Baby Shower!

My baby shower was on Saturday, and we had so much fun! My friend Victoria had offered to throw it for me, (thanks so much Victoria!!) and Kristen and Mary helped out with activities and refreshments. We had the shower at our house, which was nice because it gave us an opportunity to show off our little nursery...though still not finished, it's coming together!

Victoria & I pose with the balloon bouquet

There were lots of yummy treats, and we also had a lunch of taco soup, clam chowder & salads. In keeping with our fairytale nursery theme, there were plenty of frogs there that day! Mary made here famous cake balls, the chocolate confections drizzled with white chocolate, and we also served yummy cupcakes topped with chocolate frogs that Victoria had made.

The refreshment spread in the diningroom

The gourmet-looking cake balls compliments of Mary

Victoria found this little porcelain frog...perfect!

Most of the festivities were held out in the yard on the beautiful, sunny day

Bryan's mom and sisters Jenaye & Lacey joined us via skype

Showing off the baby bumps with cousin Ali

Bryan's favorite baby gift so far

 

 

 

The Chair Project

So this last week my Grandma and I were shopping at Ross, and I saw some really cute upholstered chairs for kids. I've always thought they were cute, and since I'm working on a nursery, it was fun to see that they had some that would go perfectly in the nursery. At least that's what I thought until I saw the price -- $60. Obviously, more than I would be willing to spend on a kid's chair...so I enjoyed looking at them, but had no further thought of actually getting one.

The next day, Grandma and I were doing one of our favorite things, visiting the local DI (a thrift store) when I noticed that they had an upholstered kid's chair! It was not much to look at, covered in stained and worn out denim, but I could see the potential. It's actually a cute little rocking chair. It was only $5, much more in my willing-to-spend price range. After a visit to the fabric store, (that happened to be having a mega sale,) I was able to come home with a couple yards of upholstery fabric (usually $21.99 a yard) for only $3.50 a yard! All-in-all the chair wound up costing a cool $12.00.

I considered reupholstering it, but then decided to go with a slip cover, which will be much easier to throw in the wash when things inevitably are spilled on it. I love how it turned out, and even though the baby won't be using it for a couple years, it was totally worth it!! Here are the before and after pictures:

Nursery Update!

So here are a few peeks at the progress we've made on the nursery. This past Saturday Bryan got so much finished. All-in-all, we've basically replaced the whole room. I wanted it to have a real nursery-feel, with an emphasis on storybook or fairytale theme. We've still got a few things to do, but I'm really happy with how it's coming together.

We haven't got our nursery furniture yet, and there are several things in there right now that won't be in there once the baby is here. The bassinet will be in our bedroom, and the swing will find a home in our livingroom. For now, it's been a nice central location for all-things baby.

Mother's Day 2011

I was excited about this Mother's Day, because it's the first that I actually officially get to celebrate as a mother (or mom-to-be!) Bryan got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a wonderful card. I'm not going to share the card, because it's personal, but I will say that I'm one of the luckiest girls in the world when it comes to having a husband that writes the sweetest notes and always picks out cards that make me cry! Ok, I'll admit, making me cry right now is really not that hard! But it was a wonderfully sweet card and I loved every word of the card and his hand-written message.

I also got a card from the dogs, which basically talked all about how I meet their needs when they're hungry, in need of affection, etc. Inside it basically said that we make a great team. It was really cute, and also included a hand-written message reading something like, "arf, bark bark, woof grrrr, woof woof." It was signed Tailor & Quincy. It was really fun.

Here are my beautiful Mother's Day flowers, which included the same gorgeous orange lilies we had at our wedding, two beautiful red roses and some other wonderful spring flowers. Ahhh, I love my husband!!

Candy's 37th Birthday!

This year's birthday was one of my best birthdays EVER! The day started at around 5am, when I woke up and tossed a bit in bed trying to get comfortable. Bryan woke to my stirring and pulled me in close, whispering "Happy Birthday!" I was impressed that he had the presence of mind that early in the morning to remember my birthday. After a couple more hours of sleep, the day continued with spa pedicures, lunch with my friend Victoria, then an afternoon of shopping.

