Home Decor: N&M’s Bedroom

Since I finished Caroline’s bedroom, I didn’t feel like I could leave Nate and Madeleine’s bedroom undone. Really, it just needed a couple of things and some fine tuning.

 

We had the beds as bunks, but just as Rob was hanging the last thing up, we decided that we needed to separate them. Caroline was just too rambunctious trying to scramble up the sides (after we took off the ladder to thwart her) and running across the top bed without any brakes.

I made some curtains. Isn’t this fabric fabulous?! I needed something that works for boy/girl and that went along with their blankets and other things we already had in the room. They keep the room a much more comfortable temperature and block morning light so they can sleep longer when they need to. They will move into Nate’s room later on.

 

I made their blankets a few years ago. They actually are looking worn, but will change those in a year or so anyway when the kids switch rooms. I did replace the sheets, pillow cases, and mattress pads. I’m in love with Walmart’s $5 twin sheet separates. However, I did pass by the Walmart mattress pads. I bought those last time and they were junk. This time I got them from Ikea for $2 more each and I like them much, much better. The blankets at the end of their beds were made by their Grandma Snow when they were each born.

The world map on the wall is my favorite thing. Rob bought this for me a long time ago and Nate has kind of claimed it for himself. He is always studying it, much to my pleasure.

The names are just painted wood letters I did for each of them when they were born.

I love the schoolhouse feel with the map and the clock above the door. The clock is there to always remind Nate not to leave his bed before 7am. He is still such a morning bug and wakes up the whole house. But most mornings he ignores the time and I get annoyed.

The nightstand came from my room. When we changed the beds, we swapped it with a bookshelf. The lamp was bought years ago as a desk lamp but it works perfectly in this spot…if only it worked. I looked at multiple stores for the correct bulb and finally found a two-pack for $8 for a teeny, tiny light bulb. It didn’t even work! So maybe it’s the lamp…but it looks so great…

 

These are some of their books. They are both big readers and love it when I send them to bed early so they have time to read in bed. I do too!!

The picture above Nate’s bed is his award-winning shot from last year’s school Reflections contest. He is proud to have it framed.

I finally got around to hanging a picture of Jesus in their room. This has needed to be done forever but it’s just one of those things that never got done. I already had a frame and looked amongst our bookshelves for a picture book of Christ we inherited in a box of random books that was given to us. The kids helped me choose this picture of Christ with a little boy and little girl.

Oh, the banner. Obviously I needed something on this wall now that the bunk beds weren’t taking up that space. I didn’t really feel like spending more money so I had the idea to make a banner out of the left over drapery fabric. I also already had the rope. Add a little hot glue and some cute thumbtacks from Target and you’ve got yourself a wall hanging for practically free

Madeleine was really, really excited about this stuffed animal hanger. She loves her animals and now they have a proper home. Poor girl had to wait a few weeks for us to get around to hanging it up, though. But it was $5 well spent.

I forgot to take a picture of the lego table. It used to be a train table but Nate has long grown out of that. Now it is a perfect landing spot for all his Star Wars space ships.

They have a few toys in the nightstand drawers (which are hard to open) and there are a few small bins under each bed for toy storage but most of their toys are downstairs. There just isn’t any room in here for a whole lotta play.

Madeleine actually also has a Minnie Mouse chair and a play vanity that I took out of the room for pictures. But they’re usually shoved up at the end of her bed.

Now, if only it looked this put together half the time. Even 30% of the time. 20%? Ok, I’d take 5%. And don’t look in their closet…

Zoo Lights

Back in the middle of December my company (URS) had a holiday party up at Utah’s Hogle Zoo. We had a fantastic time visiting with coworkers during dinner (Julie won a movie prize pack), and taking a short walk around the zoo. We captured a few images during our wanderings (hope you enjoy those). Not many animals were around so it was mostly just fun to be with my sweetheart and see the lights.

We captured a few fun images of the lights. We’ve done this before but it is still a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy these.

 

Always nice to stand next to one of these for a little while. It was so cold that night!!!

The blue cast from these lights accentuates the cold!

Loved the blue lights.

 

Some kind of strange creature in this shot.

More blue!

What was Julie’s idea? Time to get out of there!

