Laundry Room Makeover

I've always been frustrated with how big our laundry room was, but how really non-functional it was too. So after doing lots of space planning, and being inspired by this room, I finally decided it was time to do something about it.

I bought my paint a while ago, but painting a functioning laundry room is not an easy task. It involves painting a wall, moving large heavy items, painting, moving, etc. Lucky for us, we had a pipe burst in there about 2 weeks ago, which forced the contents of the entire room to evacuate, and we took full advantage of the situation.

I didn't take "before" pictures until the furniture moving process had already begun.

SEMI-BEFORE .............................. AFTER

View from the door

We removed our old (dumpster diving finds) metal shelves and replaced them with wall-mounted wooden shelves. These act as an extension of our super tiny kitchen pantry. We also painted and added a new rug.

The upper shelves that run across the whole room are all higher than 7 feet off the ground, and are for our longer-term food storage. Jake built all of these and he did an AMAZING job.

Washer & Dryer Area

We (Jake again) added some shelves above the washer for detergent and basket storage. I also made new charcoal & white curtains (that match the new rug)

View out the door

Here you can see our new drying rack and another view of the upper shelves. We also added an ironing board hook on this wall.

The only other thing planned for the room is a small chest freezer that will go next to the dryer.

Yay for completed projects!

Sammy Boy

This is Sam.

Today he is 2.

And he knows it. He's been practicing his 2-year-old behaviors for about two weeks now, and he's got them down. My sweet, quiet, snuggly baby now has OPINIONS. And he lets you know about them LOUDLY.

His strongest opinion: Food should not break into 2 pieces (ie: crackers, sandwiches, etc.). Why? Because it is DEVASTATING. That's why.

Also, sisters should not take things from his hands.

Another 2-year-old behavior: His sweet "Nah" to say 'no' to something is now "NO!", and used a lot more frequently.


The good news, is that I can still see my sweet boy under all that two-year-old stuff. I can still get him to snuggle me, he still loves his nap and his blankets, and he loves to climb on my lap and read books. His current favorite is "Hey! Wake Up!" by Sandra Boynton.

He's also got a major obsession with cars. It started before we even had cars in our house for him to play with, and has only gotten more intense as the cars have come in. His favorites, of course, are the Cars cars. He can spot that merchandise anywhere - near or far, big or small - you can count on Sam to point out cars wherever we are. (Wait until you see what he gets for his birthday. I'm pretty sure that every single thing we got him has a car on it.)

So we will endure the 2 stage. Luckily, I've been told by my kid-twin* that it doesn't last very long, and that he'll come out of it better than ever.

So happy birthday little boy!
We sure do love you.

See Sam's birth story here.
See Sam turn 1 here & here.


* A kid-twin is someone who has children with identical personalities to yours, but like a year ahead of you. They're super convenient to have because you always know what to expect with your own crew. Sam's "terrible 2s" phase was forewarned to us months ago (although very hard to believe back then).

First Day of School 2011

Sophie was anxious and ready for her first day back in preschool. She's in the same school, same room, but with a new teacher. Luckily her bus driver was the same as last year, so getting to school was very familiar.

INVENTING . . . a Duet!

Sophie says "inventing" instead of "presenting" when she has a big introduction to make. I'm pretty sure it's a combination of the words "introducing" and "presenting".

So without further ado, INNNNNNNNVENTING: A DUET!

Fire House

We took a trip to the local fire house yesterday for a tour. The firemen showed us all around the station, and the tour concluded in Sam's most favorite place ever - a room full of big trucks.

Sophie Writes a Book

Sophie wrote her first book. She drew all the pages separately, showed me the order they go in, and helped me add a front & back cover.

Sophie and Sam Melt
by Sophie


Sophie and Sam melt.

Sophie and Sam melt and melt.

Sophie and Sam melt and melt.

Sophie and Sam melt and melt.

Sophie and Sam melt and melt.

Sophie and Sam melt and melt.

Sophie & Sam get tiny.

The End.

Vacation Recovery

We're back from a WONDERFUL vacation to San Diego, and now we're in recovery mode. Catching up on sleep, doing laundry, sorting through everything we managed to stuff into our van, and figuring out exactly what we did with our time before last week.

We stayed for a week at one of our favorite locations: Coronado Island. Jake and I vacationed there by ourselves 3 years ago, and had decided that it would make a great place for a big family vacation. So we recruited Jake's whole family to come along with us this time and all stayed together in a big beach house.

