Room #1 COMPLETE!!!!

I decided to show our livingroom/great room first because this is obviously where we spend most of our time. I am really happy with the way this room came together. I feel like it's cozy and warm yet spacious and open at the same time! The vaulted ceilings give it such a feeling of airiness and all of the colors make it very welcoming!

This is what you see when you first walk in through the front door:


As you turn to the right we have a large coat closet (which I LOVE...never too much storage space!) I decorated it with Christmas ribbon and some of my favorite cards. I'll put all of the cards and pictures that we get in the mail on here too!

Next to the coat closet is the built-in bookshelf/cabinet where we house all of the components for the tv. I think this will be where I put most of my seasonal decorations:

Top shelf: I found this adorable nativity scene at the DI the other day for $1.00!!!

Middle shelf: All of our Christmas books (we get one every year from GG and Papa Morgan, my grandparents!) Also, a wreath that Brady and I made last Christmas out of his handprints! A small Willow Tree nativity scene that Chris gave me for Christmas a few years ago and a sign that I bought at the Dollar Store and painted red.

Bottom shelf: My FAVORITE nativity scene by Willow Tree!!!

Continuing on the right side of the entry way is also the fireplace and Chris' new baby (his Samsung flatscreen plasma tv...story about that later!) As for me, I like the fireplace...I guess that would be my baby! Compromises, compromises =)

(I made this cute "countdown to Christmas" with some of my friends at a craft night)

This is the entry way and great room looking in from the dining area:

My cute little white bench fit perfectly right in the entry way which meant a lot to me because I really wanted to use it in our house since it was my Grammie Hayford's and I've had it in my room ever since I was a teenager.

To the left of the entry way I have some bookcases that I'm still undecided about. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to paint them black. Above them I have made this arrangement of photos (inspiration from my fabulous sis-in-law Nickie and with help from one of my other wonderful sis-in-laws, Chelsae...she's great at holding a level!)

The red lamps were a birthday gift from my mom a few years ago.

A close-up of the decorations on the plant shelf:

The livingroom looking into the diningroom:

And other close-ups:

One room down!!!

Olivia- 16 months "Miss Sassafrass"

My baby is 16 months old and she suprises me with new things everyday! I took these pictures a few weeks ago and finally decided that she deserved a post!

Some of her new words and things she says: (don't let her fool you- she may not talk very much but she knows a lot! I've had a lot of friends tell me that they couldn't believe when she just blurted out a word like "baby" because they'd never really heard her talk!) At home she jibber jabbers all of the time but it seems that in public she prefers to just "sing" (la, la, la!!!)

pizza (peez-a!)

apple (appo)

banana (nana)

snack (nack)

drink (dwink)

eat

water (wateh-wea)

I love you (I ya oo)

Grandpa (dampa)

Grammie (dahm-ee)

Annie (brady's little friend who Olivia loves!)

uh-huh

uh-uh

sorry (saw-ee)

I see you (I see ya)

beep beep

nose

shoes

socks

pretty or pretties

tubby

yummy

do it

okay

yeah

no

"Miss Sassafrass"

• I can't believe how much she has changed just in these last couple of months! It's different having a little girl and watching them grow because their hair changes and they look so different in each stage! I'm very excited to be in the "pretty ponies" stage, although someday I'm sure I will hate doing her hair! Right now we love getting ready every morning and playing beauty parlor!!!

• When Olivia is thirsty or hungry she goes to the drawer in the kitchen and gets out a cup or a bowl. If she's thirsty she then puts the cup up to the water dispenser on the fridge (which we keep locked) and she tries to get the water from there! It's really cute

• She also is one slick little dickens and she somehow knows whenever the office door is open. If I can't find Olivia then I know she's in the office typing on the computer!

• She loves to climb on everything and keeps me on my toes!!! When we were unpacking she was constantly crawling in and on boxes and grabbing anything that she could get her hands on that she knew she wasn't supposed to have.

• At prayer time Olivia either sits on her knees or on her bottom and crosses her arms and smiles as she looks around waiting for the prayer. Usually she only sits still for about 5 seconds but it's so cute how she knows hot to get ready for prayer. She also says "amen" at the end and looks around and smiles proudly at everyone!!!

• She is quite the little imp and when she's doing something that she knows she's not supposed to do she'll turn around and look at you with a devious little grin. It's precious...but...ooh, that girl is a rascal!!!

We love her just the same and enjoy all of her smiles and laughter. She brings softness into our home and a precious sweet love.

Let me take you on a little tour...

Before I show pictures of my decorated house I wanted to take pictures of all of the little details inside of the house. It is all of these details that really make our house the home that we love!!!

