Decorating (Part 3)

We've lived in our house for 6 months now, and I am still slowly, but surely, working to have it all decorated and "homey" feeling. 

One of my most recent projects was curtains in our dining area. There were blinds in the window when we moved in, but they didn't work. In an attempt to be able to let more natural light in, we took down the blinds, and I sewed some cafe curtains out of white muslin to put up. The problem there is that white muslin is really boring!  So after seeing an idea for this, I bought some painter's tape and went to work.

One curtain finished, one in progress

Finished. Much better than plain white :)

This other one involved no work from me other than ordering vinyl lettering...but I think the look completes the entryway.

Until my next decorating adventure!

Surprise!

It's been awhile since my last post, and I have lots of things I need to catch you up on, but this story is too good to postpone!

Yesterday morning I put Colin down for a nap in a t-shirt and his diaper. He talked to himself for awhile, but it was obvious he wasn't going to fall asleep because eventually he began to whine and cry. I finally went in to get him, but it wasn't until I picked him up that I realized he had taken his diaper off. And THEN I noticed there was poop on his mattress...(and if you're wondering why it took me so long to notice, it's a brown sheet :) I started cleaning him up, but it was obvious he had been playing in it because he had poop all over his legs, hands, and shirt, so Matt put him in the bath while I threw his sheet in the washer.

Colin may not be walking quite yet, but I think it's safe to say we're moving into the toddler phase around here...although I hope there's no more poop involved!

A peek at our days...

I think these pictures describe our days pretty well. There's always a new mess around the house! Sometimes (usually) it's in the kitchen with the tupperware, sometimes he finds the food in the pantry, or sometimes he gets into the pots and pans. Other times he opens drawers in his room and likes to pull out all of his clothes. We are also continually baby-proofing the house as Colin discovers new ways to get into trouble. It's so fun to see him learning new things!

This boy loves to smile and laugh! He is quite the speed-crawler, and he's quickly becoming more steady on his feet. He is also a champ at eating finger foods (and eating in general...he loves to eat!) and will finally hold bottles and sippy cups on his own!

And for those curious, his stats from his 9 mo. doctor's appointment a few weeks ago were as follows:

height: 28" (40%)
weight: 17 lb 6 oz (6%)
head circ.: 17.5" (25%)

He may be small, but what he lacks in size,
he makes up for in spirit.
Colin is one energetic, curious kid!

The 4th (14 Days Later)

Here's another post in my attempt to get caught up!

The 4th of July was a pretty low-key day for us, but we sure partied it up in the evening. We had Matt's parents over for dinner and fireworks. Lots of people in our neighborhood were also doing fireworks, and I thought for sure Colin would wake up at some point, but he didn't. Amazing!

Not much to report other than that, so I'll just skip right to the pictures. It's what you're really here for anyway :)

We hope you all had a great holiday too! And sorry for the belated holiday well wishes...

Road Trip!

When we still lived in Utah we would go on road trips all the time. We drove to Phoenix many times, we drove to Montana, and we even drove up to Seattle and Vancouver, BC once. Most of these trips included my sister Megan too, so it only seemed right that she should make the trip out to Oklahoma so we could take another road trip up to Nauvoo, IL.

There are many historic LDS church sites throughout Missouri and Illinois, and we wanted to hit most of them, so we left our house on Thursday night and drove to Kansas City. We spent a day there checking out the city and the church sites around that area.

In Independence, MO we went to the LDS visitor center and the Community of Christ temple across the street.

View of the Community of Christ temple

Inside the temple, view of the spire from inside

 Other sites we saw around Kansas City were the KC LDS temple that is almost complete and the Liberty jail visitor center. Liberty jail is where Joseph Smith and 4 others spent 4 winter months.

KC temple construction

Picture of Colin after his bath that night...

 After our day in KC, we woke up early the next morning and drove the rest of the way to Nauvoo, and stopped to see a few more sites along the way.

Jess and Megan standing outside Carthage jail and visitor center

Far West, MO site where the Saints planned to build a temple,
but they were driven out before anything more than the cornerstones could be laid

Enjoying a beautiful morning at Adam-ondi-ahman

A view of the outside of Carthage jail. The top window is where Joseph fell
from after he was shot and killed by the mob

People are always telling me Colin looks just like Matt, and I think this picture shows that very well

Megan and Colin!

Our adorable family picture outside the Nauvoo temple

view of the Nauvoo temple

This was my first time seeing the Mississippi River, and I couldn't believe how huge it is! Here's the sunset by the Mississippi :)

Colin, the pioneer baby!

sisters :)

We had an awesome time! Colin did really well in the car (miracle!) and we had a blast, even if we traveled over 1,000 miles in a little over 3 days. Megan stayed at our house for about a week after our big trip, so I have another post to write. Stay tuned!

Always Growing

Colin will be 9 months next week! I got an email yesterday that talked about Baby Development: Month 9.

Your baby's brain is making quantum leaps right now. Of course, your baby will now use these advanced motor and cognitive skills to try and put himself in the driver's seat. He may demand to be held. Insist on sharing your food. Crawl toward you when he wants you. Or rebel against a diaper change. Revel in his independence, for better or for worse.


Reading that made me laugh because Colin is definitely doing all of those things. It seems like he's always right at my feet wanting me to pick him up. If I'm eating or drinking anything, he wants in on the actions. And trying to change his diaper can sometimes be...next to impossible. Good to know he's right on track :)


In other news, this boy is a pro at eating finger foods, and he has 6 teeth and loves to have them brushed! He loves to play peek-a-boo, he loves being outside (which probably explains his fascination with door knobs), and he loves to laugh and jabber.


He is quite the dare devil...he tries to dive off of, climb over/through, and pull himself up on anything. He will take a few steps around the couch and will walk while holding onto someone's hands, and although the army crawl still makes its appearances, Colin has been crawling on his hands and knees for a few weeks. In this picture he managed to climb through the coffee table at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

I got this little outdoor swing at a consignment store by our house, and it has been a big hit!

Graham crackers and milk make for a pretty good snack. So good that Colin decided to kick his feet up and enjoy them to the fullest.

He knows the things he's not supposed to play with, so he always makes sure to look at you and smile before he starts playing with them. One of those things he loves to play with are the covers that go over the screws that bolt toilets to the floor. Fortunately, there's an easy solution to this one: leave the bathroom doors closed!


Colin keeps me busy! He loves to make messes and get into everything, but we have a lot of fun. I just love this little guy.

Joplin, MO

Joplin is a little under 2 hours northeast from where we are, and to help cleaning up the city, our church has been sending men from the surrounding stakes to do heavy manual labor on the weekends. Father's Day weekend was our stake's turn. Matt wasn't able to go because he had to work, but his dad made the trip up there to help out. All of the pictures he took of his phone got uploaded onto our computer, so I thought I would post some. (Thanks, Mike!)

The pictures are pretty small, so you may not be able to see much, but from what I can tell the damage is devastating.

Mike said on one side of the street there could be a house that was completely demolished and on the other side a house that only lost a shingle or two. It's crazy how tornados work.

After my first tornado season, I can officially say I haven't seen any tornados, and I hope it stays that way. Meanwhile, my heart goes out to all those who have been affected by tornados this year.

oh, and if this post makes you scared to ever visit Tornado Alley, just remember tornados have been known to occur in lots of other places too :)