Mother Dearest

Saturday was my wonderful mother's birthday.

She truly is the perfect Mother for me. We always had so many craft supplies on hand, that our teachers would get upset when they would see our projects that we were specifically told to only use things we already had at home. I can say that she is the reason why I have boxes filled with my very own craft supplies. You never know when you are going to need... (fill in the blank).

Now she gets to help with her grandkids school projects.
This was Ty's project for Grandparent's Day. It looks just like my dad!

She gave us the room to find our talents and was always supportive. When I was signing up for classes for eighth grade, I decided I was going to do band as my elective. I had wanted to be in band since 5th grade and I was finally going to do it. My mom wasn't so sure about, but she fully supported my decision. She was at every concert that we had at school and every competition my senior year of marching band. She was one of the favorite moms that volunteered and my friends ended up calling her Mrs. BJ's mom. 

It was a soggy Veteran's Day my junior year of high school.

This past year and half of living apart has been pretty lame, but I know that no matter how far apart we may be physically she is always there for me!

It's the Weekend!

Between finishing up moving, starting a new semester, and work, I am ready for a break! Too bad I still have lots of homework to do. Oh well!

I just read on one of my favorite blogs Nienie Dialogs that this month is lovers month. I was already planning on doing some cute things, but now I feel more justified! I'll share more of those things later this month.

Last night my mom and I threw a baby shower for my sister who's having her second baby and first little girl. She got tons and tons of darling dresses for her little Charlotte. Here's some pictures of the decorations. (I took them this morning).

 

 

  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

My Biggest Project Yet!

I finally finished my biggest project that I have tried so far. I updated a chest that was Jonathan's parents, but they didn't want any more. I called it the green thing because I wasn't really sure what it was other than green...

I have spent a lot of time on pinterest and I love seeing all of the painted furniture and reading the tutorials. I decided  to paint the green thing. I originally thought about painting it a nice creamy off-white color, but after awhile I realized it would just blend in with our white walls and light tan carpets. So, I had to think of a different color... I thought about different shades of grey... but it didn't stick either. Then I knew that it needed to be navy! I talked about doing it and finally started to actually work on it in July.

Getting ready to move it to my parent's house.

All of the random stuff that was in it.

Yes, we have a huge tv and can't afford a tv stand.

After we got the green thing moved out, I started getting just some of the many supplies that I would use for this project. Before anything else could happen, I reattached part of the interior that broke off.

Wood glue is a wonderful thing!

 I left the chest out in the hot sun and the old green paint got all bubbly and weird. The lesson learned is if you really like a piece of furniture, don't let it cook outside in the sun. Lucky for me, I was going to strip the old paint anyways!

Before:

Farewell green paint!

Ready for some love!

 The paint came off really easily on the lid and three of the sides. Jonathan saw it at this stage and was confused by the stripes.

The front was the hardest part to strip off the old paint.

I spent a few hours on stripping just the front.

I used some pretty harsh chemicals to get rid of the old paint.

 Once I was done with all of the stripping and cleaning, I could finally get some paint back onto the chest (at this point it was no longer the green thing). I was really nervous/paranoid about painting. I kept worrying that it would be terrible. (I had these feelings later in the project...)

All prepped and ready to paint!

The primer went on beautifully! I got great coverage with the spray paint and nothing horrible happened!

Next up was the blue. I was again paranoid, so I made my mom supervise me at first and then got comfortable enough to do it all by myself. I was rather concerned when the color was a bright blue rather than navy, but I just kept thinking that it will be better with more coats and I was right.

A few coats later, the chest was navy and gorgeous!

The most anticipating part of this project for me was to find the perfect knobs. From the very beginning of this project, I knew that I wanted the knobs to each be different. Lucky for me, Anthropologie has the perfect knobs for me. They have my favorite colors and some great patterns. This was one part that I knew I needed my mom's help again because she knows my style and she can visualize how the finished product will look.

These were the possible knobs.

These ones made the final cut!

One of the final steps was to seal the chest. I did a lot of research and because this was going to be our tv stand again, I decided that sealing it would be good to protect the paint on it. I saw one tutorial that used a sponge roller, so I went ahead and used one. I was paranoid about my coats being too thick, so I made sure I only had a small amount of sealer on the roller. It was horrible! There were so many air bubbles on it that it totally changed how the chest looked. It was an ugly blue thing! I didn't take any pictures of the horrible bubbly chest because I was so distraught! My mom came out and helped me sand down the bubbles and then put a fresh coat of paint.

Re-sanding the chest.

 The second time we applied the sealer, we used a nice brush. It looked so much better!

The next thing to do was paint the interior of the chest and lid. The chest was lined with old ivy paper and I just wasn't feeling it.

No more ivy!

Before I could attach the new feet, I had to take off the last one. Three of them came off easily, but the fourth one would not budge! I got really creative in trying to get it loose. I used the dremel to get some separation between the chest and the foot. It kind of helped, especially when I started to chisel away at the foot. Eventually, I got enough leverage and unscrewed the foot. Next up, was adding the pretty new feet!

