January

This year we have church at 9:00 a.m.  For the first time in my life it is Heavenly to be at church that early.  The new time works so well for us with our busy little girl.  Plus I'm in Nursery so not only do I work with one toddler through church but I work with a room full.  Last year we had church at 1:00 and taking care of a bunch of toddlers into the late afternoon when they were tired and restless got a little crazy.  Like I said, the new time is much better.

Last week we had a long awaited event happen.  We got rid of the very last binky.  Finally.  Done.  Gone.  Unlike the binky we are still in one piece.  I still can't believe it.  She had a binky for every single night of her life since she started using one at one month old.  It was a blessing and a curse.  As she got older it was becoming more of a burden than anything.  In the last year I started noticing that her teeth were getting out of alignment because of her binky and in the last month she has had a rash on her lower lip, also from the binky.

As much as I wanted to get rid of the binky this girl was 100% attached to it.  It was like her lifeline.  But that day HAD to come.

Like I said, we did it last week and although there were some tears shed and a couple of terrible bedtimes that took place it has gone surprisingly smooth.  I think she is about used to life without the binky and that is like a dream come true!

So I began a new project this past week!  It was something I've been planning for a long time.  Last year my mother-in-law was getting rid of this dresser and so I snagged it and stuck it in storage until a later date when I would whip it into something beautiful.

That time finally came and off to the hardware store I went.  (Multiple times).

I lightly sanded the piece and prepared it for paint.  After debating over a world of paint colors I finally chose this beautiful blue.  I don't even know the brand or the name of the color, I just saw it and loved it and gave it to the paint guy.

I really wanted to use Chalk Paint but it was pretty expensive and so I found out via Pinterest how to make my own!  You just mix a little bit of Plaster of Paris with some water, add it to your paint and wa la!  Chalk paint.

 After painting two coats and allowing it to dry I started the distressing.  (I loved that part of the project).

 I sanded until my arm fell off but it was worth it.

 Here Mercedes joined me for some of her own painting.  (Toddler paint desk courtesy of Grandma Tammy).

 After the distressing was finished the next step was to wipe a stain over it to make it look "aged."

 My hands were terribly sticky during the staining so I didn't take any good "during" pictures.

And here is the finished product with the stain!

 I had originally planned to rub and polish it with furniture wax but I tested it last night on one of the corners and it wiped the stain right off!  I quickly rubbed it off and rubbed on a little more stain and thankfully got it looking back to the way it was but now I'm not sure what I'll do about a finish.  That is still to be decided.

 Here is the finished product with the hardware.  I am very happy with how it turned out!  When we move we will use this as our T.V. stand and media storage.  We're going to put hinges on the top drawer so that the front will drop down and that is where we will have our Blu-ray player.  I plan on painting the inside drawers a really nice color or using mod-podge to paste in fun fabric.

Here is a quick summary of the project:

 This project was really fun to do and I can't wait to do another piece of furniture!

More to come later...

Bye!

"Tis the Season

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone and the new year has begun!  We have had a wonderful Holiday season and here are a few bits I will share with you.

Christmas eve we read from Luke.  Seeing as how we have someone to be the perfect Mary we had to act out the birth of Christ.  It's tradition, you know.

Mercedes as Mary, and Taylor as Joseph.

 (Mary going for a walk?)

 Mary laying baby Jesus in the manger.  (Warmed this mother's heart).

Mercedes visiting the stable animal.

After the reading we all vegged and had a good Christmas Eve.

 Here are Mercedes and Bunny laying on the floor together wearing their matching Christmas Eve jammies.

Christmas morning was a blast.  I took almost no pictures that morning unfortunately, probably because I was too absorbed in the splendid unwrapping of presents.  But here is one I did manage to get-

 Mercedes wearing her new ballet wear and drinking from the beloved water bottle my mom sent her for Christmas.  (My mom has the same one and the grand kids live off of it when she is around).

I was SO excited about these three gifts from my sis-in-law Hannah.

  Dracula for Taylor and Persuasion for me by the beautiful Penguin Classics.  Also, A Little Princess for Mercedes by the Puffin Books.  I cannot wait to display these (and read of course) for years to come.  Thank you Hannah!

Sometimes a girl just has to go to the Mall when she's bored at home.

