Here it is...

After four years of trying to conceive, and no doctor being able to tell me why it is that I don't ovulate, Logan and I decided we needed to make some decisions. In just a couple weeks, I will be sent to a fertility specialist if we do not become pregnant before then (it's negative so don't get your hopes up....it hurts when those hopes get shattered). We have an option to seek out fertility, to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on treatments that aren't guaranteed to work. Logan and I both want to have a child so bad but don't want to go into debt trying to have a child and then not get one. I don't know how much more of an emotional roller coaster I can go on before I feel like I am going to explode!!!

After much praying and crying, we have decided that we are going to adopt! Thats right, we are going to be adopting a little baby. Be a boy or girl, we dont care. Now, don't get too excited, we are scheduled in the end of April to go meet with LDS Family Services and start our application process. Then we have to go through interviews and home studies. Then its a waiting game.... waiting for a baby.

Waiting for OUR baby!

We are so excited and are looking forward to the day that we get the call saying we have a baby. I hope that its sooner rather than later, but either way, I cant wait.

Crafty updates?

I was told the other day that I needed to update my blog. So, after much thinking I decided I really dont have anything to add, so here goes. As for the craftiness, I haven't done much to our apartment. Here are a few pictures of things I did to "complete" the apartment.

(All the previous things were done in preparation for Logan's family that came down for his 30th birthday as a surprise. For those of you that "know" me, you know I had to make the place look perfect!)

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That above was started over a month ago. See Alicia, I am not good at this whole blog thing. There are a lot of new and exciting things that have happened but that is a whole different post! For now, enjoy the pictures.

Self explanatory

Before....
These are frames that my mother had that she was no longer going to use. I really wanted to make one of those message boards using ribbon. So, here is what I did...

After

Craft Corner Make over

Logan's family is coming to visit for his 30th Birthday and since we no longer have a guest room, we have to change our office/craft room into our guest room. I have been going through all our stuff and dejunking. Doing our spring cleaning a little early. To date, I have thrown away 12 boxes of stuff we no longer need. It feels good to get rid of things that we haven't touched in years. It's really nice to have extra space and have things organized better. After dejunking the office closet, I decided I had space to reorganize. So here you will find the before and after photos of my craft corner make over.

Before

After

All six of my containers happened to fit perfectly in the closet. No more clutter on the floor.

After doing the office make over, I decided I needed to dejunk the kitchen. I threw out a bunch of stuff and have a table full of junk I am getting rid of, anyone need some pots and pans??? ;-)

And the best thing of all is that we now have a lot of things to donate to the less fortunate. For Christmas each year my dad doesn't want presents but to have his children do service. Instead of doing service once a year at Christmas time, we are going to do service all year round. We have about thirty sweaters and jackets that no longer fit or are outdated so instead of holding onto them, we put them in the trunk of our car. We plan on driving around town and handing out the sweaters to the homeless (unfortunately we didnt do it last week with our record low temperatures but its better late than never). I love the feeling of doing service for others and am glad that in the process of cleaning, I found a chance to do service!

Oh, how I love my Cricut!

I always promised myself that I was never going to buy a cricut machine. I mean, you spend all that money just so you can make die cuts??? Waste of money in my mind. In October, I had a few friends over for a scrapping party. One of my friends happened to bring her cricut machine. I decided to try it to cut out some letters and words for a few of the pages I was working on, and I instantly fell in love. I told my mom who happened to mention that my sister-in-law has a cricut and it has been in a box in her garage for a year. So, after bargaining with my SIL she let me borrow it for a few months in exchange for lessons on how to use it. Of course, the more I had it, the more I loved it. I happened to find a few good sales on the machines on the day after Thanksgiving. So I want to say thanks to my awesome husband for buying me a cricut machine for Christmas (well, I really bought it myself but since I am unemployed, he paid for it!!!). Here are just a few things that I have done with vinyl or sticky paper.

In our kitchen above the dog bowls.... Saying is so very true!
Master bathroom (the walls are actually white but the letters are reflective so I couldn't have my flash on)

Guest bath, most recent and so far my favorite. The cricut did everything except the water splashes, those I did by hand (I am sure it can do it but I just dont have a cartridge to allow it).

***Next will be my laundry room and office/craft room. Once they are complete, I will post pictures!

Krafty Kelsey Kontinues!

