basement progress: the hoarder corner

we've been chipping away at this corner of stuff for a looooong time.  lots an lots of time spent down here going through all of these boxes and determining the fate of the treasures inside.  last night, we cleared the floor of the last of this stuff, most of it going in our favorite bin that we've lovingly named "lanyards."  even abigail likes to make jokes about that bin.  anyways, as always, i still have some stuff to put away and things like this are always a work in progress and require maintenance because life happens and our needs change, but this is a huge, huge milestone for me.  

before:

after:

and

our stuff seems to have multiplied.  not just in our basement, but in our entire house.  i walk around our house and can't believe how much more stuff we had than just three years ago when we moved in.  and i look at pictures of our house that i took just even one or two years ago, and am stunned at the difference.  this can't just be me, right?!  do other people experience this?  and will it keep getting exponentially worse with each kid that we have?!

anyways... progress.  we're making it happen.

Randoms

Happy six months to my Brady boy!  I've been meaning to write a six month post but things have been busy and I haven't yet. Hopefully I can crank something out in the next day or two.

Highlights of today, 

we got AC. It's cold enough that we actually haven't used it yet but I feel good that we got it. I won't lie though, part of me is super sad now that I'll no longer be able to tell people our house doesn't have AC. For some reason I really loved that. Maybe I love that we live in Colorado where AC is actually optional. 

Brady had OT this morning. He may go back for one more appointment at the end of next month. But I may just email his herbalist... Um therapist (thanks, autocorrect) about his progress and decide it's not necessary. One day I'll finish that post about his arm. But basically, I'm really happy about this. 

My honey hates Wells Fargo. And he came home with this funny story about how the people there think he's really poor.  Maybe I'll tell that story sometime too. But at least this is enough to jog my memory about it. 

Abigail woke up on the wrong side of the crib after nap today and spent the majority of the following hour crying. The first part she was crying so hard she could barely get out the words to try to tell us what she wanted. It was a little sad but maybe honey and I had tears in our eyes from trying not to laugh. 

Abigail says the funniest things and it's getting harder and harder to keep track of it all. My favorite from tonight was "Brady has food on his belly!"  Maybe he was shirtless and maybe this has a little something to do with nursing and that she calls my chest "Brady's food" (her name, not mine. For the record, she never asked what it was, she just decided it all herself). So Brady's little pudgy belly now has "food" on it. Christopher didn't get it at first until I explained it to him. And I'm being just slightly vague here on purpose. Also, honey told me that tonight Abigail was in a hurry going potty so when she rushed out he asked her if she wiped. Apparently she turned around with a "dangit!" said in exactly my tone of voice. I found it more amusing than my Christopher. That's my daughter for sure. 

On our way home from OT, Brady and I stopped to pick up more Zantac and then went by Walmart for a few things. It is absolutely astounding how fast I can go places with just a baby in an infant carseat!  Freedom and ease!  

I'll be in Atlanta a week from now. Ridiculously excited about that. 

I'm a little nervous that I'm going to die running the peachtree. I'm also a little nervous for my pasty skin to be subjected to the powerful beachy sunrays. I have not prepared adequately for those two things. 

I made french onion soup tonight!  It is something I've wanted to make for a long time... like at least a year... But I was too I intimidated (and I didn't have ramekins) so I never did. I finally decided to suck it up and just try it and that it would be perfect for me to make for my honeys birthday. But we'll be celebrating with his family one night and going out to eat just our family on Friday night so I just made it early. It was delish and I ate til I was nauseous (of course). And since I had already caramelized the onions (I made the our best bites spinach pizza that needed caramelized onions) then it was really quick and easy to throw together. If you're going to take the time and effort for caramelized onions, at least make it worth your while and do a whole ton of them. Anyways, this recipe was from pioneer woman and I'm definitely going to make it again. I won't lie, I feel pretty amazing that now whenever I am in the mood for French onion soup or creme brûlée, I can just make it!  And not spending $6-8 each serving at a restaurant is pretty nice too. Makes my day. 

harold the helicopter

AC guys!

pioneer woman french onion soup!

trying out different cheese options because i'm too cheap for gruyere.  i forgot to take a picture of it out of the oven... and didn't remember til these were all eaten.

our best bites pizza.  except i didn't have naan so it's on regular premade pizza crust.

"brady's got food on his belly!"

clouds

so yesterday, there we were... hanging out on the patio... enjoying the perfect weather.  i was laying on a towel, sunning my legs, playing trains with abigail when...

"i see clouds!"

"yeah?  what color are they?"

"they're brown!  and white!"

"what?"

"yeah!  i'm gonna go look at them!"

and then i discovered what my color-knowledgeable child was talking about.

i laughed out loud at that one.

and then seconds after this picture was taken, she fell head first over that fence... in between two fences of chicken wire.

covered in grass and holes in the leggings to prove it.  and i can't get her to give up those snow boots.

 

spring and summer finally came!  i can't say enough how much i looooove those cows grazing behind my house!  oh so happily situated indeed.

no time

i can't believe how non busy my life was in california.  i couldn't believe it at the time and i definitely have a hard time believing it now.  maybe it was because i didn't have to devote any time to my calling, my kid(s), or my house.  well things have definitely changed and now i have to put stuff like "eat" and "go to the bathroom" on my to do list that i get to when i have a few free minutes.  never thought i'd be scheduling that sort of stuff but apparently my life has come to that.

aaaannnnnddddd brady just woke up.

scriptures and sleep are next on my list.  can't wait for that.

our cozy christmas - take two

12.25.12 - just our little family of four

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guest room

We got furniture forever ago but I don't know that I ever posted pictures of our guest room. I call it my Jane Austen room because of the view. I love it.

Ps- the nightstand is on the far side of the bed. What sort of lamp would you put there?

thanks again, ashley!

back in may... we got a king bed.  our whole marriage we'd just had this metal bed frame with boxspring and mattress and while it was great... it looked a little awkward in our big master bedroom.  i knew i wanted a hefty wooden headboard and footboard and i convinced honey that it needed to be a king bed because of the dimensions of the room.  it's a really wide room and the way the windows are placed on either side of where the bed goes... it just was kinda made for a king bed.  so after it was delivered, we got it all set up and i was THRILLED.

except that i couldn't seem to find any bedding in my price range that i liked so our bed has always looked a bit sad.

i got king sheets and pillowcases for it but finding a bedding set wasn't happening.  i bought several and tried them out on the bed but nothing looked right and they all went back to the store.  i've seen stuff i like online but haven't ordered anything because it can't be returned (dangit you potterybarn.com clearance) and i'm worried i won't like it how i haven't liked the others i've tried.  

so then yesterday morning i was thinking to myself... holy cow... it's been six months since we got this bed and we STILL don't have bedding for it.  i just need to make this happen.  i think nesting is giving me anxiety in this way... there are soooo many loose ends with our house that i just want taken care of.  we've lived here for 18 months... i just need to hang pictures on the walls already!  anyways... less than 20 mins later i'm on facebook when i see a notification pop up and BAM!

my prayers are answered.  someday i'll do a whole post about the bounteous gifts ashley has bestowed upon me.  for today though, we'll just focus on the bedding.

 

 

 

 

my current view

so let's recap...

before

then

now 

my life is too good for me.