Little M's Tree & Tutorial

I have been working on my little guys room and it has been a slow process but it is comin along and I am determined to get it done before his first birthday (April 28th). I have had so much fun getting his room together. His cute ABC wall I did a few months back can be found here.

This is one of my very favorite projects that I have ever done. It was so easy and turned out super cute. I really wanted something big on this blank wall and my mom (from Organize and Decorate Everything) had the amazing idea to put a big tree there. I thought that this would be so perfect for a little guys room. Well, I knew that I couldn't paint it on the wall because we are living in Ty's grandmas basement so I couldn't do something that permanent. So then I looked into the vinyl trees, but they were way too much for my cheapness, but then I had heard about using liquid starch to apply fabric to your wall and so I did some research and found out how to do it. SOOO easy seriously. And it isn't permanent which is perfect if you are renting or just like to change your room often.

What you will Need:

-Your Image- I found a tree that I wanted on the image Google search and printed it out on a transparency just on my home printer.
-Transparency sheet
-A projector. Since I am not very fancy shmancy I don't have one of those cool now a days projectors so I looked on KLS Classified (it is a local ebay type site for Utah and Idaho) for an old school projector and found one for $15! What a steal I was so excited. I couldn't sleep the night before I was supposed to go and pick it up. I know I am a bit nerdish. Don't you remember your teacher's using these in elementary, Jr. High and high school? By the time I got to college they had the fancy ones. (I want to play school with Maddux:)

-Liquid starch (I had a hard time finding some. But ya'll might have better luck than me. The 2 Walmarts by my house didn't have it but the one in Syracuse by my parents did. Wahoo. I got it for like $2.50 or something cheap like that)
- Fabric- I used dark brown for the trunk and branches, a cute patterned green with circles all over it for the leaves, and some red, white and yellow for the owl. 
-A Marker or fabric pen
-Scissors
-Paint roller
-container to put the liquid starch in
-Paper
-Towel- To put under your work area so there isnt any liquid starch drippage on your carpet. Gotta protect yo!
-Rag- To wipe up the drips off the wall as you go
-Liquid Stitch 
-And a Blank wall to put it :)

 What I did:

**First I bought myself an awesome old school projector from the KSL classifies. (I love this thing it is my favorite purchase.) Oh and P.S. If any of my buds out there need to borrow this for your own projects let me know!
**Then, I found my image on google image search, printed it out on a transparency sheet from my home printer and projected that bad boy up on a blank wall. I played with the position and focus knob on the projector until I had it the size I wanted and had it as clear as I could get it.

**I pinned my fabric onto the wall using thumb tacks and got a tracin'

**Once the whole trunk and all the branches were on my brown fabric I took it down and cut it out placing it together together as I went to see what it would look like .

**After I was done with all the brown fabric it was time for the leaves. Since I didn't want to sit there and trace every leaf up on the wall. I found there were only two sizes and I counted how many of each size.
**Then I traced each size onto a piece of white paper, cut the pattern out, traced them onto the fabric and cut them all out sitting down comfortably while I watched love potion #9 (This is a total 80s movie that I had never seen before so I checked it out from the library. I loved it! It is such a fun cheese movie just like they all were then)

**Once everything was cut out I placed it all together to make sure I liked what I saw before I stuck it up on the wall. And lets just say I was in Love and couldn't wait to have it all up.

No craft is complete until little Maddux puts his little hands on everything I am working on.
Literally ;)

Don't you just love those puggy little hands projected up on the wall?

I was in heaven...it was so dang cute

He was pretty pleased too. :)

Seriously this boy is such a busy body and LOVES to help and see what mommy is up too

We are so going to be playing school with this projector when Dux gets a bit older. 

Doesn't that sound like a blast?

This boy will learn all his letter and numbers on this thing

I am a nerd

Have I ever Told you how much I love being a stay at home mom?

