What I Accomplished Today

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you haven't gotten anything done, but your really have? I feel like that today. Why do we have those days?

So, I decided to share my crafts of the day to allow myself to see all that I really DID get done so I can go to bed feeling exhausted for a reason.

Firstly, I said I would share my fabrics with you for the little baby boy's room. There's orange and cream linen, a peridot changing pad cover, and crystal clue linen.

I had a few decorating limitations:

1. The peridot changing pad cover stays. I'm not buying a new one, and I'm not making a new one. Because,

2. The most amazingly comfortable rocking chair and ottoman are the same color. I had to work around that green color because I'm not going to get new stuff (nor do I want new stuff! That chair is AWESOME and it's staying!).

3. The fitted sheet for the crib mattress is cream. We have like 3 of them, so that's got to be worked in there somehow.

4. I want a nautical theme. That's why I decided to make my own bedding. I literally HATE everything that's online and in stores, and I had color restrictions.

We went and looked at paint colors today at Home Depot. I found my color! It's the middle one on the paint chip sheet. I can't wait! Dale's going to do such a great job...

And the whale was a GREAT find by my littlest sister, Kassie. There's a huge joke in Dale's family about whales, specifically of the blue kind, and it goes perfect!

Here's the crib bumper. I know, I wasn't going to show you. But I decided I would show you each piece as it comes together, and then the big finale! The room in all its glory. Hope you don't mind...
I came up with a tutorial for the bumper, you'll just have to give me some time to work out the kinks with pictures and proper wording, ok?

This is the laundry basket that Brighton has been using. I never got around to relining it for her (it has a blue gingham liner) but decided to get right on it this time.

And I finished another nightgown for the little man. I figured I could part with an old Simpsons t-shirt. I'm probably too old to get away with wearing it anymore. Plus, he should know how special he is.

And FINALLY, I used MADE's Shirt Dress Tutorial to make this bad boy. I've had the shirt for almost a year, waiting to be used for another dress shirt refashion. But I really REALLY wanted to use this tutorial to see how it would turn out.

I had some trouble with the sleeves, and trying to make the pattern smaller for Brighton, but I think it turned out ok. I'm still deciding if I want to put elastic in the sleeves, but I sort of like them all fluttery. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

25 Weeks

I almost forgot! Last week was so insane getting ready to take off for Arizona, that I totally spaced the belly picture! I'm trying to take a picture every 4 weeks. This one is a week and some days late. Oh well! The next one will just come a lot sooner, so those of you waiting on the edge of your seats won't have to wait too long.

I chopped off my head in this picture because yesterday was NOT a good day for me. I was exhausted from my trip and throwing up all day. And boy did I look it. Yuck. Other than that, I've been feeling mostly normal. I'm not too huge, though I feel like I am. The little boy is busy kicking me all day long, and it feels like he's three feet long. We're still not entirely set on the name, but we're thinking either Mason or Logan. What do you guys think? (John is the middle name, there's no budging on that- Dale is stubborn)

Mason is my favorite, but I'm just not as completely sure about it as I was with Brighton. The first time, as soon as we found out it was a girl, we were VERY sure about Brighton being her name. I just don't want to wait until I see him to decide. I want it to be a DONE DEAL!

And I'm working on his bedding! I cut up the fabric for the crib bumper this morning and that should be finished here pretty quick. I'll get a picture of the fabric at least for you to see. I think I'm going to wait until everything is done before I share the finished products! And Dale and I are going to go and pick out our paint colors this week. Besides the baby room, we're planning on painting almost every room upstairs, as well as the hallways, and I want to repaint our bedroom furniture and antique it. Lots to do before little boy arrives!

Mother's Day Arrival

I totally forgot to share this big news! Early morning Mother's Day (think like 12 am) I got a call from my friend Heather. Her lab was ready to have her pups! I rushed over and we spent the entire night delivering 11 puppies. I finally got home around 8 am- enough time to shower and head to church without a wink of sleep! I'm glad I went though; we had ice cream sundaes. Yum.

Emma (the mommy) and some of her cute little puppies! They're Labradoodles, so they may end up looking curly like poodles or stay looking like labs. Who knows!? If you're in the market for a new family dog, Heather's letting people come over to start playing and putting down deposits! Let me know and I can get you her information.

