that was fast.
and before we know it, may will be over and done with, and it will be sweet, sweet, summertime.
*sigh.*
this mom can’t wait.
(homework will be the death of me.)
due to house drama (houses.. pffft.) I was scrambling a bit to get projects that were all done in my head actually done. like, as in, done-done.
so, here’s a peek:
(click on layout for complete list of products and all that jazz.)
this week’s spotlight at jessica sprague falls on the lovely carina gardner.
she has such a gorgeous style. I tend to be more attracted to her more feminine goodies.
this weekend, her entire store is on sale!
here are my favorite layouts using her creations:
(click on the layout for full credits.)
this is challenge #2 for our ffa club, and I was excited to dive right in.
I went to Homegoods site to take their quiz, totally doubtful that they could put my style in a description that makes sense.
after answering a few easy questions, they gave me my results:
You're interested in creating a welcoming home where people feel comfortable and happiness flourishes. You appreciate the warmth and individuality of natural materials and handcrafted things and are inspired by colors and forms from nature. You love mixing up different textures and are sensitive to the tactile qualities of objects. Your style is grounded and solid, not flighty or frilly. And you are never taken in by the trend of the moment.
You value order. You feel happiest if your home is well organized. You understand that when your house is in order, your mind feels clearer. Rather than a lot of meaningless objects or overly-designed items, you are happier with a few well-placed things. Your home is your respite from a busy life. Try to avoid letting things into your home that you don't really love.
holy moses.
that would be me.
there are so many points that are spot on, I was kind of astonished that there really isn’t anything that isn’t me in that description.
- yes, I want my home to be welcoming and comfortable! I want people to feel how happy we are here.
- I am not flighty or frilly. I hate trends (usually). I will be the last person to hop on the color blocking trend, I was (and still am) avoiding trends like the plague.
- and what’s not to say about organized? that is how I NEED my home to be.
(and pretty sure that is how I described my own style in my first ffa post.)
the only thing that I can say I don’t say “ahhhh.. yes!” to, are my “happy home colors”.
given, I did purposefully paint my dining room (at the old house) in a rusty orange color called “spiced cider”, and I loved it. up until just a few months ago, I had a wall in our family room a similar orange. I really do love the color, and I still have accents in that color, but I just can’t have it on my walls. as petty as it may sound, it clashed with my christmas tree.
so I started thinking about this a little further, and decided that merrill needed to take this quiz. you know, so we could make our bedroom “our” bedroom.
(I could use the excuse that I am at home more than he is, and therefore my style should trump his, but I really do want him to feel like our home is his too.. like I want him to want to be here and such..)
giving him the quiz was kind of comical, what with some of the questions and all, but his results are pretty darn accurate.
merrill’s results:
You have a refined sensibility with an appreciation for history and tradition in your furniture and your rooms. You value beauty, things that are well crafted, and family heirlooms. You are visually sensitive and understand how symmetry and a formal layout give order to a room, and hence your home is refined and calming. You are not taken in by the trends of the moment. You go for things with a timeless appeal, and appreciate old-fashioned virtues like manners and handwritten notes and making a home that is welcoming for others.
You value serenity. While there are probably a lot of interesting things in your home, they are joined by your taste or a certain palette that keeps them in harmony. You appreciate the beauty in simple forms. Whether fancy or plain, you appreciate things that are well made and function as well as they look. You also have a strong respect for the environment and craftsmanship. You care about how things are made, and how they are used.
and that would be merrill, my friends.
in an expanded part of this description, it mentions that he also doesn’t live in trends.
so we can get along.
and I love his “happy home colors”:
so maybe that is where we can get along, on our “happy home colors”?
true story:
it once took us nearly 6 months to come to an agreement on carpet.
6 months.
here’s to hoping that our bedroom can come together faster than that.
do you love fun scrapping products?
do you love coordinated lines with papers, embellies, alphas, and journaling cards, that were made to be together?
then you will (and probably already do) love echo park.
I know I enjoy creating with their products.
they are the spotlighted designer of the week at jessica sprague, and the entire echo park store is on sale!!
50% off kiddos!!!
here’s some of the fun I have had with echo park goodness:
cheesy.
I know.
but it absolutely fits this here post.
easter happens in parts here.
as tradition goes, we have our hunt for treats the day before easter, trying to keep the focus of what easter is all about, entirely for the sabbath.
but there are two other hunts at grandmas’ houses, so there are 3 hunts for these kiddos.
I try to cut out on the candy, try being the operative word, and give more toy type stuff. I also try to make as much of it as I can.
I usually make pajamas, but got a steal of a deal from disney online on some darling princess nightgowns. so, I can save all of my pajama making energy for some later date.. and well, let’s be honest, ever since the 4 year old bed buddy has started the trend of hijacking my bed again, my neck is jacked. no sewing can really happen with a jacked neck.
but crocheting can!
it’s perfect. I have my yarn, my tools, my pattern, and my heating pad, on my neck, and I go to town!
I get e-mails from lion, and got one for cute, last minute easter ideas with this darling bunny as one of them. it was easy!!
of course I made them in each of the girls colors, because that is how we all stay sane around here, and I think they were on to me.
I can’t decide which I love most…
their cute faces:
their sweet little pom-pom tails:
or the apparent fact the the girls love them:
(peyton has already named hers baxter. quite appropriate if you ask me.)
as I was finishing them up, a whole other reason to love them came to mind.
my grandma taught me how to crochet.
she passed away 4 years ago.
I love her so much.
