{Las Vegas 2010}

This time last year, William & I went to Las vegas for a few days with his parents. Here are some pitures from our fun trip :) 

{We stayed at the venetian. It is such a beautiful place!}

{We ate LOTS of yummy food}

{We dressed up & went to see the Phantom of The Opera! Such a fun show}

*me & my beautiful mother in law, Cindy :)

{We went to the Wax museum}

*Indiana Jones & My silly father in law, Joe :) 

*Me & William 

{Cindy, Joe, William, Me}

We had such a fun time! It's crazy to think that this trip was already a whole year ago! Time just slipped away. You know what is even crazier to think about? Where we will be this time NEXT year, with a sweet little baby in our arms. Im anxious to see where this next year takes us :) 

{DIY Doily Lamp}

Yes we finally finished the doily lamp we have been working on for so long :) 

I can now cross that off of my List of projects to finish before baby.

#27 Make a Doily lamp

Here is our own tutorial {with some pictures} on how to make your very own Doily lamp:

You will need Lots of doilies, a paint brush, Wall paper glue & a large balloon

*We had a hard time finding these balloons. They are 36" balloons. 

*I found the doilies at Joannes craft store. It was the only place in town that had clothe doilies!

*I found the wallpaper glue at home depot in the paint section 

{Blow up the balloon to the size you are wanting your lamp to be }

{Hang your balloon from a sturdy surface}

{Paint each doily with lots of wallpaper glue. I really mean LOTS. You want them to be soaked!}

*if you are doing this inside, leave lots of doors & windows open, this project takes some time & the glue smell is awful & strong. 

{Cover your balloon in the glue soaked doilies.}

* Take your time

*This project takes LOTS of patience...Not gonna lie. 

The doilies kept sliding around & falling off... so frustrating. 

{After a few days of drying, Pop your balloon & hang your Doily lamp in the desired location!} 

*We bought a simple light kit from home depot & a large light bulb. 

*We used pink yarn to tie the doily lamp to the lamp kit since we put it in our baby girls room

*ignore the cluttered room, it is nowhere near finished :) 

{& there you go! Your own beautiful Doily lamp :) }

* You may have noticed that through our series of pics, the balloon color changed from yellow to red. The reason being, we didnt let the doilies dry long enough, & when we popped the balloon they all collapsed! Needless to say, we were frustrated. We just put a new balloon in the collapsed doily frame & blew it up & put a little extra glue. We let it sit a few more days. I would say, let your doily lamp sit to dry for at least 3 days, to make sure it is fully dry. & hopefully you wont face the issues we did.

Enjoy!! 

{Wedding bells & 23 weeks}

Our dear friends Travis & Taylor only have 6 weeks left until their wedding! Time is going by so fast. We have officially started the countdown. All of the details for the wedding are slowely coming together & we, as part of the wedding party, are trying to do all that we can to help & make this as stress free as possible for our friends. Arent they cute??>>>

 Sooo... Last night, they came over & we Stuffed, folded, filled, & addressed over 125 wedding invitations. SO much work!! But so worth it :) they are absolutely beautiful! {Sorry the pics aren't that great. Really bad lighting & i was being lazy :)  } 

 We finished this big project pretty late last night, which made us pretty sleepy when we had to get up at 6am this morning to let they guys in to paint our stairwell. Oh ya!! After today, we can cross off #1 on our list of things to do before baby gets here: #1 Paint the hallway & stairwell :) yay!

& speaking of baby, Here I am {in my pjs} at 23 weeks. 

Starting to pop, finally! I definately feel & look ALOT rounder. I have gotten to the point where when i'm walking around at the market, i see people looking at me & i can tell that theyre thinking "I wonder if she is pregnant or just has a little belly" its pretty funny to see peoples baffled faces, & theyre too scared to ask me  :) 

Getting more & more excited to meet our little one everyday! 

Well, happy monday friends! Will update you with pictures of our {finally} finished & painted stairwell! 

