Living Room Makeover!

Okay. I realized that I have never shown how this whole room came together. It is a room that is very exciting for me. It was the first room we ever completed when we first got married. 

Okay this was the before picture. Its a little crazy and messy. I took this after we finally were back from our honeymoon and our house was a dump. We had tons of gifts to open and then with me moving in and all that it was nuts.

You are probably wondering what that green table thing is... yes its a ping pong table and yes its in the front room. You have to remember that this house was a Bachelor Pad meaning that a house full of boys lived there for a few years before Kelly & I got married. So the logical thing to do when you are in your 20's and your house is this massive party house with a house full of single men is to have a ping pong table in your front room...

I still laugh that they did that. In fact I kind of miss it being there we had some good times when we were dating with that ping pong table. 

But onto the formal like matter of this room.

The white leather loveseat was from KSL. I had wanted it from Overstock but Kelly hated it. I would say this was the first piece of furniture that Kelly bought me even though he hated it. He hated how it looked and after struggling to put it together before we were married was a pain. It was my 20th birthday gift from him. Although I got it before we were married since everything happens in our house within 8 days. (anniversary & both our birthdays) 

That zebra chair started EVERYTHING!

Zebra was the cool print of 2010-2012. Okay I still like it but lets say I was a little obsessive over anything I saw that was black & white. 

Well my mother in law knowing that I loved zebra bought me this chair for an early wedding gift. Of course it couldn't just be in a family room it had to go in the front room. So there it started the whole thing.

We then started looking around for different things that we liked.

We walked around Ashley Furniture trying to find a couch that we would like for the front room. Well turns out that we ended up walking out with this rug. Kelly totally had the eye on this one. He found it and liked it. I was pretty shocked.

2 months before we were married we got a puppy boxer (Nala). Well the night we got this rug home I remember Kelly was in the shower and I was putting things away and later walked downstairs to find that Nala had pooped on the rug. It had only been laid down for about a half hour before that happened. I remember running upstairs and saying to Kelly 'You won't believe what just happened'.. He knew right then what I meant. 

Well a couple months went by and I found a couch on KSL that I liked a lot. It was in SLC & luckily Kelly still was working there. He said it was a pain in the butt since the lady we bought it from lived on the 4th floor of her apartment building. It also was a big pain getting it into our own house for how oversized it is. But it worked and I love it!

The whole house was that brown pukey nasty tan color. AHH... my eyeballs hurt looking at these old pictures. I couldn't stand how it just felt like a cardboard box. Well we started into the biggest project.. okay I will get rid of the royal 'we' and say that Kelly started the biggest project.

He completely painted the entire front room, kitchen and hallway. He also took off all the old base and replaced it with taller base so it would make the house modern and be up to date with the current style. We used two different colors of gray. We did some accenting in some areas with the lighter tone being more dominate. At the time we had such a big space that we were painting that it was hard to figure out where to do the accent tones. But after having it done for over 2 years I am pleased at where we decided to do them.

Okay you may be wondering about that red light. Its cool right?! (You better shake your head yes.) Well, this wasn't something that I found and bought. It was the fir

That picture of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple was given to us by Kelly's sisters for our wedding. Kelly got mad when I moved it from the front room and put it by the front door. Mainly because I stuck a Zebra picture in its place. He got over it fast once he agreed.

Our front door use to be a tan color. Well a small can of red paint and a afternoon later and we had a red front door. I have had it painted for over a year and I love how it turned out. It adds character and I feel like it gives a warning to anyone who enters that this house is not a normal house.

Now tell me what you think about the thing hanging from the ceiling? Its ugly right. Well for three years I had a certain light that I wanted in that room. Kelly hated it. I finally just bought it this year and thought hey now he will have to hang it up right?! 

Look at the difference that lighting can make? Kelly spent the whole afternoon on a Saturday while I was gone at a dance competition taking the fan down and installing my new light. Once I walked in and saw it I was so happy! The room was finally complete!

Kelly calls it a snowball. But the idea behind IKEA was that it represents a dandelion. I love how it projects smaller ones on top and bigger ones on the sides of the room. 

