Memorial Day Weekend

We had a bittersweet Memorial Day Weekend. Mostly sweet, with a little bitter.

On Friday, I babysat my sister's two youngest kids while she and her two oldest kids went to my mom's school to help clean things up for summer. The kids were great!!! Brielle was an angel. As a three-year-old, she kept asking questions. It was so cute! She is a smart little girl. Declan was wonderful! As a 1-year-old, he was walking around and exploring everything! Any time he got into something he wasn't supposed to, I said, "uh-uh," and he backed away. It's so fun to watch them grow!

After I babysat, Lance and I went to a viewing of a sweet lady in our ward. This was the bitter part. Everyone in our ward loved this lady so much. It has been very hard to let her go. She was nice to everyone and made whoever she was talking to feel like they were the most important person in the world. We miss Sister Wolfgram very much.

Saturday, Lance and I went to Logan with my family. We visited some graves up there (my dad's grandparents), went to the Pepperidge Farm factory, Fat Boy factory, and Gossner's Cheese factory. Then we went to Chuck-a-Rama for lunch/dinner (it was about three at that time, and at a buffet, you eat enough for an entire day). Then we went to Willow Park Zoo. We had a smaller group than usual, just us, my parents, my oldest brother, Paul, and our niece and nephew, Ashlyn and Connor. We had a lot of fun looking at the cute little animals. We like the monkeys best because they were so active and cute.

We're watching the animals at Willow Park Zoo.

Me and Mini-me. Ashlyn is my mini-me. At least, that's what her mom, Andrea, says.

Sunday, we celebrated Lance's dad's birthday at Lance's sister's house down in the Salt Lake City area. It was fun seeing everyone on that side. And we finally showed everyone the newest member of our family . . . we got a new SUV!!! It's a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder. We replaced our 2009 Dodge Journey. Since it was the first model year, there were some kinks that hadn't been worked out, and we decided to avoid spending a ton of money on repairs by getting a more reliable vehicle. It is also higher, so we can do more when we go off-roading. We got a red one, not realizing that now all three of our vehicles are red! We actually got it about two weeks ago, but I didn't post anything so that we could surprise family members when showing it to them.

Our new car!

Monday, Lance did some homework for his MBA class. He is one year away from having his Masters!!! Yay!!! While he was studying all day, I got out of his hair and went to Gardner Village with my family. I LOVE Gardner Village! I hardly ever buy anything when I go there, but I love the ambiance. It's a cute little old-fashioned village of cottages that have cute little shops in them. Andrea, my sister, came along with her two girls, Ashlyn and Brielle. Brielle, the three-year-old was perfect!!! She held my hand almost the entire time, and held my brother, Paul's and my mom's hands the rest of the time. She and Ashlyn were able to get some "fairy dust" at Anastasia's Attic, a cute little store that has antique-ish, girly stuff. They loved it!

It was a great weekend!

They're Blooming!!!

My lavender tulips are FINALLY blooming!!! I've waited all spring for them! Hello little beauties!

It's Finished!

I know there are a few things you might be thinking about that I may have finished. This particular item is my slipcover! Yay! Here is how I did it:

Before picture.

First I got the fabric, as noted in a previous post, the fabric was $1 per yard!!! Awesome deal!!! I got eight yards. The store had a little book that said how much fabric would be needed for different types of projects. I'm kind of wishing there was more fabric, and you'll understand why a little later.

I laid the fabric over the un-cushioned couch to measure where to cut and how to put it together (I didn't have a pattern for this, so I had to make things up as I went.) Once the fabric was cut, I pinned where I would need to sew, using the couch as a guide.


After everything was sewed and hemmed, I made ties at the bottom of the cover so that it would easily slip over the couch, but it would still be able to be tight when it was on.


I followed the same procedures for the cushions, putting the ties at the back of the cushion so they could easily be hidden. As you can see, one of the cushions is a different color. I ran out of blue fabric for that one, but I had enough fabric from another project. And lately, I've seen a lot of chairs with different fabric on the cushions. I kind of like it. It turned out to be sort of an accent pillow, since it's the top cushion. I had to put a few pieces together to make it work, but I think it looks okay.


