good morning sunshine.

it was so nice to wake up to sunshine this morning. i've been loving the snow, but sunshine is a very welcome change.

nursery revealed: part one.

this past month we decided to tear apart my pretty nursery to make way for some "simple" improvements. as you can see from the picture below, there was a random corner that was wasted space and a window seat full of empty space. we thought it would be a simple enough project to put up some shelves and add a storage chest in the window seat.
it turned out that it really wasn't that simple of a project. luckily we had a lot of help from some great neighbors and friends.

this was demolition day one. the project begins.

making way for the storage chest. still no shelves.

we realized that we needed to rip off the entire top of the window seat to make the lid for the storage chest flush with the rest of the seat. {this is where we are thinking... wow. this is a big project.}

the lid is on and hinged. added some beadboard {perfect idea, ryan!} to hide the storage box and pretty it up a little.

shelves up. molding up. last minute addition of the molding below the window. everything is caulked and ready to be primed and painted. {by far the worst part of the entire project. i hope to never pick up a paint brush again!!!!}

and voila! the finished product. we are so pleased with how it turned out. it was totally worth the dust all over our house and all of the tedious painting.

the things we do for this baby. she is so spoiled. this is by far the nicest room in our house now :)

you like?

{stay tuned for part two of the nursery reveal. there's still work to do. pictures to hang. curtains to hem, etc. hopefully we finish it before she arrives!}

101 things i've done.

i loved this post on juliann's blog and wanted to give it a shot. it took forEVER, but here is my list!

i have:

1. spent many sunday afternoons on my grandma's porch swings.
2. had my friends break up with a boy for me {it was 7th grade...}.
3. won first place for a drawing of a princess & a fire-breathing dragon.
4. hidden in my sister's closet for close to an hour just to scare her when she turned out the lights to go to sleep {she was MAD}.
5. watched a movie in the middle of a golf course at night.
6. started a book and not finished it {many many many times}.
7. littered.
8. eaten dog jerky {my "friend" told me it was human food}.
9. quit a job after only a week.
10. not flushed a toloit in a public restroom because the handle looked disease-ridden.
11. had a full blown panic attack.
12. participated in several temple dedications {bountiful, nauvoo, winter quarters, draper and one more but i can't remember which...}.
13. paid my tithing even when it was really hard to.
14. gotten on the matterhorn at disney world 5 times in a row {this was more recent than you might think...}
15. purchased a crib/rocking chair/changing table before we even started trying to get pregnant.
16. read the book of mormon.
17. toured alcatraz.
18. cried when my cat died.
19. sluffed a lot of school.
20. been spelunking in the nutty putty cave.
21. bought a wedding dress 4 months before i actually got engaged.
22. had my drivers license suspended.
23. accidentally driven to tooele when i was trying to get to jordan landing.
24. fallen off my bike many times {i have the scarred knees to prove it}.
25. auditioned and not made it.
26. auditioned and made it.
27. recorded a cd.
28. fallen down the stairs in the DC temple.
29. fallen down the stairs in the commons area in high school.
30. cried at the end of madame butterfly.
31. taken a cooking class.
32. been to several shows in branson, missouri.
33. eaten fried alligator.
34. wished i could sew.
35. flunked chemistry.
36. received a free cookie at the carl's jr drive through {haha! so much more to THAT story!}.
37. hated an ex-boyfriend really really badly.
38. faked sick.
39. given nick-names to every employee at our favorite gas station {turtle, semi-hot, no-nick-name, eater, left gray tooth, shane... ok that was his real name}.
40. spent too much money on tanning and diet coke.
41. driven to denver and back twice in one week.
42. written a love letter.
43. been married in the temple to my best friend.
44. spent many summer nights hanging out on alicia's back porch.
45. prepared a cake mix just to eat the batter.
46. fallen in love with the boy who brought me a book instead of flowers on one of our first dates. 47. been a part-time nanny to triplets.
48. ran out of gas on the freeway.
49. spent christmas and thanksgiving in hawaii.
50. spent one christmas in airports trying {and failing} to get to orlando.
51. roadtripped to las vegas with my girlfriends.
52. rejoiced when i got rear-ended {they paid me at least as much as the car was worth}.
53. performed from memory a 30+ page choral piece.
54. spilled syrup all over myself at denny's after a dashboard confessional concert.
55. exploded a bottle of ketchup all over myself at coriann's texas roadhouse in ephraim.
56. sang in a christmas concert at the cathedral of the madeline.
57. participated in a study for rheumatic fever.
58. mistaken st george for cedar city.
59. had a waitress follow me out of a restaurant because i was still holding her betty boop pen.
60. saw david archuleta sing the national anthem at a jazz game :)
61. volunteered at the steve young/jerry rice bay area classic golf tournament for charity.
62. had my picture taken with shawn bradley at said golf tournament and felt like a MIDGET {see here}.
63. had a see-how-many-pieces-of-bubble-gum-you-can-fit-in-your-mouth contest.
64. taken a drawing class.
65. left my umbrella on the metro on a very cold, very rainy night in DC {and really really regretted it}.
66. carved my name into a park bench.
67. floated down a river on an inner-tube in the middle of the night {really smart}.
68. played in HUGE piles of leaves in my grandpa's backyard.
69. chewed abc gum.
70. saw the musical Wicked in Denver.
71. gotten lost in a parking garage and had to have Sean come help me get out {he was at home and had to come to downtown salt lake}.
72. purchased a box of chocolates for myself.
73. graduated from seminary {miracle}.
74. taught the sunbeams.
75. camped out on the living room floor with sean. just for fun.
76. poisoned a plant on purpose.
77. collected stamps.
78. crocheted a few things.
79. taken voice lessons.
80. taken piano lessons.
81. listened to my sharona on repeat on many occasions.
82. washed the same load of laundry 5 times because i keep forgetting to throw it in the dryer.
83. gotten engaged on the 4th of july to the love of my life.
84. married him on a rainy day in december.
85. cried until i couldn't cry anymore.
86. laughed until it hurt.
87. started a puzzle and not finished it.
88. gotten really excited over a new vacuum :)
89. done sean's homework for him.
90. talked/screamed in my sleep.
91. stepped in human poo in a hot tub.
92. conquered my fear of the alpine slide.
93. collected pogs.
94. owned a pogo stick.
95. left my charm bracelet {a christmas gift from sean when we were dating} in the dressing room at target... never to see it again :(
96. received answers to my prayers.
97. worn white eyeliner and thought it was cool.
98. had an impromptu dance party at IP with my girlfriends :)
99. taken a lot of pictures of my feet.
100. been in awe of the fireflies in missouri.
101. written a list of 101 things i've done.

whew! that's a lot. i'm not offended if you didn't make it through the whole list.

sinking in.

my belly button is sinking in.

i thought it was supposed to pop out?

it's kind of freaking me out.

love at first sight.

we have gone through 2 vacuums in 3 years of marriage. the first started smoking and then had to go. the second was a piece of junk that made the worst high pitched sound EVER when in use. so after buying 2 cheap, poor quality vacuums, we decided to fork out the money and buy a dyson. this is partly because we've been doing some work in the nursery {pictures later} and our house has been blanketed in a layer of dust. i knew our old vacuum couldn't handle the job. and it's time for spring cleaning. and maybe i'm nesting a little. but anyway, we LOVE it. that thing can SUCK. sean went over our carpet with the old vacuum and the next day we used the dyson... let's just say i'm horrified by how much our old vauum wasn't picking up. {and isn't she pretty??! and she's sooo light!}