Brody Says: 5th Edition

Brody Says: 5th Edition

Different Shoes

We were excited to get out of the house and go to the new outlets by our house a few weekends ago.  Brody and Michael were in the Nike Outlet when Brody saw the Mannequins with  2 different shoes on.  He hurried over to grab me and show me this mannequin.  He was so excited about these different shoes.  He LOVES Nikes and thinks they are the worlds greatest shoes.  He was getting a new pair for his Birthday a few days later.  He wore his new Mikes for a few days and now has decided that he is going to be like the guys in the store and wear 2 different shoes.  He went to school today and was so excited to show all of his friends his shoes.  What a trend setter!!!

"B" wall

I spent Monday and Tuesday painting my kitchen that REALLY needed to be painted.  I also took off all the baseboards in the kitchen in preparation for tile in the next few weeks.  It was so refreshing to have clean walls that were a little different in color.

"B" wall

I have wanted to do a "B" wall for 3 years now.  I love monograms.  It symbolizes something you are proud of.  So what better way to be proud of your family than an initial wall.  I have been collecting b's here and there for a while now.  I told Michael that I was going to make a "B" wall and he thought I was insane.  Over Thanksgiving weekend my sister in laws thought the idea was a little crazy also.  I started out slowly. It took an entire day (I was also babysitting) to figure out how I wanted it to work.  Here are the results.  I think it is so nice looking I even had my photographer friend take a photo of it so you really get the best picture of it.

Thanks for looking!

Brody Says

Michael and Brody at the BYU basketball game.  

Their seats were the second to last row of seats.

"Brody isn't it cool that we get to sit so high up?"

"Yeah, Dad!  It would be better if we could sit one more row up."

Table and Chairs

I worked on two projects this week.  I had an old oak sofa table that my in laws weren't using anymore and 2 oak chairs that My Grandpa Pyrah had brought from Montana to refinish and never got around to before he passed away.  My Grandma passed away early on in the week and I needed some serious distraction.  If I slowed down at all I would get really sad so it was easier to work on these projects that I have been putting off for awhile.

Here are the before photos

 The picture above is the only one that I have.  

I need to be better about taking a before picture.

I have two of these chairs, I am only going to show you the first one I got finished and when I finish my front room changes I will show it to you all put together.  

Here are the afters!!!

 The table is too small for my large wall so it is going to have to find another spot, and I will need to find something else for that spot. It turned out really great looking though.


The chairs are so cute, the first picture makes it look more cherry red
than it really is.  The second one gives you a better idea of what it really looks like.  My plan is some Chevron pillows to go in my red chairs.  We will see how my vision comes out.

These two projects were my favorite ever that I have done.  I think it was because of the circumstances of the week, I put a lot of heart and soul into them.  I know those chairs will be cherished in my home for years to come.  I really enjoy thinking that I was able to do something with them where Grandpa couldn't.  

Thanks for reading!

Hard Labor

Thursday rolled around and I was slowly working on organizing the house, but not feeling like I was getting very far.  I told the kids no friends after school and we are going to earn a lot of tickets.  They were not very happy about this in the beginning.  They helped me get a lot of chores done really fast and we had a blast together.  My patients gets tried because it would be a lot faster just to do it myself, but they need to learn how to clean things.  Here is a fun picture of them working hard cleaning Mom and Dad's bathroom.  

I think I am going to institute a cleaning afternoon every week.

Caterpillar

A few weeks ago I found this caterpillar on the floor in my kitchen.  Brody was really excited about this little creature so we put him in a jar to watch for a few days.  I thought he would probably die or I would let him out once the interest died down.  The kids loved watching the caterpillar.  After about a week I was cleaning the kitchen and I looked in the jar and this little guy was making a caccoon.  I watched him for a day or two to make sure he wasn't actually just dead.  I decided to be patient and just wait to see what happened.  The kids and I watched closely everyday to see if there were any changes. After about three weeks this is what we saw in the jar.

I know it is just a moth, but it was a really fun thing for the kids to see and watch happen!  We let our little friend free in the freezing weather.  I felt really bad about that.  I wasn't really sure what else to do.

Goodbye sweet caterpillar!!!

Armoire turned Pantry

My friend was trying to sell this armoire a few weeks ago and I really wanted to buy it and turn it into a pantry.  My kitchen doesn't have a pantry.  I have gone through a couple different options for storage in my kitchen and haven't found something that I like.  That being said, I didn't have the money so I just decided that I would wait for something else to come around.   Fast forward a few weeks and no one had bought it, and they just wanted it gone.  So cheapskate me took my hubby over and picked it up for FREE!!!

This is the mess that I wake up to everyday.  I try really hard to keep it under control. I ALWAYS loose!  The kids get crayons out, their million papers, dog stuff, reciepts, ect. ect. it goes on and on.  I try to not let it bother me, but it would be so much better not to see this mess everyday.

I only had the garage space for a day, so I had to get crackin.  I was debating to do it all black or a mixture of the wood and black.  I have a wood table and cupboards, but black appliances.  If I am not careful my plans for my kitchen will get too dark.  I decided to go with a mix of wood and black.  It was easier this way too.  I started off by taping and lightly sanding the areas I was going to paint black.  This is a really nice piece of furniture, so for the wood areas I just used some polish and called it good.  I painted the areas that I picked for the black paint and went to the store for some new knobs.  I really liked the color that was on there just not the style.  I found some new hardware that I really liked.  I also found some chevron fabric to give it a little pop of color when you open the doors.  Here is the final product.

 I am really excited about it!  It is bulkier than I wanted, but I am removing everything from my dining area except for this and the table.  Once I get it all loaded up and decorate a little I will add a few more pictures.  In the next few weeks we are painting and tiling the floor.  My kitchen is getting closer to how I would picture it.  My next house will probably have a lighter look when it comes to cabinets (I love white cabinets). You make it work with what you have!

Thanks for reading!

I love these knobs!