trimming the tree & christmas 2013. part 1.

we enjoyed another beautiful christmas at our home in idaho falls.  

chris took the kids to the mall one afternoon while i was hosting shawnae's bridal shower and they got to meet santa (i don't think zach wanted to sit with a strange man he didn't know)-

           

brady and olivia brought home lots of christmas crafts from school-

i enjoyed decking out our home in lights and decor.  

chris helped hang lights outside, which was the first time we've ever done that!!!  

i wish we got a picture of the outside of the house all lit up

the family room where the stocking were hung by the chimney with care

we always decorate the tree all together for a family home evening

 

the kids participated in the primary christmas program at our church.  

it was so adorable.  brady was a shepherd and olivia could choose between being a cow, a lamp or a donkey.  she told the primary president that she was going to be a kitty or she wasn't coming. so...she was the stable kitty cat.  oh, olivia!

(brady third in from the left, and olivia center/right)

(do you like the christmas socks she insisted on wearing?!)

the adorable mary & joseph

we enjoyed christmas morning with our little family and uncle bryce who was living with us at the time.  we had a smaller christmas this past year since we did so much remodeling to the house.  the kid's big gift was the trampoline which we scored on a black friday sale with the enclosure and tax-free in montana over thanksgiving (only $179!)  they were very patient waiting ALL THE WAY until LATE spring after we moved to tooele, ut to set it up!!

the kids are allowed to open their stockings first, which was a tradition i grew up with and then everyone wears their santa hats, which is a tradition chris grew up with.

this is a cheesy face but uncle bryce enjoyed christmas morning too.  he even got a stocking!

zach really enjoyed opening his presents this year-

it was a great christmas morning.  later we enjoyed a big breakfast and played with new toys before heading down to burley to chris' parents house for a big family dinner.

Fall & Thanksgiving Decor.

I was so excited to decorate for fall this year!!!  I LOVE fall: all the colors, smells and the change in the season.  Last year we were in the middle of packing our house up to move so I never got to decorate for fall. 

In fact, we moved into our house 1 YEAR AGO!!!! 

Isn't that crazy?!?!  I don't know where this last year has gone, it has gone by so fast!  It has been a very busy but very wonderful year for our family.

My mom got me this set of Thanksgiving figurines a few years ago and this is my first year using them- they are so pretty on the mantle!

 

 

These are some of the pillow I made: 

the rust-colored square pillow, fall leaf pillow and below,

the tree with fall leaves pillow

                 

                    

And last of all, the pretty berry vines that I bought with some of my brithday money to decorate the plant shelves in the living room

I must be crazy...

...because I was SO EXCITED to mow our lawn for the first time!!!

Sadly, I have tendonitis in my upper bicep/shoulder so Chris has mowed the lawn the last two times (what a guy- he's allergic to grass and has a huge allergy attack every time he mows!)

Does anyone else love to mow???  It was especially exciting mowing MY OWN yard for the first time!  VERY SATISFYING!!!

A home that now lookes lived in!

I am BEYOND excited to have the landscaping in the front of our house done. These aren't the best pictures as I took them the night after we finished but at least it's proof that we accomplished this task, and in only 1 week! I think Chris and I were an excellent team and it makes me feel so proud and good every time I turn the corner and into our driveway! Now I love the inside AND the outside of our home!!!

(MORE pictures to come later...when the grass is greener =)

We chose to keep it simple but fill it in enough so that it didn't look bare. Next year we'll add some more perennials and I'd still like to find some nice rocks/boulders to incorporate throughout. The perennials we planted are: feather grasses, white candytuft, blue buttons, emerald gaiety, purple feather grass, hinoki cypress trees, sea green juniper bushes and sandcherry shrubs. I'm still looking for a few more plants but for now I'm really, really pleased with the results!

Room #3 Complete....Master Bedroom!!!!

My bedroom is like a tranquil getaway! Every night when I go to bed I can't believe that this is actually MY room (well, OUR room!) It feels so cozy and wonderful!



Because I am a bargain shopper, all of our furniture has come from yard sales, craigslist, second hand stores etc. (except for our bed, which we got a KILLER deal on from my cousin who sell them!) Anyhow, because of this need to find inexpensive furniture, I've collected various colors. I am happy with how all of the colors came together in our room. I think what was the final touch and brought everything together was my new curtains though...which I made!!! I LOVE THEM! One drape flanks each side of the bed...



On the left side of the bed (Chris' side) are some framed photos from our wedding and a wedding gift that I drew for him of our hands with a poem:

This is what you see when you walk into our room:

The wall on my side of the bed is still blank (there is a picture that I am seriously coveting at Target right now but it's $100), so I think I may try to do a painting or some of my photography on a large scale to go there....

Room #2 Complete...The Kid's Bedroom

I LOVE the kid's room! I painted Brady's bed a chocolate brown and distressed it and I think it came out awesome! Eventually I'll put the ladder on, which will be painted red. That probably won't be for a while though since Olivia loves to climb ladders!


We did promise Brady that when he turns 5 and goes to Kindergarten he can sleep on the top bunk! By that time next fall I'm hoping Olivia will be ready to sleep on the bottom bunk so we can take her crib down and they can have more room to play!



Above Brady's bed there is a sign my mom gave him that says "I Love You to the Moon and Back!" That's a little saying that they have always told each other!


This is a "Idaho Cowboy" collage that my mom and Brady made while she was here visiting this fall! Brady spent hours cutting out little pictures with her! We love it and it's really fun to look at while I sing him songs at night.



This is Brady's "special shelf" with all of his "cowboy and indian stuff." A while back he and I made these "special tins" to keep his cowboys and indians and his jack in. We made them out of formula tins, scrapbook paper, mod podge, ribbon and fringe. I think they're pretty cute- and useful too! (There's nothing better than something cute, useful...and organizational!!!)

I also made a treasure "box" for Brady out of a protein powder container. It houses all of his junk, uh, I mean treasures! Such as scraps of fabric I throw out, nails, scraps of wood, string, stickers, random pieces of paper, fishing lewers, erasers etc. You name it and he probably has it in there! he's one funny kid! Every now and then I have to dump it out and throw things away (things that he won't miss!) Shhh! Don't tell him! Gotta make room for more "treasures!"

This little wall is dedicated to my little antique stove that was my Great Grammie Abbott's. I love this little stove! I grew up playing with it and lovingly restored it with my Dad for a Young Women's project. This stove is what actually gave me the whole idea of doing a "vintage" cowboy/cowgirl room for Brady and Olivia when I knew that they were going to be sharing a room.

For Christmas they are getting lots of vintage finds to "cook" and play with! I already have collected quite a few enamelware cups and saucers which are on the brown shelf above the stove.

Olivia's side! I am still getting her some letters to spell out her name and I have a beautiful piece of art from a friend in Maine that I'm trying to find a frame for (so more pictures to come).

Lastly, I made this little frame for Brady to be able to showcase his latest masterpieces! I took a frame that I had bought at DI for a couple of bucks and some ribbon that I already had and stapled it on the back of the frame. Then I used clothespins to attach his artwork!

The kids love their bedroom and I can't wait for Christmas to give them all of the little toys I've been finding and making! They're going to have so much fun together in there!