Vehicles

Today I am thankful for the vehicles we have. We are very blessed to have our truck and car, and for them to be such a reliable form of transportation. And I realize we are incredibly blessed to be able to be a two car family. I am very thankful for our vehicles!

Chocolate

Today I am thankful for chocolate. It's true, chocolate and I have not always been on good terms, and every time our paths collide I pay for it later, but I LOVE it's rich yummy goodness! It helps make the world better! "dude it's chocolate, need I say more?"

Friends

Today I am thankful for friends. Even though I dont see most of them as much as I would like, the once a year, every couple months, every couple weeks,..etc  get togethers with them are always a spirit booster and greatly appreciated! I count myself very lucky to have so many friends, both blood related and not (for there is a difference between being family and being friends with your family). Friends are an important part of life, and good friends are like gems (cheesy, but true). So today I am very thankful for my friends! =>

Toe Nails

Today I am so grateful for toe nails!

*I was totally going to post pictures, but then I thought some of you might not appreciate that*

About a month ago I ripped my big toenail off. Not on purpose of course, somehow it got caught on the leather part of my couch and ripped off. I mean COMPLETELY OFF!! Hurt like a mother! haha So I have no toenail on my big toe (left foot). I have come to have a new appreciation for toenails. Even tho my toe is considered "healed" (aka no open wound) it is still just skin. And I have discovered even the LITTLEST things can make it hurt so bad. Ex: taking a shower. When a big drop of water hits it just right, it kills. I can not go thru a day without acknowledging the importance of toenails. Especially today. I wanted to wear cute shoes to church. I looked so cute in them, but they were SOOO uncomfortable! I have a new appreciation and gratitude for toenails!

Games!

Today I am so thankful for GAMES! They make life so much more enjoyable! Whether it be playing silly/made up car games on a long drive, kid games to entertain little ones, or board games to play with the young and old alike! I love how games build relationships in a way little else can. I am a TOTAL game believer! haha I am so thankful for games, of all kinds!

Cleaning Supplies

Ok, I know it sounds weird, but I am so thankful for cleaning supplies! I am a person that NEEDS a clean house. If my house is not clean and organized I have a hard time. And the longer it is out of order, the harder time I have. Cleanliness is an ESSENTIAL part of my life. And keeping a clean house would be so much harder without the modern day cleaning supplies! Who could live without Windex and Clorox Wipes? I know I DEFINITELY could NOT! And how much harder would it be to clean without those? and all the other great cleaning supplies? I am so thankful that people have invented such great tools to help keep things clean! I am so grateful for cleaning supplies!!

Paige's Health

So to preface, I thought I would do this "Thankful challenge" and just have a list of normal things to be thankful for and I would post every day. But it turns out, I am more aware of blessings and things to be thankful for because of this challenge, and I am overwhelmed with thanks for one particular thing each day. Weird I know, but its true. I think its a fun experience.

So....

Today I am so thankful for Paige's health! It was exactly 6 months ago today that she came into this world. And she definitely scared us when she did! There were some intense moments in the first couple hours, even days, of her life. And now there are no signs of it! She is a happy, healthy, wonderfully interactive baby girl!



It is hard to believe how far she has come since here!



Look at those adorable cheeks!

  

With hair all staticky from being thrown onto the
beanbag so much!




Today was her 6 month doctor check-up and immunizations. She was SO MUCH FUN! She was the most flirty interactive little one I have ever seen! EVERYONE she saw got HUGE smiles and adorable talks. Especially the doctor! It was the cutest thing I have ever seen! I am so thankful for Paige's good health!!!!

Warm Home

Today I am so incredibly thankful for a warm home! It snowed on and off today, VERY cold! I would have to go outside occasionally throughout the day and EVERY time I did I was SOOOO thankful I had a warm apartment to go back into! I am so incredibly blessed to have that! And to not have to worry if it will keep the cold out, or if my child will be warm enough (tho I still am a worry wart and worry about Paiges warmth), or even worry if I will have a covered place to sleep. I am so very blessed to have, and thankful for a warm home!

Good Clean Movies

Today I am thankful for good and clean movies!
I am a movie gal. I LOVE watching movies, but I have to say some movies can be pretty unclean. Good clean wholesome movies seem to get rarer and rarer (is that a word?) these days. There seems to constantly be thrown little tidbits of inappropriate here and there in these new movies. I am so thankful for the clean ones that do come out, and that have already been made! I just LOVE sitting down and watching a movie and NEVER thinking "oh I wish that wasnt in there" or "this would have been a great movie I would recommend to people but those two (or more) scenes just ruined it". Clean and wholesome movies just make things so much easier, happier, and all around better! I am so thankful for good clean movies!

