Halloween Par-tay

Kevin and I decided we wanted to host a Halloween party this year. We thought it would be a good way to reach out to some of the young married couples in our ward as well as re-connect with some of our friends we hadn't seen in a while. So of course the first thing you need when planning a party are invitations.

The next thing you need to have when planning a party are decorations and some refreshments. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of our decorations, but I did get some pictures of some of the goodies I made.We started off with a caramel apple bar.

I got the idea for these cookies from another blog. She used Trix cereal for the spider bodies, but I used Reese's pieces instead. I obviously don't use frosting much. They looked a little sloppy but they were eaten

fast!

I found the idea for these candy corn sugar cookies from a magazine at the grocery store. I had to laugh because I made the first batch a little too big! Haha they were Huge.

I made up a couple of games for the party. One was name that spooky song and the other was a Halloween version of Scattergories. We even had prizes for the winners. (two boxes of Halloween cereal and one Halloween Mr. Potato Head). Overall, I think the party was a success. Hopefully, this will help us branch out and hang out with some of these couples more often.

Here I am dressed as an oven. I can't claim that I came up with the idea on my own. My friend Megan told me I should do this. Everyone seemed to think it was a pretty cute idea. Thanks Megan!

Kevin as Dexter the serial killer. After getting his parents addicted to the show they told us they thought Kevin looked like him. So it seemed like the perfect choice.

 Rob and Emily came and Harry and Hermione

Their son, Joseph, was Dobby the house elf :)

Pam and Mike came as east L.A. gangstas

McKenzie and Bryce had a costume perfect for the Nickelodeon watcher from my generation. They were contestants on Legends of the Hidden Temple

Angie and Tyler were Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

Christina as Cruela Devil and Joey as a Canadian.

Ally dressed as the "Swine Flu" and Matt as John Mcenroe

 

I hope your Halloween was a safe one :)

Let me introduce you to my new sewing machine.I got her a few weeks ago as an early B'day present from my wonderful Mother-in-law. I wouldn't say that my sewing machine and I are best friends yet, but we are definitely getting to know one another. We started off my making some curtains for the baby's room.

I have NEVER made curtains before. I really have never sewn much of anything before. I remember taking Home Ec in middle school and we made some kind of pillow, but for that I had someone there showing me step by step what needed to be done. I also made a quilt for a good friend of mine, but for that project I had another friend showing me the ropes. These curtains were a solo mission and I'm not gonna lie...I was intimidated! I didn't have a pattern and it was up to me how I wanted them to look. SO....I picked out pink fabric and I layered white behind it so they wouldn't be thin. Then for the top and bottom I added some white fabric that had pink polka dots on it. I am really proud of myself for starting and completing this project. There are some definite flaws but overall I am happy with how they turned out. Here are a few pictures of the completed project.
Kevin just laughs and says "This is definitely a little girls room." It is pretty funny how it all started with the bedding and snowballed from there. I also go this cute mobile for the baby's crib.
Now all of the major decorating is done. Maybe just a little something here or there. I will show pictures of the full finished project soon :)

Those who can't paint

Stick?

So I was looking in to different ways to make baby Shaw's room look like it was suited for a little girl, without having to paint. I don't know why but I decided to look up wall decals and I found some really cute stuff. I would really recommend it to anyone who wants to add some fun to a nursery (or really any room), but may be renting and not able to paint. I found several different websites like this one and this one, but I decided to get one from this one :).

They make it really easy for you to put together. They labeled each limb with a letter and labeled the places along the trunk where you need to put that limb.
As for the birds and blossoms....well it is really up to you how you want to decorate it. We decided to make our tree look like it was in Autumn so we have some blossoms at the bottom of the trunk as well.
I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Now on to curtains!

Hello Autumn!

I LOVE YOU...

Summer is great, but my favorite season has always been Autumn. Here is why:

*I can turn off the A/C, open the windows and enjoy the breezy fresh air

*I don't work up a sweat by simply walking out to my car and back

*I love the change of colors in the trees and plants (this was especially beautiful in Alabama)

*Short sleeves during the day, but at night I get to wear those cute cardigans, jackets and possibly scarves I have hanging out in my closet

*The seasonal food-pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bagels, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pancakes etc... YUM!

Sew much fun

my mother and father-in-law asked me if we were going to paint the baby's room, but I didn't want to paint the room and then have to turn around and paint it again before we move (whenever that will be?). I did want to make the room look as cute as I could for the budget that I have. SO...I have looked online and in different stores getting different ideas. First, I needed to pick colors for the room. Normally, I am not a PINK girl, but I found a really cute crib bedding set that was pink, green and white checked. Of course it didn't hurt that all four pieces (comforter, sheet, bumper and crib skirt) were on sale for less than 100 dollars! The only problem was it was being discontinued and I tried to order it through three or four different companies before I found one that actually had it.

