Couple "Photo Booth" Shoot

I don't know why, but ever since I was 10 or 11, I have always wanted to experience a "photo booth".  You know, the contraptions you climb into through the curtain door, it takes four black and white snap shots of you, and VOILA!  You have this little four inch strip of silly faces and happy memories.  Yet, I never seemed to see a photo booth other than in the movies.  I remember when I was living in Florida and Mom came to visit, we were going somewhere where I suspected there was a high chance we would run into a photo booth, so I pretty much announced to Mom, if we see one--we are experiencing it!  But alas, that photo booth was no where to be found.

I told Geoff that if I can't experience one in real life, I'm going to make up the experience for me!  He is such a good sport and sat on the floor with me as I ran back and forth setting our camera's timer and telling him, "Okay, this time make a funny face" or "This one will just be a regular smile shot".

If I'm going to be 100% honest right now, I don't know that the "Photo Booth" was the important factor here.  No, I think it was more wanting to be with someone who cares about me and I care about them, and that we were capturing a silly moment together.  Now I finally have my fun "Photo Booth" shots...but what's even more important is that I have the man in my life who makes these pics absolutely priceless.

Spring Wreath

Ah, the hope the first day of spring brings.

And the excuse to finally put together the wreath you've had the supplies for several months now!  I'm loving how it turned out!

Sticker Crazy

Hylie really likes stickers...okay, she LOVES stickers.  I use them for my music students and so Hylie gets super excited when it's lesson time, because she knows at some point, those stickers are coming out of hiding.  Yes, I usually do try to hide them because if not, our entire house would be covered in stickers.  Anytime she catches a glimpse of a sticker sheet, she calls out "Sticker! Sticker! Sticker!" until you place one on her nose, cheek or hand. The other day, I was not diligent in making sure these prized possessions were out of sight.  When I saw Hylie got her hands on a few sheets, I didn't worry because 1) there weren't very many stickers left on the sheets and 2) I didn't think she could actually pull the stickers off herself.

 I was wrong.

Mud Room Face-Lift

As a previous posts have shown, our house has some areas that really need some TLC.  Slowly but surely we're making some beautiful progress and loving this place more and more.  One of the features about this house that I absolutely love is the Mud Room.  It has closets, hook areas, and a spot to even put a bench so we can sit down when we take our boots off.  How perfect is that?

A few weeks ago, I went to IKEA and found the cutest storage bench.  Geoff and I assembled it and are so thrilled with how wonderfully it fits between the closets...

...however we still had a pretty nasty water-stained wall behind the bench.

Not for long!  My friends Jen and Erin showed up last week with wall paper and glue in hand and gave this little spot a delightful make-over!

Jen knew our long-term plans are to insulate the room (because it is FREEZING in there during the winter!) but in the mean-time, I really wasn't thrilled about having an ugly wall staring at people when they first came to our home.  She had supplies left-over from her projects and not only was gracious enough to give them to our home, she also installed them!  Are we spoiled here in Chicago, or what?

Jen (on the left) and Erin (on the right) did all this work in an hour!

Thanks so much, Erin and Jen!  This spot looks beautiful, thanks to you!  Aren't these girls the cutest and greatest friends?  

Now I can't wait to hang hooks and make a cute cushion for the bench!

Free Day at MSI!

Last Monday the Museum of Science and Industry had a free day for Illinois residents and Hylie and I decided to go!  I remembered from last year that they have a pretty fun kid area, so I was excited to take Hylie there now that she's more mobile and prone to explore and play.

Lots of the toys were geared for older kids, but she still had fun running around and touching everything in sight without mom telling her "no!"

I laughed that the area she stayed the longest in was with the wooden puzzles...something we can do at home!

She also like the farm area, I think it was because it had some big areas to run around in--she rarely stopped to look at anything!  But this cow sure caught her attention for a little while.

Eternal Winter

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved the movie "Frozen", but I am convinced that because of its success, Disney has cast us all in a spell of eternal winter and I will not have it!  Ha ha, seriously, we're making it through just fine, we have a warm house (at least we do when our heater's air-intake doesn't freeze over...which has happened three times this winter!), Geoff doesn't have a long commute, and we all know that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing/gear and we are blessed to have all we need to keep our fingers and toes toasty.  But I won't lie, I am ready for spring!

In fact, because of the chilling temperatures and the abundance of snow, Hylie and I haven't really played outside much.  She really can't play in the snow, because it is so deep, she doesn't have a chance to move in it!  But one sunny and warmer day a while back, we spent a good bit of time enjoying the season.

Hylie playing in the snow that literally towers over her

She loved tossing the ice blocks and watching them break in pieces

What kid doesn't love playing in puddles, even if the water is bitter cold?

Can you blame me for wanting Spring to come?

YW Gift

Recently I was called to be the Young Women's President in our ward.  I feel like such a fish out of water because the last time I was in the Young Women's organization was when I was a young woman...now that I'm on the leadership end, it's a tad overwhelming, but I'm so grateful to be working with these girls and their families.

For the girls' birthdays, we wanted to give them something that reminded them of the theme for this year, "Come Unto Christ".  I wanted to incorporate as much of Moroni 10:32 as I could, so this is what came to mind and I am so pleased with how it turned out!

I wish I could say this easily came together, but it was my first attempt at cutting vinyl with my silhouette machine, and to give you an idea of how well that went...the lettering you see is from my SIXTH cut.  Ugh.  But thanks to Andrea, she gave me some pointers and encouragement to keep trying and it finally turned out.  I knew I wanted to add some color to the tile with ribbon, but I wasn't sure how I would attach the ribbon to make sure it was safe to hang.  Last night the idea to glue the ribbon around the edges came to my mind and I'm so excited with how it looks!  I hope the young women will like these little gifts and even more, that it will help them remember that they can be strengthened through Christ.

Hylie's First Haircut

As much as I didn't want to admit, Hylie's hair was starting to get a little scraggly...

In fact, her hair was beginning to show the makings of a mullet.  Her bangs just don't want to come in and the back of her hair just keeps growing like crazy.  I liked the length in the back because it enabled me to put in adorable piggy tails...but those rarely stayed in for more than five minutes.

A cute pic of Hylie with piggy tails...and getting a kick out of her 'butt' (belly button)

Geoff and I knew it was time to pull out the hair-cutting shears and do the deed.

Hylie was a little angel and I'm still not sure if she even knows she got a haircut.  We gave her our ipod and she sat perfectly still, mesmerized by this little gadget!

So here's our little girl with her first 'bob'.  Now we're just waiting for those bangs to come in!