this part of kona actually felt like home in sevier county

anyone else see a similarity?

on our last full night, weston and i checked out a bit of the resort's luau while waiting to head out for dinner.

weston - thrilled at having his picture taken

and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye again.

kona, you were an amazing adventure island!

i loved every minute i got to spend on the big island - it's amazing how different each place was...

but i suppose that's how it is, no matter where you travel.

headed out to another airport

kona

lax

slc - yep, we came home to rain

i suppose it's only fair :)

and on our last night in hawaii, weston received word that he was catching a flight to indiana a couple hours after landing in slc.

isn't he just the epitome of happiness?

oh well, more time for him to do more of

this

and this

and this...

*lucky enough, there was serious miscommunication with progress on the job he was going out to shoot, so after a couple hours in the airport, he was in a taxi on his way home to all three of his girls.

hawaii: snorkeling

2011-10-26T09:30:00.000-06:00

on one of the "free" days the boys had in kona, a few of us went over to kealakekua bay where the captain cook monument is. we rented kayaks and made our way over to the monument. the water was beautiful - it was this weird combination of crystal clear and deepest blue. it was just gorgeous. i loved it. we made our way to the monument, which was about a mile or two so it took us a good 45 minutes or so. i can't say enough - this was my favorite thing we did in hawaii - the whole day was so great!

the view

kayaking was so fun!

weston wasn't much a fan of snorkeling, so he swam over to the monument while i took full advantage of the time we had.
we had this ghetto little disposable waterproof camera, but the photos are decent enough.
this was hands down my favorite thing! it was so much fun!

i'll save you the commentary of "here is the coral, here are the fish, etc."

enjoy my amateur photos :)

a la finding nemo: the drop off

when i tried getting the film out, i didn't have it rolled up all the way,

so i wondered if any of the photos would turn out.

there was definitely some light leak (the orange in these last few), but not so bad...

there were so many fish, and so many different kinds of fish.
normally i don't love the idea of being in "their" world, totally invading.
but it was just magical - i would do it again in a heartbeat!

underwater self-portrait

weston and me before we saddled back up in the kayak to head back. doesn't he look thrilled?

hawaii: kauai

2011-10-24T10:25:00.000-06:00

weston took all the photos. most will be from his iphone, but there are some from an actual camera ;)

hope you don't mind the commentary!

boarding in SLC

in flight travel

the in-headrest monitor (weston watched the map, i watched just go with it)

we landed in honolulu for a couple hours, ate lunch in the airport, saw a smidge of oahu ;)

weston spent most of his time doing this,

and this,

and this,

and some more of this.

we boarded our next plane and left oahu

goodbye oahu, where i have somewhat of a small family history...

more airplane window shots... get ready there will be a few of these throughout

lush, green kauai

runway

runway

we got our rentals and made our way to the resort

kauai marriot

resort beach - reminds me of mission bay a bit

lobby coy - swimming rats as weston likes to think of them

resort chickens - this guy's color was gorgeous!

every day was spent like this - heaven, i tell you!

on our second or third day, we all hopped in the cars and took a drive around our half of the island down to princeville, taking in the gorgeous views and lush green.
the variety is unbelievable!

one of the many one-way bridges

we were told (kurt) this is the beach where the girl lost her arm in the shark attack.
waimea i believe?

weston and his co-workers are all on instagram and it was a race this afternoon to see, not only who could instagram each stop first,
but to see who could come up with the most original shots.
i might be biased, but i like to think my husband won every time ;)

a cave on the way into princeville

it was so deep and so tall as you can see from the people in the last shot

more scenery

hawaiian palms

we had dinner on our way back at dolphin. weston thought he was funny (every time) when he joked about ordering the dolphin, he couldn't wait to try the dolphin, etc.
the view just outside dolphin's doors

plumerias

we ate a few times at duke's at the resort. we tried the hula pie, but my favorite thing to order was the lava flow - delish and i still miss them!

lunch at duke's

weston and i took a car one of the last afternoon's in kauai and drove around the island for a bit.

he photographed everything in sight until it started raining.

isn't kauai so gorgeous?

waterfall

more water - look at all those shades of green!

our drive back. when we got there, it had mostly let up but we ran out to the beach and swam with the rain as long as it lasted.

on our way to dinner

last afternoon in kauai before flying out

i miss being there - definitely my favorite island so far!

i never get tired of the ocean, do you?

more palms

my hair looked like this for the majority of the trip, but whatever works, right?

leaving kauai behind... it was magical. it really was...

on our way to the big island to see what kona has to offer!!!

hawaii: how i spent my summer vacation

2011-10-22T19:23:00.004-06:00

man, do i wish it was an entire summer's worth! we got to go to hawaii in july.

as most of you know, weston spent at least half of the summer traveling for work - all across the country and into a bit of canada. their hawaii job was on the books and i was so jealous i didn't even want him to really talk to me about it very much :)

in early july (or late june?) weston came home with a smile on his face and told me the good news - they got to bring their wives on the hawaii trip. i couldn't believe it and, for a few weeks, didn't think too much about it in case it fell through at the last second.

we spent 9 days, visited 3 islands, swam and snorkeled, slept, ate, ate, and ATE, and loved having that much time honeymooning without the kids. it was heaven and i can't wait until we get the opportunity to go back.

oh, and having the entire thing paid for didn't hurt, either ;)

new babies, new quilts

2011-10-13T10:00:00.000-06:00

a couple of weeks ago i made 2 new quilts for 2 new babies (or babies who will be new in the near future, anyway).

the boy

the girl

this was my first time venturing out of my usual patchwork pattern. it's a houndstooth with an ombre touch. thoughts? next time i will do a smaller scaled pattern so there is more pattern to the quilt. it was hard to find a gradient in fabrics that weren't too busy with patterns but i'm excited to try it again!

and, i'm for hire ;)

2011-10-11T16:46:00.003-06:00

i'm planning some posts coming up in the near future. check back for more!

halloween decorating

2011-10-11T16:45:00.001-06:00

so i've never had a single halloween decoration. for whatever reason, i've never cared to either. but something got under my skin this year and all i could think about and pin were halloween ideas... i do have one guess as to why i've been so excited to decorate for halloween, and that is because it just means that around the corner, i get to decorate for christmas! :) so take a look at some of the things i've made in the last week (weston was out of town so i had a lot of free time in the evenings!)

