living room re-vamp.

i decided i wanted to re-vamp my living room months ago when i sold my old rugs. since then i've been trying to figure out where to go with my new look and how to incorporate some new colors and textures into what i already had. i knew i couldn't afford to buy any new furniture, which meant i had to stick with gold, cream, rust & black, but i really wanted to modernize it a bit by adding some new colors. it took me forever to find a rug i liked and i needed some help from my talented mother to decide how to decorate, but i think i'm almost finished!

i still want to get a coffee table, a few blue pillows for my corner chairs and i need to paint the black 'j' on the wall a different color, but for the most part, i'm happy with it. my style is eclectic & i'm finally coming to terms with that. i like traditional, i like modern, i like vintage, i like it all and i think i'm finally learning how to be happy with my space even though i can't place myself in just one category.

my favorite part of the room are the trinkets that are displayed because each piece means something special to us. i decided to display pieces that were meaningful & get rid of anything that was just taking up space, so i focused on displaying my grandma's artwork, pictures we love, an old vase we got from greg's grandma (who originally owned the home we are in) and a hummel my grandma bennett gave me.

i used to feel like the room didn't match my personality, but just a few new touches and now i feel like it does. hooray!

snow, snow, snow!

 it's snowing outside! i can't wait until the world is coated in beautiful white fluff & this is what i see through my windows. are you guys cursing my name and throwing things at the computer screen right about now? i'm sorry. i know most people think snow is a pain, but this year i just can't wait for winter. i want to head up to the cabin, go for some baby-safe snowmobile rides, drink hot cocoa and watch christmas movies (there, i said it!).

tonight i'm starting off the "holiday season" right with homemade soup in bread bowls and hot cocoa for dessert. today i plan to find some sort of holiday craft i can work on for the next few weeks. i'm not much of a crafter, but momma needs something to keep her occupied until baby girl takes over her life in a few months. if you have any craft recommendations, please do share.

happy november!

my life be like.

just a few of the moments i've captured on my phone recently...

vegas with mi madre.

last week my mom & i snuck away to vegas where i proceeded to take the lamest pictures of my existence! i've posted all 4 of them here for your viewing pleasure. apparently i am only capable of taking pictures of traffic, the sky & my belly from above. lucky you.

besides my lame documentation, we had such a fun few days together. we shopped a ton for my little lady, ate yummy food, watched movies, got mini-makeovers, shared treats and best of all, visited my cousin kassie & her new little baby, jane.

i loved seeing my aunt and cousin and laughing together all afternoon & i don't think i have ever been so anxious to meet my baby as when i was holding jane. she is perfect and made me so excited for my own. it was also wonderful to have some alone time with my mom. i loved getting the giggles with her while trying to fall asleep, navigating traffic, people watching, oohing and ahhing over the same baby outfits at h&m and singing and talking for hours in the car on the way to & from vegas. she really is my very best friend. thanks mom for the fun trip, definitely one i'll always remember.

all hallows eve.

 
we spent halloween eve eating pizza, sipping cider, going on a ghost tour and wandering through slc cemetery,which sounds a lot scarier than it is. trust me. also, we got 3 trick or treaters this year, which is 2 more than we got last year! how legit are we?!

i plan to spend the rest of the holiday watching hocus pocus (only the best halloween movie ever) in my pajamas and avoiding any truly scary movies. apparently i am the biggest wuss currently living & the first ten minutes of the exorcism of emily rose was enough to give me nightmares last night. happy haunting!

bad mom?

lately this little pup is making me worry about what kind of mother i will be.

let me explain.

jack is the most sensitive dog currently living. i don't know how we got so lucky/cursed to find such a tender-hearted little creature, but we did...and he is. i have owned dogs and been around dogs my entire life and i have never come across another who even comes close to him.

