ta da...

...so I went with the dark brown...


...and I like the way the curtains turned out...there is black out just on the top where there are no blinds...I enjoy the colors in my girls Americana room....

...and I thought I would share a bit more of this seemingly eternal project...it was a foreclosure, vandalized, graffiti, broken water pipes, mold, wind, etc etc etc...and in the perfect area...so we bought it, a few hours before I went into labor. I saw little of my hubby for the next month while he (and many other wonderful people) meticulously painted and repaired, following the plans and pictures that I had put together the month before...

...here is his Father's Day gift from me to him:

He wanted a curved fireplace hearth...Lowes and Home Depot said it couldn't be done...so we made it happen:

...and here is another of the many, many, many, many gifts he gave me in many hours of work... ...I honestly did not take many pics of this place before, and in the ones you see, they are touched up so you don't see all the mess that was left...it felt cold, yucky, and dark...now it feels warm, happy, and like home! (even though it is an ENDless project and I just can't wait for a fence and some BIG trees!!) I'll post some more before/after pics if you are interested....? ...and...what would you do with that white tile inside the fireplace...I can't really remove it...so what else??? Leave it?

italian pizza...

If you have never had it, don't expect American Pizza to be anything like it...but, do expect it to have an awesome unique taste all of it's own. My husband served a church mission in Italy where he fell in love with Italian food. He took me to the Salt Lake City restaurant called Settebello for an authentic Italian Pizza. Sooooooooooo good. I craved their margherita with italian sausage my whole pregnancy. They also have Gelato...the awesome Italian Ice cream. I would go there.

Now, in Provo valley, they have the restaurant Terra Mia. We tried it. Just as gooood. As we were leaving, we saw some couples walk to the door, look in, and decide not to go. WHAT!?! Do you not know how good this pizza is?! I would go here too. These places import the real ingredients. They also have Gelato...

one of the greatest lessons...

..."never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved"...

Our Prophet President Monson shares a minute message about what matters most...

"they do not love, that do not show their love" -William Shakespeare

this is halloween...

...take ONE...This is the Place Heritage Park...
...what can I say, it was game day...BYU monkey, Firefighter, sweet Pea Pod...

...take TWO...preschool parade...firefly,cow butterfly...first Halloween...

...Take THREE...HALLOWEEN DAY!...Halloween Princess...Lion...Octopus...

...so thankful to friends for letting me borrow adorable costumes!

The pumpkin story...

...the fall season, we love it, the leaves, the colors, the pumpkins...
...my husband's work decided to have a pumpkin carving contest, so they gave him a pumpkin...it's the little one in the picture...what kind of a pumpkin is that! All you can carve on something like that is a pair of eyes, maybe! So we did....

...we even managed to get a mouth...the girls got bored shortly after this picture about, like 30 sec after, and left. That's when things got a little scarey. Our BIG family pumkin, well, I think the little excuse for a pumpkin insulted him...so he took matters into his own orange head...

...literally...

..."I eat your sorry excuse for a pumpkin in one bite!

....next year, give us a REAL pumpkin to carve!"

OH YEAH! He won...10 whole dollars gift card to Star Bucks, Woo Hoo!!!

a grateful heart...

A grateful heart will give you a touch of refinement that can come in no other way. -Marjorie Hinckley, wife of President Gordon B. Hinckley I have wondered how we can teach gratitude and humility to our American children in the face of such abundance. Perhaps the best way is to be constant in the matter of family prayer.
It is good to kneel as a family and to hear daily expressions of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the blessings we enjoy. The Lord intended His children to enjoy the good things of life. With all that we have, we must also have grateful hearts. We must teach our children not to take all that they have for granted. –Marjorie Hinckley
This is our gratitude or thankful tree that we are putting together the entire month before Thanksgiving. L was our Thanksgiving baby, born right on Thanksgiving morning after some years of infertility testing and many prayers. So this holiday has taken on extra special meaning to us. Our goal is to speak only positive things for this month (harder than you think for us!) and then daily write something we are thankful for on a leaf of our tree. I want to end in a culminating event during the thanksgiving holidays. Something they can look forward to. But I can't think of anything that would be meaningful for such young ones...any ideas, please? My blogging world always comes through for me, I'm thankful for you. :)

on becoming a new mother...

"Remember that this is the time in my life that I have dropped off the face of the world as I knew it, to enter the realm of motherhood. My eulogy will mention all of the accomplishments I’ve done before this time and after my children are grown. But the greatest achievements of my life, will be the children that come from this quiet anonymous period." –Me, written in my journal shortly after my first daughter came into the world.