Just Riding an Elephant

 

 

We went to the local circus and I was fascinated by the elephant. My niece Ellie also loved the elephant. Unfortunately, I cant say no to her so when she found out she could ride it, I of course could only say YES! It was so awesome and I just could not believe the size of it! My nephew, on the other hand, was not so thrilled about the whole experience.

Eric and Tucker

So my best friend Eric comes over every once and a while to play games. I was cleaning the house while Eric was playing. I walked into the room to this. I called Tucker a traitor...

Hair cut time!!!

So usually Amber is in charge of the haircuts and I just distract the dogs. Well this time I decided to do it while Amber was at work. It actually turned out quite well all things considering. I did make her do Tucker's face, but I did Lillie's.

Waterfight!!

We went with my family went to Trafalga in American Fork this week. I can never say no to my niece Ellie. I have just always had a soft spot for that little girl and she knows it too! So when she REALLY wanted to ride the paddle boats of course I said yes. I was regretting it as soon as I said it because it was a little chilly.

This picture pretty much sums up our experience! Jordan is in the blue boat and me and Ellie are in the red. Is it clear who is winning the waterfight? We drenched him mercilessly! He blames a faulty gun and did not have near as much fun as we did. Oh well, he was a great sport!

Typical Ellie

I was looking through some of our old waterproof camera pictures and I came across these. This is my niece Ellie. I think they these pictures are so funny and cute of her.

This is so typical Ellie! She can turn that pout on and off like a light switch! 

Here she is not even a minute later much, much happier. I can't even remember what the problem was, but I sure love that cute girl!!

I Made a Decision!

Okay, so I just started cutting the vinyl THEN saw the comments. :) Oops. In retrospect, I'm glad I went with only one color because it was a pain! The cutter jammed 3 times so I really used 3 times as much vinyl as I should have. In all it took 3 hours and 2 frustrated screams to get this done. I think the final result looks great!!

My TV Wall

Okay, after seeing my house tour you have an idea about what is going on in my living room. Now, I need some ideas about my TV wall; it feels naked. It is sort of a tight space because it is a walkway so there is really only room for something on the wall, not really furniture. So I was thinking of printing up some vinyl to make it feel less naked.

Here are my inspiration photos:

I'm thinking something bold, but am scared that I already have a lot going on in this room. Here is a pic of the current room. I also worry about making it look too girly, as the TV is my husband's favorite "man appliance".
So, with my limited an rushed computer skills I came up with some ideas. What do you like best? Or do you have any better ideas for my wall? I kinda think the first one, but am tempted to just leave it bare because I'm chicken. ;)
Leave a comment and let me know. This may be a weekend project.

Home Tour

Admittedly, I am the worst blogger in the world. I am going to attempt to blog a home decorating tour. I have really worked hard to decorate on a budget. It isn't perfect and feels like a work in progress always, but I hope you enjoy.

My Front door, cute welcome sign that had our names on it in vinyl for my wedding. I scraped the vinyl off and added welcome and a ribbon and it covers a lot of my ugly front door. The HOA really needs to repaint all the exterior doors, gotta love an HOA. Do you know what I could do with the $80 a month? :)

Next, you come into our living room. I love that it is really open to the dining area and kitchen. It makes the condo not feel quite so small. I really like our couches, we had wicker patio furniture for the first few months and that was fun. So I saved the money I earned coaching girls soccer and bought new couches. The coffee table and end tables are old ones of my mom's that I painted. Thanks Mom! The red pillows and drapes are sewn from fabric that we bought to use for my wedding but never did, thanks again Mom.

I really love to mix functional with fancy. The jar is full of doggie bones and we bought that cool statue on our cruise in the Caribbean.

Another end table, on it is my only live plant and it is about 2 years old I don't know how much longer it is going to make it. In the back is the sign in book that was at our wedding. I designed it as a digital scrapbook of our engagements.

I really like this wall arrangement. It is an old mirror I had before we got married and on either side is a picture of Christ and the temple. I bought the frames for $10 on sale and the print of Christ for $10 too. The temple is cool because I photoshopped it from a regular picture I found, I put our names in the corner, sepia toned it and antiqued it. I am an extreme photoshop amateur so it was quite an accomplishment.

Here they are closer up.

On another wall in the living room is this funky picture I bought forever ago in my single days, but it goes and keeps my walls from being naked.

I got these cute letters for my wedding. I switched out the original white ribbon to the red to add some fun. They look crooked in this picture. :)

This is Jordan's favorite "wall art". I like that there are no cords and all of the components like the dvd player and wii are through the wall in a closet. It is on a swivel mount too so it can be viewed from the dining area or couches, isn't that what everyone needs?

This is one of my favorite wedding presents! Rick Stoneman hand cut this out of paper. You can't tell from the picture but he cut out the names and swirls by hand with an exacto knife! It was extremely thoughtful because it matches exactly our wedding invites. I think it is beautiful, thanks Rick.

This is our dining area adjacent to the living room. Our table is from Kmart and its tall and funky. The zebra rug I bought for $40 online. It was a scary purchase because I had no idea how it would turn out, but its great.

It seems like everyone has a red wall. I like that we used a bright red.

My current table centerpiece is 3 vases we used at our wedding. Kinda fun, Tai Pan $5 on sale. :)

Above the cupboards 3 vases from Ikea and a zebra plate.


On to our tiny kitchen. I am looking forward to the day when I get a "real person" kitchen. Some things I like about it:

Cute notes board I got from my wedding.

New funky faucet that I installed. :)

Cool plate we got for our wedding with our names and anniversary on it. If Jordan sees it every time he eats he can't forget the date right? Lets hope. :)

The bathroom is turquoise and brown.

Love this sign, it says CONSERVE WATER take a shower together. ;) The back wall that you can't see is painted to match the turquoise color.

Brown and cream soap dispenser and tissue box.

I bought this fixture for $5 and painted it, it looks so much better than what was there before. I installed it too! :)

The bedroom is brown and golds. My dad made our headboard for my graduation from college. I bought this comforter, 2 shams and dust ruffle for $29.99 at Burlington. It looks better in real life than in this picture. I am no photographer.

Our dresser is an old one I had before we got married, but it has held up well.

Gotta love the only wedding picture I have up in my house. I don't know why i don't have more, it was a beautiful day!!

This candle thing is cool, Pier One.

And that's all folks. We do have one more room but it is not my favorite. One day I will get to turn it into a darling nursery and then I'll blog brag about it. :) Hope you liked it.