We did have a small problem with the new feet. The bolts that they came with were too big and really short. At this point, I was ready to just glue them on and call it good. (I was really ready to be done with this project). I told Jonathan about my plan, and he told me that we should get the proper sized bolts because we needed to it the right way. I'm glad that we did it the right way. It was worth it.

Using the drill press to make deeper holes.

My favorite part of working on the chest was figuring out where the knobs would go. It took about two dozen different combinations and then we found the perfect fit!

The first try!

They are so very pretty!!!

One of the finishing touches on the chest was trimming the bolts on the knobs. It took so long, but it made it so much easier to fill the chest with all of our games.

 When I started, the head of the dremel looked like the one on the left. I used one and a half heads to cut through all the bolts.

The extra pieces of bolts.

 The chest was finally done!!! All we needed to do was move it back home.

My baby finally came home!!!

 Our chest is now the home of all of the games we rarely play. I have storage in the closet again!

Our tv looks so much better now that it's off of the floor.

I am so glad that this long project is finally done and it looks so good. It was quite an adventure with all of the steps and now I feel like I can tackle another furniture project. Watchout coat rack, you're next!

I Cannot Wait Until January!

I am hooked on Downton Abbey thanks to my mom. I have probably watched it 2 or 3 dozen times! The first season covers 1912, when the Titanic sunk, through 1914, when Britain declared war on Germany. The second season covers WWI and closes in 1920. This period of time is fascinating to me for a couple of reasons. First, I love history, but unfortunately don't know too much about this time period. Masterpiece does an amazing job with getting the costumes and sets perfect to the time period to really make it feel like you are really there. Lastly, this is the time period of when my Grandpa and Grandma Machen were born and raised in. (Sure they were raised in the United States, but I like seeing what the world was like when they were children.)

I have also been drawn into the lives of all the characters. I feel like I know them so well, almost as though they are my own friends. I love watching it with Jonathan. (Yeah, he even likes it!) I can't wait to see what will happen in season 3!

The Crawley sisters.

A Happy Father's Day

Our second day in Idaho, was a very special day. It was Father's Day and the day Clara was blessed. In our Church, we bless our children. It is very simple and very beautiful. (Read more about how we bless babies here.) It was such a wonderful sight to see my three brothers, father, grandfather, and husband (along with Annie's brother and father) all gather to bless our sweet little girl. I can't recall what Chris said, but I certainly remember how I felt. The deepest and perfect love was radiating out of my heart. I know that Clara has been part of our family for much longer than the 5 months she's spent on this earth. And now that she is here, 

she is stuck with us forever.

Of course, I didn't take any pictures of Clara in her sweet dress, but after Church we did take a new family picture with all 17 people! Hannah, Jonathan's sister, conveniently lives in Rexburg and takes amazing pictures! We picked her up after Church and brought her to the farm.

I love the look on my dad's face. You can tell that he got exactly what he wanted for Father's Day; time with all of his kids and grandkids. It's crazy to think that this family started 33 years ago with just these two kids.

Sorry about that detour, back to the pictures (it was seriously windy that's why our hair was everywhere)!

These 4 boys are so funny together!

Yes, it is tough getting 7 children to look at the camera with smiling faces!

See, it's hard work.

Even when they have their two trucks.

Dropping them, doesn't help.

Sorry Clara!

Wayne kept telling Jonathan that he needed to take his bride out on
the pond in the row boat. This is proof he did it.

After pictures were done, Jonathan and I needed to take Hannah back to Rexburg while everyone else enjoyed the 40 pound turkey for lunch. Thank goodness that turkey was so big. so there was still plenty when we got back. We ate our lunch as Kyle was waking up from a nap and all he wanted to eat was jam. I'm not kidding.

Chris feeding Kyle his jam.

Seth was refusing to take a nap, so in a desperate attempt to get him to sleep, we asked him if he wanted to take a nap with Jonathan and me and he nodded yes. Well, that certainly shocked us! It seemed like he was still warming up to us at this point. He laid down with us and was quiet until he eventually fell asleep. After awhile I woke up and saw how cute Jonathan and Seth looked together. I headed downstairs and spent time with the family. After awhile, Denise, Annie's mom, checked in on them and Seth was wide awake, silently laying on the bed next to snoring Jonathan. (Jonathan is a very, very heavy sleeper.) He's lucky she showed up, or else he could have been there for a very long time.

Jonathan sleeping on the job.

We spent the evening chatting in the parlor as the children played together.

I just love these two little girls! 

We ended up outside to play another game of kickball. It was really windy and chilly, but lots of fun. During our game, Mike was able to kick a ball over the back fence. (Yeah, it was very impressive!)

One of Garrett's favorite things to do is to come up from behind and hug/choke people. 

He ended up getting Grandma this time.

After the game was over, Jonathan and I sat on the porch to watch the sunset. It was so lovely and relaxing. I had visions of us doing the same at our own home after we put the children down for the night.

It was such a wonderful day to celebrate Clara and all of the fathers in our family. My brothers are such great fathers. Andy is always making up cute little songs with his babies, Chris is always making Seth and Clara laugh, and Mike is always watching out for Garrett's safety. Jonathan is a wonderful uncle. He is adorable playing with the baby girls and goofing around with the boys. Our children are so blessed that they will have him as a father. This was a memorable Father's Day for our family.