Can't sleep...too many great ideas!

My head is swirling with so many wonderful decorating ideas I can't handle it!
I love it when this happens.
I have this notebook were I sketch out all of my painting, sewing, crafting, etc ideas-or else I will most likely forget.

Anyway, we have just finished refurnishing two dressers (one for Luke & one for Matt) that we found off the tree-lawn. They turned out great, I will post pictures soon.

This evening we brought Matt's up and had to do some major rearranging of our little bedroom. Four pieces of furniture (side tables, my dresser & our headboard) are a dark brown, his new dresser is black....so it looks alright mixed, I guess.

Well, since we moved in (2+ yrs ago) I have HATED our bedroom. The door always stays shut, because it has no color (it is all browns, blacks & creams)and needs some major TLC...that there isn't room in the budget for, so it stays on the back burner.

Well I decided this is going to change. From our selling things and what other little income we make on the side, I'm going to re-do our bedroom. I skimmed through my beloved Pottery Barn magazines and found all the inspiration I need!

Here's how it's going to go:

First, I decided on the main color to be yellow.

I love this room (not so much the matching curtains though).

I absolutely LOVE the bedding and think it would go well with the browns and blacks in our room.

I'm thinking of painting one, maybe two walls a light yellow. Possibly like the pic below, maybe a tad lighter..what do you think?

By the way, I love this little work station...ahhh someday.

I'm hoping to find some yellow & white fabric similar to the picture at the top to make a duvet cover and some pillow shams. I also loved this, I don't know what you call it, quilted pillow sham look, only I think I'll leave the two ends open and do ties, like I will on the duvet cover.

I want to sew a white bed skirt, this style.

Last year I made something of a headboard for our bed out of wood, padding and fabric. I'm thinking of maybe putting another thin layer of wood on the back and adding a white frame around it (the wall behind would be painted yellow). To make it look similar to this picture.
I LOVE this room, for a little or big girl!

Next, we have a chair very similar to these ones, that Matt found on the tree-lawn (love that place), he sanded it, varnished it and reupholstered the seat. I'm thinking of repainting it (sorry Matt) and making it look just like the blue one and then placing it in the corner of the room, next to the window. Does the blue go as an accent color to the yellow well?My other small projects to add to the room will be, adding a yellow curtain over our bla..brown one, keeping the brown one because we like the darkness in the early morning. We also have a glass door that goes out to our "indoor" porch, that I think I will make curtains for.

There is a rug (I couldn't find a pic of) in the same magazine that I think I am going to actually do a painting of the print on the rug onto wood to hang on the wall next to the bed, maybe in yellow or the blue? or a light green??? Not sure on the color.

And lastly, I am going to recover our lampshade next to our bed. It's currently...you guessed right, cream and brown! I want to recover it to be white (with a dark brown base).

Whew! Those are all my ideas that I am in love with.
If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!
I had to get that off my chest.
Off to bed now...and to the paint & fabric store tomorrow! Yeee!

trying new things and learning as I go

What do you do with an almost 17 month old toddler?


Good question.
Let me know when you figure it out.

This crazy kid is so energetic, can't do one thing for longer than 3 minutes and is always on the go....I've run out of ideas of how to entertain him.
We've spent hours outside, on walks to the library, to the park and trips down the slide in our backyard every time we're out there...but that's not enough.
He's too busy playing outside to notice he has a bloody knee...until I stick a band-aid on it.

So this morning I woke up and thought I'm going to figure out something to do other than watch Sesame Street (which he loves, but I only like him to watch one episode), read books, play with toys and eat crackers.

First, we got some thread and strung some Cheerios on it. He didn't like that much, because he was too impatient and just wanted to eat them. So I hurried and put them on. At first he was mad they were on there, but I told him to eat them and he thought that was pretty cool. A minute later his mouth is stuffed and I can't find the string anywhere....maybe in his diaper later on?

Second, I let him stand on a chair and play in one side of the sink with a couple of dishes and bubbles. He thought that was pretty cool, but he soaked himself, the chair (it has a cushion), the rug and the floor.

Meanwhile, I was cooking up something salty...homemade play dough! I gave him a ball of it and some kitchen odds & ends. At first he thought it was weird and didnt' like it. Then I made lots of little balls out of it and he loved it!
It kept him entertained for 30 minutes!
He tried eating it a few times, but I think he learned his lesson.

Later we went to the park, kicked the soccer ball around, played on the swings, went down the slide.
Came home, read some books, played on the piano, chased each other around....and at the end of the afternoon, with a few hours left...I was out of ideas again.

I always feel bad when we aren't doing something! (I must be crossing over to the Clark side...).

If anyone has any good ideas for a little toddler and some fun activities we could do at home, don't hesitate to tell me!
Thanks!

what a party!

With the help of these lovely ladies, we threw an awesome baby shower for my good friend, Marilyn and what a party it was!
I counted 22 people there, maybe more or less. So it was a great turnout!

We played some fun games and ate some great food!

We also devoured this amazing-chocolate w/raspberry filling-cake, it was so pretty too!

