my beautifully blessed life

Do you like free stuff?!

2012-02-02T17:47:00.000-08:00

Hi Ladies! I am back and better than ever! If you haven't been following my baby blog, I am currently 36 weeks pregnant and we are SO close to meeting our sweet baby girl!! So exciting!

I just wanted to swing by to tell you guys I am doing a GIVEAWAY on my baby blog for an awesome scrapbooking software called My Memories Suite! It's amazing and I don't want you to miss out!!

So, swing by my baby blog for the details and come enter!

http://thedodgediaries.blogspot.com/

Do you miss me?!

2011-10-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!!! I just thought I'd drop in here and share a post from my BABY BLOG!!! I am 19 weeks along and we find out tomorrow what we are having! So, I thought it would be fun to test some Old Wives Tales and see what won out BOY or GIRL! ! Check out my video to see what it said and leave me your vote on what you think Baby Dodge's gender will be!

If you haven't checked out my baby blog yet, I would LOVE it if you would!!! :) Hope you all have been GREAT!

i've been keeping a BIG secret!

2011-08-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

I've been keeping a big secret from you all and I figured it's about time I came clean....

It's true, I am pregnant!!! Our first little one will be making his or her debut February 29th, 2012!!! I have been busting at the seams waiting to share this good news and I initially wanted to wait a few more weeks to announce it but I figured it was about time I let the cat out of the bag! :)

I am 10 weeks along and me and baby Dodge are doing just fabulous!! I decided to start a new blog to share specifically just about the pregnancy and I REALLY hope you will all come and join my new blog!! I will still share projects and crafty stuff here but most of my time will be spent over there blogging about this little one! I will link below for you guys to check out!

http://thedodgediaries.blogspot.com/

why yes, i do still exist.

2011-08-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

I feel like a horrible blogger. I always have these great intentions when it comes to blogging, but then the week gets busy and before I know it I have blinked and yet here we are at another Monday! Is it just me or has summer being going way too fast? I mean how can it be AUGUST? Wasn't it just JUNE?! Here in Minnesota we really don't get much of a summer as it, and it is super depressing knowing that this is pretty much our last month of the hot heat and sunshine. Can we puh-lease slow time down?! I am not ready to start thinking about fall and winter.

There has been so much going on in our life lately, I just feel like time is flying by! This past weekend the husband and I had to travel out of town for his cousin's wedding, and it was nice to spend some time road tripping with him, but it made the weekend FLY by. Now this weekend we are celebrating our nephew's 2nd birthday and then next weekend it Scott's 25th birthday. See what I mean about being too busy and time flying by?!!

Hopefully you are all enjoying your summertime and soaking up every sunshine filled minute that you can!!! I will leave you will a couple pictures from a few weeks ago when I went to see fireworks with my parents, my sister, and her two sweet little boys. It was a humid sticky night, but there is nothing quite like enjoying fireworks with a 2 year old!

I hope you all have an AMAZING week!!! :)

random thoughts thursday

2011-07-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

I hope you have all had an amazing week!

gimme more Britney!!!

2011-07-09T17:58:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, the best friend and I went to see the only and only Miss Britney Spears in concert!!!! It was totally amazing! I am a HUGE Britney fan and never have seen her in concert, but the bestie found an awesome deal on Groupon for $30 tickets and we just had to go. The best part of the night was that we got our seats upgraded not only once, but TWICE! We ended up getting to sit on the first floor and had an amazing view of Brit-Brit.

It was such a fun night and I cannot believe what an amazing performer she is! For real, it was so much fun and I lost my voice by the end of the night from along with every single song at the top of my lungs!! Hahaha :) I honestly cannot wait for her to come again, I definitely won't be missing out on any of her concerts again.

Here's a recap of our fun night!!

Dinner at a yummy Cosseta's! SOO stinking good and no, I couldn't eat that whole sandwich, but it was definitely the best!

We love Britney!!

Our awesome collector cups! Casey's lit up (even though you can't tell) and mine had Britney on it, helllllllllo how awesome is that?!!!

Again, she is AMAZING!!!

BEST NIGHT EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

**I'm linking this to Summer Luvin Saturdays over at Pouty Pink Princess!!***

mantel revamp

2011-06-25T06:43:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or has this month been extremely busy and chaotic? I honestly cannot believe that it is June 25th and next week will already be the start of JULY! That is completely insane! Minnesota weather has not been the best this past week so the fact that summer is flying by and we haven't even had summer weather makes me super bummed. I am hoping that from here on out it will be a lot better!!

So last week, my sister-in-law and I decided to check out a new consignment store near my house and it was better than we could have imagined! Seriously the place was HUGE and it had so many awesome trinkets and treasures. I honestly wasn't going there looking for anything but I found a beautiful mirror that I just couldn't get outta my head! For a long time I have been contemplating revamping my mantel. I really did like it before, but it just kind of didn't feel like my style anymore. I am still trying to hone my style for decor and some things might still be a bit mis-match but we are getting there!

So here is the little beauty of a mirror that I found. What I loved is the gorgeous detail on it! I am completely in love with ornate frames and this just was instant love for sure. Here she is right before I was going to paint it, beautiful huh??

Of course, I opted to paint the frame white! Did you expect anything else from me?! I chose a semi gloss white color and even after one coat, the detail on this baby just started to POP!

Ahhh, so pretty, crisp, clean, and shabby chic like!! I was absolutely thrilled with how it came out. For the mantle, I also wanted a nice white jar/vase but I just couldn't seem to find one that I loved. I had seen in blogland other creative ladies who paint over just regular ceramic and glass things so I figured why the heck not try that too? I pulled one of my many plain ol' vases out of the cupboard and decided to use the same spray paint on the vase.

BEFORE

AFTER!!

Seriously SO easy and hello it was FREE since I had this on hand already and I just LOVE how it turned out!

So here is the mantel before hand...........

(this is a super OLD picture from when we first moved in but it was basically just like this)

And here is the new simplified mantel!

Isn't it lovely?? I love having it more crisp and simple. The frame is just the perfect size and seriously the detail on it is adorable!

I added some fake hydrangeas into the vase that I painted for an extra little pop. The were 60% off so you just couldn't beat the price! The ribbon the vase is the same ribbon wrap that I had on my bouquet on our wedding day. It has our monogram and wedding date on it and it accents the vase just perfectly.

So what do you all think? I hope you love it as much as I do! I think it is just perfect and simple, as well as a much needed change! I am now already thinking about how I want to change other elements in the living room. Don't you love when that happens? One thing leads to another, and another, and another....well, you get my point! :)

*I linked this post to Domestically Speaking, Just A Girl, The Shabby Nest , & Fingerprints on the Fridge*

God gave me you {{Three Year Anniversary}}

2011-06-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

Today is our THREE year anniversary and I cannot believe how quickly time has flown since we became Mr & Mrs. To say that the last three years have been the most incredible of my life would be a complete understatement.

I have loved every single day of being a wife and being married to my best friend. I truly couldn't have asked God to give me a better man to spend my life! Obviously we have had our challenges and ups and downs, but even in the days when things have been tough there is no one I would rather have by my side than Scott. He brings out the best in me, isn't afraid to challenge me, or to tell me when I am crazy and out of line, but he is also my biggest supporter, the encourager of my dreams, and he always fights to be the best and give the best to me and to our life together.

To my amazing husband, I love you more than words could say and I am so thankful that you choose me to be your wife and best friend for the rest of our lives. You have exceed everything I could have asked or dreamed for in a husband, and I thank God every day for you!

I cannot wait to see what the next year has in store for us!! I know it will only keep getting better and better! :)

Old school S & K {{2003}}

Engaged! {{9-9-07}}

The BIG Day! {{6-13-2008}}

...Three Years Later, still in love <3

random thoughts thursday

2011-06-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or does it seem like weeks fly by faster during the summer months!?! I feel like when I look at my calendar of events for June that I am gonna blink and it's gonna be July already. Can things slow down just a smidge, please??? I really want to savor every summer moment that I can.

Speaking of being way too busy, this weekend is super jammed packed with things for the hubby and I. We have TWO weddings this weekend, as well as celebrating our THREE year anniversary on Monday. Talk about a busy weekend. As I am sitting here just thinking about it all, I am super overwhelmed! LOL! At least the things we have to do are fun, that always helps. And a little added bonus is that I only have a half day of work tomorrow, and I am off on Monday. HOLLA!! :)

So, I figured before I head off into my busy, busy weekend I would recap some of the random loves/thoughts/events from this past week!!

.:NUMBER ONE:.

My in-laws got a smaller above ground pool last week and on Saturday the hubby and I went to check it out and swim with my sweet little nephew, Rowan. I am thinking that this will be the first of many swimming adventures this summer! I am so excited that they finally got a pool, my mother-in-law has been talking about it forever and I know that someday in the near future my kiddos will love that their grandparents invested in this!

.:TWO:.

I am loving the hot summer heat we have been having this past week!! Winter was especially cruel, long, and cold this year so you will not hear this girl complain about the heat. I was one of the few who was loving that it hit 102 (yes ONE HUNDRED TWO degrees in MINNESOTA) the other day!! I am loving busting out all my summer clothes! I just struck gold at H & M a few weeks ago and I found SO much good stuff, but this one dress is definitely a fav!

So cute right? And what is even better about it is the price, only $9.95! You just cannot beat that! Great style and it doesn't break the bank, its like something straight outta my dreams!

.:THREE:.

One of the weddings we are attending this weekend is for one of my best friends, Rachel. I am SOOOO excited that she is marrying her high school sweetheart, they have been waiting for so long and I could not be happier for them! This past weekend we celebrated her bachelorette party and it was such a fun girls night out!!! There is nothing I love more than a fun night on the town with some of my favorite girls. It's the best to just unwind and get silly!!

.:FOUR:.

I have a new addictions in the food/drink category. I think I might need an intervention!!! :) It's the iced pomegrante vanilla oolong tea latte from Caribou Coffee, honestly it's amazeballs! If you haven't tried it you MUST! Seriously, just looking at this picture makes me want to hop in my car to go get one right now! It's the PERFECT summertime drink!

.:FIVE:.

I cannot believe that Monday will be our THREE year anniversary, seriously where has the time gone?! I feel like it was just yesterday that we tied the knot, and now here we are an old married couple! Okay, not OLD but you know what I mean! Wow, what a God blessed adventure it has been so far! I cannot believe how far we have come in three years! I will post something on Monday with more about my thoughts on this, but for now, I'll leave ya with a few wedding pics that I love.

