new year's weekend

my brother and his family came up from sunny arizona over new year's weekend for jakob's baby blessing.

i stole a couple of pictures off of their blog that darby took because i thought they were so great!

i'm obsessed with this picture of my sawyer! it is so "him"





elli with jeff and miss with jon. my kids are so lucky to have such great uncles! my girls LOVE them! can you tell?





my nephew, jonas, trying to sneak a peek at baby jakob!



my handsome boys...



hope you all had a great weekend!

finally done... for now!

i've finally found the time (and money) to put the final touches on jakey's room and i love the way it's turned out!





{sorry for the lame photo quality... still working on my photography skillz}

this room is proof that you can have a fully furnished room without spending a lot of money!

for example...

these shelves are simply a vinyl rain gutter that i bought at lowe's for $7! tom sawed it in half and then i put end caps on each side! SO easy and such a great alternative to a traditional bookshelf!



also, this chair was another salvation army find! it was only $20 and is brand new! i actually went to a different salvation army and saw the same chair priced at $100 and it's currently for sale at target for $150!



{IT ALSO FOLDS OUT INTO A MINI BED!!!}

there's also lots of little things i did to save money, too! the 'i am a child of god' artwork is just something a made in photoshop, printed it on heavy cardstock and then taped over some fabric that matched the room.

the bedding was cheap too! the bumper was $1.50 from the salvation army. it was originally blue but i ended up dying it brown. the sheet was a wal-mart find. the skirt was also brand new from the salvation army for $2.00. the cute quilt was made by my mother-in-law and the comforter was handmade by my fabulous seamstress {a.k.a. my mom} from some inexpensive fabric!

amd notice the fun green suitcase on top of the dresser? that's my grandpa jakob's that my parents gave us after he died! i love that it's now in MY jakob's room!



and that's that!

DIY zig zag rug

this is a picture in our townhouse on elli's 1st birthday...



see that rug she's sitting on? it's the same cheap boring brown area rug that we've had for the last 5 years. and since i don't have $250 lying around to fork over for a new one i decided to try painting it!

i'd seen some other blogs that had done a zig zag pattern and i absolutely loved them and thought it'd be a fun (and cheap) chance to kick my decorating up another notch.

i know it's not everybody's style but i think it's such a fun addition to the room and makes it feel a lot less stuffy and formal in there!







i wish i'd taken some "before" pictures and some pictures of the whole measuring and painting process. once i figured out what i was doing it was pretty simple, so if any of you want directions on how i did it let me know!

{ 8 }

eight years ago on a gray and overcast day, i married my tommy h. here in the salt lake temple...



thanks for eight great years thomas, love you!

random post for the new year

happy new year everyone!

2010 was FULL of surprises for our family and we're hoping for a more uneventful 2011!

our little jakey turned 2 months on the 1st! i've said it before and i'll say it again... he's about as perfect as you can get!





{the infamous "elvis" beenie}.

i've also been busy with lots of house projects {as usual}

i found this pair of gold lamps at the d.i. for $5 a piece with thoughts of putting them on the bookshelf behind my couch. i bought the shades for $6 each at ikea. they sat on the shelf for awhile but i just wasn't loving them there, so i decided to mix it up and swap out the lamps in my bedroom to the living room and then paint the gold ones a fun turquoise to add a little more color to my room!









and finally... elli made me a calendar in preschool and this was the picture that was in it. i think it's supposed to look like an "old timey" photo and it cracks me up every time i look at it!