7.27.2011

Baby Blue!

Craig had a fantastic time at Comic-Con this past week. 

Craig with Robot Chicken
While he was away, I decided to surprise him by painting Noah's room and getting it cleaned out to bring in all the things we'll need to get for him.

I had lots of fun painting with the help of my friends Rob and Erika. (You can see the before pictures {HERE}.)

This is Erika. She is so cute!



Getting creative and writing Noah's name on the wall.

Hi Noah!


Such great helpers!
The color turned out so perfectly. I haven't put any wall hangings yet because I'm not exactly sure how the furniture will be. I plan on getting a changing table/dresser combination and a glider/rocking chair. It's a smaller room, so we just have to wait to fit everything in. 
The beautiful crib my dad sent us.



We ended up taking the closet door off, and I decided to just leave it off. It opened the room up a ton.

Pookie and Tigger-Noah's parent's favorite stuffed animals when they were little.
We are getting closer to having a complete baby room! It feels much more peaceful with a soft shade of blue (that matches the Star Wars poster). I can't wait until he is here to sleep in here!

7.25.2011

Food for Thought

Marathon Miracles

This morning on my way into work at This Is The Place, I decided to take Foothill Drive, even though I knew the Deseret News Marathon was to be right on it. The traffic wasn't bad at all. In fact, I am glad I braved the thought of there being traffic because my eyes were opened to something new. It may have been the hormones raging through my body, but seeing these men and women running, sweat beads trickling down there red faces, made my eyes swell with tears. They were approaching mile 20, only 6.2 more to go. I noticed many of them are at least twice my age. I was inspired. I was moved by their strength-both physical and mental. As I drove the next mile, I realized no one was there to cheer them on. Many of them had looks on their faces that made it seem as though they were questioning if they could finish. I wanted to roll down my air conditioned car window and yell out to them, "YOU CAN DO IT!" I did. I honked my horn, I turned up some tunes on the iPod, and I cheered them on. I received smile after smile. Eventually, the streets became lined with crowds. Many families holding signs and blowing whistles and clapping.

I saw an elderly man running (not this one, but one who looked very similar). This is the point my tears  really began to fall. How could my life be so selfish, so lazy, so lackadaisical that I haven't notice the incredible tender mercies of the Lord? This is a man who appreciates the incredible body he has be given. This is a man who loves his life, and he wants to live it to its fullest potential. This is a man who loves God and shows it by enjoying the miracles of everyday life. I want to be more like this man. I want to show my Heavenly Father that I do love Him and ALL that he has created.

And now, I think of all I want for my son. I think of the things I wish for him to accomplish. I think of how I hope he is healthy and grows up to be a strong man like this man. I hope he is brave and stands for what he believes, whatever that may end up being one day. I pray that he knows God loves him more than he can understand. (I plan on writing a letter to Noah with all the wishes I have for him, but I'll post that at a later time.)

Life is precious. We cannot take any second for granted.

7.15.2011

Finding Things for Noah

As my days of not working or having much to do besides baking and taking long walks have increased, my interest in finding cute, educational, meaningful things for my son, Noah, to have once he arrives has also increased. If I had lots of money, I would buy him a lot of things, but I don't have a ton to spend on things like this. I love getting ideas so I can create my own version of these things. Etsy has become one of my favorite sites for baby things. 

I found these cute magnet letter monsters.  {From THIS shop.}
I just recently made similar letters for a wall decoration (wooden letters from Hobby Lobby, mod-podge scrapbook paper to the fronts).

I figured the letter monsters are just painted and pretty easy to make, so I am making it my next craft project. 

Another project I am going to start with my sister-in-law, Allison, is learning to crochet so we can both start making these adorable amigurumi: {Patterns from THIS Etsy shop.}
Once we are done, I will be making a multilevel crib mobile similar to this one with a few of the main Star Wars characters that we crochet. {Example from THIS shop.}

The next big thing that I am prepping for is to get the baby's room painted. My mom, the wonderful handy woman she is, will be helping me with all the painting supplies and techniques. She is so amazing at teaching herself to do home improvement things. It's ridiculous. So, here is a very unorganized look at the baby's room before paint. (By unorganized, I mean there are things everywhere, and nothing is in place at all.)

A fresh coat of paint will make this room seem so much cleaner! 

Craig gets to organize this closet mostly because the contents of it currently are all his things.  

The wood paneling is not as bad as this picture makes it look. Does it look 70s? Yes, a bit. Is it still workable? Yes, very much so. This is just a small, temporary apartment for the next couple of years, so our expectations aren't "Pottery Barn fancy" high. Let's just say it's a good thing we love "That 70s Show" so much. 

We are going with this color (or one very close to it):
It's a very light blue. It matches all the Star Wars stuff we already have or are planning to get really well. I'm excited to see the progress of the room in the next few months! Hopefully everything will turn out alright and well before this little guy makes his arrival!





7.09.2011

What Friends Are For

Friendship Ranting. I apologize in advance.
{Via Google Images}
I have always been someone who observes people. I go to the mall and sit to people watch. I love how different every person is from one another. At the same time, I notice similarities that we all have. We as humans flock to certain other humans by some invisible force. Each person has a family member of some kind, but we are born into those friendships. I mean the people that we meet at school, in a church, in the mall even. These relationships can be fleeting or enduring. Why do we have the friends that we have? What makes these relationships so important to us? 

More interestingly to me-why do girls always seem to have 5-6 really close girlfriends? I see these "groups" of girls all over. Is it just a Utah thing? What makes their friendship so strong that they all stay together throughout years of trials and experiences? I also wonder why I was never in a group such as this. I had one close girlfriend since I was 12, the same exact person that is my best friend today. We are still very close, but after she moved to Georgia almost 3 months ago I am realizing that I really don't have that "group" that every other girl seems to have. I have some friends from working at Oakcrest that I am in contact with, one in particular who is serving a mission right now, but I am not super close to any of them. As I sit and look at my experiences, I wonder why I only let myself, or rather let only one person in my life. I know as I grow friends will leave because they are growing in other directions, but I regret not having a close group of girlfriends. As I am getting closer to having this baby, I've caught on to the notion that I don't have many friends to ask questions about being pregnant, having babies, and being a mother. I read books about these things because I don't know where to turn for advice. Will I ever gain more girlfriends, or will I have to accept that my only two close girlfriends are clear across the country? What can I do to make a lasting friendship? 

Side note to my guy friends: You are all great, but there is a huge difference in talking to a girl about most things that are on my mind lately (symptoms of pregnancy, breasts, babies, etc). I hope you aren't offended.