Paige & Will

Today is the last Murray wedding. I can't believe it! I'm sure my parents can't either. I think what makes a fun day even better is the fact that she's marrying the best guy. We absolutely love Will and he fits right in with the now complete group of brother-in-laws. And they just make the cutest couple!



I love that Will brings out Paige's silly side. While we were taking these he was constantly making her laugh. I love them together.




When I asked them to practice their first dance in the middle of this park I think it sunk in a little bit for both of them, you could just feel it. I love when I get to be there when moments like these happen.




The rest of the time there was this calmness about them. It wasn't the giddy/nervous/excited side of love but the comfortable, calm, quiet side. They just fit.




I love it because it reminds me that this is what it's about. It's about looking to the person next to you and being so amazed that they are yours and you are theirs. So today the last Miss Murray becomes Mrs. Simmons, and it couldn't be more perfect...

Little tiny...

Remember this sneak peak of little Landry? Here's the follow up that I meant to post afterwards, I can't believe how fast they grow. He was the cutest little tiny with all that hair, now he's crawling and giving Brody a run for his money! But he's still just as sweet as the day we took these.

Featured on Design Sponge

One of my favorite blogs, Design Sponge, featured my sideboard makeover on their site today. WHAT!!??!!
Click --> here <-- to check it out.

I'm not going to lie, I'm dancing pretty spastically around the house right now. :)

$69 dresser-turned-sideboard makeover

I recently saw this dresser at Goodwill and fell in love. I love the lines, the long narrow shape (72" wide & 19" deep), the amount of storage, so many things! What I didn't love so much was the color of the wood, the 70's style mirror, and the fact that it was a bedroom dresser. We don't need a bedroom dresser. But we do need a dining room sideboard. So my wheels started turning and it was obsession level madness in full force.

I knew I was in for some serious painting and sanding time but that wasn't the biggest hurdle of this project. Convincing Jared that a) we neeeeeheheheeeeded a sideboard in the dining room and b) that such a "big hunk of turd" (direct quote) could be transformed into something remotely cool were the biggest tasks. And did I mention said turd weighs about 400 pounds?

So after promising it would be cool and that he wouldn't hate it and if he did he could chop it up and set it on fire and that I wouldn't screw up the garage in the process, it was mine! For a grand total of $69.



I loved the straight clean lines of the drawers and molding but one little thing was kind of throwing it all off. The not-so-straight lower edge molding on the drawers.




So I grabbed a putty knife and pried off the the bottom pieces. I thought I could take the pieces to Home Depot or Lowe's, match it to existing molding, and just buy new pieces to tack on. Could things be so easy? The answer is almost always not quite.



There was no molding that even came close to matching so it was either pry off all the molding and replace it with something different or get creative. With a miter saw, some wood putty, and a Dremel I was in business.



I cut the pieces of molding at the joint with a miter saw and tacked them back onto the drawers in a straight line. Now I had gaps where the corners didn't meet so I glued some of the scrap pieces in the hole to give some support, and filled in the rest with wood putty. After the wood putty dried I used a grinding bit on the Dremel and carved out the wood putty so it looked just like the molding. This took a long. time. Because so help me if I made all those promises and it came out looking crappy.






After my brief, and hopefully last, stint in carpentry I sanded the whole thing inside and out. The piece is solid wood and I wanted to strip off the pretty thick coat of varnish so I used an electric sander. And coated the entire garage with a layer of dust.



Then it was time for primer and a few coats of white paint. Paint and primer are always my favorite because then it starts to actually look like what you had in mind at the start.

To spice it up at bit I decided to tape off a geometric border on the top, after the white paint dried, and go over it again with black paint. So when I took the tape off the white design would show through.





The final steps were just a couple coats of poly to seal it, re-attaching the hardware, and voila!







The thing that first caught my eye in Goodwill was the awesome hardware. I love that the handles are heavy and straight, a little industrial looking.





The border on top turned out really well! I think it adds a little bit of interest and helps the piece stand out in the room.




But my FAVORITE part of the whole thing!? The black paint on top isn't any black paint...




