Sunday, November 29, 2009

Beautiful New Entertainment Center

Matt spent the Holiday building a custom entertainment center for our TV and electronics. Here it is, isn't it beautiful?

Not only is it beautiful, but it serves so many purposes. His main goal was to get all our electronics off the ground and away from little baby hands. This is going to make my life so much easier. No more trying to get the little ones to not play with the computer, phone, xbox, etc. I am super stoked. Also I now have a ton more storage space! I am so excited to be able to organize and put some toys in baskets for the kids to be able to pull out and play with, but also to put back in baskets and put back in their right places. It will be so nice!

Great job honey. I love it. Thanks so Brad and Paul for all their help too!

Isn't he cute.

Untitled from Jennifer Johnson on Vimeo.

Sims loves to sing songs. I thought you would enjoy hearing him. This little ditty is one that he has learned at Preschool with our favorite teachers, Ms. Kristin and Ms. Julie. He is constantly singing (maybe because I am too).

Christmas is coming!

We didn't waste any time. The day after Thanksgiving Brad and Karen and fam came over and we got out all our Christmas stuff. Karen helped me create some wonderful Christmas spots. I am so excited for this wonderful time of the year!
Linda and Paul came over the Thanksgiving. While they were here, Linda helped me make this beautiful fabric wreath. She had brought all her Christmas fabric. We found the on line tutorial Here: kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com/2009/11/fabulous-wreaths.html. I love the look of the wreath and I love how this space turned out!!

So sorry about the bad photography...I will have to start taking lessons from Matt. Karen created this space with a hodge podge of Christmas items I had. Since this is a new house to us, I didn't have any ideas where to put anything. I think this turned out super cute. I hope you can see how awesome it is! Notice the super cute JOY. My sister Debbie in all her craftiness made these adorable letters and sent them to me as a Christmas surprise! Thanks Deb.
And lastly, my new Christmas wreath. I found the online tutorial here: http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com/2009/11/kathryn-nannygoat-made-this-gorgeous.html. It was super easy to make and was cheap. The whole thing cost me less then $10. I love it! I am so excited about this holiday season! I hope each of you can find happiness and joy in your lives.

Thankful

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but I am still finding so much gratitude in my heart. We had such a wonderful holiday. I did spend most of the day missing my family, but I was surrounded by Matt's wonderful family. Karen hosted Thanksgiving at her house this year. We had a beautifully set table including a little thankful present for each guest and delicious sparkling cider (that I got for a super good price with coupons!).

There was a lot of great food
There was a lot of talking and laughter
There was a lot to be grateful for including good health, a caring and loving family, a new beginning, a good job and the blessing went on.

We ate a ton, too much probably.
We took naps on the couch and floor
We watched a parade.

What more could you want our of a great holiday?

She's growing Up!




Lily is almost 18 months old!!
It seems like yesterday that she was born.
Lily is my sweet angel, so full of life and energy.
She is happy and content almost all the time (I did say almost :)
What she likes to do:
Talk
Eat
Play with big brother
Talk some more
Sit on Jack
Suck her thumb
Talk
Did I mention she likes to talk? She is constantly babbling about something and the funny thing is, I am starting to understand what she is saying. Her words are getting more clear. It is so fun and often brings tears to my eyes to see her becoming such a big girl.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Making Room


With all this coupon shopping I have been doing lately ( I am an addict) I needed to make room in my pantry to store the food I am stocking up with. The concept with couponing is buying in bulk so you get your supply and build your own grocery store. It cuts out on the "I have to run to the store for this one item" When you end up buying 20 and pay full price for everything. I have a fantastic tutor, Bonnie, she is great. We go out shopping together and have a fantastic time. So not only am I getting great deals, I am making a really great friend.

I cleaned out my pantry, the closet under the stairs and Lily's closet so now I have plenty of room to build my own grocery store. It makes me feel so good to have a nice and orderly house too. I love it! I have a nice big pile of stuff to donate, I know, I just moved here, but I didn't go through anything before I moved.

