Never too late...right?

It's never too late to start on a New Year's resolution, right?! Even if there is only 3 weeks left in this year...

At the beginning of the year, Tadd and I sat down and made some goals. Having only been married a few months, we were QUITE ambitious for the year...and I am sad as I start thinking about new goals for the new year coming too quickly, and I realize just how much we didN'T accomplish.

Yep, the "N'T" is bigger...cause the stuff we were hoping to improve did NOT happen so much. However, I'm sticking with the adage "Better late than never" at the moment...

So, here is to doing better at a LOT of things!  First and foremost, BLOGGING!!! Yep, you heard that right (well, technically read that right I suppose...) and now since it is online for thousands (okay, okay, who am I kidding, 6, I have 6 followers!) to read, it has to happen, right?

Here's my theory...before, I would get SO overwhelemed with ideas, and all of the things I wanted to blog about! Then I just could never find the time to sit down and think about it...or let's be honest, I'd forget!

But, I let a little of my OCD self escape, and I typed up a bunch of the ideas I have to share, and will just have to take it one post at a time! And I have TONS to share! Summer happenings, projects galore, family trips, family parties, cooking adventures, birthdays, holidays...like I said, there is TONS!

I guess that is the benefit of slacking on the blog front, it gives you plenty of material to work with!

OH, and the best part, there are even pictures!! Yep, every one of those listed has pictures to go with it!! (That's the genius of going through the camera and planning the blog posts around it!)

 And...just now I tried to upload some picks for fun...but this computer connection is SLOOOOOW!! I waited 15 minutes, and not 1 of my 3 pictures loaded. (note to self...blogger uploads pictures MUCH faster from campus!) :)


So, until next time...(which will NOT be six months from now!)

Anniversary present...

Okay, yes, I know...not only do we really REALLY stink at taking pictures - apparently we (okay, I) really stink at keeping up with blogging. BUT - in my defense, I was out of town for 31/2 weeks (and miraculously took a ZILLION pictures while I was gone - but it was faster to shutterfly the pictures than blog about them...so as I get some more time I will have plenty to talk about and share), and now school is in full swing - with a killer course load that has consumed my life. HOWEVER....I did make time to create this special treat!

 

I made this for Tadd for a one year anniversary present. It is crazy that it has already been a year since we went on our first date. I'm not sure what's crazier, the fact it has already been a year - or that it has only been a year and we have done so much, and have been married almost 9 months! Anyway, couldn't wait to share!!

 

Click here to view this photo book larger

Busy little beavers!

Yep, the old saying is true...time DOES fly when you're having fun - or when you are SUPER stressed out! How has it already been almost 3 months since we posted anything? I had big plans for catching everybody up on what we have been doing for the past 7 months (yep, we hit month 7 of being married already!). Yet, it really has been months since we have posted. 

Well....

#1. We suck at taking pictures! I carry the camera with us whenever we go anywhere, and 9 times out of 10...no pictures! 

AND...

#2. We have been busy! Life is wonderful, yet CRAZY! It seems like every week we say, "This is the week things will calm down"...and by Tuesday or Wednesday, we have something planned every night for the rest of the week! (This week is no exception!) 

Since the last post...we have: (*yes, you are about to witness just how bad we suck at pictures. And just how much we have had the opportunity to blog about...and didn't!)

• Made a trip to Colorado (nope, ZERO pictures I told ya, we suck. Luckily, my wonderful sister took LOTS of pictures, and said she will send me copies. So I will post more pictures after I get them!)

• Trip to Burley for Mom and Dad O's 40th wedding anniversary and Dad O's b-day (ZERO pictures! Seriously, what is wrong with us??) 

• Got new couches! (No pictures yet...but luckily they are ours, and are sitting in our living room for the next while...so I might actually get to take pictures of those)

• Decorated our house (Again, you guessed it...No pictures yet. BUT to my credit, we aren't done, so I have put it off until things are picture perfect!)

• Spent the weekend with our besties - (which convinced us to buy a Kinect for the Xbox 360), and ate at Tepanyaki in Lehi - SO fun, and AMAZING food!

• Bought a Kinect for the Xbox 360 :) So embarrassingly fun! And ridiculous how much of a work out a video game can give you. I don't know whether to appreciate it, or feel awful for being SO out of shape that a video game makes me sore!  

