The Minky Blankie

Last year I learned how to make one of my favorite baby blankets, the minky blankie.  It's a perfect square with minky on one side, and cotton on the other with a cute border to frame it in.  I don't do the border the way I was taught, it's too much work, but I'm really happy with the way I do it (it still looks super cute!).  I found the perfect piece of pink minky in my scraps, left over from Ashtyn's minky blankie so all I had to do was find some cotton fabric to match it.  I found the CUTEST design at Hobby Lobby (best store ever!) and from there Shannon and I went to work and an hour or so later it was done.  She LOVES it and is so excited to bring baby Macie home in it.  We even had enough fabric leftover to do a couple matching burp cloths.  SO CUTE!!

Shannon's Baby Wrap

Shannon is due to have her new little girl here any day now and we are SO excited!  So far, I've only had little Ashtyn to dote on and I am so excited to meet this new little beauty, and hopefully she likes her Auntie Steph!  Jocelyn and I got together this week and whipped up a baby wrap for her.  I picked the fabric out last week and I've been so excited to put it together....I think I have fabulous taste when it comes to little girls!

I got to see her cute little nursery this week and it is absolutely ADORABLE.  Shannon's husband, Adam, got it all set up for her and he did an amazing job.  I'm so grateful that I've been able to share in some of these precious moments while they prepare to bring home their new little girl.  She's even gotten the CUTEST little beanie from Amber (check out her Etsy store here) already and she's super excited to use it.  The other night I went over to Shannon's place and taught her how to sew my favorite burp cloths.  She's got a lot of cute fabric and we had fun going through everything and learning how to use her new sewing machine.  I have a couple more things I'd like to get finished before the big day comes, hopefully I can get them done!

Last Weekend

I had the most amazing weekend!  Amber had mentioned earlier the previous week about wanting to do a pallet project and I've been dying to do one for so long, we decided we were going to get together and just do it!  It started Friday when Amber and I drove out to Jake's work to pilfer the much needed pallets to begin.  We were able to fit a whopping EIGHT pallets in the back of Jordan's car and we were cracking up the whole time.  I also had my polaroid with me, which we used to take advantage of the crazy night and forever freeze the silly moments for our enjoyment later.

Saturday, we got together with Jocelyn and Djadon and went to work.  We started by choosing the pallets we wanted to work with and what we wanted to create, and then the hammers and glue guns came out.  My pallet was the most time consuming, I didn't like the gaps in the pallet I had and we stole wood from another pallet to fill it in.  Whenever the wood splintered and broke, I became even more excited.  I didn't want it to be perfect and the broken pieces just added to the look I was going for.  If it broke too much, we just used the glue gun to piece it back together and I loved it even more.

We took a little break to visit Sonic's happy hour (our favorite!) and grabbed some more supplies from Jocelyn's house.  The company was perfect and we were all laughing and telling funny jokes/stories the whole day.  It made me feel like I was in high school again, just care free and happy, having a good time with my friends.  When we got back to Amber's place, we started sanding and painting and refused to quit until the sun went down and we were forced to go in due to the fact that we could see NOTHING.

The next day, we went out to finish up with the paint and then soak in the result of all our hard work.

They were PERFECT!

Amber did a really cute framed in piece that she is going to hang pictures from, and she stayed with the natural look of the wood grain and simply stained it a darker brown.

Jocelyn did a small shelf to hang in her hallway, and is adding hooks on the bottom for coats and hats.  She painted hers white and then stained it with my favorite black glaze (I mixed it myself!!) and it looks great!

I used a full pallet and did a shelving system, framed on each end.  I wanted it to match my bedroom so I painted it green and used a metallic copper glaze on it.  Jordan is going to help me hang it this upcoming weekend and I've already picked up supplies to fill it, wait until you see it completely finished and hanging on my wall...I can't wait!

Shannon came on Sunday to help us finish and see the final results, and she wants to do a couple for her own home which we will also be working on this upcoming weekend.  Stay tuned to see what we do!

Happy Birthday Chace!

Tomorrow my brother Chace will be turning 22 and we are so excited for him!  He is such an awesome brother and we hope his day is AMAZING.  To celebrate, we all went to Smash Burger tonight for dinner.  Chace and my parents had never been there so we were super excited to take them there for their first experience.  It's such a yummy place to eat, Jordan and I both love it (Tobi likes their fry sauce and fries).  Chace got me a Polaroid 300 for Christmas and I brought it along for some good fun.  The food was fantastic as always and the company was PERFECT!

Happy Birthday Chace!  We love you!

January 2012

I am so excited to be starting a new year and so excited to see what changes will come for our sweet little family.  Here is the January desktop, I think it looks great and I'm so excited to have it on display for the month!

Daisy Lou

Jordan and I finally hit our limit last month where Daisy is concerned and we both agreed is was time to find her a home.  I put her on KSL over the weekend and within ten minutes, we were getting texts and phone calls.  I was so relieved because I was worried we wouldn't be able to find her a home.  We got SUPER lucky and a lady in Cedar City, who just so happened to have another dog that came from the same litter, wanted her.  Tobi, Jocelyn and I met her half-way in Filmore today, and said our goodbye's to Miss Daisy.  They were thrilled to take her and thought she was gorgeous.  They were so nice and told us anytime we're in St. George we can stop and visit her.  We are so happy to have found her such a great home, it really takes a huge weight off of our shoulders.  Even though we knew we couldn't keep her, it was still our responsibility to make sure she made it someplace better and I'm confident we did that.

Now I just need to repair the damage she left behind in our apartment....

New Years Eve 2011

This years holiday was very quiet for us.  I ended up spending almost the entire day photographing a wedding with my awesome business partner Jocelyn.  At first, I was a little bummed because I had no idea when we'd get done and I did want to celebrate the evening with Jordan.  But once I was there I was happy I'd gone.  I love to photograph weddings, they're so exciting and so fun.  Everyone is so happy, especially the bride, and it's been so fun getting to know these couples who are about to start their lives together.  It was such a romantic way to end the year and I'm glad I got to be a part of it.

I got home around 8:30pm and still had plenty of time to celebrate with Jordan, who was patient enough to keep Tobi up a little longer so I could see him.  We watched Underworld and just relaxed until we finally called it a night, and a happy new year, sometime around 11:00.  I know I know, it makes me feel so old not being able to stay up late anymore.  So here I am, January 1st of 2012 and I'm mostly hoping that this year will be better than the last.  Last year started out great, but from August on it's really been a struggle for me.  I've had the worst depression, which is pretty uncommon for me, and I'm still trying to work my way through it.  I've been to the doctor multiple times and in an out of therapy, desperate to keep myself from being hospitalized...that's the last thing I want right now.  My family has been worried about me and I don't want that for them, especially Jordan.  Some days I wake up feeling rejuvenated and great, and others I feel....hopeless.  I can't function.  I feel like I can't breathe, like I'm suffocating and all alone.  I'm so grateful for the friends and family that have been so supportive and willing to sit with me on those days.  It's those days when I'm really scared of being alone, I don't trust myself and it's been really hard for me to admit that.  Today I feel good.  Today is a good day and I hope I can say the same for all the rest.  I hope this year is better for me.  I hope that I can find myself again, as lame as it sounds, I'm just not me right now.

And that is so not where I planned on taking this post!  I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve and I wish you all a very happy New Year!