I firmly believe in an orderly house. I know that it makes me more of a sane person. I am going to keep my pantry open and stare at the beautiful order till it morphs, as it always does, into chaos.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Free Moment

This free moment came faster than I expected!! I went to a wonderful enrichment tonight. I am surrounded by talented and lovely ladies in this ward! Amazing. The theme was "Women who Create". They focused on how each of us as women create something that is amazing to behold. And they stressed how each of us has something that we do and that we can share with one another. I love how they promote us to be strong women and women who appreciate each other. They talked about all the different ways we create, like our homes, talents that we may have, missionary opportunities, etc. Nothing was left unturned. They made us these beautiful journals for each of us that tells of things that they notice we create. It is amazing, they made probably over 100 journals and each one has special points about ourselves. Then when they served refreshments, we each had the opportunity to write in others journals.

Amazing.

Uplifting.

Inspiring.

I came home very uplifted and happy. I feel like I am in the right place. I am at home with these women. I love it.

I was so excited when I got home that I had to do something. Remember this rocking chair for Lil? I finally finished it. What do you think?

I am still here

The Shade sale went fantastic on Saturday. Thanks to everyone that helped, it was amazing how giving you are...I love you for it!!

I am now watching my lovely nieces and nephew for the next 5 days. We are busy making decorations for Thanksgiving.

More to come when I get a free moment!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Shade Sale!

Seriously Ladies, come to my Shade seconds Sale. I have hundreds of shirts, skirts, and some specialty items in my very own mini store.

Here is the info:

When: Saturday November 14th
8am
Where: My House 8207 Camano Dr
Pasco

EVERYTHING IS $5!!!


And if you aren't excited enough...look what came in the mail today...MORE!!!

A Tale of Two Friends

Since I have moved to lovely Pasco, WA, I have been FLOORED by how nice everyone is. I never realized how stand offish people were in Boise. I don't think anyone ment to be, but we were all soooo busy and the wards so big that we didn't notice when new people moved in. So when we came here my mouth dropped open at the reception. I have friends and a ton of them too! The people here are all so great and so lovely. I have absolutely loved every minute of it. One of my new friends, Amy, and I clicked instantly. She is spunky and full of life just like me. She has been so warm and receptive from the beginning of my life here. I LOVE her.

We were hanging out the other day painting another good friends nursery, talking about life when it came up that she had a twin bed she no longer needed. I was so excited!! I have been thinking and planning on getting Sims a new twin bed for Christmas but decided to put it off because we can't afford that expense right now. Amy was so excited because she just wanted the bed out of her house, so she GAVE it to us!! Can you believe the generosity. I am so amazed! Not only did they give it to us, but she and her husband brought it over to our house and took the whole thing upstairs!! I know, they rock.

Amy, I love you for your kindness and generosity. Sims loves you for his new bed. He feels like such a big boy now!! Thanks a billion

Love, jen

Monday, November 09, 2009

This is for you Mom!

When we moved into this house we brought a beautiful red couch with us. My mom made a fantastic suggestion that the couch would look even more lovely with cushions on it. I took it on to make cushions for my lovely couch, but didn't want to spend a ton. Here is what I made (thanks to my mother-in-law Linda for all her help making these).


Total spent: $16.

I went to the thrift store and bought 3 cushions for forms (I already had 2 cushions I wanted to redo) and 2 different bed sheets for fabric. I was so excited! I love the look and Sims loves the softness of the pillows!

I am a Convert!

I have been resisting couponing because I have always said "I am too busy". Well when we moved to Pasco I decided to give it a try as a new full time stay at home mom. I came to the right place. There are many wonderful and talented couponers here to learn from. My good friend Bonnie has taken me under here wing. Here is what we did tonight on my first couponing trip:

15 boxes cereal
1 healthy choice meal
14 bottles of dove shampoo and conditioner
3-6 pk of Danimals
2 pkgs crescent rolls
4 pkg cookie mix
12 boxes of kleenex
5 lb bag flour
7 frosting
3 rice side
3 paper towels
3 cans progresso soup
2 cans corn
3 bags chex mix
1 bag frozen corn
11 lbs of chicken
2 box of cinabon bars

Total Spent: $38.53

I am converted.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Pumpkin Carving Fun


So I am finally getting caught up on my posts!! Yea. Man I promise never to take a week off again! We went to Brad and Karen's house for pumpkin carving. It was a great night as usual. The kids were so excited to carve the pumpkins and I have to admit some of the parents were as equally excited...

Matt got out the skill saw to cut off the tops of the pumpkins. That man is such a genius. It is so much easier this way!


The kids were so excited to get started. It could have been because they were all anticipating having a GIGANTIC cupcake after all the carving was over, but I really think they were just excited about getting messy and creating a face!



