:: the skirt ::

My first article of clothing that I have sewn. 

I had to make MANY adjustments to the pattern but I think it turned out GREAT. I love it and can't wait to wear it and make more. 

I LOVE sewing. 

:: weekend visitor ::

The great Jaclyn Peterson came down for a visit. 

We went to the Jazz vs. Hawks game and it was AMAZING cheering for the Jazz while being surrounded by all of the Hawks fans. The game was intense and came down to the final 2 seconds. GO JAZZ!

Ryker LOVED meeting Jaclyn. They were instant friends. We can't wait to see you over Christmas break. Thanks for the fun visit JP. 

Visitors are ALWAYS welcome! We have a nice place for you to sleep and I promise to cook you tasty meals and take you on fun adventures also :)

:: wishing ::

I am wishing I could have this bedding on my bed right now. 

So in love with the look but not the price. For now this will stay on my wish list. 

{style & co - artisan} 

:: a week full of smiles ::

"You're never poor if you have a loving family and one good friend." 

This is a line from one of Ryker's favorite books Lu and the Swamp Ghost by James Carville. As we have been reading this book it got me to thinking it is so true. Life is about having a loving family and one good friend. Yes it is nice to have more than just ONE good friend but as long as you have one life is good and happy. Well I have the BEST family ever and I LOVE LOVE that I talk them daily. {Last week I had a bishop's interview and he asked if I spoke to my family. When I told him I talk to ya'll multiple times a day he thought that was AMAZING and I have to AGREE.} I am also VERY grateful for ALL of my wonderful friends. I love that I have great friends here in Atlanta who help me make it through the days with my tiny one and being husband less. I am also thankful for my friends who live all across the country. I would be a lost girl without the internet, skype, and blogs. They allow me to stay connected with all of the people I love and feel apart of their lives even though they live hundreds of miles away from me. I love my FAMILY and I love my FRIENDS. Judging by this quote I am a VERY rich girl. 

This tiny face warms my heart and makes me laugh, smile, cry, and fill overwhelmed EVERY day. I truly love being a mom and feel like it is what I was born to do. I can't wait to have a busy house full of tiny ones running around being loud and crazy. 

Now presenting my living room with a face lift.

 I know I have been telling ya'll I was going to make drapes for months. I FINALLY got them done. Yay! Also the new slip cover arrived and I made new pillows for the couch. I LOVE how it all turned out. 

I absolutely LOVE how the flowers turned out. 

All of this sewing is fun and frustrating at the same time. It helps that all of my fabric is only $1 a yard so if I mess up then I'm not out much $$. It helps me have confidence with all of this experimenting. 

The drapes and the rod that I spray painted. Have I reminded ya'll how much I LOVE spray paint?!? It works wonders. 

I hope this brightens your day!

Ryker's head is so BIG his shirt got stuck. I about died laughing. Mom and Ben I thought this would bring tears of laughter to you. {I know how much ya'll love to laugh at silly pictures of my son}.

Ryker and I were enjoying a morning with law & order. Yes Ben there was even an episode about riker's island and I have no shame in naming my son Ryker. Dun Dun. 

Going to church is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do. 

I can't get enough of these boys of mine. They make waking up everyday worth it. Oh and don't mind the scruffy one - it's "no shave November" for Brady with his "bro's" at school. I REALLY don't like this idea of a month of no shaving but I am not winning the battle on this one. 

c'est la vie 

:: all hallows eve ::

Last night was our ward fall party/ trunk or treat. It was a wonderful turn out and we had a blast with all of our friends. Thanks to Peter for the GREAT costume idea for me and Brady. 

Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair, My Knight in Shining Armor {AKA Dragon Slayer}, and Tiny Dragon. 

I am so pleased with how our costumes turned out. I was not planning on us dressing up {I thought that only the kids dressed up for the ward party but I was wrong almost everyone WAS dressed up - it was AMAZING}. So needless to say Thursday night I was talking to Peter and he gave me this idea and Friday morning I got to working on pulling it all together and made my costume. Brady's is a awesome dollar store find. I'm sure Ryker will love the armor dress ups in a few years.  

My Knight in Shining Armor with his catch so he can get to me {Rapunzel}!

Loving on my tiny Dragon protector.

Brady was SUPER excited to take Ryker trick or treating. Ryker was so excited that he even held his bucket.  Too bad the costume didn't last this long into the night. Ryker was not in love with his dragon costume so we let him win and put him in his jammies and then he was a HAPPY little guy! 

We love Halloween and had so much fun with Ryker and dressing him up with us. 

This is how my boys watch TV. Oh and if you are wondering WHY Brady is wearing a tie-dye shirt it's his basketball team shirt/jersey. We had just gotten home from Brady's game and Ryker LOVED watching his daddy play ball. He already loves sports just like Brady does. 