I hope you all have a wonderful, fun weekend in the sun!! :)

**P.S. I did upload videos of the top two things on my list if you are really that interested (which I know you are cause let's face it, I am that awesome! LOL! JK) Just click the link on the sidebar for our YouTube channel!***

I'm linking this post to Summer Luvin over at Pouty Pink Princess! Check out this super fun link party!!!

tasty tuesday//iced banana cookies

2011-05-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I was in the baking mood and had some bananas that were nice and brown and perfect for baking so I decided to try a new recipe! A few months back I found this recipe and since I have a serious love affair with bananas I knew we would be a good match! The hubby definitely dug them and said it was like a yummy mini banana bread! They are the perfect little moist ball of deliciousness, so if you love banana bread, write this baby down! You will love it!!

Banana Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup sour cream

2 large ripe bananas, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Beat butter and sugars. Mix in the sour cream, bananas, vanilla, and egg. Add the remaining ingredients.

Use a cookie sheet line with parchment paper (I just sprayed the pan instead of using parchment paper). Using a small scoop, drop dough onto paper.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

I decided to add my own little twist to the cookies that the original recipe didn't call for. I thought these would great with a little icing on them and I was right, they were! I made the icing using the simple icing recipe of powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, and melted butter. Just mix them together and it will look like this.

When the cookies have slightly cooled, simply drizzle the icing over them and let the cool. They add this nice little glaze to it that is just perfect!

You can barely see the glaze in this picture since this is right after I drizzled them, but as they dry you it adds little white glaze to it, that's just perfect! I hope you enjoy it, we loved them!

**I'm linking this post at Sweet As Sugar Cookies & The Sweet Details, swing by there for other amazing recipes!!**

my big bro is turning 4-0!

2011-05-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my family and I threw my brother Paul a SURPRISE 40^th Birthday party! I cannot believe that my big bro is celebrating this big milestone in his life, that’s so crazy! Time just seems to fly by that’s for sure, it seems impossible that he could be 40! After months of planning this party was definitely a huge blast and it was fun to get together with my family and plan this special event for my brother. It was so fun to see his face because he truly wasn’t expecting this in the slightest!

We decided to host a luncheon a Buca di Beppo (delish!) to celebrate with our whole family, as well as his closest friends. My Grandma and Aunt even flew in to surprise my brother on this big day. I think that was really the greatest surprise for him that they would come out this way to be here to celebrate in person! It was such a fun day celebrating with family and friends while enjoying a super delicious meal. Even though we had a BIG hiccup with our reservation, it all ended up working out perfectly and I am so glad that we were able to bless my brother with this fun party, I know he really appreciated it.

My sister Pam and I did a lot of the planning and we kind of ran into problem with how to personalize the party since it was being held at a restaurant. We really wanted to showcase pictures of my brother throughout his life, but being in a restaurant poses some challenges! We thought about doing a display board, but it just didn’t seem like a good idea. So yours truly came up with the PERFECT idea!! What we did (and by we I mean me) did was create a guest book/scrapbook for him to have as keepsake. I wish I would have taken a better picture of some of the pages, because it turned out SUPER cute. For the book, I scanned copies of pictures of him throughout his life and made reprints (since my Mom wants the originals) and then put together a scrapbook of all the pictures. Mixed in the pages I added slots of decorative paper for guests to sign at the party with their birthday wishes. It added such a fun, personal touch to the book! Also, since we have a lot of family that live out of state, as well as some of his friends that live out of state and those who couldn’t be at the party due to other obligations, I decided to email them in advance asking for them to send me a birthday greeting via email that I could print off and add into the book for my brother to have. I got a lot of responses back and it was really fun to have my brother read those wishes and greetings from friends he hadn’t touched base with in a while.

Overall, it was such a fun celebration and I am so glad that it went off without a hitch! So big bro, HAPPY HAPPY 40^TH BIRTHDAY! I love you so much and I hope this year is the BEST of your life!

Here are some pics of the fun we had!

If you wanna see more fun, check out my YouTube channel. I uploaded the video footage from the big day!

louis, louis, oh baby!

2011-05-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know I have been a HORRIBLE blogger lately! I keep getting ready to do a post, and then lazy pants out and don't get around to it! LOL! Horrible I know, but that's how life is sometimes. Anyways, I had a very exciting thing happen last night that compelled me to blog and hence here I am.

Wanna hint about what it is???

Oh yah, it's that awesome! After months, and months, and months, and months (okay you get the point) of saving I finally got to splurge last night and buy myself a beautiful Louis Vuitton bag! I have been dreaming of a Louis for ever and ever, and I cannot believe I finally have one! EKK!!!

Okay, I am lame, but I had to take a picture after my big purchase wouldn't you?! Haha :) I love my little Louis baby and I totally freaked out when I got home and got to unpack it all! (Again, so lame!)

And drumroll please....here is the little beauty all unpacked and home! LOL!

Aww, I love it! I seriously am in heaven! All the months of dreaming and waiting for it was so worth it, it's so gorgeous!

Yay! So that's what has been going on in my life lately! I am sorry if this is such a lame post but I just am so excited I just had to share it! I promise I will have more exciting blogs in the near future! :)

twenty-four {{birthday recap}}

2011-04-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

I really want to thank all of you lovelies for the birthday wishes on my last post! You guys are too sweet! I had a GREAT birthday, I really couldn't have asked for a better day!

The husband and I both had the day off from work and we had a whole day of fun planned! He started the day off by spoiling me rotten! I must admit he is pretty good at that! I had a few lovely packages waiting for me when I woke up.

Can you tell which one he wrapped himself? LOL! :) He is kind of hopeless in that department, so when I saw the beautifully wrapped package on the right, I knew he couldn't have done it himself, and I was right. He had it gift wrapped! What a cutie! So, here's the lovely little things he got me! :)

A book to add to my collection, and season 1 of Tori & Dean (love them!) and the BEST of all....

COACH SNEAKS! AHHH!! Aren't they gorgeous?! I am in LOVE! :)

We started off our fun day together with some bowling (yes, we are that geeky) and I actually wasn't trailing horrible far behind him! It MUST have been my birthday!

After bowling, we had lunch at Benihana which is my absolute fav! It was SO very good and I even got a special little birthday treat!

After stuffing ourselves full, we ventured over to Barnes & Noble and my hubby couldn't resist getting me another gift (again, he spoiled me rotten). I found this amazing book to add to my coffee table book collection. It's such a fun book and totally me since I have a major sweet tooth!

But the birthday fun didn't stop there! The hubby brought me to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, and it was SO yummy, definitely one of our favorite spots. I even got a little crazy and took a shot....of lemons that is. (You didn't think I was serious now did you!?!)

Friday night was my birthday night with my favorite girlies! We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory (YUM!) They seriously have the BEST food ever and it's more than one person could ever possibly eat!

My girls are the best and they totally got me the BEST gifts ever. Can you find the theme? :)

Yes, the theme is JUSTIN BIEBER! I must confess, I love him! He's stinking adorable. I love that they got me a book and the card is Justin BEAVER, LOL!! Hahaha, so great! :)

And of course, we had to finish the dinner off with cheesecake. I opted for the chocolate chip cookie dough and it was heavenly good. They even put a candle on it and wrote Happy Birthday on the plate!

We finished off the night with going to see Soul Surfer (major tear jerker!). I had such a fun night with my girls celebrating the big 2-4!

and FINALLY, I finished off the birthday celebrations on Saturday celebrating with my hubby's family. My sister-in-law Shaynah's birthday is 10 days after mine, so we usually have a joint celebration for our birthdays. We had dinner at this adorable malt shop called Snuffy's and then went back to her house for cake. My nephew of course had to help with bowling out the candles! :)

So, there you have it! It was definitely the most fun birthday celebration and a great way to kick off turning twenty-four!

{{P.S. You need to swing by my sister-in-law's amazing fashion blog, Layered Black. They are hosting a GREAT giveaway and you don't want to miss out!!}}

what i'm loving wednesday

2011-04-13T07:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a rough start to the week here in the Dodge household. Sunday night, I got really sick and was up all night hugging it out with my "friend" the toilet bowl (sorry for the not-so-lovely visual there). I ended up staying home from work on Monday, and was feeling a lot better after resting up all day. Then on Monday night, it was the hubby's turn to pay a visit to my "friend". :( So he took a sick day on Tuesday, what a bummer couple days it's been in this house! We are thinking that we got food poisoning. I absolutely HATE when that happen, it's the worst! It certainly was not how either of us planned this week. I am thankful that it seems like the worst of it is now behind us. I just hate being sick!!!

Anyways, I had such a fun time last week linking up to What I'm Loving Wednesday over at This Kind of Love that I decided to join the party again this week!!! So here we go!!!

No. 1) I'm officially addicted to Pinterest!! I absolutely LOVE it!

I saw a friend mention Pinterest on a Facebook page a couple weeks back and it looked interesting so I decided to request an account and I am SO happy that I did! I love it! It's basically a place to put together all your favorite things. Not the best explanation I know but it's so fun and you should check it out! Here's the link to my boards to give you a feel for it! http://pinterest.com/kimmydodge/

No. 2) Femme Fatale-Britney Spears

So, I am a HUGE Britney fan and the hubby decided to get this for me as an early birthday present!! I love, love, love it and it hasn't left my CD player/iPod since I got it. I am loving the more dance vibe of this album. I am horrific dancer, but it's fun to put it on and dance around while the husband laughs at me.

No. 3) The Brady 6

So, if you spend even like 30 seconds around me, you know I am a ~~obsessive~~ HUGE Tom Brady fan!!! I honestly didn't think that I could love him even more, and then I watched this documentary and I totally admire him even more. It's amazing how great of an athlete he truly is! Having to overcome all the things that he did, and be as phenomenal of an athlete as he is, is pretty remarkable! And he is pretty to look at, well maybe not in the above pic (Tom, I love you, but your GOTTA cut that hair)!

P.S. I don't think it's coincidence that this documentary aired the week of my birthday. ESPN knew I was in need of a Brady fix!

No.4) It's my BIRTHDAY tomorrow!!

(Think someone will show up at my door with a load of gifts like this? Nah, me either! :)

I think it's pretty self explanatory why I would LOVE this, but this birthday will be even better since the hubs and I am both taking 4 day weekends. Tomorrow we are spending the whole day together, doing whatever I want (gosh I love birthdays) and I am so excited! I cannot believe that I am turning 24, where has the time gone??? I can't wait to celebrate with the hubs, friends, and family. I have a whole weekend of events planned and I can't wait for it!

In honor of turning 24, here's some embarrassing/fun memory filled pics to share with you!

