January Happenings 2012

January was nice and busy and, as usual, I am way behind on my blogging. Sigh! Scott had a week off between Christmas and New Years and it was HEAVEN!!! We did all kinds of fun things, including lots of baseball. The weather was unusually warm and dry so it worked out perfect. This girl has got quite the arm!On the 3rd Suzie and I went to dinner at Thaifoon to celebrate our 31st Birthdays. The food was amazing and we sat and talked for hours. Are we really getting that old Suz?!

The food was SO good, in fact, that we had to take Dad, Mom and Nana there a few nights later. We all loved it! I'm so happy they live here.

In January we decided it was time to conquer a few house projects that we'd been putting off for a while. We put projects on hold the past year because there was a high possibility of us moving, so we didn't want to put any more money into anything. However, we decided we want to stay so it was time to dip into our "home improvement" account. This wall was plain jane and always bothered me so i decided to dress it up. Before:

After: (i like it much better now)

We enjoy having Suzie over for dinner and I personally love the quality time she spends with my girls. I adore her! The girls love when she reads them stories. She's going to make such an amazing Mommy one day!

Kaleigh had her 4th grade Utah Program. She was so excited!

She had a huge speaking part and did SOOO good! She completely nailed it and did so with so much confidence. I was quite proud. I love that girl!

Shayla has a couple buddies that seem to be over all the time. This particular night they talked me into a sleepover. They were adorable but wouldn't go to sleep. Sigh!

Breakfast time!

Suzie, Scott and I went to dinner and to see Brian Regan on the 19th. We had so much fun! I love my best friends!!!They are the best.

Brian is ridiculously funny!

I hate hate hate the tile and carpet that were in my upstairs. They were here when we moved in and i never liked it and couldn't wait to change it out. It was ripped out and we had laminate put in. We also tore out all the baseboards and put higher profile ones in. I love the new look SO much! We should have done it sooner. Entry way before:

And after:

Upstairs hallway before:

And after:

Living room before:

And after:

Another view before:

And after:

On the 21st we went to The Zac Brown Band concert. We are huge fans and were really excited!

It was AMAZING! I love him. I cried almost the whole time. When I wasn't crying, I was choking up. It really made me miss Mike.

Peyton had been playing with my wedding ring one morning while I was getting ready for a baby shower. I took it away and it disappeared after that. It was missing for 3 days and it made me sick. We searched EVERYWHERE. I prayed about it into day 2 and kept getting a overwhelming impression to search the kitchen trash that had been taken out. I ignored it cause I'm a germaphobe and didn't feel like dumpster diving. Finally, the night before the trash was going to be dumped, I couldn't ignore the feeling anymore. I pulled the bag out of the dumpster, put on some gloves and dug through disgusting garbage. EW! Guess what though? As I got to the bottom...there was my beautiful wedding ring!!! I burst into tears immediately.

I couldn't believe it. I must have accidentally thrown it away that morning with my banana peel. It was still inside it. I am soooo thankful that Heavenly Father heard, and answered, my prayer. I thankful that I listened as well.

Scott went to Canada for a week for business and while he was there the girls and I found these awesome hats!

As soon as he got back it was time to get cracking on another project. We had to move everything out of the back bedrooms so we could get new carpet. My house was a disastrous maze and it drove me nuts!

The end result was worth it though. I love the look, feeling and SMELL of new carpet!

We also started work on our front bathroom. That project was quite a pain. We added all new fixtures. Scott did a beautiful job on the wainscoting.

I was in charge of sanding and staining the sink.

The sink before:

And after:

View before:

And after:

Wall before:

And after:

We love how it turned out and want to do a similar look on our bathroom. We enjoy doing home improvements but are looking forward to doing none for a while. :)