Robert with a Softbox

I took these of Rob after his annual Christmas shave. I like to see his whole face every once in a while; after all, it’s the face I fell in love with! He prefers a beard (and honestly I do like it, too) but will shave it off once a year just for me.

I wanted to take all these similar pictures and edit them using various presets. They all have the same backdrop (our wall) and lighting. You can see how different each image feels depending on it’s temperature, the level of clarity, and whether it’s b&w or color.

Deciding which treatment is best for each photo is one of my favorite things about editing. I like to capture the “feel” we are going for. Playful? Subdued? Edgy? Romantic?

In this case, it’s more of a headshot with a plain background, so that limits the creativity slightly.

 

     

      

     

I think I prefer the top right or bottom right. Which is your favorite? 

#HASHTAGS, #HASHTAGS, #HASHTAAAAAGS

One of our favorite things to watch is Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night #HASHTAGS segments on Hulu. Belly laughs. Full on.

Jimmy puts a topic out on twitter and people tweet their true life responses. He then shares some of his favorites. Topics include #partyfail, #dadquotes, #myweirdgymstory, #dontjudgeme, and many others.

Hil- to the -arious.

So in honor of these clips, I thought I’d share some of our own submissions, had we submitted them.

#promdisaster: This wasn’t prom and it wasn’t exactly a disaster, but it was annoying. I was walking through Fred Meyer with a friend of mine and he walked me over to the helium tanks where they blow up balloons. He didn’t buy me a balloon, but he proceeded to suck on the nozzle and then ask me in a high-pitched, helium voice to the dance at school. Embarrassingly and reluctantly I said yes. Then after I spent a lot of time trying to look nice for the dance, he showed up wearing a t-shirt that was emblazoned, “She’s with Stupid”. Yes. I was.

#worstpickuplines: One time at a hostel in Seattle a British guy sat down next to me and whispered into my ear, “Would you mind if I stuck my tongue in your ear and twirl it around a little?” As a matter of fact, I WOULD mind!

#beachfail: I was trying to body board at a beach in Hawaii when I was 16. I wiped out and sand got all over inside my bathing suit. I went to the open shower at the top of the beach and was trying to subtly wash it out when an older foreign woman came up to me and offered to help. Even though I politely declined, she continued to pull my swimsuit away from my body, stick her hands inside, and brush away the sand front and back. My whole family was watching and dying with laughter.

#soembarrassing: I was sitting on the porch with a guy I really liked. He was opening up and telling me how much he liked me and wanted to pursue a relationship. My stomach had been bothering me all night and I was nervous. Right when he finished telling me his feelings and was waiting for my response, I let out a big, loud, smelly one.

#awkwarddate: One time I went and played some pool at the U with a guy. On the way back to his house to watch a movie, he wanted to stop at a convenience store for some snacks and drinks. While we were waiting in line to pay, he picked up and started perusing a filthy magazine in front of me. Obviously, I didn’t stay for the movie.

#awkwarddate: Here’s another one. I was on a date with a guy I’d been seeing and he told me that he was actually engaged to someone else.

#mydumbinjury: Rob was dating someone else and he and I were “friends”. He had asked the girl he was dating to join his indoor soccer team and she refused. I wanted to impress him by showing how fun and cool I was so I signed up. Keep in mind I had NEVER played soccer before let alone with older, bigger, indoor soccer league men. My first game I looked like a complete idiot trying to keep up and ended up cramping my thigh muscle. A couple of nights later we went ice skating with his girlfriend and some other people. I fell down and while trying to get back up, tore a small rip in that same muscle. Hurt like Hades. Rob and his girlfriend had to carry me off the ice and into the car. Weeks later after Rob broke up with his girlfriend and he and I were on our first official date, I was still limping.

#slapyourself: When Rob and I were dating, we drove down to St. George to visit his grandparents. We were almost there when he suddenly pulled over to side of the road and said, romantically, “I was planning on telling you later at a better time, but I just can’t wait. I need to tell you, I’m falling in love with you.” Collective “Awwwww!”.  I was caught off-guard by the whole thing so what was my response? “Well..that’s good...because I’m falling in love with you, too…and it would suck if you weren’t ‘cause that would be no fun.” Brilliant. I wanted, and still do, want to slap myself over that one. The funny thing is that he was so excited he  told me that he didn’t even hear my response and didn’t realize what I had actually said until I repeated it back to him later when I apologized for my lameness.

