My New Love

Okay - I have discovered a new love of mine and I am so excited about it!  For so long - I have flipped through the Pottery Barn catalogue and admired the gorgeous furniture and decorations.  But spending that kind of money on a piece of furniture just blows my mind!  There are so many other things that I could do with that money - like buy a WHOLE CAR - that runs!  So I have often gotten up at the crack of dawn to go garage sale shopping in the hopes of finding an awesome piece - for a fraction of the price.  My house is living proof of that.  I have tons of awesome pieces that I snagged at a garage sale and I am so proud of them!  I actually get some sort of a high when I get an awesome deal!

So... when I discovered that I could actually use some of my old and "not so cute" pieces of furniture and turn them into something that I would covet in a magazine - I got so excited!  I decided to start with an old night stand that I had sitting in my garage.  It actually goes to my guest bedroom set that - YES - I purchased at a garage sale.  I bought the entire set - a huge dresser, 2 night stands and a King size bed frame and mattress for... $200!  Amazing!!!  I couldn't even buy a nightstand in most of the stores for that price.  It's been sitting in the garage because our guest room felt too tight with 2 night stands in there.  So it was the perfect piece to experiment on. 

(Side note: Don't worry - we don't use that mattress anymore for our guests.  But it definitely came in handy when we only had a futon for them to sleep on.  Much more comfortable.)

Anyways, I decided to google ways to refinish furniture and found that it was a lot more simple then I was thinking.  There are lots of different approaches out there that work.  I chose to go with some primer, sandpaper, spray paint, and some glaze.  I recreated a new nightstand that I am in love with.  It's not perfect - but for my first piece I am pretty proud.  It's amazing what some new hardware can do to a piece.  What do you think?

Before:

And after:

That is more my style and I am very happy with the outcome.  So as I was working on this piece I happened to drive past a house that had a HUGE pile of JUNK in the front yard.  Old boxes filled with magazines from the 1950's, scrap pieces of wood with huge nails sticking out, garbage bags full of trash, and hiding in the middle of the pile, I spotted this:

Except it looked even worse.  It was brown with a big old sticker on it and completely discolored wood.  I figured it would be worth trying to resalvage it seeing that it was FREE!  It couldn't hurt to at least try!  So as you can see, I primed it and am working on finishing it up.  I will post pictures once it is done.  Who knows - it may end up at The Salvation Army once I am done, OR if it turns out how I am hoping then it could just find a new home in my house.  We shall see!  :)

An Amazing Woman

 Wow! I'm back! I had finally figured out how to create the blog - but when I came back to post new information I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to do it. I honestly wasted so much time trying to figure it out that I finally gave up. Then when I was talking to my sister in law, Jade, she reminded me that it was very SIMPLE and that I was probably overthinking it. She gave me a few directions and here I am! YEAH!!!!! I am so happy that I can finally do it now!

 So life with Lizzie has already gone so fast. She has been the most precious baby ever and I can't believe how much time I can just sit there and stare into her eyes waiting to get a smile from her. Her nonstop smiles make it impossible to put her down. And she loves to talk back to you if you talk in a quiet voice. The other day I went in the room to see Brooke singing to her and as Brooke was singing, Lizzie kept singing back with her ooooos and ahhhs. It was the cutest thing ever! :) I am just in love with those little girls. And as for Cody, he is just about the sweetest big brother that there could ever be. He is a huge help to me around the house and with Lizzie. We are truly blessed.

 We got some devastating news last month that still hasn't completely sunk in. Our precious Grandma Bethers passed away. She has always been one of my heroes and I am going to miss our long conversations so much. She was so great with the kids and they love her SO MUCH. They are still asking all the time why she had to leave us. Brooke prayed the other night that Grandma Bethers would come back to life. I explained to her that she won't come back to life anytime soon, but that we WILL get to see her again and be together as a family. This is a time when our beliefs have really helped us to stay strong. It is such a blessing to know that "Families can be Together Forever". She had that saying printed in several different places throughout her house and now it will be a constant reminder whenever I hear that beautiful phrase. I am grateful that Brooke Caroline is named after such an amazing woman who served more than most people that I know. I pray that she will follow her example and strive to be the kind of woman that Grandma Bethers was. We were so blessed to see Grandpa and Grandma Bethers only weeks before she passed on. They flew here to be with us for Elizabeth's baby blessing and it was such a special time to get to spend with them. We were also blessed to be able to make it out to Idaho for the funeral. All of the living children, 12 of the 14 total, were together for the first time in over 10 years. It was an amazing thing to be together as a family and talk about the fun memories that we all had of Grandma. I will be forever grateful for the unconditional love that she gave to me and for her acceptance of me from the very beginning. (Wow - I can't keep the tears from coming down.) I just love that woman and will forever be grateful for her amazing example to me. She is a true example of someone who had Christlike love and I miss her.

My all time favorite picture of her! She NEVER rode on the 4-wheeler, but when Cody asked her to she could not resist! :) That shows how much she LOVED her grandchildren!