DIY Projects - Going Gray

Master Bedroom - Before

We decided to switch things up a bit and try a totally new color combination for us...Gray and White.  My go-to colors have always been off-white and varying degrees of tans/browns.  So when John proposed trying the gray we had just used in Ashley's room with bright white in our bedroom I was very skeptical but I have to say I really like how bright and clean the room feels now.

Here are some of the inspiration photos:

My picture really doesn't do the gray color justice it's actually quite a bit darker in person.  I also added the frames over the bed by printing out some vintage black and white botanical prints onto handmade paper and then framing them in some old frames we had laying around that I painted black...a totally free project!

Master Bedroom - After

I gave John a pretty long to-do list that he his has been tackling during his week off and so far he has crossed quite a few items off his list including: painting the master bathroom & bedroom, painting Ashley's room, framing her large caulk board and refinishing her desk, and he was also able to finish up a handful of outdoor projects before our latest snow storm.  He re-stained our front deck and did a bunch of touch up paint all around the outside of the house and just as the storm was blowing in he finished cleaning out the garage.  But by far the biggest and most important job that he has taken on has been to tackle our dirty laundry mountain...he scored HUGE points in my book for that one.  I'm really going to hate it when he starts his new job on Monday.

Item's still on his list...painting our front door red (my idea), fixing the gutter over the front door, installing a new light fixture in my office and hanging Cameron's skateboards on his wall.

I'll post some pictures of Ashley's room remodel once the project is completed...next up is new bedding and a new rug.

Easter Sunday

Easter was a little more special for us this year since we have recently started attending church services again over the past few months.  I woke the kids up bright and early since our church starts at 9:00 and they were happy to find that even though they're teenagers the Easter Bunny still left behind lots of goodies in their baskets. 

They ate breakfast and maybe a little bit of candy and then everyone went and quietly got dressed in their finest church duds...a far cry from the scenes over four years ago with the Sunday meltdowns and endless complaining about their ties choking them, their church shoes that were so uncomfortable and the worst of all having to wear a dress!!...where was I, oh our happy Easter of 2013.  So the kids, now dressed to the nines and Ashley sporting curls and I were off to church just as John was heading out to go into work for the morning.  John doesn't like it when I brag about him but one of the things I love most about him his how he is always so thoughtful of others. He normally takes every Sunday off but each year he goes in and works by himself on Easter morning so that all of his employees can attend church with their families...gotta love the guy.

Church was great, the talks in sacrament were very moving and all of us ended up watching short movies about the resurrection in our Sunday school classes and it really set the tone for the rest of our day.

Of course being that I have teenagers I wasn't quick enough once we got home to get a picture of them all dressed up for church since they pretty much strip down the moment we walk through the door...somethings never change. I did manage to corral them together briefly for a cute sibling picture.

With Cameron and Ashley's help I started our Easter dinner prep, on the menu brown sugar ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, asparagus, pineapple, green salad, deviled eggs and Rhodes rolls.  Dinner was served as soon as John walked in the door from work and the kids all filled him in on what they had learned about the Savior at church, it was a really nice time with just our little family.  The rest of the day was spent watching NCAA basketball games together and cheering on our teams to move forward in our brackets.

and we're back.....

I've missed blogging.

It's time....I can feel my love affair with facebook coming to an end.  It was great while it lasted but these days I find myself spending too much time reading about things I really don't care about and a majority of the content is questionable.  I've missed the personal feel and connection of my blog. Plus I still need a way to stay connected to my extended family and I know I can at least count on my Nanny to faithfully check in here.  I will still keep my facebook account but will mainly use it to provide links to future blog posts.  I will also keep my instagram up and running because well first I love it and second I rarely take my good camera with me.  It's a great tool that will keep this blog full of photos, even if they are just cell phone pics.

So here we go again, I'll be posting current events and photos of our family life going forward but I also plan to take a day or two out of the week to add older content using my facebook albums and posts as my guide.  My hope is to one day have a seamless tie between today and my last post from 2011 without any gaps.  After all this is my digital scrapbook and I've got a lot of catching up to do.


It feels so good to be back.