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Friday, April 25, 2014
This is, by far, my favorite part of the nursery. Who says you have to save the best for last? I knew from the get-go that I wanted a reading corner for Scotty. I have seen lots of different kinds of reading corners with lots of great ideas. I think every kid needs a cozy little place to have some quiet time. I also think it is important to emphasize the value of books and reading to children, especially in this day and age. Here are the pictures of "Scotty's Library" as my dad would call it. :o)



My friend Alison came over and helped me put this together, she is such a gem. I would not have gotten it done without her motivation and help. It really didn't take too long for us to put it together, just a little longer than normal with a busy 1-year-old and a needy 5-month-old.

Details:
-Shelves: The room is too small for an actual bookcase so I went with "Picture Ledges" from Ikea. Go here to see them online. They have two lengths so I broke it up with two smaller ones on the second row. I didn't want the shelves to be too low but low enough so that when S gets a little older he can pick a book off the shelf.
-Figurines: Alice Lane c/o my mom.
-Pouf: Target here.
-Chair: Repurposed from my Grandma. It is a wooden kids chair that was pink. I just got some spray paint at Hobby Lobby and sprayed it yellow! I'm really happy with how it turned out.
-Books: We got lots of classics at our baby showers, and we will continue to collect more. I love that with the picture ledges you can overlap the books but still show off the covers.
-Letters: I got little wooden letters at Michaels Crafts and painted them yellow with acrylic paint. I was debating between "BOOKS" and "READ." I think both are cute.

I love the location of the reading corner because it is tucked away and cozy. I can totally see S and Jer snuggling up with a book before bedtime. 
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
As I embark on this journey to share with you some of the details of our "Extreme Home Makeover," I am most excited to reveal the nursery! I have literally been working on it since I found out I was pregnant (aka over a year ago.) I have slowly collected all the little things I needed to make my vision become a reality. I made some things, bought some things, improved upon things and got lots of hand-me-downs. Today I am just going to post the "big picture" photos for you and starting tomorrow we will go over the details. I will tell you where I got everything and include tutorials when appropriate so you have the tools you need if you would ever like to do something like this. So, without further ado...


 










Monday, April 21, 2014
We had a very restful (much-needed) break from working on the house this past weekend. We got to go up to Kaysville and spend time with Jer's family. It was so fun to be able to actually have a Saturday doing fun things and spending time with each other. Di got a lot of great pictures and I wanted to share.

 Saturday morning started off with a ward Easter-egg hunt. DiNana and Baba took Scotty. He loved looking at all the kids running around and the colorful eggs. He and Nana had fun swinging afterwards. 
 Scotty took an awesome nap and then we headed out to feed apples to the horses of some the Bartons' friends. Scotty was pretty intrigued, and was even reaching out to them.
 Then we headed to the park for a lovely picnic. We relaxed on a blanket, played frisbee, and Scotty's aunts fed him frosting. (That's what aunties are for after all.)

Uncle Cam took Scotty for a stroll around the park. Scotty sure loves his aunts and uncles, I know he can feel how much they love him, too.
 The Easter Bunny visits the Barton home on Saturday so Scotty got to go through his basket and thoroughly enjoyed each part! I couldn't believe how excited he was about it. He really does change every day.
 He especially loved the real carrots the bunny left.

Our little family with our basket.
On Sunday we attended church with Jer's family. It was fun for Jer to get to show off his sonny boy to all his home-wardies and I even got to attend my MIL's fabulous RS lesson on the restoration! It was the perfect week to join them.
We had a wonderful dinner prepared by Di with a little help from everyone. Baba (aka FIL) was nice enough to do all the dishes (by hand, mind you.) And we finally got a sweet picture of him with Scotty.

We always enjoy our time in Kaysville with family, it seems extra special now that we have our little munchkin who is such a joy to everyone. We are so grateful for wonderful family, and feel blessed that we have so much support around us. 


Friday, April 18, 2014
Ok so I mentioned previously that Jer and I got out of $15K of debt in about a year while still covering all of our expenses.

What's our secret?

Well firstly, we listened to Dave Ramsey's book on tape, "Total Money Makeover" and started on his steps to financial success right away. (Which I highly, highly recommend, by the way.) One of those steps is creating a budget and sticking to it. Jer got really into this and made a killer excel spreadsheet that helped us break down expenses vs. debt and gave us the tools to set goals and accomplish them. He has created a template of it for anyone who is interested in using it. It also gives us the amounts of money we each made from each of our jobs and then spit out how much we owed for our 10% church contribution each month. It seriously saved our lives.

So if you are interested in demolishing some debt, or just want a really good budget to follow, click on the link for the template:

DEBT DEMOLISHER

Thursday, April 17, 2014
I'm about to start a series on my blog about all of our home improvements and especially discussing the details.

