to move or not to move?

that apparently is the question...

weston's grandparents own the 4-plex we live in and they told us tonight they are selling it.  what?  but thankfully, they already thought of us :)  they gave us our options - one of which include moving into their posh "basement" apartment in their home on the hill in pg.  now we are both having mixed feelings, so it's really hard to know what to do.

some of the pro's:
it's HUGE and brand spanking new
it's not really a basement - it's on the ground floor and has floor to ceiling windows in every room
our finances would stay the same, if not improve a smidge
we could get out from under our upstairs neighbors who only get louder and more obnoxious everyday (a single, older woman and her adult mooch of a son)

some of the con's:
we would have to leave our ward! :(
we would have to physically pack up and move
it's "far away" from the freeway (a perk we LOVE where we are)
it's "far away" from our favorites - cafe rio, in-n-out, rubios, costco (mind you, "far away" means about 10 miles ... i know it's not that far, just not nearly as convenient)

thoughts?  what would you do in our situation?  we both really love living in american fork (who in the world would have thought we'd EVER say that?) and would be very sad to leave.  it has really become "home" ....

and kristi, i don't want to hear your crap about how you move all the time and i should just get over it, haha ;)

time for a new post

can you get sick from things??

i absolutely love my new kitchen, but the weirdest thing happened a few days after we got it all finished and cleaned up.  it started making me totally ill.  i am not kidding.  everytime.  weird.  and no, it's not just because i don't want to cook.  so, it's definitely time for a new post because i can hardly bring myself to check blogs every morning knowing i have to look at the kitchen photos (again, i still love the room!)

my good friend natalie had a baby shower over the weekend and it was a fabulous little gathering!  it's always fun to get together with girlfriends and chit chat, not to mention watch natalie and her husband nail every single one of those "how well do you know your baby" games.  it was uncanny.

here is the quilt i got to make for natalie's little one.

luckily, she says the blue matches the nursery!  love when that happens.

and, for good measure, i'll post a recent photo of kate.  how did she

turn into her?

oh the pressure

of this "amazing" new post.  sorry if it doesn't quite fill your quota of "amazing" :)

i give you the before:

i.e. dark and dungeony ... it's what you get when you live in a basement apartment, well at least a half-basement apartment.

and now for the big reveal, i give you the afters:

don't mind the messy magnets, you know how it is... 

 

top to bottom, left to right: 

table & chairs, weston's moving landscapes

pantry, message wall

kitchen stuff

more kitchen stuff ... but the idea for it all came from the arrangement of glassware in the windowsill

a final look at the beauty :)

this project was intensive but could have been worse, i'm sure.  all in all, it took about a week to go from priming the countertop (yes, that has been painted) to hanging wall decor.  now all i have to do is mop the floor ... anyone want to come do that for me?  all i want to do in here is sit back and look at everything :)  it feels so much brighter, airier, open, fresh, and just lovely.  i'm so glad we did this, even if it's just a rental...  should have done it 5 years ago!

check back tomorrow - there will be an amazing new post :)

billboards

how cool is my husband?  well, i think he's pretty cool ....

so he has 3 billboards up right now - uvu's athletics department actually has the billboards up, but they're weston's photos and concept.  i am super proud of him.  next time you're waiting in traffic by the university mall, look up and check them out.  he has a different image on each of the three sides.

 

 

proud of you, babe!

oh and i may or may not have started a new project this morning

berries and cream

weston called this the berries & cream quilt and i hadn't thought about that - but i loved it!

this is a quilt for baby "maggie" anderson. have you guys landed on the name officially, yet? well, she's a sweetheart, so beautiful, so fresh, and so tiny! we love that you have a baby in the house again :) congrats!!

sledding

on the 26th, we all bundled up to face the below freezing temperatures and expose our fair skin to the cold and wind that comes with 4-wheeling and sledding. but it was totally worth it! we rode around in the fields in front of the jones' house. kate wanted nothing to do with anyone but her parents and wasn't too crazy about being outside or anywhere near a sled.

we went on a family 4-wheel excursion through the fields and she quickly adjusted and had a lot of fun. she was screaming "go! go! go!" and laughing and loving it. after a few rounds of that, i took kate and we went to visit kimberly whose parents live just down the lane. it was nice to warm up, see her family, and catch up.

kate and i braved the cold again and watched weston wake/snowboard as his dad pulled him behind a 4-wheeler.


after watching him for a few minutes, kate decided to give the old sled a try with me and trent and jess pulled us around for a few laps. she had a great time and kept saying, "again! again!"

what a cold cutie pie!

christmas in monroe

we got to central in the early afternoon and spent time with weston's parents.  afterwards, we went to monroe and kate opened her gifts from grandma & grandpa cottle. 

 

she got the cutest little kitchen and she was thrilled.  she is very into pretend play right now with anything and everything and is loving her kitchen, shopping cart, food, and dolls.  it is so much fun to see her play.

 checking it all out

she got some more cozy pajamas and a book from grandma cottle and as soon as she saw this biscuit book, she rushed right over to grandpa for a quick read.  a few months ago, he read a different biscuit book to kate about 20 times in a row.  it was so cute that she remembered and went straight to grandpa.

that night, we went back to central to exchange gifts with the rest of weston's family. 

we had a good night visiting and enjoying all the little girls

and brand new oliver!

what a day!

christmas morning

we started bright and early at 7am and had to wake up kate. she wasn't too thrilled at first, but it took hardly any time for her to perk up once she realized she was going to get to open her presents.

kate had practiced opening presents the day before, so she was an old pro once we pulled her away from the drums and jewelry :)

it wouldn't be a proper gift exchange holiday without some new shoes for kate to open.  we both love these little shoes.  and kate was obviously excited about them - she insisted on wearing them that morning. 

at least we didn't hear "yuck!" followed by "double yuck!" :)

some of the haul:

 

off to grandma's!