Wreath wall collage

Hi friendlies. I just wanted to share this little project I finished. I have been imagining this for a while. I like wreath-like door decorations, but I hate storing them. I have to stack them, which flattens or squishes the decorations. Then when I want to change which one is on the door, I have to pull them all out to get to the one I want, which is always inevitably on the bottom of the bin.

To remedy my problem, I just put the picture hanging hooks in the wall at different heights and hung up my decorations. Now my craft room is a little more colorful and always festive! And all my door decor and wreaths are easily accessible. Win!

A quick and easy project with great results!

On the move...

No, we're not moving anywhere. Promise.

I just feel like we're going places. Graduate school is in full swing, school is out for little ones all around, and it's getting warm! A new summer season always makes me excited to do fun things outside and spend time with family.

Also, I saw this snail on our front porch and I took this really great picture of it.

Even if it's slow-goin', keep moving forward.

Reading Review :: I'm Inspired

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
I read this for work so I could keep up in a class I was helping with. Although it's hard to read about slave experiences from the viewpoint of a slave, it's inspiring to hear the many things that Frederick Douglass went through. And not only that, but the thoughts and feelings he had while in and out of slavery were so forward-thinking and groundbreaking for his time. I didn't think I'd enjoy the book much because of the information included, but I couldn't put the book down! I was quite inspired by his words and thoughts.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I finally decided to read this because I wanted to see how it was like the movie. Not a great idea since I hadn't watched the movie since I was in elementary school. But I read it anyway, and it was so beautiful. It was so sweet to read about the change that came over Mary as she realized the beauty of life and her surroundings. And I loved seeing all the characters making friends and helping each other improve and grow. Grow -- get it? It was like their hearts were also a secret garden. BAM. Just blew your mind.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Ok, I thought I would love this book because I enjoyed The Lord of the Rings sooo very much. However, that was NOT the case. There were some cool parts to the book, and it was neat to see the connections it made to later things in The Lord of the Rings. But most of the book was uninteresting. Halfway through the book all I could think was, "How did they make this book into THREE MOVIES?!?!?!" I'm amazed. So now I'm worried about seeing the movies.



Now that I've officially started classes for graduate school, I've been reading much less. The semester format is condensed to half a semester per class. It's a lot of information in a shorter amount of time, so I'm stressing over reading the books for the classes. This half-semester is pretty busy, but I think it'll get better depending on the type of class I'm in. We'll see how my recreational reading goes.

PS - sorry it's been over a month since I've posted! I think about it a lot, promise.

Springtime beauty

I'm really enjoying all the smells and sights of spring!

Here are the words from a verse of one of my favorite primary songs that we're singing in sacrament meeting tomorrow at church. It's not in the Children's Primary Songbook, but it was from the Friend or a magazine for church/home use. It was written by Tom E. Clark and Michael G. Facer in 2006.

That Easter morn, disciples ran to see where Jesus lay;

And there they saw a miracle: The stone was rolled away!

He came for us; He died for us 

All to fulfill our Father's plan. 

On Calvary, Gethsemane, 

He sacrificed that we might live again.

It's a song with such a simple, beautiful message. I also enjoy playing it because it sounds similar to a Charlie Brown Christmas song. :)

I hope you have a beautiful Easter!

Today I'm choosing to be thankful.

I'm having a day. One of those days. A particularly moody day. However, this afternoon has been better. So in an effort to completely turn this day around, I'm taking the advice of others and remembering things I'm grateful for. Here are a few things.

Also, I just cleaned out my phone's memory. This post will probably have some old silly pictures just for fun. You're welcome.

I cannot wait to show you that finished crochet project. If you haven't figured it out, it's a doily. Now I know I'm channeling my inner old lady. And I'm fine with that. :)

And I finally got to check out The Hobbit from the library. I'm very excited to read it because I loved The Lord of the Rings so much. And Steve will be excited because then we can finally watch the movies together. Although we still might wait until they are all available.

Yes, I know it's April. But I found this pattern for wrist warmers on Ravelry, and I just thought they looked so fun and cute! So I made them. They actually turned out easier than I expected.

And just for fun, this really terrible phone picture of our Valentine's Day date to our stake dance:

And also this song. It's one of my favorites. And their outfits are super groovy. And the guy wearing the orange shirt is obviously loving life. Clearly, because he keeps swinging that french horn around and making me feel like he's going to drop it!

I hope you have a happy evening! 

What do you do when you choose to be thankful and happy?

Chunky Crochet Basket

Hey friends! As most yarn crafters do, I have an enormous amount of small yarn balls that are left over from previous projects. What to do with these? Where to store them? Why won't they stop rolling all over the place?!

Problem solved with this cute chunky crocheted basket!

I saw this cute chunky yarn basket over at All About Ami. She had seen and used the free pattern at Crochet In Color, created by Liz. I happened to have some extra chunky yarn from a project from probably 3 years ago. There wasn't enough to make a fun scarf, and there were two different colors.

I decided to give this crocheted basket a shot, simply because it looked cute, it would use up some yarn in my stash, and it would be a cute storage spot for some small yarn balls. All kinds of great things in one project! Liz does suggest you use two strands of yarn at the same time. It would make it stiffer so it would keep the shape. As I mentioned, I would not have had enough of these colors to do two at once. Even though I knew it would be a little flimsy, I decided to do it anyway. It would still serve its purpose.

I ran out of the pink (as you can see). When that happened I was glad I decided not to try the two strands at once. Even though it's a little lumpy in spots, I'm enjoying the end result and storing some smaller yarn balls in the basket. I have some other chunky yarn that I'm planning to make a blanket with. But if there's any left over, you know what I'll be making. :)

Excused Absence :: Here's the deal

I'm really sorry for my absence from this blog for like a week. It's really not that long, but since I've been posting a few times a week, not posting for over a week seems like a long time. I've been pondering and thinking about sharing about this topic for months. I finally feel comfortable sharing this with the big ole world wide web.

Here's the deal... we're trying to make a baby. :) In fact, we've been trying to make a baby for a couple years. So occasionally I get a little overwhelmed and need to re-focus. It's been an unexpected and frustrating journey so far. I'm learning a lot about myself, my hubby, our relationship, and our faith. There have been ups and downs. However, I must say that I think we've been handling the whole situation pretty well so far.

I'm not going to go into much detail right now. But I plan to share more about this whole deal more as I sort out my feelings and thoughts on it.

Thanks for your understanding and support during this. You've all been super amazing and loving.

I could not have asked for a more patient and supportive teammate throughout this time. I love my hubs dearly for his caring.

I shared this picture on Facebook for Steve's 30th birthday. Can you even handle those sweet blue eyes?
TOO. MUCH. CUTE.