Halloween Wreath

 My friend Brittany and I made these adorable candy corn wreaths last week.  We got the idea from my favorite website, of course:) She has a tutorial on the site.  I added the little sign.  Painted it myself.  I'm getting so into this crafty thing you should just call me Martha.

I love the Fall right now.  It's still warm but the leaves are changing.  So enjoy it while it lasts!  Let the Holiday seasons begin!

After 6th months of wishing

 I was introduced to this website (http://www.allthingsthrifty.com/) about six months ago and have wanted to do this project ever since.  Because of other priorities and obligations I didn't get to it as fast as I wanted to, BUT I finally finished it!   

My dad has stacks of unused scraps of wood tucked in his garage and I asked if I could sift through them to find a piece to paint.  I found the perfect one and had him cut it into three equal peices.  I primed them, picked out the colors I wanted to match my bedroom, and used the template from the website and a projector to trace the image on the boards. 

I couldn't get a very good "whole" view of my bedroom and I'm not quite finished decorating the room the way I would like it, so here are the important pieces.  I made the curtains when we first moved into our apartment and then when I saw this project on the website I new I had to make it. The pattern is almost identical to the fabric in my curtains!  The best part is, the whole thing cost be about 6 bucks!  All I did was buy the sample sized paint from Lowes and a paint brush.  The rest was FREE:)  You could probably pay hundreds of dollars for something like that in a home decor store, so I'm pretty pleased:)  

Bring on the projects! 

Precious Moments

Tonight I have to share a precious moment with my sweet Leilani.  Leilani is a busy wiggly little girl, always on the go ready for the next event so these moments don't come to me very often (especially the last few weeks since she's been starting to get teeth- one is just barely starting to pop out).  Usually when I give her a bottle right before bedtime she falls right to sleep and I slip her into bed with her unconscious, but tonight she didn't fall asleep.  After she finished her bottle she just laid there in my lap.  She smiled at me and let me talk to her and play with her, but she didn't try to push me away or get up, she just laid there.  After a while she got this tired little giggle that just melted my heart.  We sat there together for almost 15 minutes!!!  And then she sweetly put her head on my shoulder while I sang to her and put her to bed, which she did without a complaint.  It's moments like those that make being a Mom worth every minute.  AND it's moments like those I need to remember during the other not so sweet moments:)  Thank you, Leilani.  I Love You!

Amnesty

Amnesty- an act granting a pardon to a group of individuals

Now I am not one who gets involved with politics.  I don't even watch the news or read the newspaper because of how depressing they are.  Nor do I understand politics (who does?)  But I do know right from wrong and I can say whole heartedly that this is WRONG!!  And sadly, we know that it will only get worse.  But as the Lord reminds us over and over in these times,
"Turn to me with all your heart" Joel 2:12. 
"Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice" Joel 2:21.

"He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and he will turn away the evil from you" Joel 2:13. 

Targhee's Birthday Extravaganza!

Can you believe it? Targhee is half the way over the hill!!! Every year, the number just sounds older and older, and 25 is defininetly one of those older sounding ones! I must say that he is aging quite well, though:)
He has been an amazing husband and father and I wanted to do something for him that would make him feel as loved as Leilani and I feel for him. So since his birthday was on a dull, yucky Monday filled with work and school, we had to make it an all weekend celebration. Friday night we went out to eat with his family and my parents at La Ferrovia. One of our favorite restaraunts. If you've never been to this quaint 25th street Italiana treat, you are definitely missing out on one of the only good things Ogden has to offer. We enjoyed visiting with our family and Leilani got to experience her first lemon!!

If you look closely you can see the pain in her eyebrows, and yet she kept going back for more. It was hillarious.

Saturday, Leilani and I decorated the house (Leilani was SO much help) wrapped some presents and made Targhee a cake. When he got home from work we gave him a card with tickets to the State Fair. There, we saw a hypnotist, paid way too much for a plate of Panda Express, saw Moooo cows, Baah sheep, Cockadoodledo chickens and roosters, hog races, and even some seals! (a little out of place amongst the farm animals, but cute little performers).

Leilani did so well the whole night but was exhausted by the time we left.

After we got home we had a rip roaring game of scrabble.

Sunday, Leilani wore a special birthday outfit for Daddy. It was the very first outfit we bought for her after we found out we were having a girl. Targhee picked it out and I remember thinking it was so tiny, but we've had to wait until she was 8 months old to wear it and it was still a little big:)

Sunday night we had a roast beef dinner and cake and icecream at my parent's home. I made the cake. It didn't turn out too bad for a first timer:)

Monday it was finally time for presents!!

Happy 25th Birthday Targhee! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Family Outing

Friday night bowling!!

Look who's talking

Every since Leilani was born Targhee has been trying to get her to say "da da da da." Well as of today she officially says her first word, which is, of course, "da da da." It is very cute and Targhee is quite proud.

at 7 months

Leilani is in such a fun stage right now. We are having a blast watching her explore her world. She's starting to find her independence and is so smiley and happy all the time. We would like to freeze her just like this for a while. Here are some of the things about her...

Stands up to EVERYTHING

Speedy crawler. Blink and she's gone.

Sits up and plays. This is the first time I've seen her sit still since she was born.

