DIY Wannabe

In October we finally did our first real home improvement project (other than the usuals of painting and hanging light fixtures/fans). In Ty's room we replaced the base boards with thick pretty ones and put up bead board and a chair rail. There were a lot of hiccups along the way and it is definitely NOT perfect which drives me crazy. (I will not even point out the major problem). But hopefully now we can do it next time without the same mistakes. Here are some before and after pics.

Before:

After:

Sorry about the poor lighting.

Now all the room needs are curtains and new carpet! So glad to have one project done...just a thousand more to go.

October Recap

So we have had a busy month! At the beginning of October I had my 10 year high school reunion! I cannot believe it has been that long. I decided to go kind of last minute. It was fun to see all of these girls...but it really wasn't a very good turnout unfortunately.
On October 3rd our little Ty turned 18 months. He is the cutest! He still wasn't walking (due to his low muscle tone) but by about 18 1/2 months he had it figured out. Yeah for me! My arms can finally get a break occasionally. :) He is just the sweetest boy. He is so friendly and has to talk to EVERYONE he sees...at the store or running down the street where he sees a neighbor. This past month he has been learning new words about every week. Some of the favorites are bye-bye, hi, ball, car, ding-dong (belly button) and uh-oh.
One weekend Ty and I went with my mom up to her house in Snowflake. My sister and her kids were already there. We went from Thurs night to Saturday night...not long enough but still fun. Here is Ty mowing the lawn. He loved this and just mowed the whole lawn. He was really trying to walk on his own then so this was the perfect toy to help him.
We also went to the pumpkin patch. I wanted to stay longer but it closes at dark. So cute! Here is Milly pulling Ty in the wagon (she still tries to be his little mom even though he weighs more than her :)



Ty was really not into getting his pictures taken...but I sure tried!Gabe, Corinne, Ty and Milly
Milly just loved that sheep!

Nana and Ty
We spend a lot of time outside in Snowflake...here is Ty playing with popsicle sticks. Milly and Ty in the bath.

There was a major splash zone in the bathroom...they had a blast!This year we carved a pumpkin as a family. Ty mostly put the seeds back in the pumpkin when we took them out.
This picture was shortly before he started slinging all of the pumpkin guts around my kitchen and onto the recently mopped floor! That's when he was removed from the kitchen and Brandon and I finished alone.Ty was a pumpkin this year for Halloween. Brandon and I decided to dress up for once this year...it has been too long! We went to Goodwill on half off day and came away with Dorothy and Scarecrow costumes...they are pretty ugly but were only a few bucks. Then I felt bad that Ty didn't match our theme...oh well! On Friday before Halloween we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. Ty LOVES being outside so he had fun just wandering around in the dark.
At some point he found Piglet in a stroller and started pushing her around.On Halloween we went to my parents for our typical Sunday dinner and then did a little trick-or-treating on their street. Here is Missy with Ty, Milly the frog and Corinne the Fall princess fairy?
Ty just held a candy bar in his hand all night (nice and melted) and half of the time he would put candy back in people's bowls instead of taking from them. That's ok though because the candy was all for mom and dad. Ty didn't eat a single piece...he was content just to hold it all. I'm afraid that won't happen next year.
Then for the second half of the evening we rushed home to our neighborhood. Our neighborhood goes all out with decorations and everyone sets up tables and chairs in the driveways with food and lots of alcoholic beverages. We felt like the slackers on the block but at least made our rounds to say hi and to decline numerous drinks (don't think they ever caught on!) So glad our neighborhood is so festive! Next year we will have to step up our game.

Family Room

So I took these pictures of our family room forever ago and decided it was time to show a little more of our house. We have just begun our first major project (in the nursery) so hopefully will have some good before and after pictures by the end of the month. Actually, painting in this house is a major project due to the soaring ceilings...but we won't count that.

Obviously I didn't clean up all of the doodads that had accumulated on the pass-through...please ignore.



Here is a quick peak at our adjoining kitchen. It is smaller that I would like but so far works just fine for our 3-member family. We really haven't done much to it other than replace that hideous light fixture over the kitchen table. One day when we have lots of extra money to spare (please say this will be the case one day!) those ugly kitchen cabinets will be gone!

Cruise

OK so I am finally posting the pictures from our cruise as requested. Of course it is hard to narrow the trip down to a few pictures but I will do my best. We went with Christin (above), my friend from PA school, and her husband Bert, on a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise. We arrived in Miami on Saturday afternoon. We went to a place called Bayside for linner (never ate lunch) and shopping. Then we went to South Beach for awhile and got back to the hotel late.

On Sunday we boarded the ship and did some exploring. Brandon and Bert didn't waste anytime starting off with some ice cream cones...the first of many each day. Monday we spent at sea...pool, reading, eating and shows. Tuesday we went to Grand Cayman. We went to a sandbar called Stingray City where the stingrays come and we fed them squid. It was amazing! A little scary at first when they literally charge right into you to get the food, but awesome! That's Christin and I checking out a stingray.Seven years good luck for every kiss. Then we went snorkeling and then to gorgeous 7 Mile Beach. This was the most beautiful island and water and there was NOONE there. The resorts on the beach looked like they must be closed...we would definitely return.

Wednesday was Roatan Island (Honduras) where Brandon and I went scuba diving. We saw turtles, eels and lots of fish...also a cool wrecked ship. Afterward we had a little time to meet up with our friends at a beach near the port.Thursday was Belize and maybe my favorite. We did zip-lines through the jungle canopy. LOVED it!
Then we went cave tubing. There is a river that runs through caves in the pitch black. So cool!
At the end of the day with our awesome guides.
Friday we docked in Cozumel but Brandon and I went to the mainland so we could go to the Mayan ruins of Tulum. We ended up ditching our tour group shortly because we were too impatient to wait every 5 minutes for all the slow people. So we walked around ourselves.
It was blazing hot there...good thing the Mayans were so smart to build their temples right over the beautiful Caribbean ocean! We had to go for a swim to cool off.
Saturday was another day at sea. We were exhausted from staying out late each night at the shows and then getting up early for our excursions. So we were glad to have another day to just relax. Brandon and I didn't get out of bed until 11am. This is on the last formal night.
This is us at our table together on the last night of the cruise :(We arrived in Miami Sunday morning. Since we had several hours until our flight home, Brandon and I decided to do an excursion to the Everglades. We saw lots of alligators just hanging out (there were no fences in the park).We went on one of these sweet air-boats and saw more alligators and snapping turtles.
We got to hold this baby named Snappy.It was a fabulous cruise and great company. We are so grateful to my mom for allowing us to go by watching Ty. We are already planning our next cruise together. We want to do the Panama Canal...probably won't happen since it is a 14 day cruise and we both have kids...but we can dream, right?