After I bought the light and told Kelly that I did. He said 'Lets go to Lowes and get a different fan. You can get whatever one you want. ..Well after going to Lowes and the fan that I liked was triple the cost of this light he decided it wouldn't be too bad to just hang it up. 

It is a little dull compared to the fan but it adds a mood to the room. I love how it looks especially at night when the windows are open. It gives some good competition to Charli's chandelier. 

Here is an closer look to the light itself! ...eeek it makes me happy!

Links to Decor:

White Leather Loveseat: Overstock

Tall Daisy Flowers: Hobby Lobby

Monogram Letters & Hello Sign: Wood Connection

Coffee Table: Ikea

Lighting: Ikea (this is the smaller version)

Zebra Canvas Picture: Ikea

3rd Anniversary Celebration!

Our shocked face that its been 3 years of being married.

Kelly took the day off! Yay! We started the day off by sleeping in. Kelly made chocolate chip pancakes while I fed Charli some rice cereal. We then had bath time for Charli since very minimal cereal made it down the hatch. 

After we got ready and were almost out the door. Charli was hungry. Another bottle put both of them to sleep for a good half hour nap. 

(check out Thunder & Lightning thighs on Miss Charli)

We then left our house around noon and stopped at a few t-shirt shops for Kelly. He is participating in the Questar Gas Rodeo in a couple of weeks and needs some competitions shirts designed. 

After an hour drive we made it to the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium. It was such an amazing exhibit. We spent a good hour in the South America exhibit. We then made our way to the Utah exhibit and then to the penguins, otters and then the Ocean exhibit. It was totally cool to read about animals I had never heard of and to see them swimming around. 

We asked lots of questions to the workers about the animals. They had a turtle that was rescued that had either been hit by a boat or bit by a shark making it so her shell has air that goes into it. Which makes it so her bum is always up when she is swimming. They have put weights on her shell to help her balance it out. I thought that was a neat experience to see.

We loved being in by the sharks. They have so many in one exhibit. I kept asking Kelly how is that they don't eat all these other fish that are in here? I was amazed at how thick the glass was and how they had a tunnel you could walk through and see them swim over your head. What a cool place to go too.

Charli slept through most of the aquarium. She finally decided she was hungry towards the end. Plus that thumb sucking just kills me. 

We fed her and then headed off to Chic fil-a for lunch/dinner. It was delicious. If you haven't had their new Frozen Lemonade you are missing out on an amazing treat. 

We then headed to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was fun to take that drive to the temple. Remembering the feelings of being nervous three years ago. I also remembered the excitement of it all and where we took every picture. 

Although I was really hoping that we would see a newly married couple taking pictures. But the temple was closed. Which in a way made it even better. It was quite and we could walk around the entire grounds and just enjoy the peace there.

 Okay you can't laugh at these pictures. We walked around back to the doors we came out of once we were officially married. I really wanted a picture by those doors again. Well Mr. Sunshine made my eyes all squinty but hey we got it.

I also was able to get a picture with me and Charli at those same doors. I kept talking to her about the temple and telling her this was where we were married. She looked at me as if she already knew that information.

A Family Selfie with Angel Moroni!

I love this picture. So many great things. The gorgeous building behind us. The amazing view looking out on the busy cities. The aroma of all those flowers filling the air. The little girl that has blessed my life and that Heavenly Father has given me such a sweet spirit. The love that radiates is just something I would never want to live without.

Seriously. I couldn't live without this girl. She is so much to me & Kelly. I wish I could send a Thank You card to Heaven for sending me something that is so sweet, precious, kind and darn right gorgeous.

I posted this picture on Instagram after we left the temple grounds. I really am so grateful for the fact that I got to marry such a wonderful man 3 years ago and that I get to raise this little girl in a way that she will be able to enjoy going to the Temple and that she will eventually find someone that will make her as happy as Kelly makes me happy.

Cheers to Eternity & future anniversary's 

Wait, it's been 3 years?!

After realizing that its finally the month of April that means a lot things are going to be happening in our schedule's.

For Kelly it will be work, skid steer and finding time to do his church calling, family time and who knows what else. He always wishes there was more hours in the day.

For Me it will be spent going to dance competitions, attempting to spring cleaning (wink wink), coming up with some rad birthday gifts for Kelly, enjoying my birthday month & week.

