Good Times

Betty White said in her day it was considered torture to look at someone's vacation pictures. It is torture time.


We went cruisin' with this lovely couple. We will miss the Alder's with their move to Oklahoma!



We also went cruisin' with the Red Hat Society. I will become a member of this group just for an excuse to wear some of their phenomenal hats. Hello lady down and center!



Our first stop at Catalina we toured the island in style. Mark my words, I will own a segway in the future. I will never have need for walking again! Jason and I refused to turn our heads when talking to eachother. We turned our entire bodies with the slightest twist of a handle.





Next stop, Ensenada. And dune buggies. Zero power steering equals me running down a tree.







Too many fun times! Cruises are the way to go. I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy a cruise, but now I have decided I would like to live on a cruise boat. And own a segway. And segway myself to the 24-hour soft serve ice cream machines at least eight times a day.


Don't feel sorry for Drew back at home. She lived it up with her grandma and cousins. Well, her second cousins... because I have the best cousins ever.













*Pictures courtesy of Grandma's phone.


We all had a good vacation and are happy to be back together again.

Tank Dresses

I am "recovering" from my week long vacation and trying to get back into the swing of things. Until my cruise pictures are ready, here are some new summer dresses I just added to my shop:

What are you talking about?

Drew asks me all the time, "What are you talking about?" I don't know what I'm talking about today.




We fed Charlie the giraffe at the zoo. Very long tongue.




Instead of listening to the radio, our car plays Disney's Greatest Volumes 1 and 2. So basically I never hear new music or what other people in the world are listening to. Currently, when I'm not listening to "Under the Sea," I'm loving Mat Kearney. Like this song. Or this. Everything this man sings is amazing.


Did you know Jason proposed to me down in Havasupai? Havasupai is my favorite place so far on this earth. This isn't Havasupai. It's Fossil Springs.




We've had this kite since Christmas and finally got to fly it. It's a crocodile.




I'm also listening to Parachute. Love this song. And this.



Frogs.





Shield your eyes. This whiteness is me. I am not nude either. Just wearing a white and yellow swimsuit on a white body. Jason wants to take this on a cruise? Yikes!





Also on my playlist is The Script. His voice is cool. This song makes me smile.




Hey Sha Sha.





Matt Nathanson makes me want to get married all over again (to Jason of course) just so I can have this song playing at our wedding.




And I'm done.

Wait...

Yes, I'm done.

Butterfly Party

If you thought buying caterpillars was not very cool, then please check this out...













Oh yeah! Best thing I ever bought. They were caterpillars for about a week where they doubled in size almost every day. Then one by one they all climbed to the top of the cup, attached themselves, and hung down to start the cucoon process. After a long wait, the actual change from caterpillar to cucoon happens very quickly, maybe a minute. I was at the right place and the right time and got to see one of them shed their fuzzy caterpillar skin and turn into a shell. See, entertainment for the whole family.

Last week when the first butterfly hatched Drew and I were screaming, laughing, and dancing in excitement. "We got a butterfly! We got a butterfly!" Yes, I was really that excited! It's pretty amazing. Soon all ten of them had hatched and were drinking from the sugar-watered flowers we picked for them.

We planned a last minute butterfly party for their release. It concluded with the final release of the butterflies, where Drew tried to recatch them in her butterfly net.



Nice wings, Drew!



But also included a game of Pin the Butterfly on the Flower. Drew loved it since my blindfold was lame and she was able to see underneath it. She landed the butterfly on the flower every time. When Jason doubled it and made it so she really couldn't see she started crying and said, "I don't like this anymore." So we let her cheat.





And what's a butterfly party without butterfly cookies?



Now we must return the butterfly books to the library, get on with life, and try not to look at the empty spot on the kitchen counter where our butterfly friends used to be.

Caterpillars

Last Friday the Fed Ex man rang the doorbell in the middle of Drew's nap. She was up at once thinking it was grandma. Instead it was our caterpillars.

Yes I said caterpillars.







These babies are going to crawl around in their cups and eat and get bigger for a week or so. Then they will climb to the top of the lid and make cocoons, or "tutoons" as Drew would say. Then a week or two later and we will have ourselves some butterflies!

(Katie, you better believe I've got you and our first graders on my mind!)

I ordered my kit here. So far it's the most exciting thing that's happened at our house.

Kitchen Transformation

Befores and afters. I wish this was a Chelise transformation post then I could show you this "before" of me on a grungy morning sweeping the kitchen, and a glamorous "after" of me in make-up and heels. Unfortunately I look pretty much the same at the moment as I did in this before shot two months ago. I HATE to post this, but it is the only before shot Jason got of this part of the kitchen.

Before:


After: (enter Chelise in a glamorous gown... or at least dressed for the day)


Before:


Afters:




Before lighting:


After lighting:


Before:


After:


Before:


Afters: (Hi Jason!)






Things to notice:

Jason made the most amazing bench under the bay window area. He can do anything.

I love these curtains I made out of cheap broadcloth fabric ($2 a yard) and added the vertical ruffles. I think they probably cost me about $20 for all four.

The spoon calendar! I have been collecting baby spoons and forks for a couple years now to make a magnetic calendar. I got the idea from my sis in law Brittney who made one out of her collection of skeleton keys. Just cut some sheet metal to fit inside a frame and glue craft magnets to whatever kind of collection you have.

New above the range microwave.

Why does my fridge look the same in all befores and afters? I could have it least cleaned it up a little, dang it.

Countertops went from pink to dark. This was a small budget remodel so we stuck with the laminate and spent about $600 instead of $4000 if we were to get granite. At this point in our lives we are really happy with the way the laminate looks and it was just the amount of money we wanted to put into the house anyway.

The cabinets are pretty white! We actually had help because Jason's dad owns a cabinet shop up in Show Low so we took down all the doors and sent them up to him to be sprayed white. Then we sanded all that was left and used a roller to get a smooth paint job on the rest. We bought new handles and hinges which made a world of difference. FYI- do not spend $6 a piece on handles or hinges at Home Depot or Lowes. We bought ours at Woodworker's Hardware for about $1.50 a piece. Although their site is a beast to navigate.

Rose bushes are the best. We have about a million roses right now.

Still more little things to do here and there, but for now it is done!