[pillows]

you'll notice that i chose pillow material that will carry me right on through thanksgiving.... not just a hat rack, my friends ;)

[ghosts]

this started off the decorating frenzy - weston's mom decided that all the grandkids should make these ghosts and, naturally, once they realized they had to get sticky with glue, nobody wanted anything to do with the project. so, dennyce and i soldiered on and made one for each kiddo.

[pumpkins]

i made this cute ghost in illustrator and framed it to keep the little pumpkin company (do i sound like bob ross?)

these aren't quite finished... i still need to pick up some stems from the pumpkin patch when we go tomorrow and glue them on... very cute.

[kitchen decor]

this is all the kitchen gets - gotta love that dollar section at target! it's where the purple glittery boo with the ghosts came from, as well.

[outdoor decor]

60% off at joann's and some sparkly foam sheets go a long way out here!

and there you go! my house feels festive and ready to welcome the trick-or-treaters. our first time living in a neighborhood where we may actually get some knocks on the door! better go get the good candy before the grandma-hard candy-mix is all that's left on the shelves ;)

2011-09-30T09:21:00.003-06:00

so the other day i spent the majority of the afternoon in illustrator. i am so inexperienced with that program that any time i try to mess around with being creative, it sucks my whole day. i had wanted to replace the random photos we had in these huge frames in the girls' room and yesterday was the day. here is what i did:

i wanted nursery rhyme mini posters instead of baby photos. we ended up with some of kate's favorites

humpty dumpty

mary had a little lamb

hey diddle diddle

and here are the actual images i made because they look way better than my poor photos :)

my favorite thing kate does right now is recite hey diddle diddle

she has this quasi-beatnick flow to it :)

never forget.

2011-09-15T12:50:00.000-06:00

i know i'm a few days late in writing this post but that's only because i've been immersed since sunday watching programs i recorded from history channel's 9/11 lineup.

there are so many emotions and thoughts i have had over the last few days. my persepectives, my feelings, my emotions have grown and enlarged and been magnified after so many hours of taking in the story and timelines of that september day.

i am immensely grateful for the countless men and women who gave their time, talents, and lives to work and help and save so many others, so many strangers. it is incredible how quick the response was. i am baffled at the speed of the evacuation of those who were able to get out, the speed of the numbers of firefighters and officers who arrived at the scene upon hearing of the tragedy, the speed and efficiency of work that was accomplished in such a short span of time.

i am in such awe of the many stories of heroes from the day. men and women helping each other, escaping down those narrow stairways together, pausing in their own descents out of the buildings to help dig out people who lay buried in the rubble, sharing of their resources. the heroes of each flight, the crews, the men of flight 93 who did all they could to thwart the intended terrorist plan for that plane and its passengers, who stalled putting their own desperate plan into action until they were flying over a rural area as opposed to one more heavily populated. the examples are numerous.

i am grateful for those who have been willing to share their experiences, be it through emergency worker radio recordings, voicemail messages that were left by loved ones, home video shot through apartment windows or from the streets below the towers, or their own personal accounts of living through that day. i am grateful for those who are willing and able to share their stories of unimaginable loss, tragedy, hope, and love in the human experience.

while the day itself was horrific and unbelievable, the tragedy was far from over once september 12 dawned. countless faces were searching for loved ones, either in the pit, in the streets, in the hospitals, or by plastering xeroxed copies of posters on any free space in the city. firefighters worked day and night looking for friends and survivors and hope was alive. as the days passed, reality set in for all of us. what started as the site for rescue, in days turned into a job site. as men and machines removed and cleaned debris, searchers moved onto the landfill to continue the search. be it for the victims ability to rest in peace or the families of missing persons to have some closure, these workers remained so steadfast and stayed the course.

the funeral services, the cleanup, the resolve, the patriotism, the unification. i could go on and on. do you remember how you couldn't pass a car or house or building without seeing some form of the US flag? the bumper stickers, the clothing, the antenna flags, we were unified. i have to say, i haven't stopped to reflect and appreciate with each anniversary as much as i have this year. i owe it to the programming of the history channel :) it is true - i have been just immersed and am flooded with gratitude, love, sadness, sympathy and empathy, pride, patriotism, and awe. we are an amazing country with a rich history. we have resilience and integrity... we must all do our part to make sure this country continues to stand for something, to stand on the principles from which it was born.

truly - god bless america, land that i love.

year one

2011-09-07T10:28:00.003-06:00

it's my baby's birthday. beth is one today - i can't believe it. i think this has been the fastest year i can remember. i wish i had been one of those moms who diligently take a monthly photo of their baby (you know, laying on the same blanket by a cute sign saying how many months they are, every month of that first year). but, i'm just not. i did compile a bunch of cute pictures of my sweet baby beth.

can you even believe how happy this girl is? i felt so lucky and blessed to have an easy baby when kate was born. beth? she blew kate out of the water :) but really, beth has been so mellow, easy going, tolerant, flexible, generous, and the definition of love. she is just lovely.

she has started "walking" this past week or so. i count her official first steps as sunday, september 4th. she walked 3 steps completely on her own. and then this morning? she walked 5 steps and bridged the gap between the couch and the chair - completely on her own. i love watching the wheels work in their heads when they decide to turn around and walk.

she has been saying dada for several months and mama a few less than that. although, it must be said that whenever she has used mama, it's really because she needs something - usually food. she says nana for banana, shhhh for shoe, has said ball once or twice, and signs milk, eat, more, and all done.

beth has her 1 year appointment with the doctor tomorrow, but she has been packing on a bit of weight in the last three months so i'm hoping to see her percentiles in a more average range. i'm sure she'll maintain her petite status, however :)

happy birthday, little one. we love you!

