Master Bedroom Accent Wall

Well yesterday I finally painted color in our bedroom.  I've wanted to do it since we've moved in but have struggled trying to figure out what color to paint it.

I felt like we needed to have a comforter first (we've been using a quilt Wes' sister made for him), so that we could pull a color from the fabric.  

Well, Happy Birthday to me!  I finally got one!

(It's actually a Duvet cover, found new at Goodwill.  Sweet!).

Then came the tricky part of picking which color to choose from on the fabric.  

Out of all the colors on the blanket I picked the green.

And then I brushed a few strokes of paint on the wall and asked myself, "Why?  Why am I always drawn to the ugliest greens?"
 Seriously!
What. Is. Wrong. With. Me? :)

After picking the color I noticed that the comforter AND the picture above the bed BOTH have a graphite gray in them.  WHY?  WHY DIDN'T I PICK THAT COLOR?  :) (I'm totally not yelling, just maybe expressing hair pulling feelings).

But thankfully, I actually like the color now after finishing the wall.  

Here it is all finished.

Sometimes with paint I guess it just takes being a little brave.  

Living Room Accent Color and The Beginning of a Fence

I've been wanting to add color downstairs for SO long. 

Today I finally did!

I thought I had a before picture of the stark white walls in our living room but I was wrong.

So AFTER painting I went to millerpaint.com virtual painter and edited a picture back to whitish walls.  :)

Here is the "before" picture.

Haha!

(At least you get the idea.)

So white!

  Just begging to drive me crazy!

Anyways, I went with a color I thought would match my curtains.

I bought one quart.

So not enough.

I had to go back to the paint store...which of course is like 20 minutes away.

It was worth it!

Now onto the fence.

Wes' project.

We currently have a four foot cyclone fence.  

It's the best type of fence ever!  

(If you want all your outside activities viewed by every single person walking/driving by or all your neighbors.)  

We really don't love it.

Like I said, this is Wes' project and I plan on being completely hands off.

However, I also plan on going outside every few minutes to ask him if he is sure he knows what he is doing. :)

(He's incredibly patient with me.  If the tables were turned I would have probably just started loading the wood back up into the truck preparing it to go back to the store after about the 3rd time being asked if I knew what I was doing).

 Daddy's helper.

And this is what we have so far for a fence. 

Can't wait to see it PERFECT (because seriously it needs to be, no pressure Wes) and completed in a couple of months. 

30 Before I'm 30

Well late last December I thought I would give myself a bucket list of 30 things to do or accomplish before I turned 30.

I was super excited about the idea, some of the things I've done before but wanted to do again and some things were first timers.

I knew I technically only had 10 months to finish all 30 things and I also knew I had a limited amount of money to work with so my list is slightly less out of this world as perhaps it would have been if I gave myself 10 years to accomplish it.

Here is the list:

1. Learn more spanish
2. Finish All Georgette Heyer books
3. Take a dance class
4. Go to the temple 12 times
5. Go Kayaking
6. Climb Mt. St. Helens
7. Put a 100 more miles on my bikes Odometer
8. Grow red tomatoes
9. Get piano tuned
10. Go on vacation by myself
11. Try Spray Tanning
12. Try Zumba
13. Take a belly dancing class
14. Pay off private student loans
15. Hot Air Balloon Ride
16. Fish the Columbia
17. Try snowboarding
18. Learn basic American Sign Language
19. Go Whale Watching
20. Bench press a large number? :)
21. Buy a pair of boots
22. Paint bedroom
23. Go fly fishing with Wes as guide
24. Rock Climb outdoors
25. Go to an Archery range
26. Get concealed weapons permit
27. Paint all three bathrooms
28. Do 30 days of service
29. Go to music concert with Wes
30. Learn to knit

With three optionals:
1. Get my haircut by a professional
2. Stay off of Facebook for three months
3. Can my own canned food

Then I found out I was pregnant two months into my plans and SO MANY things had to go out the window.
Here are the things I did do though.

4. Go to the temple 12 times
5. Go Kayaking (My midwife rocks and totally approved this activity).
7. Put a 100 miles on my bikes odometer.  (I got just barely over a 100 miles and haven't touched my bike since.  It might be because I was already past 20 weeks at the time).
8. Grow red tomatoes.  (So far every year we've tried to grow red tomatoes and have had to move before they turned red or the weather turned too cold before they turned red.  This was an exciting year for us!)
11. Try spray tanning.  (Turned out laughably bad).

12. Try Zumba
21. Buy a pair of boots.  (My first pair which I've worn like three times).
25. Go to an archery range.  (So fun!)
27. Paint all three bathrooms
28. Do 30 days of service. (This was my favorite one.  I spent everyday in January doing something out of the usual to serve someone else. It was so rewarding).
1. Get my hair cut by a professional.  (my sister, who technically is a non-practicing professional has always done it for me for free.  So I thought I would try to be grown up a little and actually pay for a hair cut at a salon).
2. Stay off of Facebook for three months. (I did this almost.  I got on a couple of times to quickly post things so I'm counting it).
3. Can my own canned food. (I loved and hated this one!)