Here is the finished product with a couple of accent pillows added to it. (I already had them in my basement. I got them to go with a different couch at our old apartment.)


It's not perfect, but it was a fun project for last week. I'm proud of my accomplishment and hope that the next time will be even better. The entire project took three days. Technically, it could have only taken two, but I was too busy on the second day to finish it then.

How Was Your Weekend?

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? Our weekend was a blast!!! We hung out with some friends at their family's cabin by Bear Lake. It was a nice relaxing weekend! Both of the other couples we went with had little boys. They were so much fun to play with all weekend!


Friday we got there in the late afternoon and played games and watched a movie (Employee of the Month). They made caramel bugles, which I'd never even heard of before. Oh my goodness! They were amazing!!! It's just caramel poured over bugles, but wow! So good!

Saturday we went to Lava Hot Springs and then came back to the cabin and watched the Bourne Supremacy, well, part of it, because it was kind of late when we started it, we all sort of drifted off to sleep one by one until we decided it was time for bed, so we watched it on Sunday morning. We also got shakes at one of the places by Bear Lake. They have the best shakes up there! Lance had raspberry and I had banana cream pie.



Sunday was just a hang-out day. Then we cleaned up and went home in the evening. It was so much fun!!! Thanks Bubba and Traci!

Awesome How-To's

Wow, I've been updating a ton lately! This update is to tell you about an awesome blog I was introduced to! (Thanks Teri!) It's missmustardseed.blogspot.com. She is awesome at redoing furniture, and has great tutorials! Her style is more vintage, but when you do things, you can do them however you want. She just gives tips and ideas. It's great!

Also, if you want crafty ideas, there are two blogs that I love: notjustahousewife.net and theidearoom.net. If you need organizing/cleaning tips, a blog that I like is cleanmama.blogspot.com. These ladies have been on Studio 5 and Good Things Utah for their crafts and tips.

I love looking at all these blogs! I'm always wanting fun new ideas, so I'm a total blog surfer!

One of My Hidden Talents

Okay, some of you might know this hidden talent, and some of you might not. But I am a major bargain shopper. Really, if you knew just how much of a bargain shopper I am, you'd probably pay me to find you deals. (Not that you'd have to. But I really should get paid for this.) I'll give you a little idea of how good of a bargain shopper I really am.

Last Tuesday night, my mom and I went to Shopko because their Easter decorations are 90% off!!! Everyone knows that the best time to buy decorations are after the holiday, and then save them for the next year. So, I got a wooden welcome sign to hang on my door, $1.59. Another wooden hanging decoration, $1.39. And some cute Easter napkins, $.29. Amazing, right? Just think, they're 90% off! I'd be paying about thirty dollars! But instead I only paid three plus tax!

Then, we decided to go to Seagull Book and look around. In their clearance section, I found awesome deals in their back clearance section! These ones were back there because there might have been something wrong with the covering, but who cares, right? It still has the same information in it! I got the fifth Fablehaven book (hardcover) for $1.99. I got the first Hourglass Door book (paperback) for $.99. And I got the fifth Leven Thumps book (hardcover) for $.99! Can you believe that!? I wouldn't have gotten a better deal at the DI! I know those books are kind of random, since they're all series books. But I figure that I'll eventually get the entire series anyway. I've been planning this for a while now. So, if I see a book in a series that I like for a great price, I buy it (unless I've already got it). And maybe by the time my future children are old enough to read them, I'll have them all. Plus, I'll be able to read them as many times as I want. With these books, I would read them over and over. So, all in all a good investment.

Earlier that day, I went to some crafty stores. That was when I got the bright idea for my previous post, which cost me absolutely nothing, since I used what I had in a new creative way.

