Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Welcome

. . . to my home!


Entryway.

I missed my Chilean pictures. My wreath should be outside, but the other day the wind was blowing so badly it trashed our spiderwebs and I was afraid my wreath would be destroyed, so I flipped it over the door so it was inside. It was easy thanks to a cool Martha Stewart tip to use ribbon thumb tacked on the top of the door to hang wreaths. So pretty and so convenient for me to switch inside when the weather acts up. Plus, this way I get to see my creation and enjoy it too!


The easiest wreath I've ever made: black tool, a wreath form, and a ribbon. I just bought the orange ribbon at Michaels for like $1.50 and had the plaid already that I wove into the orange. Looks like the wind moved it around - it should be formed along the bottom of the wreath and not just hanging down (the perfectionist in me apparently went to lunch and hasn't fixed that yet). I suppose a black bird would look cool in there too somewhere, but I'm on a strict budget at the moment so we're going plain. Maybe I'll get some clearance stuff next week.


I adore my baby pumpkins. They make me smile. Thank you, Pinterest world (my new obsession and another reason I have neglected blogging) for the idea.


I had to remember that I share this house with Nate so I compromised and we hung his elk picture above the couch. He says it reminds him of Arizona elk. The bobcat is over in the corner, and the jury's out on that. He thinks it'd look great in the corner but I have never wanted animals on the wall in my main rooms. I tell him it can go in our bedroom because I want to eventually put an antiqued desk back there for me to use during the day because currently our only computer is upstairs in our room and I'd love to have my own downstairs I can get on without leaving the babies alone if I have to print something. Or, you know, do some important pinning :) I do have bins of toys back behind the couch currently so I need to figure something out.

As you can tell, we're not fighters so the bobcat stays on the floor and the subject has been forgotten for now -- until I have money to get a desk and set up the corner, then game on! Just kidding, I'm a lover, not a fighter. But I will get my way :)

Now, turn around and you see this:


My cute bookcases, Arizona temple, and my awesome blanket basket JoDee brought me for my birhtday! She rocks. This is my favorite corner - oh how I missed my books when they were in storage the past two years! I love having my stuff back again and having my own house. I finally feel at home!


My favorite corner - I love my Tai-Pan deals - the American flag liberty picture and the Abraham Lincoln religion quote:
When I do good,
I feel good.
When I do bad,
I feel bad.
And that is my
religion.
Amen. Love it. I also love my "sister's craft" we made a few years ago. So cute and they remind me of my sisters. I lost my "Boo" letters but hand-made cutouts worked fine.



Turn to your left and you have the entrance to the kitchen and this beauty. I love this table and mirror b/c it was in my house growing up and somehow I ended up with it and I love it!

kitchen


I really want a red garbage can..


can you spot the compromise? I am such a good wife.
(antlers)

Actually, I couldn't say no because he was so excited and thought it was such good "Montana decorating." It may be "Montana decorating," but not quite "Mandi decorating."
Oh well, what can I say, I love him!


I missed my table too. I asked JoDee what to do with these windows and she suggested wreaths. She's so clever - I didn't quite see the vision until I saw this on Pinterest:


Yes, I see how that would be cute with two wreaths to add red accent. I'll update you on that project if I ever get to it. Relief Society, friends, and kids are keeping me pretty busy. For the first time in my life, I'm really having a hard time keeping up on cleaning - and that's absolutely crazy for ME! I've gotta get organized in that part of my life.

Now, wanna go upstairs?

At the entryway are our stairs. Head up and you see this:


More bookcases and the laundry closet with my Chile sign hanging to remind of how hard laundry was to do in Chile (by hand) and that I'm grateful for my machines that do all the work and that starting the machines and folding/putting away really aren't that bad. Can't say I feel grateful everytime, but that's the goal with hanging it there - oh how quickly we forget!


Our bedroom -- always the last thing to be decorated and organized. We do like our new bed though.


