A little more "Create!"

This is the ugly eyesore that was once in our kitchen...then got moved to the outside. It is soooo weathered and worn. It is warped and sad. We are having a baby shower here this weekend; so I had the idea to paint it. Just so it wasn't so disgusting. Usually I cover it with a table cloth. Anyway, here are the steps.

Step One: Start with wretched table.

Step Two: I decided to find a picture to stencil onto the table. My printer wasn't working...so I ended up drawing it free hand.

Step 3: Prime it with Kilz...hoping that the dry-rot dies.

Step 4: Work out with my buddy while primer dries. (See video below.) He actually tried to follow along most of the workout.

Step 5: Paint the table a baby blue color.

Step 6: Trace the stencil onto the table...then begin to paint the outline. I used the yellow leftover from my bright yellow door, but toned it down with some cream paint.

Three hours later and three coats later. Isn't it lovely!

It will be much nicer come Sat. for the shower and for the rest of Spring for outside eating. The whole time I painted I was humming this tune.

"I often go walking in meadows of clover,

and I gather armfuls of blossoms of blue.

I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over.

Dear "Sammy" all flowers remind me of you."

Then I cried a little when it was done. For some reason today I missed our first baby. Maybe it was the baby shower prep. Maybe it was because when I think of her I think of flowers... maybe because I used to sing this song to myself right after she died...and somehow it made me feel better. Who knows? But I will smile and maybe cry sometimes when I look at this table. It is so strange how emotions can come to the surface for no apparent reason. But they do. And today they did.

Question. Should I repeat the painting on the left side of the table? I had planned to just do the half, but now I don't know.

Valentine's Day 2012

V-day was good this year.  I spent the day with my little boyfriend Spencer. (Not to be confused with Corissa's little boyfriend Spencer.)  We cleaned and napped together...went to Fry's to get some ingredients etc.  The kids had heart shaped sandwiches and school parties. They showed me their cute little valentines and candy when they got home.  Then we had a few friends over to share in our growing tradition of heart shaped pizzas.  It was kind of last minute, but it was fun to share with someone.  In the end...I burned the pizza and didn't want to take the time to make them heart shaped.  They were still wonderful though!  I really liked the new chicken/spinach one! We will have to remember to do that one again.  We also had chocolate waffles with ice cream and whipped cream.  Thanks for coming friends.  Thanks for bringing your cute little faces and yummy food. 

Thanks for marrying me Jake. You are the perfect Valentine. We exchanged cards and kept it simple.  Good day!

Isn't Jake so handsome!

Corissa and Spencer

Shelly and Ron

Making the chocolate waffles.

Enjoying the dessert.

Yummy homemade pizza!  

I am AWESOME!

Spencer told me he had an "awesome idea!"  He was talking about his footwear.  He is such a little hoot!

Enchanted Island

So forever a go...a few of us in our ward bought a groupon type thingy to a place called Enchanted Island.  I wasn't super excited to go because it was a long drive and I figured it would be ghetto.  However, we went today at it was sooo much fun!  There were no lines and it was the perfect size for my age kids.  The people there were so nice and we had great company with friends from our church. It even included lunch.  Here are some pics.

The bumper boats were Spencer's favorite ride. 

I think this roller coaster was another favorite.  Spencer kept telling me he was "awesome, and big."    Yeah for a fun Saturday! Yeah for dealchicken.com too.

Superbowl

I had to blog about our Superbowl Party just because this picture is soooo cute!  I love my little Weston and he has realized he has great friends who live right across the street.  They love to wrestle, and play Beyblades and play sports!  What more do you need when you are a 6 year old boy?

No one really wanted their picture taken. So this is all I have. We had a few families over last weekend and had LOTS of great food and fun together.  I watched the half time.  I think it was a good game to boot!

I wish I could take credit for these cuties...but it was sweet Elizabeth Brown.