So I only got 13 things done on my bucket list...I was hoping to at least get half way there.  But every time I put a star next to one of the things I did do, it felt so great!

Do you think it would be cheating if I just added 10 more bigger and better things, to the list and called it my 40 before I'm 40 list?  I hope not because I'm totally planning on doing it.  I already have a few things in mind that I really, REALLY want to do.  

Can I also just note that whale watching is totally off the list now.  I bought tickets to go whale watching and was so EXCITED!  Then when I told just about anyone that knows me really well, they were like, "Seriously?  Brandy you get so sea sick!"  Whoops, I totally forgot about that.  :)  So I will have to add something to take it's place.  

Let's see what I can get done in 10 more years!

33 Weeks with Hyrum

Here I am, 33 weeks along with Hyrum.  

33 weeks 3 days with Kinsley

 33 Weeks with Sadie.

6 and a half more weeks!  

Hallelujah! 

Living Room Entry Table

Okay so in APRIL I blogged about making an entry table from a dining room table, just as a reminder here is the post.

But I didn't like the finish on it so I set out to sand it down and restain it and put a protective coat on it.

That was April and it's September and I've finally finished it.

Wes, said something to the effect the other day that this has been my never ending project.  Or maybe he was just saying it has taken me a really long time to finish and I just inserted in my mind that he meant, never ending, as in "Are you ever going to get this out of the garage?"

Part of the hang up was that I didn't know what stain I wanted to use or paint.  In our living room we have black wood trim on the couch, cherry stain on two chairs and a cherryish walnut on the piano.

I was leaning towards painting it black but seriously after sanding it down, it seemed like a waste of time to just paint it black.  So finally I just picked a stain I liked and guess what, it doesn't match anything.  :)  Someday though, I want wood floors and I want them to look more rustic like the stain I picked.

Here it is, all done.

 It has a little bit of a distressed look, mainly because I was sick of sanding and didn't sand away all the imperfections.  I like it this way though.

I still haven't found anything to put on it.  Today, two sets of girl shoes, a notebook and a toy were resting on it...  Someday it will have "THE PERFECT" home decor on it, you know the kind that totally ties in with the rest of the room, the kind I have no idea how to assemble. ;)  But for now I guess cute little girl shoes are better than nothing.  :)

Novalee's New Bed

Adding Hyrum to the family means adding a bed.  

So we bought one off of a local facebook page from friends. This is actually their picture of it.

We were really excited about it having a built in bookcase because Novalee is a collector.  Really it doesn't matter what, she likes it and she likes to keep it...FOREVER. :)  

She especially loves her journals/diaries.  And she recently started reading books on her own so this was perfect.

Novalee was a little disappointed because it didn't really fit her sense of flair.  I promised her it would be awesome if she would just give it a chance.  She agreed and was actually pretty excited.  

So we got it and it sat in our garage for about a month.  I'm awesome like that.  :)

Then I finally primed it and spray painted it purple to match the bunk beds.  And added scrapbook paper Mod Podged to the back of the shelves.  

Here it is all done, sitting once again in the garage.  

 And finally in her room!

 Do you think she has enough stuffed animals? 

 I've been wanting to try out putting a different color on the back of a shelf for a long time.  I'm glad I finally got the chance.  

Sadie's 3

Three!

So often I think about the future.  

When such and such happens and when so and so is this age.  

Then it happens and I'm caught off guard.  It happens so fast!

 How is Sadie three?

I'm not sure either.

But she is. 

We had a small family birthday party for her on Sunday the 8th.

 Kinsley waiting for the party to begin and wishing she had one of the balloons on the canopy. 

We also blew up balloons and put them in the trampoline enclosure. 

 Sadie had so much fun jumping in it with balloons.

 Doesn't that look like fun!

I might need to do it again after I have Hyrum just for fun! 

 Lately, anytime we have a party Novalee gets herself all dolled up.  

I wasn't ever really like that but I love that she is so girly.  

I love that all our girls are so different.

 Uncle Jeremy was in town from Rexburg.  On Saturday he came to Sky High with us.  I think Sadie holds him in a special place in her heart now. :)

 Papa Larry with Kinsley.

Oh Jared.  We love you!  It's okay, your birthday is just a couple months away.

 Could she be any prettier? 

 Sadie picked out her own birthday cake this year.  

Mainly because I had no desire to make one...someday.

 Things are getting messy 'round here.

 Efforts to get a decent shot of my family.  

I tried.

I really did.

No hope AND they were warned I was going to take a picture.

 Holy Mess Monster!

 "What the problem is?"

 Present time!

 Jared and Novalee were so helpful!

 Novalee has a really cool talent of getting anyone excited about anything.  She really just gets into it, even if it's not her thing.  She definitely had Sadie so excited about every birthday present she got.

 Little thief sneaking in while Sadie is distracted. 

 Ummm, we've had this Mickey toy for over a year taking up space.  I'm so glad we finally got to give it to her and she still liked it.  Sometimes I get things way, WAY too early.

 Kinsley liked it too.

On Sadie's actual birthday the 9th, Wes got a present too.

Welcome to the family Trooper!