Where have I been?

These last few weeks have been so busy! There are so many projects to finish up before baby gets here. Some days it seems as if the time left just drags on and on and on. Then other days it goes by so fast and I'm just left thinking to myself, "Holy cow. Only a little time is left!!"

I went to the dr this past Friday and everything sounds good. I go back in two more weeks and then I start going every week. Baby is so active all the time. Sometimes it's right when I want to sleep he decides it's party time! Ugh! That's just annoying!

Since my last post we celebrated Jaxon's 2nd birthday. He's such a big boy! I gave him his first hair cut too! That really made him look older. I have so many pictures that I need to post and pictures of projects we have completed too. I still need to post pictures from Levi's birthday and Christmas. I've said it before that I keep this blog as a journal for myself as well and it seems I've slacked off a bit here lately.

I think we have the baby names narrowed down to two but who knows for sure. This might be one of those situations where we have to see the baby before we can give him a name that is set in stone. I'm super excited to meet this baby though. I love him so much and just want to hold him in my arms.

Come back soon for pictures galore on the kids and the projects we've completed.

Shine! 2012 YW Theme

I was recently called to be the 1st counselor in the Young Women's presidency at church. I am loving this calling! I told Matt that maybe this is Heavenly Father's way of letting me have daughters since I don't have any of my own...yet!

One of my first assignments was the New Beginnings program. My wheels started turning and of course I turned to Pinterest for ideas. Every year the girls are given a gift from the Presidency. I found Desiree over at The 36th Avenue that came up with an amazing idea for her Young Women. I showed this to our YW President and she loved it except we decided to do bracelets instead.

The theme for 2012 is "Arise and Shine Forth" so I decided to put "shine" and "2012" on each washer.

So I got to work!

You can click each picture to see closer.

I purchased these washers at Lowes. The two bags cost about $6 total.



I used this stamp kit that one of our other members of the presidency already had. I followed Desiree's instructions and laid the washers on our garage floor. I hit each number and letter about 3-4 times each with a hammer.










This is what the washers looked like when I finished. I took a Sharpie marker and filled in the numbers and letters.



I found some cute charms at Michaels and added those for color. The chains I purchased at Walmart for $3 each. I was able to make several bracelets out of one chain. I made 24 total bracelets though.

Here are the finished bracelets. I love them! Each one is unique in its own way just like each of the Young Women.



Each bracelet cost about $1.50 each to make and for 24 that's pretty stinkin' cheap! I hope the girls love them!

I'm 28 weeks!! {Rutabaga}

I'm now carrying a rutabaga?!? What the heck is that? I have no clue that's for sure! But I guess that is the size of baby now.

Since my last post about the baby we found out that we are NOT having a girl as we thought. I had a sono at 20 weeks and this baby is for sure a boy! I will admit that I was really REALLY sad at first. We really had our hopes up that we were finally getting our baby girl. But it is not up to us what we get. Heavenly Father sends us what we are supposed to have and I know that!

After crying for a day I got over it and I am so thankful just to have a healthy and strong child.

The only problem with having another boy is that we have no name. When Matt and I got married we picked out 2 girls names and 2 boys names. That was the plan of how our children were supposed to go. So we're working on finding the perfect name that feels and fits just right.

I started breaking out in hives at night while I sleep. That's just annoying! This happened with the other two pregnancies at the exact same time. I take 2 Benedryl pills every night so that I don't get these huge welts all over. Towards the very end of my pregnancy this allergy goes away. Strange! And it only happens while pregnant! My body is so weird!

I have been horrible at taking pictures along the way. It doesn't help when you have two other kids that you're chasing around. But here is a picture of me two weeks ago at around 26 weeks. We were in a hurry to leave before church so I'm sorry for the blurry pictures.

Laundry room quote

I have been busy working on the laundry room re-do. It looks like a totally different room for sure. While it's not the laundry room of my dreams it is 10 million times better than it was before. One of the little touches I put in there was this quote:



This quote is so true in our house! With two little boys and another on the way I am constantly doing laundry.

I made this in Microsoft Publisher and printed it out on regular paper. It took all of about 20 minutes to make.

If you would like this for yourself then leave your email address in the comments and I can send it to you.

Here are a few more with different backgrounds

Chicken Spaghetti {Yum!}

My husband is not a fan of chicken spaghetti. Except for this recipe. It's the only recipe that I have made in our 7 years of marriage. I figured if he likes it why do I need to find something different?!? I can't remember what magazine I ripped the page out of that I have in my recipe book so I won't take credit for this.

It's seriously that good! Enjoy!

