Valentine!

Logan went on the Klondike with the scouts so Elsy and I spent Valentine's Day together!  We had lots of fun, especially at Value Village where we found a cute teddy bear rocker (it looks purple in the picture but it is really brown).

Logan and I celebrated Valentine's Day yesterday.  He he surprised me with tickets to see the Odysseo show by Cavalia.  Yippy!  What's that you might ask?  Well I'll tell you... It's a HORSE CIRCUS! I am so excited.  And if anyone wants to come babysit that would be great. ;)

I made crepes this morning, as usual.  It has become a tradition to have crepes on Valentine's Day morning.  Today I tried some pumpkin cheesecake ones.  They were pretty yummy, but Logan still likes the traditional ones best.  I'll post the link for the recipe to both later... Right now I think I'll have another crepe before I go to bed...:P

(It is now Feb. 15th and I just had more for breakfast.  Here is the recipe for the pumpkin cheesecake crepes and the originaloriginal creamy strawberry crepes.) 

The New Apartment

We moved into our new apartment at the end of November.  It's taken me a while to post a "tour" because I always forget to take photos when my house is clean.  Mondays are my deep clean days so I made a mental note to take pictures today. ;)  I also didn't want to post until I was done decorating but that could take a while so I gave up on that.  Aaaand if you want to play where's Waldo with Elsy... that could be a game for you while you look through our apartment.  So, without further adieu (?) .... Our apartment!

This is a photo of our apartment from the entryway.  There is a little hallway that looks into the dining room/living room.

The doors on the left are the guest bathroom and the laundry room.  To the right just around the corner are double doors leading into Logan's office.

The guest bathroom:

The laundry room/storage room:

Logan's office:

This was the one room that wasn't clean so I stole this picture off his Facebook page.  This is just one corner.  The other wall has my piano and a walk-in closet.  Logan got all this foam padding for sound recording but all I think it does is smell like coffee...and look kinda cool ;)

  

Those are the first 3 rooms... Then once you pass the mini hall you enter the living area.  All the apartments out here have fireplaces but we never use ours.  Elsy just likes to put her fingers in it and get soot everywhere. (Still don't have curtains for the sliding glass door.)

The living room, dining room, and kitchen are all connected.  I was a little surprised that our counters were a creepy green color because in the pictures we looked at before renting they were a light grey (like in the bathrooms).  It is just something I have to get over... They match the couches right?  We have a pantry which is behind the foldable doors and looks just like the shelves in the laundry room only they have food on them instead of miscellaneous junk. (Valentines's tabelcloth!!)

In the back of the apartment are Elsy's room, ours, and our bathroom.

Our room:

We gave Elsy the master bedroom because Logan liked the view.

Elsy's room:

My next project is Elsy's wall above her crib.  I just finished those curtains on Saturday. (I cut a shower curtain in half and sewed a hem and a loop for the rod).  You can't see the wall on the right but along that wall is Elsy's closet and changing table.

Our bathroom:

Has a linen closet...

Porch:

Obviously it's raining.  Seattle weather.

To the left that door is a small storage room.  Something I really wanted was lots of storage space for baby things, my crafts, and Logan's gear (which is a lot of gear).  This apartment has TONS of storage with walk in closets in all the bedrooms, the pantry, the shelves in the laundry room, etc. and I absolutely love it.

So there it is!  Did you find the baby?  

Yesterday's Project

Yesterday I stained a picture frame!  My mom gave me this picture she used to have hanging in her front room a few years ago (although every time she sees it she says I stole it).  We have had it in our living room since we got married.  The frame has never matched the other frames in my living room so I finally decided to do something about it.  Here's what I did, you can decide for yourself if it turned out or if I ruined it... I'm still trying to decide myself.

Here it is... Pre-stain.

I sanded it down and used some handy dandy Rust-oleum stain (my favorite....although I have only stained something once before this *teehee*).  I also had to tape around the frame because for the life of me I couldn't get the back off the frame!

I let it dry overnight and waalaa!  It's a little shiny because apparently I didn't sand all the finish off and therefore it dried shiny on some places.  Ah well.  It's not perfect but I think it's better.  Now I just need to figure out how to decorate my mantle,  it's kind of hodgepodgey right now so if you have any suggestions let me know!

Olivia's Blankey

Well it may have been a little late but I finally finished Olivia's blanket (my newest niece)!  I have been trying to crochet a blanket for each of my nieces and nephews... So far so good but now that I have my own baby it's getting harder to finish them on time.  I might just make a boy one and a girl one for each family and call it good.  We'll see. :)

I had to wait until they got it before I could post about it.  If any of you don't know, I love to crochet.  I kind of wanted to keep this one...just like I want to keep all of them, but Logan talked me out of it.

You can find the pattern here.

I don't have a picture of the blanket I made my nephew Ezra but here is the blanket I made my niece Hannah a year ago.

You can find the pattern here.

I started the blanket for Holly's baby a few days ago.  I am excited about it.  I have until May to finish it so lets hope I can keep on schedule before any body else gets pregnant!

The Holiday Season

January is almost gone and I still haven't gotten up what we did for the holidays.  Here is a quick look at what we did:

For Thanksgiving we celebrated with my side of the family in Tri-Cities, WA.

It has always been a tradition to pull the little kids around the gym floor in blankets.  We used to have races when I was little.  My sister Riley was kind enough to pull Elsy around for her first Thanksgiving.

