Challenge

Tyler told me today I have too many clothes.
Say what?
Can a girl have too many clothes?

Well, this may end up being a mistake, but I decided to take on a personal challenge.  I do feel very blessed and don't want this explanation to come across the wrong way... I've been fortunate enough to have a wonderful friend who recently gave me a bunch of clothes.  I've also bought a lot of clothes in the last little bit.  And although I went through my old clothes and gave a lot away not too long ago, I'm finding my closet is pretty full; full of clothes I'm still not wearing much.  Not because I don't like them, but because I get into clothes-moods and wear the same bunch of tops over and over.  I just can't seem to give up on some of those other clothes yet and give them away.

So... my challenge, starting the beginning of the year, is to wear a different top every day without repeating a top until I've worn all of them once.  (If needed, I can repeat pants, accessories, shoes, cardigans, jackets, coats, socks, and underwear... it's mainly just the tops that can't be repeated.)

I'm taking on this challenge to hopefully find out what clothes I actually like and would wear.  If I find I'm not digging them, then I should just give them away.

I've decided to do this with my church attire too... this one might prove to be a little more difficult because I have a million skirts (from way back when) that will need to be worn with a plain top...  and I only have so many of those.  I may have to adjust the rules with those outfits...?  But for sure the skirt/dress will change each Sunday.

In order to keep me accountable, I've decided to take pictures and document them somehow.  I'll let you know how I document, if you're actually interested... maybe on a separate blog.  Even if I don't post every day I'll still be taking pictures every day.  Yikes!  What am I getting myself into?

Memories

Christmastime always gets me thinking of tons of fun memories from my childhood and with my family.
After seeing my friend's post I thought it'd be great to follow suit and post this:
 
Answer about Emily, or Tyler, or Danica, or all 3 of us:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. 

redecorating surprise

Well, a couple times Tyler has told me that I should post about the redecorating surprise I did in our front room while he was gone in Orlando for a work convention back in October.  I told him that he should post about it so I didn't sound like I was saying "Oh! Look at all I did.  I'm so cool!"  But he hasn't posted about it, obviously.  And for the last few days I've been looking at our blog thinking I should post about something... but what?

Well here you have it.  The Redecoration... Look at all I did!  I'm so cool!

(It actually wasn't a lot since I couldn't spend very much money and had only a couple days to do it.... granted I did stay up most of the nights working too... so it was more like a few "days" to do it)

The reason I decided to redecorate was because we bought some new couches!!

You may have noticed these curtains before.

With the new chocolate brown couches and the old olive green curtains
the room seemed very dark.  

Replacing the green with some robin's egg blue lightened things up a bit.

Here are the new accessories:

(sorry for all the bad pics.  I did it quickly during Dani's nap)

super easy fabric balls - made out of scrap fabric and a little hot glue 

Danica's had some fun with these balls... as you can tell

These are hanging along our stairs

made with scrapbook paper and basic crocheting skills

On one of our cinderblock walls hang these frames

made out of cardboard mats (pack of 3 at $ Store), 

covered in scrapbook paper, and fun doodads, and hung up with that blue tacky tape (or whatever it's called)

the berries were found online and cut out with my cricut 

(I LOVE my cricut!!)

also made with my cricut....

I got this idea from my sister Anna. 

The empty picture in the middle will eventually be one like this

(The Oakland, CA Temple, where we got married)

I also made these

 
The backs of the pillows are all slip covers made with the same blue and white fabric as the big pillow.  I was actually proud of myself for figuring out how to do the slip cover on my own... a whole lot easier than I thought it would be too.  That fabric is left over from curtains I originally made.  Though they kept me up 'til the wee hours of morning, they, sadly, looked horrible!  So they're now sitting in a drawer upstairs.

Even so, I enjoyed doing this redecoration.  I love to craft and it's always fun to see something you made come together.

And now that I think about it, I have serveral things to post, but it's all about finding the time to do it.  So I guess... stay tuned.