Fun and Loving Husband/Father

Today I am thankful for a fun husband who loves our daughter! Jared loves playing with Paige, and Paige just LOVES her Daddy! He is always doing crazy fun stuff with her, and I just LOVE it! I am so thankful I have a husband who is a wonderful father to our daughter!


Jared "hid" Paige one day, so I had to play hide n seek to find her



She did a really good job, no noise or anything when I called her name, but as soon as
I found her she was all smiles!








This was NOT part of hide n seek, it was just on a day Jared was wanting to get something out of the
cupboard and thought Paige would fit nicely on the shelf






Paige LOVES LOVES LOVES Jared playing the guitar! She would sit and listen to him
all day if she could!




I know it does not look like it in the picture, but Paige's FAVORITE thing to do
is get thrown around. She just squeels with excitement every time!



Yesterday Jared was "training" Paige how to crawl



She did not quite catch on, but she had fun!



I am so thankful for Jared's fun attitude and willingness to play with our daughter!

Diapers & Formula

Today I can not help but be thankful for disposable diapers and formula! I stopped breastfeeding two months ago and I LOVE it! I love the freedom and versatility formula/bottle feeding gives! I also am so thankful for disposable diapers! Paige has decimated some diapers recently, and every time she has a doosie I am so grateful I do not have to clean it. All I have to do is clean my baby and throw the mess away! To me, that is sooo worth it! I am extremely grateful for disposable diapers and formula!

Living By Family

Today I am thankful that we live so close to some members of my family! Growing up I was taught that your family should be your best friends. And my family is! I LOVE that I am able to get together with my aunts, from both sides, and their kids, and my sister! I tend to see the Walker aunts more than the Pommervilles, and that is in large part because I live closer to them. I love our craft days, our play dates, and especially our family parties! I actually love living here for that fact, because I get to play with my family! I am SO THANKFUL I live close to my family!



Nik, Jen, Kalyn and I took the kids to Gardner Village to Witch Hunt! Fun!



A BIG Walker Halloween tradition is the doughnut game!



The "Dads" were probably the funnest to watch! they annihilated those doughnuts!

I am thankful to live so close to my family!!

Thankfuls...... Sewing

So for the past two years my aunt has posted every day in November something that she is thankful for. I think that is a really cute idea, and a good way to boost the spirit of Thanksgiving in my life, so I am going to attempt that. I know I am already a couple days behind, but I feel its early enough to start that tradition now! =>

Today I am extremely thankful for my ability to sew. Just in the last couple months I have discovered a real talent in that area. I am not trying to be prideful, just merely pointing out I have been blessed with that gift. And I am VERY thankful for it today. And for a couple of reasons.

Jared's businesses are HIGHLY seasonal. So in their off season things get even tighter. And he is venturing into new business territories, even more tight. So, needless to say, there is no clothes shopping budget at the moment. I know, I know, not a big deal to some people, but to me it is a HUGE, Gigantic deal! When I have a bad day, shopping and buying something that I feel good in is one surefire way to help my mood improve. I dont need a whole new wardrobe, just a piece that I feel confident in. But alas, thats not in the budget now. But lo and behold a REALLY bad day came up. No possible way to invest in retail therapy. I NEEDED something that I felt cute and pretty in. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

So I pulled out this old cardigan I had since I was 12. It was one of those pieces I could never get rid of because its a good emergency piece, but I never really liked it enough to wear it and feel pretty.

Cardigan:Beginning

I had never attempted to alter an article of clothing before, especially for me. I have been involved with the clothing making process both in my working at Beehive Clothing and helping my Gram sew some dresses and costumes. But I have never ventured out to do it on my own. I scoured the blog world and found a cute cardigan revamp and decided I would give it a try. If it didnt work out, my mood could not get any worse and a bad day would still be bad. If it did work out I would have an article of clothing I loved, and all for FREE! and my day would get better. I couldnt see any downside. haha



My new favorite cardigan!



Cardigan:After



 Good thing it worked out! I now have a new favorite cardigan with no cost at all! I had the cardigan, I had the material. All I had to do is put it together! It definitely brightened my day!! VERY thankful for that!

Now on to last night. Last night was an event honoring the top 25 student run businesses in the state of Utah. Jared and his business partner made it in last year, and they were #16.They also made it in this year. Apparently last year they had a big awards banquet thing too, but Jared and I were not in town and did not go. I didn't even know about it. This year Jared knew about the banquet, but didnt feel the need to tell me about the "black tie optional" event until 3 days before, on Monday. So on Tuesday I went up to Layton to go shopping with my aunt for something to wear. But with a VERY limited budget (ok a budget of nothing, so there really was no point in going) and only two days until the banquet I was a little stressed. I did not find anything I loved while shopping, but did see some potential skirts, but at $80-$150 a skirt it was definitely no dice. I thought it was a failure but a ray of hope shines thru! While playing at my aunts house, after no luck shopping, we discovered she had a floor length black day dress that she never wore, and didnt really plan on wearing. So I snatched it up and hoped that my idea would work out.

