P90X

If any of you know me, you know that I HATE sports or any type of physical activity or working out. I guess being blessed with a high metabolism, I have never needed to work out to stay thin. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I am healthy. So, in the last few months I have decided to eat healthier, take my daily vitamins, and EXERCISE!!! I have been doing excellent with the eating healthier and taking vitamins, but the exercise was just not happening. Chris decided that he wanted to get in better shape to help his Rugby skills. Since we both have such a busy schedule, and trying to fit in actually going to a gym, we decided to try P90X! It lasts for 90 days, and you workout for 6 days/week. The workouts are either 1 hour or 1 1.5 hours long each day. We just completed DAY 12!!! I am so proud of myself for lasting this long. I am going to make it the whole 90 days too! I can already see results! Chris loves it too! It actually is not as bad as I thought it would be. I will try to post some pics of every 15 days to see the results...

{Pre-P90X}

Creative Project

For my Humanities class this semester, I had to present a "creative project" to my class. My teacher said that it could be anything creative that I made this semester. Since Chris bought me a sewing machine for Christmas, I decided to sew a little baby dress for Kara. It turned out pretty cute I think. It was actually a pretty easy dress to sew. I decided to use two different fabrics on it. I love paisley, and the pink and brown is so stinkin cute. It was supposed to be an "infant" size, but I'm pretty sure it is going to be too big for her for the first month or two.

Kate's Baby Shower!

I threw a baby shower for Kate (and baby Kara). It was my first time to throw anyone a shower, and I think it was a success! There were quite a few people there, and it went well. I was busy all week trying to get everything ready for it. Thanks to my mom and Brenda, I was able to get the house all ready just in time before the guests arrived. Instead of doing everything in "baby" pink, I used HOT pink instead, since that is Kate's favorite color. After looking at a few pictures online, I attempted to make the "diaper cake," which actually turned out really stinkin cute. I think it was my favorite thing I made, and was actually much easier than I thought it would be. I also made the cake, after trying to decide for like 2 weeks on how I wanted to decorate it. It ended up being a really fun afternoon, and Kate got some really cute outfits for Kara. I am so excited to meet baby Kara!

I thought this was a pretty cute picture. Brenda brought over the stuffed animal duck for Miles, and Tucker thought it was a toy for him. After stealing it once, I put it on the mantle so he could not reach it anymore. This is how he sat for 5 minutes STRAIGHT without moving, trying to think of a way to steal it again. It was pretty cute!

The cutest diaper cake EVER!

Brenda arranged the roses!

Here are the dogs enjoying their last few minutes in the house before the guests arrive. Little did they know, they were about to be banned from the house while the shower took place. I had Chris take them all on a hike for a few hours.

These are the cute little outfits I bought for Kara. I think my favorite is the Strawberry with the cute little skirt!

I was really nervous that there would not be enough food, but we actually had the perfect amount. In addition to this, I also made my famous spinach dip. YUM!

And....here is the cake. Simple, but cute.

Look at the precious sunglasses for Kara!

Here are the cute burp cloths that Alys made for Kate. She also made this adorable pacifier holder that clips onto the baby's clothes. They were really cute! Good job, sis!

This was a pretty cute one of Dirk, Miles, and Susie!

The Old...and THE NEW BEDROOM!

We have lived in our house for about 1 1/2 years now. It just takes so much time and money to get things looking like I want them. So, I am decorating one room at a time to my desired perfection. I have the guest bathroom completed, and now OUR BEDROOM!!! Last year, I made the headboard for our bed, and I have slowly been buying things to complete the room. Thanks to my great husband for buying me a sweet sewing machine for Christmas, I was able to make the curtains. I created the arrangements and just bought a few things here and there, including a night stand of my own. I am now 100% complete with the room and I LOVE IT! It is so nice to go in our room now. It is like our little getaway in our house. After decorating the bedroom I have decided that decorating is where my true passion is. So, after lots of thought I am going to finish my degree in Interior Design.

BEFORE: ghetto and ugly

The only nice thing is the leather chair!

AFTER: ooohhh lah lah
Simple curtains, but they add a nice touch!

My trip to Cali!

I decided to make a SURPRISE VISIT to Alys this year. I have never flown out to see her in California and thought it would be the perfect chance since she just had Harrison. We had a lot of fun together. I especially liked seeing the dogs, Callie and June Bug because I was missing my dogs. They were so cute! It was really beautiful out there and the weather was really nice. I was able to carry Harrison around everywhere and load him in and out of the car since Alys was still a weakling. Haha! I enjoyed it though! The trip seemed so short, and I think we were both sad for me to go. I am really glad that I went and that she was surprised!

Thanksgiving

I have been really busy, so I haven't posted anything since around Halloween. So, I will try to do a post a week. We will see how that goes...

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We went to Colleyville and had Thanksgiving at Jenni & Matt's house (Chris' aunt and uncle). They have 3 girls. I used to nanny for them before Chris and I got married. So, they always love having me over so that I can entertain them. They are pretty cute girls. It was a smaller than normal gathering at their house--us, Natalie, Mike and Michelle (Chris' parents and sister), Grandma MaryJo, Jenni & Matt and their girls (Hannah, Sammie, and Ella). Grandma MaryJo wanted us to go around the table at dinner and tell the one thing we are most thankful for. When it was Sammie's turn, she said she was most thankful for "Big Aly" (thats what they call me). So, that was pretty cute.

The food was pretty good this year. I was in charge of bringing my famous stuffed mushrooms, green bean casserole, and Grandma's delicious Peach Cobbler. It was sooooooo tasty! I'm glad we were able to have a nice day together to think of all of our blessings!

My newest creation...

Chris and I have never gotten a full bedroom set. When we first got married, we just bought a nightstand and a dresser. It has worked out just fine, but our room just has never looked too complete. So, after alot of thought I decided to make a headboard for our bead. It was either buy a whole new matching bedroom set, just buy a head/footboard, or make my own head board. So, I have been thinking up plans for a while on what I wanted it to look like, etc. So, this past weekend, I finally got around to getting all of the supplies and making it. I am very impressed with how good it looks. My camera didn't take the best picture and it looks alot better in person. I didn't have too high of hopes of how it would turn out since I haven't ever done this before...but I think it looks pretty stinkin good. Now all I need is to find the perfect bedspread and curtains, then our room will be complete!!!








This is what I started out with...Plywood, my fabric, foam, and batting
This is the 2nd part of the process...stretching the foam, batting and material around the plywood

And stapling everything together...

I even made the 3 buttons...It was kinda tricky figuring out how to make them tufted, but I figured it out.

And Voila....a beautiful headboard!