Happy late Halloween

The Friday before Halloween, Tyler's work hosted a treat-or-treat party for the employee's families.  I didn't take any pictures that day.
That night Tyler and I hosted a Halloween party with his sister Candice and her boyfriend Kyle.  We had good food, a jello eating contest, donut eating contest, and a photo booth.
Saturday night we had our ward Halloween party.  I won 3rd place for best costume (I never win anything) and Danica had lots of fun playing with the million balloons.
Tyler was Matt Foley, an SNL character, I was Giselle from the movie Enchanted (by the way... that dress took FOREVER to make... Thursday night I was up until 6am finishing those ruffles), and Danica was a princess too.  She was too cute!

Here are the pics....

Kyle and Candice

It was really close between Kyle and Tyler

Kyle probably would have won, 

but he had a heckler and had a hard time swallowing after that

so Tyler won (again)

The girls taking their time during the contest

 At our Ward Halloween Party

Hermione, Giselle, Elastigirl
My Visiting Teaching buddies

Help please!

last Christmas

We're planning on taking an 11 hour trip soon and I'm so worried about how it will be with a 15 month old!
We took a 3 1/2 hour trip a little bit ago and she basically cried the whole time.  I had to sit in the back seat with her, but I get car sick when I do that.

Do you have any suggestions to make the trip easier.... anything ....
something you've heard of or done yourself??

update

No Halloween pictures yet... I'm waiting for those pictures still (from someone else's camera)

In the meantime, I thought I should update on Danica... I haven't done that in a while and she's 15 months now...I can't believe how time flies.


Before I get into the update, I've got to tell you about a great find I got at DI.  I wanted to get Danica some books and find some sort of stand for a project I'm working on (more on that later).
I came across this book...

pic found here

I was way excited to see that... especially for the $4 price tag!!!!

I definitely recommend this book

Anyway... updating...

I realize not everyone may be interested in reading about Danica's updates, so we'll do pictures first, cause those are more fun.

Wearing the wig I wore for Halloween

Eating pasta

 She definitely needed a bath after that!

She's been doing that with her tongue a lot lately

Just being her cute, happy self

 Well, Danica is 15 months old now and she's as happy as can be... now that she's not teething that is.

Her stats at her 15 month appointment were:

weight: 20.1 lbs - 11.53%

head: 17.5 cm - 13.64%

height: 31 3/6" - 74.49 %

Recently she's been:

•walking backwards •saying "mo, mo, mo, mo" -as more... when she wants more food •sleeping from 7pm to 8 or 9am and taking a 1-2 hour nap during the day •getting hurt a lot... I'd like to think that it's because she's had a growth spurt and her balance is all off and that's also why she keeps running into our counter •shaking her head yes or no in response •properly putting on her puppet and finger puppets •saying cheese and smiling when we take her picture •turning on and off the TV •saying "yeah."....She'll get all excited like she's thinking "finally!yes!I thought she'd never ask!" and she'll run over to go do that thing. •holding our hand... I LOVE it

Dani loves:

•singing and dancing... it's so fun to dance with her and we do it everyday... plus, she doesn't think mom's dance moves are strange...yet! •spinning... haha, I started spinning one day while dancing and she followed suit and wouldn't stop. she's a spinning monster now... she'll get so dizzy and falls down everytime •baths... well, playing in the bathtub... and she'll cry if you don't let her turn into a prune •getting scared •shoes (still) •peek-a-boo •sitting on the couch or in a chair next to mom or dad... I'm sure she feels so big! •going for walks... inside and outside the stroller •opening and closing doors •getting into my facewash drawer •...getting into anything, really, that is not a toy •playing the piano •taking her socks and shoes off •stuffed animals and her baby doll ---hugs and kisses all around •other kids •helping us take in the trash cans •unlocking our front door or car door with the key (she thinks she's actually doing it. I tell her "good job" and she gets a huge grin every time) •pulling the throw pillows off the couch •pointing at objects saying "da?"... I think she's saying "that?" and wants me to tell her what "that" is •telling me stories that are apparently funny because amidst her baby gibberish she'll giggle... so cute •pushing the carts at the Laundromat •getting into my purse and especially pulling everything out of my wallet •sitting on mom or dad's lap while they're trying to work on something •pulling things out of the fridge the millisecond it's open... especially the ranch, maple syrup, or hot sauce •dogs •giving hugs and kisses

She enhales:

•B, bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S •cheese puffs •cheese (from our cheese ball) and crackers

Danica hates:

•getting her diaper changed, mostly when she's tired... she'll cry and cry - sorry neighbors! •the mailman... I think it's his funny hat •teething.... who wouldn't though

She says:

•hi •dad •more •bottle •bath •yeah •cheese

... she used to say mom, but doesn't anymore... what's up with that?