Welp that was a nice break now lets get back to the second half of the project

**I projected it up again but this time it was on the space that the tree would be going up (Maddux's big blank wall in his room) and it was to the size and position of right where I wanted it. This made it easy to put my fabric right were it was supposed to go using the projected image as a guide. Very helpful and saves lots of time...I promise

**Now to the fun part.
1. Dip your fabric piece in your liquid starch
2. Squeeze the excess liquid from the fabric so it isn't dripping. Put your fabric piece up on the wall smoothing it into place with your fingers (it will stick to the wall...if your fabric is heavier or is a really big piece you may need to tack it into place with thumb tacks until it dries but I did the whole big trunk without having to tack it at all, it stuck really well.
3. Get your sponge paint roller and dip it in the starch
4. Roll the painted roller on your fabric on the wall to make sure it is all smooth and there are no bubbles. Make sure to roll over the edges to make sure it is all sticking to the wall.

**After I got all the brown fabric up I took my sponge roller and rolled over the whole thing once more just to make sure it was smooth and on there really good. I didn't want this thing goin' anywhere until I said so.

**I did the same steps as above with each of the leaves. These went really fast because they were so small.
**Again I took the sponge roller and went over the top of the whole thing with the liquid starch just for a nice last coat to polish it up and make sure it was all stuck on there with no bubbles.

Isn't it looking so good. 

I loved it

But it needed a little somethin' somethin' more to it

so I added this little cutie below

don't ya just love him?

** I found this precious owl in the silhouette store and cut it with my machine onto card stock for a pattern

** I traced it all onto the fabric, cut out all the pieces and glued them to the main body with liquid stitch

**Lastly I dipped him in the liquid starch, placed him on the wall and rolled over him with the sponge roller.
**When your decal dries it goes back to the original fabric color and is stiff and stuck to the wall until you decide it is time to peel it off. (I love how un-permanent it is for renters like muwah)

 And Voila! the fabric tree is complete! 

What do you think?

I will be putting a saying above it with white vinyl so stay tuned for his completed room post coming very soon.

I am so in love.
M likes it to he is always touching it and smiling whenever he looks at it

It will be sad to take it down when we have to move one day. (luckily that is not for a while)

But the cool thing is that you can take it down without any damage to your paint or wall and it is so easy to do it again. 

I think Maddux is really going to love it when he gets older.

If you have any more questions you can email me or leave a comment!

This fabulous tree is linked to these fun linky parties:

Blue Cricket Design

My Valentine Decor

So Since I am in love with blog stalking especially design and decor blogs I decided that I would get a little more into the Valentine decor this year and make some of my own with some ideas and inspirations from my favorite blogs. Being a stay at home mom is so much fun and I am loving it but I needed to keep myself busy while the babe is napping and while I am stuck inside all day with this winter weather so why not start crafting I thought?! :) Now I just need a craft partner so I am not doing all by myself. haha. So anyway off I went to the dollar store, a couple craft stores and my own craft drawer and got to work. Now don't judge me I am just starting out on this whole DIY thing so practice makes perfect right?! I'll get better and I am sure I will re due some of them next year haha. So here is what I came up with.

 This is the top of my entertainment center. I cropped out the TV cuz ESPN was on or something I don't know haha. Anyway The Ulrich sign (present from our wedding), the big U (got on a good deal at a boutique in Cedar City last year) and the "God Bless America Sign" (Got it from our wedding) stay up all year round. Then I added the cute garland that I got at Roberts last year on sale after Valentines Day and the cute wooden blocks that I also got at Roberts last year. You could totally make these easily though and I totally would have if I was crafty last year haha. Then I added in the cute lovey dovey willow tree statues and my awesome free printables I got from the wonderful world of blogging. First I spray painted the frames that I already had, red, white and pink and I love how they turned out.  I got the printables from Organize and Decorate Everything and My Yellow Sandbox (Originally, going from left to right, they are from: The Fickle Pickle, Today's Fabulous Finds, and It Is What It Is.)

 I love this cute little table...my mom has had ti forever and gave it to me when I was in high school and it stayed in my room at home until I got married and then she gave it to me to go into my very own home. It means a lot to me. I might repaint the sides one day we will see. The decor on this table is simple. I just used my white IKEA vases and sticks to spruce up my Love sign that I got from Roberts last year (This is something else that I would have loved to make if I didn't already own it...so easy especially if you have a cricut or Silhouette) I might even make some for people for gifts. 

