Homemaking Fun

Having a home has really given me a new sense of joy I never experienced before...laboring and caring for the space I live in was never really a priority before owning, and actually such a burden to me. Learning to clean, cook, and make this house a home for our family has given me happiness I didn't know I could have. Cleaning? Cooking? Laboring? With a happy heart?? I like this new me. I like being a mom. And hard and unnoticed as it is sometimes, I enjoy that it's my duty and that I'm getting better at it, slowly. 

And sometimes, a massive Twice Chocolate Torte just makes everything even better :)  

This is the birthday cake most of us have requested each year growing up and I LOVE it. And it's actually quite easy. I decided to make one two days before leaving for CA just because I was jealous of my 3 year old niece's birthday cake that I couldn't dive head first into celebrate with her. I ended up giving 1/4 away and throwing 1/2 away the day we left. Wish I'd given it all away! But I didn't have time :( 

Also the weekend before we left, we had a fun dinner night with our friends, the Grubers.

And their entertaining little boy, Charlie, who I could hardly get a picture of! Isn't that all toddlers though...

He cracks me up! He is funny and quirky like Georgia with his own personality and sometimes is sensitive around other toddlers. He did not enjoy Georgia's company as much as she would have liked. At one point, Charlie was having some tears probably over her being in his personal space, and after staring at him for a few moments completely perplexed, just threw her hands up and let out a frustrated grunt at his tears that she couldn't understand! It was so funny to see her reaction to him! She usually just lets other kids be and doesn't notice much. In any case, we love having them over and love talking all things parenting... it can be frustrating but it's always entertaining :)  

Anyway, on to dinner (this was a whole lot yummier than it looks on my half eaten plate):

Sometimes we trade off cooking for each other and it's so fun! This time I wanted to try out a full Asian feast - something I never usually go for because Asian food typically requires a lot of fresh ingredients, endless chopping of veggies, and lots of pans and dishes... but I decided go for it this time. I wanted to have cream cheese wantons with sweet chili sauce, lettuce wraps, and a Chinese chicken salad. 

I had actually made a ton of cream cheese wantons (which are so easy to make anyway) a couple days before and frozen them so that was already done, just had to throw them in some coconut oil (a life saver - my house actually smells GOOD not disgusting like after using regular oil). Then I found a recipe on pinterest for a copycat of P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps which I then altered to fit my own taste. I was hesitant about it since I'd never made them before and hate when new recipes don't turn out as expected, but OH MY GOSH it turned out great!! Tasted just like P.F. Chang's to me... though I haven't been there in forever, but it was just how I remember. The Chinese chicken salad was the perfect sweet and fresh side to it all! My mom's classic recipe never fails. Emily brought us Trader Joe's vanilla cupcakes topped with her own chocolate frosting. I am usually am a chocolate cake kind of person but oh my gosh I loved them! I ended up eating two ok, a third after they left, and didn't even try to stop her from leaving the leftover cupcakes with us!! I couldn't wait to eat them the next morning. Yes, I planned on eating them for breakfast. I have yet to visit the new Trader Joe's in Salt Lake but now I will have to make my way there and get 10 boxes of that cupcake mix so I can have them on hand at all times :) but enough of my fatty food indulging talk.  

Aside from stuffing my face, I also have some time to craft here and there! 

I've have this vase for years and it's always seemed so plain to me. So I decided to break out the painters tape and some old gold spray paint I had sitting in our basement and changed it up. Love the way it turned out! 

I didn't stop there... gold paint is addicting. I had to stop myself from picking up random objects around my house and fight the urge to make them gold. This one didn't make it: 

but I do love how it turned out! 

We had finally stocked up on a good amount of frames and wall decor for the better part of a year and decided to tackle decorating our main wall in the family room - which also leads down the staircase to our basement so it's a BIG wall - but I wanted to have a big sign about family mixed in there. I did NOT want to pay an arm and a leg for it (those things can be SO expensive!) so I made Zach aid me in my craftiness and put him to work. We had some pallet wood sitting around in our garage for MONTHS that came with a large delivery his dad had ordered - we scored the leftovers! I had Zach cut the wood to the sizes I wanted. Then let the wood sit for weeks. Then I got around to staining it with the leftover stain I had from refinishing our kitchen table. Then took the leftover paint from our house and hardly brushed some on... no effort at all. Then I took some old black paint and did the letters. I picked out a couple fonts I liked on the computer and then free-handed it. The hardest part, and most expensive part, was waiting for that perfect floral paper to come in the mail. And defending my craftiness from Zach's skeptical looks when I started painting the letters... he didn't want it to "look cheap" haha. Let it be said - never doubt my craftiness!! Who do you think came up with the method of connecting the wood pieces together?? Not Zach. And not the home depot doofus who sold me three (when I actually needed 4 - so apparently lacking in knowledge AND math skills) useless connector pieces that almost ruined my sign. I finally decided wood glue and a staple gun would do the trick. What do you think: 

I love it's addition to our gallery wall!

 There is so much to fill, we aren't even done! Look at all that empty space below... I'll save that for another Swiss Days splurge ;) 

I thought this wall would be a PAIN to put it up, but it was fairly easy and enjoyable!! Not the usual cat-fight between me and Z (FYI, sometimes I turn into an anal know-it-all monster when I craft, no fault of Zach's whatsoever, I am just plain mean). And thanks to our little helper over here: 

She was perfectly entertained and well behaved with the painters tape :) but really... she needs some hair... 

Target once again drew me into it's evil eye and I finally got around to updating our ugly spare bathroom decor:

And I even had time to do a little sewing... I used some of my leftover minky to make this growing baby boy a taggy play thing! 

Someone bought one for Georgia that she loved so I just modeled mine after hers and I LOVE the way it turned out! It even has the crinkly cellophane in the center to make noise. I love quick and easy projects that I can throw together without a trip to the store.

Meanwhile, Zach is his yellow shorts: 

Haha ok, I need to bury this ongoing rip fest with the yellow shorts... I'm sure no one needs to see anymore pictures or updates on what kind of pairings Zach comes up with for his yellow shorts, like for instance his new "running" pullover (because it's mostly worn on weekends... not runs). I really just need to take responsibility as the purchaser and giver of those bloody yellow shorts so many years ago when I thought it was a thoughtful Christmas gift... oh that fateful day. Clearly I must take it upon myself to buy him some new pairs of mesh shorts so he has more than one to ruin!!! So it is. I am on the hunt for new men's comfort wear... wish me luck! This time, I will steer clear of bright colors. :) thanks babe for providing endless moments of eye-rolling adoration. I love you for who you are!! (mostly)