Printable version

1 lb thin spaghetti
1 can (12 oz) canned chicken
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 ½ cups shredded Cheddar
1 small onion, finely diced (optional)
¼ cup finely diced green bell pepper, drained (optional)
1 jar (4 oz) diced pimientos, drained (optional)
1 tsp seasoned salt
black pepper to taste
⅛ to ¼ tsp cayenne pepper, to taste

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Boil spaghetti noodles until they are soft. Save 2 cups of the water used to boil the noodles. Place the cooked spaghetti in a sprayed 9 x 13 dish.

Add the cream of mushroom soup and 2 cups of the shredded Cheddar. Then add the onion, green pepper and pimiento if you are using those ingredients. Add the seasoned salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Take it easy on the cayenne if you can’t handle the heat.

Add the canned chicken and 2 cups of broth. Stir together well, then taste to check the seasonings.

Top with the remaining ½ cup of Cheddar. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.

I do not add the onion, green bell pepper or pimientos and it still tastes so yummy! I also add 1/4 tsp of cayenne and the spaghetti isn't too hot for my 4 and 2 year old.

Ironing board storage

I'm so glad that the holidays are over. It's my favorite time of the year but after it's all said and done I'm just wiped out! We had a busy month between Matt and Levi's birthday, our 7th wedding anniversary and Christmas. In between it all I did have time to find a way to hang our ironing board in the laundry room.

I went to Pinterest and found my inspiration from The House of Smiths. She has a Silhouette but I don't.

If you aren't lucky enough to have the Silhouette vinyl machine then I'm going to show you how to make this the old fashioned way. Maybe someday I will buy a Silhouette!

I made this out of an old pallet that I grabbed on the curb. I had Matt pull off the pieces that I wanted to save for future projects. So here's what I started out with.


I read online to wipe the board down with bleach to kill any bacteria so I did just that.


Once the bleach was dry I filled in the cracks with white wood putty.


I let the wood putty sit for a few hours to dry really well and then I sanded it down to make it smooth. Here's the part that doesn't require a Silhouette. I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased the stick on letters for about $1.50. They have tons of choices so pick out what you like. I cut out each letter and placed it on the board to get an idea of where I wanted them to go. I did draw a line across the top in pencil to make sure I put the letters on level.

Once I had an idea of where I wanted the words to be I painted 2 coats of primer and then 2 coats of semi-gloss white paint. After the paint dried I carefully pealed my letters off and placed each one on.

*Tip* If you have a letter that starts to come up put a light coat of glue on the back of the letter and glue it down. Some of the corners of the letters started to peel up but after a little glue they're perfect again.


Before I show you the finished product I added picture hooks to the back of the board. But I didn't have any picture hooks so I used soda can tabs instead. I used pliers to bend the top of the tab out a bit and then put a huge glob of hot glue on top.


Here it is all finished. I purchased the two hooks from Walmart for $3 each. I did have Matt cut the extra wood off. This measures 18 inches long.

Now I just need to find an ironing board cover that I like and I will almost be done with the laundry room re-do.


Linking up to:
Craft-O-Maniac
Chic on a Shoestring
Beneath My Heart
Thrifty Decor Chick
Tutus & Tea Parties
Home Stories A to Z
House of Hepworths

Jute Christmas Trees {Tutorial}

Hello! Hello!

I hope your weekend was awesome. We had fun with our family this weekend. We celebrated Levi's and Matt's birthday. Tons of fun! The pictures will come soon.

Last week I posted pictures of my Christmas vignette. I showed you the picture of my Christmas trees that I made. They were pretty simple to make and I thought I would give you a tutorial on how I did it.

I wanted the look of the trees that you find now in Target or Pier 1 that are made of twigs. I couldn't find a picture of what I'm talking about but I know what I wanted in my head. Anyway, I wanted the look and texture of those trees but didn't want the cost.

I purchased 2 pieces of poster board from Dollar Tree for $1. I followed the instructions at The Creativity Exchange for making my cone.

Once I had my cone made it looked like this. The cone is about 23 inches tall.

You can click on each picture to see closer.


I purchased jute from Walmart in the hardware section. I think it cost about $1.50 for a roll. Depending on the size of tree you make you may need more than one roll. At 23 inches one tree took one whole roll of jute.


I poured glue in a bowl and used a paint brush to brush the glue on the tree. I only did a little section at a time because the glue will dry quickly.

Starting at the top of the cone I twisted the jute around the cone.


I didn't want the tree to look too perfect but I made sure to cover up as much of the poster board as possible. So I just worked my way down the cone.


Once I was finished wrapping the jute around the cone this is what it looked like.


I let the glue dry for a few hours before I did anything else to the trees. I didn't want to keep it this color so I spray painted it with gold spray paint I used on a different project.


I absolutely love the way they look on the buffet. They have the texture I was going for and it was super cheap to make. At a cost of around $3-$4 depending on the size of your tree it is a better option than spending $30-$40 on the same look.


This picture makes me smile! Have a good week!