• Decided I am quitting my full time job

• I picked a new major! And then registered for summer and fall classes at Utah State (Start summer classes June 18th)

• And of course...projects PROJECTS PROJECTS!! (That is one thing I actually DO take pictures of! But I will post the pictures later. Don't have them with me at the moment)
• Baby blankets for my cousin's new baby (which STILL haven't been mailed!)
• Wedding present for one of my bestest friends!
• UGLY t-shirt for $1 from Wal-Mart turned into an ADORABLE dress
• Leather hair accessories...

I am sure there are plenty more things to chat about with all that's going on. But that catches things up!  Maybe NOW I will finally get back into the swing of things...I won't guarantee more pictures. We just suck at it. But I am going to TRY to do better. :)

Crafts galore!

Well, this week in our wonderful life...there isn't much exciting going on. Still wonderful, just not exciting. :) I've been busy crafting up a storm for different things. Some projects I have people buying, other projects I am making for fun, and still more projects that I've been doing for the facebook "craft it forward" thing...

As for Tadd and I...work, work, work. That's been about the extent of our week. But i did want to share pictures of the latest projects!

**And a bit of back story...as I mentioned in the previous post, I got a kindle for my birthday. I never took it anywhere but home because I didn't have a case for it. After spending at least an hour searching online for a kindle cover...The only ones I could find were $35 or more! Ridiculous! And I didn't even love the color options they had to choose from. So...I decided to put some scraps of mine to use, and this is what I came up with...**

Outside of the cover

The inside of the cover...velcro closure

See, it fits just right! :)

I had the black canvas from a messenger style piano bag I made Tadd's niece Isabel for her birthday. (Pictures of that to come in a later post) The blue inside is actually an old t-shirt, and the edging I had some bias tape in my stash...so it was completely FREE for me to make!!

Anywho, I posted pictures on facebook of my kindle cover...and a friend from high school sent me a message. She had the same problem! The covers were expensive, and she didn't want the colors...If I would make her one, she would pay for it! SWEET!! I love earning extra play money. So...the first draft of hers looked like this:

 

Liked the colors...but I hated the edging I used. It was so bumpy. The bias tape I used on mine made such a cleaner edge. This was an attempt to use the hem of an old t-shirt (so it would match the inside perfectly)...the more I looked at it, the more I didn't like the quality of it. And she was paying me...so I felt like I had to try again! So...

 

I redid the edging with pink bias tape. It doesn't match perfectly to the inside color...but it's all pink, and looks much nicer than the first draft.

Not only was I busy making kindle covers this week...I had a friend (also from high school, and also on facebook) ask if I could make her a beanie and she would buy it. So, I put my crochet smarts to use making this:

AND...although I didn't make the following beanie this week...I did FINALLY get it in the mail to my sister...only 3 months after Christmas! :)

Penguin Beanie

And sorry for the blurry picture quality...I somehow managed to only get a picture of it with my phone. The day I finished it, Tadd came home from work and was so excited it was Steelers colors, he tried it on. And yep, being the wonderful wife I am, documented the evidence for all to see:

That's his "viking" face...

So, that's been the happenings in our life this week...just busy busy busy! More projects on the list for this week. A couple of baby blankets, a custom order quillow, a purse...who knows what I will actually get done!

Birthday Fun!! And some not so fun...

Okay, so I decided to start with the recent stuff...then perhaps we will move backwards to catch up! (I can't just keep getting further behind...) And the most recent excitement for us....it was my BIRTHDAY on Monday!! While it wasn't exactly the birthday I had planned for in some ways, it was more than I could have wished for in others...

The unplanned ways - a morning spent at the doctor's office. Sunday night we almost ended up in the ER because of my asthma. It's been outta whack lately, and was super bad Sunday. So I didn't even go to work Monday. (Which would be wonderful to have my birthday off...except for the doctor part.) After the doctor appt Tadd and I went to lunch at Firehouse (one of our favorites here in Logan). I went home to rest up, but couldn't sleep...so I made this instead:

 It's one of those headband things everyone around here is wearing lately. 

**A little bit of catch-up time...On Facebook towards the beginning of the year they had a post going around called "Craft it Forward". The basic gist of it is you reply to someone and that person has to send you something, then you repost the message and 5 people can reply and then you send those 5 people something you've made...Anyway, this was for the first friend of mine that replied**

Well...Tadd still wasn't home, and I still couldn't sleep...so I started on this (which I finished Tuesday on my day off...)