One of the games was a bottle chugging contest, haha.
It was pretty entertaining.

Marilyn got hooked up with a lot of great gifts!

Here are some pictures of some of the guests.

And the crew with Marilyn.
Thanks Diane & Kristy for all your help!

It was a fun party and made me realize that we only have one year left here.
I've made so many great friends, it will be hard to leave!

The First Cut

Luke had his very first hair cut this past week.

I've been meaning to cut it the past little while, but have been putting it off.I feared it would be a traumatic little episode for him, but he didn't mind at all-lets hope it stays that way for future cuts. I let him hold the shaver while it was on (I am not good enough or dare to just use scissors), so he'd get used to it. When I started buzzing I gave him a little dumb-dumb sucker and he didn't even notice what was going on.

I've never cut hair before, except for Matt's, but that's easy all I do is buzz the whole thing.
It was easy, but I only cut it in the back.
So you really can't even tell that he lost much hair and I forgot to take a before picture. But it was long in the back and starting to become a little mullet. Matt thinks I need to blend it more, but I'll probably just wait until he needs a hair cut again.

The Home Stretch

In the craziness of traveling the past month, I somehow forgot to mention that Matt successfully completed his THIRD year of Medical School!
Yes, that means we are only in dear old Cleveland for ONE more year.

The first and second year were pretty relaxed as far as how busy Matt was, because he got done with school by noon and studied at home the rest of the time. Oh and did I mention that I wasn't even here for most of the first year (lucky me!), because we got hitched over his spring break.

The third (the longest, it starts in March 08 and ends in May 09) was busier and harder. He worked in the Clinic & Hospitals for long hours, but he had good experiences. During that time he was able to deliver TWO babies. Which has lead him to the decision of going into Obstetrics & Gynecology (if you ask him he'll say he's still only 99% sure...until he applies to residency will it be 100%).

Now we have a new and exciting year ahead of us with applications, interviews, traveling, 8 weeks of vacation, Match Day, an away rotation and most of all GrAdUaTiOn!!!!

Good-bye third year, thanks for all your ups and down, it was worth the ride...but you won't be missed.


Congratulations Matt!

Utah Part III *Park City*

If you haven't been to Color Me Mine, you have to go!
For the Ohioans, there is one in Columbus.

My friends and I made a little trip and it was so much fun! You pay a sitting fee, pick out your piece of pottery and paint away!!! It's hard to see our paintings in this picture, but after they fired up the kiln, they turned out all pretty and glossy. I can't wait to go back.

My friends, Dani, Liz & Andrea

By the way, thanks for making the trip from Cedar City to see me for the day Andrea!!!!

The final part to the trip.
After the wedding, late that night we headed up to Park City for non-stop fun!
Here are some of the highlights:

Sunday we drove down to Bountiful for the blessing of the newest Clark member, McKelle. It was beautiful. We had some great food at Meg's parents house afterwards, and then went back to Park City.

The Clark Family & the Flint's.If you didn't know, the Clarks ADORE soccer and enjoy other sports.
So there were a few soccer games and other fun outdoor games.

Another thing (some) of the Clarks like to do is hiking.
We ventured out on two different hikes.
Here's a pic of most of the family members.

Other fun things we did while we were there, were lots of shopping, presentations (those were interesting), eating good food, having a few movie nights, free babysitters (thanks everyone who helped out) and driving up and seeing all the celebrity homes/cabins.

There was lots to do at the hotel. We played ping-pong, giant-sized chess/checkers, played pool, swam, went hot tubbing a few times and worked out at the gym. There was a room for kids, which was great, the kids played with toys, there was an X-box (which Matt loved and made two-probably 12 yr old- friends), Wii fit tournaments and all sorts of fun crafts for the kids.
BBQ'n=gooood food.

Littlest Swimmers.

McKay & Lukers.

LOVE. THIS. PICTURE.

The Apline Slide!
It was a lot of fun, nuff said.

On Thursday we drove back down to Salem to see Matt's little sister, Sarah, gradate from the new~Salem Hills High School~
It was pretty cool. They had a parachuter land on the football field, with the flag and another one flying in with all the dipolmas. It was nice and not too long.
Way to go SARAH!

Those of us that came:
Charlie, Rachel, McKay, Doug & Katie, Me, Matt & Luke, Adrienne & Ma & Pa Clark

Friday we checked out of the condo and went to the Clarks, where Anne loaded us up with a lot of goods (one of the best things about coming home!). THANK YOU!!!!!
Later we went to my house to have a final BBQ with some of my siblings and their fams.
The worst about going home is the part where we have to say good-bye.

Early Saturday morning Anne took us, along with Doug & Katie (leaving on their honeymoon...sorry we had to ride up with you guys!), to the airport. Thankfully, Matt's other brother, Dave, was on our first flight to help us carry our very heavy (40lbs) duffle bags on. He was a lifesaver!

Thank you to everyone, especially our AMAIZING parents for allowing us to have an awesome trip! You know we are having too much fun, when we don't want to leave.
We have the best families.
Miss you & Love you all!