 Even though this picture was blurry I had to post it because it captures her so well in motion.

 Smiling for the camera.

 Making funny faces for the camera.

Sometimes a girl just needs to cuddle up in her mommy and daddy's bed.

 This man LOVES to read.  I'm glad about that.

Tonight the three of us went on a dinner date.

Don't worry, this is not a real frown.  For the picture only.

Here Mercedes is displaying the meal she picked as soon as she got her menu.  I guess she knows her tastes.  She got spoiled tonight.

 Taylor.

 Me.  (This is for you Lacey!)

The sillies.

Well that's it for the pictures.

The beginning of a new year always feels so exciting to me.  I know there can be negativity around making traditional "resolutions" but I've actually always loved setting goals and making plans for the new year.  I get ridiculously excited about brand new calendars and planners and almost giddy about writing in them.  I just LOVE it.

So anyway we have a few more weeks to get a bunch of projects done and then Taylor and I start school.  Taylor will be finishing up his law enforcement classes and I'll be taking two classes online.  Then come the end of May the three of us will pack up and move to Utah.  Then begins the job hunting and the police academy in the fall.  It's going to be a good year.

Have a good day!

A few randoms

The other night we were working on a Family Night craft project and while using news paper to keep our area clean we noticed an interesting thing about one of the articles.

See the photo below?

 Minus his mouth, this police man looks JUST like Taylor, about 10 years into the future.  We got a good laugh out of that.  But it is pretty strange...

Last night I finished our stockings!  Mercedes' is on the top, mine is the middle and the bottom one is Taylor's.

Ta-da!

And here are my two people.  :)

December

I love December.

I was so excited for the Christmas season this year and now that it is here I feel as if it is passing by so quickly.  But I've been making the best of the time I have by immersing myself in Christmas "stuff," particularly crafts and baking.  Peppermint cupcakes and peppermint bark are my recent "delectable's."  

Triple chocolate cupcakes with peppermint frosting = yummy.

After 4 and a half years of marriage we still have not gotten our own stockings because I've been meaning to make them.  This year I was REALLY wanting to make it happen but unfortunately I've not had a sewing machine on hand.  After debating over what I should do, I decided I wanted to make stockings bad enough and so I've set about doing it by hand!  I'm so happy to say that they are turning out great (with a few speed bumps along the way) and it's been a nice quiet activity I do at night after Mercedes is in bed.  It's slow detailed work but quite enjoyable.

This is Mercedes' stocking.

School finished several weeks ago and the break has been WONDERFUL.  Taylor gets to be home with Mercedes and I every day and we're cherishing the time.  I'm also happy to say I got good grades!  Which is very good news because my GPA from BYU needed some help.  ( I was not very serious about my schooling back then).  I have also decided to take 6 more credits next semester and I'm starting to get motivated about seeing myself graduating...someday.  But that "someday" can actually happen if I choose to plug away at it, slowly but surely.  I figure if I take six credits a semester until I finish it will take me about... 5 "ish" years.  That may sound hopelessly long and not worth it but if I had started this when Taylor and I got married I'd be almost graduated by now.  The time is going to pass whether I do school or not, so I might as well get it done in the process.

Speaking of graduating, my sis-in-law Hannah Nelson graduated from BYU Idaho last week and we are SO PROUD of her.  She is my inspiration and I hope to finish someday, just like her.

Hannah and brother, Thomas.

I'm so excited for Christmas and very excited to begin the new year.  Oh and can I just say, I cannot wait to see Les Miserables.  Wow.

Love Mercedes' smile!  ( I think I was paranoid about touching my chin to the wood.  Germs.  Ew.)

 Merry Christmas!

RAIN

It's raining!

Last night Taylor and I were laying in bed and suddenly we heard a sound coming from our open window.  Taylor said, "I think it's raining..."  I said, "Maybe it's just the trees blowing..." Then I looked outside and saw it.  Rain!  I was so excited!  We went to sleep listening to the rain and that was heaven.

Today I feel like doing nothing but watching Disney movies and reading books with Mercedes and staying in our pj's all day.  We're doing good so far!  We've got Tangled playing on the I pad and we're still listening to the rain.  We even broke into a little bit of Mercedes' Trunk-or-treat candy.  Maybe I should be feeling guilty, but it's such a nice, fun and cozy morning!