C means Create

My Mother is wise; she always has, and will be.
When she was a young mother in the throngs of lots of children and chaos...she decided to create a creed if you will.  It was her...
CPR.
C stands for create
P for Prayer
and
R stands for reading.
I have been a little out of balance lately in my life.  So I thought I should start with the CREATE part first.  I started out making the above little craft for Jacob on Valentine's Day. The cost was 0 dollars.  I had the frame and took out the cheesy bridal photo of me.  I just printed the words on cute scrapbook paper and make the rosettes.  (My favorite part are the Flowers.) Super fun and it is a place we can take a dry erase marker and write little love notes and thoughts of gratitude to each other. 

Next I decided to make something for the kids for Easter.  I know I am early...I should have said Valentine's day.  I really thought I needed to give myself lots of time...I don't know why.  I had forgotten I like to start and finish projects quickly. 

I found this fabric at SAS for 2 bucks and loved it.  So I thought since this was my first dress I should keep it simple.  I just bought a clean white t-shirt from Walmart and cut it off mid waist.  I made the heart applique by making ruffles and sewing them onto a white backing fabric.  Then I just made box pleats in the skirt and attached it to the shirt.  I added a sash to tie it all together and compliment the boys ties. The sash also makes it fit really cute. 

Last I saw a tutorial on Pinterest.com that showed me how to make little boys ties from scratch.  I thought it was a lot harder to use the satin than the cotton.  I recommend the cotton. They were simple though and look cute on.  You just attach a button or Velcro on the back and you're done! Check back around Easter to see our cute little family matching for the first time!  I am so excited!

The best part of doing crafts for two days...I didn't have to shower and I had an excuse to let other household things go.  I promise they didn't get their feelings hurt and they were still there and ready for me when I was done with the fun stuff.  It was nice to do something that lasted longer than the dishes or laundry too.
 Do a craft ladies.
 Create.
 Paint.
 Write a story.
Blog...
I know you all PIN like crazy!  Take a week to do some of it! 
Then next week I am focusing on the READING! 
Thanks mom for your wisdom.  I had a great week! 

Spoiled Rotten

I am so grateful for the opportunity to BLOG.  I know that sounds silly; but let me explain.  Blogging has reminded me to take pictures of things.  I KNOW I wouldn't take half the photos...if I didn't think I could put them on the blog.  I am also grateful because it makes me see my life differently.  I notice small, silly, funny things and want to take a second and remember them.  I am also reminded each time I look through all the pictures again...how blessed and exciting my life really is.  This week I get to realize how truly spoiled rotten I am.  What scares me...is I found myself bored and ungrateful at times this week.  Why do I do that?  I have soooo much, but don't mind wanting more.  I want to be happy with the simple, mundane things...not just keep busy with the crazy fun stuff.  I am going to try really hard this week to keep it simple, and to be happy and peaceful with the simple life. 

So this last week...I was having a Horrible, no good, ROTTEN kind of day.  I was feeling sorry for myself and wanting to "get out!"  I knew I still had a free dinner to Benihanas...so I kind of FORCED everyone into the car and out to dinner.   I hadn't really given much thought to tired, cranky kids either.  Anyway, Benihana's is in Chandler...so we had to drive there...then there was a 50 minute wait.  I knew we should just leave, but I had already psyched the kids up too much.  So Jake left with Spencer and fed him and took him to target and I got to enjoy dinner with Aubrey and Weston.  They really were great...but I was exhausted by the end of the night.  We got there at 6:15pm and left after 8:30pm...so long dinner.  I shouldn't have pushed to MAKE it happen...but I did.  I do love the food there though...and the kids really LOVED it in the end.  Jake...in the car with Spencer...not so much.  I'm sorry honey!


Before Spencer left!

Later in the week me and the kids went to LoLo's Chicken and Waffles.  My cutie patootie friend Corissa says it is her FAVORITE so we just couldn't pass it up.  I was again solo with the kids...Jake had a work dinner.  It was really fun to be with this group of people.  I am loving them all!  The chicken really is delicious!  Fattening....but delicious!

