Utah!

Last weekend, El Guapo and I were driving and decided it was time to do a random trip and Utah sounded like the perfect destination since my sister lives there. We grabbed Sadie, packed our bags and took off... and then called my sister to make sure we could come and stay with them, and bring the dog! haha Luckily, it was the perfect weekend to visit, and we had a great time!

The highlight of the trip was our visit to Chuck-E-Cheese and I just can't help myself...

Dwight Schrute:	Where are we going?
Jim Halpert:	Get inside.
Dwight Schrute:	Where are we going?
Jim Halpert:	We're going to Chuck E. Cheese.
Michael Scott:	Chuck E. Cheese? Oh, I'm so sick of Chuck E. Cheese.
Jim Halpert:	We're going to the hospital, Michael.
Michael Scott:	I know, just saying.

Ah, when the Office was still funny....

Anyways, here is Kendall kicking those gophers' butts!


And here is Brayden in the middle of the crowd of birthday kids and chuckie cheese himself. Brayden loves chuckie and ran right into this big party for like 3 kids just to dance and play. He's the one behind the chair in the blue with the blonde hair.


Cort and Kyler were racing!



And Keaton was throwing his honeycomb all over the place! He's so cute.

Later we had a Barbique and the kids ran around to play outside... Unfortunately, my sister's kids all have issues with keeping their pants on their little skinny bums! hahaha

It was a really fun trip and I've been lucky to get to see my sister so much this year! Annndd I'm really pasty and need some healthy sunlight! haha


The kids loved Sadie! And Sadie loved them... and the awesome grass :)

Awwww :)

Kendall and Sadie snuggling:


And considering how blonde I am, this could be a family picture if I wanted to steal my sisters' kids:


It was a good trip :)

New bookmarks!

I made a few new bookmarks... and learned some things.

1. Do not try and sew words with the sewing machine...it just sucks and is too hard.
2. Glue is not your friend in this situation.
3. Flatness is key to success.
4. Hand stitching may take a while, but looks preeeettty.

Needless to say it was eventful making these two pretties.

I already had everything at home. The plain fabric was 2$ at Walmart (the cheap cheap fabric that is perfect for bookmarks!) and the fancy fabric was like 3$ At Joanns. The fancy sparkly button was off of a cardigan that was given to me and I loved it, but my dryer ate it... Soooo, I cut off the buttons for crafting! The other buttons and beads were from a jumbo pack I bought for like 3$ at Walmart too.

The lace was from my grandma's old craft supply {can you believe she used to run a craft shop?} I have a lot of treasures left over from her shop. It is so neat to be able to use her things.

All in all probably cost like .50 cents considering the amount of each thing I used :)
It's a shame it took like 2 hours haha.

This one is Tres bon!



With a cute little tassel:


And I'd like to call this one the "Sophisticated Owl"


I don't know about you but I find it hilarious to see an owl say "whom"...


I have a bunch of funny ideas for a few more... if I ever get the time to!

Special thanks to {Fallen}, for the modeling of your mysterious pages.




I'm linking up!

Followers

HEY-OO. So, I want to do a giveaway of some sort at some point. But I have no followers to give things away to. So, I figure if I reach 100 followers, I'll do a giveaway! Woot.

Much to talk about since the weekend {like my random trip to Utah!} I will have to update in a few posts. I made two cute new bookmarks that I will have to share tomorrow! :)

Weeds- Middle pictures

Our yard is no longer a jungle! It's far from being done but it is now officially a pile of dirt! Look!


We only got rid of two gross/half dead trees:


Our growing pile:


It's nice having a hubby who has access to equipment and can run it all himself:




I weeded around the perimeter while he dug everything else out because we are still keeping gravel around everything.


And believe it or not, there are still a few weeds to get rid of.

So this isn't really an "after" group of pictures. It's more like a "middle because it will cost us about $500 just to get rid of all of the dirt that we piled up and then we have to put sprinklers in and curbing and sod" group of pictures.

Still! Improvement!