 I recently got a silhouette and am in LOVE with it and this was my first project that I did with it. I got this idea, "love birds" from the lovely Shelly at House of Smiths. She has a vinyl company and has so many cute ideas and I was like "Hey I can make that with my silhouette and make it my own with a little different birds and lettering" and here it is. I just found a branch and bird that I liked at the silhouette store and bought them with my gift card that came with my machine so they were FREE and then I used a cute FREE font that I already had on my computer and cut the vinyl that I already had so that was also FREE! wahoo! I love my antique windows and it is so fun to spruce them up each season with some vinyl and pictures. The Ulrich Vinyl that my mom cut for me a couple months ago stays up all year long. Oh and BTW I got these cute antique windows in Cedar City a couple years ago at a antique store for only $12 a peace! Great deal since I have seen them as much as $30 for just one before. 

 For my other window I just printed off a cute family picture of us that my little sis took of us just on my home computer with photo paper which I already had so that was FREE again and then I just cute me some cute hearts with the silhouette on some Vinyl that I already had and walla! Also the Est. 2007 and our names stays up on the other window...Thanks again mom for making those for me.

This is in my long hallway from the kitchen to the living room right below my cute antique windows. So don't judge me about this table I plan on painting it, but I have to wait until it is warmer outside and when I decide on a color (I am thinking red? what do you think? please give me some input). I actually got the table at the DI for only $20 I couldn't pass it up and I can't wait until it is all cute and redone. Anyway onto the V-day decor. I have had this vase full of branches from my backyard up since Thanksgiving with different colored ribbons on it and I just slapped a red ribbon on it and it looks Valentinie. I then added that cute little V-day girl I have had forever (it was a valentine present from my mom when I was in Jr. High and I love it), the cute little vases that I got from the dollar section at target and filled them with heart picks from the dollar store, and some old and cheap frames and FREE printables. Again I spray painted the Frames, pink, red and white and I got them from the DI and dollar store. I got the Printables from Organize and Decorate Everything and Tatertots and Jello (Originally, going from left to right, they are from: Barn Owl Primitives, The Fickle Pickle, and Less Cake More Frosting)

 In my kitchen I needed a little something something Valentinie in there so on top of my microwave I added a red candle, some fancy glasses filled with marbles (all those things I already had), and a printable that I made which was inspired by 320 Sycamore. I just used a cute font that I already had on my computer and printed it out, put it in a dollar store frame that I kept black and added the little foam LOVE sign that I got from the dollar section at Target (I love that section) 

 This is just simply my calendar that I use year round in my kitchen I got it for super cheap (like a dollar I think) at a yard sale a couple years back. I like that it is like a white board and is easy to change every month but I wanted it to look cuter so I decided to break out the new Silhouette again and cut out the month, year, the love sign, and hearts out of vinyl to make it all cutesy and it was free because I already had the vinyl and it is super easy to change each month because vinyl comes off and goes on so easily. I for sure think I will do this with coordinating colors for each month from now on.

 These shelves are in my living room and I decided they needed to be filled with some Love so here we go. The U always stays there and I thought it still looked cute there. I then added those cute little glass bottles that I already had (I got them from an antique store in Cedar City for super cheap) and added some heart picks that I got from the dollar store and a red flower that I already had in my craft stash. On the middle shelf I filled it with these dollar store frames that I kept black and then just printed those cute letters from my computer in red and walla a cheap sign. I think that I will spell out LUCK with those frames for next month (That was actually Ty's idea so I can't take credit for it :) so cute). On the next shelf that vase and sticks stay up all year round and I just added in some heart picks that I already had and then I got the cute LOVE YOU scrabble sign Idea from 320 Sycamore. I got the frame from the DI and it was super ugly so I spray painted it white and ended up loving it for this project.