When he was done with work, Bryan brought home my favorite takeout and flowers, as well as some other goodies. We ate dinner (complete with sparkling cider and stemware, of course!) out on the porch and enjoyed the perfect evening. We also took some pictures of the baby bump to mark the occasion...even though I feel fat, swollen and generally deformed, we do need pictures for posterity. :) After dinner, he surprised me with a little cake complete with some improvised tea-light candles since we didn't have birthday candles. I'm sure the wish is still good, right?

When I opened my presents, I loved that one of them was a little 12" wooden mirror that came from a thrift store. I was a little confused at first, but then Bryan told me to open the card. Inside, he had written a poem that I won't share here, but the jist of it was about how this was a magic mirror that reflected the image of the most wonderful woman in the world...is that the sweetest thing EVER???? My next gift was a beautiful ceiling fan/light fixture for our bedroom. I've been wishing for one for over a year...and now that I'm prego and summer is fast approaching, it's the perfect gift! I was sooo excited about it, and the best part was that it came with the promise that it would be installed the next day! As one last surprise for me, I got a coupon for pre-natal massage, a massage technique specifically for pregnant women. The biggest surprise was that he had studied prenatal massage technique, and proceeded to give me the most wonderful (and relaxing!) hour-long prenatal massage. I was SUPER impressed by his effort with that. After working in the spa industry for over a decade, I've had a lot of professional massages to compare it with. He did a great job! Is my husband the BEST, or what!!!??

It was an amazing birthday, and I'm so excited for this coming year...we have so many wonderful things to look forward to, not the least of which is having our first little baby! Life is so wonderful, and while it's not always perfect, I feel so blessed. My life has changed so much over the last few years...it's completely different than it was three years ago. But I wouldn't trade any of it for what I have right now! I'm looking forward to another wonderful year!!!

More Nursery Stuff...Crown Molding!

We were so excited that my brother Matt was going to be in town for a short visit! While he was here, he graciously shared his expertise with us by helping us install crown molding in the baby's room. He brought all of his pro tools and he and Bryan had the job done in under an hour. Thanks so much, Matt!! We love you and REALLY appreciate it!

We enjoyed the rest of the evening by having dinner and just spending time together. I love my family so much, and wish they lived closer!!

Color-Coordinated Carpet!

Last summer Bryan's sweet grandma gifted us some brand-new carpet. We determined at that time that if we had a baby girl, it would be perfect for the nursery. Well, this weekend, that carpet was pulled out of it's cocoon in our basement and actually got installed in the nursery! Bryan's friend Devin came to help, and the whole project was done in one day. Things are looking really good, and our nursery project is coming right along!

The Nursery Project

Ok, so we've been really busy putting the nursery together. I've waited a long time to be a mom and I've been thoroughly enjoying every minute of all of the process of building a baby and getting outfitted with baby gear. Of course, having a cute nursery is no exception! Gratefully the hubs agrees with me, (and sometimes is sweet enough to just humor me) in my enthusiasm!

The baby's room is going in one of our two extra bedrooms, so we were excited to make some updates. Among the updates were new paint, carpet, closet doors, light fixture, electrical outlets & covers and a bunch of other little details. We've also added crown molding for a finished look. We plan to do this to every room, but one thing at a time...and baby takes precedence right now!

I have always wanted to do a nursery in frogs & castles, (I think it's just such a fun fairytale theme) and I've always had a thing for frogs. Over the years I've collected little frogs here and there, so that has come in handy and provided a fun selection of nursery decor. Here are a few pictures of our projects and nursery items:

Oops!

When hauling furniture, be sure to wrap any heavy wooden legs or other appendages that might be touching GLASS WINDOWS in a quilt or other soft wrapping, thus avoiding the following:

April General Conference 2011

My cousins Caitlin & Joe Caudle came down for Conference weekend and stayed with us. We had so much fun! We were also able to attend the Saturday afternoon session at the Conference Center.

It's a Girl!

Baby Blessing in Boise!

The last weekend in March we headed to Boise for a baby blessing! Bryan's oldest sister Amber, and her husband Dan were blessing their new baby boy, Teagen. We had so much fun spending time with family and being able to be a part of this special day!

Disneyland!!

We spent a fabulous long weekend at Disneyland with Bryan's family to celebrate his dad's 50th birthday! We had so much fun, made lots of memories, and of course took lots of pictures. There were a few things that I couldn't go on since I'm prego, but there was still plenty that I was able to do. We stayed in a hotel almost across the street, with four rooms all in a row. We packed each day with plans at the park and had so much fun!