Jewelery box re-do

A few months ago, my mother decided that she didn't need her jewelery box anymore and passed it along to moi.
{On a side note, let me tell you it is awesome being the youngest in both sides of the family because we always get the stuff that people don't want anymore, hence 3/4 of the furniture and decor in my home, thankyouverymuch}
So I stared and stared at the lovely but wrong color of wood. The main dilemma in painting this baby was that the hardware couldn't be removed without taking apart the inside lining and wood of every part of the jewelery box! I'm not one to be ambitious...I'm a very VERY lazy painter. So I'd have to tape it off and paint them by hand... not to mention that just about every handle is loose. very difficult to paint while it keeps rolling around in place.
Well anyways, I kicked my own butt yesterday and finally did it.

Here is the before:



And here she is after:


I love these bottom doors :) don't you?




She already has a mirror built in on top, and I have to lift it to get into the top drawer so I need to hang something lovely above the whole thing instead of placing something on top of it.


White is my new favorite color... the whole neutrals color palette is becoming my newest obsession.





Anyways, it's nice to have a spot to put everything now! :) Thanks for reading!




I'm linking up with these parties:













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Sunshine Award

So this past weekend I was given the "Sunshine Award" from Sweet Charli, which is an awesome blog and boutique that I've recently become a big fan of:




She has the cutest ideas and loves to show off her daughter Charli and her cute princessy ways!




Anyways I am supposed to give six others the Sunshine Award so here it goes:



Ann Marie at White House, Black Shutters has an awesome attitude! She is always enjoying the nature around her and loving her family! I really really like her tutorial on homemade organic baby wipes! Soooo cool. When I have a baby, I'm definitely giving those a spin :) She also hinted to me about a Kevin James sketch on greeting cards...hilarious! It brightened my day. Check her out!


Secondly:


Sandra at Sawdust and Paper Scraps! She has been doing a lot of work on her house and it is becoming so beautiful! Her recent bathroom remodel has helped me to know that it's ok if it takes a while to finish a project. And her new stairway picture-wall is the epitome of what I've wanted to do for a while now!

Third:

Shaunna at Perfectly Imperfect. She is always finding the most amazing hordes of furniture just BEGGING to be redone and placed in her beautiful house. She had an awesome giveaway and I actually won it! The giveaway winnings inspired me to re-do my bathroom {in progress} and make it into what I've wanted for a while! She is so nice, and a great motivator for me to keep up my crafts.

Nextly {my new made-up awesome word}:

Nester at Nesting Place. Her home is beautiful, and always makes me want to COPY! Haha Her love of neutrals has pushed me into loving them too, and she is always inspiring about how to make your house beautiful, but not perfect. She loves hanging plates, painting the walls, and rearranging lots! It is nice to remember that it's nice to have change, and you can change things as much as you want as long as it makes YOU happy :)


Thenly {not as great as nextly}:



Ann Marie and Cara at Twice Lovely. They are the pros at taking what was old and making it into something new for you! Beautiful chairs, sidetables, vanities and more- everything they lay finger to becomes a masterpiece and looks amazing. They make me want to paint everything in my house :)


Lastly {no need to make any more words up}:



Terry and Cherished Treasures. In between featuring others and posting about her daughters stay in Japan, she has some crafty ideas. She has made some awesome finds at Goodwill {If only I could make similarly awesome finds...} and has also made some super cute holiday treats like her Easter peeps cupcakes! Super cute! Say hi to her!




It's nice to receive this award! :)

Here are the rules for those who received this award:
1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
2. Pass the award on to 6 other bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within your post.
4. Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Link back to the person from whom you received this award.

Since I've been gone...

Oh hello blog. Sorry I haven't spoken to you in a while. Life has been pretty crazy this week.

lots of family dinners.
birthdays.
baptisms.
shopping.
job offers.
more shopping.
husband leaves the computer in the car three days in a row.
weeding.
Re-doing our ENTIRE backyard {in the process}
eating.
weeding.
reading.
weeding.
napping.
weeding.
life.

I figured enjoying a little break from blogland was important {and it was impossible to blog anyways}

There is a lot to talk about...later.
Enjoy your Sunday.

TAKE A NAP! :)