I had this high waisted pencil skirt from a while back. I didnt like wearing it too much because it was a little short on me (but not short enough to show the G's) so I would be guilty of wearing it occasionally. If you click on THIS LINK you can see a picture of me wearing it. They are not really great pics, but you can get the idea of the before, since I forgot to take one.

But anyways, So I get home from my aunts with a dress in hand, and an idea. On Wednesday I start cutting. I have never used a pattern, and actually get very confused by them, so I just winged it. I Googled pictures of high waisted skirts and found a few I thought were cute and just copied the picture essentially. And this is what turned out. Again, not really great pictures but it gives you the general idea. Maybe I will take better pictures to show the details of the skirt one day....maybe.

Jared and I after the Utah Top 25



The skirt has two ruffles, a top shorter fuller one and a longer bottom one, set off by a satin ribbon. I have to say, this is one of my new favorite skirts! I always wanted a mermaid-style dress, who knew I would like the skirt just as much? haha And it does not look "homemade", and actually looks like I could have bought it at the store! (except if you flip it inside out and look at my non technical technique haha) And I felt like I fit in at the awards, I wasnt on either end of the dressing extreme, right in the middle. Nice. And, all for FREE!!! The best!

So, what a really LONG post is saying: I am very thankful for my ability to sew, and to sew well. Just in the last two week it has proven to be very helpful and money saving!, as well as giving new life to pieces in my wardrobe. I am in no way shape or form the type that loves to make their clothing. In everything I craft/make/do, if I could buy it, and for the price I want I sooooooo would. It just so happens, at the moment making things myself is what I have to do in order to get new things. But I am SOOOOO thankful  I have the ability to! Especially on these two occasions!

I am thankful for my sewing ability!

Snow......Bummer

So just a quick post to say, I am NOT a fan of snow! And today when we woke up, what to our wondering eyes do appear? Snow, EVERYWHERE! UGh, I am so not ready for winter! Jared on the other hand was estatic. What he said "This must mean there is a boat load of snow on teh mountain. SNOWBOARDING!!!!!".

Paiges first time touching snow!

I like the pic of Paige's first time touching snow because it catches the snows motion. She flicked it off the railing. haha Way to go kid!

Jared was way too excited to introduce Paige to snow.

And I think its funny that we are all in our jammies. We really did like wake up, see it, and go out. In hindsight, we totally could have gotten ready for the day first. The snow wasnt going anywhere haha.

Even tho there is a smile, I am screaming GO AWAY SNOW in my head

Oh yeah, and I cut my hair, and got bangs. Again, in jammies and didnt get ready for the day. They might looks better when I have gotten ready, who knows tho. I am not very fond of them myself. But what can you do. haha

Dang snow in October!! I am pretty sure I need to just live in Hawaii.

Crafts

I have done some crafts recently, as in over the last 2 months, and I have not posted any of them on the blog. This post is to remedy that. haha

First up, the lamp shade makeover! I found this lamo shade at DI for $1! I liked the shape of it but HATED the fabric and lining, so I took it off and made my own. I modedled it after a shade I saw at Target and loved. I think I did pretty well for my first lamp shade makeover!



Before



After



Next is the mother of all makeovers! I RARELY go into DI. It just is not my favorite store. But I am constantly seeing people do these great makeovers to some cheap old stuff they find at Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc. And one of mmy aunts always seems to find AMAZING things at DI. So I thought I would give it a try. My first couple times, nothing really great, no purchases made. Then one time, while dropping some things off at DI I decided to go in, just to see. And I find sweet lamp shades (I got 2 but I have not done anything with the other one yet, the first is the project above) and then I saw this dresser! I thought it had such cute littel details, but it was a mess. So I figured this coule be my first big DIY project.



Before: Nasty but cute dresser.Trust me, it was sooooo much worse than it looks

Holy Huge Project Batman! This baby took me almost 2 weeks to finish! The grossest part was the booger pile 5 inches in diameter on one of the sides. Thats right, 5 INCHES of boogers! Talk about NASTY! Buying this dresser gave me a new goal to work for in life. I want to be able to redo a lot of the furniture they sell at DI and then give it back, so they can sell nice furniture. The people that NEED to shop at DI and cant afford anything else dont deserve crap like this dresser, and let me tell you, it was the biggest piece of crap furniture I have ever seen! The drawers were coming apart, some not even together, just in pieces of drawer, paint chipped, splinters waiting to happen everywhere, nasty nastiness all over, ..... I could go on and on. But instead of ranting on about how people should not give such bad crap to DI and at least clean if off with a clorox rag before donating it lets see the finished product!

