Happy Halloween! Halloween Costumes

Happy Halloween! (tomorrow) We have a lot of fun activities planned with the kids this weekend and are so excited! Gavin is at such a fun age for all of the Holidays, so it will be a blast watching him this weekend. 

Here is our little ice cream cone and Woody from Toy Story!

Lily is 11 months old!

I can't believe that in less than a month Lily will be a 1 year old! This year has been the fastest year of my life!

Here are some things about Lily:

Lily is not only walking, but she is running! 

Lily is wearing 12-18 month clothes

Lily is in size 4 diapers

Lily is a climber! She tries to climb on anything she can. 

Lily finally hit 20 lbs. 

Lily LOVES to eat. She is eating whatever we eat, just cut up really small

Lily is VERY sassy. She is quite the drama queen and will let you know when she doesn't get her way!

Lily is so sweet and loves to cuddle

Lily has 6 teeth, but should be getting more soon. 

We love our Lily Pad!

How to Make Fun Spider Cookies for Halloween!

I saw this idea on pinterest the other day and knew that Gavin would love making these cookies! 

Here is the recipe and tutorial:

http://www.aspicyperspective.com/2014/10/chocolate-peanut-butter-spider-cookies.html

I think ours turned out really well! Gavin had a blast making these, they were so easy!

This was the perfect little treat to make in preparation for Halloween. Gavin is so excited for Halloween and keeps asking if it is Halloween yet. He is going to love the holidays this year!

One Of the Most Beautiful Things You Will Ever See!

There is nothing quite like watching a sunrise over the ocean. Last Saturday, we decided we would watch the sunrise out at Atlantic Beach, FL. I had seen quite a few sunsets over the ocean in California, which were amazing don't get me wrong. But there is something special about seeing the sun rise. The anticipation of seeing the first glimpse of the sun poke through the horizon. It was really special watching it as a family as well. Gavin was really excited when the sun "woke up". He loved it!

DIY Stain Proof Chair Cushion Tutorial!

Here's a before and after of my chairs. Look how nasty and stained my chair was before!

I had a lot of people ask me how I refurbished my chairs

This is any easy DIY project and will SAVE your chairs from stains. 

The vinyl allows you to be able to wipe off any food spills. So your chairs are always looking new!

Here's step by step instructions. I wish I had taken photos of the project while I was doing it, but it is so easy to do!

First, you need to pick out your fabric. My mom was in town and helped me with this project. We went to JoAnn's to get the fabric. They have a section at JoAnn's where the fabric is on horizontal rolls. This fabric is thicker than your average fabric. I chose this blue fabric that matches with the color scheme in my home. I then chose a vinyl to cover the top of the fabric. I chose a vinyl that wasn't too thin and wasn't too thick. For my 4 chairs, I got a yard and a half of each. 

What you will need:

1 1/2 yards of fabric and vinyl (or however much you will need for your chairs)

scissors

staple gun

screwdriver

1. First take your screwdriver and unscrew your chair cushion from the chair. 
2. Measure how much fabric you need for your chair cushion
3. Cut your fabric and vinyl to cover your chair cushion
4. starting with just the fabric, place it over your chair cushion. Flip it upside down, so the bottom of the chair cushion is facing you. Pull the fabric tight around the edges. Starting with a corner, pull it tight and use your staple gun to staple the fabric to the chair. Work your way around the chair stapling every 1/2-1" . Once the fabric is stapled on, do the same with the vinyl. 
5. After the vinyl and the fabric is stapled on, then you can trim any excess with your scissors. 
6. Screw the cushion back on the chair and you're done!

We Bought a House!

I think everyone has probably heard by now, but we bought a house! It is still in Jacksonville, but closer to Jayden's work, which is nice! It is only about 15 minutes away. We closed on our house a week and a day ago and it seems like we have been here forever. It feels so good to be in our home and we feel very blessed! We were able to get a 4 bedroom/ 2 bathroom/2,000 sqft home with 6/10th's of an acre for an awesome deal. The previous owners had to relocate for a job, so they had to sell quick. I feel like we got an incredible deal, because they also replaced the roof for us, which was $10,000. So we have a brand new roof and the house was totally move in ready! We are so excited to have a yard to play in. I know it will be a big learning curve on how to maintain a home, but we are looking forward to all that homeownership has to offer! 

I am also excited to have 4 bedrooms because it gives us a room to be a playroom. Gavin and Lily will share a room where they both sleep, they will have a playroom, we have a guestroom/office, and our master bedroom.

The day that we closed on our house.

right after getting the keys to our house

It is going to be really fun to have a front porch to decorate. I saw this wreath at Costco, and had to get it!

We moved all of our stuff over last Saturday. We had lots of people from our ward help, and some of Jayden's co-workers came too. It went really fast!

We have this bridge in our front yard. Gavin loves playing on it. It has a little stream that runs through the front yard as well. 

This was before we moved all of our stuff over. We slept at the house for a few nights last week before our beds got moved over. Gavin looks so cute sleeping on his mattress . 

I know this is a random photo, but I love these spice jars from Target!

Gavin helping move on Saturday. 

We painted 3 different walls before we moved in. The family room wall blue, one wall in Gavin and Lily's room, and one wall in the playroom, both green. 

With a big yard to mow, we decided to get a riding lawnmower 

We have made too many trips and have spent way to much money here the last week

Gavin saying hi to one of the cats that live in the yard. The previous owners "had" 2 cats that have lived in the yard. They are both fixed and they asked if they could stay in the yard and if we could feed them. They said that they keep snakes out and the animals out. 

Jayden replaced the garage door opener. The existing one had no safety features. Jayden got it installed pretty smoothly. I'm glad he's a handyman!

I love my kitchen!

Our first real meal. Spinach & sausage pasta, copycat rosemary bread from Macoroni grill, and salad!

Yesterday Jayden mowed the lawn for the first time! It was exciting. Gavin and Lily just took a picture and then got off of the lawnmower :)