So, in my continuation to be crafty on a budget I have done the following projects as gifts for friends. Please remember that I am not working and am currently taking orders if any of you are interested!!! ;-)

YEAH! I sold my first Hooter Hider. Thanks Marilyn.... I hope Kelly loves it!

Hooter Hider for Kim and she absolutely loved it! And she better cause she picked out the fabric herself ;-)

Receiving blankets are the newest thing I have added to my craftiness. Here are a few that I did for my friend Sara. I threw two baby showers for her so I took the opportunity to turn her gifts into decorations. Baby shower pics will be posted soon!

Receiving blanket for Julian!

Bibs and burp cloth

Customized onesies. I loved this idea. I have a few more in the baby shower pictures you will see but I just loved the idea. So my nephew got a few late presents and I also made some really cute decorations that could be worn when baby Harrison (Sara's baby) arrives.

I visited my Sis-in-law before my newest nephew, Luke, was born and she was getting ready to do a baby shower and didnt know what to do. I took her to Wal-Mart, got all the items she would need and told her I would help her with the cake. When we got back, we started chatting and I started rolling diapers. Next thing I knew, the cake was done and we both looked at it in shock. Looks great, very inexpensive, and WAY fast.

Better yourself

When I was younger I use to always wonder why tanning beds were such a big deal. I loved laying out in the sun, spending the day by the pool. I was always tan and remember people telling me that I was going to get skin cancer. I remember responding to people saying "At least I am going to die enjoying being outside and seeing what Heavenly Father and the Lord made for us to enjoy". I always promised that I would never be one of those women who went to the tanning bed religiously and had that fake bake look. And then I graduated from high school, started college and got a "real" job. I still found time to lay out between class and work, on the weekends, etc. After meeting my husband and working more, my skin saw less and less sun.
Before our wedding, I started using a tanning bed so I would look completely pail for our wedding. Well, I got addicted. Yes, I love being outside and would much rather spend my time that way, but I dont have any time. Since our wedding (three years ago), I have gone to a tanning bed twice. My skin has not seen the sun nor a "bulb" since then. Its been over two years. Yes, I have gone out and about, been at the lake but I cover up a lot more than I used to, when I didnt look the way I do now. With work, school, cooking, cleaning, a husband and two dogs, I dont have time to go lay by the pool for hours, and its WAY too HOT in Florida to just lay outside in the yard without having a hose nearby or being winter time. Our apartment complex has a tanning bed and I thought I would start taking advantage of it since its there. My complexion gets better and I overall feel better about myself when I look tanner.

In addition to tanning, we have started the Biggest Loser competition again. This time, I am more motivated and plan on doing a lot better than last time. On Monday, my brother Greg was talking about wanting to lose weight and get tone. Logan has recently started to do the "E" word (aka - exercise). BTW - he doesn't do the "E" word, and never really has. So they made a bet who could lose the most in the month of September. Then my mom decided to get in on the bet, then I wanted in on the action, next was my sister in law, and then my dad. So off we all go. We all weighed ourselves on one scale so it would be even and the same throughout the whole competition. When I checked my weight, I was already 10lbs lower than what I thought I was, or what I remember being the last time I weighed myself. Since then, I have lost an addition pound (remember, its only been three days). I had it in my mind weeks ago and have been trying to eat better, eat less, and exercise more. This family "competition" just makes me want to get at it more! I'll keep posting and updating my weight loss success story!

As an additional side note, it has been four days without a Soda, and most importantly, without Caffeine!

Krafty Kelsey

I have decided I need to try to be more crafty recently. I have so many friends and family members who are pregnant that I decided I would start making Hooter Hiders (aka nursing aprons) for them. Here are a few pictures of a couple I have made. I really enjoy making them so if anyone reading this wants one or knows of someone who might be in need, I am current taking orders! ;-)

While out shopping about a month ago I came across an awesome saying, one of the vinyl rub-on wall sayings, that I absolutely had to have. Because we live in an apartment I didnt want to just paint it on the wall (which I normally would do cause I see my mom do it all the time), and this way it can be removed and even saved for our next place when we move again. My first thought about where to put the saying was to put it above our headboard....oh wait, we dont have a headboard! So, my creative mind started thinking. I went to the store, got 4 yards of fabric, three sheets of foam core board and went to town. The outcome of my creative attempt is below. Headboard, cute saying, and curtains (BONUS which I didnt have before either). Total cost for everything - approximately $28!