After! TaDa! I cant even tell you how many different ways I painted the
drawers, but all white was by far my favorite. Most clean/sophisticated looking.

  Up next: a cute clock makeover! I got this clock from Ikea, I thought it would be so cute to have a darling clock in my craft space. But it was a little too boring for my taste.

Before:Boring white

After! Cute blue/turquoise and white. Although I am not digging so many little flowers ont eh bottom,
I am thinking I will probably take the last one or two off. Yep, will do that.



 Next: Bathing suit! I did not take a before picture so you are just going to have to trust me, waaaaay too much cleavage. Especially for my taste. I got this bathing suit top at the shade warehouse sale (across the street from my house)! It was a steal! So I didnt mind altering it, it was not like I spent a boat load of money on a bathing suit and still had to alter it.

Nice, pulled in and covered up! Not too shabby. =>


 Next: Wipe case! Ok, so I showed the first wipe case I made, and I have to say, I was never in love with it. I actually have never used it because I dont like it. So I made another one. LOVE it!! Jared might say I'm slightly obsessed with it! I just think it is the cutest one I have ever seen! I am so proud to go and change Paige's diaper because I get to see the wonderful cuteness that I created! haha (yes, feel free to call me a nerd)


Cutest wipe case EVER!

  I just had to show this pic of part of Paige's room. It has her finished dresser, cute lamp, and curtains that I tied back with lime green ties!


Cute girlie accessories!


I have made three more carseat covers. One more for me and two for people in my fam. I actually really enjoy making these! 


Carseat Cover for my aunt Lindsey and her baby Kylie!



Fall carseat cover for me and Paige.

Cover for my cousin Cera and her little one Paisley

So my comp is really freaking out now, we will have to leave the rest of the projects for another day. Hopefully when my computer feeling like cooperating! haha

Look Whose Sitting

Paige is sitting all by herself now! Ok, so its not that new, she has been doing it for almost a month, but its new to this blog haha. She has never been a lazy/lay down type of baby. She always wants to be up and about. She has LOVED her Bumbo chair because it lets her do just that! It lets her sit up and play with her toys. But now she can do it all by herself! Horray!!

Sometime when we know she will be sitting for a while and we will not be right by her side we will put pillows around her, just in case she falls. Because she tends to get so excited about things she forgets to balance haha

 And this outfit was just too dang cute not to take a picture of! It is currently one of my favorite outfits! (its a cute polka-dot skirt and a shirt. and I just happened to have a hair clip tha goes with it perfectly!) I am in love! haha

Still Alive

Ok, so it is so not like me to not blog for such a long time. (at least I feel like it has been FOREVER). I am totally going thru blog withdrawls haha. But alas, I have little time to do a good post, so this is basically to say we are still alive! => We have been busy yet not at the same time haha.
 I honestly can not even tell you all we have done because its mostly just stuff around our apartment (declutter, organize, clean), then I weened Paige, that was a joy and a half haha (definate sarcasm in there) probably more on that later, then my Mom came up and had "Sisters Weekend" with most of her sisters (me and my sis too) then she stayed with me for a few days, then craft day with my aunts, then Jared had surgery again (on his mouth still, hopefully this will be the last one!)..... and now we are in the "recovery/drug you up constantly" stage of the surgery.
Jared is drugged and on the bean sac watching Bourne, Paige is asleep after an exhausting day being babysat at someone elses house and being left more to her own devices while I take care of Jared. Thats a lot for a little baby to handle. With those two taken care of it has given me a few minutes to clean the house (a NEVER ENDING job) and blog a quick post just reassure everyone we are alive. haha =>

Today Is The Day!

Todays the day! Today I stop breastfeeding and go only bottle. Today I "ween".

This has been long coming. Breastfeeding has not been super natural or pleasant for me. I have loved being able to see Paige grow and know that it is because of me, and I love the  knowledge that I can give my baby life, but it aslo has been a real physical and mental challenge, more mental and less physical the longer I did it. Like everything in life there are pros and cons to breastfeeding. But alas, I have reached the end of my rope, and to the bottle I go! =>

I am actually really nervous for this. Paige does NOT take a bottle. The few times I have left for a period of time and she needed to be fed from a bottle she REFUSED! My little one would rather starve and wait for me than eat from a bottle. So begins the battle of wills. Mother vs Daughter. I will win, and she will eat from a bottle, the question is: how long will it take to break her? haha Lets hope a really really short while and this will go smoothly. I really hate to see Paige mad or upset.

But this must be done. And today is the day it will begin! To quote a song that I have been singing all day  (from Newsies)
 "Open the gates and sieze the day, don't be afraid and dont delay..... arise and sieze the day!!"