Baby's room and our cute little Ani-Bear!

I have finally completed our baby boy's room.  I've been working on getting it all put together for a while now.    It took me so long because of many different factors.  First, I had to find fabric that I liked, which proved to be nearly impossible!  I know this sounds sad, but Hancocks and Walmart, you do not satisfy my fabric palate.  I found the fabric at Joann's when we visited Florida last month.  I coordinated the colors and paintings around the fabrics (all displayed in the curtains and bedskirt).   So, in conjunction with announcing our baby's name to those who don't already know, here are the paintings I created for his room:

 I had a lot of fun creating these.  Maybe I'll do some more sometime.

 Here are the curtains.  They did not end up how I originally intended them to be.  I found upon getting home from our Florida trip and beginning the project that I only had about half as much as I really needed.  So I had to get creative and piece it all together.  I do like how it turned out though.

 A little closer up

 I even painted the knobs of the tie-backs to match :)

 Here is the coordinating bedskirt I sewed.

 And the completed room, all ready for baby Declan, whenever he may choose to join us.  Hopefully soon :)

And just because she is so fun and cute (and I haven't been posting enough about her lately),

Having so much fun playing in the leaves!!

Quilting

I have recently started quilting a bit.  I made this first blanket for my wonderful friend Jessica, who's having a baby girl about a month after I'm due.  I finished it off with a brown binding (and then forgot to take pics).  I like it :)  It was a fun one to make.  I used old receiving blankets (that I don't think I even used) from when Ani was a baby.

 This one is for some friends of ours from Florida, having their 5th baby, and first girl!  I love how it turned out, especially with the blue satin binding.  It's non-traditional girl colors are so cute!

 Some more detail, with the back of the quilt showing

 This one is for my sister Laura's baby.  I made it out of receiving blankets.  It turned out so soft and cuddly.  I'm so glad I could learn how to quilt a little bit :)

Maternity Shots

I have always wanted to have some really sweet maternity shots taken.  My belly never really gets big enough to feel justified in paying someone else to do it.  Well, yesterday I decided to just take some myself, so at least I have something.  I like how they turned out.  Now, I am no photographer, but I did have fun.  Here they are :)

More Florida pics, Savannah on the way home

The city of Ocala is well known for its horses.  Downtown, it had several different horses painted with different scenes.  They were pretty neat

 This one was covered in quarters

We also visited Silver Springs, with 99.8% pure artisan springs.  They were beautiful.  

 We were able to ride in glass-bottomed boats, through which we could see the several underwater springs and the many fish and wildlife that live there. Anabelle was even able to feed the fish (which she loved, of course)

 The water was so clear and beautiful. The pictures really don't do it justice.

 Our view from up high on one of the rides

 Check out this cool tree that wrapped itself all around the deck

 This giraffe got so close to our faces!  Only about a foot away.  Mike caught the pic as he was pulling away. It spooked Anabelle to be so close to him, but I thought it was pretty awesome.

 They had a petting zoo

 And about a million alligators!  These are the 2 albino gators they had, but seriously, I'd never seen so many gators in my life.  It was pretty terrifying to be so close to them. They're so creepy

 The water was just gorgeous, so clear and reflective.

 Anabelle got to ride on the carousel twice, she loved it so much!

This was a pretty fun stop on our trip.  They even had a little "bear world" area, cougars, flamingos, a huge play area, and more.  Fun stuff.

Car Seat Canopy

I ordered this awesome fabric about a month ago to make our little guy a car seat canopy.  I've never used one, but, I'm pretty excited about it.  I LOVE the fabric and finally made it.  It only took me about 2 1/2 hours, which I was happily able to complete in one afternoon :)

I also made this teddy bear a while back.  It was a complete experiment and turned out pretty well for the most part, a little wierd and uneven in places, but I think I like it.

He even has a little tail

Well, that was fun!  I love making projects, and completing them.  I feel so accomplished and fulfilled when I complete a creative "work of art".  Thanks for letting me share.

Florida trip to visit Denise/Memories

We went down to Ocala, Florida a few weeks ago to visit a close friend of mine, Denise, who was passing away from cancer. I played volleyball, basketball, and did track and field with Denise for 4 years throughout all of high school, and the group of friends that played together have remained close as we have all grown up, married, and moved all over the country.  I wanted to see her before she passed away and help her family out with anything they might need.  We had a good visit with them and were even able to watch her 2 little girls for a day to help them out.  Denise passed away on October 24th, about a week after I saw her for the last time.  I'm so grateful we were able to visit her and thankful to have been friends with her.  She was always such a wonderful friend and example to all who knew her. Funeral services were held in Florida, where she lived, October 29th.  Memorial services are being held today in West Jordan, Utah (where she grew up). Wish I could be there.

Denise and her family, about a month before she passed away

 Some memories of our sporting days

 Homecoming dance junior year

 Senior basketball team girls, such good friends

 Track and field, junior year, always a blast (one of my most favorite photos ever)

 With our basketball coach, junior year

Mutt Strutt

Mike and Arcee participated in a 5K mutt strutt the Navy base was putting on a few weeks ago.  Basically, it was an opportunity to go running with your dog and a bunch of other people.  It was pretty fun.  Anabelle and I went along to watch (I wish I could run, but there's just a little something holding me back).  They did pretty well, ended up in second place!  This even scored them an awesome trophy and prize bag, which included a new rope toy for Arcee and a Halloween marshmallow sucker thing, which reminded me far too much of nasty Peeps, but of course Anabelle loved it.  Here are the photos.

 I married the strongest man alive!  He carried Anabelle the whole 3 miles ;)
Just kidding.  She did run to meet him down that last stretch and he carried her through the finish line though.  It was pretty cute.

 Yes, the other dog is dressed up as a pumpkin.  They also had a costume contest for the dogs.  And no, we did not even think about dressing Arcee up.  Not our thing.

 Nice little trophy to take home (that has just been sitting on our counter since we got it...awesome.)