Introducing....

MASON CLARK CRANDALL

Born January 22 9:15 am

7 pounds, 10 oz

21 inches

We are in love with this sweet beautiful boy!

Details and more pics coming later!

Waiting Game

Having a baby in 6 days.. Nice, because I know the day, but it makes me crazy waiting for each day to pass! My hips are killing me. I'm over it, just give me the baby!

Speaking of.... I finally found some bedding that I liked for the nursery. It's being ordered from etsy and will be here, oh.. I dunno.. the week after my baby comes. Which is why I haven't posted a single thing for his room! It's mint and gray and citron yellow, but I wanna make sure I "man" it up. And of course I never got around to painting the baby's room. It's currently a dark gray/navy, we really can't even tell. I just wanted it lighter and brighter in there, but I'll have to get to that later.

Last week, I tackled a project I've been looking forward to for a while now: an Ikea hack.

I bought these unfinished nightstands from Ikea...

And painted them & added fun trim.

Well... I don't love them. 

The paint in our room is so dark, that these charcoal nightstands just kind of blend in too much, PLUS I had painting issues. The fact that it's 10 degrees probably doesn't help. Granted they're better than the unfinished crap version, but I might end up redoing them in white with gold trim. 

These chairs have been ordered, in the tan/gray tweed fabric below for our family room.

 I REALLY hope they turn out nice, I was on a tighter budget for these and went with a neutral, because I'm finding that the things that are neutral in my house are the things I love long term. I tend to get sick of pattern, as they can be trendy or just "too much." 

Our ceilings are super high so I wanted some chairs with height. Won't be done til mid February though =(

P.S. They're from Gatehouse in Orem. I give them an A so far for service! They're so great to work with.. any locals that need furniture, let me know, because I have a girl who is awesome.

My barstools came! I love them, mucho. However Restoration Hardware has been slightly disappointing. Our desk came that we got for our office and it had nicks in it, and an odd corner that looked like it had been colored in with a sharpie!
Not even kidding.
I was bugged and didn't want to wait around to request a new one. So they gave me a further discount. Made me feel a little better at least.

But back to these barstools. They are fantastic.

So, am I the only one that shops Joss & Main, or One Kings Lane, or those sites where you have to make an impulse buy quickly? I actually hate it because I need time to decide on things! This settee was my first purchase from Joss & Main, and I was pleasantly surprised. Cheap shipping, it came fast, and was easy to assemble. 

Joss & Main- good job.

 Ballard Designs has been a site I've been so excited about, and I ordered my dining table from there. As previously posted, when the table arrived, it was missing a piece!! The piece that attaches everything together!! And they informed me they couldn't get the piece for 4 MONTHS.
SO they expected me to sit around a table that wasn't bolted in, and ready to topple onto my toddler. Sorry, not happening. They've been a total joke, trying to get them to come pick it up and return it. I'm still waiting for my refund, and kinda turned off to order anything from them again. Failing grade, Ballard.

Enter High Fashion Home. I loved this table first, but it was more expensive than the Ballard one, but since that one was a FAIL, we just ordered this one instead and we love it. Best thing of all- it's bolted together with all the parts!

Aaaaaand that's the update on our furniture woes. Live & learn. I'm so sick of ordering things and then being disappointed but then there's just not a lot of options locally that I'm a fan of.
We are taking a house break for a while, and focusing on the baby which will also be very expensive, but so worth it!

Stay tuned ;)

blogger WTF?!

So my blogs all disappeared yesterday. 

Deleted from existence, and it wasn't me. And I'm the only one able to log-in so I was kinda panicking and frustrated. But for some reason, they are back today! Still puzzling but whatever.

Anyhow, Aaron is been out of town for a week, and gets back this Sunday. People think it's crazy he would leave town this close to my due date, but I know I am not going into labor anytime soon. In fact, I won't even go into labor at all (thank you planned c-section a week early!) I've had all this ambition to tackle some major projects while Aaron was gone- like paint or wallpaper 3 different rooms. Didn't happen. Carter's room is the only one that has gotten updates and as soon as I'm done, I will post em!

So we've had issues with our fireplace, in the sense that the space above was too small for a decent size tv. So we enlisted our great friend (also named Aaron) to do some handiwork cuz he's awesome. It took them seriously 2 days trying to figure all this out- and New Years Eve, that's what they did.
The good news is that the tv is up and fits! The bad news is that the mantle still needs work, but we will figure that out once Aaron gets back in town.