when i am home jack isn't secure unless he can see me and really, he prefers to be sitting on me, next to me or very close to me. if i go to the bathroom he goes too. if i'm on the computer he is lying at my feet, if i'm doing dishes he is sitting by the kitchen door watching me do them. there is no where to hide in this little home of ours & wherever i go, he will find me. i could go curl up in a ball in some obscure corner of our house and he would sniff me down within seconds, lay by my side and not move a muscle until i did. this is probably the point where most of you think i am exaggerating, but those of you who know him know that it really is that bad.

what makes things even more complicated is the fact that he can't just be near me, he must be looking at me and he prefers eye contact. he stares at me all day long and he takes each sniff, sneeze and eye-roll of mine as a personal insult to him. if i drop something, jack thinks i threw it at him. if i shift my weight on the couch, he automatically thinks i am going to get up and go somewhere and he must get up too RIGHT NOW because surely we have to go TOGETHER! he is off the couch and on the ground before i can even re-adjust...always anticipating my every move nervously.

now here is the part where i worry, because jack is the sweetest little dog who has ever lived and yet, he drives me insane. he makes me wonder if i will be as loving and kind as i hope i will be when i am a mother because all of this attention from my pup makes me want to die. or kill him. one or the other. 

i can't stand it when i'm in my bedroom getting dressed and he has to follow me from my closet to my dresser and back again. i get so irritated by how many times i trip over him because he insists on synchronizing every step of his with mine. sometimes i freak out and yell at him to leave me alone, which only makes him more concerned about me and his stares just get more intense. sometimes i lock him out of the room just to get dressed in peace, but then i see his tiny paw reaching underneath the door and i feel bad and let him in again.

do i sound crazy yet? i feel crazy. whenever i freak out at him for being so obsessed with me i automatically think of the little lady in my tummy and i wonder if it will be different with her. i hope i want her to follow me everywhere and don't get sick of her, but still, i worry. i don't even know why i am writing about this except for you to reassure me that motherhood isn't like that and i'll wish that my baby wanted to be with more, not less.

and if the truth is that motherhood is a lot like life with jack, then warn me now please, because i obviously have some serious issues i need to deal with asap!

ps. i promise i love jack. i just want him to go away sometimes, too.

happy birthday, cute boy.

today is my g's birthday!

and even though he is no longer a boy & most definitely a man, i still can't stop myself from posting this picture of that cute little toe head in flannel. pictures like these make me so excited about the fact that i get to have his babies & they might look just like him...i can't wait!

this morning i woke up at the crack of dawn to make him norwegian pancakes 

& then i dropped him off at work with lunch & carmelitas for all his work buddies.

i'm sure he was very embarrassed, but i just can't help myself...i love this man! 

and for those of you who may not know, g is a twin, so it is tyler's birthday today as well. happy birthday ty! jennie & i most definitely know the answer to this question, but can the rest of you guess which twin is which?

taken.

attention all: i am claiming this man this weekend! between work, our rental home, our home and the cabin many others have needed his time and talents the past few weeks. and although i am so glad he has been able to help everyone who has needed it and get some big projects done, now he is mine!

i miss him way too much to let another weekend pass without spending any time together. he makes me happy, keeps me sane and makes me feel like i can deal with another day of 2 sick dogs barfing all over everything i own. tomorrow morning we need him to wake up with us instead of 2 hours before us and the little lady really wants to show him how hard she can kick now (she's been practicing). so in case you are wondering, he is taken. ;-)

the view.

i've noticed that i've taken a lot of these types of pictures over the last few months. it's amusing to watch my belly slowly swallow my feet as this tummy grows. and yes, this angle does make my bump look a lot larger than it is in person, but let it be known-the little lady & i are doing some serious growing over here.

an afternoon in october.

fall is here.
the pumpkin spice candle is lit
apple cider is brewing
and miniature pumpkins have been purchased and displayed.

the world is being bathed in rain
the air is crisp
and the sky is dark and dramatic.

the rain has brought me a cold
so this afternoon was spent on the couch
cozy sweater
socks on

sipping orange juice
watching the sky
feeling my baby kick inside me
as this tissue pile grows and grows.