Another tradition during the holidays is to help my dad grind up the deer we shot during hunting season into hamburger.  It takes about 4 hours.  The first hour everyone helps, but by the end every year it is just me and my dad.  Hunting has always been a really fun way for me to bond with my dad.  I absolutely love everything about it.  This year was the first year I wasn't able to go because I am still nursing Elsy and Dad wouldn't let me bring her in the front carrier.  He said if she cried she would scare away the big ones. :)

Here are three of the bucks that were shot this year...and then what they looked like after we put them through the grinder. :P

For Christmas we flew out to New Jersey to spend time with the Bean side of the family.  I was nervous to take Elsy on the airplane but someone didn't show up so the flight attendant re-arranged some seats so we could have Elsy have her own seat.  (Otherwise she would have been on our laps the whole time!).  She did so well and several people around us commented on how well behaved she was.

David and Natalie (Logan's parents) took us into New York City to see the Rockefeller Tree.  It was so crowded we could hardly move with the stroller.  The crowds were probably due to the warm weather... 69 degrees on the Saturday before Christmas!

They also took us to the aquarium in Philadelphia.

  

One of my favorite things to do is go to zoos or aquariums or anything with animals.  My favorite were the cuttlefish but Logan I think liked the shark tunnel best.

Christmas morning was wonderful and Elsy got to meet Grandma Bean for the first time.  She sat on her lap almost the entire time we opened presents.

We also got to go visit my parents after Christmas.  Elsy got to get to know her cousin Hannah a little better.  Hannah loved to hand things to Elsy and then take them away and then give them back.

We also got to meet my cousin Shaylee who is only a few days younger than Elsy.  This was at our New Year's Eve party.  We laughed a lot watching them sit next to each other and pull back and forth on the same toy.  They were so polite to each other.

We had a wonderful end of the year.  I will have to get pictures up of our new apartment.  More to come soon!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Beans!

I really wanted to get out a Christmas card this year but, alas, it was not meant to be.  We just moved to a new apartment in a new town and I just haven't found the time with unpacking and getting all settled.  I hope this counts!  If I had sent a Christmas letter, this would have been it:

Merry Christmas!

This year has been a big year for our family.  Our family has gone through a lot of changes.  First of all, we welcomed a new member to our family in April, Elsy Ann!  She has been a great blessing and has brought a fun and new dynamic to our home.  She came in at a whopping 10lbs 14 oz but has since leveled out.  She still has the chubbiest cheeks that are great for kisses.  She has developed from a helpless newborn to a little rollie pollie.  She loves to roll around the apartment and put everything she touches in her mouth.  She has begun to learn new sounds and loves to stick out her tongue.  She is such a mellow baby and we feel very blessed.  We have learned so much in the past 7 months having her in our family.  We couldn't be happier to be parents.  

Logan has had a big year this year as well.  He graduated from Brigham Young University - Idaho with a Bachelor's degree in communications with an emphasis in advertising and video production.  He was able to direct a short film for his senior project, Yarrow's Boy.  If you haven't seen it you should!  He did an amazing job with an outstanding crew.  After graduation and a few months of searching Logan was able to land a job as an Art Director for a company called Construx located in Bellevue, WA.  Construx is a software development company that hired Logan to help start up their eLearning program.  He has been working for them for 2 weeks now and loves it.  As a wife I am so happy to have Logan come home from work and tell me he had a great day (all I was praying for was a job Logan would enjoy everyday and that's just what he got!).  Logan is a hard worker and a good dad.  He loves to play with Elsy when he comes home and is better at making her laugh than I am.

This year I wrapped up working for a wedding dress shop and became a stay at home mom.  I never realized my dream job would be so hard!  I love it though.  Being a mother comes a lot more naturally than I realized it would but there are still many things that leave me stumped.  I am grateful for a mother who was a good example and for the help that I get while on my knees.

We recently moved to Redmond, WA.  We love it here and are getting to know our new ward.  We are so grateful for people who are willing to serve and reach out to us and help us feel welcome.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season.  We have been truly blessed this year.  We are especially grateful for the Savior at this time of year.  We look to him for an example as we go through changes in our lives.  As we remember his birth we also remember his death and the Atonement, which was the ultimate gift that any of us could receive.  

Merry Christmas from The Beans

My Little Ghost

Alright so my last post told how I really don't like "scary" Halloween but don't mind "cute" Halloween.  I had been going back and forth on what Elsy should be for Halloween and finally decided on the cute but simple ghost that many have seen on Pinterest.

Isn't she just a little darling?  I thought I would show you how I made this so you could make one if you wanted to!

Materials

Tulle (I used some leftover tule from my sisters wedding, probably about 2 yards or so)

Scissors

Elastic

White onsie

Black scrap fabric

Needle

Black thread

First, take your little gal and wrap the elastic around her waist.  Cut your elastic about an inch longer than that.  Then overlap your elastic about an inch and sew a straight line (you can kind of see mine in the pic above, it's sloppy but nobody will see it... I even used cream elastic and nobody knew he difference.)

Next, cut the tulle into strips about 25" long and 2-3" wide (I eyeballed it).  I cut about 60 of these strips.

Lastly you tie the tulle around the elastic. To do his, fold your strip in half.  Hold the tulle on the inside of the elastic ring.  Place your fingers in the crease of the tulle you folded in half and pull the two ends up through where your fingers are.  Gee I hope that made sence.  It's like pulling the tulle through a loop with the elastic on the inside of the loop.

My little helper... She didn't really like the way it felt I think.

Do that over and over again until you have your tutu!  (Or as my dad called it, a fourfour because Elsy is so fat.) :)

I dug a white onsie out of Elsy's drawer (can you tell because of how wrinkley it is?) and cut out black eyes and a mouth from some scrap fabric we had laying around.  I just lightly stitched it on with black tread and a needle so I could easily unpick it later and reuse the onsie.

Walaa! You have your tutu and a onsie to make a cute little costume!