 And I am proud to say that the V-day boa wreath was all my idea! Woot! Yay I finally got a little creative and did this one on my own and it was super easy. I got one of those circle wreath forms from Michaels (it was like $3 I think) and wrapped it with some red yarn that I already had and pinned it in place with a straight pin. Then I pinned this red boa that I got from JoAnnes (I think it was like $4) and wrapped it around pinning it again at the other end. Then I fluffed it a little and added a cute black flower to embellish it and I think it finished it off perfectly. You could put this on your front door but I already had a big heart on my door so I decided to put it here and really like it. 

My front door (well it is a back door but is our front door haha) to our cute basement apartment. I keep the Welcome sign up all year round and then I got this cute wall hanging at Roberts a couple years ago. But again this would be pretty easy to make if you have a few tools and a electronic cutter.

The last place that I have decorated is my version of a Faux Mantel since I don't have a real  one yet. (One day when I have my own home I will have a beautiful real mantel that I can decorate). The cute printable that is in the middle and the candle sticks stay up all year round. The framed printable was a Christmas present from my mom and dad and the candle sticks are from the DI that I spray painted black last year. I got the little glass jars from the DI, cleaned them out and filled them with some pink gum balls and rec cinnamon hearts. The jar on the left I got at the dollar store and filled it up with some dollar store heart picks that I just cut the sticks off of. Then I spelled out Valentine with scrabble letters and they fit perfectly on the scrabble stand. Then last but not least I made those cute rosette balls. All you need is the color crap paper you want (I picked red and pink), a hot glue gun, and foam ball forms. I got my crap paper at the dollar store and the ball forms at Michaels, but I should have looked at the dollar store cuz they are kinda pricey for my liking. They were so fun to make, They are very time consuming and take a little bit to catch on to but once you do they are really fun to make. I think I will make some more for my spring decor. I got the idea and tutorial from the House of Smiths.

It was so much fun decorating for V-day this year and I am looking forward to start making stuff for spring! Bring it on Blog Friends I need your ideas. Also I need some crafty friends to do crafty nights with. :) Make sure to visit all those links if you want to get some cute FREE printables and some cute ideas.

Also I just had to put this picture on here because my little mister is just so cute I have to show him off even when he is being naughty and has no pants on! :)

Little "M"s ABC Wall

Now that Little Maddux is almost 9 months old and we have been moved into our new apartment for almost 7 months I finally got these suckers up on the wall! Yahoo!

...and I am in L.O.V.E!
When we first moved in his room was pinkish white and Ty's grandma said that we could paint his room so we went off to home depot and I found a mis-tint for only $5 and then we got another gallon at regular price but we ended up saving $25 and it was the perfect color we were looking for. I love the brown with the white trim. Thank you mom for helping practically painting the whole room for me. :)

Also I will get better pictures of it later but that dresser right there on the right Ty and I redid too! We got it done actually before Maddux was born so that was nice. We got it for FREE yup that's right Free. It doesn't get much better than that. When we got it it was a sold oak old brown color with gold hardware and I really wanted to paint it blue. So my mom and I went to Lowes down in St. George while our boys were golfing and again we found this PERFECT color in a mis-tint and I got a whole gallon for only $5. And we didn't even use half of it to do the whole dresser. We also decided to do rope pulls for the hardware and it is so fun for a boys room. We are also working on a project right now for above his crib that we will be using some more of that blue paint for. I will post pictures of it as soon as it is done. So make sure to check back.

So back to the ABC wall. I have wanted one of these ever since I found out I was pregnant with Maddux. This was my inspiration and I just wanted to do my own version of it. Well I have been collecting these bad boys from back when I was preggers. I bought some and my mom gave me over half of them for one of my baby showers. Isn't that soooo awesome of her?! She is amazing and she wanted me to have this wall just as much as I did. We got them from different stores such as Hobby Lobby, Walmart, Roberts and JoAnnes because we wanted different fonts, styles and sizes. We got them all plan and none of them had color on them so we could pick out the colors to match his room. As soon as we got them all. My mom and I got to work choosing the paint and the paper that we wanted to cover them with. I used some I had, some my mom had, and I bought some new.