My big family! Love that I'm the baby of the family (if you can't tell!)

Aww my 4th birthday, seems like yesterday! LOL! :)

I was the chunkiest baby ever, 9 lbs, 10 oz. Hello TURKEY! :)

I'm considering bringing back the Snoopy/Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs combo for my bday this year. Seems like it worked well for me back in the day! :)

Do you remember password journals?! I thought they were epically awesome back in the day! LOL! I love the annoyed look on my face!

Hope you all have a fun week! Make sure to swing by and check out what others are digging on this Wednesday!!

thoughts for a thursday

2011-04-07T15:17:00.001-07:00

what i'm loving wednesday

2011-04-06T17:05:00.000-07:00

So this is my FIRST time linking up to What I'm Loving Wednesday over at This Kind of Love and I think I'm going to have to do this more often! It's such a fun idea!! So here's my list!!!!

First off I am totally loving that this is the sight in my backyard right now.

Brown grass, melted pond, and SUNSHINE!! All signs that SPRING is finally here! This winter felt especially LONG and to finally have all the snow melted and 50 degree weather is like pure bliss for us Minnesotans!

Secondly, I am so loving that my birthday is already next Thursday! Birthdays are a big deal for this girl and I am especially excited since the hubs and I both took a 4 day weekend next week to celebrate!! YAY for turning 24!

Thirdly, I am convinced that I need a pair of adorable rain boots ASAP! I am drooling over these beauties, what girl doesn't want some Juicy Couture in her life?! So, anyone wanna get them as a birthday gift??! I've been a good girl and totally deserve them! Hahaha :)

Lastly, I am loving this video of my little buddy that I got the other day. His little voice just MELTS my heart into a big ball of mush!

Make sure to swing by and check out what everyone else is digging on this Wednesday!!

http://littledaisymay.blogspot.com/

the loft reveal!!!

2011-03-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

After many months, the loft is finally finished!!! My vision for this spaced has changed many times, but I couldn't be happier with how it all turned out! I honestly think that it has become our favorite new space in the house by far. The whole feel of the room is super cozy and comfy. Whether it's early in the morning and I am using it to have my quiet time reading the Bible and sipping on some cocoa, or if it's late at night and I am snuggled up reading a book while the hubs is gaming, it's the perfect room!! I am so excited to finally be sharing it with you guys, hope you love it as much as we do!!

Here's the view from the upstairs hallway!! I loooove that we decided to get 4 bookshelves, it's the perfect look!

Our adorable love seat from Ikea! Perfect size and style for us.

My corkboard now looks so in place! I still am so in love with this revamp. You can see the whole thing in THIS post! :)

Here are some closes up of our bookshelves. It's a perfect mesh of the two of us! We each have 2 whole shelves to fill with our stuff. It seriously cracks me up how different we are!

Can you tell who's shelves are whose?! I had to get close ups of my favorite books! Tom & Gisele of course made it and I love Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic Interiors, so much drool worthy stuff in there!

All that's left now is adding some paint to the walls, but that's seriously the biggest project we have to do. Because of our big open ceilings we are going to do one big mass paint job instead of small spaces at a time. I can't wait for that, but it's lower on the project list. Our next big to-do is finish up our 2nd bathroom upstairs. I will definitely be blogging about that as we get started, but that won't be till later this summer/early fall.

So I can't wait to hear what you think!! I hope you love it as much as we do!!

a little bit of this, a little bit of that

2011-03-07T19:10:00.000-08:00

So, I have all my pictures of my finished loft taken, they are just waiting to be blogged! I have been somewhat busy, and just haven't had the time to collect all my thoughts into a post, however I am planning on doing it this week (fingers crossed) because I can't wait to reveal it to you all!!! I am in love with it! It's become our favorite place in the house!

In other random thoughts, I am SOOOO ready for Spring to come, you have no idea!! Maybe that's what's playing into my apathy about not getting around to doing stuff. I look outside at the cold winter snow and it makes me want to crawl in a ball and sleep until April! LOL!!! :) I know I just need to bare through a few more weeks and it will be here, but it's been a LONG winter and a few more weeks feels like years to me!

To keep you entertained until my next post, you really should check out this video of my sweet little nephews Kaden and Ethan! I got to babysit them last week since Momma had to work and I just adore my sweet little buggy boos. They are such loves!

count it all joy!

2011-02-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

I don’t know about you, but I am pretty excited to see February go! Why you ask? Well, February has been quite an interesting month for me…car wise that is.

Earlier this month, on one of the most brutally cold days we’ve had (it was around 15 below if I remember) my lovely little car battery decided that it was just going to bite the dust as I was trying to start it up to drive home from work. Thankfully one of my kind co-workers spent 20 plus minutes helping me jump start my car to get home (yes, it was THAT dead, usually it only takes like 5 minutes, EKK!). My handy dandy hubby and I went to buy a new battery, and he was able to change it out himself (thankfully!). About a month before my car battery died, Scott’s had died and my father-in-law taught the hubs how to change them out! What can I say, this Minnesota winter has been brutal on car batteries, and with both our vehicles being around 5 years old it was time to change them both. Bummer that it happened so close to each other, but that’s kind of how it worked out, such is life! After that little hiccup, it had been smooth sailing…until this morning.

I was pulling out of my driveway on my way to work early this morning and my car just felt weird as I was driving it. It was making a weird noise and something seemed off to me. Now, I don’t know you about but I am totally clueless when it comes to cars! I never know what should make noise, what sounds normal/abnormal, and so on and so forth. I pulled quickly over to the side to check my front tire and it looked fine to me so I kept driving. As I pulled off my side street on to the main road the noise got REALLY bad and I just knew something wasn’t right so I decided to turn around and take the husband’s car instead of my car to work. (Side note: this is when it’s REALLY nice that he now works from home!) I was still right by my house so it only took me about 2 minutes to get back home and once I pulled into the garage I went to look again at that same tire and it was totally flat as a pancake! YIKES! Not how I envisioned my morning going at all!

At this point I knew that I had two choices, I could either let myself get really frustrated and annoyed with the situation, or I could choose to laugh it off and count it all joy. As I was thinking about all this stuff God gently reminded me in my heart what it says in James 1: 2-4, and it was just what I needed to be reminded of in that moment! Love how He does that!

James 1: 2-4 (MSG): “Consider it a sheet gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all side. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”

I decided to not this situation that was thrown at me from the enemy ruin my day or steal my joy. I began to laugh it off as I switched out of my car into my husband’s. As I was driving to work and spending time praying and talking with my sweet heavenly Father (as I do every morning) my joy became fuller! Instead of choosing to complain and give voice to all the things that I felt went wrong this morning, the Lord instead prompted on me to give thanks for all the things that went right, so that’s exactly what I did.

I started listing off all the things that I was thankful for about this situation:

-I am so thankful that my tire went flat right by my house instead of on the freeway, or at work would I would have to try and change to the spare. (Lord knows that would have been REALLY bad!)

-I am so thankful that I was completely safe and sound in getting my vehicle home and that it happened to go flat perfectly at the right time.

-I am so thankful that I was able to swap cars with my husband and not be delayed in any way in getting to work.

-I am so thankful that my husband is working for home so that I could take his car and that today wasn’t a day that he needed to go into the office.

-I am so thankful that we have two vehicles that are (usually) in full working condition and that each time we run into an emergency we have a back up to rely on.

-I am so thankful that we have the finances to go buy a new tire tonight (in cash, not credit) and that we do not have to sweat out how to cover the cost of the repair. I know many people aren’t in that position and I am so thankful for the blessings we have!

In every challenge that we face, we always have the option to choose our attitude, as well as choosing how we’ll respond to adversity that we are dealing with. Let me be the first to say that I am not perfect!! There are WAY too many times when I choose the wrong attitude. I automatically get frustrated and start complaining, doing the whole “oh poor me, I don’t deserve this” thing and so on, and so forth. However, I am thankful that God never gives up on me! He is always working gently to correct and remind me of the things I need to change in my life and I am thankful that He was quick to show me this morning the right way to deal with this situation. It’s so awesome to be His child!

With all that said, here’s hoping the rest of this week is less eventful!!!! :)

flashback friday

2011-02-24T16:50:00.000-08:00

Even at a young age I understood the importance of having fashionable accesories. :)

I hope you all have a great Friday!

sitting pretty

2011-02-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post this week, this past weekend the husband and I spent some time working on finishing up our loft. Over the past year we have really been narrowing down what we wanted the space to be like and it’s now it’s really finally all coming together. We started off with one simple bookshelf and from there it has grown into one of my most favorite areas in our house! You should check out some of my previous loft posts to see how much it has changed over the past year.

Over the weekend, we went to Target and bought the final bookshelf, side table & lamp, as well as a desk for the loft. We had previously had a desk in there, but my husband now works from home and we had to move the desk that we had in the loft in our bedroom for him to use for work. Gosh, he sure knows how to ruin my décor! (Just kidding!)

Of course, since we had a desk again we needed a new chair for it. Now, I don’t know about you but I am not a fan of the clunky, unattractive, standard office desk chairs that you would usually gravitate towards. I wanted to think outside the box a bit and find a cute, pretty chair to match my loft style!! I have never done a chair revamp before, but I have always wanted to try one and I figured no better time than the present to try. I didn’t think it would be too hard, and it really wasn’t!

So, with this in mind, I trekked out to my local thrift stores in hunt of the perfect chair to use as a desk chair. It took me a few stops, but I finally found one that I love. I wanted something with a wooden back, and this little baby caught my eye! The price tag made this even better, only $7! Steal of a deal if you ask me! I bought this little baby and brought her home to start working on making her into something gorgeous!

I started by removing the chair cushion, and then I sanded the chair down to get it ready for painting.

I opted to use one of my go-to favorites for the paint color, Rustoleum’s Heirloom White of course. I used this same paint color on the corkboard revamp that it is my loft as well, so I figured this was the best way to tie it all together (plus I am just in LOVE with the color!). I had to coat the chair with about 3 good layers to make sure that it was well covered.

Here she is looking nice and pretty after all the paint! Already so much better!!

For the chair cushion, I opted to go with burlap for the new fabric. I love how classic burlap is! My husband is not much for prints or anything that is feminine looking, so burlap is the perfect compromise for us. It meets his requirement of simple and plain, but still satisfies what I want in the room.

I took my burlap and started wrapping it around the cushion. I don’t really know if I did it in the “right” method, but as long as it looks good go with it! I used our staple gun to secure it in place as I wrapped it around the cushion. Super simple and within minutes I had a beautiful new cushion!

I love just love it! It looks so cute and fresh!

