DIY Giant Ruler

 I saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be perfect to make for Nicole and her family. Kids grow so fast and I thought it would be fun for them to mark their growth and add pictures of them at different times of their youth. The great thing about it is that you move it from house to house if you move. It's not like marking up a wall or door and having to take that with you. 

Giant Ruler Supplies:

• Plank of wood: 1" x 8 or 10"
• Paint pen: Black (Don't use a permanent marker)
• Pencil
• Ruler
•  Clear spray paint for wood

 If you have a wooden ruler handy, grab it. That way you can have the mini version to follow. 

Start by making one inch marks on the whole board up both side, lightly with a pencil. Marking both sides helps you keep your lines straight.

**Remember that your "1-foot" mark will start 6 inches from the bottom**

Feel free to make your marks whatever lengths you want, but here's what I did: 

• Foot marks 3 inches long
• 6-inch marks 2 inches long 
• 3-inch marks 1 inches long
• 1-inch marks 1/2 inches long

Once all the lines are pencil marked, go ahead and use the paint pen to go over them

 The numbers can be drawn in however you want but I wanted them to look like they were printed out. I used Century font at size 250 and I made it just the outline. 

If you use the glass from a picture frame and place a light (or your cell phone) under the glass with the piece of paper with the numbers printed on it, you can trace the letters (pushing the pretty hard).

Once they have all been traced, lay them where you want them and trace over the printed side so that the pencil led from the opposite side leaves an outlined trace on the wood. 

Here is an example of what it looks like:

I did it with the writing as well. Same exact process as with the numbers.

Then you fill it in with the paint pen, like so:

 And here's what it looks like when it's complete:

Oh and before you're finished, you should spray the whole front with a coat of clear spray paint so that all the paint and markings are sealed and separate from your kids measurements.

Finish it off by adding a frame claw hook thing into the back at the top. 

Do it at the 6-foot mark so that it will be easier to hang at the right place on the wall.

 It's easy and fun! I spent a lot of time on it but I really enjoyed it and watched some movies while I did it. Hope that's clear, but let me know if you have any questions:)

Utah Valley University 5K

Mel and I ran a 5K on Saturday at UVU! It was Julie's brilliant idea, super glad she let us tag along. THANKS JULIE!

Both of them were pro track running in High School but I just kept stats SO.... this was my first one:).

We walked/jogged/ran off and on, but mostly jogged.

Mel came in at 37.23 and I trailed behind her at 37.51. I'm not going to lie, I thought we had hit the end when we lapped ourselves for the 12th time but no one mentioned to me that the finish line was down the hallway. I sorta lost my wind and slowed down, making it really hard to continue once I realized I hadn't actually finished yet. My legs burned the rest of the day but it was such an amazing high to push myself and to keep going even though I was tired and wanted to give up. 

I still have a long way to go to just running because I love it but this was a great start.

Here we are after the run. Thanks Julie for taking it! :)

Sophie's Photo Shoot

So I have a new model to photograph!

~Meet Sophie~

I was watching a DVD on my camera and I thought I would try some things.

It was lots of fun even though she was kinda sleepy and lazy.

Just a few highlights....

 

 

Valentine's Day Date

Evan took me on one of the greatest dates ever! We had our on Valentine's Day on Friday instead of Tuesday so we didn't mess up anyone else's Valentine's Day plans (baby sitting Vienna).

Our date went as follows:

• Dinner at Ruth's Chris in Salt Lake City
• Full set manicure nail appointment 

(Evan was going to get a pedicure but it was going to take too long)

• "Zorro" performance at the Hale Center Theater in West Valley City

We had SO much fun! We decided we would eat like the ritzies more often. The food was divine, service was amazing and I would do it over and over again. Evan was so funny  because he wasn't sure if they served soft drinks. Our waiter gave him a hard time, teasing him that they didn't serve drinks like that. It was funny. I always tell Evan, if you don't know, fake it! lol. 

I had this delicious stuffed chicken and some pretty fancy fries.

Evan had a fancy steak and the famous sweet potato side.

All in all it was a wonderful way to spend the evening with my best friend, lover and sweet husband.

Getting my nails done was such a fun surprise. I was dying to get them done before out date but things just got busy with Vienna. Evan is so thoughtful and considerate of my feelings.

Zorro was top-notch! A fabulous show filled with loud, fun songs and intense dancing and sword fighting! It was almost nothing like the Cathrine Zeta-Jones & Antonio Banderas movie, which I kind of thought it would be. It was a super charming and entertaining way to finish off the evening. 

