A new beginning!

We have lived at the ranch now for about 3.5 years since my parents retired. While we did enjoy it before we had Lincoln, once you have a baby, the responsibilities got fairly difficult for us. Also, to be honest, the ranch was my parents dream- not ours. Its definitely a 24 hour job, 7 days a week. Well the time came where we all came to the conclusion is was time for everyone to "move on".

We started house hunting in early-mid October, and crazy enough we found our home within only a couple weeks. We only saw a handful of houses before we found ours. Everything in our budget was small. We would have had to downsize from the ranch. Which honestly would have been tough, especially if down the road we decided to have another baby. Then one day, my mom found our house online, the next day we looked at it and I just knew it was "the one". It was also larger than any house we had seen (in person or online) and it had no HOA fees!

When we did the first viewing it was all very exciting and you didn't notice all the "issues". The next time we went back to the house was for the inspection. Then you started to notice the way the sellers did things here and there. The paint for instance was pretty bad. They didn't cut any of the edges of the walls and it was SO sloppy. It looked as if a child painted the house. Paint got all over the closet doors, the ceiling etc. It was pretty bad. AND they painted on top of every hole or nail in the house, and there was A TON of holes and nails. I've never seen a house with as many holes as this house has, and I'm not talking nail holes (although there is PLENTY of those too) I mean just random holes! Anytime they "repaired" something they did it wrong. It was just crazy.

Then, we went after we got the keys and the house was empty. OH MY GOODNESS. Then you REALLY saw all the...imperfections to put it nicely. They didn't clean at all before they left. Actually, pretty sure they hadn't cleaned anything in like...a year, maybe longer? Not exaggerating. The ceiling fans had what seemed like an inch of dirt on them, the kitchen cabinets still had things left in them (including general GRIME and dead bugs) they left broken computers in the closets, and even hard drives in the backyard. Cigarette butts EVERYWHERE outside including just lots of trash in general. And the best part was THEY PAINTED AROUND THEIR BED in the master bedroom. Crazy crazy crazy. But to be positive about the situation, now we have the opportunity to make it our own.

This house is going to be going through quite the transformation process so I figured it would be a great opportunity to blog it all! We won't be able to do EVERYTHING we have dreamed for this house before we move in, but since we won't be moving in officially for a few months we will be able to do a ton before then.

I wish I would have gotten some TRUE before pictures of the house, but we have already taken down so much crap so its more of an in progress look of the house but I think you will get the idea. Overall we are SO EXCITED and cannot wait to make this place "ours".

So, here are the "before" pictures!

The family room

 

The formal dining room 

 

 

LARGE Kitchen Window

 

Lincoln helping grandpa!

 

 

The kitchen. (And grandpa)

 

 

Awesome patch job they did in the family room.

 

 

The office closet.

 

 

Bleach anyone? Yuck.

 

 

Office closet.

 

 

Backyard

 

 

 

Awesome piece left behind. (Not sarcastic, I actually love it haha)

 

 

 

 

Kitchen

 

 

Dining room ceiling fan, plan to paint this and get rid of the awful brass.

 

 

Formal living room.

 

 

LOVE this light.

 

 

Linen closet upstairs.

 

 

Guest bedroom closet.

 

 

No, that isn't painters tape left behind. That is actually paint.

 

 

 

 

Upstairs bathroom

 

Awesome paint job.

 

 

 

What I call, the cloud room.

 

 

 

 

The master bedroom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside one of the master closets. Not even going to attempt to clean that. Going to rip that shelf out and put our laundry basket in the "hole".

 

 

Entryway.
 

 

Total 80's fireplace. Still figuring how what to do with this bad boy. Because it is AWFUL.

 

 

Skylight type feature in the kitchen.

 

 

 

Downstairs bath.

 

 

 

So there you have it! Can't wait to see this place transform! It has SO much potential and cannot wait to make it ours.

DIY Halloween & Thanksgiving Felt Flower Wreath Tutorial

I love making wreaths, I don't know what it is about them but they are one of my favorite décor items. I realize its only the beginning of September but around the time August is over I'm in full holiday mode and get SO excited for the approaching holidays. Especially now with Lincoln, the excitement is even stronger!

 

So to curve my excitement I figure what better way to do that then to make a craft! I went to hobby lobby and found this beautiful rust orange color felt. I knew since I was making this wreath for Halloween I also wanted to be able to use it throughout November as well as October so I made sure that the black and white bow along with the bat could be removable and then I bought a chocolate brown burlap ribbon for the bow to use during November. I love the way it turned out!

 

If you are interested in making this wreath please check out link the youtube tutorial I filmed below:

****DIY Halloween & Thanksgiving Wreath Youtube video Tutorial****

 

 

 

DIY Growth Chart

I knew I wanted a growth chart to document my son, Lincoln, as he grew up but knowing we weren't going to be in this home forever I wanted to make something we could take with us to our next home. We made this over the course of about 2-3 days and I'm absolutely in love with it. Plus, it was EASY. 

So we already had this cedar wood fence panel in our garage and I knew it would be perfect. You could easily go to your local hardware store and pick one up. 

My first step was to sand the wood down just a little bit before we did anything.

After sanding, we measured out each foot on the post. 

I wanted blocks of white and blocks of stain on the chart so next we separated it into 6" sections. With a pencil we just drew the lines of the sections and wrote "white" in the boxes that were to be painted. The middle of each white box would be each foot. 