The kitchen:

I LOVE my white sink and the contrast between it and the faucet!!! I think it really pops in the kitchen as a pretty and simple focal point. What I really love about all of these details is that everything is very streamlined and simple, very classic and beautifully contrasted with all of the colors!!!

The dining room chandelier...ahhh!!! Gorgeous!!!

There are two of these pendants that hang from the vaulted celing all the way down to the bar

Great Room:

Fireplace, mantle, built-in bookshelf, niche for soon to be flat screen tv....

Entry door, oversized coat closet (never too much storage!) and beautiful, beautiful floors!

Ceiling fan in the great room

Arched doorway to the hall that leads to bedrooms and guest bathroom- also you can see the plant shelves

Master Bedroom:

I love our tray ceilings- they totally make the room feel special!

Door, door knobs and moulding detail

The view from the bedroom into the master bath. Garden tub, his/hers closet, double sinks etc.

Each of the bathrooms have the same towel rods and rings as well as sinks, faucets, framed mirrors, tile, cabinet hardware and sinks.

Looking into our master bathroom: built-in shelves and recessed toilet area. I love how much natural light this bathrrom gets with the two small square windows that we added!!!

Double-sinks (before the mirror was hung)

The Guest Bathroom/Kid's Bathroom:

The Kid's Bedroom:

Both the kid's bedroom and the office have these double closets

In the office we added this built-in desk for my sewing and crafts

Thank you for joing me on this tour- hopefully you will come again in another week or so when I post pictures of the DECORATED and LIVED IN home!!!!

We moved in last Friday and we are LOVING it!!!!

Sneak Peak...

So these last few weeks have definately been torture as we've been awaiting the move into our new home! Every time we go to see the progress we just don't want to leave! It's an amazing feeling knowing that you and your spouse designed and created a home that never existed before! We have such wonderful builders who did such a fantastic job!

We feel so blessed to be moving into our first place, especially since we got to choose everything about this home and no one has ever lived in it before. It truly is OUR HOME!!!

Closing is scheduled for this Friday morning! WE CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

Our new home!!!!

Hopefully many of you will come through this door!!!

Our front door will always be welcome to family and friends!!!

Come visit us soon!!!!

My little pony...

Dear Olivia,

Today is a happy day for mommy!
Thank you for letting me "make your hair pretties!"
You are my sunshine and I love you so much!!!!

Love,
Mommy XOXO's


I've been waiting to be able to put Olivia's hair into a cute little pony tail! She loves having me comb her hair in the morning and calls it "my pretties!" Whenever her clippies or bows fall out fo her hair all I have to say is: "Where are your pretties?" and she goes and finds them!

Her hair curls up too in the back with some assistance from some curling spray (thanks mom!)

Having a little girl is so precious!

Halloween...

I usually LOVE Halloween and thinking of what our family can be because we always have a theme. Two years ago we were the Flintstones and last year we were Popeye, Olive Oyl, Wimpy and Sweat Pea. So this year since Brady has been obsessed with Star Wars I was so excited to plan and make our costumes! I thought they would be so easy! Well...turns out they weren't as easy as I thought they'd be to make and I spent HOURS making them!

I was overall pleased with how everything turned out except for my Princess Leia wig which I stayed up for hours making and it just ended up looking terrible. I searched every store that i could think of (since it was too late to order online at that point) for a replacement but could find nothing, not even a brown wig with long, straight hair! So I ended up settling for a Cleopatra wig that I made buns with the best I could. Even Brady pointed out to me that "Princess Leia doesn't have black hair mom!!!"

On the way to our ward Trunk-or-Treat/Chili Cook-off I laid chris' costume on top of the crockpot so Livy wouldn't see the lid to try and lift it (BIG mistake!!!) I guess I took a few corners a little too fast (as Chris told me to slow down!) and the chili spilled all over the back seat AND Chris' costume! I was so sad...there was nothing that could be done- it had to be thrown away! Since I didn't really think that I looked good I didn't even bother taking a family picture. Very, very sad! Maybe a few years down the road we can try the Star Wars theme again!

Brady and Olivia posing right before we left for the Trunk-or-Treat. It was quite the ordeal getting the green make-up on Olivia's face and by the time we got to the church it was all rubbed off!!! She was a good little Yoda even though everyone kept asking us what "his" name was! Brady would say, "HE is a SHE!!!" Poor girl- next year she can be something really girly!

A few nights before Halloween we went down to Burley to Chris' parent's ward Trunk-or-Treat. I lent my costumes from previous years to Chris' parents and we thought they looked pretty cute!!! I think his parents would make the perfect Barney and Betty Rubble though- that would be a fun costume sometime and we could go on on a "double-date!"

Yoda and Wilma!

This is the best picture we could get!

I hope everyone had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN and enjoy the last few weeks of fall!!!