But the coolest part about this April is that we have been married for 3 years!

At first that seems like such a small number but at the same time it feels like we have been married forever. Like we are veterans or something?!

Okay, I will be the first to reassure you that we still have days where we have no clue what we are doing. Mainly because in the past four months our life has changed drastically and it just keeps changing weather or not we are keeping up with it all!

There are days where I am cranky and hard to handle. There are days where Kelly is cranky and hard to handle. But luckily there are more days that we are content, happy & positive.

Sometimes I know I get hung up on the negatives of life. Like:
"Why does Kelly have to work so much?!"
"Can he just spend time at home for one night and not be outside?!"
"When is he going to do that long list of things for me?!"
"Stop having so much stinking overtime work!"
"When will he get that I just want to go on a date!"



At those moments I have found (so has Kelly) that really it isn't about those individual issues as much as its about me either needing a small break from being a mom or that I am 1,000,000,000% HANGRY! We both admit that sometimes we use the 'cranky' title too much because we are tired and wearing thin.

But over the past three years I have learned somethings not only about Kelly but more about myself. I have learned that I really don't care to be a homemaker. I really don't love to spend the whole day cleaning unless there is some incentive of a treat afterwards. (I bribe myself!) I have learned that I shouldn't compare myself to others and how they look like the perfect wife. I don't cook dinner every night, I don't make a lunch for Kelly every day and I surely never keep up on laundry, dishes or mopping the kitchen.. but I would rather have a type of home that is filled with love, laughs and lots of fun.

There is one thing I learned over the last 3 years and that is LOVE. I learned that even if the dishes get pilled up till they are stacked on the counter that Kelly still loves me. I learned that if the floors are dirty and the whole house could use a good maid to clean it up that Kelly still loves me. I learned that even when I am HANGRY that Kelly still loves me. He loves me on the days that I don't even put any makeup on. He loves me when I am completely done with the day. He loves me enough to let me talk about dance things all night long. He loves me enough that the "perfect" home doesn't have to exist. Because well I would say we have a "perfect" home. Its not built on being a home that is ready for a Pinterest photo shoot or a Home & Gardens Magazine. But its perfect because there is LOVE.

If there is one thing that I would love for Kelly & Charli to know. Is that there is nothing that makes my heart happier than when you two are bonding. Weather its you both falling asleep in the nursery while dad feeds you before bed. Or when you are just staring at each other in silence. I am so grateful to have a husband who not only takes such extreme care of me but will take even better care of our daughter. Charli you will be the most spoiled girl because of your dad. I can't promise that he will buy you everything you ever want but he will give you the best example in the world and that is someone who holds the priesthood and will be the best protector in your life. I also am positive he will be your first love. Everything he is will be something I will pray that you will find when one day you get married. 

I am so grateful for the marriage that I get to enjoy and for the companionship that I get to have for eternity. 

"Family is the center of life & is the key to eternal happiness!"

-L. Tom Perry

5 months

I can barely believe that Charli is 5 months old.

It seems like we were just leaving the hospital with this small little girl. Now we have a serious chunk on our hands.

Loves:
Screaming
Eating
Diva-ing (Screaming until she sees food)
Grabbing for her bottle
Giggling
Sleeping
Playing with toys
Swinging
Listening to music anywhere we go. It has a calming effect on her.
Cuddles
Watching her surroundings when we are out and about
Sucking her thumb (sometimes we will take a binky still)
Sitting up in her bumbo
Watching TV, iPad or phone
Dancing and bouncing with mom
Bath time

Charli is still doing great with tummy time. She is getting close to rolling over. Sometimes can sit up by herself but a little more folded in half. If she is sitting with her back against a chair she does fine.

Hates:
I really can't think of anything this girl hates.

I think there are times when she realizes she is so tired that I guess you could say she hates it but for the most part this girl is happy go lucky.

Sundays are our worse day. Lately because we haven't really had the same routine. Its not because we keep her on one but we just haven't had church at the same time for 3 weeks and the business of being around all the family makes her happy but so worn out.

I don't think it helps but we are starting to TEETHE! That makes her sometimes really cranky and other days as if she doesn't even remember that her gums hurt.