This was for friend #2 that replied...well, for her 2 1/2 year old daughter anyway. :)

But anywho...back to the birthday wonderfulness! The hubby spoiled me rotten! For my birthday he got me....

......................................(drum roll)...............................

 

 .....a KINDLE!!!! 

**A little more catching up: I have been very UNSUBTLY hinting that I wanted one of these since Christmas! Around Valentines Amazon.com sent me an e-mail about "free 2 day shipping on kindles...in time for Valentines"...so I forwarded it to Tadd. All I wrote was, "Just saying..." haha...he laughed about it. Then the next day they sent ANOTHER e-mail...so I took a picture of the e-mail on my phone and sent him a picture message on his phone that said, "Just saying..." Well, long story short he took my shameless hints and advice and ordered it with the free two day shipping. Then gave me the kindle early on Valentine's day. :) Two presents in one. And I'm totally okay with that!** I LOVE it! It is more than I ever dreamed!

Back to the birthday story...(**maybe I should have taken care of the catch up stuff...this is turning into a long rambling post...**) So since I had already gotten my present, I wasn't expecting anything from the hubby on my actual birthday. When he got home from work, he told me I had to close my eyes...that he had a surprise (which I hate by the way...surprises...) And this is what he had:

He said he didn't write the poem...But he did the graphic design shtuff...(**And another bit of catching up the temple has major meaning to us...we are planning to get sealed in October, in the Logan temple...and the picture of us is from when we went to the lights at Temple Square right after Christmas, which is where we decided we were going to start working on getting sealed, and the night we decided on the Logan temple **see what I mean about the back-stories, geez!**)

Here are some more "up close" pictures so you can read what the writing says:

 

 

Yep, he is pretty dang wonderful!! And yep, I did the girly thing and cried a little. :) 

So, I told Tadd a couple weeks ago I wasn't planning my own birthday. I wanted to do something, but didn't want to plan it myself...he said "Got it"...then I didn't hear anything more about it. He surprised me with dinner out to Iron Gate Grill (another favorite of ours), and also surprised me by inviting Lex, Holly & Livy to join us. It was a fantastic dinner! Surrounded by family. Of course I had my camera at dinner...but am new to this blogging all the time thing...and didn't take any pictures at dinner! But I did make us take pictures once we got home! haha...

I just had to give him a BIG squeeze for making my birthday (and my life) so dang fantastic!! I sure do love him!

After dinner, we walked around Wal-Mart with Lex & Holly...came home...and I was in the middle of telling Tadd I didn't want my birthday to be over. That I wanted to do something fun and silly...when I apparently fell asleep. Yep, at 10:00 pm...on my own birthday. And yes, I slept until 10:00 am on Tuesday (my day off)...and it was wonderful. 

All in all, the best birthday yet. No, the doctor's office was not a fun way to spend my day. But that husband of mine sure is dang wonderful! Thanks hubby! It was a great birthday!

"Ormond to be" is now...It's our wonderful life!

Yep...the "Ormond to Be" blog has been turned into..."It's our wonderful life".

Well, obviously some things have changed since the original blog was put up...now we don't need a blog to tell everyone about the wedding details...we need a blog to tell everyone about life details! :) A way to update people on the happenings and craziness that is our life - and it really is a WONDERFUL life! I'm excited to have my own place that I can just ramble on for anyone who may or may not want to listen.

(or read as the case may be)

That being said, yes a lot has changed, but rather than just make a marathon post about life in these past 4 1/2 months of married life...I think I will draw it out a bit longer, take it little by little. (And hopefully that way I will have "back up" posts to make in case nothing really blog-worthy is going on with us!) Plus it keeps ya on the edge of your seat, right? Always wanting more. I realized that a lot of people don't even know the full story of Tadd and I - pre-engagement - the good juicy stuff about how we met, our dating, blah blah blah...so perhaps I will have to put that in a post too!

I'm not sure which direction this blog is going to take...I don't want it to be a journal...but I do want it to be a way for others to be involved in our lives, even if they are far away. I feel like I tell the same stories to people over and over, or have to send 100 picture messages of my newly completed project, or I found out someone who would have liked to hear about it didn't get to...so to prevent those instances *voila* "It's our wonderful life" has been created!

Happy reading!!