Once I was done with the cushion, all I had to do was reattached the cushion to the chair and I had the most adorable office chair that I had been dreaming of.

Don’t you just love it?! It better than I had ever hoped it could be! Overall, my first chair revamping experience was amazing! I am kind of addicted to it and want to do another one, although I have no place for another chair in my house! Haha!! Hopefully I will find an excuse to makeover another one in the near future.

So here’s a few more pictures of how cute she looks in my loft now! Did I tell you yet how much I love it?! :)

So, I am dying to hear your thoughts on it! Hope you love it as much as I do! I will be doing another loft post when the room is completed. We have ordered the loft seat that we have wanted and it should be delivered in the next week. I can’t wait to see this room finished! I hope you will swing by again to check it out once it’s done! I know I can’t wait to show you!

**I linked up this post to the following parties, swing by to check out other great projects!***

http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/
http://www.justagirlblog.com/
http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
http://froufroudecor.blogspot.com/
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://www.creationsbykara.com/
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/
http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/
http://designergarden.blogspot.com/

be my valentine!!

2011-02-15T18:03:00.000-08:00

So, did you all have a great Valentine's day? I absolutely LOVE Valentine's day, it is one of my favorite holidays for sure! I was so excited about it this year that I made some yummy treats to bring to work for my co-workers. Who says that just because you aren't a kid that the Valentine's treats have to stop? I decided to make some M&M "Cakies" as well as some chocolate crinkle cookies!! They turned out so cute and yummy (from what I heard)!

I found these adorable plates at Target and wrapped up the goodies for everyone! I love how cute they looked!

I also made 2 of these cute little baggies with a free printable I found! Don't you love how cute they turned out?

What can I say, I love any excuse to bake up some goodies!! I just can't help myself, I have a baking addiction!

Our Valentine's day plans weren't really anything too special. We decided to have a quiet "romantic" dinner at home, well as romantic as we get!! I actually really love just having a nice night at home with the hubby. I am all for going out to a nice restaurant, but I equally love making a delish dinner at home for my man! It's an excuse to actually get him to eat dinner at our dinner table. We are horrible about eating in the living room. Don't judge me! LOL :)

Here's our cute little dinner setup!

Look at my beautiful roses from the hubs! Aww <3

I was so excited to cook dinner in my adorable new Anthropologie apron that I got from the hubs as my Valentine's gift. Seriously is this not the cutest apron EVER?!

Love, love, LOVE!!!

For dinner, I decided to make cheesy spinach stuffed chicken breasts, green beans, & a garden salad. For dessert we had chocolate pudding with homemade whip cream! Simple, delicious, and totally perfect for a yummy dinner at home!

Yum, yum, yum!! Overall, it was the perfect night at home, I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's day! I am so thankful that I have had the same Valentine for the past 8 years! My hubby is so good to me, and I am so blessed that I haven't scared him off yet! Haha :)

Here's some pics of our fun night together!

I had to BEG my hubby to take a picture with me....he is so anti self taken pictures! LOL! Below is proof that his patience wore out with me after taking one picture. I had to tackle him to try and get one smoochy picture.

Haha hilarious right?! It's SO us though you don't even know! I love how quirky and weird it is, true to form!

I hope you guys all had a wonderful day with your lovelies! I have a really fun revamp post that I will be uploading later this week, so you better swing by!

XOXOXO

a busy weekend & first valentine's memories

2011-02-13T16:06:00.000-08:00

Another weekend has flown by, and I am seriously bumming that tomorrow is Monday already! I am feeling really excited about all the things we accomplished this weekend. This week I got a really nice BONUS check from my job! I've said it a million times, and I will say it again, God is SO good to us! In an economy where people are struggling to find jobs and make it through each day, He has been blessing us left and right and His favor and blessing is so evident on our lives it's awesome. I say that not to brag on us, but to give glory to Him for all the good things He has done for us. We are more grateful that words could say! It's nothing that we could do on our own, but only what He can do for us! It's amazing to see God's word work in our life, He is such a good Father!

With that said, we had the extra money to buy some furniture pieces we need to finish off our loft. YAY! You know it's bad news for your bank account when you take TWO cars to Target just to get your purchases home, and then need TWO carts for all your purchases! Hahaha :) Sad, but true! We bought the final bookshelf, a desk, side table, and a lamp. My awesome hubby spent all day putting everything together!

I'm an awesome helper...really I am :)

We bought a 4th bookshelf to complete the loft!

Love, love, LOVE!

My handy man :)

I also got to get my craft on this weekend! I got to revamp a chair that we are going to use for the desk chair. I don't know about you but typical office clunky chairs are UGLY in my opinion. The chair revamp is SO fab, it deserves its own post, so keep your eyes peeled, I will be doing that this week! I am falling so in love with my loft. It's near being complete, we ordered our loveseat this weekend as well and as soon as that is delivered I will do another post showing you the finished result. It's gonna be fab!

Today, we got to spend some time with sweet little Brinley! I love it when my sister in law asks me to watch either of her boys. We love spending time with them so it's always an YES on our end! We got to spend time with sweet Brins since they were taking his big bro ice skating. We had such a fun afternoon with our sweet little chunkers.

Of course, first stop the pantry!! This kid loves to eat!

Aww this melts my heart!

Who could not love this face?!?!

We had such a fun day with this little buggy!

So, I know I am getting long winded here, but with tomorrow being Valentine's day I wanted to reminisce about Scott & I's first Valentine's day together. We celebrated our very first V-day together back in 2003, we had been dating for about 2 months and it's quite evident in the card I got from him.

See that, it's a mushy romantic card and what's that a PERSONAL hand written note? That's banana's! It's something that's truly foreign in any card that I have received post marriage. I love looking back at this and seeing how sweet, cheesy, and newly in love we were. It's adorable!

I guess he really did mean what he wrote...all these years later and still very much in love!!!

Our romantic dinner at Panera back in 2003! It really was cute since it's the same place we went on our first date.

Hope you all have a great Valentine's day with your love!

weekend wrap up

2011-02-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

Last week was such an eventful week, I feel like I barely had a minute to wrap my head around it all and the weekend finally came. Work was incredibly busy and I was totally worn out each day, and then of course we had so much to celebrate with welcoming my baby nephew to into the world. By Friday, I was certainly worn out!

I am so thankful that I had already planned this weekend as a 3 day weekend, I know I needed the extra day. What made it even better was that Scott also had a 3 day weekend, so I got to spend some extra time with my favorite guy!

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon at my nephew Brennen's basketball game. I haven't been to one of his games since he was in 8th grade, and he is in 10th grade now, so I was LONG overdue! I intended to go to one last year, but time slipped away from me, and then the one game I planned to go to we got a horrid snow storm and I was stuck in traffic for 2 plus hours and missed the game. Even though they lost the game, I was thrilled to watch my nephew's mad awesome skills. I am such a proud auntie!

Sunday, we were total lazy pants and sat on the couch ALL DAY long watching Super Bowl coverage, and then of course watching the big game!! I personally am excited that the Packers won, not because I like them in any shape or form, but simply because it kept Ben Rotheslisberger from tying Tom Brady in Super Bowl wins. (Yah, I am that lame & obsessed). Speaking of obsessed, the true highlight of my Sunday was the fact that my boy, Tom Brady, was unanimously voted in as MVP of this season! Ahh!! SO excited! He's ah-mazing.

Okay, I'm done with my Tom Brady rant (at least for today.)

Today, my hubby decided to bring me on a date afternoon and we went bowling. I am a horrid bowler, it's actually kind of embarrassing! I did SO awful my first round, but was able to make it up on the 2nd game. Don't believe me? This will speak for itself.

See that score? I tied my whole entire first round score in the first two frames of the second round. Haha!!! What can I say, I was having an OFF day! Nevertheless, I had a bunch of fun with my sweetums.

I had to take a picture of these bowling shoes. Seriously, how weird are they? I guess people can't tie laces anymore???

My awesome "I just got a strike" pose! Haha :)

See, I did redeem myself!!

Overall, it was a great weekend! I am kind of bummed I have to go back to work tomorrow, but such is life! Here's wishing all of you a great week!

welcome to the world little one {{Taylor Deane}}

2011-02-03T14:31:00.000-08:00

I am more than thrilled to share with you all that I have yet again welcome a sweet little nephew into my family!! To say that we are blessed feels like such an understatement! I am completely amazed at all these beautiful bundles of joy that God has been blessing my family with over the last few years!!

Please join me in welcoming.....

Taylor Deane

Born: February 2nd, 2011

11:43 pm

6 pounds, 5 ounces

19 1/2 inches long

Isn't he just perfect in EVERY way?! I only wish that my sister and her family didn't live in California, because I am just dying to smooch all over this little love!!! Of course, I always miss my sister, but it's moment like this were it's extremely heart breaking to be so far away. I do know that his big sister's Dakota & Avery will be filling in for me and smooching all over baby Taylor in my absence!

Not only was yesterday extremely special since we welcome baby Taylor, but his birthday is shared with another special person in my life. My Grandma!! Yesterday was my Grandma's 89th birthday! Can you say amazing?! Let me tell you my Grandma looks and acts like anything but an 89 year old!

What did I tell you, isn't she beautiful!?! I only pray that her genetics run through my blood so I can be as healthy and wonderful at 89 as she is!! I haven't had a chance yet to hear what my Grandma thinks about her very special birthday present, but I can only imagine that her heart is overjoyed about it! I am so thankful for the health and happiness that my Grandma has been blessed with and I pray that God would continue to bless her over the upcoming years!

So, I think that God must have really wanted us to celebrate yesterday in a BIG way!! Not only did we have a long, wonderful, amazing life that got to celebrate, but also the start of a brand spanking new one!! How amazing is that?! I am so thankful to have a perfect, healthy, precious baby nephew! Thank you God for all your blessings on my family and thanks to Karen & Deane for giving me another nephew!

I guess it's my turn now to add to the brood!! :)

a mini project {{creative gift card wrapping}}

2011-01-08T07:48:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but when I buy a gift card for someone I always feel like it's kind of lame to just give it to them in a envelope. I just feel like there is no element of fun, or surprise to it! Maybe that's just one of my weird things? Haha :)

So, for Christmas, I got my sister-in-law a gift card as one of her presents, and wanted to spice up the packaging a bit!! I remember that I had this adorable little cookie can in my cupboard that I had saved up knowing I could use it for some sort of project.

Isn't it too cute? It was totally the perfect size to hide a gift card in! I used my trusty go to of chalkboard paint and gave it a few good coats. I decided to use chalkboard paint, so that I could use the cover as a gift tag, but more so because she could then use the can in the future for whatever her little heart desired.