The next day (Wednesday) I went to Hancock Fabrics. I've been browsing prices of home decor fabric. I've been yearning to reupholster the love seat in my living room. I found this beautiful powder blue fabric that is kind of like micro suede, but a bit thinner, on clearance for $1 per yard. Can you believe it!? $1 PER YARD!!!!! I was in shock! I wasn't sure if I really wanted to do that right now, so, I left and went to another store. After thinking about it for the five minutes in the other store, I decided to go back and get it. I mean, $1!!! How could I pass that up!? So, I asked the lady at the fabric cutting counter how much fabric I would need to reupholster it, and she said ten yards. But she said that the fabric would be a little too thin for that. So, I asked how it would do as a slipcover, and she said that it would definitely work, and I would need less fabric for it. I ended up buying the entire roll, because there were only eight yards on it. The project said it should only take about six yards, so, I'll probably have some extra fabric for other projects!!! My motto: You can always find something to do with fabric and craft supplies. The only problem is getting around to it. So, soon I'll post about doing a slipcover for my love seat. I'm so excited!!! It's going to be beautiful!!!

Okay, one more example of my thriftiness. I have a good sized house. It has a main floor, a basement, and a small upstairs. You'd think that a young couple wouldn't be able to fill it with furniture. Well, we have, and some rooms are still a little crowded. Honestly, the only piece of furniture that we personally have paid for is our couch downstairs. We bought it in the scratch and dent section at John Paras Furniture. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it. We just think that it was a return because the people didn't really want it. It is green micro suede and it reclines. We put it downstairs so that we could recline while watching TV and movies. LOVE IT!!! So, all the rest of our furniture and decorations was either hand-me-downs that we've refurbished, or gifts for birthdays, Christmas, and our wedding. Oh, I forgot, we did buy a cute little white dresser for my birthday last November. But that was Lance's gift to me, so, I don't really count that. And we got a bunch of furniture when Goldenwest Credit Union was getting rid of some of their furniture, but it was a small table, a bookcase, and two drawer stands all for $10, which was almost free for that much stuff.

So, that is one of my hidden talents. It's really easy to acquire. Just shop around, and don't be afraid of previously used items (as long as you either know the people who owned it, or it is easily cleaned.) Also, be patient. You might not find what you want right away, but wait a few weeks, and the selection is totally different, or wait for a sale. Also, think about what you already have and how you can change it from something you like into something you love. Sometimes just a little adjustment can work wonders. Happy bargaining!

Uh-Oh! My Creative Bone is on the Loose!

It's been a while since I've done a decorating project. Well, Easter really doesn't count, because I don't have much choice in what I put up. I don't have very many Easter decorations. Anyway, there is this wall in my living room that has been driving me insane! It was just sort of blah. There were three things that I put up there, but they weren't quite enough to make me happy. So, I've been thinking about how to spice it up for a while now. I went to a few stores to get ideas, fully intending on buying something, but nothing really had that wow factor for me. Luckily I was at JoAnn's, the fabric and craft store, so it got my creative juices flowing. And let me tell you, when my creative juices flow, there's no stopping them until that little idea in my head that keeps nagging at me gets satisfied. So, I came home, and looked for some crafty things. I had a few ideas to keep in mind. But I decided on one that I think is very unique, crafty, and super easy!

My blah wall.

My first idea was to put up some small picture frames (I have these super cute antique-looking white ones that I got to decorate my wedding reception) and put "live" in one, "laugh" in another, and "love" in a third one. I'd have to attach some ribbon to hang them up because the frames are designed just for standing on a table. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go that permanent, so I nixed that idea. Plus, I have tons of picture frames in my living room anyway. And, I have tons of word plaques. So, all in all, a good idea gone too far.

Super cute antique-looking frame. (It's not really an antique. It just looks like it.)

My second idea, and the one I decided on was to get some fabric (I have this sparkly red fabric that I got at Tai Pan Trading a year and a half ago to embellish my curtains, which I'm not using any more) and sort of frame what was already on my wall, giving it texture and shape, which is much more aesthetically pleasing. It took a little feminine touch to get it to look right, but I think it looks ten times better!

