october?

It does not feel like the end of October, and I'm not complaining. I have LOVED the warm Fall we've been having. I always feel a little cooped up and depressed when it gets chilly outside. I am so thankful for the nice weather right now. It's what I need. Nothing makes me happier than being able to play outside with my family. Last night while Zac was at work me and Zion went for a walk and played at the park. Zion loves climbing on the playground, swinging, and throwing wood chips everywhere. I love seeing him so happy... It makes me feel like everything is going to be ok.





I cannot believe how big he looks climbing the ladder. Luckily he didn't get any slivers in his toes, because he did not want to keep his shoes on.








I tried to get a picture of us swinging but wiggly boy + in motion + iPhone self portrait do not = success, so this is as good as it gets.


Right now we are driving to St George for the Houtz Family Reunion. I am so excited to enjoy a weekend of 80 degree weather, relaxation, family, and for Zion to be able to swim and play with his cousins non-stop. I think it's just what the doctor ordered.

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another month, another loss

I lost another baby this week. We were absolutely shocked when we found out we were pregnant again exactly 4 weeks after I miscarried. Usually it takes 1-3 months to get your cycle back after a miscarriage, so we were totally shocked. We felt like it was really meant to be this time, because despite all odds we were pregnant again. We went to the doctor to confirm that it was in fact a new pregnancy and not just left over tissue that my body hadn't "shed" on it's own causing a false positive. Sure enough it was a new pregnancy. Being "high risk" the doctor wanted to monitor me closely. I had to have my blood drawn and hcg level checked every other day. The first few days it was doubling exactly the way it was supposed to. We we ecstatic! Then it started to slow until it was increasing by less than 30%. The doctor told us he was 90% sure this was going to be another miscarriage. That feeling of helplessness I felt last month when I started bleeding, times that by about a million and that's how I felt as I was sent home and told to wait for it to start again. It took five very long days for the bleeding to start. Five days of trying to hope that everything would be ok, but being terrified of having too much hope and end up being heart broken again. Last month I was able to deal with the loss pretty well knowing that these things just happen sometimes. But two losses exactly 6 weeks apart. It just feels like a mean joke.


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laundry basket dresser

I have to say, I am more proud of this little project than any other project to date. I have never built anything from scratch so this little guy was quite an accomplishment. When I came across this image on Pinterest, I knew I had to build it. The actual tutorial came from Ana White's website.








I love this laundry basket dresser to sort dirty clothes. I decided to use Ana White's idea but had to modify all of the dimensions because I wanted to use square laundry baskets so it would take up less space. It was kind of a pain in the butt figuring out all of the dimensions on my own, and I made a few mistakes along the way, but in the end I am so glad that I did. The original tutorial makes a triple stack of baskets 26" wide and 3' tall and mine ended up being 19" wide (yay I saved 7" of floor space) and 4' tall. After I followed the steps in Ana White's tutorial I decided it looked a little unfinished. I wanted it to look a little more furniture grade rather than boxy so I added some 1/4" x 1.5" trim around all the edges to give it some decorative panels. I painted it Crystal Aqua by Valspar (my new favorite color) and added a little glazing over the top. Here is what my finished product looks like...












































I love it so much and am proud of my first build. Although I can't say I did it all on my own because my dad cut all of the wood after I figured out the dimensions and Zac helped me hold everything square while I assembled it. I think this is the first of many more building projects to come!

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shelf re-fashion

Remember these little shelves from Zion's bedroom?


Well, I'm making some changes in his bedroom and these shelves aren't going to work anymore. I thought about sending them to the DI but then I realized I might be able to make them work for an entryway organizer for the hallway leading to the half bath just in from the garage door. The problem... They are each 3' and we only have about a 5.5' wall to put them on. I had my dad cut the overhang ledge off of the right side of one, and the overhang ledge and left corbel off of the other, and then while he was at it I decided to have him cut all of the pegs off, too, and they ended up being a little under 5' when side by side. I hung these two little shelves right next to each other and used wood filler to cover up the tiny gap between them. Then I sanded them down, touched up the paint, added some cute hooks I found at Hobby Lobby and some little baskets I found at Lowes, and... finished! (actually I still need to make labels for the baskets but who knows when I'll get to that) You would never guess that they are two separate shelves.





Now we have a place to hang our jackets, diaper bag, purses, etc and the baskets are great storage for sunglasses, wallets, phone chargers, camera, camcorder, scarfs, mittens, and whatever else we need to have handy. The best part about it is we can now clean out our good sized coat closet and use it for something else. Maybe food storage? I am loving finding ways to make our little house more functional!

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