Upstairs landing. London & Reagan's room on the left and Savy's room on the right. Then they have a large, nice bathroom. I am on the lookout for some kind of chest or dresser for up here to keep linens and towels. I'll be scouring Craigslist, garage sales and thrift stores because Pinterest has somehow made me think that I can remake anything to be cute. Any ideas? I have no linen closets at all so I really need something here.


London and Reagan's room. My sister-in-law let us borrow that crazy Sesame Street thing. It keeps crazy Reagan in the bed so it stays. She sleeps really well in there which surprised us since she's pretty much slept in our bedroom or bed since she was a baby. Such a big girl....makes me sad...

Savannah's bedroom set has yet to be painted due to our sudden state of joblessness after we moved up here.

But
we are so grateful, though, that the Lord has been looking out for us and we were able to have work while Nate was looking and I was able to babysit Ethan and Morgan and that Nate found a "real" job so quickly (which he's in Texas training for this week). We really feel like Montana is the right place for our family and the Lord made it possible to for us to get here and has looked out for us ever since.

Thanks for visiting! We hope you liked our house as much as we do!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Keepin' Busy

I told Amy today that I would (finally) post again. Pictures of the house. So I faithfully got on the computer tonight and uploaded my pictures only to discover that when I took pictures when we first moved in I didn't have any of the main room. So I'll snap some tomorrow and post - and you'll all be lucky enough to see my awesome Halloween decorating skills (ha!ha!).

We have just been busy with life -- soccer, babysitting, callings, funerals, weddings, and fun things like JoDee visiting and the fall festival in Belgrade (not to be missed).

London loves her soccer team. "Blue Lightning" lights it up every Saturday. I am grateful this weekend is her last game because (a) I am starting to get cold at practices and games and (b) I'm tired of lugging 5 children to soccer practice twice a week -- a baby, 2 toddlers, Savy and London.

Let me introduce you to my new children, Morgan and Ethan. Well,they are mine Mon-Thursday from 8-5 at least.

These two toddlers keep me busy all day!London adores Morgan and always spends time with her after school which really helps me out. She can't wait to be a mom. Reagan has begged and begged me to have another baby. I just tell her to talk to daddy about it.

A few weeks ago, we went to the Fall Festival. Nate was gone and so I went with the girlies alone, but luckily met up with a friend from church and we hung out all day together. I was amused as she complained about the heat because it must have been in the 70's, maybe low 80's that day. I thought it was perfect!

Me and Tracey, with her daughter, Eliza.
Waiting for the parade to start (which, by the way, made the Cedar parades seem super awesome and dare I say, professional? Yeah, it was that bad. Nothing compares to Cedar), Reagan wanted to show her favorite place in Belgrade (besides the old run-down church she thinks is a castle) -- the doughnut shop! I like it because (a) it's a log cabin (b) not open on Sundays and (c) I went there once and didn't have cash, not knowing they didn't take debit and the guy just said I could come back later and pay him -- only in a small town! I happened to have my checkbook so it worked out, but still, such a cute old man!

I just think Reags looks old here -- of course she pulled her pony out so she's wild woman as usual -- I can't keep clothes or ponies on this girl! I don't know what she'll do when it's freezing outside!
She so wanted to pose next to this Halloween-decorated poodle.
Everyone in Montana has a dog (except us!). Savannah loved this one that was as big as her!

So each of the girls got to choose one thing they wanted. The two things chosen were:

1. Bungee jumping/flipping on trampolines
2. Getting a feather in your hair

Gosh, can you guess who chose what? Not hard if you know my girls.

London literally waited in this line for about an hour and a half. She was hilarious trying to flip. I'll see if I can upload a video.

Savannah chose the feather in her hair, which, incidentally, is still in there and doesn't want to come out despite the fact that the lady said it would last two weeks. Will it ever fall out???

Oh, this was the tasty meat cooking outside the firehouse where we had lunch. The meat was so darn tasty!

I have to edit my pictures from JoDee's visit so I'll work on that tomorrow too and bring those and house pictures. and.....possibly pics of my first snow in Montana - if it gets cold enough tonight, our rain may just turn to snow. We'll see. Poor Nate will miss our first snow as he's in hot, humid Dallas, TX this week.