-Animal sounds: •dog •snake •cow •cat •horse

-ASL: •food •more •please •milk

-other words I think she's said, but not quite sure: •cracker •diaper •yes •water

Danica gets lots of compliments on her:

•walking skills •beautiful eyes/eyelashes •sociability

I can't believe how much Danica has learned and how much she learns each day.  She understands just about anything... she'll retrieve things, point to what we ask, follow commands, and waves hi and bye

Had to share

Our Sunday School class got moved into a different room a few weeks back and for some reason they moved our group... the group that has the oldest kids in the ward... into the Nursery room.  So it's really hard to keep the kids from playing with the toys during our lesson.  In the room they have one of those big plastic houses (big enough for kids to walk in) and Danica and a little boy were playing with that.  The boy was standing outside the house by the window and Danica walks inside.  She opens the shutters, leans through the window, and kisses the boy!  It cracked us up!  Danica's first kiss was cute. Haha.
We're very affectionate at home and give kisses to Danica all the time so she was just showin' some love too!

Vanity

Lately I've gone through a phase of buying purses.
In the last little bit I've bought 4 purses.  

Although I'm a cheap frugal shopper,
after buying these purses I think I might be hooked.

(the colors aren't accurate... especially the purple purse... it's actually a dark plum)

 

I wanted to post about this because I'm vain!
And also because I got this amazing deal.  

See the teal purse?  I didn't keep the receipt, but it was originally marked around $88.  They were having a purse sale and this one was marked down to $8 and some change.  On top of that, I had an old gift card with about $6 left on it... so I paid around $2 for the purse!

Oh!  Also, this last weekend I bought a pair of shoes from Goodwill.  

(these shoes are actually a dark red) 

I thought it was a steal of a deal marked at $2.99,
but that weekend all yellow tags were 50% off.  

So with tax I paid $1.41.  

Awesome!

And by the way, Danica likes her accessories too...

   

Off to see the Wizard

Before I get to my main reason for posting, I just wanted to remind you that I am planning a get together where I'll be teaching you how to make The 20 Minute Skirt (see post below for more details).  If you're interested in coming to that you'll want to bring the following supplies:
*1 yard of fabric
*enough elastic to fit around your waist once
*sewing machine - if you have one

I recently helped plan an activity for my ward Relief Society. It was Wizard of Oz themed.
(A summary of the activity is below the pictures)

I thought it was a fun activity and everyone worked so hard to pull it all together.
Here are some pictures of the activity to give you an idea of what it looked like.

Kansas

Part of the Yellow Brick Road

The Rainbow

Lollipops for the Lollipop Guild

 Following the Yellow Brick Road

The Emerald City (the Wizard was behind that curtain)

Cake pops - from the Wizard

Some of the people who helped plan the activity

To briefly summarize the activity - The Wizard invited the girls to spend a day in Oz, but when they arrived they found they were in Kansas instead.  Glinda told us that although we did well with our Visiting Teaching the previous month, the Wizard wants us to learn some things before we can visit him in Oz.  So we all stayed in Kansas and ate pulled pork sandwiches, salad, and corn.
When dinner was over, Glinda started telling us what we could do to get to the Emerald City, but before she could finish explaining, a tornado hit and the girls followed Glinda out of Kansas.  We walked over a rainbow and followed the yellow brick, where we were welcomed by the lollipop guild.  We were then taught how we could be better Visiting Teachers by using our minds, hearts, and having courage.  We continued following the yellow brick road into the Emerald City.  To end, the Wizard, behind the curtain, bore his testimony of Visiting Teaching.