...Then we got to work and painted some plain colors and Mod podged paper on the others. Little M's room is Blue and Brown with an accent of red if you cant tell. After we got them all done it was time to get them up on the wall. I first placed them down on the floor in an area that I measured the same as the space I had on the wall and I laid them down how I wanted them to look and took a picture and then I used that picture as a map for when I put them up on the wall and Wala! This is the finished ABC wall. We still have a lot to get done with his room but once everything is up I will take a picture of his whole room completed hopefully that will be within the next few weeks. I know most people get their nurseries done before the baby gets here but since we were moving just 2 months after he was born I couldn't do it before and then after the move and everything I am just getting to it but I am loving it and Maddux is getting to the age that he loves having colorful stuff on his walls too.

I also love that the ABC wall is cute for not only babies but he can have this in his room when he is a toddler and a growing kid. It will be so fun to teach him his ABCs from this wall and he can see them whenever he wants.

My favorite part is for all 27 characters up on the wall to complete the ABCs (the alphabet and the & symbol = 27 if you were wondering where I go that from haha) I only had to put 1 nail hole in that whole wall. Yup ONE! and it was for the O which is the clock. The rest of the letters were hung up with these bad boys....Command strips. My mom introduced me to these and I just think they are the best things ever invented.  If you have never used these...you HAVE to. They are awesome and you don't have to worry about all the holes especially if you are renting. I only had to get 2 packages of 12 and I got $1 off coupons online for each package so for both it was like $10 and so worth it.

....Now I just can't wait to finish the other projects for his room and get them up on here for ya'll to see.

This projected is linked to:

Little M's wall has been featured at: Creative Catalog, and Craft Gossip Home and Garden

Christmas & New Years Eve 2009

Warning: sorry this is a really long post due to journaling purposes.

To start off the Christmas Season on November 30th for family night Ty and I got all the Christmas decorations up and Decorated the Tree! I love decorating the tree it is filled with ornaments from Both mine and Ty's childhood. Growing up we both got an new ornament every year. My parents always gave us one that represented something we did that year or an interest of ours that year (I have a lot of gymnastics ones haha but I have a good variety). I loved this tradition and the three Christmas' that Ty and I have been married we have gotten each other ornaments and I can't wait to continue this with our children. This year Ty got me a snow globe with a baby boy in it (it is so cute he said that its our baby in my tummy cute huh?!) and I got Ty a U of U ornaments since he got accepted this year into the U of U law school.

We love decorating the tree we have so much fun doing it together every year! And there is my 17 week baby belly!

I also love decorating the rest of the house. Christmas decorating is so much fun I already can't wait to do it again in 11 months. I know I'm a little crazy haha.

I made those count down to Christmas blocks this year and I am super excited how they turned out. I also made the Mod Podge Winter sign this year and am glad I get to keep that up for a couple more months :)

On Saturday December 19th we had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake to Ty's Best Friends Wedding. Ty actually set Kylie and Brandon up. He is quite the match maker haha. Kylie worked with Ty at chilies here in Cedar and Brandon has been his best Friend since elementary and Ty just thought they would hit it off and boy was he right! They first met at a Chilies softball tournament in Salt Lake in July and they got engaged and were married in December! We drove up the night before the wedding and stayed with Ty's parents then woke up bright and early for their 8:30am Temple ceremony and it was beautiful. It is always so nice to be in the temple with Ty I love every minute of it. They had a luncheon after the wedding at 11:30 in the Joseph Smith memorial building and it was also very beautiful. Congratulations Brandon and Kylie Dennis we love you guys and we hope you had a blast in Hawaii!

They looked so happy and it was just an amazing day! Kylie looked so pretty and Ty and Brandon look very handsome!

After the wedding we visited Ty's mom over at the Lion house and then hung out with Ty's dad for a little while. Before we had to drive back to Cedar Ty's Dad took us out to dinner to Red Robin (we missed mom she had a late night at work), then we went back to the house and visited with Chris, Staci and Ayla for a while then we had to hit the road so we didn't get to Cedar too late. It was a quick one day trip since we had to come back to work for a few days before Christmas break.