Average Day with Charli:

Between 8am - 10am Charli will wake up and start talking in her crib.. which then moves to kicking her feet and throwing them against the bed.
Once I look at her she just smiles and stares at me. I will be honest its the best part of waking up for me. I love seeing how happy she is.

Diaper Change & breakfast.
-breakfast lately has been a bowl of rice cereal and a 6 oz. bottle

She will stay awake for a couple hours playing and pooping. A diaper change and then its nap time.

Only cool kids eat breakfast with their sunglasses on.

Noon:
Charli will normally fall asleep by herself or lately I have tried to put her back down for a nap.
Some days this is a challenging task. Other days I can just lay her in her bed and see what she will do.
Normally she will sing and scream ... a few minutes later you will see a thumb in her mouth and on to nap time we go.
If I have to get her to sleep in involves walking/bouncing around the house. She also loves to hear music as she sleeps. It normally helps calm her down and its fun for me to sing to her. I am glad she likes my voice ;)

2pm: If she is awake by herself we have another bottle with rice cereal. If she has been in pj's still then I normally will change her into some adorable outfit and her diaper.

3:30pm- 8pm: This is normally the time we are at the dance studio. This is something that I think Charli enjoys. She loves to see the girls dance, the music is once again soothing. There are a few dances that just make her dose off. Most of the time now she wants to watch them move across the floor. She still will scream and blabber to them about their feet and leaps. ;)

Watching routines at dance practice

We normally will have a bottle at dance as well with a diaper change.

On Mondays Kelly will normally come and pick up Charli so I can stay and do Alumni. Its the couple hours out of the week I get to enjoy such a hobby and passion in my life.  I am grateful for a supportive husband who does what he can to watch Charli to give me breaks.

Holding a bottle by herself a week away from being 5 months old

If we are home before 8pm from dance we normally hang out with dad and play with him.

We will have another bottle once we get home. Somehow this always end up happening right when I go to eat. But I would much rather eat a cold dinner to get more snuggles with Charli. Although sometimes there is a fight over who gets to feed her. Most the time Kelly wins.

After I eat dinner.. sometimes dinner is a few pieces of chocolate and a Dr.Pepper. (I have switched over to the Dr. oops..)

9pm-10:30pm: Play time with dad some more and then will have a bath and get put into pjs.
Bed time routine: I wish this was a little more stable sometimes. But I don't really have it set. I let Charli do what she needs.

Bath Time & Bed Time: We have a bath time and then we get rubbed down with lotion and the into pjs. We then will eat another bottle. We will turn the lights low in her room to help her relax.. Although sometimes she seems to like staring at the chandelier. After she eats I will normally let Kelly pick out a book. Kelly lays on the floor with Nala and I sit and read to Charli. Sometimes Charli gets restless about this time and other times she falls asleep.

I also have to then push Kelly & Nala into bed because they always fall asleep. There are sometimes I just leave Kelly in there because I know he will eventually wake up and then I don't have to try and pull him off the floor.

Bed time routine without a bath: Sometimes we just are so tired and cranky that we don't really want to sit through reading a book. So that is when my good old phone comes in handy. I turn on a few of her favorite songs and walk around the room.
Taylor Swift and a few of the dance routines always put her to bed.

Other days we will be getting home around 10pm and Charli will already be asleep which makes it easy for us to put her into bed.

Sometimes if she hasn't passed out but I know she's close I have started to lay her down awake and seeing what she will do. With the sound soother on she ends up falling asleep pretty fast.

11pm: Charli is normally passed out.

Wake up and repeat.

I normally stay up till midnight or 1am because I am either blogging, cleaning, binge watching dance moms, doing Jamberry nail wraps, reading different blogs or just not sleepy.

I love being Charli's mom. Its challenging but its also pretty simple because really no one knows your baby more than you. There are days when I look at Kelly and say "Here you go she's a diva & I need a break"

I am grateful for the Grandparents that we have to help us with Charli. The Aunts & Uncles who snuggle, play and love her. I also am grateful for such great friends that live by us who will always help us with Charli at church.