home improvements

2011-09-03T22:45:00.000-06:00

welcome to our porch.

this photo is actually from before it was ours but it serves to show you how dark and cave-like the porch was. the other day, i trimmed down the honeysuckle - it had a radius of about 3 feet and was out-of-control-wild. did you know that honeysuckle grows off old wood? maybe my terminology is off, but basically we had 2 1/2 feet of old wood (think bird's nest for a huge bird) and 6 inches on the outside of pretty green growth. anyway, it was time to pare down... now it looks kind of sad but i'm hoping for a beautiful plant come spring.

anyway.....

here is what our porch looked like thursday afternoon. bare honeysuckle/grapevine, handrail in the middle of the steps, stains all over the cement, painted house number, brown storm door, black front door (did you even notice the cute diamond glass we have in there? me either ... ok, i noticed it, but it doesn't really stand out at all)

here is our garage door as of first thing this morning - more brown.

and now, are you ready for the big reveal?

here is our porch this afternoon. i know, right? just kidding :) so i painted the door, painted the storm door (it will do until we just go out and get a new one), and painted all the trims. we hired weston's cousin to acid wash the concrete to even out the stains and get rid of the painted numbers. the concrete still looks aged like it should be so i'm happy. he also cut out that ugly handrail which, by the way, i wouldn't have minded if it weren't in the middle of the porch.

cute little diamond window looks much better behind gray, don't you think?

and don't forget the crisp white garage door! i'm so excited about white, can you tell? even if it shows the dents in the door more than the brown did, i'm still wildly happy with the results.

and you want to know the best part of it all? my husband and i worked side by side to get this all done. great way to spend a saturday (and don't worry, he was still able to squeeze in a couple hours of skateboarding.)

been saying it for years...

2011-07-08T11:12:00.001-06:00

neville longbottom is cute.

i know - who would have thought this cute face

would have turned into this?

i knew he had potential, been saying it for years (just ask my husband)

plus, he destroyed the last horcrux

our home: the playroom part two

2011-06-15T12:48:00.002-06:00

ok. i got lost there for a minute. weston's had a busy summer travel schedule already with work, and when he's gone, usually so am i. while i can't promise to be back at any regular schedule, i can say i think about this old blog a couple times every day. usually it goes like this:

let's check the old blog and see who has posted to theirs...

now that that's done (apparently i am not alone in neglecting my blog) let's move onto fb

boring...

man, i should really blog...

what do i blog about? i never take any pictures. we aren't doing anything remotely blogworthy today...

and so it goes - no blogging.

so, i'm probably not going to "be back" much better than before... but at least i have the intention... right?

ok, here goes. on with the post...

my previous home tour post was part one of the playroom for girls. the part two belongs to me, the oldest girl in the fam :) honestly, i feel like i have a lot to do in here before i feel like it's really done and how i want it, but for now, we are set up, i can work, and things are functional. the pretty will have to come later...

the station

(forgive the unsightly fabric corner... not done yet, remember?)

the trimmings

hp love

2011-06-06T10:00:00.000-06:00

what one word would you choose?

is it completely lame that i teared up in my right eye when i saw this?

beth.

2011-05-24T21:13:00.000-06:00

remember how i said fuchsia was not so much my thing?

apparently, it is so much her thing

she loves her beets!

our home: the playroom part one

2011-05-23T13:21:00.010-06:00

for now, we are using one of the bedrooms in the "main house" as a playroom for the girls. the girls includes me. part one of the playroom tour is all about the little girls.

before

little girl bedroom with great windows

after

playroom with great windows

great cabinets to hide away toys

weston picked up this desk from a local thrift store - he has plans for it... maybe this summer?

i am loving the built-ins! now i just need to find some fabric to redo the pad - fuschia is not so much my color...

love the bookshelves!

kate's broadway debut

2011-05-20T11:42:00.001-06:00

DISCLAIMER: if you are not the parent of this child you may not be interested in viewing the video.

kate, like most little girls right now, is obsessed with tangled. she will run around quoting pages of dialogue and singing song after song. i think it's great since i LOVE that movie, too. here she is on the swings a couple days ago. i added the lyrics so you could decipher what she's saying, if you're interested. mostly i just want to point out how close she is to getting them right!

Rapunzel knows best
Fine, if you're so sure now (Rapunzel's so mature now)

Such a clever grown-up miss

Rapunzel knows best
Fine, if you're so sure now
Go ahead, then give him this

How did you?

This is why he's here!
Don't let him deceive you!
Give it to him, watch, you'll see!

I will!

Trust me, my dear
That's how fast he'll leave you
I won't say I told you s

No - Rapunzel knows best!
Fine, if you're so sure now (So if he's such a dreamboat)
Go and put him to the test

Mother! Wait!

If he's lying
Don't come crying
Mother knows best...

cracks.me.up

kate's kite

2011-05-18T11:27:00.000-06:00

kate got an ariel kite for easter. since then she has flown it, or asked to fly it, every single day.

and here is an 8 second video that's pretty classic. give it a whirl...

swinging girls

2011-05-16T10:33:00.000-06:00

if kate loves one thing, it's swinging. i'm trying to teach her to pump her legs... any suggestions?

so far i'm not very successful :)

this was beth's first experience. i wish i had moved the blanket further down so you could see her face better! she loves it like her big sister.

kate's readers

2011-05-16T10:23:00.001-06:00

for christmas, kate got a doll with all kinds of accessories, including these pink glasses. she loves wearing them. i might be the only one, but i think it's hilarious when she does. gets me every time!

i apologize for the quality of phone photos...

our home: the bathroom

2011-05-13T11:20:00.002-06:00

how annoying. did everyone notice that blogger had major problems yesterday? hopefully we're back to normal now...