After I got home from work on Wednesday Dec 30th we drove up to Murray (Ty's parents) to start our Christmas vacation. We got to their house at midnight and his parents and Mike and Jess were still up when we got there so we visited for a while and went off to bed. To start off Christmas Eve we went to the Lion House with Ty's mom and dad to help with the breakfast that mom was doing for her servers there. It was really fun and I hope we were of some help. I know Ty was cuz he was one of the pancake cookers and he did a fabulous job. It was a delicious breakfast and such a nice thing for mom to do for her workers. After helping Cleaning up we ran to Syracuse to drop off some watches I had made for one of my mom's friend cuz she wanted them before Christmas. We visited with the fam for a while and I got to see my brother Adam which was awesome since I haven't seen him since September (he has been at basic training and AIT back east).

After hanging out for a while we drove back up to Salt Lake for Christmas eve dinner at Ty's Grandma and Grandpa Kjars. It was a lot of fun just hanging out and spending time with family. First we had a very delicious dinner and had fun sitting at the cousin table talkin about TV shows, music and everything going on in our lives. After dinner we went downstairs opened gifts and played some games.

After all the fun at grandma and grandpas mom and dad, mike and Jess and the kids and Ty and I went back to Ty's parents and opened up our Christmas Pjs. In my family Edwin the Elf brings Pjs to us on Christmas eve so of course he brings them to Ty and I. Little Maximo and Gracie got new jammies too and they looked so cute. After max and Gracie went to bed we set out all the presents and then the adults hung out, talked and watched some of Mike and Ty's high school wrestling videos. It was fun watching them wrestle but it was even more fun watching the boys watch themselves wrestle. They were so excited and sooo into it. Cute!

Christmas Eve happenings. The breakfast, opening gifts at Grandma and Grandpas and new Christmas Pjs.

Christmas morning I was like a little kid and woke up way too early just waiting for Max to wake up so that we could go see what Santa brought. :) Max didn't wake up until 8:00 haha I had been awake since 5:30 fell back to sleep and then woke up again at 7:00 just waiting. I can't wait to have a kid next Christmas it will be soooo fun. It was so cute watching Maximo opening his presents he was so excited and I just loved all his excited faces and funny comments. I'm sure Gracie liked her presents too. After the kids Ty and I opened our stockings and presents.

I got a maternity shirt from Ty and Baby boy, my favorite perfume Lucky and a cool hand held sewing machine for my crafts and small repairs from Ty, and Wii Active from Santa. I also got a new electric toothbrush and treats in my stocking.
Ty got a Madden Football game for his PSP from me and baby, a shirt, the movie Forever Strong, a scarf and a beanie from me and Heroes season 3 from Santa. He also got a tie, a baby onesie, a game and treats in his stocking. And Santa brought the game Pit from both Ty and I.