I thought I would give you all a little background on how we got here. I think a lot of people are a little surprised that we are so young and own a home. Through this whole process I have learned that you definitely do not have to be rich to buy a house, and you can do it in a smart way so that you aren't paying a HUGE mortgage each month. (More on that later.)

Almost exactly a year ago, Jeremy and I were working like dogs to get ourselves out of almost $15K of debt when we found out I was pregnant. (Don't worry, it was planned :o)) Although we had been looking toward having a child and trying to prepare ourselves in every way, once that line showed up on the test, things got real.

Our good friends and downstairs neighbors had just bought a house and invited us to come live with them for about half what we were paying at the time. Although it was a hard decision to leave our first little apartment that we loved so much and share a house with another couple, we knew it was a good idea because we would be able to get out of debt so much faster.

At that time, we realized we needed to look forward to where we would end up once our little one arrived. We instantly decided that with the market the way it was, we did not want to be renting a 3 bedroom apartment or house when we could buy and pay just as much if not a little less for a mortgage. (And actually have our money going into something worthwhile.)

Jer had just gotten a new job which meant a steady income and I quickly found a full-time job for the summer at Xactware. We put every extra penny we saved on rent into getting out of debt. We both worked LOOOONG hours and then when we got off work we would go house hunting. It was exhausting and trying. We had a strict budget and several must-haves.

Our initial thought was to buy a new little townhome in Spanish Fork or an area where they are starting to develop a lot more. It would be move-in ready and we could get settled before baby came. My dad kept suggesting these old broken-down houses with basement apartments that were cheap but definite fixer-uppers. I was not amused. Not only was I getting bigger by the second, but my husband was not the "handyman" type. Through our search I kept going back to this house in Provo. So old, so smelly, so not what I wanted. It was a short sale. Ugh. But we decided to put in an offer.

That was in July. Meanwhile, I was in panic mode. Our baby was going to be sleeping in a shoebox at this rate! So we kept looking. We realized we wanted an investment property so that we could essentially pay nothing to own a home. We found a cute little blue house in Provo that had a perfect basement apartment we could rent out. We decided we wanted it and started the paperwork. Not a short sale, easy peasy.

It took us a month to complete all the paperwork. We got everything ready, bought paint, made plans, moved furniture and boxes into the garage. The whole time I could not stop thinking about that first house we made an offer on. I even dreamed about it. It was so weird. Because I loved this blue house. And I didn't love the other one.

The day before we were to close on the house, we found out that the basement apartment was not legal to rent. And without that extra income, we wouldn't be able to afford the house. SUCH  a bummer. This was the end of August. Just 2 months from my due date. Cue panic mode round 2.

We moved into my parents' condo in Provo in order to save even more money while we tried to find a home for our growing little family. What you don't know is that a week before closing on the blue house, the Provo house asked us if we would like to re-submit our offer. Jer and I wanted to say no since we were decided on the blue house, but my father, in his infinite wisdom, told us not to let it go and advised us to keep our offer. So we did.

Just one month before Scotty was due, we found out the bank was finally considering our offer. We did a lot of back and forth in that month and had to re-do a lot of our paperwork. The week Scotty was due we heard the offer had finally been accepted. Just 5 days after he was born, we signed the papers to buy our first house.
Here we are with me in all my swollen glory, at the title company signing on our house!

It was such a long, complicated, exhausting process but we finally felt good about our decision and knew we were headed in the right direction. We knew we had a daunting task ahead but we had a plan and were ready to go forward with the remodel!

Here is what the upstairs of our house looked like when we bought it (the part we are remodeling):






Stay tuned for a daily post on the details of our remodel!

Monday, April 14, 2014
Guys, my "ghetto fab" blog just got a little less ghetto and a lot more FAB! I'm so excited about the new look that my blog has taken on thanks to Kelsey at K. Yeck Designs. Not only did she do a great job making my blog aesthetically pleasing, she also made it mechanically sound, and she was a delight to work with! She made sure I was completely happy with everything on the blog and was really good at interpreting my crazy ideas in my head and putting them on the screen!

So if any of you need/want help with your blog, go see Kelsey over at just2birds.com.

I still have a few things I need to do to get it organized, so bear with me.

Thanks again Kelsey! You're the best!

And my blog isn't the only thing that has gotten a new look. Most of you know that we have been remodeling our house for the past 5 months or so and we FINALLY moved upstairs this past weekend. I made dinner in my new kitchen for the first time tonight and I will say, a dishwasher and disposal are magical things, as are new water heaters. Never thought I'd say that in my life, yet, here we are!

