One year older...and wiser too?

This past Saturday I celebrated my 25th birthday! It was such a great day.

First, I woke up and Justin had this beautiful bouquet on the counter for me with a birthday letter from him. Then he and my mom made a wonderful breakfast! We had yummy french toast with syrup, whip cream and strawberries. Everything was made from scratch (minus the whip cream). It was sooo delicious!

For lunch I met with my friends Brooke and Sara for lunch. We had Zupa's and I had my favorite: summer chicken salad with the tomato basil soup! Yum-o!

Then that night Justin made us dinner plans and it was beautiful!

It was such a beautiful day! And the grounds were gorgeous!

Last Sunday the family celebrated mine and Todd's birthdays. Todd is 8 years and 5 days older than me (Sept. 22nd).

Most of the fam (I took the pic, and Justin was on the trampoline with some of the kids)

Todd chose to have egg rolls and stirfry with peach cobbler for dessert.

Can you tell I like food?! It's fun centering your life around good food, is it not? Well there you go. That's a bday recap for ya! Thanks to everyone for the gifts, calls, and birthday wishes! I have such a great family and many wonderful friends who are so thoughtful and make life that much more great!!

Halloween Wall

Welcome to my Halloween wall! I absolutely love Halloween/fall decorations! This year when I went to pull my stuff out, I found only a few things. Well, it's a good thing I'm obsessed with projects because I've decided to do some Halloween-y things! Here are a few decorations I found.

The table topper was a birthday gift last year from my mom. It's darling...vintage Halloween fabric in the middle and black rick rack around the outside edge. It's kind of hard to tell, but there's a glass pumpkin with candy corn kisses inside. Have you tried those yet? I think they're new this year. To be honest, they really aren't that great (in case you were thinking of getting some), but they look cute and I bet in cookies they would be a big hit. The pumpkin on the far right as well as the one just next to the glass bowl (it's a little pumpkin bucket, but it's a bit hard to see) are birthday gifts from my sister Natalie. Thanks Nat! I love them!

I just finished this wall hanging during Molly's nap today and I am loving it! It was so fun to make. I saw it at the quilt store at an open house and I had to make it since I already had most of the fabric. I know, I'm getting sick!

A close up of Halloween Jack.

Last night I went with my mom to a doll class at the Handmaiden here in Sandy. It was so fun! My mom has made several of this lady's dolls and so I thought I'd go try it out with her. We didn't finish our dolls, but hopefully by next week.

Zoo Animals

We went to the zoo last week with our friends Kati, Drew and Kade. We had so much fun! I haven't been in so long and there were really a lot of animals that were out and about moving around as well as tons of little kids on field trips! But it wasn't that crowded and we had a lot of fun.

Zebras

Okay, isn't this crazy? I can't imagine being pregnant that long! Poor elephants!

We saw a whole bunch of different kinds of monkeys. There were some yellow monkeys and Molly loved them! I don't know how much she could see because some of the animals looked similar to their surroundings, but I think overall she really liked the zoo.

Can you see the alligator?

The tiger!

This is the baby giraffe.

There were two elephants.

Pigtails and Ponytails

Yahoo! Molly has ponytail worthy hair! I finally went out and bought those mini elastics and gave it a whirl. I love my little Cindy Loo Who look alike!

It sticks straight up! Isn't it cute?

And then today we met up with my Ryan and Becky and their little girls at Wheeler Farm. Here's Molly checking out the pigs.

Molly loves Lexie! And all little kids for that matter. I love this pic. It looks like they're just hanging out, chatting and having a good time. Shay is in the other stroller.

We found this little shack/house by this really old tree.

Baby website

Here's a neat website: http://babysteals.com This website has a new baby product each day that's 50-80% off. You only have one day to buy it and the next day has something new! You can sign up for a daily email and each morning you'll see the new item. Just thought I'd let you know!

Hooray!

Welcome baby Laney!

Justin's brother Scott and his wife Brooke welcomed their beautiful daughter Sunday, Sept. 7th! (We were very excited about the date because she and Molly are exactly 11 months apart!) She weighed 7 lbs. 11 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. And she has lots of beautiful dark hair. Everyone is doing well and is now home. Unfortunately Laney has jaundice, but hopefully it clears up soon. What a little angel!


Shelley, Laney, Val, Brooke and Scott. The caterpillar is a present from Val and Shelley.

me and Laney

Justin and Laney

Wyoming:

We headed up to WY so Justin could help bale hay. He got it done in two days! We didn't think we'd be back up so soon, but it worked out well for everyone. Just another short trip and back to life as we know it at home.

Molly was having fun crawling in the grass.

And checking out all of the Halloween decorations that we put up while there.

And here we are doing some more decorating! Shelley is the pro when it comes to staining/re-doing/distressing things, and that's what we did with this table they are putting up on the "shelf" and a mirror.

Share and Tell

Here's a few things I've been up to.

I did this stitchery last year, bought this square frame and painted it black, then I didn't actually put the stitchery in the frame! Oops! I decided to finally do it and here it is! I sanded the edges although its hard to tell, but I think it turned out well. I'm still wondering if I should glue something on to the frame (?) but I haven't had any ideas yet. Let me know if you do!

Moving along...

Here's the scoop on this little piece. I was at Michael's the other day and I was checking out the clearance spot when I saw this. I thought hmm, what could I do with that? (That's a common question I have..."what could I make with that?") Anyway, Justin has occasion to missplace his keys, name tag, wallet, etc. So I decided this would be perfect for a little valet for him!! It was all of a dollar and the perfect size!

So I sanded it and then painted it with two coats. Then I even glued felt to the bottom four corners because I think it will go on a wood nightstand and we don't want it to scratch.

Here's the final product. I also sanded these edges just for fun. Now I know why it was a buck. It's not entirely flat in the middle! ha ha. Oh well. As long as it has a use, it works for me (or for Justin). Hopefully we won't have any more stressful moments in the mornings before Justin heads to work with this little addition.

Now how cute is this little outfit? It's a 12 month outfit I bought for Molly. I made the little clip for her hair at the top right. The outfit has little brown hearts on it, so that's what I did. I used pink and brown felt and my mom even had a pink button. Voila!

And here's a recent family pic we took at Ryan and Becky's after the baby blessing. I just thought I'd throw it in here. Does the wind ever stops blowing in Riverton/Herriman...?

First words and fall

Molly has been saying "dada" for quite some time now. She loves her b's and d's. So lately we'be been trying to practice mama. Yesterday she finally said it! I was so excited.

We are already getting close to Molly's 1st birthday--I can't believe it. Time goes by so fast. Any ideas for a cute theme? I want to see if I can make a cute cake too. So if you have easy cake ideas, I'd love those too! Keep in mind that I am no cake maker. I've always wanted to take those Wilton cake decorating classes, but never have yet. Maybe one day.

~Fall is on its way~

Don't you just love fall? It is definitely my favorite season and I look forward to it every year. I love the smell, the leaves, the jacket weather, and the anticipation of the holidays and time with friends and family. This week the weather has been a bit cooler and it has been so nice! I think I will even dig in our storage bins and find my decorations this year. Last year I didn't bother, but I don't think I can go another year without getting them out. Decorating for the holidays is half the fun, right?