so, the "main house" has three bedrooms and 1 full bath. the original owners built an addition in the early 60s with a large family room, extra bedroom, and a 1/2 bathroom. the only thing about the 1/2 bath is that it's actually off the garage. weird, yes. i have yet to use it. but, if we are in the house long enough and plan to stay even longer, i have plans to realign the bathroom/hallway area and make it a full bathroom and move ourselves into the added family room and make it a nice big master suite. but remember, that's a big if.

for now, i give you the bathroom

before

here is the purpley color i talked about before, remember? also, take notice of the medicine cabinet. not bad, right? well, apparently it didn't fit in the space between the light fixture and the sink, so they just installed it horizontally instead of vertically. so it opened, but talk about awkward. after the paint, it was the next to go.

after

again with the clean white paint - are you sensing a pattern here?

we didn't paint any of the doors and it's obvious they need to be done...

weston installed the new mirror and shelf and also the extendable magnifying mirror

i don't know if anyone saw this post yesterday or not, and if you did - did you try to leave a comment? i'm trying to convince myself that we didn't get any comments because blogger was down... that's true, right? right????

come on, we all love comments and you know it!

thanks for visiting :)

xoxo

our home: the kitchen

2011-05-11T11:27:00.003-06:00

when we were looking and day-dreaming about finding a house perfect for us, we both were quite settled on the idea of an older home. when people would suggest we get a new townhomey-home (the type of house that feels like a townhouse but is just detached) for the same price, we were both on the same page: we wanted a home with character and an established feel. it's exactly what we got.

in one of our walk-throughs before closing on the house, weston took some snapshots. unfortunately, we don't have any of the kitchen. i'll give you a bit of a before & after tour of the house where we have photos.

may i present, the kitchen:

looking in from the dining room

view of everything from the same corner

looking out to the dining room

the previous owners had a creamy color above the wainscoting, so we painted a crisp white and then freshened up the wainscoting and trim with a new coat, as well. we also hung the pot racks to give us a bit more storage space. thankfully, the floors are recently tiled and the appliances are quite new. the kitchen is just the right size for someone who doesn't know too much about what goes on in there!

welcome to our home

2011-05-10T11:54:00.001-06:00

these pictures were taken a few weeks ago, so the flowers were just beginning to bloom.

we are in the most adorable, quiet, quaint neighborhood. we are very excited about being able to let our kids play outside with no worries. there is never any traffic on our streets and there are no fenced yards - we feel so lucky to have found it.

more to come!!!

don't forget to check back tomorrow

2011-05-09T12:10:00.002-06:00

you just might find something you've been waiting for....

happy mothers day

2011-05-09T12:05:00.000-06:00

originally, i had big plans (for a mother's day pity party) to be alone with my girls this mother's day. weston has a job in el salvador and they were supposed to be flying out early early sunday morning. i was bummed to say the least. you know, feeling very sorry for myself... blah blah blah. then, thankfully, he got word that the new temple didn't have furniture yet and they needed to postpone the trip for another week. yay erin!

we went to a baby blessing in the morning, so we missed our ward's mothers day talks and songs. we planned to go home and take it easy, but good thing we have a daughter who keeps us honest! kate was begging and actually crying to go to her class, so we were good little kids and went to the rest of our meetings. kate made me a cute card in nursery and we got yummy dipped pretzel treats from the ward. after church, we did manage to get home and take it easy. we all got a nap (some much shorter than others) and hung out as a family.

weston surprised me with bunches of new prints for the walls - our cute girls. i can't wait to get everything hung and post pictures for you to see. love it!

we finished the night with a delicious dinner and dessert

i requested french toast and bacon (we were going to have eggs as well, but it was already too much food). rounded out the night with some strawberry shortcake.

thanks family!!! i love you!

park

2011-05-05T11:54:00.002-06:00

we've been doing a lot of this lately:

one of the best things about our new place (photos coming soon, i promise!), is that we are 2 1/2 blocks away from 5 different playgrounds!!! it's awesome.

my big girls

2011-05-04T23:02:00.000-06:00

a trip to costco - love the double seats in the shopping cart

lawn mowing...

2011-05-03T10:40:00.000-06:00

weston is the proud owner of a new lawnmower. you know, since he has a lawn to mow now. i mentioned before how sad our lawn is. it really is. we're hoping we can figure out how to green it up and get it looking great and healthy. especially the front lawns, they looked green and lush until they got their first haircut - then all the yellow started showing itself. what do we need to do? water more? fertilize? any easy suggestions out there from our blogging friends?

it's kind of funny because right now, when things are new, lawnmowing is a family affair. when weston comes home and gets the lawnmower out of the shed, we all don our shoes and jackets (and hats right now) and head out to grab our seats to watch daddy mow the mulan, as kate calls it. hopefully he doesn't mind the audience!

we've figured out the sprinkler system, got the zones documented, and have set up a tentative watering schedule. i'm just hoping to water enough out front, not flood the flowerbeds or garden, and grow some grass in the backyard patches. definitely got our work cut out for us!!

coloring

2011-05-02T12:00:00.001-06:00

this is kate's new obsession. i say obsession because it will occupy her for hours at a time. there aren't too many activities that will do that for a toddler. she loves it. and she's getting better at it all the time.

great grandma carson got her this velvet poster

i love how she has to lean clear across it to color

strawberry shortcake coloring book - notice how she's starting to notice the lines (her hair with red marker)

my daughters are cool

2011-05-02T11:59:00.001-06:00

family night - field trip

2011-04-29T15:32:00.000-06:00

a couple of mondays ago, we had family night. we've been on a roll for 3 weeks now. mom and dad might be proud.

anyway, this particular evening, we went back to uvu campus because weston's old co-worker called and told him his photo was hanging - so we drove over and checked it out. see the image in the windows of the building? pretty cool, eh? i thought so.

we talked about alma the younger on our way over to uvu (kate's been watching a little bit of living scriptures) and got ice cream on the way home.

easy peasy.

conference activity

2011-04-29T15:29:00.000-06:00

this is old. sorry.

plus, i already posted it on facebook. double sorry.

still funny enough to put here, in my book.