We rushed to my parent's house to pick up our baby, how I missed her!

We chatted with them about our night and Vienna was so funny. She was so tired that she was laughing at everything, dancing and acting like she was drunk.

We took our sleepy girl home and finally went to bed too. Long, fun day!

Evan hates his picture taken, so...... When it's just us two, he likes to take the camera:).

 Me. Me. Me.

 My sweet, dear Evan. He looks SO good in red!

We got full so fast so we took most of it home.

 

I like to call this my Kim Kardashian Vegas dress.

The Adoption of Sophie

I have been dying to take Vienna to the animal shelter to give her a chance to interact with some different animals so that she can get used to them and love them as much as Evan and I do. 

(Note: to all those of you who think that I don't love animals, don't be confuse. I HATE shedding dog hair all over my house and I HATE when dogs scare little kids because they are crazy or disobedient and I HATE the housebreaking stage.) I understand that that may include a lot of  dogs but we decided if we could find a little dog with less of those qualities, we would be able to raise Nena with pets in the home. 

So.... We fell in love with Sophie and brought her home!!

She's a little 6 months old, purebred Chihuahua female who is technically housebroken and sheds a little bit but we've noticed it's bad at all. She's super cute, very mellow and best of all Vienna loves her. She's getting more and more comfortable playing with her. Sophie has these cute beagle/terrier coat markings and her toe nails are black and pink every other one. 

She has clean, beady eyes, she's not a big licker, which I love. I'm not a fan of lickers on my baby.

And she doesn't have stinky breath yet. Evan says it will come. Hmmm... guess we will deal with that later. 

She's been a great little bud so far. Already had a few accident, which I understand will happen while she gets the hang of a new place. 

Over all I hope she's as happy as we are. She is a little thin but cute as can be. 

I would totally recommend this way of getting a pet. 

We have done it the other way before: Beautiful, purebred, registered Golden Retriever puppy. Started from the ground up and ended up having to turn around and sell her before she was two. I just wasn't ready for all I would have to put up with a giant, crazy puppy. 

 This just seems so much better for us; giving a homeless animal a warm place to live, lots of food to eat and people to love and love it back.

NUVAS: North Utah Valley Animal Shelter

http://nuvas.org/

Valentine's Day Party

Justine & Tia Dawn invited Vienna & I over for a Valentine's Day tea party and it was so cute and fun! We had adorable pink cream cheese and turkey sandwiches, pink yogurt with raspberries, pink lemonade, and chocolate cupcakes! We had a beautiful "linner" (lunchish-dinner) and we enjoyed each others company. 

We met new little friends, hung out with loved ones and celebrated Valentine's Day.

 

The event wrapped up nicely with Joseph (age 19 months) having some round, brown surprises falling out of his pants and then Vienna throwing up on her Valentine's Day outfit:).

Lippy almost lost it, but after a few moments away from all the little children, she got herself together. lol.

Thanks Justine & Tia Dawn for a wonderful afternoon!

 

Lippy took this cute picture. I just love her little pooched lips! lol. This was the first time I did TWO piggy tails on her. 

I thought it turned out pretty cute. 

Ps. The adorable Valentine's outfit she is wearing is courtesy of my cousin Krystyna Hales. 

We loved it! Thanks so much for thinking ahead for us! :)

We each brought Valentine's to pass out. These are the ones Vienna and I made for her.

Here are our beautiful hostess! Justine in the middle and the two adorable girls that she is a nanny for. 

Pep, you must send me their names again. Sasha? and I know I will never get the spelling right on little Miss Three Year Old:)

 

 

 

Look at some of the cute little table decor!

My lap buddy

Mel and her lap buddy, Joseph

Vienna and I from across the table. I made Lippy stand far away because I had a malfunction happen when I went for an eyebrow wax right before the party. Let's just say I had chunks of skin missing from around my eyebrows and it felt like a stinging sunburn! 

So it's shining around my eyebrows from the Neosporin. 

On a side note, there was a tiny bit of scabbing on the largest patch but within 2 days you could hardly see anything at all. 

It healed up super fast and with absolutely no marks. Yay! Thank you Adi for doing the sweet Red Laser treatment on me! I think it worked!

This is what happens when we say "Cheese!" lol. It's also the same face you get when you asked her to show you her "teeeeeth"

She's my baby, so I think it's okay if I put a million pictures of her. 

I just think she makes the cutest faces.