We are going to make a big before and after slideshow of our house once it is complete/decorated/etc. but here are a couple to whet your whistle!

 
Above: Nursery before and after. (Decorating is not complete)
Below: Living room before and after. (Still deciding on which furniture will fit best.)
 
And I just have to say, through this whole process we have realized what amazing friends and family we have. This has been a huge challenge to take on with a newborn and we wouldn't have been able to do any of it without our loved ones.

I just have to ask, how many of your dads would come to your house and scrub your entire shower and bath out until it sparkled? Yeah, my dad did that. And that's just one of the millions of things he and others have helped us with. True love right there.

Monday, April 7, 2014
As a teenager, I was the girl who would spend her Saturdays hanging out at the MAC counter at Nordstrom, or buying eyeshadows at Urban Decay. I would NEVER have ventured into the land of drug-store make-up.

Now that I'm a little bit older and a little bit poorer, I have had to find a way to pay less for make up that is just as good.

Believe me when I tell you that I have tried a LOT of different products. And to be honest, a lot of the "cheaper" brands really are cheap (aka you get what you pay for). But through lots of trial and error, I have found some stuff that is very inexpensive and still does the job. Here are my favorite make up picks that compare to some of the highest end brands around (at a fraction of the price):


Starting from left and going top to bottom:

1. e.l.f Studio Baked Eyeshadow Palette in "California" ($10) I have tried lots of e.l.f's stuff. It is extremely inexpensive and some of it I can do without, but this palette is literally all I need in the way of eyeshadow. I L.O.V.E. it and love the neutral colors that can all be paired together. I compare these shadows to the Urban Decay shadows that retail for $16 a pop and you get 10 colors for $10. 

2. e.l.f. Mineral Foundation SPF 15 ($5) I have used lots of different powders and foundations. The ones I have really loved were Bare Minerals and Mary Kay. After trying this out, I will say it is absolutely spot on, just as good as both of those brands. It is light on my face but still evens out my skin tone while providing me protection from the sun. And come on, $5?!

3. e.l.f. Studio Baked Blush in "Peachy Cheeky" ($3) Seriously, I'm not kidding with these prices. This blush compares to MAC or Benefit blush which both retail for close to $20 a pop. I love the shimmer and pigment this blush gives to my cheeks and you really don't have to load it on, a little goes a long way. 

4. e.l.f. Studio Eye Primer and Liner Sealer ($3) I'm really picky about my eyeshadows and how the pigment shows and evens out on my eyelids. I have always had a MAC cream base that I would put over my lid before applying my shadow which would retail for about $16. I have tried 3 or 4 different primers from e.l.f. and this one is by far the best. I don't even use the liner sealer but I'm sure that's good too. 

5. Maybelline Volum Express "The Falsies" Mascara ($5) I literally just tried this mascara for the first time this week and I may very well be converted. I NEVER used to stray from my Maybelline Define-a-Lash for at least 5 years which retailed for about $8, until they were out of it at Target! Dun dun dun, enter this beaut of a mascara which has an awesomely flexible wand and even application making my lashes look lovely! My favorite part is the price! 

These 5 little things fit in a small make-up bag that I can take with me wherever and it is all I need to put on my "face" for the day. What's more, it takes me less than 10 minutes to apply.

You can get all of these products at Target! I usually buy my e.l.f online though because they ALWAYS have sales. So, if you can believe it, I generally get 50% off those prices I listed up there! I know, I know, stop reading and get shopping!

Go Here to join e.l.f.'s email list so you will be in-the-know about sales!



Thursday, April 3, 2014
Sometimes we have a baby and buy a house in the same week, and then we remodel the house for the next 5 months.

That leaves me with 23970698357 ideas to blog about and I end up always blogging about my baby. But here goes anyway...

I check on my baby several times at night after he has gone to bed. Yes, I'm THAT mom.

Tonight, while checking on him, I placed my hand on his chest and immediately felt his little heart beating beneath my hand. For some reason, I haven't felt his little heart beat before.

As a sat there for a second I immediately thought of just a few months ago when he and I shared the same crowded space, and every week or two, I anticipated hearing that sweet little thump thump through my giant belly.  I would heave a sigh of relief every time knowing all was well.

And for the VERY first time, I remembered the sweetness of being pregnant with my little Scotty. I knew his name before he was even "a twinkle in my eye". From the day I found out I was pregnant with him I wondered each day what he would look like, if he would have his daddy's laugh or my stubborn nature.

It's insane how just a few months ago I didn't know these things about my baby and now, I can pick out his little voice in a room full of babies and I couldn't forget that sweet face in a million years.

I know his heartbeat like it is my own, and he knows mine too.

"No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you. After all, you're the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside."