My blog

This year I am so excited about Christmas. It could be that we have our own house to decorate this year,  or perhaps that McBaby is old enough to know that something awesome is happening. Whatever the reason, I am SO EXCITED. I already had Bryce set-up our tree: Here is a close-up of our chandelier: And the sliding-door vinyl that we got from Tara: While we are looking at fantastic things from Tara , here's this: And these: There is really no point to this post except to show you pictures of my house. Maybe that makes me vain, like someone who tells a long story just to impress you with this one witty come-back they had once... Eh I don't even care, I love my house and I love Christmas. Also one time I said a really good zinger, and man , did I look cool when I was saying it. The end.

This Thanksgiving we went back to Orem, UT, to visit the McEwens. It was so wonderful to see and spend time with them, we miss them so much. I am so thankful that both Bryce and I have such fun and loving and fun-loving families. We had plans to try and visit a lot of our friends too, but the week went by so fast that we barely got to see any of them. You guys understand right? I'm thankful for you too! :P Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, but I have found that there is one thing that it is lacking: piñatas.  This year I decided to remedy that problem by making a turkey piñata! I covered two balloons in paper mache, one big and one small. I did two layers, but they were thin, you could probably do three layers and it would be better. When they were dry I popped the small balloon and cut the paper shell in half. Then I made these frilly bones out of scrap printer-paper: I also made wings out of paper and then glued them all onto my big balloon:  For my paper mache I ...

I keep telling people how excited I am about this sideboard, and everyone says something like, "Cyborg?" It is a real thing ok? Traditionally sideboards are used for serving food in a main living area of the house, not the kitchen, but I wanted one for storing all of our electronics. I found mine in the thrift store for $35.  I fell in love with it right away, but it wasn't perfect yet. I carefully cleaned all the surfaces, firstly to prepare it for refinishing, and secondly because it came from a thrift store, so who knows where it has been.  Gross. Then I took off all the hardware, including the cabinet doors.  Then I wiped on two coats of my favorite Gerneral Finishes Gel Stain , the color I used was "Java". I really love that stuff. Everything it touches becomes pretty. Also it is dark and thick so you don't have to sand down to the bare wood if you don't want to, and I never want to.  I also sealed it with two coats of poly urethane, and put on some...

Here are some pictures of my little 1 year old. He wasn't sure about cupcakes...until he discovered that they were made of cake!  One day he was playing in the backyard, he was really curious about this PVC pipe that the previous owners had sticking out of the ground. (I also have no idea what it is there for.) Then he went and got this pine cone.   And carefully placed it on top. It fell off, but he kept working on it. And the mystery was solved! These are pine cone stands! Here is his birthday cake. It was really fun and easy to make. Special thanks to birthday-buddy Clairice for making the perfect orange frosting for the traffic cone candy-corns. And here he is on Halloween, being the cutest skunk.