BUT WHAT I REALLY WANT IS...

So. I'm totally excited about getting our new nursery ready. I get to combine two things I love: decorating and babies. However, with most aspects of design (decorating, not babies) I find trends change and my personal tastes even change. I end up doing one thing and wishing a few months down the line that I had done something completely different. That combined with a mad nesting instinct has made me very indecisive and picky about how I want to decorate our little gal's room. After looking through tons of bedding sets, I just can't seem to find what I'm looking for. Here is a list of the things I want:

• Color. I can't decorate a room in just two colors. Are you kidding me? The rest of the rainbow is feeling left out. Plus, I love yellow and blue with pink. So something with color.
• Not Too "Fru-fru". I as girly as the next girly-girl, but butterflies and flowers in pastel pink and purple isn't the look I'm going for.
• Patchwork Feel. Oh how I love the eclectic and cozy feel of patchwork quilts. I want to incorporate this look into her bedding and nic-nacs throughout the room.

So what I have come to realize is that I'm going to have to do this myself. Any custom-made crib bedding set I've seen has been a minimum of $200 but more commonly $300-$400. Have I scared you yet? Doing this would mean in the month of October (November & December I need to devote to Christmas and my large cumbersome self)I would have to:

• Clean out her room (right now it's being used for moving left-overs)
• Paint her room
• Re-paint the crib and changing table (most time-consuming project by far)
• Sew a crib bed skirt
• Sew a VERY simple baby quilt (I'm scratching the bumper because they don't help my fear of SIDS)
• Sew a pillow
• Put together/find a couple of nic-nacs to decorate

Can I do this!? Or have I lost my mind? Tell me I can. Here are some fabric swatches and photos of other ideas. Tell me what you think or if you just think I'm crazy.

So these are the fabrics I'd be using. All but that yellow-striped one are Heather Bailey. I'm hoping six is enough. Most examples I've seen use more. I love a good yo-yo and I'm thinking I could make this $75 puppy out of my scraps. Hello. How cute are these. I saw a pattern to buy on esty for a stuffed owl pretty similar to these ones...they just don't have the cute dangly legs.

WARNING:

It's probably important to mention at this time that I don't really know how to sew....hmmm...

AHEM...

Ryder here. Shhhhh. Don't tell anyone, but I decided it was high time for an update about...me. And since my mom hasn't seemed to get around to it in quite awhile, I thought I'd take matters into my own hands. I mean, come on, I've got people who need to know these things! Well, toward the end of the summer we got to live with Grandma and Grandpa Shorten for a few weeks where I... Went camping and tubing and Crescent Bar Got really good and helping my dad wash the car Made the jump from my crib to a bed! Cool huh!? (This is during the transitional stage. I have an actual bed now, don't worry.) Got to celebrate my birthday and open presents from Grandma and Grandpa! It was a VERY HOT few weeks... Then we moved to Utah! So my dad could go to school. (This is me in my new room and my new bed.) And even though I miss my family and friends back in Seattle, I do get to see and play with my cousins a lot! I also finally turned two and got to celebrate my birthday again and I got my very first bike! Woosh, I'm lucky. I've also been busy watching BYU football games with my dad. Go Cougars! So as you can see it's been an exciting few weeks! Not to mention my new found love for taking pictures. That silly flash just makes me so happy! BYE!

NO FEAR

Remember that silly T-shirt brand that came out in the mid-nineties? Hehe... anyway... Not to say that my life is hard or that I'm heavy with trials or anything, in fact, on the contrary, I am incredibly blessed. This I know. What I didn't know was that these past few weeks... moving, starting school, figuring out how to pay for everything...was going to be a lot harder than I had originally anticipated. I didn't know what I was expecting, but I think it had something to do with this comforting image of being welcomed into the open and familiar arms of Happy Valley and that money for school and insurance for our impending arrival would start growing fruitfully from that cherry tree in our front yard. Not so, my friends. Not so. It's been an interesting move for me and one that's included growing pains and mature perspectives, that I could stand do without. I shant bore you with the details, but after complaining to my mom on the phone one evening, she told me I should read a talk in this month's Ensign titled "Lessons from Liberty Jail" by Elder Holland. Did you read it too? It's a goodie. Besides putting my life into perspective and making me feel unbelievably blessed, it made me love and respect the prophet Joseph Smith more and helped me to feel of my Savior's love. That latter one is particularly easy for me to forget when I'm super stressed and frustrated :) One of my favorite quotes from this talk states:

"We must not succumb to the fear that God has abandoned us or that He does not hear our prayers. He does hear us. He does see us. He does love us."

See now, I like to describe that feeling as frustration, or anger or confusion, when I think I'm going unheard. But it's neither of those feelings. What we are truly feeling is fear. Yes, it is a total lack of faith to fear God's abandonment, but why else would we fear His absence, if we did not know full and well the blessing of His presence? So, for me, correctly identifying those times as fear is another reminder to me that "He does hear us, He does see us, and He does love us". He is not going to be by our side one moment only to leave us to fend for ourselves the next. He is constant. But alas, I am not, but hopefully, through life's experiences and a whole lotta time, my faith will be just as constant as our Heavenly Father...that's the goal, anyhow :)

BACK TO SCHOOL

Phil giving his I'm-in-1st-grade-back-to-school pose

So it's official. Monday was Phil's first day of classes. A mere three days later, he is swamped with homework and trying to figure out how to study again. I ooze pride for this boy. I never get stressed about him succeeding. I see him get stressed about him succeeding :) but I get to lay back and quietly take joy in his dedication knowing he is one of the few aspects in my life right now that is sure, dependable and stress-free. And I can't thank him enough for it. Go get'em tiger!

Our future MBA grad