#mysuperpower: Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the super power ability to try on gloves for a man shopping for his 10-year-old daughter. Also, while walking by a group of 12-yr-old boys, one of them yelled out a pickup line to me. It was dark and I was turned away. When I looked at him, I don’t think he was expecting to see a 31-yr-old woman. Awesome…

 

And here are a few of Rob’s:

#iusedtothink: When I was very young and the priests would kneel to say the sacrament prayers into the hidden microphone, I was completely convinced that I was hearing the voice of Heavenly Father speaking down to us from heaven.

#mydumbinjury: In high school some friends and I built a large half pipe. Once, after riding hard and falling backwards onto my butt, a friend indicated to me that my shorts were ripped. Upon more careful inspection I found that I was bleeding. Turns out I was unlucky and landed and slid on a screw that was sticking out too far! Ouch! I still have a 2-inch scar in my butt crack.

#iadmitit: In high school I was approached by an acquaintance. She asked in a friendly way if I smoked. I replied, “not cigarettes!”

#awkwarddate: I made a date with a girl for Thursday night. An hour before I was to pick her up, I called to verify that we were still on. She confirmed the date so I said I’d see her in an hour. When I got to her door, her mother answered, looked embarrassed for me, and said, “Oh, I’m sorry. She just left with another guy.” This was before I had a cell phone so I drove across the street to Ream’s and called her. Twice. No answer. We never did go out. Oh, but I did run into her at church. Turns out I was friends with her brother. Awkward.

#awkwarddate: I was dating Julie, but my ex asked me out on a hike and I accepted. I told Julie and she was very upset and said she was finished putting up with me. The next morning (day of the hike), I decided I didn’t want anything to do with my ex and that I was going to win Julie back. I should have called my ex and told her over the phone, but instead I went on the date. She took me on a hike up to a waterfall, sat me down, and I let her pour out her feelings for me. Then she asked me if we could get back together. I promptly shattered her feelings by saying I wasn’t interested in dating her. Yeah, I’m a jerk. Afterwards, we still had to hike back down together and she had to drive me home.

 

We hope these made you laugh…even if they are at the expense of both our pride AND dignity!!!  I have a feeling no one is going to give us any respect after this…

Fun Family Photo Time

Rob checking in here. What do you do when a softbox comes in the mail? Have a photoshoot of course. My favorite subject is my darling wife Julie. Here are my favorites from the session of her working it! Hot stuff!

Shots were taken with a Nikon D90 triggering an SB-600 through a 24x36 inch softbox camera left.

Things get a little crazy some times.

Love the hair action.

 

One with Madi

A couple of impromptu photos while Madi is playing on the iPad (yes sometimes impromptu can involve a softbox at our house). Something was going poorly here in the game. Perhaps she couldn’t get the dress order for Tinkerbelle done in time…

She looks like she could fall asleep here.

I love my family and I love photographing them.

Master Bath in Pics (and words, too)

The bathroom was done quite some time ago but I’m just now getting around to blogging it. Before and after.

I wanted to go with a more eclectic-looking bathroom with some vintage vibe to go along with this picture.

I took this shot on Main Street in Ogden in front of an old, run-down motel. The sign says, “Roosevelt Hotel Private Baths Steam Heat” and the little one written on the door reads “Restrooms are for tenants only”.  Some other pictures from that walk are here.

 

Originally, I wanted the colors for the bathroom to be pulled out of the picture, cobalt blue and brassy gold, but I had to think way ahead to when we decorate our master bedroom (next up), since they connect without a door separating them. That room is going to have a more island-y feel so I needed to incorporate more greens and blues instead.

A few months ago another blogger was giving away a $25 TJ Maxx gift card to someone who told her about a piece of furniture that had some special meaning to them. I entered using my grandpa’s china hutch and won! I took that card and bought two rugs.

I really don’t like having toilet paper in plain view. I’d much rather it be hidden under the sink but seeing that the sink is out of the toilet area, around a corner, and 10 feet away, I decided I better house it in-bath. I love wire baskets, so there you go. And a blah mirror, because I had it. At least it reflects my picture when the door is open.