After we opened our presents we got some delicious breakfast. Ty's family always has sticky buns, egg casserole, eggnog and apple cream for Christmas morning breakfast and it is so yummy. Thank you Julie it was amazing. Then Chris, Staci and Ayla got to the house and we watched Ayla open some of her presents. Then we opened presents from Ty's mom and dad. We got the game Bopit, a puzzle, the Lion house bakery cookbook (now my collection is complete) and some money. Thank you Mom and Dad U.
After getting all ready for the day and putting away all the gifts Dan and Brooke and the kiddos got to the house. So it was time to watch the kids open some more presents. Then we watched Mom and Dad open their presents from us kids. Chris and Staci were in charge of the gift this year and they got them a bunch of Rook cards from different decades it was really cool (Rook means a lot to the Ulrichs in fact I am even i the process of learning finally) they also got some treats and gift cards.
After visiting with Dan and Brooke for a while we got all packed up and met my family in Rose park at my grandparents at about 5:00. We visited with my aunts and uncles and cousins for a while and ate some yummy food. Then we drove with my parents down to their house in Syracuse. When we got to my parents we gave the boys their presents (Ty drew Ammons name and I drew Zachs name). then we gave my mom and dad their presents from us kids. We got my dad the Beatles Rock band and my mom a spa gift certificate. Then before the kids went to bed they had to find the pickle in the tree. My family has this tradition that is from Germany that mom and dad hide the pickle ornament in the tree and whoever finds it first gets a nutcracker. I loved this and want to continue it with our kids we even already have a pickle ornament. Zach won this nutcracker this year. Good job Zachy.
The next day was a lazy day at my parents house for all of us. I think we were all really tired from the hustle and bustle of Christmas because we all slept in later than normal. After we finally all got ready mom and I went to Roberts crafts for their after Christmas sale got a slushy at sonic and then went to Tai Pan for their after Christmas sale. At Roberts everything Christmas was 65% off. I got some garland and a really really cute huge snowman. Im way excited about the snowman because I can keep him up through January. At Tai Pan I got a little Penguin Family statue and oh my goodness it is so cute. Its a penguin dad, penguin mom and penguin baby! I just had to get it. When we got home the boys were planning Beatles Rock band. I think that my dads and Tys favorite thing to do together :) The rest of the night was relaxing and mom, dad, Ty and I watched Forever Strong. If you haven't seen this movie you really should its so good.

Sunday just consisted of going to church, napping and relaxing with some family time.

Monday was another relaxing day we just kinda got up whenever we got up and then just hung out. At about one oclock Chris and Em and Parker came over to visit and see the rest of the fam. They also announced what they are having. They are having a GIRL. I am finally going to have a niece on my side of the family and my parents are finally going to have a granddaughter after having 3 grandsons and 2 more boys on the way. They gave my mom and I both a pink stocking with pink and purple candies in it and neither of us got it at first haha (we are slow hahaha) and then we finally realized they were announcing it is a girl. This was a big surprise to us because they were tricky and told us they weren't getting their ultrasound to find out until January 5th but they actually had already found out and were waiting until Christmas to surprise us all. Cute guys! After my dad got home from working we all watched Parker open all his presents from my mom and dad and Zachy because he had his name. Its so fun watching kids open their presents I can't wait for that with our kids. After visiting for a while Me, Ty, Amanda and Adam went to the mall really quick to try to return somethings and to have some lunch. We ran into Chris and Em and Parker their too. After the mall we went to Target and got the CUTEST Bull dog outfit for our little man that we have been wanting to get for a while I'm glad they had the right size this time. Its so cute. I love buying Baby stuff. When we got home from the mall Ty and I drove down to Salt Lake for an Ulrich extended family Christmas party. The Party was at Grandma Ulrich's house and it was so much fun we had pizza and treats and just talked to all the cousins, aunts and uncles all night. It was so good to see everyone I can't wait until we live up here and get to see them all the time. I got so many complements on my cute baby belly from all Tys aunts it made me feel so good :) After the party we went to Ty's parents house just to hang out for a while and play some games. First we played golf (which I won :) ) and then Ty, Julie and Dave started to attempt to teach me Rook again. It was fun and I am getting it a little more but I still need a lot of practice. Thank you Julie for being so patient with me while I'm trying to learn. After some games we drove back to Syracuse to spend the night because Ty was going to be waking up early the next morning for snowboarding.