They'll be ready to go to their new homes around June 5th, when they're about 8 weeks old. They'll be used to playing, and hopefully a little teensy bit potty trained by that time! They've also had their dew claws removed. I'm not sure what she'll be charging, but I know the females will be a few hundred more.

I think I may need to get one. They are just so stinkin' cute! I don't know though, a new baby AND a new puppy? I might be crazy...

Arizona Day FOUR!

I'm really liking this collage thing... I have so many fun pictures and it's nice to just put them all together.
Day four was Sunday. We all got up early for church, enjoyed a really awesome sacrament meeting, and then took off to spend more time together! We totally use the vacation clause when it comes to church- oh well.
We took some pictures of us looking all pretty after church, then we all changed into our swimsuits (swimming isn't allowed on Sunday but again, the vacation clause was in effect, and it was a super sunny day- we had to take advantage), ate some lunch, and then headed outside for the rest of the day.
In some of the pictures you can see my siblings feeding Brighton lemons just to see her reaction- priceless. Then B started making faces at them all, they would make it back, and then they would all bust up laughing. So funny.

Arizona Day THREE!

We woke up bright and refreshed on Saturday morning. My parents made us a nice big breakfast! Yummy!

It seems as though Connor was the only one who was wide-eyed and awake that early.

Then, of course, my brother found his way to the pool. He lives in the pool in the summers. The water was too cold for the rest of us, but he was just back and forth and getting out and doing all sorts of cannon balls and flips off the diving board.

Brighton enjoyed a little splashing around in the pool too! Though she didn't want to go any further in the water because it was too cold!

See? Connor and a cannon ball- they go hand in hand.
Brighton getting warm in her towel and beach chair.

After a long day of playing in the pool, Connor and Brighton took a rest on the couch.

Arizona Day TWO!

Brighton hung out on the chase while watching one of her Baby Einstein movies. Friday was just a "kick back and relax" day.

She hung out with Uncle Connor, whose name she ended up learning to say, and went around saying, "Con Con" the entire trip. Even today she asked me, "Where Con Con?"

Hanging out watching Land Before Time #57. See? It really was "kick back and relax" day. It was raining so we couldn't really do anything fun outside.
I know! You're thinking, you could have just stayed home if you wanted to hang out in the rain. But everyone was grateful that we brought it down with us.

Graduation!

Too many pictures! These were some of my favorites. You should be able to click on the picture to see it larger.
The graduation was held at a church that had a HUGE auditorium. I've never heard of a graduation not happening on the high school football field, but it was a nice change. Plus, it was pouring rain (I know, but it really DOES rain in Arizona) and that would have been awful if it rained on us!
Everyone who spoke did a great job, and it didn't seem to go on forever, even though there were almost 400 kids graduating! Yay Kaylee! Congrats, and we are so glad that we were able to come to your graduation! Up until now, this is seriously the most awesome accomlishment. And the biggest thing to happen in your life. Wait until REAL life happens!

Arizona Day ONE!

Brighton didn't sleep well AT ALL the first night at my parents'. She doesn't usually sleep in the same room as us, and it was like she could sense it, and woke up to just stare at me and cry. I hadn't fallen asleep just yet, when she started screaming.
Feeling bad for Dale and everyone else in the house, I grabbed her and cuddled with her all night. I NEVER FELL ASLEEP!
It's quite difficult with a wiggly toddler. Yes, she even wiggles in her sleep! So, we caught up on some sleep on the couch. I'm there, there's just a plant in my face.

My parents were getting the pool fixed up- new tiles, pumps, pebble tec, and NEW water! We decided to wake up from our naps to check out the progress.
The yard was also recently leveled and re-grassed. Brighton and I had fun crawling around looking for rocks- her new favorite game to play in the backyard. At our house we have piles of little rocks all over from B.

Checking out Grandma's plants.

Hanging out with Grandpa Rod.

Walking around the pool with Grandpa Rod.

Now to get ready for our evening out: Graduation!

Fun Times At The Airport

We had some fun times at the airport before boarding our plane to ARIZONA!

I spotted this sign and was thinking, "What the heck? That's a dog, right?"

So we had to check it out. There's a room with a place for dogs to go to the bathroom in the airport. Yet when I needed to go, my restroom was closed- with a sign posted: Out of Service For Energy Conservation. Seriously?