So here's the little beauty after I got her all painted up! I decided to write Merry Christmas around the can, and then use the lid as a gift tag!

**Sorry these are kind of blurry!!***

So what do you think? I kind of love it! I love that it looked like a tiny little gift, and it didn't cost me anything since I had it all on hand! Moral of the story, a cute little cookie can could be so much more if you just get a little creative!

Oh, and don't forget to check out the post below about the awesome offer from Overstock.com! Have a great weekend everyone!!

***I linked up this post to Show & Tell Saturday at Be Different, Act Normal***

a new year & a great deal for you!!

2011-01-01T09:29:00.000-08:00

So did you all have a very Happy New Year? Scott and I didn't really do anything special since he has to work today. We just hung out at home chowing down on some yummy appetizers and having a Rules of Engagement marathon. Exciting, right? Honestly, I love just having a low key night with my favorite guy. We never have been the type to do something uberly glamorous and that's okay with me. We always have fun when we are together and so that works for me.

I am so excited that it's a brand new year and I know that this is going to be the a great one for us!! I know that God has awesome things in store for us this year, and I can't wait to see what comes of 2011. Yesterday Scott and I were talking about the "house to-do" list for 2011 and the biggest project we have it to finish our 2nd bathroom upstairs. If you remember, when we built our home we only had them rough in the plumbing for our 2nd bath. We are currently using it as a closet, but we really want to get it finished up this year not only because we will need it for our future little bambinos, but it will be so nice to a full guest bathroom for company.

With this in mind, I was so excited that I was contacted by Ovestock.com the other day! They asked me if I would be interested in working with them to offer a special discount to my readers. Of course, I was SO thrilled about this and couldn't pass it up! If you aren't familiar with Overstock.com, they only have everything and anything you could ever need, and not only that they ship your entire order no matter how big or small for only $2.95! Can you believe how great that is?!

I absolutely love their site and if you remember I got my gorgeous kitchen chandelier from there. I am so glad that we got our chandelier from there! If you remember I had a horrible experience with the initial fixture I ordered, and thankfully I was able to get my money back for the first one that I ordered, and then went over to Overstock.com and bought the one we have. Not only was their selection way more amazing, but I ended up saving $60 over the other fixture I had initially ordered from another site. You absolutely cannot beat that!! After having the worst online ordering experience of my life, and then ordering from Overstock.com it was like night and day! There prices were great, the quality of the fixture is wonderful, and I received it so quickly! I can't believe that I didn't think of them in the first place, and I know that I won't make the same mistake again.

I was just browsing through their site, looking for all the things that we will need for our 2nd bathroom revamp and I found so many things that I am in love with! Here's a sampling of some of the things I am eying for the finishing touches we will need.

Love this light fixture! It's absolutely gorgeous and totally in our price range!

How adorable is this vanity?! I love love love it, and it totally fits our style!

I am in LOVE with oval mirrors! We have one in our 1/2 bath and I really want to carry that into the next bathroom too!

So, here's the exciting part! They are offering all my readers a 10% discount on your next order with them!! Like I said there is so much on their site to choose from, that you can use this 10% off for almost anything you need. What a great way to start a new year! I know I love saving when I can, and this is a great offer!

So, here's your code to save!! ?121745?

The code never expires, but can only be used once per email address. I'm so excited to share this offer with you all and I really hope that it's something you take advantage of. I know that I will! Big thanks to Overstock.com for offering this to my readers!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

***All the ideas and opinions expressed are my own. No monetary compensation was received for doing this post, however, I was provided with a discount code.*****

Christmas wrap up & adios 2010!

2010-12-31T06:50:00.000-08:00

So, I hope you all had an amazing Christmas!!! I can't believe how quickly Christmas came and went! My husband went way overboard and spoiled me with lots of gifts!! He's such a sweetie!! I hope you all were blessed big by your loved ones too!!

This year, we hosted Christmas Eve at our home for my family. It was my very FIRST time hosting Christmas Eve dinner at our house, and it was really a bunch of fun! Scott had to work on Christmas Eve, so that left all the hard work to me prepping all the food and goodies for everyone. I love doing that kind of stuff, and only wish that we had a bigger home so that we could do it more often. I wish I would have gotten more pics of all the food and goodies, but I just didn't have the time. Here are some of the fun details that I did manage to capture.

I had this cute little Christmas graphic on the front door to greet everyone! I found the link on Be Different, Act Normal, it was a free download and so adorable!

About an hour before dinner, I decided that it would be fun to have a little menu board for the appetizers I made so that I didn't have to repeat myself like 15 times. I had this frame sitting in my closet, and a little chalkboard spray paint in the garage and whipped this baby up. Pretty cute for a last minute detail huh?

We always spend Christmas Eve with my family, then Christmas morning Scott & I always make a gingerbread house, and do our gifts, then we head over to his parent's house to do Christmas with his family. One thing that I love about our family all living so close is that our kids will get to have 3 Christmases each year! Growing up, I didn't live close to either of my Grandparents, so I love that my kids will get to have that in their life.

So here's some pics summing up our Christmas!!

Yup, that pretty much sums up Christmas right there! :) I hope you all had an amazing Christmas, and I really hope that you all have a fun, safe, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Tomorrow, I have an awesome post to kick off the new year that your really won't want to miss!!! Trust me!

Merry Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-25T08:29:00.000-08:00

I pray that God would bless you as you spend time with your family today! Merry Christmas to each and every one of you!!!

it's a tsnownami!!!!

2010-12-12T11:48:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help but title this post with my new favorite catch phrase! This weekend we were POUNDED with snow here in Minnesota, and it truly was a crazy blizzard! (I am sure you all have heard about the Metrodome ceiling crashing!) We got around 17 inches here and I cannot remember a snow storm this bad for quite some time.

Last night, I was supposed to head to my sister's house last night to help watch her boys so she could go to work, and ended up getting stuck in the snow attempting to get on the freeway. Thankfully my husband packed me up with a shovel in my car, and 3 kind passerby's pulled over to help dig me out. As if that wasn't enough, trying to turn around to get home I got stuck yet again, and it required 3 people to get out to push my car out of the snow mound. (Did I mention that this all happened within not even 5 miles of my home?!) Oh, and you think I am done there...nope there's more!! I got stuck TWICE in my own driveway and my husband had to dig me out. Needless to say, I didn't make it to my sister's house! (SORRY PAMMY!) I am thankful for all the kind people that helped me out, and even more thankful that I was just able to make it back home safe!

The snow has finally stopped, and this morning the hubs and I went out to "evaluate" the damages and I am sure you will all get a kick out of what the aftermath is!

My front door & walk way

A more detailed view of the height of the snow. I cannot handle that it actually has my door imprint on it! LOL!!

Snow fort anyone? :) Still my front yard just stacked high with snow!

Our back door is covered too! Snow, snow, everywhere!

On another side note, yesterday was Scott and mine's 8 year anniversary of being together! We don't really do anything big to celebrate it since we are married now, but I'm such a sap and like to still do something to recognize that we have made it through so much together over the past 8 years. We had plans to go on a dinner date, but with the weather being what it was, we postponed that to a lunch date today.

I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we have made it to 8 years!! Wow! Part of me feels like it's been so much longer than that (in a good way) and the other makes me feel like it's been a blink and all that time has passed. I am so thankful that I have been able to share my life with my very best friend and soul mate for all this time. God really brought us together, and formed a love story perfectly and uniquely for us, and I love that each day I find more ways to love and appreciate Scott for all that he is to be, and all that he has done for me. I never at 15 could have imagined what awesome thing Scott and I started in our lives that day when we started dating, but it's amazing to look back now and see all the great things that have come from that choice! I love you more and more each and every day honey!

Our first date back in 2002, only a few days after we started dating. Aww, young love!! <3

'tis the season of being BUSY

2010-12-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

So it's only December 5th and I already feel the "busy-ness" of the season coming upon me!! I feel like from here on out, there is so much to do every week, but I love all the fun things that we have coming up! I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family, I hope you did too. I would post pics of it all, but instead I made this fun little video for our Youtube channel, and figured it would be easier to share it with you this way!

This week, I also went with my sister and her boys downtown to see the Holidazzle parade, as well as the awesome Christmas display that Macy's puts up every year. It's so fun to see the wonder of Christmas through the eyes of a 2 year old!!! My sweet little nephew was in such awe of all the cool things there was to see, it was a great way to kick off the Christmas season. Again, I would post all the pics from that, but I am too lazy and so you get another video! :)

I hope you all are having a great December and having fun celebrating the holidays!!! I hope you have more fun posts in the upcoming weeks!!! :)

wordless wednesday {{what i'm thankful for}}

2010-11-24T17:32:00.000-08:00

Wishing you & yours a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

flashback friday

2010-11-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

{{Josh & Kimmy circa 2006}}

Meet one of my very BEST friends from college, Josh!! I love this picture of us from back in our crazy college days!!! I haven't seen my good buddy since the summer of 2007, and a few weeks ago he totally shocked me when he asked if he could swing by and visit me!!! Can you say YAY??!! He lives in North Dakota which is only a few states over, and is passing through Minnesota on his way to celebrate Thanksgiving, and thought of me!!! He was so very sweet to want to swing by and see me on his way through, and I am beyond excited to see him!!

One of the things that I miss so much about college is the amazing friends that I met there. They truly were the greatest people I have ever had the privilege to know in my entire life. The hardest thing about graduating from college was leaving them, because we are all so spread out around the world and don't get to see each other often. I constantly miss them!!! However, I am so excited that I get a chance to reunite with at least one of them, even if it's just for a small span of time!! It's gonna be a great weekend!!!

let is snow, let it snow, let it snow....

2010-11-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland!

We have officially hit winter time here in Minnesota and I am so thankful that our first snowfall came on a Saturday!!! Does God love me or what?!? If any of you live in snowy areas, you understand why this makes my little heart so happy. Morning rush hour in the snow is anything but pleasant. However, I do love sitting in my house by the fireplace watching the beautiful white flakes cover everything outdoors. There is something that's a bit romantic about it all, and I am happy that this weekend will be filled with plenty of snuggled up moments inside my home.

Speaking of inside my home, it's officially Christmastime here in at the Dodge's!!! Yes, I do love Thanksgiving, but there is just something about Christmas decor that gets me every year. I was bitten by the Christmas bug late in October, and I held off until the first weekend in November to pull out the Christmas decor. I just couldn't wait any longer!! Last weekend, I went to it and got everything out and put up and let me tell you it's just gorgeous!!! I love that we get more than a single month to enjoy our tree!