{Memories}

Today i was going through some old pics that we found after we cleaned out our storage room & i happened to find this pic from when i was little:

There i am right in front with the bright pink hat, the big smile, the pearls, & holding a baby doll :) This picture was taken at a tea party my mom {in the pic} hosted in 1996. Isn't it cute? 

I always took that baby doll everywhere. I even had a little stroller i pushed it around in. My grandma was always making little outfits for me to dress it in & i thought it was the coolest thing ever!  I loved that doll more than anything! My mom always jokes with me & tells everyone how i used to pretend to "breastfeed" that doll. How weird right?  Its so funny to look back & see how even then, i wanted to be a mommy. 

I'm ready to be a mommy. I'm absolutely terrified, but i'm ready & always have been. I do have my days where i break down & cry, because im scared, but at the same time it feels right.

William & i have a wonderful journey ahead of us :) 

{Projects to finish before baby}

So some of you may already know this about me, but i am a compulsive list maker. I have a strange addiction to making lists. I make LOTS of list, constanlty, for everything. I make list on napkins, on receipt paper, in notebooks, Anywhere! The reason being, i dont want to forget to do something! Making a list makes me feel confident that i wont forget to do a certain thing or get a certain thing. William thinks its funny & gives me a hard time when i come home from work & pull out like 5 different pieces of receipt paper, with different lists on them, of things i would like to get done.

anyways, william & i started one big check list the other day. This checklist is the ultimate list; A list of projects that need to be done before the baby gets here in December.

So far our list is pretty long. {sorry it's kind of messy}  Some of the items are baby related, & some of them are just projects we would like to have done around the house  before baby gets here, while we have time! I'm sure our list will get longer as we think of things we need to do.. & I will be very surprised if we actually finish all of these things too :) We will keep you updated as we slowely cross off items on our list/ add new items.

Finished:

#1 Paint stairwell & hallway

#2 a rug for living room

#3 lamp over dining room table

#7 knobs for babies dresser

#8 paint Canvas for babies room

#9 make burpclothes for baby

#10 burlap lamp shade

#13 update christmas tree skirt

#14 pillows for couch

#20 crochet a baby blanket

#22 make cloth wipes

#23 find a pretty box for wipies

#24 make a doily lamp

#25 finish backyard

#26 mantle shelf for living room

#27 make ruffle butt onesies

 Is anyone else a compulsive list maker?

Happy friday friends :) 

{DIY Pretty burpcloths}

{DIY Burp cloths}

Hello friends! As promised, here is our tutorial on how to make homemade burp cloths. 

You will need:

A sewing machine

Thread

Pins

Fun & pretty fabric

Clothe diapers

Ribbon

For the Cloth diapers, i bought a pack of the Gerber "flat fold"cloth diapers. They came in a pack of 10 for $10. {@ Target}>>

Step 1: Wash your cloth diapers & your fabric. It is important that all fabrics used are preshurnk before sewing. This way, when it is time to truly wash them, they dont shrink to silly sizes :) 

Step 2: Iron your fabric & Cloth diapers so that they are easier to handle while sewing >>>

 Step 3: Fold a cloth diaper in half, & pin all edges. { I folded them in half so they would be a little thicker}

 Step 4: Using your sewing machine, Sew all edges of cloth diaper.

Step 5: Cut your pretty fabric to the size you want. Fold the edges of the fabric under, evenly, as you lay it on top of the already sewn cloth diaper. {If you have a hemming tool, this will b much easier}Pin all edges of your fabric to the cloth diaper, the fold on the bottom.

Step 6: Sew the edges of your fabric onto the clothe diaper.... & Voila! You have yourself a pretty burpcloth :) 

{You can also sew ribbon onto the clothe diaper, instead of the fabric if you want}

{Or you can make ruffles from fabric & lace & sew them onto the clothe diaper}

{I like the ruffle one the best  :) its so cute & girly!}

There you have it folks! DIY pretty & unique burpclothes! 

