INSPIRATION: a big kid room for the boys

Easton is still in the "nursery" in a toddler bed. The poor kid is going to be 5 this year and I have been making plans to move him into a "big kid" room, but I have been struggling on how to exactly go about it. Last night I stumbled upon these posters, and I cannot be more excited to move along with the planning!  

Since these posters cannot be sold because of copyright issues (and even if they were for sale, I most likely would not have wanted to spend the $ on them) Dan is going to copy them and paint them on 4 separate canvases... very cool if you ask me.

The next step is to get a bed. If Dan has some spare time (ha, ha) I am wanting him to build a bed looking something like this-

 Otherwise I will be spending some quality time with the ad's on KSL.com :)

 I am also wanting to learn how to make my first quilt, and since I have no experience... I thought that something like the picture below, without alot of pieces would be a good starter for me! If anyone knows of some good places to buy fabric for BOYS, that would be awesome.

Since we are the do-it-yourself type on EVERYTHING... it will take some time, but my goal is to have Easton, and eventually Nixon (on a trundle) in the new room by Christmas of this year! Wish us luck...



Posters: michael myers

bed: land of nod

quilt: pottery barn

How to make it to the Pro's in FOOTBALL.

1. Start Instruction While You Are Young.

2.Practice, Practice, Practice

3. Drink Plenty of Water.

4. Don't Get Distracted by Dirt.

5. Play Until it's Bedtime.

valentine's day {2011}

Valentine's day was pretty simple this year. Mostly because of the whole moving thing and alot of our things are already packed, but also because I still feel new to the world of "celebrating". Holidays were very simple for me growing up, and I am a bit inexperienced when it comes to putting things together for holidays. But I am having a blast with Easton being older to enjoy days like this with, and there are so MANY fun and cute ideas online for party-literate girls like me... I may just become addicted!

I really wanted to start some traditions for my family this year.

Tradition #1

 HAND MAKE valentines to pass out every year.  

The holiday started with making Easton's little valentines to give to his friends in his preschool class. Of course the idea wasn't mine, thanks to some facebook friends I knew just where to go to find THIS cute idea to copy. Easton picked out the ones he wanted to make, and totally LOVED them... of course. He is definately my "car dude".

(with moving, I haven't really been pulling out my big camera... good thing I have one on my phone)

Tradition #2

Choose one person to give a flower to.

I helped Easton pick his preschool teacher (Mrs. Bruce) to give a flower to this year. He was so shy about it, but later talked alot about it! I think that is the right way to raise up a boy... and start them early :)

Tradition #3

Fancy dinner with the family.

We actually had our dinner last night (because Dan- of course had to work late on Monday) but I loved it. Very simple. We had a heart shaped pizza, with "wings". But we were all in our sunday best and had fancy dishes with sparkling cider followed by mini cupcakes with heart sprinkles.

Tradition #4

The "Valentine's Man" comes and leaves something special on your pillow.

The boys got a sing-a-majig... cutest things ever!

.home tour

So... we are moving. There is an opportunity to help Dan's parents fix up their duplex that we didn't want to pass up. I am sure that there will be plenty of posts about that in the future :)

I thought that since I had some nice pictures of our townhome that we took for the rental ad, I would post them for posterity.

{Entry}

*any wall that is NOT white, we were lucky enough to paint ourselves.

{Living Room}

*we sold our couch... looks empty without one.

{Kitchen}

*dan built all of the wood trimming, columns, installed the tile backsplash & the lights above the bar.

{Loft}

*dan built the desk, which is yet again a built-in one that stays with the home.

{Laundry Room}

{3rd Bedroom}

*in the 5 years that we have lived in a townhome with 3 bedrooms... we have yet to put this room to good use. dan installed the ceiling fan.

{The Boy's Room}

*we painted, dan installed the chair moulding, the ceiling fan. The toddler bed is from walmart, the crib we found on ksl and painted it black (and uninstalled all the dropside hardware to make it stationary), the rocking chair we got for free from one of dan's coworkers and we painted it black (still needs to be upholstered), the dresser we got from my sister (still needs to be painted black), and dan did all the built-in shelving in the closet... it was/still is a project!

{master bedroom}

*we painted, dan installed the ceiling fan, and he built every piece of furniture in the room and the massive/awesome picture frame above the dresser.

{Basement}

*dan did everything- framing, electrical/lighting, hvac, drywall, flooring. Still needs trimwork, blinds & doorknobs.

To be completely honest, it took a little while for me to really love this home. It will be a hard to leave so much hard work and a little peice of ourselves here, I really do love it now.  :)

Which makes me happy that we are not selling, and that we will be renting it out.

christmas lights---> temple square 2010

Everyone in Utah goes to see the lights on Temple square before Christmas... I LOVE it. We could have stayed all night talking pictures. In fact, it was December 2004, when Dan and I were seeing the lights that we had become offically engaged. :)

My favorite part was seeing all of the nativities from around the world. It inspired me to want to start collecting them for my home! Wouldn't that be a fun tradition? *hint for dan...

new shoes & studio

Yesterday we spontaniously went to the Nike Store and bought the boys some new shoes. It was a blast! Easton actually needed a pair of new shoes, and poor Nixon will never actually "need" a new piece of anything ever, because he is exactly the same size/season for his age as Easton was... the poor kid will have live with the hand-me-down's. At least most of the time.

Easton- shoe size 10                                   Nixon- shoe size 4