 

The metal Paris print was given to me as a housewarming/birthday gift from a dear friend and fits perfectly next to the shower.

My sister gave me a pair of candles and candle holders a long time ago as a birthday gift many moons ago.

The petrified wood is from our Escalante trip.

The shower curtain was in our old master bath and is still in really good shape so we moved it here. Same with the fake orchids that gather dust. Eh.

I hear over and over again to use white towels because they look so clean and fresh. Well, guess what? They don’t. They show every bit of dirty-hand smudge. Maybe if I changed them every single day. But guess what? That’s not going to happen. Next time I will not be getting white. That way, we can dry ourselves off with dirty towels and be fully unaware ;)

Now, I have no idea why this is the only space in the entire house with vinyl flooring rather than tile. Isn’t this lovely? And every time the toilet overflows, which it has once or twice due to the kids, the water pours down through the floor into the kitchen. Isn’t that fantastic?! I think it’s my favorite feature. I think every home should install a lovely waterfall in their kitchen.

So on my decor to-do list is definitely some tile. Make that hex tile. Like this or this. Ooohh! Pretty! And then I will decorate the bathroom for realsies.

 

 

Side Story One: Rob spit-shined the bathroom yesterday evening. Then last night I went in and found a GIGANTIC puddle of urine on the floor. It seems some little boy woke up and instead of making it to the toilet, made it there instead.

Side Story Two: Today, right before taking pictures, I walked into the bathroom to find little Cara tearing apart the medicine cabinet. This is not at all unusual, but this time she and the counter were covered in blood. Okay, that’s a little exaggerated, but there was blood on her, the counter, and in the medicine cabinet including on my toothbrush. She had broken a little glass jar that sat on my counter and held cotton balls. She didn’t even realize she had cut herself, but it was gross.

Thanks for not getting too annoyed at me posting pictures of my substandard decorating. I’m mostly doing it so that in the future I have pictures of how our home looked, minus the kid havoc everywhere, that is. Besides, it gives me something to take pictures of while stuck in the house all day. So thanks!

Nate Turnsssssss Sssssseven

For his birthday party I gave Nate the option to take a few friends somewhere super fun, like Boondocks, or have a lot of friends at a party at home. Being the social butterfly that he is, of course he chose lots of friends at home. I had no idea what I was going to do to entertain all those kids (about 15). One night I was leisurely flipping through one of those ad books that comes in the mail and BINGO!

BYU’s Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum is closed for renovation for the next year so to supplement their income they are doing birthday parties for $35 in Utah County (a little more outside the county)! They will come to your house, bring all the animals, and do a presentation. Their options are reptiles, animal babies, invertebrates, and others. Nate is extremely into science and animals these days so we were done deal-io!

Nate invited 20 of his closest friends and cousins and we had a great time. Each of the kids were given some snake worksheets to keep them busy while all the guests arrived. Worked like a charm (snake charm?).

Then the presentation began. The young handler was very knowledgeable about his reptiles and was really good interacting with the kids. He brought a croc skull, tortoise shell, box turtle, huge iguana, and a ball python. The kids were thrilled and mesmerized and had many questions.

Video links and more pictures are here.

After the presentation they watched bits of VERY loud Star Wars, opened presents, and played.

The menu was: shed snake skin (popcorn), baby snakes (sour gummy worms), adult snakes (gummy worms), snake eggs (jelly beans), and snake venom (yellow gatorade with pop rocks for hissing and steam). The kids thought it was SO great!

After all the kids left, Rob took Nate to Boondocks Fun Center where they played everything from laser tag (Nate’s first time=awesome) to roller coaster simulations (Rob felt sick the rest of the night) to arcade games. Did you know that if you sign up on their website you get an all-inclusive pass for FREE all day on your birthday?! Do I hear a new tradition? Yes, I do!

Nate got so many great gifts from all of his generous friends and family members. He was in heaven. His gifts from his family, though, were tons of Lego sets (mostly Star Wars). He had a fantastic birthday. Thanks to everyone for making it happen and making him feel special. He really is!

 

ps. Here is his birthday interview video.