BG Family Party

I'm way behind in my blogging and just uploaded some pictures. After BG had her friend Tangled Party, we had a family party. JM got a smoker for Father's Day/Birthday and has been anxious to try it out. He smoked some pork and we had pulled pork sandwiches. They turned out delicious! The weather was nice and we spent a good portion of the party hanging out outside.

This was also the first time some of our family had met Duncan, our new dog, so there was plenty of attention for him. Grandma with Blanche and cousin Emma.

BG smiling cute. I try and try to get a picture of the two of my girls together. It's pretty much an impossible feat. One of them is always looking away or not smiling or getting up. I have a great sequence of attempts from this party that I won't bore you with, but it really does seems impossible.

My sister-in-law recently graduated from Culinary school and loves to make cakes. She also just got a job at a bakery and is thrilled about it. So whenever there is a family event, she is the go-to girl for the cake. When she asked BG what kind of cake she wanted, BG told her Strawberry.

Aunt Rae is known for her fabulous chocolate cakes, so Daddy put in the request for a "Strawberry" (quotes required) cake. With a wink, wink, and a nudge, nudge, he convinced her to make a chocolate cake with strawberries on top. That way we could still tell BG she was getting her request.

The cake was delicious. I had to take this picture to show off the super yummy strawberry meringue filling. We all loved it and BG didn't even notice her "Strawberry" cake was actually chocolate.
Happy Birthday BG! I can't believe you are already 5 and will be starting school soon. Lately, she has been telling me she is going to "act like a Kindergartner" which means she will be nice to mom, listen and obey. Whatever it takes.

Hot, Hot, Hot

It's hot. Not as hot as some places right now, but still sticky, sweating, squinty-eyed hot. The girls want to play outside in the hot. I don't last very long. It's not long before they start asking for popsicles. My strict nutrition regiment goes out the window when it comes to popsicles. Because it's just so hot.

The one I really feel bad for in this heat is the dog, Duncan. Wearing a fur coat can't feel good in this heat. When we let him in the house, he runs right over to the vet blasting Air Conditioning and plants himself. He lays there soaking it up until the girls come to pester him. That takes about 1.6 seconds.

Even though it's sweltering outside, my office is freezing. I keep a sweater at my desk to ward of the chills. Then I go outside and it's like stepping into a furnace. Crazy summer weather.

Bedroom Remodel: Phase 3

We have been remodeling our master bedroom. We have been in our house almost 4 years and our room has never gotten much attention. I finally convinced JM to put some budget into the room. We actually really liked the room when we first bought the house, but tastes and designs change and I was tired of the colors.

Here's our room with the old wall colors. There was two colors in the room, a beige color and a rusty brown. The room is pretty big but only has one builder-standard light fixture in the middle. It always felt so dark because the colors on the walls sucked up any light.

We bought the bedding a while back and I was really itching to get to painting. You can even see the "swatch" up on top of the bed. I may have forgotten to take it down before pictures.


I showed this picture earlier after we got the primer up. The paint had a velvet texture to it and since we were going crisp white on the bottom, I was worried about coverage. Even with the primer, I was loving the change.
At this point, I stopped taking in-progress photos. We painted everything and installed crown moulding, chair rail, new baseboards, door and window casings and boxes on the lower half. It took WAY longer than we anticipated.

Then the project snowballed. Once we painted the white, we realized how hideous the color of our doors was. They looked like sun-faded white, a sickly yellow color. So then we had to paint the doors. When we painted the doors, the ceiling turned yellow and that had to be painted as well.

Our room was in complete disarray for weeks while we got all the painting done and trim installed. Then we had to caulk, sand, and paint some more. Whew! It was a much bigger project than we anticipated.

Here is an example of the boxes we put up on the lower half of the room. This is also one of the few in-progress pictures I took. We also added a windowsill since there wasn't one.


And the final result! The pictures are kind of bad. I really should use a better camera than my point and shoot, but I'm pretty lazy.

The color on the top is a stormy blue color, with grey undertones. I am loving the way it turned out. All the trim really finishes off the space.


Now that the painting and trim is done, I have a huge list of other things I want to do. Specifically, replace the furniture hardware, add window treatments, art for the wall, and other accessories. Hurray for having our room back! I love the change. The whole room is so much lighter, brighter, and cozy.

Linking to: Thrift Decor Chick

Praises Be

Yesterday was a monumental day. A day a mother dreams about for her child from the moment she is born. A day that has been longed for, counted down to, and must be celebrated. It was the day that Blanche went to Nursery. {insert wild applause.}

Technically, she isn't "of age" until Wednesday, but I just could. not. take. it. anymore. We've been wandering the halls during church for months now. After dropping her off, I circled back to look through the peek-a-boo window. She was being held by her teacher with one fat tear lingering under her eye. I quickly ducked away and headed to class, all by myself.

I learned some things yesterday attending classes without a child in tow. For example, I didn't know we are studying the New Testament this year in Sunday school. News to me. I also had the chance to look around and discover there are a lot of new people to our ward that I don't know. But what I enjoyed most of all, was just sitting, listening, and taking it in.

When I picked up Blanche from nursery, her teacher told me she did great. I knew she would. She loves toys, and snacks, and tiny chairs. Nursery is the perfect place for her.