And last, but not least...some more spoiling....Sat. I got to go to Last Chance with some girlfriends from our ward.  Beth swears by this place.  Anyway, I had never gone before and I was completely blown away with how BUSY it is!  People are crazy.  I was happy to find a cardigan that I have been looking for....for months to match a certain Goodwill dress.  It was lots of fun and I love these ladies too.  Again, I ate delicious food and enjoyed my time without kids...for this trip.  I must say....after 3 times eating out in 1 week.  Plus...not eating sugar...so that means actually eating TONS of other fattening stuff (to make up for my sugar urges.)  I have officially gained 6lbs!  Not in one week...but WAY too fast.  The exclamation points don't mean I am excited by the way...they are just shock exclamation points!  (To be fair...I had told myself that maybe I should gain a few lbs because we are trying to get pregnant...and I thought that might help.  I was just shocked to see how easy it is to gain weight.) 

Spirit Week

The kids school had a "Spirit Week."  My kids had a blast dressing up for different days of the week.  I should have gotten pictures of every day...but these were my favorite ones.  On the left we have "crazy hair" and then the other weird ones are supposed to be "100 years old" to celebrate being in school for 100 days so far.  I think Weston looks like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite and Aubrey is just plain too realistic...haha! 

Family Karaoke Night Continues....

So we did a little TENNIS and KARAOKE this weekend.  I was excited to get some pics of Jake and I in honor of the BIRTHDAY KARAOKE night that I NEVER want to forget.  Anyway....here are some!

Our CUTE friends.

First we went and played tennis with the Huber family. It was fun and we all need to do it again so that we can actually get good.   Nuff said.  We came back to our house and had smoothies and yummy cheese and crackers.  Everyone sang...then the kids watched a movie and we sang and sang.  Even Ron graced us with a song or two.

The kids LOVE karaoke.

Oh yeah girls! Don't you just love our tennis outfits?

Shelly is always fun to be with; and sing with....that is just too much fun!!!

Shelly and myself.  Cute boys in the background.

Fun night for sure.  My kids were soooooo tired the next day!  When are they gonna be old enough to stay up past 8 o'clock?  haha

Middle Aged!

This is kind of a mixed up post about my birthday.  Sorry I don't have more pictures of what REALLY went down.  First off...let me start by saying my actual celebration was more on Monday.  So let's begin there.  Jacob (my Jake...I call him Jacob when I am loving on him....) Well, Jacob wanted to make me FISH TACOS for by birthday dinner and have some friends over to celebrate.  So we got all the supplies and prepared half the day.  Jacob said I could invite over TONS of people, but we had just had a girls night a few days before and I didn't want to be stressed about cleaning and stuff.  So we just invited over two friends...the Allens and the Smiths.  I texted the ladies of the family and asked if they liked fish tacos and BOTH said NO!  haha  It made me laugh.  We decided to do Cafe Rio chicken burritos for our guests...but still attempt the tacos.  I really wanted the fish tacos!!!
We rented a Karaoke system that you get online and borrowed the speaker and microphones for Grandma and Grandpa Watkins.  We had so much fun cooking and prepping.  Jake and I are kind of silly when it comes to getting ready for guests.  We LOVE it!!!  Anyway, the families came over and we ate the AMAZING food.  The ladies even LOVED the fish tacos!!!  Then we sang karaoke to our hearts content.  Then we ATE some more amazing food...homemade sweet cream ice cream and brownie sundaes.  It was a wonderful day and evening.  My kids are sooo funny singing too.  They love to sing.  I wish I would have recorded some of the performances. 
So now onto my REAL birthday.  The day started out kind of annoying (lady stuff...) so I was feeling quite lousy most of the day actually.  Kids were in school and I just hung out with my buddy Spencer.  We had a family party that night for my niece Cicily who has some health issues.  Make a Wish is sending their family to Walt Disney World to celebrate her life.  Anyway, they also planned a little BBQ/party for the extended family that night.  So we went to the park to have a family party.  I didn't know quite what to expect but they had a lady there...named Jungle Jill and she did a wonderful job showing our kids LOTS of cool animals.  I kept thinking what a great way to spend my birthday...seriously!  When you are mother there isn't anything you want more than to see your kids happy, engaged and NOT fighting.  The night was great.  My kids are still talking about THAT HUGE TURKEY!  Weston was super interested and wants to have all of the animals when "he grows up."  Anyway, we ate dinner and everyone there was nice and remembered it was my birthday too. 

