What we've been up to

Ok, so I've been a bit of a looser not to post anything lately. I promised my friends and family in Az that I would keep up on my blog and I've failed miserably. I'll try to do better, I promise! Everything is going great here in Arkansas. A lot has happened since I've posted last. 

My mom was in town so we decided it would be fun to go to Memphis for the day.  Memphis has the best Zoo that I've ever seen.  The kids had a blast!  And of course, we had to get some yummy BBQ while we were there.

Blake after eating some baked beans.

 

Both girls are doing really well in school.  Bailey loves Kindergarten.  She has the perfect teacher who is very patient with her entergetic personality.  Olivia goes to preschool 2 days a week and loves it. 

I was able to go on Bailey's field trip to the fair. 

This is a picture of Olivia's first day at preschool.  She was excited and a little nervous at the same time.  I teach at the same preschool so I get to see her throughout the day. 

 

Marcus turned 29 at the end of September and the girls and I made him a few things.  I stole this idea from Pinterest and wrote 10 different things I loved about him and put the notes on balloons. 

The girls made him a board book.  They illustrated pictures and told me what to say. 

I thought this page of Bailey's was really funny. 

About 2 weeks ago Bailey was playing at the park, fell off the monkey bars, and broke her elbow.  She ended up having to get a cast for about 3 weeks.  She's been really tough about it and hasn't complained one bit about having the cast on.  She loved all the attention and having everyone sign her cast. 

Halloween was fun this year.  We had the ward trunk-or-treat, the ward party, and regular trick-or-treating.  The girls wanted to wear a different Halloween costume from our dress-up collection for each event.

Livvy dressed as a flapper girl.

Blake was Dracula

Bailey dressed up as a genie.  I hadn't wiped Bailey's face and done her hair yet in this picture, but she still looks pretty cute.

On Halloween night Livvy was a witch and Bailey was Tinkerbell.

We had a fun night eating and Trick-or-treating with friends!

My Projects

 I still love love love having a home.  I've been having so much fun decorating our bare walls. I took a few pictures of some of my recent house projects. 

 

I've seen so many people use chalboard paint, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I found some really cheap 5x7 frames, painted them green, added some black stain, and then painted the glass with chalboard paint. 

I found this piano bench for $5 at a garage sale, painted it turquoise, and put some fabric inside and then glazed it with some black stain.  Since I don't have a piano I decided to use it for a table. 

I found this mirror at goodwill, pained it white and glazed it. 

I found some really cheap picture frames for our family pictures and put them all together on my living room wall. 

I found these at goodwill and painted them black.

I found this really ugly vase and painted it turquose.

I found this old dresser super cheap, painted it white and replaced the knobs. 

This is what it looked like when I was finished. None of it's perfect since I'm really not very crafty, but I had so much fun doing all of it.

After finishing projects for my house, I sort of got addicted to finding cheap stuff and redoing it.  I talked to this lady in a store called the Bees Knees.  There is a lot of really cute painted furniture and vintage decor.  She told me that I could sell a few things in her store.  I thought it would just be a few things, but I ended up renting out a whole booth.  Wow, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  She wanted me to fill up a booth within a week, so I was a total stress case all week trying to get everything done.  I neglected my children, my house, and my husband for the whole week and managed to get some things done.  I messed up a lot and had to repaint some of the things I made.  Here are a few pictures of the things I finished.

Cake stands

Dry Erase Board

Rosette Headbands

I found this really ugly window mirror and painted it white.

I painted three chalkboard frames and glued them on a strip of burlap.

This dresser was brown before and I repainted it and distressed it.  I love how this one turned out.

This is how my booth looked when I finished everything.  It's definetely not as cute at the other booths in the store, but I was just happy to be done with it!  Now maybe I can get a little sleep :)

We're Here!

Well, we've been in Arkansas now for about 2 months.  I haven't posted anything yet because my computer wouldn't let me load any pictures.  Here are a few of our new home and town.  There are so many things that we love about Arkansas.  First of all, it is absolutely beautiful.  Everything is green and there are trees and lakes everywhere.  I also love the fact that we have a house and yard with a gorgeous view.  We love the people and friends that we've made so far.  We have also been able to enjoy some of the delicious BBQ here.  I don't like the humidity, bugs, and being away from friends and family.  And I'm nervous about the tornados.  But other than that we're having a good time.

We packed up my dad's truck and trailer, and they drove with us over 1300 miles to Arkansas.  It was soooo nice of them to drive up with us.  They even kept the girls in their car the whole time, which was WONDERFUL!!!  It made the car ride much more pleasant for Marcus and I.  It saved us a lot of money and it was so fun to have them there with us.  When they got here, my dad built a rope swing on a big tree we have in our backyard and the girls love it.

This is our new home.  It's twice as big a our condo so it feels like a mansion!  I love having so much space.  I even like cleaning it, which I'm sure will wear off after awhile.

This is a picutre of Marcus's school.  It's such a beautiful campus and he is enjoying school a lot, although he's really really busy.

We have the best view from our backyard. 

We went to some friends and rode ponies and played with animals.  The girls were in heaven. 

Livvy was drenched in sweat from the humidity but it didn't seem to bother her one bit.

Dress Up

Since the day Blake was born, Bailey and Livvy have treated him like one of the girls. It was bound to happen with two older sisters. They put bracelets, necklaces, and headbands on him. Poor guy can't do a thing about it.