here is what kate did to occupy herself in the basement while the adults watched conference.

i could be mad, but i wasn't. funny, crazy girl.

baby food

2011-04-28T12:54:00.000-06:00

yep, that time came around again. beth has been eating her solids for about a month now and she is doing great. she loves to eat, that's for sure!! i don't know how she is under the 3rd percentile for her weight...

because it's so easy and incredibly cheap (plus fun to do and i feel like i'm doing something healthy for her) i decided to make baby food again. there are plenty of tutorials/step by step options online, plus there's not much to it, so i'll leave that out. i made her a variety of options and she's working her way through all of them!

some of the foods

did i mention cheap? for a meal for this girl (and she's an eater) it costs me all of about 8 cents... take that 50 cent jars!!!

kate finishing up her rice crispies

the girl's room: green wall

2011-04-27T11:50:00.000-06:00

does anyone out there have their children share rooms? i don't mean to sound pretentious ... that's the only way that question sounds. we were just talking about this awhile ago and it seems like you don't hear about kids sharing rooms much anymore. i'm sure i'm wrong...

anyway, while they can fit, kate and beth will be sharing a room. i wanted something visually interesting in their room and after searching online for ideas, i came across using tones of a color and blocking out a wall.

easy - tape it up and fill in. i used 5 colors and bought the little sample size jars (if you look closely, you can see them on top of the dresser). i had plenty of paint for a wall this size and the painting only took an hour or two - not bad.

kate with beth in a choke hold... oh boy.

the easter bunny found our new address...

2011-04-26T15:14:00.000-06:00

since we have 9 o'clock church, there was no way we were going to do the easter egg hunt and make it to church on time. so kate had to wait through 3 hours of church to get to her goodies - poor girl :)

kate and some of her loot

i'm sure i've posted this photo in comparison of beth and myself, but i thought the body positioning was uncanny, not to mention the shape of her head, face, nose, mouth...

after finding all the eggs

now pay attention, because she's telling us something very important about her pink egg...

just like halloween, you have to sort your eggs??

happy easter!!!

easter dress overload

2011-04-26T14:51:00.001-06:00

here are the girls after church in their easter dresses. i love sewing for two girls!!!

disclaimer: this post is chock-full of photos. each is more or less the same unless you pay close attention to the stages of grumpiness on display.

we decided she looks like me in this one

this is when kate started hitting beth on the head with those twigs... we had to move on

and lastly, here is the best sequence i've seen in a long time:

my favorite - this may get printed and framed

and she's done...

and so is this post :)

easter eggs

2011-04-26T14:40:00.000-06:00

kate was dying all morning to color eggs. she kept asking and asking until finally we were ready. i cooked the eggs but i swear one of them was defective - it just would not cook - no matter how long i left it on the stove. don't worry - i kept very careful notice of that particular egg :) enjoy the photos!

we did homemade dyes this year and i thought the colors turned out beautifully - great soft tones. she rearranged her 6 eggs in this carton until they all had a new home :)

best nap ever

2011-04-26T11:56:00.000-06:00

kate was watching movies on the computer (this is before we moved so i'm sure i was busy packing and ignoring my child). she got so comfy that she passed out, apparently. the great thing is, she had over a 2 hour nap - it was bliss!!!

bathroom prep

2011-04-25T11:49:00.001-06:00

so here's what we did to our bathroom. do you like it?

obviously i'm kidding. this is what happened after the paint went on. my parents were here helping us and they decided to start on the bathroom and knock it out quickly. the previous owners had textured the walls (over the red) and then painted with that purpley color. once our paint went on, the wall started to bubble out and the bubbles just got bigger and bigger. apparently, when they mudded and textured, they didn't seal with anything - not even primer. and when new paint went on over the purpley coat, the combination seemed to just melt the layer off. so, everyone scraped and scraped and scraped some more, then came the sanding and washing. once it was all done, my wonderful parents primed and painted and got it all cleaned up for us.

i kept telling my mom and dad "thank you for doing this" and my dad kept saying, "what, for coming in and ruining your bathroom?" i was beyond glad they were here to help us figure out what to do - had it just been weston and myself, i might still be crying without a clue as to what was happening to my house :) thank you again, parents!!!

edit: kate's haircut

2011-04-23T16:42:00.000-06:00

i had a couple comments about kate's haircut post, so i wanted to clarify... kate didn't find scissors to cut her curlers out. she RIPPED them out of her own hair - she ripped the curler out, hair still wrapped and all. that's why it makes me cringe... yikes little girl!

kate's haircut

2011-04-22T11:49:00.000-06:00

it's my own fault. i let kate sleep in her curlers (instead of having her wear them for a few hours in the morning) and when she woke up the next day, she came into my room missing a few. my worst fear (upon seeing this) came true when we went to her bedroom and there were 4 curlers scattered across her bed, still wrapped with her little honey colored curls still intact. it broke my heart. still kind of does.

so, not one to be afraid of haircuts, i got out the scissors and trimmed it up, trying to match up and give those thin spots time to catch up again. she always holds so still for her haircuts and she was actually quite thrilled to have a fresh new 'do :)

here she is holding the ponytail - it was actually 3 inches long!

cute little girl.

here's hoping for a green thumb

2011-04-21T13:11:00.000-06:00

here is a picture of our backyard before it was legally ours. in the snow.

that yellow circle i drew in there for you? a big, yellow, dried out dead spot. we are thinking their dog used this part of the lawn for his/hers toilet... for #1 anyway. he/she used the #2 toilet on the far south side of the lawn. once the snow melted, we realized what we had on our hands. after a week or so of moving and unpacking, i wanted a change of scenery, so i set out to work on the yard. i dug up all of the dead patch - they had apparently tried sod there because it just came up in sheets... it never really grew i guess. then i raked up and turned the soil and laid down that green stuff with seed and fertilizer... that patch repair stuff. i watered diligently every day to no avail. three weeks later (it was supposed to sprout in 7-10 days) we still had that green stuff sitting on top of our dead spot. the even more frustrating part? the grass seed was just sitting on top of the green stuff, mocking me with it's un-sprouted-ness. so i gave up. i decided to dig and mix it up and start over again. i did this and left the dirt for a few days before looking at it again. my parents were in town for a bit that afternoon, so when they were getting the updated grand tour of things, we went out to the yard to look at the pretty flowers and such. my mom noticed i had grass. i didn't believe her until i got down to look and there they were! my tiny little grass sprouts had finally decided to grow!!! it was very exciting, i tell you.