Aubrey holding a guinea pig

Spencer holding "Tiny"

Weston holding some rabbit...that looked kind of like a lion.

So onto the night. After trying to get the kids to bed...in what seemed like FOREVER...Jacob and I could finally do what we REALLY had been looking forward to all day!!! And what do you think it was????

KARAOKE! (You thought it was something else huh!)

  In honor of me and my love of singing. Jake said we could sing ALL night long....and we did. For about 3 1/2 hours we sang. We sang duets, pop songs, country, rock, oldies but goodies and I even ended the night singing sappy ol' Broadway show tunes. We kept looking at each other like...."we are such nerds aren't we?" But we didn't care! We would just bust out laughing...then sing some more.  It was soooo much fun. I kept saying..."I should take a picture....or record this. I want to remember this night forever!!!" I didn't though....we weren't dressed properly. My favorite part was when Jacob...(my sweet) dedicated a song to me and sang it...I actually cried the whole time. Sorry if anyone is still reading this LONG post...but these are the words and I loved it! I was imagining he wrote it just for my birthday. 

Making Memories of Us by Keith Urban.

I'm gonna be here for you baby
I'll be a man of my word
Speak the language in a voice
That you have never heard

I wanna sleep with you forever
And I wanna die in your arms
In a cabin by a meadow
Where the wild bees swarm

And I'm gonna love you
Like nobody loves you
And I'll earn your trust
Makin' memories of us

I wanna honor your mother ( this is when I started to cry)
And I wanna learn from your pa
I wanna steal your attention
Like a bad outlaw

And I wanna stand out in a crowd for you
A man among men
I wanna make your world better
Than it's ever been

And I'm gonna love you
Like nobody loves you

And I'll earn your trust
Makin' memories of us

We'll follow the rainbow
Wherever the four winds blow
And there'll be a new day
Comin' your way

I'm gonna be here for you from now on
This you know somehow
You've been stretched to the limits
But it's alright now

And I'm gonna make you a promise
If there's life after this
I'm gonna be there to meet you
With a warm, wet kiss

And I'm gonna love you
Like nobody loves you
And I'll earn your trust
Makin' memories of us. 

I went to bed that night feeling peace and happy.  I am a "middle aged" woman.  I am dealing with crazy hormones, growing children and all that comes with being a mother, and wife in her THIRTIES...but I have SO much to be grateful for.  Especially my wonderful man.  I love you Jake!!!

So the NEXT day my birthday continued.  Some of my dear friends in our church had a luncheon for me and for 2 other ladies that had a birthday this week.  We ate CAFE RIO and chit chatted.  I really am so lucky to feel so loved and at home here in Mesa.  Love you girls!  I was itching to buy myself something for my birthday...the vacuum although much needed...just wasn't enough for this selfish lady....so I took my birthday money that Norm and Sue gave me and headed to the mall.  I might even post me in my outfit at another date.  I got some cute jeans and a few tops!!  I love to shop!!!!! 

Crystal, Alice, Beth, Jeanne, Tina, Me, Ashlea  (b-day girl), Sabina,Amber, and Corissa!

Me, Tina and Beth

 So that is the end of my birthday post.  I forgot to mention going to my free lunch at Liberty Market too!  When I write it all down...I feel super blessed.  Yeah for being middle aged and happy!!!