I mean really, can you blame me for putting all this goodness up early? I just love it!!! Have a great weekend everyone!!!

the day my hubby really, really outdid himself

2010-11-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

Obviously, I already think that my husband is the greatest man in the world. If I didn't think that, I obviously would't have married him, right? But there are some times where the things he says and/or does for me, really takes me back and captures my heart all over again in the most overwhelming ways. I can't say that those moments happen every day, you know the moments were you feel like you felt the first time you held hands, or kissed, or the first "I love you" moments, but when they do it's the best and better than I could ever remember. Yesterday was one of those moments.

My husband had this Thursday and Friday off of work, and not only did he outdo himself but doing ALL the laundry, and cleaning the house, I came in the door from work and lo and behold my little eyes gazed upon this beautiful sight.

That's right....a brand new beautiful Kitchen Aid mixer!!! As I walked in the door, I was on the phone with my sister Pam and I began squealing like a little girl (to her dismay) as I was beyond overjoyed at this beautiful blessing from my husband!!! I was in such shock that he would go all out in love and do this for me!! I have wanted to buy a Kitchen Aid mixer since we got married, but at that time we just didn't have the extra finances to get one and I have let my little hand mixer suffice my needs. I really love baking and cooking and try to get better at it, and this little beauty makes all those efforts that much easier.

So a few days ago, as I was thinking/planning the Christmas cookies that I wanted to make, I mentioned to Scott that it would be so nice to have one of these. With Christmas coming up, I just knew that it wouldn't be the right time to get one, and on Thursday night he said to me, "Well, we can wait till after Christmas, and see what extra we might have in the budget then." I knew that would be his answer, and honestly I had the same train of thought, so I just let that be that. Little did I know that all along he was planning on getting me one the VERY next day. That little sneak!!

I say all this not to brag, but to remind myself to always be thankful for the blessing that I have in my husband, and the blessings that God has given to us over the past 2 1/2 years in increasing our financial capacity. Being married, you can tend to only focus on the hard days, or the bad things that your husband can do...like when he leaves dirty dishes on the counter instead of in the sink, or chooses to lay on the couch instead of helping you clean. I know my husband does all those things, but when he really wants to bless me and show me his love for me, he really, really goes all out and it makes up for all the other things that happen in between that may be not so great. I couldn't ask God for a better man in my life, and I am truly thankful for him.

I am so excited about my beautiful new baking station in my kitchen, and this makes me even more excited for Christmas to come!!!

THANKS HONEY!! YOU'RE THE BEST!

the social networking battle

2010-11-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

For the month of October, my church did a church wide fast to spend some time praying for the upcoming elections. Although the main reason for the fast was to pray for the upcoming elections, which I certainly did, God always finds a way to teach me something that I wasn’t expecting to learn. Immediately when my Pastor made the announcement about this fast, I knew in my heart that God wanted me to give up social networking. For a few months previous to that, God has been working on my heart about my constant “need” for Facebook/Twitter. I didn’t want to admit that it consumed more time than I would like it to, and I always kept making excuses that it wasn’t consuming my time, but in my heart I knew that I needed to make a change and this fast just completely confirmed that to me.

First, let me make it clear that I am NOT opposed to social networking…in fact I think it’s one of the greatest things that technology has provided to us. However, what I am opposed to is letting it control my life, my emotions, my thoughts, and most importantly my relationships. Honestly, it had come to that point and I just needed to break away from it all. At first, I thought it would be SO hard to step away, but as days went on I hardly even noticed the break. To be truly honest, I felt somewhat relieved to not know every person’s up to the minute update on their life. For me, not being so focused on all of that stuff gave me time to reflect on myself, and let God speak to my heart about some things that I needed to address in my own life. There are so many thing that Scott & I are praying and believing for in our life, personally, financially, and spiritually that this was the PERFECT opportunity to spend time seeking God on those things. Taking a break from social networking was the best thing that I have done in awhile, and it completely opened my eyes to a lot of things that I never knew I felt and thought, as well as how much I was letting really unimportant things effect my life.

I don’t know if I am the only person that feels like this, but sometimes Facebook/Twitter can make me feel like I am back in high school where people are always competing and trying to out do the other with what cool things they do, or have, and so on and so forth. This part of it I hate the most because no matter what you say we all have the tendency to join in on this “game”. I sure know that I have done it! However, from here on out I refuse to be apart of this “game”. As my wonderful sister-in-law mentioned in a similar blog post, after all it’s not a fair fight to engage in. We all are in different places in life with different view points and challenges so to try to compare our lives to each other is just stupid.

Another thing that I hate is that there are times when I would feel like maybe something that someone posted was directed at me...although I am sure that there are times where it wasn't and it was purely just how I took the comment, since things via the internet can easily get lost in translation. Bottom line is that I was letting these things effect my feelings, and how I would talk or think about people that I haven’t had face to face interacting with in YEARS. It was to the point where it was just plain ridiculous. Over the past month, I have had a lot of time to think about these things, and how I didn’t want it to be this way anymore when I started back on social networking.

Well, today is my first day “back” at it, and within minutes of getting back on I felt all these things coming back up to the surface for me. The one thing that is always true is that whatever God works on your heart to teach you and change you in something, you can bet that instantly a test will come to see if you are going to follow through with your word. Boy oh boy that happened to me this morning!! It was SO easy to slip back into those old habits after a few minutes of being back on it, and I honestly had to log off, step back, and nearly slap myself in the face to realize that I was letting this happen.

With all this being said, I have decided that I am going to continue to social network, but I am going to have to make some drastic changes. I realized that there may be some “friends” that I need to remove from my accounts, not because I have any ill feelings towards them, or to be catty, but because the only solution that I can think of to keep from moving backwards in things is to remove the situation all together...and in this case removing the situation means "removing" people. But truly, in all honesty, this really isn’t even about those people, but rather this is about me (as it should be) growing in the things of God. I don’t want anything or anyone keeping me from growing in the Lord, and growing in life, and there is just SO much that I won’t get into here because it’s truly, truly personal, but in order for me to move forward in my life some of these things just have to go. And honestly I really don’t care how people may think this makes me look, or what motivation they may think is behind my choice to do this, because only I know my heart about this and the people who truly matter to me know my heart about this situation, and at the end of the day that’s all that matters to me.

I’m fairly sure that some of the people who I am “friends” with currently who truly don’t care for me, or find what I say to be annoying, and honestly, all I pray for them is God’s best in life. I truly don’t have any ill feelings towards them whatsoever, but I don’t really see the point in letting them see the details of my life. I wouldn’t do that with a “friend” who I spent time with face to face who felt/acted that way towards me, so why do it over the internet?

My husband, my family, and the personal things in my life are more important to me than anything else in this world, and I try to protect and treasure those things as much as I can and to the best of my ability. I feel like in making this choice to remove some people from access to my accounts that it is the best decision to honor how I feel. I only want people in my life who want to see me succeed, and pray the best for my family, and so I just feel so at peace with making this decision. And after all, at the end of the day I do this stuff for my enjoyment, and if it’s not enjoyable for me to have access to some people, or for them to have access to me, then why continue doing it?

The battle of social networking is one that I know is not yet over. I will have to continue to face these challenges as I continue to choose to use this outlet. However, I feel so great about the place that I have come to today with it, as well as the choices that I have made to deal with the difficulties I have faced. I truly have peace and joy about it, and therefore I know it’s the right thing to do.

bestie yearly tradition {{pumpkin carving}}

2010-10-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

The bestie, Casey and I have a yearly tradition of carving pumpkins together. We have already established that someday when we have kiddos, we will incorporate them into this tradition too. Last night was the BIG night and we always have so much fun getting grubby cleaning out pumpkin guts.

Here we are with our stellar pumpkins!

I didn't really get much of us actually carving the pumpkins this year, but my other favorite thing that we always do it take goofy pictures of us in the dark with the pumpkins lit up. It's definitely the highlight of the night!!

Our cute pumpkins!! Wilfred is to the left, that's Casey's, and Matilda, to the right...she's all mine! They love eachother! Haha :)

I couldn't ask God for a better best friend! She gets my crazy antics and goes along with them!! Can't wait to do it all again next year!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

master bath revamps part one {{jewelry hanger}}

2010-10-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

So, well over a month ago the hubs and I FINALLY painted our master bathroom. If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you know that my house has very white walls still. It's the curse of building your own home....standard builder white walls. We have slowly been working on painting rooms, it's not a money thing as much as a time thing. Painting=a ton of work, and when you work full time, and are usually quite busy on the weekends, it's hard to dedicate a whole time out to just paint. I love the end result, but it's tough getting there.

I am gonna show you guys the whole bathroom when it's all done, but I am still finishing up some last minute touches! For now, I am gonna give you a sneak peek at what I've been working on. After the bathroom was painted, I knew I just needed to work on adding in some gorgeous accessories. I don't know about you, but I have a constant problem of leaving my jewelry sitting all over the bathroom. I knew that I needed to find some place to organize it all.

I found a frame that I loved at the thrift store, and I knew immediately that I wanted to add some chicken wire to help hang my jewelry. I know you have seen all types of those revamps in blogland, but here's what I did.

I started off painting my frame glossy white. I'm sorry I didn't get a beforehand pic, but the frame was an ugly gold brown.

I cut the chicken wire down to size, and then painted it lightly with the same glossy white spray paint. I didn't like how harsh the steel color looked against the frame, but I didn't want it to be too white.

Then, I hot glued the chicken wire into the back of the frame. It was a bit of a challenge getting it to work, but after I got the hang of it, it was a breeze!! I actually love how simple it was to do, and it adds such a gorgeous touch to the frame.

So, here's the final product all hung up!

Ahhhh!! Isn't she pretty??? My bathroom colors are chocolate brown, and light blue, and I thought that adding a little brown bow to the top was the perfect touch!

I am planning on getting a pretty hook to hang it on, probably from Anthropologie to add a more finished looking touch to it.

Now, I finally have a place to hang all my jewelry, and even some hair accessories! This baby totally beats just dropping them on the bathroom counter. I couldn't love it any more!

Ahhh, I love love love it!! <3 I hope you guys do too!! Can't wait to hear what you think! :)

random thoughts thursday

2010-10-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

1. I could watch Boy Meets World over & over again. Seriously one of my favorite shows ever. (This probably makes me a big geek.)

2. I'm honestly thinking about putting up my Christmas tree. Yes, I'm aware its still October, but I just cannot wait. I told my husband as of November 1, that baby will be gracing my living room....I just don't think I can hold out any longer than that.