so, now we wait for it to fill in. we've decided our lawn is kind of a sad lawn right now - it's got as much yellow as it does green. and in the backyard, quite a bit of small dirt patches thrown in for good measure. hopefully we can figure out how to take care of it so it can perk up like all of it's neighbor lawn-buddies who look so beautiful in their own dark, lush shades of emerald!

ok, enough with the lawn. onto the more exciting garden!!! leave it to me, someone who has never grown so much as a flower in the ground (and who doesn't know the difference between violet plants and weeds), to try to take on 92 square feet of garden ground. needless to say, i've been on the phone with my parents many, many, many times in the last few weeks with a question here and a question there. good parents. they are so patient :)

weston built the beautiful boxes and we filled and planted them about 2 1/2 weeks ago. (if you go back to the snowy picture, we put the garden boxes where that big pile of bark was.) i kid you not, every 3 days or so i have actual dreams about my garden and the excitement of seeing full grown plants in there. many many dreams. it's ridiculous, i know.

i know my garden signs are washing away and kind of hard to read, so here are the beets. i love how they are all marching in their misshapen row in this first photo (you may have to click on it to enlarge if they're too tiny)

and one of three rows of peas! i'm the most excited about these - hopefully we get a good enough crop to eat fresh peas several times this summer.

onion - can you make out the limey-green dots in there? they're there, i promise!

clearly, i'm very excited about this. my mom said it best the other day - it's magic. it really is. it's so fun to go out and check every day (or a few times every day) to see who else is springing up and pushing their way through that soil!

kitchen prep

2011-04-21T11:47:00.000-06:00

so i don't know for sure, but i can only assume people are still waiting to see pictures of the new place... so i'm going to start! but don't get too excited - i'm starting slowly.

when we got possession of the house, we went right in and started painting. while the previous owners' paint job and colors were fine, we both wanted a different aesthetic - plus you always want to make it your own, right? so we spent the week before moving day, using up every last second, every last drop and roller, and every last bit of help we could get our hands on until it was finished. i was exhausted. but obviously, it was completely worth it.

here is our little kitchen.

weston painted the ceiling - i was so proud of his work and he kept asking me why i thought it was such a big deal. i don't really know - i guess in my head ceiling painting is a bigger deal than wall painting... who knows.

either way, it's done and it's ours :)

sunday afternoons

2011-04-20T12:51:00.001-06:00

we have 9am church this year. i was really hoping that with the move, that would change. nope, still 9am. so we, like everyone else, relish sunday afternoon nap time. fortunately, on this particular sunday, kate actually had a nap, too. enjoy the cute pictures :)

daddy's birthday surprise

2011-04-20T12:26:00.000-06:00

this is a late post... but they're all going to be late for awhile...

this year, weston was working in LA on his birthday. bummer. it also happened to be the day we got the keys to our new house. double bummer. to try to add a little excitement to an otherwise boring birthday, the girls and i loaded up in the van with balloons and drove to the airport to surprise weston. with just a few minutes of birthday time to spare (his flight came in just before midnight) we sat and waited for him to come down the escalator. he was totally surprised and watching both he and kate was priceless - she was holding the balloons and ran across the airport floor to greet her unsuspecting papa :) happy birthday weston!

happy anniversary

2011-04-15T11:22:00.000-06:00

to my parents.

today, tax day, is their 45th wedding anniversary. (hope i got that right!)

my parents have a great "story" - they met as young teenagers (i think my mom was 13 and my dad was 15?) in the south pacific. their parents were called as building missionaries and, consequently, my parents met and grew up together on the islands.

isn't this the best picture? my parents, playing shuffleboard, on some boat across the world. look at that dress and the color in the photo - i love it.

here they are, fresh out of the salt lake temple, on their wedding day. i'm not sure why my mom changed out of her wedding dress upon leaving the temple, and since their "photographer" didn't load film in his camera (my mom's brother in law) there are only a handful of snapshots. her dress is lovely - i would love to share it with you...

so happy anniversary, mom & dad! i hope you have a great day full of love and lots of memories of your life together!

Quilt for Kostyn

2011-04-11T01:11:00.000-06:00

I think Erin makes amazing quilts, so I asked Erin to make a quilt for my colleague and friend, Cory and his wife Kelsey. They, too, just had a second little girl. This quilt is for Kostyn.
FYI, I helped pick out the fabric.
This is a rare occasion, as I actually have photos of the recipient as well. (I hope you guys don't mind that I posted these photos).

twin quilts

2011-04-01T11:28:00.000-06:00

quilts for twins, not twinner quilts...

a good friend asked if she could hire me to make quilts for her sister who will be having twins - boy and girl. she wanted a green quilt for baby boy and purple for baby girl and wanted them to coordinate somehow... maybe a matching piece of fabric in the borders or something.

as soon as i saw the polka dots in green and purple, i knew these quilts were going to be so fun to do!

baby boy:

baby girl:

now i'm itching to do another :)

danish rocking chair 2.0

2011-03-31T11:31:00.002-06:00

remember this beautiful chair?

when we made the move, we asked weston's grandma if we could borrow a couple of pieces of furniture. when we asked about this rocking chair, she said i could have it! we love this chair - maybe you don't - but we absolutely do :) to spruce things up a bit, and having the bug to reupholster as i did the blue chair, i kept the ball rolling and tackled this one. since there was no re-upholstery involved, just recovering the old cushions, it took me a few hours and we were looking at a brand new chair!

and thanks to weston's mad photo skillz, here is the new pair

new post

2011-03-30T19:28:00.000-06:00

it has been far too long - FAR too long - since i've had a post on the old blog. i have been feeling guilty every morning as i come here to look at my blog roll and read others' posts. while i love the two photos hanging (kate and beth) i feel bad every time because it just reminds me of the many things that have been happening that i have not been documenting - here or here. oh well is all i can say. while i can't promise to be "back" i can promise to give it a more valiant effort! please keep reading :) the comments validate me (even when there is only 1...)

