Kaitlyn & Carly's "Sweet Room" Makeover

Back in March 2009, I took these teaser pics of my girls room makeover. I have had the whole room done but a last couple details. I couldn't post it until it was complete. So now that I am done with camp and road trips & swim team...I was more than ready to tackle theses final projects to get this makeover off my To-Do list! Are you ready to see the finished project???
This is just the beginnings of the transformation. But first, I thought it would be fun to show you the before pics of the girls room. You know Blast from the Past pics :)

This is K & C back in April 2006. I think I actually decorated their room the end of 2005. anyhow. it is cute and colorful!

I made the curtains and painted the dresser blue a long time ago.

Man oh man, these girls are soooo cute! and so young :)

I loved those cute memo boards and their names on the wall. I always wanted to do more to those letters.

Mirror Mirror on the wall, Who's the fairest one of them all. I had this mirror hanging in my room since I was in 5th grade. It is from the 70's & was given to me by my friend's mom. It was white, but I also painted it blue back in 2006.

I loved how the girls would dance and twirl as I took their pictures. Their room was cute! but the bedding wasn't holding up anymore and the dresser needed repainting. My girls are getting older...my oldest is a TWEENAGER and I needed to give the room a little update. It was really really fun! I just love decorating!

So without further adue, I present Kaitlyn & Carly's Sweet Room...I made this sign for their door. I even figured out how to use my Cricut die cutting machine. hooray for me :)

Here are the new curtains I "half way" made. Well I embellished them. I bought the brown panels at Target and bought Ribbon and the cute pom pom trim and sewed them on to add a little pizazz! I think they turned out so cute!

I love the chocolate brown dresser. it is an improvement! I said before in my teaser room makeover report that I painted my old lamp base and blinged up the lamp shade. I even got them a cute pink & brown Scentsy warmer to keep their room smelling sweet too ;)

The girls new bedding! I love the polka dots! I didn't want to repaint their pink room and since pink & brown is all the craze right now, it was a easy and fun transformation :)

Kaitlyn has a TON of Webkinz and stuffed animals. She has named every one and they all have a special memory to her. She is so cute! I can't believe she is gonna be 11 soon!

Carly loves WEBKINZ too and also has named all her pets. She wants her collection to be as big as her sisters.

My cute kiddos. The girls are so happy with their "new" room. PS see the brown chairs in this pic? I repainted them too.

Before and After of the Chair project. This is a project I procrastinated with. I failed to repaint them like i had planned back when the weather was nice and cool. so a couple weeks ago I was bound and determined to GET-ER-DONE heat and all. I got out my handy dandy sander (that i bought for myself one mother's day) and went to town. Yes it was Hot, it was sweaty and it was worth it! Nice matching Chocolate brown chair for the girls computer desk! :) oh PS...These chairs have been in the family for a few years now... Leonard & I bought a little table and 4 chairs when we first got married at the used furniture store for $100. They have come in pretty handy over the years! I gave them some new life :)

my next 2 favorite projects! I dolled up their names and made these magnet boards and magnets. It was pretty fun. To make magnet boards, I bought already made frames the size and color i wanted and took out the glass and put in metal sheeting. I ordered the galvanized metal paint lock 20 gauge from Jan's Iron Works in mesa. They cut it to size for me. The paint lock metal is made for painting. I just cleaned off the metal with mineral spirits and then spray painted them chocolate brown. I think it looks pretty classy and the girls will have fun hanging up their pictures and artwork.

I made these magnets too. You need flat glass marbles, scrapbook paper and circle punch and good old E6000 glue and magnets too. it is pretty easy to make and so adorable. I used the scrapbook paper I used to make their name blocks. It all coordinates! LOVE IT!!!

Another view of the cuteness of the magnet boards and homemade magnets!

The name blocks were the "funnest" to make! I couldn't have done it without my friend Jessica's help. She helped me cut the wood blocks to the perfect size and we routered the edges too. THANKS JESS!!! You are the Best!!!

I didn't have an AND before but thought the wall needed one! Love how it turned out!

The paper was so fun to pick out! There are lots of Pink and Brown combo's out there! Lucky me! And of course it wouldn't be right if I didn't add ribbon! Lots of cute ribbon. Can I just say I LOVE HOBBY LOBBY! But you already knew that right?

Enjoy a closer view of the cuteness!

I love the sanded edges. Gives it that shabby chic look that I love!

love this view too!

Here are a couple more little projects to beautify their room. I painted that over the door scroll brown. it was gold and it was in my room. I painted the 70's mirror brown and changed out the mirror mirror frame to this cute "you are beautiful" sign using my Cricut and scrapbook paper. and framed some fun brown and pink ribbon.

So there you have it! Kaitlyn & Carly's SWEET ROOM makeover!

Carly's New Do

Carly got a new cute do back in the beginning of July. Thanks to my amazing hair stylist sister Ann! You are the best! we would all look pretty drab without you!

I sure love this spunky girl! I love this hair do too :)

Gimme some attitude girl ;) isn't her dress the cutest too! LOVE IT!!

Nothing like a cute girl in a cute dress with a cute smile and cute hair do!

Loving Summer at the Gordon Resort

The only way we survive the 115 degree days in AZ is swimming at the Gordon's Resort a.k.a. - my parents pool :) This blistering hot day we met up with our Cooper cousins to play for the afternoon.

Everyone say "cheese"!

Kaitlyn shows me her fancy back dive.

(I brought my little point and shoot camera today and I wish I had my SLR. It can capture action shots so much better. oh well! we still have memories even if they are a bit fuzzy)

The girls are getting ready to some me some of their best tricks off the jumping rock.
*L-R: Ethne, Clarie, Carly & Kaitlyn

Wow! Sweet moves girlies! Loved all the twists, twirls, pencils and kicks. You are all too cool!

