{life is good}

I've cleaned both bathrooms, scrubbed the shower, washed and folded 4 loads of laundry, vacuumed, swept, done the dishes, packed for mine and Crew's trip to Denver (tomorrow!), and now I have a sleeping baby and am eating a delicious warm brownie while I blog (sigh of contentment).

I promise I'm not always this productive- but I do try.

Anyways...this post is going to be a random one :)

First, here are pictures of our kitchen table which Lance and I painted not too long ago.

I LOVE it! How did I choose light blue/turquoise? Well, it's just the color

we happened to have left over from painting Crew's room. I love transforming

something by using things I already have.

Here is the cute little shelf that used to hang in my room. I painted it white and now it is the 

perfect place for Crew's books and blankies (and someday for his little backpack)

Second random subject: I made a new year's resolution to read 12 books this year. I have always

loved reading and did a lot more before I was in college but haven't very much since. Well, 

I got right on it and started reading a new book New Year's day. I'm now starting into my 3rd book for the year. I forgot how much I love it!

The first one I read was 

I wasn't very impressed. Very good writing but pure entertainment.

However, I just finished reading Jane Eyre.

And I absolutely loved it! I love books that stimulate your mind. Charlotte Bronte's use

of language is so beautiful! And it wasn't only entertaining, but had so many wonderful

life-lessons as well. I would definitely recommend it. And isn't this portrait of the author gorgeous?

I want to print it, frame it and put it up somewhere.

I'm now reading The Life of Christ by Fredrick Farrer and I can tell it's going to be fantastic.

As for the other 9 I need to read this year, I need some suggestions! What have you been reading?

Third random subject: you may already know that I am a complete sucker for design blogs. One of my 

favorites, Simply Seleta, posts "Wednesday Whites" that are to die for! Here are two from this last week

I would just die to have Crew's room look like this! I am definitely doing the horizontal

stripes when we get a house.

And lastly: Look who got two new teeth! 

He's also figuring out how to crawl. He does this cute little army/inch worm thing. 

He also recently decided that Daddy is his favorite person in the world. Lance works long hard days

and when he gets home,  Crew gets so excited. With me, Crew is not happy unless we

are doing something exciting or out of the ordinary. With Lance, he is happy to just

be on his lap doing nothing! It's so cute. I love my boys!

{Projects}

It's been so fun to stay at home with Crew all day.

I love keeping up on the laundry and dishes and meals.

I know. It sounds funny but it's true! 

(minus the getting spit-up/peed/pooped on several times a day)

Along with all of my mommy duties, I have had a chance to work on some fun projects as well.

First is this huge magnetic chalk board. I really wanted a big one so I found a place online,

ordered the magnetic chalk board in the largest size it would come and then found

a frame to fit it on KSL. The guy was selling 2 gold-leaf frames, each at $75. SCORE! 

I feel like I stole the frames from him. These would retail at over $300 each. 

It's almost as tall as me!

Next, I have had fun decorating our apartment. We got a new rug from Ikea that is 

so soft and nice and a few other accessories. 

We needed an ottoman but I didn't want to buy one so instead I turned our old coffee table

into one. I just painted the base, wrapped it in foam, then fabric and used upholstery tacks to finish it off.

I think it turned out pretty dang cute for $13 bucks! And it's been really nice to put our feet up.

You can also see the side table I scored for $15 at DI and just painted the top white.

 I just love making our house feel like a home.

In other news, look at this adorable baby!

He is so stinkin cute in his little pea coat.

He has been sleeping GREAT at night- regularly going at least 8 hours.

It's the day time when he gives us a run for our money. I think the poor little

guy is just bored all the time. He is very social and is happy as long as there

is someone paying attention to him or something exciting happening to entertain

him. Otherwise, he will just sit and fuss. AH! I'm going out of my mind and

am fresh out of ideas to keep him occupied.

Do any of you moms out there have any ideas to keep the little guy busy?

{Nursery}

I couldn't be happier with Crew's new nursery...

C is for CREW

Canvas wraps I made.

The new chair rail that my hunky hubby put up thanks to a quick lesson from my Dad.

The gorgeous afghan my talented mother made. She is incredible!

I LOVE the color, the crib and the canvas wraps.

This is the rocking chair my mom used to rock me in when I was a baby :) I love thinking of that every time I rock Crew in it. Having a baby has really changed the way I see my parents. I respect them so much and understand a little more how much they love me and want what's best for me.

My mom and I whipped out these corduroy curtains in about an hour and a half. Thanks mom!

For those of you who don't know, Lance and I moved into my parent's basement apartment a couple weeks before Crew was born and will probably be here for a couple of years. We feel completely spoiled! The apartment is nicer than anywhere we've lived and we have babysitters just upstairs! It's been so nice to be close especially with my mom's diagnosis of breast cancer. Crew gets all the cuddle time he wants :) I am also SUPER excited to paint and make any changes I want. 

I am mostly finished decorating the kitchen and family room and then I will post some more pics.

In the meantime, we are just enjoying our sweet little CREW and especially loving these warm summer nights. 

{headboard}

Just before baby came, Lance and I decided to make a new headboard for our recent switch from a Queen bed to a King size bed.

Our good friends Jake and Melissa Garrett joined in on the fun as well!  I dont have any pictures of the four of us working on our headboards together but we sure did have fun :)

I LOVE how it turned out! I have seen headboards just like this in Anthropologie magazines and have just drooled over them. Anthropologie is my favorite :) 

It's not just pretty... we ordered a feather pillow topper off of overstock.com and our new bed is SO stinking comfortable. I just want to sleep all the time! Which has proven to be a little more difficult than I thought with our new little one here. But he's so worth it!

our first apartment

Here is a quick tour of our little home...

The front room that gets lots of Wii action

when we have friends over.

The guest room that I was so excited about having.

It has gotten quite a lot of use and I am so happy.

We love having friends and family over to stay with

us. I never thought I would enjoy being

a hostess so much!

Our little dining area. I had a much

larger counter-height table and 6 chairs

when we got married but... it wouldn't

fit here! Oh well.

Our LOVELY drop in gold stove.

Pretty sure it's an original.

The kitchen is a little small but I love it!

Our office. And new imac computer that

I am so stinkin excited about!

Bathroom

Our bedroom with the lovely quilt my mom

made for us for our wedding. Thanks mom!

And Al, I need to give you back that sign :)

We love our little apartment and the

memories we have already made here!

Let's face it, we live in the ghetto! For example,

drug deals going on in the front yard,

watching the man across the street hit his wife;

not exactly the place you would want to live

long term. But we feel like it is such a fun

adventure for us to start out small and we

are excited to work hard and

see where we can end up.