Part I: The Beaches

Coronado has 2 beaches: A "kid beach" in the bay, where the waves are small and the water is slightly warmer, and the main beach that faces the ocean. We went to both.

Part II: SeaWorld

Part III: Balboa Park

An afternoon with nothing to do found our family of 4 at Balboa Park. While it's not an action-packed place, we all had a really great time. The scenery is beautiful and the kids loved looking at the flowers and fish, and playing in the fountain.

Part IV: Family

I'm 30

So, I'm no longer in my 20's. I'm a thirty-year-old person. It's strange.

Anyway, I had a great birthday. I got some gift cards for restaurants and shopping, a cuckoo clock (something I've been looking to get for about 2 years now), and even a gift card for my very own orange tree! (you'll have to wait until winter to see it purchased and planted)



Jake also got me some light reading material:


so I can be a pro using my new camera. I'm a lucky girl.

A Word on Goals

My birthday is next week. And I'll be 30.

If you recall, last year I made a 30x30 list - a list of 30 goals I wanted to complete by my 30th birthday. I've been working on them all year, and I've been updating my list on the blog as I went along, for anyone interested in my progress --->

Well, I've come to the point where I'm as done as I'm going to be before my birthday, so I thought I would do a little review.

So here's the list:
(all CAPS = completed; red lower case letters = didn't accomplish)

1. GROW MY HAIR LONG

2. PLAN A BEACH VACATION (Heading out soon!)

3. PLAN A BIG PARTY (Jake's SURPRISE 30th Birthday Party)

4. READ 5 BOOKS

5. GET A BACK-TO-SCHOOL PLAN (Pretty much figured out that now is not a good time for me to go back to school, and I'll revisit the thought in another decade or something)

6. BUDGET FOR A CAMERA (This involves next year's tax returns and using up all of our Christmas budget for me AND for Jake. Don't feel bad for Jake, I did it a couple years ago when he wanted a big TV)

7. WEEKEND GETAWAY WITH JAKE (Scottsdale resort over Memorial Day)

8. READ THE BOOK OF MORMON

9. Make a good friend. Here's the first goal on my list that I didn't complete. BUT, I do have some good once-a-month girls night girls, and Jake made a good friend this year, which I think counts for something good.

10. MAKE & SELL SOMETHING (new art listed in my shop)

11. VISIT GRANDMA WEEKLY

12. Write a book. Non-finished goal #2. I worked on this a little in the spring, but nothing good came to me, so I put it on hold.

13. DECORATE MY MASTER BEDROOM (seen here)

14. Be stronger. #3. There's no excuse for this. I started an exercise program TWICE in the last year, but I was lazy and gave up both times.

15. Plant an orange tree. #4 - Our back yard was never ready for a new tree in the last year. It's getting closer. The pool is gone and we are brewing up great ideas for the space. We just need the funds for it.

16. PLANT A FLOWER GARDEN (Oh, I planted it alright. I worked really hard on it too. That doesn't mean anything grew.)

17. HAVE ONLY ONE MORTGAGE

18. ATTEND THE TEMPLE REGULARLY

19. GET LIFE INSURANCE

20. HAVE A WILL

21. PLAN A 3-MONTH SUPPLY MENU

22. TEACH THE DOG A NEW TRICK (Ah, no more dog jumping up on the bed at night. Next "trick": stop barking when the doorbell rings!)

23. HELP SOPHIE READ A BOOK (She's a smarty pants. This one was easy.)

24. EAT AN EXPENSIVE DESSERT (Crème Brûlée from Ruth's Chris. Mmmm)

25. BE PREGNANT (I'll be 6 months along on my birthday)

26. BUY A SCANNER (thanks, Jake)

27. EXPAND MY BUSINESS (They're both doing great)

28. SEW SOMETHING AWESOME (new pregnancy skirt)

29. Find Temple Art. And #5 of the non-finishers. But believe me, this one was not for the lack of trying. I have SCOURED the internet looking for something I like. I wanted art, not photography. I almost bought this a couple of times, but I think I can do better. This is nice too. I need a talented cousin or something to come up with a solution for me. Or try something myself.

30. FINISH THE FILING

And there you have it. My 30 by 30 list. Too bad I'm not turning 25 this year, cause then I would have completed it. Oh well, 25 out of 30 goals is not bad. And I did TRY to complete all 30, so I think I did pretty good.

Here's to my 30's!

Happy Fourth!