kids room

when mabel was on the way, i looked everywhere trying to find inspiration for how to decorate the kids bedroom. i could find absolutely nothing. it seems that everyone out there does things the american way..with each child having their own bedroom.

paul and i never saw the point of that. especially since the kids have their playroom separate. meaning the sole purpose of their bedroom can be just that.
a bed room.

when ava was born, this was her little nursery.
and when max was born and moved in, i got rid of the pink and made it just green and yellow. but the furniture was still white which was a little too feminine for my taste.

so, when i was expecting mabel, we got rid of all the white furniture. and started from scratch. and then when we moved here, even though there are four bedrooms in the house we decided to keep all three kids in the same room. this picture below is when we were under contract, so the furniture is the previous owners.

befores and afters:

basically, i decided on the color scheme from the curtains.
i knew i wanted something bright and cheery but not overly so.

the colors in the I am a Child of God vinyl are matching the curtains.
as is the mobile.


and the kids bedding.


and the rugs
and the blue and brown on the chair.


{p.s. the blue is the same paint from our old living room wall.
i miss that color and love having a little piece of it in our house still.}

pretty ugly

we took down the wallpaper in the kitchen



wallpaper on the switchplates?
no thank you.



now at first glance
our walls look all faux stucco.



but they're not.
it's old wallpaper glue.
fancy, eh?
someday i'll get around
to the painstaking task
of scraping it all off.
or covering it back up.

i'm thinking photo collage....

kid's room

wall vinyl by the lovely rachelle.
mobile by me and martha.

service

we tested the dedication of our friends



and invited them to come labor


in our yard on labor day.


we were hoping


though not expecting lots of help on a holiday

and were pleasantly surprised

and extemely touched

by how many people came

and helped us turn our yard

into something beautiful.

moving

oh, yes.
i'm all moved in.
ok, ok. not all moved in.
not even close.
but we're out of the old place.
and let me just share with you
a few pointers.
perhaps they're well known pointers..
but i'm a newbie at the moving thing.


#1
have a packing party.

notice how many ladies are in this ONE bedroom.


did you count four? you are correct.
it is the only way to go.
i had ten of my girlfriends come over.
i had a fruit tray, drinks, chips and dip
and in three short hours, my entire apartment
including five storage units downstairs,
were packed and ready for loading.
it was unbelievable.


{i had a few people tell me that they couldn't believe i let someone else pack me up. but really, people. three hours or three weeks. and besides, you do the organizing once you move IN, not when you move out, so what's the big deal?}

#2
liquor boxes

absolutely fabulous

for boxing glasses,

vases

and shoes.

plus, they're very sturdy.

#3
wardrobe boxes

step one: remove clothes from old closet

step two: hang in box

step three: move

step four: remove clothes from box

step five: hang in new closet

#4

linens

please, please, please, please

don't buy packing paper and bubble wrap

or even scrounge in the recycle bin for newspaper.

use every scrap from your linen closet.

napkins, pillow cases, tablecloths, towels, etc.

this was wonderful.

it only became a tad bit tricky

when we had to unpack boxes to find the towels.

but unpacking is good. so, i didn't mind.

#5

pile boxes in one place.

don't make the poor guys

walk all over the house

having to find boxes here and there

to load on the truck.

put as much as you can in one central,

somewhat organized location.

..just a few things i thought were helpful

to pass on.

now, does anyone want to take my kids for a month

so i can unpack and decorate?

love/hate

and now
for an epic blog post about our 2 1/2 week vacation..
in terms of love and hate

consider yourself warned..it is LONG.
{and kinda reads like a children's book. sorry.}

i love
this picture i took on the drive to utah


i love
my breast pump.

i didn't love
the fact that a certain 3 year old
was insistent on stopping every 45 minutes or else he would pee his pants.

i love
that we thought to put a pull-up on him after the fourth stop in two hours.

i love
what it says on the back of this truck



i love
clouds. and miss them.
what we have in seattle is called cloud COVER.
so these are so exciting to me.


and these


i did not love
that we left seattle at 1pm and arrived in west jordan at 3:30am.
or 4:30am with the time change.