:)

in the meantime

2011-03-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

weston is out of town for the next couple of days and his camera is with him... otherwise i would have a couple of posts here about some projects i have worked on lately. and because i'm knee-deep in boxes around here, the posting has suffered on the old blog.

i'm feeling guilty enough that i rounded up a couple photos for your enjoyment:

weekend project

2011-02-14T15:21:00.001-07:00

we found this chair on craigslist.

we liked it.

but not like it was, aka the muppet chair. weston said he could probably make a new muppet from the fringe once i took it off.

a few years ago, i picked up this lopsided baby for $5 at savers.

i liked it and knew one day it would have a home with us.

some cash, new fabric, and a few hours later...

not perfect, but we like it.

kate turns 3

2011-02-09T23:18:00.010-07:00

it all started with the invitation. i was getting ready to work on them and asked kate what kind of party she wanted. she promptly responded with, "a pink party!" and we were off. i started brainstorming of all things pink and was completely stumped at the food. what kind of food is pink in february? most of the fruit is out of season, i would have to dye bread (kind of gross), we would be stuck with ham... things quickly progressed to a treat menu. and then came the invite:

we invited all of the local family and a few friends. we all visited for a few minutes while we waited for everyone to arrive.

kate learned how to hold up three fingers. she also finally learned how to hold up two.

beth ecstatic to see everyone

the decor:

the spread:

this is kate's go-to face when you ask her to smile

counting the candles to make sure we didn't mess it up

being bashful while everyone is singing

struggling to blow out the candles - she hasn't quite learned how to blow out air without using her front teeth

eating the cake she picked out

let's open presents!

i love that she finally gets the concept - look at her genuine expression here. she's actually excited without us coaxing it out of her :)

the thank you hugs

trying out the gear

it even carried over to the next day - she has not taken these things off since the weekend!

happy birthday, sweet kate! we love you!

laughter

2011-02-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

kate had beth cracking up the other night after dinner. she was jumping around in the kitchen while beth was sitting on weston's lap. that's all it took - jumping kate equals laughing beth. it was, of course, more heightened before the camera came out, but it was still pretty effective, regardless. enjoy! (i hope you can watch and hear it)

this is from a couple of days after, and they were playing together for a few minutes. kate was knocking on the door from inside the bathroom and when she would swing it open, they would both crack up. beth loves her big sister, there is no doubt about that!

2011-02-06T23:15:00.001-07:00

happy third birthday little kate!!!

there will, of course, be more to come so check back!

2011-01-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

So I got Erin these boots for Christmas, and I just have to say how happy I am that she wears them all the time. She had told me that she wanted some riding boots, and I had done a little looking around, but I didn't really dare to just buy something so nice without her trying them on and making sure she liked them. She wanted something timeless, and I agreed that a classic style was the way to go. These were my first choice, and she loves them. She looks great in them too, by the way. I'll have to get some photos of her actually wearing them.

the thumbsucker

2011-01-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

beth is our little thumbsucker.

i tried and tried to attach her to the pacifier, which worked for a few weeks, but eventually she took the reigns and convinced me it wasn't for her. she had her own - her thumbs. and she doesn't care which thumb she gets, she'll take either one.

it is so adorable to watch, i have to say. and i love watching her switch back and forth between the right and the left 3 or 4 times before settling in on one. i'm not sure how i will feel about this in about a year, but we'll deal... for now, we'll just enjoy the cuteness!

dreams

2011-01-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

you know how sometimes you have a dream and it is so great or so horrible that the feeling stays with you all day? or even for a couple of days? wow. i had the worst dream of my life the other night. i am still shuddering from it's effects. apparently i have been watching too much intervention :)

it was horrible.

thank goodness for things like this to help me out :)

keep checking in

2011-01-13T12:22:00.001-07:00

i am going to try to post at least a few times a week, okay at least a couple times a week :) let's be realistic.

maybe i can do it? i used to!

and i started blogging again over at thislearningmom.blogspot.com

i'm going to try to be a little more positive this time :) it put me in a funk before so we'll see how it goes...

another quilt

2011-01-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

i know, i take a break from blogging and then when i do show up it's to "show off" something i made? i promise i'm not being self-indulgent with these "look what i made" posts - my mom tells me "you should be taking pictures of things you have made!" and i reply with "i have, i do! they're on the blog!"

so, here's another:

my dear friend, shireen, had a baby boy last month! shireen is the one who got me making baby quilts in the first place. she makes beautiful blankets and i love the "shireen quilt" kate received as a baby!

here are photos of the quilt for baby sam (and weston wasn't around to do my photography, so you'll have to make do with mine!)

we love you, shireen & brett! and sariah of course!!! love that baby for me :)

beth: blessing dress

2011-01-03T17:29:00.001-07:00

i decided, about 3/4s into the pregnancy, that i was going to start a tradition of my girls wearing the same blessing gown. i just hope it doesn't backfire on me later when they both want to keep it...

so it only took us an extra month to get beth back into the blessing dress for photos, but we did it. so just ignore the fact that she looks like a 3 month old and not a 2 month old, or even a month old like when most people bless their babies...

please also ignore the wrinkles in the dress - i couldn't be bothered to actually press it for a photo... shame on me, i really really should have.

not to be ignored, kate wanted in on the photos too.

just for fun, here is a comparison of the 2 girls. (remember, beth is a month older)

we really haven't felt that beth looks much like kate, but as she is getting older, i think i have to change my stance there. she still definitely has her own look, but she shares more similarities with big sister than i once thought. in fact, when we looked back at kate's blessing dress photos, we both said, "woah..." a la joey lawrence.