I didn't want it to look like a plain old sideboard, or for it to be too formal either. Chalkboard paint was the perfect solution to add some fun and quirky-ness, it just makes it more US. It will be fun at parties to draw arrows and write things like "delicious cupcakes" or "Brody's favorite", or to give kids something to do while helping set the table. The possibilities are endless! (This was part of my spiel to sell Jared on the whole idea.)

I painted the front of the inside drawers with chalkboard paint too for a little more labeling fun.




Brody loves opening and closing these doors, such a big helper. :)





The $69 dresser-turned-sideboard makeover:

Baby Rhys

Is there anything better than a sweet, sleepy, chubby little munchkin? I dare say there is not. And he has to be one of the sweetest, sleepiest, chubbiest of them all. I pretty much love him.

And so does his big brother. He was so excited to tickle his toes and give him kisses.

Then he decided to show us his guns.:)



I love how his little legs are still all curled up. From shooting so many newborns after a few minutes of positioning them I can almost always tell which way they were positioned in the womb, one leg usually likes to be on top. Oh I love baby legs.



He literally slept the entire session - the wrapping, unwrapping, getting buck naked - all of it! The big boys are always the best sleepers but he takes the cake. Love you baby Rhys.

Equal Opportunity

Because I pretty much have the cutest nephews EVER! Little Landry, I love him so much I could just eat him up.

So.....

I'm behind. From the looks of things about two months behind! But, such is life. I just remind myself that being busy is better than bored, and that sanity is way overrated. :)

But between all of the shooting, traveling, diapers, laundry, and general mayhem, my newest nephew arrived. With the most blonde hair I've ever seen.

Jackson Murray Jorgensen, he is so sweet I could just eat him up.

Costa Rica - Day 6

So I lied. I had all the best intentions of finishing these last two days up a week ago but it never fails - when I make plans, the AC goes out. I can pretty much count on it. So after spending the last week with the repair guys I am really wishing we were back on the beach!

Day 6 I conquered one of my major fears - heights. Apparently Costa Rica has some pretty amazing zipline tours, everyone that had been before told us it was a MUST do. Considering I have a hard time standing at the top of a step ladder without holding on I thought we might have a problem. But I didn't want to miss out so I figured if my harness breaks mid-zip and this is how I go out at least Jared would know that I tried to be adventurous!

As you can see, no harness mishaps this time so we're good. It was actually really, really fun. I did find myself looking down a few times planning which tree I would try to grab on to if my harness broke now.......or now.......or what.. about... now.... but that game got old quick since the trees started getting further and further away. We were so high up!! I should have taken some pictures along the way but I was too busy concentrating on my harness.

Here's the group on our way out. (Melissa and Dad stayed home with the babies)




Just a few from around the house after we got home. I loved the little water basin at the gate between our house and the beach, perfect idea for rinsing the sand off.




One of the days, I can't remember which, we had surf lessons so the boys spent the rest of the week trying to master the waves. I think Jared still prefers snowboarding, but man does he look good carrying a surf board. :)

Costa Rica - Day 5

Beach day! Brody got things started with a little show to entertain Landry. It is SO cute how much he already loves his little cousin.

Then he decided to head outside to explore. I love his little diaper bum.





This is his face when I tell him not to put something in his mouth. He's pretending to listen....



... and then does something cute to try and distract me.




Then we got really dressed up (and by that I mean we wore something over our swimsuits) and headed out for lunch. So much for a picture of all of us looking, I think that's pretty much par-for-the-course with a 1 yr old. :)






Where for lunch, Paige? LOS MUNCHIES! So we called it. It was actually only a couple of picnic tables outside of a tiny general store but OH MAN did they have the best rice and beans you've ever had. In you life. Ever. Brody was a fan of the smoothies, not even Sean's turtle flute playing could distract him.




Then it was back on the beach.



Will and Jared tried to get Brody into boogie boarding. He didn't like it so much.



Probably as much as Jason liked this:




Brody's favorite thing to do was pick up shells/leaves/sunglasses and throw them into the surf. Each throw he would say "BOOM!" and make a funny surprised face. Such a big boy. I love that little dude.




To me days like this are like gold. Just relaxing and enjoying being around the people you love the most. And rice and beans.