Family Pictures 2009

Our friends, the Gardunia's came over for dinner a week or so ago and Charlotte took some family pictures for us. She is a very talented photographer and I am happy with the shots that we were able to get (it's very hard trying to get a cranky baby to smile at 8:30 at night!)

Thanks Charlotte!!!!

It's not too late!

I am still filling orders for Christmas!!! They are going fast so if you'd like one by Christmas send me an email!! h.m.graf@hotmail.com

Large girl's eye-spy (purse) $12
Large Boy's eye-spy $12
Christmas eye-spy $12

Each one has 20 items hidden inside to find and they are gender or theme-specific.

Shipping per item $4.95 flat rate (it's priority, so it will get there within 4 days!)

Brotherly Love

These are the best pictures I could get of two wiggly children! Olivia loves her brother and Brady loves his sister- what more could I ask for? They have the sweetest relationship! She is always wanting to sit beside him or sit on his lap. In fact, in this picture I was originally trying to just get a cute picture of Brady but Olivia climbed on his back and then started giving him kisses!

On this night I was letting Brady stay up a little late because Chris was gone overnight on a business trip in Boise. I know that I don't spend enough one-on-one time with Brady because usually when Olivia takes her naps I am working on my medical transcribing courses. Anyhow, I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to have fun with my little boy.

I asked him if he'd like to play a game of checkers and do you know what he said? "I'd sure be delighted to mom!" (melt my heart moment!)

He sure is a cute kid!

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!

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.