3. I'm already working on my Christmas list and I'm thinking that these babies are gonna make the list.

4. I have been fasting Facebook this month, and I honestly don't miss it as much as I thought I would. It's actually been a really nice break.

5. I miss these people....like a lot. Really, really a lot.

6. I'm soooo over this week & ready for the WEEKEND!

a delicious Fall day

2010-10-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I was able to combine three of my loves....family, fall, & photography, as I spent the afternoon taking pics of my adorable nephews! My sister wanted to have some pics of her boys together in the gorgeous fall weather, and I was so excited that she asked me to be the photographer. I think it has more to do with the fact that I have the nicest camera rather than my actual photography skills, but if I do say so myself, these pictures turned out pretty darn amazing!!

Take a peek for yourself, and tell me what YOU think!!!

Ahhh, I just LOVE them!!! :) For some reason Blogger is being very ~~stupid~~ unfriendly to me today, and isn't uploading some of my pictures right...so I have much cuter edited ones that I wish I could share with you, but this will do! So, what do you think??? Which one is YOUR fav?

happy anniversary!!!

2010-10-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

Today is my parents 43rd wedding anniversary!!!! In a world that is more committed to having an excuse to bail when things get tough, rather than truly committing to each other for life, and committing to make it through all the challenges that life throws your way, this is for sure an extraordinary accomplishment, and something that should be celebrated!!

I know that my parents are far from perfect people, but I have had the honor and privilege to grow up observing the love and commitment that they have to each other, and I could not have asked God for a better example of two people who are committed to a Godly marriage. They raised FIVE kids, which by no means was an easy task I am sure. They have moved more times than I can count, and have gone through so much more than I am sure I will never even know! I can say for sure, that they have had more trials and tests than I am sure other people have ever faced or will ever face, but have always found a way to trust God and be there for each other through it all, and grow in love each year.

So, to my amazing Mom & Dad, I wish you a very HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! I love you so very much! Thank you for being a great example of God's love to me, and to each other. I am so thankful that I was blessed by God to be raised by two amazing parents!!!

a little side project

2010-10-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited to fill you guys in on my fun little side project!!! I have opened my very own shop on Big Cartel!! It's similar to Etsy, it's a place where you can buy handmade goods, and I'm super excited about this new venue to be crafty.

This all started off because I decided to make some travel wipe cases for my sister's kids, and it was so much fun that I decided to start selling them!! Right now I only have a small handful of items, but I am going to keep expanding it over time and can't wait to share more with you guys about this!!! I have added a link to it on the side bar if you wanna check it out!! I love being creative, and this is the perfect avenue to do that (and maybe make a little money) :)

Let me know your thoughts if you check it out!! I'd love to hear them!

family friday {{little loves edition}}

2010-10-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

There are a only few things in my life that I feel truly define who I really am as a person. One of the most prominent being my title of Wife, followed secondly by Sister/Daughter, and then right behind that (and not very far behind) is Auntie (or Ti-ti as the little ones call me).

I have been privileged enough to bear that title since the tender little age of 7 years old when my oldest nephew Brennen was born into this world, and I have treasured that label ever since his arrival. When you’re 7 I don’t think you can really wrap your head around the significance of that sort of stuff, so as the kids have been growing up, I have grown into this title and role of “Auntie”. Over the years, God has continued to bless our families with beautiful little additions, and I have found that the title of Auntie has brought me more joy than I could have ever imagined possible.

There is nothing quite like getting to love my sister’s kids as if they are my very own, without actually having the responsibility of them being my own. It’s truly one of the biggest and greatest blessings I have ever been given! One of the things that I love most about being an Auntie, and especially becoming one at such a young age, is that fact that I have nephews and nieces in every stage of life. I have been able to see my oldest ones turn from precocious little people into these amazing teenagers that are becoming more like my friends rather than just little kiddos, but at the same time I have brand stinking new ones that I get to dote on and smooch all over.

I love that my conversations with them range from getting a drivers license & high school drama, all the way to down to which Star Wars character is cooler than the other, along with helping the littlest ones learn their sounds and letters, or even holding their tiny hands as the wobble through their first steps…but honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love getting to be a part of all their wonderful stages of life and watching each of them grow into new things each year.

I truly consider all of my nieces/nephews one of the things in my life that I treasure the most. It’s such an honor to watch them grow and be a part of their lives, to pray for them, and play with them, to be on the receiving end of their smooches, hugs, and giggles, and even to help hold them when something goes bad (of course that’s only when Mommy’s not around to comfort), to cheer them on from the sidelines, and support all their dreams in any way that I can.

I find all the things that they do to be more adorable and amazing than any other kid’s similar action, and it’s so fun to brag on them to all the people in my life. Some might even find it annoying how much I talk about them, but I don’t care because they are too darn cute to not brag on. I can only imagine that being a Mom to my own kids will magnify all these feelings times a million and that is super amazing to think about!! I can’t wait for that day to come and to add some cousins into the mix!

So, to Brennen, Bailey, Dakota, Rowan, Kaden, Avery, Brinley, Ethan, &baby Taylor (who’s still in utero), I love you more than you could ever know! Thanks for giving me the great privilege of being your Auntie and getting to share a part of your life!!!

i got to smooch on TWO little cuties

2010-10-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

Last night I got to babysit my handsome nephews Kaden & Ethan while Mommy & Daddy went out to dinner at Benihana's to celebrate their birthdays. It was the first time that I have got to watch both of the boys together and it was SO much fun!

Kaden is such a sweet big brother and he absolutely loves his baby bro. He is so protective of him and anytime that Ethan cries, Kaden goes "BABY! BABY!" and then tries to go kiss him and comfort him. It's really super sweet and I love seeing them together. It's always a fun day when I get to put on my Auntie hat and spend some time with these adorable little cuties. Of course I had to take pictures so I could brag to you about them. :)

Sweet Little Pumpkin

How sweet are these two little boys?!?

KP wanted to snuggle his little bro! He's such a good Big Bro!

Officially a 1 month old! He's getting chunka chunky!

I had such a fun night with my sweet little buddies! I can't wait for Mommy to ask me to watch them again *HINT HINT* This last picture is my favorite! I was trying to take a picture of Baby E and I and look who snuck in the back....honestly TOO PRECIOUS! He wanted to be a part of the action. :)

I also have some fun video footage from last night! If you wanna check it out, click on the link on the sidebar and check out our YouTube channel!

**Stay tuned tomorrow for another post about the little loves in my life!! Family Friday is back and better than ever!! :)***

A Mini Revamp

2010-10-05T16:46:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was suddenly inspired to bring out my inner re-vamper, and I just had to work on a mini project!!! I had a frame sitting around that I had re-painted a while back, but hadn't really done much with it. It was a 5x7 frame and I really don't have too many pictures in that size. I'm one of those people who take a million pictures all the time, but am horrible about actually getting prints made. Lame...I know.

I had painted a silver frame that was cute, but not my style in coloring. I painted it delicious heirloom white a while back, and as I was cleaning my closet tonight I came across some extra corkboard that I had left over from my corkboard re-vamp. I cut a small piece of the corkboard liner, the same size as the glass that comes in the frame.

Since the cork I bought is made for drawer lining, it has a self-adhesive backing which is amazing!! (Seriously you gotta try this stuff!!) I applied it directly to the back of the frame. Since it's self-adhesive it's super easy to remove if I ever want to use the frame for it's intended purpose.

After that I put it right back in the frame, and easy as that you have your own adorable mini-corkboard!!!

I wasn't really sure where I wanted use this little baby in my house. After thinking for a while, I decided to use it in my kitchen to hold all my coupons that I get/print on my off week of grocery shopping. I always seem to misplace them when I actually go grocery shopping, and this way I can keep track of them easily in a one stylish area! :)

Pretty darn cute huh? I'm in love and it was seriously one of the EASIEST projects I have ever done! Gotta love that! :) Hope you are having an amazing week!

**I'm linking this post to the following AMAZING blogs! Swing by and check out other great projects!!***

http://www.creationsbykara.com/

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/

http://shanty2chic.blogspot.com/

http://www.justagirlblog.com/

it's Fall ya'll

2010-09-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

Where the crank have I been this month? I just realized that it's nearly the end of September and I have really neglected blogging this month. I have been working on some mini DIY revamps, as we finally painted our master bathroom, and it required some accessory updates. I was a bad blogger and didn't take pics of any of what it looked like before, but I still plan to do a post on that when I finally have everything revamped and hanging up. Trust me, it's pretty darn cute! :)

In the meantime, I have been SO busy with work and life, that blogging has been on the bottom of my to-do list. I have been enjoying this beautiful Fall with my family though, and it's definitely my favorite time of the year. I love pumpkins, cool breezes, scarfs, boots, hot cocoa, beautiful colorful leaves, and let me tell you, Minnesota is just gorgeous during the Fall!! Yesterday I went to the apple orchard with my sister Pam, her two beautiful boys, and my Mom. It was such a fun day!!! I honestly can't think of any other way to enjoy the deliciousness of Autumn than an apple orchard.

Chilling on a pumpkin :)

"Riding" the school bus to the orchard!

My beautiful sister & her boys!

It's hard to keep a 2 year old still enough for pics, so you gotta figure out ways to trick them!

Sweet little monkey

Precious baby Ethan :)

Honestly, too cute for words!

I hope that you guys have been enjoying this gorgeous Fall time as much as I have been!!! I can't wait to share with you my awesome revamps for my bathroom! Hopefully I can get to that this weekend, or maybe next early next week!!

welcome to the world little one {{Ethan Wyatt}}

2010-09-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

Please join me in welcoming my new baby nephew into the world!!

Ethan Wyatt was born today September 7th, 2010 at 11:55 am.

7 pounds, 6 ounces

20 inches long

& every inch of his is covered in HANDSOME!!!

I'm so thankful to God for all the amazing new babies he has blessed us with over the past few years!!! He's been so good to us and I can't wait to watch this new little guy grow up! I love you Ethan!!

I'm taking care of Kaden aka NEW BIG BRO today and tomorrow until Mommy gets out of the hospital, so I definitely have my hands full but I love it!!!

Here's a fun video of our day together waiting for baby Ethan!

a beautiful week together

2010-09-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

This week has been so wonderful! Scott finally started his new schedule, and for the FIRST time in our marriage we are both home together at night!! Yay!! When we first got married Scott was working late every night till 10:00, and at that time I was working 8-5. It was super challenging to barely see him at all during the week, but we made the best of it. From that time, his schedule has been progressively getting earlier, and finally he is now working nearly the exact same time as me!!