Blake wanted in on the tricks, so he showed me a few of his own. He is getting braver in the pool every year. This year he will jump & jump & jump to you til your arms fall off. Isn't he the cutest?!

Swimming with cousins is so much fun~ Boy oh boy, do we love the Gordon Resort!

Zion National Park

June 19, 2009

Our last stop on the Zito's Ultimate Road trip of 2009 is Zion National Park. We were excited to hike and explore some beautiful country. We stayed at a great hotel in Springdale, UT called The Driftwood Lodge. We would recommend it to anyone wanting to come for a visit. It was a bit on the pricey side comparing all the other places to stay in town but it was very nice and it was the only thing available the day we were here. so not much choice :) We would stay here again when we come back one day.

We are happily waiting for the shuttle bus to take us into the park. The bus stop was right on location of our hotel. Couldn't be more perfect. :) Sitting aboard the propane-run bus. It was a quiet ride and the weather feels pretty good today.

Ahh, ZIONs Here we come!!!

The family starting out on our first hike of the day to Lower Emerald Pools. It's about a mile round trip. The perfect distant for a 3 year old right?

I guess 1 mile was too much for Blake. He was one Whiny & Crabby boy! GRRRRRR! :(

I was warming up pretty fast but man oh man the view was MAGNIFICENT!!!

The whiny boy wanted to ride Leonard's shoulders from the moment we got on the trail. He is hanging back with me while I snap this cute shot of Lenny and the Girls.

What did I say? MAGNIFICENT HU??? I Know!!!

Look we even got close and personal with this mule deer. This guy wasn't afraid of us at all. Blake got a little happy when he saw the deer. There were also lots of squirrels along the trail. They were fun to look at too.

We are coming up to our first destination. The kids are almost there.

There we have it. A Smiley boy :) and wow oh wow! That is the Lower Emerald Pool!

Very emeraldly hu?? we weren't very impressed with the "pool". We laughed when we saw it and took a couple pictures and headed back to the next hike of the day.

This is what Blake wanted all along. Dad to carry him on his shoulders. Blake was a pretty big wimp on this itty bitty hike. It is a cute picture though.

A beautiful view of the Virgin River and this cool lizard I found. I remember playing in this river when I was a kid. We were on a Gordon Family Ultimate Road trip for 2 weeks and camped along the way. We camped here at Zion's and we played in the Virgin River. It sure was fun!

The girls wanted to dip their feet in the cold river to cool down. Blake wanted to go check it out too. I pulled out the camera to wait for the moment when someone would fall in. Time will tell who that lucky person was.

Leonard couldn't help him self. He snuck up on the girls and gave them a good splashing. It was pretty funny! They screamed and squealed in delight!~ They loved it :)

Kaitlyn & Carly are loving their refreshing dip in the river.

Blake is tossing rocks! A boy's favorite pass time :)

And I called it!!!! CARLY went down and is soaked!!! Hee HEe HEE! Kaitlyn looks like she is going down but she recovers. I even got it on video! PRICELESS ;)

As Carly air dries we stop for some NASTY Lunch at the cafe in the park. It was old soggy turkey sandwiches. YUCK!!! should have brought our own! And It is Disneyland priced too! GRRRR!~ But other than our nasty lunch break, This HUGE tree was AWESOME!!!

The scenery here in Zion's is breath taking. I love these red rocks! They are so rugged and HUGE!! you never get tired of your surroundings!

The girls heading out on Hike #2 ~ to Weeping Rock! We have heard it is worth the short walk uphill.

We made it! The cool thing about Weeping Rock is that water "weeps" out it and has been for a super long time. That is why the moss and greenery stay nice and lush here. to learn more about weeping rock click HERE.

This was a fun little hike! and it was cool to see a weeping rock too!

Kaitlyn catching falling drops of water and I am still loving the view!

Here is our "Green" Shuttle Bus. It was funny cuz the first bus we got on inside the park taking us to the first stop broke down and the bus was getting flooded with propane fumes. YUMMY! well the driver called for help and we watched the fix it dude take a big rock and bang on something in the engine and POW!!! we were up and running again. Now how did I witness such a weird bus repair scene??? We were sitting in the back bus which is hooked to the head bus with the engine. We were looking out the big window at the fix it dude and the driver. you can kind of see the attached bus in the bottom left pic. I would say it wasn't the most reliable. Hee hee!

Our cute girls getting ready to explore on our last hike of the day! we can't take anymore whining of Blakey boy!

Can you believe the beauty? We are hiking on the Temple of Sinawava Trail. We heard that Zion's has AWESOME Rock Climbing too. Brings Leonard and I back to the good old days of no kids and lots of climbing. Back in college days. Ahhhh those were the days :)

Can you see the quick draws left on this monstrous climb!!! Leonard was itching to climb again!


The vibrant colors here in the park are unreal. We loved our short time in the park and can't wait to come back and really explore and camp when Blake is older and can hold his own. We on the countdown :)

The Last shot of this beautiful country. I love this pic of father and son. Leonard has big dreams for him and his boy! We Love you Zion's National Park. Thank you for your beauty, and for the great pictures and most importantly for the memories!!!

This is it! We are in the car and "kinda" (check out my face) ready for the next 10 + hours of driving to get us HOME SWEET HOME!!! Utah, Idaho, Wyoming & Montana where great but the time has come... All good things must come to an end. I am ready for my own space and bed! The Zito's Ultimate Road Trip of 2009 was pretty darn Ultimate! :)