Crazy September!

I can’t believe how fast September went!

Between football games, a family vacation, my high school reunion {20 years?!}, a church event, birthdays and our anniversary—it just flew by!

Even amongst the chaos, I managed to bring a little bit of autumn into our home.

I always get so excited when I pull out the fall decorations.  I store them with all of my fall candles {which, ironically, I don’t burn very often} and when I open those storage totes I get a burst of yummy fall smells.  Heaven.

I also finished refinishing my dining table.  I apparently have some kind of white furniture obsession going on because everything I do lately gets painted white.  For reals.

Of course there are a bajillion things that I want to do to this dining room.  Curtains, rug, walls, lighting, floors {I miss my dark wood floors and am considering refinishing…thoughts?}…deep breath, baby steps.

Maybe someday in like, 20 years, my house will finally feel put together.  Does anyone else feel this way?   

We’ve been busy this week putting October’s Visiting Teaching message together and decking the halls with spiderwebs, skeletons and pumpkins, come back next week for pictures and how I gave up my death grip {ha!} on being the only holiday decorator around here.

Have a great day!

September Visiting Teaching Message

Our message this month is on becoming more spiritually and temporally self-reliant.

Elder Robert D. Hales explained, “The purpose of both temporal and spiritual self-reliance is to get ourselves on higher ground  so that we can lift others in need.”

How do we become more self-reliant?  Some ideas were to become educated, avoid debt and live within our means.  To become spiritually self-reliant, we must live our covenants, be worthy of a temple recommend, serve others and worthily partake of the sacrament.

For the message this month, I printed the message on some fun autumny paper {I got mine at The Wood Connection in American Fork} and made a printable of the principles of self-reliance that are listed in the Ensign.

To assemble this for your sisters, you will need a 12x12 sheet of paper that is printed on both sides.

Fold the bottom of the paper up about 4 inches till it looks like this, then fold it the other direction into thirds.

  Take the message, the principles of self-reliance card, and a candy bar-like treat and put them into your newly formed pockets.  The message is the tallest, so I put it in the middle.

Fold everything together and then add a 3 inch strip of contrasting paper around the middle, securing it with tape in the back.

Add a bow and you’re all done!

Happy Visiting Teaching! 

We Remember

12 years ago the world changed.

It was a horrible, horrible day.

I can’t imagine actually being there.

I remember exactly where I was when it happened.  I bet you do too.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the site where the Twin Towers stood.  It is a solemn place.

It is now a peaceful place for reflection.

A place for hope.

And for remembering.

My Mustache Cupboard and Ixnay on the Atcay Oopay Gel Stain

When I found this cupboard last week, I knew it would be really cool redone.  I really loved the detail in the {solid} wood and I’m a sucker for vintage, gaudy hardware {which, on this piece kind of look like mustaches…do you see it?}  Usually when I find a great piece of furniture, I immediately know which color I want to paint it, and can envision how awesome it will be.  This time, I could see it in turquoise {of course—everything would be awesome in turquoise}, yellow {either bright yellow or mustard} or white {heavily distressed and stained}.  I love colorful furniture, but this piece was begging to be white.

{Thanks to my 4-year-for this photo…there were about 30 of these on my phone, all almost identical}

I planned to do the usual:  paint it white, {normally I use a brush and regular paint, but needed just a thin coat of paint for distressing and so more would wipe off with the gel stain.  Spray paint is perfect for this} distress and stain…but I wanted to try a lighter stain, so that it would be more white than cream or tan.  So I picked up a light, natural gel stain, popped open the lid, and—I’m not kidding—it was the color of the stuff our cat leaves behind {pun intended} when her meal does not  agree with her stomach.  I thought to myself, “surely it will lighten up when I put it over the paint.” No.  Horrible.  Maybe if I mix it with a darker color.  No.  Too dark.  Back to Lowes, where I found a clear gel stain.  I bought it with the intent of mixing it with my dark stain that I love, so that it was lighter, and then rubbing with mineral spirits to lighten it even more.  Still too dark, and a real pain to apply and rub off.  So I tried just the clear gel stain on it's own, and really liked it! 

Right now, it will stay in our entryway, but can envision it in so many other places in our home. 

Have a great day!

Visiting Teaching Message {August 2013}

This month’s message is on Welfare, and how we need to look out for each other and serve each other.  I especially liked the quote from Henry B. Eyering that said

“The Lord has since the beginning of time provided ways for his disciples to help.  He has invited his children to consecrate their time, their means, and themselves to join with him in serving others. 

He has invited us and commanded us to participate in his work to lift up those in need.”

For my sisters this month, I thought it would be fun to put a few of the thoughts from the message on tags and put them on a “lifted up” balloon.

You can print the tags for the balloons here, {I printed on some cute patterned paper, but you don’t want too heavy of a cardstock or it will pull the balloon down}

Or you could get a balloon and write the part of the message that you like best, or that you think would help your sisters best.  If you would like to write your own message on the tags, I have also included a template for the blank tags .

As always, I added a treat to the string on the balloon for fun. 

 Happy Visiting Teaching!

The link for the entire Visiting Teaching message this month can be found here.

Our First Major Project

One of the features we liked most about our old house was the patio we had poured just a few years before moving.  From that project we learned how such a seemingly small improvement to your house can change the way you live.  The weedy, bug-filled junky, wasted space under the deck became another room in our house to play and lounge and read and gather.

 

So we knew that when we moved to the new house, we wanted to have a patio poured pretty quickly.

Another thing that we needed to do at this house was pour some proper steps.  These natural stone steps were pretty, but were slightly treacherous, and would shift as you stepped on them, making it hard to reach the backyard.When we decided to do this project, we called Parker Smith from Great Western.  He did our last patio and we loved his work, and we were so happy when he could find time in his busy schedule for our project.   One of the first steps was to rip out those rocks.  It took about 3 seconds with the Bobcat.  Now usually, we are pretty independent DIYers, but sometimes, you just have to let the professionals do their thing.  In this case, it is so worth handing the project over to them.

They got the frames all in and the stairs all formed, and then it was time for the concrete!

It was also time for me to go run an errand, so I missed the actual pouring :( But I came home to this! The concrete wall all poured, and they had started stamping it.

  Here it is all done!  The patio has to dry completely before sealing it.  We waited a week.Sealing a patio is something that we can do ourselves, and we like the sealer from Redtop.

So pretty.  And so nice to have a great place to spend summer evenings.

Just in case you forgot what it looked like after this incredibly long post, here is a before, and after.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great day!