This tiny boy sure LOVES his daddy and loves to hold on tight to him.

So in LOVE with my cute little family. Life is good. We are so blessed. 

:: Witches Lunch ::

Yesterday we hosted a Witches Lunch for all of our friends and their little ones. It was a HUGE success. I love Halloween and I love parties so it doesn't get much better than that. 

Enjoy.

Wednesday night we decorated and 20 minuets after we started the power went out. So this is how we got to decorate - by candle light. What a better way to decorate for a Halloween party but in the dark. It surprisingly made decorating super fun. 

I love how our ghost chairs turned out. 

I think it turned out looking super cute considering we couldn't see what we were doing. 

My favorite two parts are the fence and the tree. They turned out AMAZING if I do say so myself. 

I made these little witches and they tasted sooo YUMMY and looked super cute also. I love making Halloween treats! 

Check out our brooms in our Witches Parking - we made them out of the plants and spray painted them to look like brooms. LOVE THEM!

Too bad my little dragon wouldn't smile with his ghost friend. 

The crew after our parade around the yard. This was the kiddos favorite part of the party.

Some pretty Witches! I am bumbed that I didn't have time to find my witch costume to wear. But 2am came and went and I knew my bed was calling my name and that something was going to have to give. Next year I will play the part of a good witch in costume. 

Now that our party is over we are all going to fly away on our brooms. 

Thanks to everyone who came and participated and helped. It was a blast!

Stay tuned for more Halloween post after our ward trunk or treat. Brady and I are going to have some pretty AMAZING costumes!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

:: Ryker Gabriel month 3 ::

{THREE MONTHS YOUNG}

Ryker has been with us for 3 full months now and is a pure joy to have apart of our family. We LOVE being a family of 3. Ryker looks so different today day. I don't know what it is either. It's nuts how he wakes up one morning and just looks a little different. 

Ryker's tricks:

• he is liking tummy time more and can get up on his elbows and has great head control
• he has found his hands and LOVES them. they are always moving, grabbing or being sucked on
• he scratches his face all of the time now and I am constantly cutting his finger nails
• he has learned how to go to bed when he is wide awake. I lay him in his bed and he just watches his mobile for about 10 - 15 minuets. the first time he cried 35 minuets and night 2 it was 5 minuets and now no crying. now if we could only get him to nap in the day like he goes to bed
• he loves his toys and has gotten really good at grabbing them and hitting them
• he is still not sure about the rice cereal 
• he loves the bath tub and hates getting out
• he hates being rubbed down with lotion
• he loves going running with mommy
• he loves being outside - who would have thought a three month old could tell the difference between indoors and outdoors 
• he loves to talk, coo, and giggle - i can't get enough of it
• he wakes up happy and talking - it is a very pleasant way to wake up in the mornings
• he goes to bed at 8pm and sleeps until 8am and only gets up once at 4am ='s a happy mommy
• he loves to read books 
• he loves to snuggle on my chest and take naps with me - they are the best!
• he gets sick a lot for such a tiny guy - mommy doesn't like this - he is so sad and pathetic when he is sick and then he turns into a monster
• he loves his mommy's milk {17.8 lbs.}
• his hair has started to grow some and I love his curls. his hair keeps getting lighter. we think it might be strawberry blonde but only time will tell
• his eyes still have not decided what color they are going to be. I think they will be blue
• he loves his daddy and gets a HUGE smile when he comes home from school
• he loves watching football with his daddy 
• our favorite trick is when Ryker gets "shy" I will be holding him and then he will look at Brady and smile big and "get shy" and nozzle his face in my chest and "hide" and then he looks back at Brady and laughs. this usually goes on for about 5 minuets. we LOVE this game! 

we love this tiny guy so much and love the joy he brings into our home. being parents is wonderful and this is what we were made to do. 

over all life is wonderful here in Atlanta other than it is almost November and the mosquitoes are still eating me alive anytime I walk outside. I am not much a fan of them. 

school is going really well for Brady. this semester has been a killer but Brady is being the AMAZING guy he is and doing great. we are excitedly counting down the weeks to Thanksgiving {5 weeks} and Christmas break {7 weeks} Brady says he is learning lots and still enjoying it even though its super hard.

this week is going to be a crazy one with Brady starting inter-mural basketball, witches lunch, trunk or treat and prep for Halloween. it will be fun. we love this time of year. 