Eats all purre foods, (except peas), and anything else Mom is willing to put in her mouth. Still no teeth yet, so I'm being a little careful. I'm amazed at how well she can gum things though.

Loves her bottle

Babbles. It's getting louder and louder every day.

Plays peek-a-boo

Weighs 14lbs 13 oz

Height 25 1/2 inches

Hums with me when I sing to her

Loves to play!

Play!!

PLAY!!!

We have had some wonderful moments with her these last few months. We started her on formula so Dad gets to feed her sometimes. He loves it because she just lays on his lap and now she's starting to let him cuddle her more, which he adores. One day when he got home from work, she got so excited she speed crawled over to him and gave him a big hug. I think he was almost in tears. We are so grateful for the joy she brings to our home.

We love you little bug!

Continuing my search for hobbies

I'm really starting to like creating my own things to decorate my little apartment. We recently purchased a new couch. This was our old one. We did have a cover over it so the crazy flowers weren't as blinding, but it was time for a new one.

New couch

The new couch needed something more so I made it some pillows.

It took me forever to find the right fabric, but when I found this one, I thought, "It's kinda crazy...but I like it!" I think it adds really well to my living room color scheme.

I've also been staring at my empty walls for the past 10 months and finally decided on a wall hanging. I really like the word art and vinyl lettering but I wanted something a little more personal than "Live, Laugh, Love" and the other clique things in the stores.

While visiting my sister in Kentucky I realized something that helped change my outlook on my life. Their life wasn't perfect, they had difficult things going on, as everyone does, but they were happy. They laughed as a family and enjoyed what was happening at the moment. I realized that I needed to find more time to laugh in my own life and it reminded me of a talk given by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin just before he passed away. So this is what I came up with by taking the key points from his talk.

It is a good reminder to me of the good examples I have in my life and to enjoy the journey in whatever lies ahead of me.

Anyway, these are my latest projects, and I've had a lot of fun making them. I can't say I've done them completely on my own though. I've had a lot of help. My mom came with me to pick out the fabric for my pillows. My friend, Haley, came with me to buy the wood for my wall hanging. My dad helped cut the wood and piece it together. And, my friend, JaLynn, let me use her cricut to cut out the letters. So, maybe that is why it has been so fun to do these projects because it has given me a chance to get together with people that mean a lot to me.

Thanks for all the help:)

California Love

My sister, Allison, got married July 9, 2010, in the Sacramento Temple to Tabor Ramsey. The day before Targhee had classes and tests, so after he finished we booked it to California. Leilani did great! (She's well versed in road trips now:) We got to stop at the Salt flats, which I've never done before. I don't know how many times I've driven past them and thought to myself, "at what time of night or day does a person just drive off the side of the freeway and write their name with rocks in the salt flat?" We didn't excactly drive off the side of the freeway, we used a rest stop, equiped with water tap to rinse your feet after walking on the salt, but I thought it was a fun little adventure.


Around 7:30pm Leilani had had it, so we did just have to pull off the side of the freeway.

By the time we got to Reno, we were both starving and Targhee said he felt like some Taco Bell. "That should be easy," I thought, "every exit has a sign telling you what restaraunts are available so we'll just wait for the Taco Bell." Well, half way across the city there had been no sign for Taco Bell. The GPS!! We have a GPS. I'll just type it into the GPS and have it take us to Taco Bell. Sure enough there was a Taco Bell just three miles away. So we faithfully listened to the man on the GPS tell us to "turn left just ahead" and so on. About ten minutes later as we were getting farther and farther from the freeway AND city. I said, "Targhee, this can't be right." I looked to my right and there was the Reno Airport. I said, "Is it going to take us to the airport and tell us there is a Taco Bell in there?" How ridiculous! So there we were in the middle of a commercial wearhouse area next to the airport and our GPS announces proudly, "You have reached your destination!" What?? Is this like the wearhouse that Taco Bell's are manufactured in or what? By this time, Targhee's tummy is rumbling but we are both so irritated that we just got back on the freeway and decided we would just eat when we got to California.
Right after you pass Reno there is an entrance to a canyon and then you are well on your way to California, so right before we enter the canyon, we drive around a curve, in silence, of course, and what do we see ahead?

AAAWW!! Like a shining becon there it was. Way to go GPS! Like I'll ever trust you again!
So with full tummies we trudged on to California, arriving at 1:00am that night.

The next morning was beautiful! Perfect weather. The whole family was gathered at the temple. The gorgeous bride and groom were so fun to watch. There really is a special glow on your wedding day and they wore it well!

So, while the honeymooners, honeymooded, the rest of us decided to Partay!

We spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights at the Crum's "bed and breakfast." It was very fun to spend time with the family in a relaxed sort of way.

Monday we headed up to Lake Tahoe for the rest of our vacation. Callie set us up with an amazing cabin. This thing had five bathrooms (although, we misplaced the the fifth one, cuz all we could find were four- the men said it must be out on the deck:) Eight bedrooms, four floors (though it felt like 20 when you were walking up the stairs) and a game room. We pretty much spent the entire first day exploring the whole thing.

We played on the beach Tuesday, and I had prepared a Minute to Win it game for us to play that night. My favorite game was "junk in the trunk" where a tissue box full of ping pong balls is strapped above your bum and you have shake to get them all out.
These are a few pictures of the "face the cookie" game.

I love my family!!