Once I had the bedding picked out I started noticing pink and green things EVERYWHERE. I saw these cute baskets at pottery barn kids and I thought they would work perfect for storage under the changing table. I looked at the price and thought hmmm I bet I could make these for a lot cheaper. So I did. I went to Target and saved about 15 dollars a basket and then went to the fabric store and picked out four different fabric patterns. By buying my own fabric instead of their liners saved about 20 dollars. My friend, Pam, helped me get started. She created a pattern for me to follow and let me use her sewing machine, but I am proud to say that I sewed all the liners myself. It actually made me want to invest in possibly buying my own sewing machine.

Here are a couple of pictures of how the baskets turned out. They definitely have a homemade look to them, but I kind of like that. After I was done making the baskets I had some extra fabric and instead of throwing it out I used it to make these picture frames.

I am actually having some fun decorating and once I finish more projects I will post more pictures.

Belly Up

Ok here we go....I am a little hesitant to post these because even though pregnancy is a "beautiful", natural thing...these pictures make me feel a little self-conscience.

This is me back at 19 weeks

And here I am last week at 27 weeks

Oh a little of this, a little of that

I can't believe it has been a month since I have updated, but to tell you the truth I don't have too much to talk about. It has been a real adjustment staying home. I can't help but feel that I'm not pulling my weight financially and at first I felt really guilty about it. Now I try to take full advantage of the blessing I have been given to really focus on taking care of myself and our unborn daughter.

*****I have a good friend of mine who is also out of work and she had the idea of possibly starting up her own business. She is a fashion designer by trade and unfortunately, their have been a lot of cut backs in that area. SO...she thought she might start working with people that may want to decorate rooms for their children but might not have the time to do the research themselves(Mostly the wealthier crowd). She wouldn't do the painting or anything like that, but have all of the information on where to buy things and who they could call for those kinds of services. She wanted to go look at several different stores to get an idea of what was out there and start creating a sample book of ideas and since I will be having a baby soon she invited me along this process. It was actually really fun. Although I don't have the money to spend on a lot of the things we saw, it gave me some ideas of how take some of the concepts and create them myself. I look forward to starting my little craft projects. I will definitely post pictures as I go so you can see what I came up with.

*****Kevin was in another race a few weeks ago. This one was a little different then the previous ones he had entered. It was a two day event, and they raced around buoys. The nice thing was that is that it was close by in Long Beach. I was able to sleep in a little bit and ride with another racers wife to watch. We packed sandwiches and drinks and sat along the beach to watch. It was pretty fun. I didn't take as many pictures of this event but here are a few that I liked.

*****I have always LOVED the color mustard for clothing and since the seasons are changing I am starting to see it everywhere. The problem is that is looks TERRIBLE on me. It totally washes me out. So I get drawn towards these clothes and think maybe this time it with look good. Haha NOPE. The good news? I found these cute flats at Nine West in MUSTARD...YAY! So I had to get them.

*****This past weekend their was a party for the young married couples in our church. Kevin and I were pretty glad that they were having one of those because we have a pretty big ward and we haven't had the chance to meet all of the people our age. Anyways, we were asked to bring an appetizer and I tried out a recipe that my mother-in-law gave me a while ago. It is for little pigs in a blanket on top of a mixture of walnuts, brown sugar and honey. It is so easy to make and they seemed to be a big hit. Thanks Linda :)

*****I have recently started to read the Harry Potter series. I know, I know I am WAY behind,but when they first came out I hadn't been bitten by the reading bug yet. I have seen the movies though and I enjoyed them so I thought I would try to set a goal for myself to read all of them before the next movie comes out. Right now I am on Prisoner of Azkaban. I think I can do it. I am really enjoying them so far.

*****In pregnancy news I am now at the 26 week mark. I can't tell you how much I enjoy it when people find out how far along I am and say that I don't look like it. One girl said that I look like I am only 3 or 4 months along. I'm sure it will catch up with me though. Overnight I will probably blow up and then everyone will be like wow..NOW you look pregnant! I just recently had my screening for gestational diabetes and i'm happy to report that my glucose levels were normal...whew! I'm trying to do a workout video at least 3 times a week. We had a crazy rise in temp. here so I haven't been walking outside as much. We are going to have a consultation with a pediatrician tomorrow afternoon. I swear there are so many things you just don't realize you have to do once you get pregnant. This is just the beginning of how much our lives are gonna change. Some people have been requesting "belly shots" so I will have to work on that. As soon as I have some good ones I will post those too.

Well, that is really all I have for an update right now. I hope you enjoyed my hodge podge of random information.