Even "Uncle Karen" as Sims calls her got into it.







And Lily was just chillin' the whole time, walking around babbling to herself and pushing around a chair. She had a great time. Happy Halloween (I know, it's too late, but lets just pretend I did the post last week!)

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Happy Halloween!

I am still trying to catch up on posts since I took last week off!! Here are some cute pictures of the kids in their halloween costumes. Matt took them over to the local elementary school for a "Monster Math Night" put on by our beloved sister in law Karen (she is the PTO president). The kids loved it. Sims got to play a couple of games and they came home with some candy! Lily only kept her costume on for a short time because she got a little hot. But she is still a cute little cow. That was the perfect costume for her because right now she is obsessed with cows. She will walk around the house mooing. It is the cutest thing ever. Sims of course was a big hit in his Thomas costume. I am so glad that I did it, it was worth it!





Tuesday, November 03, 2009

SHADE Sell

...Maybe you like this....

...or this...

...or maybe even this....
...hmmm this looks nice...
....always can use one of these....

...well what are you waiting for...I have all of these at my HOUSE right now, hundreds of them in all shapes and sizes. and guess what...EVERYTHING IS ONLY 5 DOLLARS. yep you heard me right. I am here to hook you up. So give your friend Jen a call, or come by...

Sugar and Spice

So I am a trying to catch up with what has been happening! Life is getting busy again. My sister-in-law Karen and I helped throw a baby shower for our dear friend Tiffany Harker. She is pregnant with her 4th baby, but it has been 6 years since her last baby. She was in great need of some cute girly things...it was so fun to get ready for. I was in charge of the decorations. Here is what I came up with. Our theme was "sugar and spice". Her colors for the baby room is black and pink.

This banner is made out of pink and black scrapbook paper. It says Sugar -n- spice.


This cradle and the rocking chair are Lily's. I have had them since the move and have been meaning to paint them. This shower gave me the motivation I needed. I painted them a nice pink and added some black fabric for accents. It turned out way cute. Remember the rocking chair because I have plans for how to decorate it for Lily's room. I will post the finished product!

I have always wanted to do a diaper cake. I really wanted to do one for this shower, but was not willing to spend the money on diapers (sorry Tiffany, I am cheap!), but I solved that problem by having a lovely friend of mine, Kati, who was also going to the shower and didn't have a gift, get the diapers for me. It turned out perfect. I will definitely do this again. It was so easy and turned out super cute!

Here is the finished result of the gift table. I think it turned out wonderful. I was super excited!

To go along with all the cute decorations Karen and our lovely friends had made the most delicious food ever. There were cupcakes, salsa, spinach dip, feta dip, chicken salad, all kinds of yummy breads, apples and Carmel and a yummy punch. I was supposed to be on a diet, but this shower was my downfall. I did have to eat, it was just too tempting!

And this was my gift to Tiffany. I saw this idea on this website: http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com/. I always wanted to make this and finally had my opportunity. I spray painted this frame and hot glued fabric and ribbon to some cardboard for the back! It was so fun to do and easy.

All in all the shower was fantastic. There were about 30 women who came to celebrate. Tiffany got some awesome things and we just had a good time celebrating as friends. I had a great time doing the decorations and look forward to the next party!

Monday, November 02, 2009

Happy Birthday Tiff!

My dear sweet sister in law is having her birthday today! We had a fabulous weekend in Boise and were able to hang out and do projects together!

Tiff is amazing in so many ways...she is funny, just like her brothers. She is very crafty. She inspired me to start to tap into my crafting side. I never scrap booked or crafted before I moved to Boise, but now I am a seasoned pro under her tutelage. She is always there for you, if you need help, she is by your side.

I was deeply impressed with this quality when Courtney was born. We found out that Courtney was gone and called Tiff and she was there right away. She was one of the few blessed people to be able to hold our sweet baby and be there at that very spiritual moment when she was born. I am glad she was there to share that with me. I am glad that she was there in the years after to help me remember Courtney and all that she taught us.

It was so hard for her to let us move to Pasco, but she put herself aside and saw how important that was to Matt and I and our family. She has been a great support since and I have been blessed with phone calls and emails from her. Our friendship continues to grow.

This is for you, I know I promised you these pictures a long time ago...I hope they make you laugh! Happy Birthday.

Love,

Jen