While the men tackled that project, the little boys- in matching jammies-played trains pretty much for hours straight =)

Obsession alert:

For some reason I can't resist cute wrapping- usually when I'm at TJ Maxx. It's not like I even "gift" things and have so much to wrap. That birch wood looking one is so freaking cool though and these were found at the Maxx in Yakima, WA- the jackpot of all Maxxes. I carted them all the way back to Utah in our truck. Aaron thinks I'm whack.

And these gift bags? K awesome. And for like a buck a piece, I simply can't pass them up.

 I wish I could concoct some kind of project to use these... even cut em up and frame them, but my creativity is stumped.

makeovers

I've been doing a little self-loathing lately because I super miss being in shape. Sure, lots of people can and do continue to eat healthy and exercise to the max during pregnancy. I've tried, not super hard, but let's be honest, some things just don't pan out as well as you want during those tough 9 months. But the great thing is, I know what my body is capable of and I know what to do to get myself into shape again. Having a baby is just one of those sacrifices, but sooo worth it. =)

I still follow fitness competitions and get on bodybuilding.com and such because, well, fitness still is a passion of mine. I'm super inspired by the new season of Biggest Loser cuz Jillian's back! And also because they're focusing on childhood obesity. Both good calls.

Anyways, I happened upon this article on bodybuilding.com (follow the link to see em!).... I always love a good makeover!

New job

Okay who am I kidding? I do not have a job. My job is to keep a toddler alive while growing a baby for 2 1/2 more weeks in my HUGE belly. So I guess pretty much I do have an exhausting job- just without pay ;)

My sister Val works at a dental office. Her dentist she works for (thanks to her persuasion and input), hired me on to redecorate their patient waiting room!

Never done this before.

The initial instructions I was given was to make it homey, create more space, and brighten it up with lighting. It's currently all brown, dark, and gloomy.

I brainstormed and came up with some options:
Soft tan and cream, or cream with blues.

Both me and my sister loved these ideas, but the dentist vetoed it. Still trying to peg down what exactly he wants, and it's pretty much opened my eyes to the fact that clients are picky, they don't always know what will look best (or they plain have bad taste), and your job as a "designer" (or pretend-one like myself) is to give THEM what they WANT. I think I'd struggle big time if I chose this as a career. I hate when people request ugly or dated things!! I don't feel much pride in something I don't find visually appealing. 

Anyways, this weekend, I'm redesigning this waiting room back to the dark browns, as requested. I may or may not post it, we'll see how it turns out. Bleh

Christmas post!

We headed up to Yakima, WA to my hometown to spend the holidays with my family. So great. Lots of noise, lots of kids, and lots of things to entertain Carter. In fact, I barely saw him. But it's always so fun to be around family.
Before we left town, we opened the majority of the Christmas presents we got each other in our little family.
We got Carter a canvas teepee tent... I just thought it was cute and something to take up more of his empty room ;) He asked to take a nap in it yesterday, and he actually laid down for a while..

Carter got a tool set from his Grandpa Dave. He was pretty stoked about that.

 Carter, of course, had a blast with all my little siblings. My dad assembled the train around the tree, and while they LOVED it, they just kept knocking it off the track & touching it, so it didn't last more than a day

 Some shots of us getting ready to go sledding!

 Between Aaron and auntie Val, Carter had a blast going sledding with them. But he mostly just likes to eat all the snow.

Christmas Eve, we get together with extended family at my uncle's barn to do a nativity & eat (obviously). Not only did Utah get pounded with snow, but so did Washington... I think every single one of these boys biffed it at least once trying to "help" others get outta the snow. It was quite comical actually =)

 Christmas morning chaos!!

 On some unrelated notes:

The TJ Maxx in Yakima, WA is AMAZING. It's a jackpot. And I love treasure hunting when I'm in town. I had no intention of having bright blue anywhere in my house, but these chairs made it home with me. Currently in my living room, waiting to be arranged and decorated =)

I got some cool news this week from one of my favorite baptisms from my mission. Joelma was from my first area and she was golden for years, and we finally saw her baptized on my mission. Now her son Rafael has the Priesthood, and was able to baptize his sister, Carol, who just turned 8. Sooo exciting! One of those missionary memories that resurface and remind you what an awesome experience it was.

After the weekend, I couldn't help but love a little more on this cute little boy. He's not in school yet but I can imagine that today was a hard one for a lot of parents sending their sweet kids off to school.

There's been plenty for me lately to complain about, trying to potty train Carter, plus being 8 months pregnant, but right now, but I'm just glad to be a mom.