i love
paul's fabulous sis for leaving the door open for us,
having cozy beds made up for a us, fresh towels
and breakfast out when we woke up the next morning.

i love
the resort we stayed at for my family reunion
and highly recommend it.
bathrooms, showers, pool, rec room, playground...
my kind of camping.

i love
my family


i love
max's face in this picture


i loved
watching taylor rock out to guitar hero metallica.

i did not love
that it was hovering around a brutal 100 degrees every single day.

i loved
listening to my grandpa play his guitar and sing.

i did not love
forgetting a load of laundry in the resort laundry room.
and remembering it when we were two hours away.

and calling the resort and getting a rude lady on the phone
who actually said, "well, duh" when i told her what i did.
and then crying in humiliation after hanging up with her
{not a good moment for me}

but
i did love
my hero emily calling the resort in huff and
demanding they mail
my laundry to me.

they did. overnight.
and i'm a wimp.

i love
this family

and am so glad we made an impromptu stop to visit them for a couple of hours.
i've known them since i was FOUR.

i love
that we stayed with jimily for a few days.

i did not love
that it was only a few days.

i love
that i met this hot blogger


i did not love
posing for a picture with two gorgeous actresses.
can you say, dork?

i loved
seeing jana for the first time in a long, long time
and getting to chat it up.


i love
this picture

and a hilarious series of others where we didn't know
why paul kept telling us "one more."

i do not love
that this is the extent of the pictures we took together.

i love
how this picture looks like i'm on a blue screen.
so wierd.

{ya..i don't know why i'm holding mabel up like this.}

i love
that we went to temple square

but did not love
that we didn't stay very long.
{The Family: A Proclamation exhibit was amazing, though.}

i love
that we went to the oquirrh mountain temple open house
with brook and tamie
and that the kids knew what was happening,
loved it
and were well behaved.
{at least until we tried to take pictures}


i love
how fancy the refreshment tent was.

i loved
seeing chalyce and meeting her little boy.


i love
that i met this blogger
who i've "known" for a couple of years.
i loved her so much and her two darling children.


i DON'T LOVE
that meggity couldn't come to the bbq

i did not love
getting lost on our way to paul's brother's house in eagle mountain.
in the dark.
{thank goodness after repeating myself five times
paul FINALLY called his brother for directions.}

i love
that i'm married to the fun uncle


i do not love
that my camera was on the wrong setting.
cuz otherwise this picture would have been so cute.


i love
that we were RIGHT THERE for the fireworks
watching them being set off.

i love
that paul had all his brothers and brothers in law and his dad
and my dad and brook
standing in the circle with him for mabel's blessing.


i did not love
that my mom and grandparents
and two other siblings couldn't be there.

i love
that taylor brought little blue down for us.

i loved
the fresh halibut and shrimp
that david and michelle caught and brought straight from alaska
and served for an amazing dinner on sunday night.

i loved
staying up till 2am
talking with paul's brother and his wife.

i did not love
that my little max was starting to get sick
{this is him asleep. in the middle of the day.}


i did not love
snoasis not opening till 11am. the nerve.


i do not love
the anxiety i felt upon seeing these and similar signs.


i loved
that we rented a jetski for a few hours.

i do not love
that i didn't get a supercool bond-girl picture like michelle did here.


i love
paul's family


i do not love
that i didn't once lay in the hammock.


i love
this picture {and a dozen others} michelle took of mabel


i did not love
that max got very sick for the last few days of vacation
and missed an awesome family reunion.

and that i was worried about him the whole time.

i loved
playing scum and phase 1o twist with everyone.

i do not love
that i didn't see my sweet megan
before we had to leave.

i love
the very random playlist
that kept me company for the long 16 hour drive alone.
{we were caravaning little blue and the minivan}

i do not love
diet a&w rootbeer being the ONLY root beer
they served at the a&w in somewhere, idaho. sick.
especially since we stopped specifically for a&w root beer floats.

i love
the way the long drive gave me time to think
and sort out my life.


i love
that my plants didn't die
since i forgot to water them before we left.

i love
that my mailman stopped my mail for me.
since i forgot that too.

i love
being home. if only for one more week.