The Ulrich Cousins with Grandma

On Tuesday morning Ty got up bright and early to get ready to go snowboarding with My brothers Chris and Adam and my sis Amanda. I'm not going to lie I was a little jealous I couldn't go but I am happy I am preggers so it is worth it :) They left at about 8 am and when Ty woke me up to say buy I couldn't go back to sleep so I decided to just stay up and go downstairs when I went downstairs Zach and Ammon were the only ones awake and they were playing playdough so I decided to play with them. I made a little man out of playdough it is pictured above. I was very proud of my project and didn't let the boys wreck it until my mom and dad saw it first haha. After getting ready for the day me and mom were off to Target to go more After Christmas sale shopping. Target was having a sweet sale everything was 75% off. I could have bought sooooo much more than I did pretty easily but I was trying to be good. I got a really cute mini tree, some Christmas bags and tissue paper, some big ornaments, and Christmas cards for next year. My mom got a lot of sweet stuff too. After target we check out Michaels I got a few tree picks there and then we went to Big lots and I got another mini Christmas tree there. I love Christmas sales.. Thank you mom for going shopping with me so much and for showing me all the sweet deals. My mom loves her deals so I guess I am learning from the best even though Ty thinks her shopping obsession is a bad influence on me haha what can I say I am a lot like my mother :) When we got home the boys and Amanda were back from snowboarding and Dad and Ty were just in the front room talking so we had to show them all our sweet buys. I don't think they thought it was quite as cool as we did. Before the kids went to bed Ty and I and the kids played our new game Pit and I think the kids really liked it mostly because you get to yell in that game. Ammon was so funny playing it I think he is a little too young to understand it all the way but he did pretty good and it was just so cute watching him. My cute little brother Zach loves games we always have to play atleast one game with him every time we visit. So cute.

On Wednesday mom, Emilee and I went shopping again. First we went to the DI to try to find a small dresser I could redue for the babies room but no such luck this time they were pretty empty in the furniture department so my mom said she will keep checking for me. Thanks mom. While at the DI we did find a few treasures for some projects for both mom and I. We then went to the Distribution Center and then to Savers. After Savers we went to Hobby Lobby to see if they had any deals on Christmas findings. I got an ornament for baby boy next year :) and we looked around at a lot of cool stuff I love that store. When we got home I fixed a few of my moms watches and then my family decided that before Ty and I left they wanted to go laser tagging and out to dinner. So we went to the Family fun center and played a round of laser tag it was soooo much fun and I think me, mom, dad and Ty got into it just as much as the kids did. We have got to go do that again together soon it was super fun. Ty got first place, mom got second, dad got third, and I got third to last :( Then we went to dinner at the Pizza factory. Thank you mom and dad for all the fun we had while we were up in Syracuse and all the fun we had on Wednesday together I didn't want it to end. After dinner Ty and I drove down to Murray to spend one more night with Ty's parents. We hung out and watched some TV when we got there and then played some more Rook. I can't believe I am finally kinda learning that game haha. Thanks Mom and Dad Ulrich for all the fun we had with you guys during Christmas and throughout the break.

Thursday (New years Eve) we left Murray after running some errands at about 10 am to get Ty back in Cedar in time for him to go to work at 3:30 boooo. I was so sad that he had to work New Years Eve and that I would be home alone. When my dad heard that I was going to be home alone on New Years eve he thought that was so sad so he convinced my mom to come down to Cedar for a quick one day trip to keep me company. So my mom and dad, Emilee, Zachy and Ammon left Syracuse at about noon getting to Cedar at about 4:00. Ty and I got to Cedar at about 2 ran to Walmart and I unpacked everything before my family got here. My fam got to Cedar after Ty had already left for work . I was so excited and grateful that they drove four hours for only a day to spend some time with me and to keep me company. They are sooooo sweet and I was so excited to spend one more day with them before the break was over and we all had to go back to School, work and our everyday lives. Once they got here my mom and I went to the cute little antique store here in Cedar (my mom loves this place!) and we got some really cool stuff. I got a cool plate that I have a project in mind for (thanks mom for Chilies and see Ty. Yum Yum I love me some Chilies and I especially love me some discount. After dinner we went back home made some muddy buddies, played some games, ate some treats, watched the count down, banged some pots and pans and shared some midnight kisses. Ty got home right before midnight so I got my special midnight new years kiss...thank you honey for hurrying home for me.

Our cute server :)

Emmy, me and mom waiting for our food while watching the Jazz game

Our New Years Fun! Oh and that picture of the candy bars has a funny story to it. When we got home from being up North for a week we found these on our doorstep just like this. haha I think a critter enjoyed our Christmas treats.

Midnight Celebration, sleeping, kisses and just hanging out.

Thanks to all of our Family our Christmas/New Years break was amazing and will be remembered forever so Thank you Family!