:: boiling with anger ::

This past weekend I decided our living room needed a face lift. I completed drapes (I will take a picture of them once I finish the room), I started sewing new slip covers for the throw pillows, and we decided to change our slip cover on the sofa. When we bought this sofa 18 months ago we bought 2 slip covers and this is the first time we have switched them out. As we are putting them on and opening them for the first time we come to realize Ikea sent us a right handed love seat cover instead of a left hand when they delivered our sofa. So what we have wont work AND to make matters even better this sofa has been discontinued and we can not exchange it. Sunday night when this all happened my blood was boiling with anger. I was so upset that when Ryker would not eat and started screaming I yelled back at him for the first time. Yes I felt like a horrible mom at that moment and I'm pretty sure I scared Brady. But after much research online I have found a place that has my left hand love seat slip cover that I can buy. WAHOO!!! I am feeling much happier about the situation other than we have to buy another one. BUT at least I found it. Because we really LOVE this textile. So this is what our lovely sofa looks like until the new cover arrives. 

Sneak peak of Halloween

We tried Ryker's Halloween costume. All I have to say is I LOVE this little guy. Is he not just the cutest. I love Halloween and am excited to take Ryker trick or treating at our ward trunk or treat and me and a few friends are throwing a witches lunch party for mommy's and kids. It should be oh so fun. 

On Saturday the 3 of us went out to Stone Mountain for a run as a family and ended with Ryker's first picnic at the park. It was a perfect fall day. I love this little pumpkin hat. My friend Erin lent it to us for some fall pictures. 

We didn't make it to the pumpkin patch for more pictures as we had planned on (Ryker decided to have a melt down) so we are going to try again. 

Ryker is getting better at tummy time. Today he got up on his elbows for the first time. I will have to try and get a video of that. He is such a strong little man. 

Tonight Ryker tried rice cereal for the first time. I know he is still pretty young but at night before bed he nurses on both sides and still acts hungry. He is such a good eater when it comes to his mommy's milk we decided maybe he needed something more. I don't know how much he liked it. He was very unsure about it all. But we will keep trying and I hope this helps him sleep better at night. 

Open BIG!

Ryker has learned he has hands and he LOVES them. He tries really hard to get both hands in his mouth at the same time. I think he thought his hand tasted better than the rice. Oh and I have to say I LOVE this this little guys rolls. They just keep getting bigger and he just keeps getting cuter! 

:: weekend of apples ::

 This weekend has been full of apples. Ryker and I went to Ellijay with some friends to an apple farm. We had quite the excursion in the car on the way there. It should have taken us 2 hours to get there and it ended up taking 3 hours. It took us 45 minuets to go the last 2 miles to the farm. Yes you guessed it the kids were going crazy. 

But once we arrived there it was a blast. We got to watch our first pig race ever. Ryker didn't like the squealing pigs but we thought it was great. 

 We got super tasty apples and apple sider to bring home. Mmmmm I love the fall. 

 Ryker had so much fun that he zonked out. This farm had so much to do I think we will have to come back out here when Kels and the girls come out in November. I love having a baby and all of the fun things I get to do with him. Being a mom is the best! Now we just need to find a pumpkin patch to go to. 

 This is what we did with some of the apples we picked. 

 We made caramel to dip them in and create these beauties.  

I love fall cooking/baking. I am going to a recipe night on Friday with a theme of favorite fall dish. I have too many favorites to decided. Should I do a dessert or a soup? 

:: 2 years with my love ::

2 years ago today I got to marry my prince charming. 

Brady is the most patient, kind, understanding, smart, loving, sweet guy. I could not have ever found someone more perfect for me. Brady is easy going and I am high strung so we give each other a fine balance between both. He is a wonderful daddy to our amazing little Ryker. Ryker came out and could not take his eyes off his daddy. Brady has always had a love for children and is so good with them. It about broke my heart the first time Liam wanted Brady over me. I have learned that I can't always be the most loved and Brady is pretty fun to hangout and play with. 

Mine and Brady's favorite thing to do together is play cards/games. It has been hard not playing games as often as we used to now that Brady is so busy with school (we used to play skip-bo every night). These days I get all giddy when we get to play cards. It will be so nice once we are through school to be able to enjoy cards before bed again. 

Brady and I have decided to "get ripped in 90 days" as Brady likes to say and it has been really fun working out together this past week. Its really nice because we watch each other and help each other get the correct form. Brady and I love to play sports together and are super competitive against each other - I know shocker. 

Brady is a worthy priesthood holder and I am so proud of him for that. He is so knowledgeable in the gospel and I love reading the scriptures with him because I learn so much from him. We teach primary and I love planning our lessons together Brady always helps make sense of the lessons/stories to me. He is a wonderful teacher. Brady has a wonderful testimony and is helping me to strengthen my own.  

I am so lucky that I get to be with my sweets for all time and eternity. I can't imagine life without him. I love you sweets and can't wait to see what adventures this next year will bring us. I hope that Brady keeps me laughing like this for all eternity!

Being married to Brady Michael is the BEST! I am the luckiest girl in the world to have him all to myself!!