Goodbye January

I'm always excited to see January come to an end

and to turn the corner on the LONG Winter months.

( I try not to complain too much about Winter and I know that we really need the moisture.

Hopefully we will get a few more storms like the last one. Rain in the valleys and

plenty of snow in the mountains:))

Kyler on the other hand wishes that it would snow

 everyday and loves to be outside playing in it.

He was pretty proud of the snowman that he

built all by himself.

Sure do love this little guy and his cute snowman:))

January Projects

For me January is always the perfect month

to do some inside projects.

(After all what else is there to do when it's freezing cold outside)

Project #1

Rewind back to last January. I decided our bedroom was in

need of a redo. I was so tired of red everywhere in our

home and wanted to change to a lighter more fresh design.

Before

Fast forward to this January and I finally found what I was looking

for (lamp shade, throw blanket) had the extra money, and was finally

able to put the finishing touches on my January 2013 project:))

After

I Love how it came together.

Gray/white/yellow is one of my favorite color combo's.

Now if I just had the funds to redo the other red area's in our home.

Project #2

Since we have been approved with a private adoption agency

(and hopefully will get a call any day telling us we have been chosen)

I decided it would be a good idea to get bedrooms rearranged

now instead of waiting until we get that call.

With Kyler's adoption we had less than 24 hours notice.

This time around I want to be a little more prepared:))

I moved Kyler into our spare room/office so that the nursery would

be available at the drop of a hat.

Also I thought it would be good for Kyler to have a new room now

rather than waiting and making him feel like he was losing his room to a baby.

I repainted the stripes in the room from sage green to this navy blue. We traded the furniture around and the biggest project, swapping out closets.

I budgeted the money to buy the finishing touches(lamp, wall décor, basketball hoop) and was able to put it all together

over the weekend.

Project #3

This last project isn't my ideal look, but at least it took something

I really disliked about our family room and made it bearable.

I have always hated the way our fireplace looks.

Seriously why would you design the brick to have 3 random pieces sticking out.(Can you find all 3?)

 Gotta love the 60's.

We decided to mount our T.V.  

and add a mantle to try and improve the look.

I think it helped some.

So with 4 days to spare I'm

able to check off my January To Do List:))

A Favorite...

One positive about the LONG Winter months

is that a yummy bowl of soup makes the perfect dinner.

I recently found this recipe on Pinterest.

It is one of my favorites right now and it is super cheap and easy:)))

Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

4 1/2 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts(cook &shred before adding to soup)

1 pkg. Rice-a-Roni (long grain & wild rice)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1-2 cups diced carrots

1-2 cups diced celery

1 cup diced onions

Combine broth, water, carrots, celery, onions, chicken, salt, pepper, and rice(along with seasoning packet.) Cook on high for 4 hours in your crock-pot.  

Doesn't get much easier than that:)))

Make sure you have enough for leftovers.

I think soup always taste better the next day:))

Enjoy!!!

Weekend Words

This past weekend was the perfect balance between

relaxation and productivity.

Friday night we kicked off the weekend with a much needed date night.

We enjoyed going to the temple and out to dinner while Kyler

had fun at Kid's Night Out at the Peak.

Saturday was all about getting things checked off the To-To List.

The boys took down the Christmas lights, rotated the tires on the cars, and did some honey-do's for me. I worked all day on swapping Kyler's bedroom. I painted an accent wall, traded out/cleaned closets, and moved all his toys and furniture.

Sundays are always a good day, especially when grandma invites us out for dinner.

It's one of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday evening and I know the

cousins LOVE getting together.

Monday was spent the way a holiday should be.

The boys enjoyed hitting the slopes.

I enjoyed the afternoon reading a book, soaking up the sun, and people watching.

The Weekend

 Last weekend was spent celebrating my

33rd Birthday!!!

Kyler and Jason went out of their way to make it

extra special, along with family and friends:))

Friday was spent at the beautiful Snowbasin Ski Resort.

It was Kyler's first time skiing and he did amazing!!!

Jason has been dreaming of this day since the day we found

out we were going to have a son. I LOVED watching

them ski down the hill together.

There will be many memories made on the ski slopes between

father and son in the years to come.

We ended our day with a yummy dinner from Kneaders.

Saturday evening Shirley treated us to one of my favorite restaurants, Maddox, for my birthday dinner.

I feel very blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. 

Ringing in 2014

New Year's Eve always seems to be one of those nights

where you don't want to go out and fight crowds, but

you don't want to sit home all alone doing nothing to ring in the new year.

 

So last minute we decided to invite our families over for

games, food, and fireworks. I didn't stress much over decorations or what games we would play and kept it really simple and cheap:))

 

 

 

"Kyler stop eating candy, but mom I'm making a pattern."

Uncle Joe and his crazy fireworks.

We never know what to expect once he lights them:))

 

 

 

Happy New Year!!!