 

Bean bag toss game. Vienna tried throwing but found it was much easier to get the bean bag in the basket if she just grabbed the basket and then dropped the bean bags in. She likes to think outside of the box. She gets that from her daddy.

Winter Pooling

Evan thought it would be fun to take Vienna to the Provo pool last night. We've gone 4 times now this winter and we always have a hoot! I love watching Evan and Vienna playing in the pool because he can get her to laugh so hard over and over and over. She never tires of his silly play. Whether it's dive-bombing off the side of the pool into his arms, or being throw up and out of the water so high she can almost touch the little triangular flags, she just screams uncontrollably. 

Up on the highest diving board, there were some giant pool toys stored that caught her eye. Even though we were no where near them and there was no way to reach them, She would plunge into the water and dive toward them. See, why can't we live more like that? No fear of challenges or obstacles that may come our way. Just quit planning and plotting and JUST DO IT:)

I will personally try to follow her example more often.

Here is Evan and Vienna during the summer. Vienna was probably 5 months old here and it was her first time in the pool.

Next time we go, I'll take my camera and snap a few shots. I take mental pictures but those are harder to see.

Happy Valentine's Day

I totally forgot to post this two days ago, but    HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

This is the front of her Valentine's Day handouts for the party we went too. I need to post those pictures as well. I had so much fun making them, cuz' I love her so much. 

I love my Evan too and I can't wait for our Valentine's date tomorrow, Friday the 17th. He is taking me to dinner at Ruth's Chris in Salt Lake and then we are going to watch Zorro at the West Valley Hale Center Theater! I can't wait! Wow, did I get lucky?!

I think YES!

 

Hello Doctor and Mr. Bear

Vienna and I went to see the phlebotomist today to have my blood drawn again. She's almost always so fun to take with me. We are buds. I had to fill out some paper work and she wanted to look at the magazines. So there we sat on this awesome looking lime green curvy sofa doin' our thing. She is a very good girl when my blood is being drawn, although sometimes she wants to touch everything the phlebotomist is touching so we try to keep her busy. I'm always amazed at how smart she is. She remembers things and repeats them back to us. I just love her. 

We found out about a week ago that we had another miscarriage. Although it was sad to hear that the HCG in my body had lowered enough to show the miscarriage, I already knew it. I had felt a huge difference in myself the last couple days so I knew it was coming. I know we can have babies, hence Vienna, but to me, the saddest part is knowing that the little spirit growing inside of me won't get to be part of our family yet. I knew that no matter what happened, that that little being beginning to develop was ours.

  our positive pregnancy test

Things happen for a reason and we are taking things in stride. Heavenly Father knows what's best for our little family so I trust him.

Vienna is keeping us very busy and on our toes. If I don't keep the baby gate up or have her with me when I go in to the kitchen, she makes a quick break for the stairs. Yesterday, I went to fill up her bottle for 10 seconds and she was up the 1st flight, past the landing and half way up the second flight! My heart was racing, I was so scared. She does a lot of up but not as much down. She got such a kick out of seeing me panic. She giggled and booked it to the top. I followed closely behind and watched her race into my room and pile on top of her giant 53'' bear. I guess that's all she wanted:).

We have had to hide this bear on many occasions because she cries and cries when it's time to leave the bear. Seriously, no matter how long we let her play with Mr. Bear, she is brokenhearted when it's time to say bye. Bedtime was beginning to turn into a nightmare if she saw the bear before bed. With a little bear monitoring, we usually have things under control now:)

She loves her bear! Thanks Nana and Papa.

Ps. Her adorable outfit is courtesy of her sweet Aunt Janet. Thank you for your great taste in clothes!! We love you guys!

Also here is a fun video of Vienna reviewing the money mailers last night before bed. 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=235662916522194

DIY Cleaning Supplies Storage

DIY Cleaning Supplies Storage that cost $5.00 at Walmart

Saw this on Pinterest and they said you can get a shoe holder at the dollar store but I checked and couldn't find one. This one for $5.00 was good quality and not too expensive so I just bought it and organized most of my cleaning supplies. Vienna is starting to get into drawers and lower cupboards so I wanted to elevate these products that are dangerous to her.

I love that I can see all the bottles and I know when it's time to refill the pockets.

It's simple but I was so happy when it was out from under my sink!

Mini Cousin Photo Shoot

Tia Linda and Tio Walter invited us all over for Lomo Saltado, and three of my favorite model cousins decided to put on a show:). I thought they turned out really cute and fun. 

What do you think?