Luck was on our side! Our gate was just a little ways down from the play area. Normally I'm such a germaphobe that I wouldn't dare let Brighton play in here. She could catch any number of sick diseases.

But I hoped that her excellent immune system would hold up while she worked off some energy before our three hour flight. Not so easy with a toddler on your lap.

She liked the plane and enjoyed steering!

Daddy helping her down the slide.

Gifts For Kaylee

We're back from our trip to Arizona! More details to come on that, but I wanted to post some of the presents that I made for my sister's (the above mentioned Kaylee) graduation/18th birthday.

Kaylee has decided that she's going to go to cosmetology school in Provo in the fall. The only downfall to this is that she's going to have to wear ALL BLACK. Not too hard for many of us who like black and wear it all the time, but Kay's favorite color is YELLOW, and she's always wearing plenty of color.
I thought I would make her a cute top to wear to school! I bought a plain black Old Navy shirt and added some roses to it to make it more fun!

Those roses up close! I followed the Sew A Rose Out Of Knit Tutorial on the sewtakeahike blog. It was really easy! And I'm REALLY happy with how it came out. I may have to do this to all my Plain Jane t-shirts. Don't be surprised if roses are just falling off of me.

I also made this jewelry organizer for her. I was thinking she's not going to have much room to spread out all her accessories (and she'll be taking them ALL since she's going to have to add some flare with all that black) so this could double as wall art!
I bought a frame at the second hand store for a few bucks. It had a picture and glass and such, which I just tossed, and then painted the frame- what else? YELLOW!
I glued in some screen that Dale so awesomely cut for me (which he already had) and then glued some of my left over fabric from my chair reupholster job to the back. There's just a bit of space between the two layers for easy earring hanging.
Then Dale drilled some holes in it along the bottom and I screwed in some cup hooks for necklaces.

I didn't make these, but bought these at the second hand store for Kaylee, too. They were only a few bucks, and were all dirty and bronze-y. No wonder they were still sitting there waiting for me! I took them home, soaked them in some jewelry cleaner, brushed 'em up, and bling! They are more amazing that I could possibly say. What a great find, I almost kept them for myself...

Why I Never Get Anything Done

Dale often comes home and wonders why I didn't get anything done that day. Especially when I have a 19 1/2 month old who is so eager to help out.
Brighton loves to help me get ready in the mornings. She makes sure that anything I could POSSSIBLY need is out and at my fingertips (or toe tips, if you will). Be it lotion, nail polish, q-tips, the entire box of bandaids, every brush and curling iron i have, or even dog shampoo and bubble bath. She actually wasn't doing a very good job that morning...

She loves to help me sweep. Whether it's standing right in the middle of the kitchen watching me while I try to get all the dusties around her, or tearing the broom away from me because she wants to do it.

She loves the vacuum! Brighton loves to help me by trying to sit on the front so she can show me where I need to go. So thoughtful. Sometimes she wants me to test the suction power by throwing toys in my path.

She helps me put the dishes away. Or maybe this was when she was reorganizing the cupboards for me. B is so great at helping me keep things in their place and clutter free.

Or maybe she was just making some room for herself to sit down while she went on a snack break.

Brighton is so excited to help me dust that she grabs the dust rag out of my hands, steals the Pledge, and goes at it! Maybe I just missed a spot? Perhaps I just need to be more thorough and THAT'S why she wants me to take three hours to dust the living room.

Yep, I missed a spot.

She even helps me make my bed. She gathers up the pillows and makes sure they're all fluffed and ready to put back on the bed.

Brighton even wants to help me bathe the dog. Except he's learned by now to run away when she comes near. But it's not like dogs are somehow faster or more slippery when they're covered in bubbles.

And she helps me with laundry. Whether it's hiding that red sock in with the whites, stealing wet clothes from the dryer without me seeing and hiding them in her toys, running off with dirty clothes and hiding them somewhere, or helping me to (un)fold. Or she steals my laundry basket and hangs out in it.

Sure, I guess I could try and get all this done when she's taking a nap. But then, when am I going to eat lunch without having to share it with her, check my email, call friends, post on my fabulous blog, or get any of my sewing and crafting done?