Like I mentioned we did Trunk-or-treat with our ward Saturday night.  Mercedes was looking forward to it for weeks.

 A fairy princess was the end product of all of the glitter and frills.

 I put some blush, eye shadow and lipstick on her and she was in heaven.  (She loves makeup more than she probably should at this age!)

 That's yet another great thing about starting a family.  You have an excuse to go to the activities that you used to as a kid, and it is almost just as fun as adult!

We love our Mercedes!

This and that

I'm a random blogger.

That's what I've decided.

Anyway, today was a good Saturday.  Mercedes slept in past 8.  Wonderful!  She's had a few of these later mornings lately and it is helping me get to then end of this sinus infection I've had.

We woke up to Taylor making breakfast.  It was delish.

Later we spent the morning outside.  Taylor worked on the car while I oversaw Mercedes playing in a big tub of water.  I'm so grateful for water, it keeps toddlers occupied for longer than most other things.

During that time my best friend Lacey called from Poland!  I was so glad I had my phone on me at that second so that I didn't miss her call.  We talked for a while and it was great.  Can't wait to see her and her cute family in a month!  (No we're not going to Poland, but they'll be back in Utah when we make a trip out there).

We did yard work and that felt good too.  There's nothing like good hard work.

Mercedes experienced water-color painting for the first time.  And you know what?  I think she fell in love.  It kept her attention longer than water does.  I think it was record-breaking.  I'm pretty excited that I we might have a little artist blooming in our midst.

Mercedes then took a nice long nap, and so I got to cut Taylor's hair.  I can proudly say that it is probably my best cut if I do say so myself!  Because he looks pretty handsome. :)

After Mercedes woke she and I spent the rest of the afternoon baking cookies.  It just felt like a cookie day, and honestly there's just nothing like baking cookies I think.

Later after the sugar high and dancing to Enya I gave Mercedes a much-needed bath and a little while later she was in bed for the night.

Tonight Taylor, myself and his parents watched The Giant Mechanical Man.  It was a good flick.

During the movie we ate this.

It was a discovery Taylor and I made four years ago, and to this day I believe that there is not a more delicious ice cream on this earth.  This brand specifically too.  We find it at Raley's or Bel Air here in Northern CA.  Oh my goodness, yum.

And then I re-applied for school.  I'm going to take some online classes this fall.  I need to grow my brain, and I am so excited.

 It has been 4 years since I've gone to school.  I'm very eager to learn new things.  And at this point, most of the classes this fall are filled, so I will be eager to learn anything that is available!

And lastly, here are some pictures I took last week.

 Reminds me of all of the days spent helping my dad through the years with landscaping, building fences, etc.

I just love her post-nap hair.  (And watermelon smeared on her face).  I really do comb her hair... most days.

Apple Awesomeness

So last November I got an email from Apple saying that they were doing a replacement program for all first generation iPod Nanos.  Because of a rare occurrence with the battery getting too hot (or something like that) in some iPod Nanos I had the option of sending mine in and getting a replacement.

How nice!  My iPod was in it's 6th year of use and was beginning to show signs of aging.  I could definitely use a refurbished first generation iPod nano to add more years of use before needing to purchase a new one.

(Okay this is not actually my iPod.  Mine was still in pretty good condition and fully functional)

They sent me a box to ship my iPod in.  This was last November.

And then I procrastinated.

December

January

February

March

April

May

At last after going for months without checking off "send iPod in" from my 'to do' list, last week I got on the ball, backed up my music and then sent it to Fedex.

I had already decided that when I got my new first generation that I was going to sell it and then buy one of the new iPod Nanos.  One like this:

Today my new box came and when I opened it...low and behold!

Ta-da!  The new Nano!

I was so happy.  The letter said "In some cases due to limited availability of replacement stock of iPod (1st generation) Apple may have replaced your iPod with a more recent iPod model of equivalent or better specification."

Better is right!  If I had sent it in last November like I had planned, they probably would have sent me another first generation.

So the moral of the story is, procrastinating isn't always bad!

I'm just kidding, but I'm very happy to have gotten what they sent!

If any of you have a first generation nano be sure to check into the program to see if you're still eligible, and you'll get a new or refurbished nano!

It will make running, cycling and life with music just that much easier.  Thank you Apple for being awesome.