The fabric is up, but it still doesn't look right. Splayed edges are yucky!

So, as you can see, the bottom of the fabric liked to splay. I was not going for that, so I came up with a simple solution . . . Ribbon!!! I LOVE ribbons and bows! I'm so excited that I got to use it in my decorating! I've got a little ribbon bag in my craft corner, filled with ribbon (Michaels has good sales on ribbon sometimes in their $1 bins.) I chose a thick white floral ribbon. Let me tell you a little secret about ribbon that I learned in ballet: to prevent fraying, put the end of the ribbon very close to a flame, using a lighter. It will melt the ribbon ends, sealing them off. Make sure you're extremely careful. You don't want the ribbon to catch on fire.

Finished product. No more splayed edges and much more interesting!

Yay! I love when things work out for me! Sometimes my head has grandiose ideas that don't always work, but this did! Woohoo!

The Merry Old Month of May

I hope that all of you mothers out there had a wonderful Mother's Day! Mother's Day is a little awkward for a married woman without any children. At church, they give out little gifts after sacrament meeting. It's really awkward for me, because they always give me one. Usually I argue with them and say that I'm not a mother yet, but they make me take it anyway. Then I feel guilty for taking something that really wasn't meant for me. So, this year, I was able to sneak past the person at the door handing out the gifts. Yay! My mother, on the other hand, gives me Mother's Day gifts anyway. She tells me that I'm an MIT, Mother in Training. Well, I guess if she got it for me, specifically, it was technically meant for me. But I still feel weird. Other than the awkwardness, Mother's Day was a good day. We went to my parents' house for the afternoon and saw my brothers and their families there as well. Then, we went to Lance's brother's house to celebrate on that side in the evening. We hope to visit Lance's step-mom very soon. We're so blessed to have THREE mothers looking out for us! We love them all!

Everyone knows that Mother's Day is the magic day where you can start planting flowers and your garden! Well, since the entire weekend was pretty rainy, we haven't done our garden yet, but my flower bed is planted! I'm excited for more zinnias, marigolds, and sunflowers! My lilies are coming up, but they're not quite in bloom yet. Last year, only one lily came out in our flower bed, so Lance was excited to see that I had planted four lily bulbs equal distance apart. I LOVE flowers!!! Oh! Remember our single lavender tulip I discovered last year? Well, we still have that plant, and guess what! There are about ten bulbs on it! They are kind of late bloomers because they're in a very shady spot, but they should be blooming in the next couple of weeks! I'll take pictures of my flowers when they come out so you can see them!

This past Saturday, my niece, Ashlyn, had a piano recital. She called me specifically and invited me, so I couldn't pass that up! She did AWESOME!!! I'm so proud of her! Speaking of piano, I'm teaching from my home now. So far I have two students. I'm hoping for more, so if you know of anyone looking for a beginning piano teacher, send them my way.

Well, that's all for now.

Hi everyone! This last week Lance went to Austin, TX again. We're about 99% sure this will be his last time there. He's almost done with his rotation there, so he will either be rotated back home, or somewhere else. Don't worry. We won't be moving. He just has to travel a lot when he rotates. So, since it was his last time there, he got a souvenir. About 90% of vehicles in Austin have these Longhorn decals on their bumpers. Lance liked them too, so he got one. Plus, it reminds him of the time he sat on a longhorn bull in San Antonio. I made him promise that it would only go on our truck. It would look pretty funny on either of our other vehicles. The reason Austin has so many Longhorn fans is because the University there is the Texas Longhorns. They've got a lot of school spirit. Here is a picture of the souvenir:




I did some research this last week. I'm an Activity Days leader in my ward, and have been for a little over a year. My ideas are running thin, so I decided to look up activity ideas, and I found a great blog! It gave me tons of ideas, and I could plan for the rest of the year if I wanted to! So, if you are an Activity Days leader or just want fun ideas of projects for kids, here is the blog: ldsactivitydayideas.blogspot.com