I miss her.
but I am so thankful for this easter season, the constant reminder that I will be with her again someday, and incredibly thankful for the life she lived, for the many things she taught me.
happy easter.
12.
it has been 12 years now that I have been married to this guy.
our 12th anniversary didn’t start out in any particularly exciting way.
it was a little before 6 in the am, I woke up because my neck hurt (again), and my hand was asleep (again). my best 4 year old bed buddy was crowding me (again).
as I lay there, trying to get comfortable, and trying to find sleep, I heard the “vvvvvvvtt, vvvvvvvtt” of a phone vibrating.
I blamed it on merrill, he is the one who normally gets texts and phone calls at obscene hours of the day. well, except for that one time, when I won a wal-mart gift card. (scam.)
that time, and this time.
it was my phone.
and my dad.
he is new to the world of cell phones and texting and I think it is rather cute.
as was our conversation:
dad- happy anniversary!! twelve years or thirteen?
me- twelve thank you!
dad- that is what I thought but at my age a memory can’t always be trusted.
dad- by the way, what are you doing up sooo early?
me- I don’t know. I think my phone started making noises or something. 
no, really peyton came and climbed into bed with me.
dad- it could be a lot worse. you could have a st. bernard dog that does the same thing!
me- would it suck it’s fingers noisly?
dad- depending on whether it is a male or a female dog, it might make a lot of noise licking other body parts.
dad- go back to sleep!!
me- I am trying.
at some point during our early morning text-a-thon, merrill asked from the other side of our dark bed, “is someone dead?.. is someone dying??”
to be honest, I was quite thankful to still have my dad and that my dad was so sweet, to be the first to wish me a happy anniversary.
at 6 am.
forget sleep!
the rest of the day we spent together as a family.
we took our darling girls to this is the place for the first day of baby animal season.
we naively thought that it would be a pretty quiet day there.
not.
those were the biggest crowds we have ever seen there.
lynn was the only child brave enough to cuddle the baby animals, I guess ashley and peyton have issues with strange people watching them hold baby animals?
they did run around and have a pretty good time.
peyton thought she was “word girl”. the cape went everywhere with us.
since most of our favorite activities still being closed, it was a fairly short visit.
we did get our treats (small selection) at the zcmi store, and rode on the train.
we saw an amazing antique quilt display at the old deseret hospital, and that got me excited to finish a quilt that is still going, so I can start more.
we visited the new city creek center after. that was amazing. didn’t buy a thing! but seriously, shopping for that kind of stuff is not on my mind lately.
I am dreaming about my bedroom…
we enjoyed a quiet dinner, just the two of us, and called it a night going home to torture merrill by taking a few pictures.
really, it wasn’t bad. he didn’t complain and even manned the remote, taking pictures at the most awkward moments, like when I was right in front of the camera adjusting the tripod (snap boobs), and more than a few as I was walking back toward him (snap bum).
then we wasted an hour, more than an hour, watching “incredibly loud and extremely close”. I wish I could get that time back. it wasn’t as good as people said it was. there were good parts, but those were few and too far between.
I love reflecting back on these last 12 years, so many good memories, and so many blessings!
sure, we are older, a little grayer (and now I am adding to that count…), but wiser, closer, and comfortable with our little life.
just have to say how much I love you merrill. thanks for continually putting up with me and my shenanigans.
it’s another designer spotlight at jessica sprague, and this designer is perfect for some hybrid goodness. I am ashamed to admit, that hybrid is something that I always intend to do, I get all excited about, and then real life steps in. seriously, where did all my good old days cut and glue kind of activity time go?
her entire store is on sale now through sunday at 40% off. she has a wide range of products and many fun hybrid projects that get me excited for every holiday.
(and there’s a freebie!!!!)
excuse all of the cristmas-ness. that is when this girls seems to inspire me the most, obviously.
(as always, you can click on each image for a list of full credits, and so forth.)
being home with my kids is what I have always wanted, ever since I was small. there are days, when I know I have reached my limit, and kind of sort of want to run away, and I am then reminded that an event will more than likely transpire in my life within the next couple of days that will generally explain why I had a hormonal freak-out.
(hopefully it will also explain why that last sentence was a doosy.)
I told merrill the other night, after a really perfect day of being mom, that I really didn’t want to rub it in, but being mom is the best.
my day started out like any other, getting kids up, feeding them, policing the getting dressed routine, getting them off to school (on time), and so forth. then it was my turn to get ready for the day.
if you are privy to the art of straightening hair, especially long-ish hair, you are aware that it can be a process. I am used to this chore, and so is sweet peyton.
she knows that we will not be going anywhere or doing anything until it is taken care of, and she finds ways to entertain herself, and me too.
she got on a kick a while ago, a kick all about mammals.
it started with her asking what breastfeeding was, and eventually led to talk of other creatures that feed their young this way.
enter the mammal.
so we started listing animals, categorizing certain attributes (fur, hair, or feathers..), and would narrow them down to mammals.
as we drove around that day, that was the bulk of our communication. as we shopped for our groceries, that was what got brought up. it got downright silly.
she sees a can of peas.
“do peas have feathers?”
(giggle giggle..)
so this fun child of mine remembered this activity as I started the process of straightening my hair the other day, and ran out of my bathroom. when she returned, she had her bin of “little people” + animals in tow.
one by one, she brought out those animals, and we started naming attributes, and categorizing.
she is such a fun, bright child. the fact that she remembers so much kind of scares me at times, but it will be a good thing someday.
it’s moments like these, small and what seem to be pretty unimportant, that make me so thankful that I get to be home with her.
