melting snow, ice fishing, and spending freeze

Mack has discovered the sketch "ew!" on the Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. It's freaky/funny/annoying how closely Mack can imitate it. My kids even made their own episode.
Here's Hunter dressed as Sara's stepdad, Gary.

 Another ew is Quinn's creations/experiments in the kitchen. Quesadilla topped with salsa and banana.

 HIP HIP HOORAY for 11 o'clock church! We've been on time every week so far! 9 o'clock church is so 2014.

new church clothes from Warner grandparents

A great time spent ice fishing on Martin Luther King Day.

Mack and Wyatt got along so cute that day! FUN to see them be buddies.

The kids started into 2nd semester of school. Straight A's for Preslie and Hunter. Yay! Mack has scored 100% on EVERY spelling test the entire school year.

My friend Jolona caught the decorating bug after she saw my master bedroom makeover and asked me (or I invited myself) to help her transform her "cave" into a retreat. The number one thing she wants to change is how dark it is. Paint goes up on Monday!

Jo's Master: in progress

I love this delicious weather! Jo and I built frames (outside!) for some paintings she bought in the Dominican Republic 3 years ago. We stretched the paintings around the frames and they will become the inspiration/focal pieces for her bedroom. Aren't they cool? As you can see, the whole vibe of the room will change drastically.

Oh, I also got a haircut this month. Not so cute in this pic but project mode and and cute hair rarely go together. Last happy news..I switched out my dumb phone for a smart phone! It is fun. I am a simple girl and don't really use a ton of the "smart" features, but I do like that I can connect with people easier. Modern conveniences are wonderful.

Dax and I are going to do a February spending freeze. I read about the idea on a blog and I thought it would be the perfect way to get a jump start on saving for a California/Disney trip we've wanted to take for many years. Our kids are at really great ages and this is finally the year. I'm excited.

It will be tough not grocery shop for a whole month. That is why we chose to do it in February; less days. I do think it will be a great experience for our family and a great way to rotate through our food storage a bit. We sat the kids down and got them on board. We talked to them about 'wants' and 'needs' and explained that we will only be spending money on absolute necessities. (Cinnamon lips and Reece's hearts are "wants", I'm told.) We will pay our mortgage, bills, and give to our church. We will also allow ourselves to buy milk, bread, eggs and gas. I won't be stopping by the thrift store once a week and Dax won't be grabbing fast food on his lunch break. It might be hard! But I think we will learn a lot and get creative with meals as well as entertainment. Best of all, we plan to save a bunch of cash! I'll be blogging our progress.

master bed and bath makeover!

So excited to show off the products of all my hard work and much patience on the part of my husband and kids. Yippee! Here is where my room started. It is a nice room and I have always loved the layout, size and features.

Our "bedspread" is 2 Mexican blankets I sewed together right after we were married. We both had one before we were married and I find it symbolic that they were joined shortly after we were! My husband sleeps hot and this blanket set up was the perfect weight for those warm St. George nights. We have used them ever since. But I was ready for a change. 

The room always seemed dark and messy with not much color.I wanted to make it into a space with good vibes that really represented my husband and me; I envisioned a fun hang out for us.

It transformed into this:

The Mexican blankets we've used as our bedspread for 14 years have a special display spot in the corner. We still use them all the time.

Moving into the bathroom...

The bath looked like this after I painted it. I didn't like it but couldn't bring myself to paint it again.

It was so stark and cold. I saw a plant shelf on the blog Vintage Revivals and knew it would go perfect in there! Adding wood, plants, and color warmed up the place.

I modified an Ikea rug to fit perfectly outside the shower.

And I still love the paint above the shower!

Other details:

Eagle string art I rescued from a thrift store and repaired

2 Ikea RAST dressers my husband and I built and modified for our nightstands

A really fun thing to search online is Ikea Rast hack. There are SO many cool versions people have made!

This pillow cover I made at Relief Society was my spring board for the whole project.