{Original tutorial found here}

I have only made three so far. I plan on making LOTS more within the next couple of weeks :) 

{Begginnings of Clothe diapering}

Remember the promotion that Fuzzibunz is having that i told you about a little while ago?

Well, William & I took advantage of this promotion & ordered a set of 6 diapers of our color choice! They arrived in the mail yesterday! Aren't they cute? 

{Yay!!}

In order to get our 2 FREE diapers, I went to Fuzzibunzstore.com & printed out the rebate form. I then cut off all the original UPC's from each diaper package {The barcode on the back}. In an envelope, i put all the UPC's, the rebate form & a copy of our receipt & sent it to the address they listed. Within the next couple of weeks, we should have 2 more FREE Fuzzibnuz arriving! So easy & so worth it :) 

We purchased the "One size" Fuzzibunz. With the one size Fuzzibunz, your baby can wear them from the time they are a new born until they are potty trained! Saving you LOTS of money while keeping your little one comfy. In order for this to work, each Fuzzibunz diaper has a sizing system installed. On the legs & waist there are adjustable elastics. & the buttons on the front have a wide connection range. The next few days, we will be resizing the diapers we got to the "Newborn size" so that they are ready for when our peanut gets here!

Do you have any Cloth diapering tips?Or questions about what you have seen so far? 

Well friends, Happy Wednesday!! 

{Choosing the right Diaper wet bag}

I have been looking at different supplies i will need to have since we are going the clothe diapering route. One thing we will be needing is a Diaper wet bag. I have been researching alot of different types & brands & the brand "Planet Wise" keeps popping up. It seems to be a good reliable brand. I am also looking at the different wet bags that Fuzzibunz has... so many options!

In case you dont know what a wet bag is, i'll explain it. First of all, a wet bag looks something like this:

{Planet Wise Diaper Wet Bag on Amazon}

A wet bag stores ur soiled clothe diapers until you are able to get them home, clean them out & put them in the washer. They zip up nice & tight & are lined with a leak resistant lining. So they really are quite handy. Amazon has quite a few different brands & styles, & with our amazon prime account we get free shipping, so, im planning on purchasing one through amazon.  :) {Do you love amazon prime as much as i do?? or am i just crazy?} 

Do you know any other brands of "wet bags" that i should be looking into before i make my final decision & purchase? please let me know! I am open to your input & advice :) 

{A doily lamp & Burp clothes}

We have so many projects we would like to finish before our little girl gets here! Sometimes, i feel like there is just not going to be enough time. But, were taking one day at a time & accomplishing as much as we can :)

This week, I chose two projects to work on: Burp clothes & lighting for the nursery.

{Tutorial & image found Here}

This is a tutorial i foundthat i am absolutely in love with! I bought the Gerber Clothe Diapers from target. 10 of them for like $10! I got some fun fabric on sale at Joannes {I love their leftover scrap bins :)  }  Hopefully I can finish my first batch of Burp clothes by the end of the week. Will be posting pics soon! 

{Tutorial & Image found Here}

William & i started this project a couple of days ago... it has been a fun yet hard project. It is still drying, but once it is comletely finished & hung, we will post pics & our own tutorial :) It is really quite beautiful. 

As you can see, these two projects alone are going to  take up quite a bit of time. But it is totally worth it :) We will be posting soon about a few more projects we're working on, we have lots!! 