The Boyfriend:

We have a new joke in the family. A couple sundays ago Charli was being a stinker. She didn't want anyone not even me. Finally Uncle Chris grabbed her and she instantly was happy. It was so funny. He is now considered the boyfriend. Charli loved touching his beard and staring at him. Then shortly after she passed out. 

Chris left to grab a movie and Charli slept with Aunt Krystal until she woke up and realized she wasn't being held by her boyfriend. 

If I had to guess I think Charli is close to 13 lbs. we don't go in for our check up till next month. I think she will be pretty big by then. We realized after our last appointment that she's been gaining about a half pound a week. Those cheeks will just keep getting bigger.

She is wearing 3-6 months clothes still. Although she has a few clothes that are 6 months that fit better. The problem with some 3 months is that they are hard to get over that big noggin of hers.

Size 2 diapers and using about 6-7 a day. Normally we only have one dirty one now.

We adore you Charbar! 

Love, your parents!

I did it, Finally! (Disclaimer: Nerd Talk)

Okay so I bought my new iMac a little over a year ago. At that time I also convinced Kelly of letting me get an Airport Time Capsule.

What that does?
It backs up everything on the computer hourly, weekly and monthly. Therefore if something where to crash. I would have it all saved up on the device.

The other thing it serves as is a router. A fast one!
So it takes our normal modem and up's the speed by itself. It also gives us the option for a guest network. We now have 3 networks in our house.  Our main internet service, the time capsule and the guest network from the time capsule.

I was so excited to finally set this up. The reason it took me over a year is I hardly understand a lot of things dealing with wifi setup, ethernet and modems. But after finally finding a decent Youtube video I finally got it all ready.

Now our iMac is backing up everything that has ever been stored on it... which is 251.35 GB

I will now have a lot better time knowing that everyone will just be there if something were to happen to our computer. I also have the option to back up our iPhones and iPad to the Time Capsule. It really will be such a lifesaver. I almost feel like I did the day I finally got to bring home the iMac from the store!

Although warning for you PC people you can use the Time Capsule as a router but it will not be able to backup or save anything it only does that with Apple devices.

Okay I will stop showing my nerdy side! ;)

4 Months!

Can you believe it Charli is 4 months.

I can't!!

I don't know where time has gone? Charli is doing great. She sleeps through the night and sometimes sneaks in to bed with me once Kelly leaves to work. I love cuddling with her throughout the day. Sometimes I just spend the day holding her instead of doing anything in the house.

I love watching her smile and check out things. She has found her hands and is constantly having them by her face. Whether she is sucking on her fist or thumb she loves having them there, they become a pain when we are trying to feed her.

She definitely has chunked out. She is no longer that 6 lb. baby. We are still working on holding our head up. I do tummy time, lay her on my chest and she just doesn't care to do anything. Somedays its frustrating but then other days I am okay that she doesn't want to do it. One day she will hold her head up right?

She loves holding onto her links and occasionally gets 3 or 4 to suck on. She is finding her Oball pretty entertaining. Its fun to watch them play and see them exploring the world around them. She sits great in her Bumbo. Especially at dance she loves to sit and watch the girls move. It is now funny because the music will start and Charli will just stare at them and once the music ends she will start to blabber. (I think she is catching on that they need to point their toes.)

I am looking forward to what she weighs at our appointment.
She is eating 6 oz of formula every 3-4 hours which is a total of about 36 oz. a day

{We take our eating very seriously} ...Charli got so mad at me that she proceeded to pull her headband down over her eyes.. Yup, Diva!

We are so spoiled to have such a great baby. She makes us so happy. I was asked a couple days ago if I remember what I did before we had her. I will say I vaguely remember what we did. Although we surely were boring because having this little diva in our lives makes our days ten times better. It's odd to think about how we just did things because we could and now it sometimes takes a little extra thought before doing things.

Its kind of funny when we show up to places everyone exclaims "Charli is here!" .. Kelly always reply's "So is Maggie & Kelly!" hahaha its true people only want us for our daughter.



4 Month Appointment Stats:

weight: 12 lbs 12 oz.     27 %tile
length: 23.6 inches        25%tile
head: 41.5 centimeters   65%tile

I absolutely love our Pediatrician! She is so great to talk to and doesn't make you feel dumb..