Love my mid-century dresser from Craigslist and reversible wool blanket from DI.

 Here is the checklist for this bedroom makeover:

• deep clean: floors, windows inside and out, scrub shower, wipe down closet shelves and light fixtures
• fresh paint !!!!
• built/modified Ikea RAST nightstands, sanded, stained, installed handles
• assembled platform bed (found on KSL classifieds)
• made throw pillow fronts, sewed pillow covers
• found new white woven blanket for bed
• designed, cut out, and hung wood diamond art over the bed
• painted vertical red-orange stripe 
• gutted and organized his and her closets
• hung different art and rearranged decor
• replaced vanity rug
• built plant shelf, hung shelf, painted pots, potted plants
• painted art above shower
• altered bath rug
• repaired Eagle string art

Other things will still be added when the time is right. I would like to add a hanging plant, make new curtains, hang up Dax's Elk head and add a little more wall decor. I don't like too many decorations, but I think the bedroom could use a few more things.

This project morphed into something wonderful and different than my original plan. It captures the feeling I wanted in there. I call the vibe in my bedroom Desert Romance. It's earthy and vibrant. I love it.
One more before:

AFTER:

 Before:

 AFTER:

teenage dream, eclair cream, Christmas gleam

I have a teenage daughter! Preslie is 13.

 Chili, breadsticks, a birthday cake, and eclairs were made for the celebration.

At 13, Preslie

• is very responsible. She gets up and gets ready for school on her own and completes all her homework without being asked. 
• doesn't like to be late to things. 
• likes routine and things to go how she has them planned in her mind
• fears dogs and most other animals, men, talking to strangers (especially grown-ups), 
• likes to dance and sing
• is a great swimmer
• memorizes song lyrics freakishly fast
• doodles her name on everything
• is quickly catching up to me in height, and has surpassed me in shoe size
• is unstoppable when she puts her mind to something: knocking out her chores, getting straight A's, earning money for something she wants, etc
• laughs a lot and is fun and spunky to be around
• has a spaz attack when she feels any strong emotion such as fear, lovey-dovey-ness, or frustration.
• is a bit shy to people she doesn't know well but I always forget that about her because she has so much personality at home and with her family

We spent Christmas in southern Utah with Dax's family. 

Some of my favorite moments were:
Having a "snowball fight" in the top floor of the St. George Children's museum. It was all fun and games until my MIL went downstairs and Preslie was down there searching for us and had been for the past 30+minutes. She thought we left without her. Crappy Mom Award! How did I not notice one of my kids was missing?

Other highlights: 

• playing games after the kids were in bed
• good food. way too much food!
• amazing Christmas lights displays
• Everett Mangus
• playing Elf hide and seek with the kids
• having parties in the Cabana out back
• watching the kids perform talents they came up with on the spot
• holding baby Audrey
• Hunter's mentos and diet coke geyser. Also when Mack took the bottle with the remainder of coke in it and spun around dumping/flinging it everywhere.
• Quinn carrying around her coloring book she opened Christmas morning. A reminder that children really do love the simple things.

A cool thing went down after Christmas! The whole Mangus side of the fam got together for the first time in many years. SO fun to reunite and connect with those great people. 50-sh people, I think.

After 7 days of fun, we headed home. Great to get back in the swing of things.

The warm weather we enjoyed earlier in the month is O.V.E.R. The kids and I went sledding at the park by our house on New Years Eve. It was 7 degrees. 

The lighting was so cool from the bottom of the hill looking up.

Little kids in snow clothes are adorable.

That evening, we watched the movie "Romancing the Stone" from the 80s. Mack cut out of there before it was over and I found him upstairs looking on Amazon. He asked if he could order this toy:

"We could totally make that." I said. The next thing I know, he is hauling my sewing machine up the stairs. Mack and I rung in the new year sewing a stuffed Enderman thingy. 

 Happy New Year! Love, Tristie