Do you have any special projects you are working on/wanting to work on for your baby? your children? or your children in the future? I would love to hear about them :) 

Happy Monday :) 

{Thursday: update on baby}

I don't really like to write about sad or scray things on here, but i know that you like to be updated as well.

~~~~~~~ 

Last week we took a trip to Colorado to visit my grandparents. While we were there i had a couple of moments where i had extremely sharp pains in my lower abdomen, right in the pelvic region on the left side. They were so bad that i had to bend over and put my hands on my knees in order to breathe. We didn't really think much of it though. 

Then this last thursday, I was getting ready for work & those awful pains came back, 10 fold!  I could barely stand up. I was crying like crazy & didnt really know what to do. William was very worried. I still went into work & tried to start my shift like i normally would, but it was impossible to hide what i was feeling. My boss sent me home & told me to go to urgent care immediately. William was in the middle of a class & was not able to leave so i called my mama & she went with me. Urgent care turned me away & told me to go to the Emergency room.. this really scared me. I have never prayed so much in my life as we rushed to the emergency room. I was even more scared when i had to tell the lady at the front desk what was going on, that i needed help, & i that didnt have maternal insurance. {we're still trying to find some sort of insurance} She could tell i was panicked, & was very kind & they immediately put me in a wheel chair & took me up to the OB section of the hospital. They hooked me up to a fetal monitoring machine, that would check the babies heart rate & a few other things. I cried & cried because i didnt know what to think or what was going on.. 

long story short, we found out that i had somehow torn the round ligament on my left side. This round ligament is what holds your uterus in place during pregnancy. We also found out that the pains i was having were Contractions, very early contractions. & the reason i was feeling them so intensely was because of that torn ligament! They are kind of worried about the fact that i am already having contractions big enough to be sensed on a fetal monitoring system.. but they told me i will b ok & i just need to be careful not to injure the ligament any further.. It was a relief to hear that, for the most part, everything was ok. I had the scariest thoughts running through my head! But our sweet little girl is going to be ok. our prayers were answered & our Amazing God helped me find comfort in a time of panic. When we were leaving the hospital I asked the nurse how much we owed them since we dont have insurance, & she just smiled & said "you owe nothing, we're just glad to see that you & your baby are ok"  I started to cry again.. what a blessing.

Please continue to keep our little family in your prayers. I'm hoping we don't have any more scary situations like this any time soon. but if we do, I know that our God is a mighty God, & with his help, we will always get through even the scariest & most difficult situations.

"For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.." Phillipians 4:13

{The Help}

Have any of you read the book The Help ? It is one of my favorite books! I just recently saw a preview for THE MOVIE at the theatres & i literally almost fell out of my chair with excitement :)  If you haven't read it yet i would definately recommend it. Im hoping that the movie will do the book justice.  Planning on seeing it sometime next week! 

{image found on  google.com}

Happy Friday!  :) 

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{Fuzzibunz sale!}

As you may already know, William & i have chosen to do clothe diapering & the brand we have chosen to use is Fuzzibunz. Every month we buy one Fuzzibunz diaper. They are kind of expensive, so that is all we can do for the moment :(  {They will save us a ton of money in the long run though!}  I just found out that Fuzzibunz has a special promotion going on right now, & i thought i would share it with you, if you are interested. When you buy 6 Fuzzibunz diapers, perfect fit or one size {We get the one size}, you get 2 Fuzzibunz diapers free!! for us, this is good news, & hopefully it is for you too!! I guess the two free Diapers are a "Mystery" print though.

 HERE is the link to one of the sites that is honoring this promotion. It has instructions on how to use the rebate form as well :) Enjoy!

{A visit to Colorado}

Hello Friends! Again, i have been neglecting my blog, but again, i have good reason :) {I always do} 

William & i took a trip out to Bayfield Colorado to visit my grandparents. They live near Lake Vallecito. It is so beautiful up there! I grew up going to visit my grandparents every summer my whole life! We are very very close. So it is always so nice to go visit them again, its almost like going home :) Here are a couple of pics from our short trip:

 {My Grandparents! Can u tell were related? :) } 

{We played lots of poker}

{My Grandparents little church. They have been going here for as long as i can remember!}

{At the Schank house in town}

{Uncle Butch, Grandma, Grandpa, William, & Me!}

It is nice to be back home, although we really do miss my Grandparents.... & the mountain air, & the cool weather, & the relaxed life style :) Now it's back to the grind for us!! 

Happy Wednesday!