24 Weeks :: Belly Progress

It is crazy to see this belly! It happens so gradually that it just seems normal. Then when you look back at your first picture, you realize just how much you've changed. And then you realize that this is the point where you start to get even bigger. And I can't imagine it at this point. It weirds me out.

Yes, you read that correctly. We've been listening to Christmas music on a regular basis for the last month at least. Normally I'm the grinch that says there may be absolutely NO Christmas music in my vicinity until the day after Thanksgiving. However, since she's due really close to Christmas, it's all we can think about. We're just extra excited!

And in case you are like me, and somehow forget what you looked like before...here's a reminder.

I just keep thinking I'm not really as big as I think I look. But I am. It's really exciting, and I love feeling her grow in there! I just never realized the difference until I put the two pictures next to each other.

I hope you have a great week this week!

Painted Plank Wall Decor DIY

I consider this project only partially DIY. The cool thing these days is to find pallets, take them apart, and make amazing and cute things from the boards. Well, that intimidates me. So when I found this unpainted plank thing, I totally got it because I knew it would be lovely in my home. And it would be easy to paint and make awesome.

I went out to the garage and found all the paint sample jars I had purchased over the past year or two. I crossed my fingers and hoped they were still paint and not blobs of gross. After some vigorous shaking, I had four different paint colors.

I started by doing every other plank, let those dry, then did the other planks. I did tape off the planks I wasn't painting just because I didn't want the hassle of other colors showing through. This was the easy part. I thought it would be difficult because I had to do some paint color mixing to get the shades light enough to match what I wanted.

I'll have you know that, no, I did not mean to have that streak of lighter color on that second plank down. But if you saw this in person, you'd see that a couple other planks are kind of streaky because of the mixing of colors. I didn't mix well, and I didn't wash my brush between a few colors because I was hoping it would become a teensy bit streaky. In my experience, I like things best when I just go with the flow instead of trying to plan out every tiny detail. Plus, that turns out to be a lot more work.

The next part was the difficult part. I wanted a word on this, something different than "home" or "love." I enjoy things that say that, but I have other objects like that in my home already. Plus, if I'm making this myself, I might as well make it personalized to us. After making a list of nearly 20 words/phrases, I decided to go with something a little bit silly. But it's still something I love.

As you can see, I went with "be amazing." I was having a real dilemma choosing between "be happy", "be brave", or "be amazing." And then I was having a dilemma about whether this would sound like it was an order instead of something inspirational. I'm hoping people see it as uplifting. I guess I'm in my house most of the time, and I get to decide. I mean, I live here, right?

The writing is not even close to being beautiful and perfect, and I don't care much. As it hangs there, I might do some touch ups if something keeps bugging me over and over. But sometimes the most imperfect things in my home are my favorite.

I love how it's pretty understated. My walls are a light gray color, and the colors in the living room are shades of gray and blue and brown. I already have other things that are extra colorful that stand out. So I just wanted this to fill that spot by my stairs with something sweet. I think it turned out perfect!

Hooray for nesting! Am I right? If it hadn't been for my sudden urge to want to craft something while Steve was out with the scouts, I don't think this project would've been finished for many moons. Let's be honest, I originally bought that plank thing last summer. He he.

Did I mention that baby's room is getting the last coat of paint this weekend? Then I get to share our progress and ideas for the fun stuff with you!


I linked up this project over at DIY Show Off. This is the link to That DIY Party. I'm still never sure I did the link correctly. Hopefully it all works for you! But please check out the other cool things people made over there.

Crocheted baby blanket - DONE!

Very first baby project (besides getting the baby on the way, of course) is finished!

You can find the free pattern for this baby blanket on redheart.com right HERE. The pattern says to embroider a whole bunch of flowers all over the pink parts of the blanket, aaaand that's not going to happen. Mostly because I'm kind of lazy to do all that work, and I'm also not super girly. I felt like all the flowers may be a bit too much. I tend to think it's girly enough just because there's pink on it. :)

I added one of my bunnies to the pictures to up the cuteness factor. She's so tiny on that big ole blanket!

Oh man. So cute.

We are starting the journey of painting baby girl's room. Hubs is really stepping up despite how much he really hates painting. Again - super hero. Hopefully we'll have some good pictures to share with you soon. We also made our first big purchases for baby's room at Ikea. We're very excited about getting the room ready. Very exciting. Also a tiny bit stressful because the fall semester of graduate school is starting. But we'll make it work!

Have you seen any other cute baby crochet or baby DIY projects?? I'm really excited to make some cute things soon!

DIY Dresser Ideas :: For a First Timer

Hey there party people!

Steve and I have been working on clearing out future baby's room. And we have furniture in there that either needs to exit our lives or be DIY-ed and refashioned.

Enter: This dresser.