and here are a few more, just because i think my daughter is beautiful. you don't have to look at them if you are tired of this post already :)

100% colton baby - look at that face shape, rounded cheeks, little mouth... maybe i have to have a boy for it to resemble me???

quilt for baby kate patterson

2011-01-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

my good friend, janna, is having a baby girl in march! she is going to have the most beautiful name - kate :) we're a little biased around here, of course.

here is the gorgeous quilt (i can say gorgeous because it was really hard to give up - kidding of course - but there was a teeny tiny part of me that wanted to keep it and trade out a different quilt!)

thanks to weston for the beautiful photos so i can always remember this quilt ;)

after christmas hangover

2011-01-01T12:17:00.002-07:00

it's been awhile since christmas was here and we are kind of still recovering :) kate is loving all of her new toys

and beth is just loving her life.

she is such a happy, easy baby and really only cries when she's hungry (or teething, as i've discovered). we l.o.v.e. this beautiful little girl.

it's always amazing how you kind of forget how life felt before having children, whether it be your first child or, as in my case, your second. how did it feel when it was just you, me, and kate? was it really just the 3 of us? of course it was - we were all there. remember it was just the 3 of us when we went to strawberry days, or to the movies, or to colorado? it's not like you can't remember life back then, it's just hard to remember what it felt like - before beth was with us everywhere we go. deep thoughts...

either way, we love her and are beyond thrilled she's ours!

one of my resolutions (i hate to even use the word resolution because i feel like it's setting me up for failure) is to take more photos of our #2. she has already felt the snubbing that comes with being a child after "the first" - you know "the first" - the one photographed doing anything and everything. any child after "the first" gets photos on birthdays and christmases... poor kids ;)

wish me luck!

santa found us!

2010-12-31T12:05:00.001-07:00

we have a few photos of christmas morning - before things got too fun, that is.

wondering if she can touch her stuff

digging for gold in that stocking

stocking stuffing was too fun this year - as much fun kid stuff as you could cram

beth is teeming with excitement and anticipation

what a good big sister

beth and her new bff

and then the camera was forgotten! we had a great christmas morning that extended well into that night. we finished, cleaned up, got ready, and got off by around 11 that morning. we headed south to spend the day with our families and got into monroe a couple hours later. after opening presents and visiting there, we met up with weston's family and had dinner and more presents. that night, weston and i went to richfield and saw true grit. we highly recommend it and i really want to see it again. we stayed through sunday and then went home that night. we had a great christmas weekend with family and it was kind of over too quickly!

christmas eve 2010

2010-12-31T11:42:00.009-07:00

i suppose i better post about our christmas this year before it's actually next year.

i give you: christmas eve 2010

we spent the day together, which was lovely. weston had the day off and we were out shopping. yes, shopping amongst the hoardes of other last minute shoppers. only it wasn't a crazy nightmare - we weren't shopping under any kind of deadline of "i have to get something! it's christmas eve and i am out of time and options!!!" we were just looking for fun. weston came up empty with his quest for a new camera so we headed home and i started working on our christmas roast beast.

side-note: this year marks the very first time i have watched "how the grinch stole christmas" did i get the title right? i am constantly chastised for never having seen any of the christmas classics... my "yogi bear's first christmas" suited me just fine all those years :)

anyway, i made this beauty,

as well as one of the yummiest meals i have prepared to date. we ate chicken cordon bleu, roasted red potatoes, and salad. we had the yummy welch's sparkling grape juice that i found last year and, again, it took me right back to my grandma nielsen's yummy bottled grape juice.

after dinner, we had kate open up her (and beth's) new christmas pajamas and got santa's plate of cookies ready so we could leave the house.

putting on her shoes

beth's not too sure about all this christmas hoopla...

typical...

(we were hoping kate would crash out in the car and we could put her right to bed when we got home - no such luck.) we drove around for a good 2 hours looking at christmas lights and daydreaming about a house of our own, but kate held strong and was wide awake when we pulled into our driveway. at least she didn't take more than an hour to finally fall asleep in her bed.

we just went to sleep hoping that santa would find our new house...

christmas gift!

2010-12-25T07:18:00.002-07:00

there's this strange tradition in my family that whoever says "christmas gift" first on christmas morning... wins? strange :) but when aunts & uncles, and now siblings, are spread far and wide - it's usually the first thing you have to say (yes, even before you say hello) on the phone christmas morning. anyway, i think i officially win :)

so to round out my christmas advent activities, i now give you:

december 22, 23, and 24

december 22: see the lights at temple square

i made weston get out of the house to drive to salt lake, join the crowds, and oooh and ahhh at all the gorgeous lights on temple square. we arrived after 9pm (so very smart) and really did avoid a lot of people. there were plenty of folks out but not so much congestion that you can't move a stroller around. kate loved the lights and was completely obsessed with any water or waterfalls. she even forgot she had asked santa for a pink car and instead was insistent that he would now bring her a waterfall... hope she's not disappointed! haha

december 23: get hot chocolate

it's funny, i'm not much for drinks - i'd rather eat something yummy than drink it in. but there is something sort of magical about hot chocolate before christmas. yes, i said before. like the snow, once christmas comes and goes each year, i want nothing to do with hot cocoa. but it is yummy!

december 24: make rice crispie treats

this is a quick treat that weston always loves so it had to go on the advent calendar. i actually made these on the 23rd too so i kind of cheated, but it knocked it off the list and didn't crowd our actual christmas eve festivities :) can't pack too much into that day or it's a) not too much fun and/or b) doesn't all get done anyway.

thanks for hanging in there with our advent roundup this year! merry christmas!!!

White Christmas?

2010-12-24T01:11:00.000-07:00

We got hit with a pretty big storm a couple days ago, and a white Christmas seemed like it was going to be a reality. Then the snow got rained on for a day and a half, so most of it has melted away. Is there another storm on the horizon for tomorrow or the next day? We kind of hope so.