At our appointment she checked Charli with her eyes, ears, listened to her heart and lungs. At that point Charli was ticked off. Well here came the tummy time check and well... just two days prior I sat Charli down right after getting up for the day. I was going to button up the back of her sundress and she instantly left her head up without bobbing and the highest it had ever been. I was in disbelief so I took her into the hallway and stood in the bathroom. She laid on her stomach just staring at me.
I then picked her up and laid her back on her stomach in her room. At this point she was livid. But just in one day she decided to finally lift her head up. I called Kelly and told him & sent this video to him.

Above: This was tummy time on March 9th.

Above: This was tummy time on March 17th.

As our doctor checked her tummy time. Charli sat like she was going to roll over. Our doctor exclaims "Oh, she is rolling for you guys. That's great!"... I started to giggle and Kelly stared at me like "Don't say anything."... I then admitted Charli's bluff. Explained that she never had anything to do with tummy time until 2 days ago. She showed some concern and said that if she quits doing it then to immediately come back in.

Lesson Learned: Charli has her mom's procrastination. Oops.

We went home and then Charli acted like she was going to roll over again. But then got stuck. Don't you hate it when your head gets in the way?!

Then the nurses came in and gave her shots. Kelly hadn't been to her 2 month appointment. He didn't really want to watch it.. nor did I. Charli was so mad and sad. It breaks your heart but you know that such a small pain helps not just her but millions of others.

A couple hugs from me and she was back to her happy self. Thank goodness for Infant Tylenol! :)

Remember that one time Kelly got peed on by Charli?!

One night Kelly was helping get Charli ready for bath time. Well he got her completely stripped down and carried her down the hall to my bathroom. He suddenly starts to scream and shout then, I hear Charli start to cry and freak. I turn around and see Kelly holding her so her bum is up against his shirt... well, there you have it he totally got pee everywhere even onto the carpet. I sat and laughed.. it made for a good bath time subject for me & Charli.

After bath time I asked her did you like peeing on dad?? She just smiled... I take that as a yes!

She loves that thumb when it gets close to her face!
But sometimes don't your hands just look so odd.. thats what Charli wakes up and thinks.

Great Grandma's are the best:

We love spending time with our Great Grandparents!

Great-Grandma West got a kick out of holding Charli when she was asleep. But once Charli woke up she sat and posed like this just staring at Grandma. "Who are you?" ...It was a good solid 10 minutes of her just staring. 

Great-Grandma Smith: We love seeing her and getting cuddles. Charli enjoys laying on her lap and staring at her. Sometimes Charli will start to blab and have conversations with her.

Stroller Fun:

Sunday Walks around the neighborhood with Dad.

She just looks so cute in her stroller. I just love this stroller too!

Shopping with Grandma Malone, Auntie M, Corbin, Maxwell & Mom.

Sleeping Positions:

     

There are many ways Charli sleeps but these are some of the funniest/cutest. Sometimes at dance she just as to sleep in a hip hop stall. Other days its falling asleep holding onto all your toys at once. 

Although the cuddles when she is asleep are something I will never get enough of! I love them. Even if they are at the dance studio!

But First Let Me Take A Selfie:

I love taking pictures of this girl.. Its hard for me to narrow them down. But we found some cute sunglasses at Old Navy a couple weeks ago. We also have to represent the UofU right!? She just knows how to pose.. "Got it from my mama!" tehehehe...

Play Time:

We love our play mat! Links, Oballs, Rattles, Stuffed Animals, Teething Toys.. you name it we have millions around the house.

We also love playing with all of our cousins. Charli has 18.5 cousins! Which means its fun wherever we go.

I think its time though to get Charli a new carseat? Just Kidding. I was shocked she fit in this and she didn't even seem to mind sitting in it! :)

          

A big thank you to Auntie Alexa for the adorable unicorn! Charli loves it!

This is a face we get from Charli when she isn't so sure who is holding her or what is going on! She is very attentive to her surroundings. Of course this was funny because she is around Auntie Alexa a lot!

We love you Char Bar. 

We don't know what life was like without you because we love our life with you so much more.

Stop Growing!

Love, Mom.