I believe Steve said that all his brothers have used this dresser. And trust me, it shows. It looks like either little ones or a dog have chewed on some of the edges, and there are chips all over it, drawings inside the drawers, some of the drawer tracks are skeewhompus, and one of the back legs is broken so it wobbles.

Originally I was thinking of making this dresser into the changing table for the baby's room. It has a lip on the top that would be great for the changing pad to rest against, and then other things won't fall off while I'm holding on to baby. However, I just wasn't feeling it. Also, I have never repainted/refinished furniture before. I didn't want to screw up on something for the baby's room. Also, I didn't want to feel bad if I changed my mind and gave up before the baby came.

We were just going to put it on the curb or donate it, but then we came up with a brilliant plan. Ok, it's not that brilliant, and I've seen it done lots of times. It just felt brilliant for us. We have been wanting a taller TV stand for our television in the basement ever since we moved in. We measured and this dresser is a great fit for the spot where our TV stand would go! DING DING DING!!! It would create some great storage and be something new-ish for our home. Wins all around!

Now the question remains - what do we do to the dresser? I only have a couple vague ideas at this point. I decided since it was going in the basement, and it was my first attempt on DIY painting a dresser, I wanted to try something fun and maybe a little "out there." However, it can't be too time consuming because I'm afraid I'll lose heart in the middle of the project.

So does anyone have any ideas? Send me pins, pictures, comments, emails, etc. so I can see what you've seen and imagine. I'm having trouble really attaching myself to an idea for this.

So excited for Fall!

Autumn - Fall - Halloween - Leaves - Pumpkins - Chilly - SO EXCITED!!

Every year right after our anniversary, I convince myself that it's getting cooler outside. (It's not.) I just get so excited for Fall and everything associated with it that I convince myself that the heat is still hot, but it's a cool heat. Anyone else? Or am I the only really crazy one about this? I don't care if I am. :)

If any of you follow me on Pinterest, you've noticed lately that there have been a large amount of Harry Potter party ideas being pinned to my board. I started a tradition last year of making our little entryway into a cool Harry Potter spot for the tricker treaters. It was so fun to make all the crafts and just be creative in ways I've never been before.

So, as you can imagine, I will be doing this again! I figure I'll just add bits and pieces every year. Soon I'll be that weird, crazy lady on the block that has like an entire Harry Potter land in her yard for Halloween every year. And I'm fine with that.

If you'd like to see my Harry Potter Halloween from last year, you can see the finished product HERE. Just looking at it makes me antsy to start some crafts for this year!

When I was out shopping with my mom earlier this summer, we found these!

Are you kidding me right now? Hedwig and Pigwidgeon just made their grand entrance into my life. Also, they're kind of fun to have hanging out in my craft room currently.

I'm also planning on making some spiders to either put on my house or on the yard, some colored jars for potion ingredients, some more dementors that look cooler, a more realistic sorting hat, and MUCH MORE. I also plan on getting/making some sort of silly Harry Potter pregnancy shirt. Not sure what will be on it yet. And I am going to try and do it all for as cheap as possible. I think last year I only ended up spending like $30 or so. That's a huge win considering how much I actually made.

I'm making myself too excited. I need to go do other things now that my summer semester of school is out! YAY!

Celebrating half way!

I am so excited! I was getting ready for work and suddenly realized that I was officially 20 weeks pregnant! The first half of the pregnancy has blown by. I think the main reason for that is because it's been relatively easy so far. We were waiting and waiting for sickness, and I was blessed that it never happened. I have started to get the occasional belly stretching pains, but I'm still so excited that she's growing that I can tolerate it. :)

Here is some progress! I'm really excited that I'm starting to look pregnant instead of a little chunky.

And my 20th week of pregnancy was our 6th anniversary! Woot! We decided to take it easy this year and go to a fancy-ish steak house and enjoy some amaaaaazing ribs and steak. YUM!

I certainly have loved every second of our 6 years of marriage. And I can't wait for eternity with this handsome fella.

The Ogden Temple

Hubs and I got a really great opportunity to visit and walk through the Ogden Utah LDS Temple open house. They recently tore down the old temple and built this newer, bigger, and more efficient one for the growing needs in the area.

If you are in the area, I strongly encourage you to go. It is so beautiful, and it is so exciting that the temple will be open soon! Ogden-ites have been anxiously awaiting the opening for a long time!

You can reserve tickets HERE for tours of the temple.

I love attending the temple (no matter the location) because of the Spirit I feel there. No matter my situation or circumstance, I feel peaceful and loved. I learn new things about my Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ, and myself every time I attend. And I remember how truly blessed we all are when I go.

If you would like to learn more about what happens in LDS temples, visit HERE.
If you would like to see some pictures of the interior of an LDS temple, visit HERE.