The latest DIY

Allow me to share this little project with you. It's only taken me about two weeks to finally take the time to finish it. 

Not a big deal.

I started with just a big blank canvas from Hobby Lobby. Thank heavens for their 40% off coupons or this project would not have happened. 

I used a little lot of Mod Podge and randomly glued these book pages on. 

Next, I put some vinyl lettering right on top. After the mod podge had dried of course.

Thanks to my momma and our friend Sherie who cut this vinyl for me all the way back in Utah. 

I promise it's on there. Just a little camouflaged. 

Then I painted right over all of it! A solid two coats with just good old craft paint that is like 67 cents at hobby lobby.

All I had to do then was peel the vinyl off and check it out!!

Project complete. Almost.

 I grabbed my husby, and asked him oh so very kindly if he would hang my masterpiece on the wall. Poor kid thinks I am decorating the house for some homeless people to come live in. 

There she is! Such a beaut! 

Sorry you can't read it very good.. but if you are on the questionable side, Kelly will assure you that it is 

"Oh my gosh! Uh! So. CUTE!" 

haha gosh I love him.

It was an accident. I swear.

Remember when I was so excited to get my carpet cleaned?

Well, change of plans. 

How about new carpet instead?! 

Here's the story.

We had the guy come to clean and stretch it. He was nice enough to tell us that he would feel bad taking our money on a project as sad as this. ha! He said we would be much better off just getting new carpet. Basically, the morons that put the carpet in did such a half-ace job that it wasn't even fixable. Well, it was but it still wouldn't look good and it would cost just as much as buying new carpet. We would just have to pay the extra to get it installed.

So long story short, we decided to get new carpet.

Check out those stains. SICK.

TA-DA!

Seeeeee! So much better anyways. 

Maybe I should have vacuumed before I took this picture but I vacuumed last night so this is what you get!

And that is my husband watching a little golf.

And see that door in the back left? That is the room you get to stay in if you come to visit the beautiful city of Omaha! 

Maybe I should have shut that door.

Maybe I should have straightened the pillows. 

Maybe I should have picked up the cord on the floor.

But maybe not.

Because maybe this is real life and how we live it! 

Besides, the focus is on that beautiful new carpet that is so plush between your bare toesies.

Be excited. Very excited.

Friends, I am hoping this works. 

I present to you...

(drum roll)

The Temple Portion of our Wedding Video!!

By Don at Hobble Creek Media

I can't tell you how awesome that man is. 

I also can't tell you how many times I've told him that.

He's probably so sick of me...

wait a second...

Didn't we just move in? 

Yes, yes we did.

Then why are our couches in the kitchen..?

 BECAUSE WE ARE FINALLY GETTING OUR CARPET STRETCHED AND CLEANED!!

That's why. That is also why our living room is naked. Bare bum naked.

I have wanted to do this since day one. 

There are places where the carpet isn't even tacked down. At the bottom of the stairs, I could honestly just lift up the carpet and take that whole chunk away if I wanted. But instead, I will call the carpet man to come clean it and make it all pretty for us. 

Happy happy happy happy day for us!

Our beginning in Omaha

Let me just say that this is going to be one big and random post of mostly just pictures. But that's how I like it. Half because I'm not much of a writer and half because I'm not much of a reader! It works well for me.

This was honestly what I got to stare at for like 16 hours. Cruising along in the Camry. Going about 70-75 mph tops. 

Longest. Drive. Of. My. Life. 

Not looking forward to the move home. Good thing it won't be for three more years.

This is our front door the day we moved in! 

OUR VERY OWN HOME!!

Being married and not having your own home as a newlywed couple for three and a half months is not recommended. 

She needs some TLC but first things first (inside before outside).

 

Before we even unpacked our U-haul, we gave the place a facelift. We painted EVERYTHING except the bathroom (because it was recently done in a beautiful green that I would absolutely love to paint over but it could wait) and the laundry room. Including the trim which some of you may know is a pain in the arse. It felt so good to cover up that nasty green bedroom, blue office, and yellow everything else, and welcome our house into the 21st century. My dad built a wall that divided our back room, which is basically like a basement, and our laundry room. We put in new floor in our kitchen. And the boys did something amazing to turn our kitched around.

I will show you :)

 

 

This picture is from when the family before us was selling it. Those counter tops are straight up white with gold speckles. GOLD SPECKLES! My grandparents don't even have gold speckles anymore. 

Next, please notice where the dishwasher is. It's there, to the left of the stools. Explain the logic for that one to me. 

And look at the beauty now! Well, what you can see from my middle-of-the-night-picture. We turned that counter around, put the dishwasher by the sink (brilliant, I know), and got a new counter top. Oh, and added some back splash. I know you can't see a lot here but it really made the BIGGEST difference. I've been thinking about doing a video tour of our house. Is that lame? 

Kel making fun of girls for posing for pictures after a dinner in old downtown Omaha with the family.

Before I was an employed lady, I spent many days with Caramie and her girls. That's Ayz, playing in the lake. 

Another day, we headed off for the zoo. Why not since we live .25 miles from it?

Can you see the penguin in the picture on the left? Or the shark about to eat me on the right? :) 

These pictures really crack me up. Luh him.

 We spent a weekend in Iowa with one of Kellys good friends from high school who is also attending law school. It is always so nice to have those familiar faces and tiny bit of sense of home.

 We try to entertain the little rascals from time to time but they mostly just find their way to our house to steal popsicles out of our freezer. This was our attempt at a sleepover but by 10:15, they were all back at their house, asleep in their beds.

We really are enjoying it here. It is so nice to finally be on our own like a real married couple. We keep ourselves busy with school and work and all sorts of other randoms so that we don't get homesick but really, I think we would both be okay with Christmas coming sooner. At least I know I miss those beautiful Utah mountains, not to mention how much we miss our family and friends!

one last hurrah

Kel and I had talked many times about how fun it would be to do a weekend at the cabin with all of our friends. Since we were going to be gone for so long, we finally made it happen. It was literally days before the big move but we didn't let that get in the way.

 There is a fun diner that you pass by when going to the cabin and we finally got to go!

We got a little carried away with tasting the low fat 100% normal brownie batter.

A drip on the shirt? Not a problem. Lick it off.

 When it comes to candles for the birthday boys cake/brownies, there were none. Not even at the local Walmart. Therefore, we had to improvise. We had to sing really fast so they didn't burn out before he could blow them out.

Sisterhood of the traveling shirt. I wore mine today. Did you?

 

Kel and I ended the trip with a bit of a 4 wheeler ride down the scary hill and through the river. Okay, it was a stream. 

I think there was plenty of fun had by all. We are so lucky and thankful for the friends we have and that EVERYONE was able to make it up for at least one of the nights! I really regret not getting a big group picture while we were all there but at least we have the memories to hold on to. 

We miss our friends so much and can't wait to be reunited!!

a real secret. volume five.

The husbands birthday is coming. 
Just four days away!! 
But I have this problem... 
I just want to keep buying him presents and I know I shouldn't!
Because #1, we are talking about the boy that has EVERYTHING. And #2, we are moving across the country and don't really have dollars to spare.


We already went and got him a whole wardrobe of new clothes. It was needed. 
I already bought him another surprise so that he will have something to open ON his birthday (we did his family celebration on Wednesday, so most gifts have already been opened).
I already have ideas of other things I could do for him!


Somebody save me and take my wallet away before it is too late!