TIP- make sure the measurement of the first foot is going to be a foot off the ground itself, not necessarily just a foot from the bottom of the wood. Since I knew our chart wouldn't be flush with the floor we had the 1ft mark actually only 6" from the bottom of the wood. When hung we made sure the bottom of the panel was 6" off the ground. 

I should have used painters tape but I didn't have any so I just used some clear packing tape so it was a straight edge for the white boxes. 

After painting the white boxes I let that dry for about a day. 

Once the white was dry, we hand painted on the numbers. 

After that was completely dry I distressed the white boxes. This step is optional, just depends on the look you want when finished. 

After it was distressed I spray painted the entire panel with a clear matte finish paint. 

Once dry I rubbed an oak stain over the panel until I got my desired finish. 

The last step was to just seal it and we used a clear gloss. 

That's it! Super simple, and I'm in LOVE with the final product! You could absolutely use other stains or colors of paint to fit the decor in your home as well. 

TLCVoxBox from Influenster

A couple weeks ago I received my second complimentary VoxBox from Influenster for testing purposes.

Inside the box was a shell fuel rewards card, coupon for one free Breyers gelato, ivory bar soap, Avon     Reversalist makeup, puffs to go tissues, and neosporin to go spray.

Upon opening the box I definitely tried out the makeup. I applied it as instructed and honestly didn't see much of a difference. I gave it to my mom as she also didn't see a difference. I probably would not buy this product.

A few days later a friend and I went to go see The Fault in our Stars, and let me tell you those puffs tissues came in handy big time!

The breyers gelato was so delicious. We tried the vanilla Carmel and definitely want to try more flavors.

Overall I was very pleased with this box, and will buy some of the products when I need them.

Mom's Famous Strawberry Bread

When I think of Christmas growing up and the things we did or the foods we make, one of them that stands out most in my mind is strawberry bread. My mom made it every year for as long as I can remember. We only make it at Christmas time and I look forward to it every year. Of course it can be made at ANY time during the year. Its funny because every time I mention this bread to someone they always get a confused look on their face and say "strawberry bread?!", it may not be a commonly made bread but it seriously should be!

Serving Size: 2 loaves

Ingredients:
2 containers of fresh strawberries, slightly mashed with a potato masher
2.5 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/3 cup canola oil (or any oil if your choice)
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 cup walnuts (I have used pecans too)

Directions:

Grease loaf pans and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium/large bowl mix strawberries, eggs, and oil.

In a stand mixer combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nuts.

Add strawberry mixer, stir until blended. 

Pour batter into prepared loaf pans. 

Bake for one hour or until bread passes tooth pick test. 

Your welcome. Don't blame me when you become highly addicted to this stuff! :)

Dreams do come true

As some of you know if you have been following me for a while, it took my husband and I SIX long years to welcome our little boy into the world. During those six years there was countless hours of day dreaming and picturing what our life would be like with a child. Those dreams were especially prevalent during the holiday months. Louie and I are holiday obsessed. October/November/December are our favorite months of the whole year. There is just something about these last three months of the year that just make me happy. I always imagined the traditions we would start, the activities we would do, and the places we would go once we had a family.

The dream has finally come true for us. We now have Lincoln. Our beautiful *almost* 7 month old little boy who is the best thing EVER, and all those things I dreamed of doing we can start doing! Last weekend we went to Oak Glen, CA and visited an apple farm and pumpkin patch with my parents. Although the place was busier than a summer day at Disneyland we still had a good time. Next year we intend to plan better and go up earlier in September AND on a weekday though I will say! Lincoln was so curious with all the new things to see. The corn mazes, the apples on the trees, the pumpkins in the ground-he loved it all! It was SO hard to get a picture of him looking at the camera! 

Since we didn't get a pumpkin at Oak Glen, I found a local pumpkin farm that was local and we decided to go there and check it out. There wasn't too many left on the vine there either but we did have a really good time. They had some animals there Lincoln enjoyed watching and it was fun to visit a 'real farm'. We ended up getting one big carving pumpkin, 2 pumpkins that we were told we best for pies, 1 pumpkin that is apparently the best for pumpkin bread and 1 baby pumpkin for Lincoln of course. He again was so curious with the straw on the ground or the pumpkins around him it was hard to get a picture of him looking at the camera! We can't wait to continue going to these places together every year. 

Crockpot Potato Soup

This soup is so easy and delicious. The first thing my husband said after having it the first time was to definitely put this on the rotation! Although it IS a crockpot recipe, its one of the faster crockpot recipes out there. Which can be good for those days where you forget first thing in the morning to get the crockpot going!

Ingredients: 

1.5 bags frozen hashbrowns
32 oz chicken broth 
1 can cream of chicken soup
8oz light cream cheese
1 cup diced carrots
1 onion
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup milk

Directions:

Dice your onion & carrots.

In a steamer add your carrots and onion until softened. You can also saute them in a little olive oil if you do not have a steamer.

Once softened add carrots, onion, garlic, chicken broth and frozen hashbrowns into the crockpot and cook on HIGH for 1 hour.

After one hour, stir, and turn your crockpot to LOW and cook for 1 hour.

Cube your cream cheese so it melts a little easier, remove lid and add to crockpot. Add your frozen peas and cook for 30-40 minutes on low.

Add your cup of milk and let cook for an additional 15 minutes and your done!