I have honestly been giddy all week at the simplest things that I am sure many married couples take for granted or count as normal. It's been so fun to have him go to bed at the same time as I do, and getting up in the morning when I do. I have love getting kisses good morning, and having him tell me "have a good day at work." I feel so excited over the facat that he is home shortly after I am, and that we get to have dinner together at a "regular" dinner time instead of at 8:30ish. I love running errands after work with him, and having mid-week dates!! Honestly, it's all been SO fun, and I am so thankful that we are finally getting to spend more time together! :)

Anywho, I finally got my gorgeous mirror hung up and wanted to share it with you all!!

Ahh, I love it!!! It's the perfect fit! :) What do you think?

Notice my jersey??? That's right it's FOOTBALL season (my favorite part of the year) and that means it's time to rock the Patriots jersey yet again for my fav Tom Brady!! <3 My hubby snapped some shots of me tonight while we were watching the Pats game.

Ohhhh Tom, how I heart you! :)

It gets pretty tense in my house when the Patriots play Scott's homeboys...the Mannings. (BOO!) He thought he was pretty funny snappy this picture tonight.

....Not funny Dodge....not funny at all. :)

I hope your weeks been as blessed as mine has!!

is it really worth it?

2010-08-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the perfect marriage. Yes, there are days when I may think I do, but sure enough a moment comes along and I realize quite quickly that it is far from perfect. I have moments where I am down right imperfect. I have moments when I get angry, frustrated, selfish, mean, and nasty, (although I’m sure none of you know what that feels like). What can I say, I’m still a work in progress!!!

It seems to me when Scott & I fight that it’s always about the stupid little things in life. It's the insignificant petty things that always turn into an argument, never the big important things. And the other night, we had one of those times. I don’t know if it was just that I was extremely tired from working all day and then volunteering at church all night, but I must have just had a short fuse and he must have had short fuse from the day he had at work. Anyways, it started off as an easy conversation about his day at work, and quickly became one of the most stupid fights that I can ever remember having. I was tired and trying to get him to tell me quickly a “long” story about a situation at work (long according to Scott, but I think anything beyond 5 words is a “long” story to him ). I kept giving my opinion on this work situation and he kept telling me to calm down and quit having such an attitude, which I wasn’t even worked up, but nothing irritates me more & gets me more worked up than when someone else tries to tell you how you feel about something.

Well, I bet you can piece together how the rest of the conversation went. I didn’t quite hear the whole “long” story, because the conversation ended up with me storming off to bed, and him stewing irritated at me for the rest of the night. Honestly, there is nothing I hate more than going to bed angry. I think God was “in the know” when He said that whole thing about not letting the sun go down on your wrath. Man, He’s smart! :) I just hate the feeling of not having a kiss goodnight, or saying I love you to each other. I always have in my mind that life is so precious, and each and every moment is a gift. I hate wasting even one of life’s moments being angry! Unfortunately, this tension boiled over into last night, and we had yet another bad night of being angry at each other. Nothing is worse than when a stupid fight not only ruins one night, but two nights in a row.

Finally, this morning, I had to stop and think about the past two days and for me, it all boils down to one thought….is this really worth being angry about? It's the same question that I face in every situation like this and I’ll give you a hint at the answer.....it's no. Every single time I ask myself that question, I come to the same conclusion that it’s just not worth it.

Regardless of the situation, I can never seem to find a valid reason to stay upset & angry about something. Trust me there are plenty of times that I have tried! I try to argue my case over and over again in my head, trying to convince myself that I am right for wanting to be angry, but always God finds a way to get to me and show me how silly I am acting. Even in the times when I may be "right" in my reasoning, it's never okay to justify holding a grudge with someone. There are so many times throughout my life that I have truly done stupid things. Things that I was 100% wrong in doing, and things that were worth being upset over, but God reminds me that He gave me His grace and forgiveness that I needed (& didn’t deserve) in each and every one of those situations. He was able to extend His love to me, when I truly was not worthy of it, and I will always need to do the same for others.

This is something that sounds easy, but isn’t always easy to live. I try to be a Godly loving wife, but I am still human and still need God’s grace to help me attain some of those attributes in my life, especially in this area. However, one thing that I am completely convinced on is that it is God’s plan is for me to love my husband with His amazing love, and if God has called me to do it then He surely has equipped me with everything I need to accomplish it!! Let me tell you, it’s not always easy to love Scott with the love of God, especially when we have moments like we had this week, but at the end of the day it boils down to choosing love over choosing anything else.

Scott & I are two imperfect people who made a covenant with each other to be husband and wife and that promise we made to each other will always find a way to bring us through the trails that we face as we walk through life together. Despite it all, even on our worst of days, I still would rather have him by my side than anyone else. :)

is it okay to be just me???

2010-08-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

I’m gonna have an honesty moment here. Ok, maybe not an honesty moment since this will be a whole post, but I’m pretty sure you catch my drift. Sometimes I’m afraid of my blog. Yes, I said it, I’m afraid of my blog. Why you ask? Because sometimes, I just don’t know what to say. Correction: I know what to say but I don’t know how it will be received. Any of this making sense? Yah I didn’t think so. Let me back track a bit.

I first started blogging back on Xanga (anyone remember back that far?) my senior year of high school. It was the Facebook of that day, and I would blog about all the high school things that were going on in my life at that time. I have always thoroughly enjoying writing, I journaled religiously throughout high school and blogging quickly became something I enjoyed. I continued blogging on Xanga sporadically throughout my college years, and it was hard to keep up on once Myspace and Facebook came along. I actually just went back and dusted off my Xanga account the other day, and I am honestly thankful that I used it as much as I did during those late teenage years of my life. I really enjoyed gong back through all my posts and reading my thoughts at those times in my life. I don't always remember the details, and even if I do, its good to read through how I felt at those times. Life changes so fast, that it can be hard to really capture all those details, and blogging has been a great tool for me to re-live all those moments.

Fast forward to 2008 when I started blogging here on Blogger. I was a newlywed and missed blogging all my thoughts and experiences in life. I figured what better time to get back into then right as we were starting our new life together. I had hoped to be able to share a lot of what our new life as husband and wife, the good things that happened, the bad things we faced, the amazing God things that we experienced, and all the days in between. I started off pretty good as I browse through my earlier posts, but slowly began neglecting by blog. About a year ago I started finding all these amazing home decorating, DIY blogs and my blogging purpose had been renewed!! I was so inspired and wanted to try my hand at some of the great projects that I had seen all over the place. Since that time, so many wonderful people have stopped by my blog, commented on my projects, and some have even been kind enough to follow along with me. I find that SO cool that you would think that my blog is worthy of your time. I have loved being inspired by others ideas, and getting to know so many wonderful people through blogging. I hope that some of you following feel the same way about me.

All this has brought me to today…. sometimes I struggle with the thought of how to combine my initial hopes for blogging and my renewed thrifty DIY purpose of blogging into this one blog. I sometimes feel like if I do blog about my marriage or my day to day life, that I am somehow letting down those of you how found my blogs through the projects I have shared, and expect me to share more of those ideas, but if all I ever do is just blog projects, I feel like I am letting myself down for not really capturing all the memories I had hoped to. See where it gets hard? I really want to find that balance of both, but still make it enjoyable for others to read along with me on my daily life journeys.

I guess I said all this to say, that you will probably see more posts about my life in the upcoming days. I hope you won't find me too boring, or choose to not follow along anymore. I usually don't get many comments on my personal posts, and that's ok because it's truly a post for me if nothing else. I hope that there will be things that you find relate-able, after all we all face the same types of challenges, and joys in life. I guess i just really I don't want everything I post to fall into just one category, I truly want this blog to change as I change, and follow me through all the things that life brings my way. Someday I know that I will blogging about my kids, and my life as a parent...I hope you'll stick around with me for that!! I definitely will continue to post my revamps and creative attempts, its very much a part of who I am!!

Thanks for reading and following along in life with me, it means more to me than you could ever know! Most of all, I hope that its ok with you that I want to be just me. After all, I think I'm a pretty cool person. :)

Twenty-Four

2010-08-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my husband's 24th birthday!! I can't believe he's 24!! Seems like just yesterday we were teenagers, man time sure does fly!!! I am so grateful that I have been able to be a part of his life for as long as I have been, and I'm beyond thankful to God for making him to be the greatest person I have had the privileged to know. So, happy happy birthday honey (even though I told you this yesterday)!!

Here's a little mix of what we did on his birthday!!! Hope you enjoy it! :)

wordless wednesday

2010-08-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

<3 <3 <3

TEAM BRINLEY!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

My adorable nephew Brinley is in a contest for cutest baby, and I really really really need your help!! He's currently in 2nd place and need some more votes!! This in where you come in, if you are on Facebook, can you take literally 2 minutes of your time to vote for him??

It's VERY easy, just follow the links below and "LIKE" JM Photography, and then go to his picture (he's #7) and comment VOTE!!

It would truly mean the world to me if you would be kind enough to do this for me. If he wins, he gets a FREE photography session and some credit towards prints! He just turned ONE yesterday and this would be a great birthday present for him.

Here's the links!!

First, like JM Photography, then comment VOTE on this picture!!!

I mean, really how can you say no to that face???? Thanks guys!!!

mirror mirror on the wall

2010-08-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

So, I finally ventured to the new thrift store right by my house. I can't believe its been there for a few months and this was just my first visit!! I had a few things in mind when I went looking, but I couldn't believe I actually found one of them, it usually doesn't work out that way on my first try!!

I browsed through the store and nearly missed this beauty because it was hiding behind another bulky piece of furniture. I about freaked out when I found it, it was only marked $12!! I love the gorgeous detail of it and I knew I could make it something fabulous! The best part was that everything in the store was 30% off so it actually only cost me $9! Can we say steal of a deal?!

I brought this baby home, and got right to work. It had these weird metal rods attached to it, I'm assuming that it was a part of a set or something???

I unscrewed the legs, and then sanded this puppy down. I decided that I wanted to paint it white (shocking right??) but I choose a glossy white this time so it would match the other pieces in my living room. I really wanted to get it covered, so I did about 4 coats total.

Here's the final result!!!

Love, love, love!!! Honestly I can't believe this was only $9!!

Here's some close up of the gorgeous detail that I fell in love with.

Oh so perfect!! It's not hung up yet because I don't have all the hardware that I need to hang it up since it's so heavy, but I will definitely get it done this week. I was just too excited to not share it with you guys!

Ok, one last little peak at it!

It's gonna be SO perfect in my entryway, I can't even stand it!! :) Tell me your thoughts, do you love it too???