Adventures as a single parent

Maybe this title is a little misleading. No...I didn't loose my husband and yes, I am still happily married; however Eric has been gone the last 2 weeks at training in North Dakota for work. He got to come home to spend a full day back Saturday, but left again today for another two weeks.

To be honest, it wasn't much of a change at the beginning since Eric is usually at work all day anyway and then comes home and has to work on his online classes so I don't see to much of him. However, the second week I was starting to see how nice it is to have some help, even if it just in the evening as well as some company. Not to mention, Mia is teething about 4+ teeth at the moment and has not been a happy camper the last few days to say the least. Poor girl! Needless to say I survived the last 2 weeks and one to another. Now we'll see how it goes in the future when there are a few more kids added to the bunch. Yikes! The last week in June my Mom is being ever so kind and is coming in to watch Mia for the week when I go hang out in North Dakota since that is about as much as a vacation we are going to get this summer. I am actually quite excited to have a whole week to myself to read, be lazy, and rejuvenate to come back and be a better Mom and it's a plus that Eric's work is paying for it!

So besides venturing into the world of dying pants and introducing family and friends to it Mia and I had a little adventure to Ely this last week. My cousin Megan drove down with us which I was grateful for since I have never taken a long trip by myself with Mia. My original purpose for going to Ely was being there with my little brother when my Mom went to girls camp. Both Seth and my Mom got some kind of stomach bug before then and I ended up going up to camp for the first afternoon to teach part of a workshop they had planned for the girls. My mom recovered the next day and was able to make it to the rest of girls camp whether she wanted to or not. She dislikes camping (hum...that must be were I get it)! It seemed like throughout the week each of us took a turn not feeling well (Mia took more then her share of a turn from teething and being very sensitive) so we were pretty lazy and vetoed most of our plans of crafting, going to the pool and baking.

Mia and I made it back home Friday night to a stranger sitting in our living room...ok it was actually Eric, but it seemed like it had been so long that it might have well as been! We were both excited to get hugs and kisses from him and go to bed! Saturday we went to Provo for Sophia's birthday party. Annelise did a Minnie Mouse themed party and went all out! Everything looked so cute!!

The Birthday Girl!

There was a bubble machine that the kids all loved

I'll let Annelise do the honors of showing you all the cute details from the party. 

Sophia's birthday present was my first "homemade" gift of the year so naturally I was all geared up to do some big project which equivalated to a tablecloth playhouse that was under $20 to make! I had a lot of fun making this and got very into detail! It turned out just how I imaging it. For those wondering how I did this, I bought a full size sheet from walmart for $10 (you could use a sheet you already have) and then pretty much just used scrap fabric I had for everything else on the house. For the top of the house I used a brown curtain had from our old apartment which we didn't need anymore, but we live in a basement. Annelise asked for gifts that would be educational or hands on. Since part of my major includes child development I am all for thing that spark imaginary play for children since that is what helps the develop a lot of their social skills as well as problem solving skills. So I think this gift fit the category and Sophia loved it. In fact all the kids at the party loved it! They were all inside it at the same time at one point.

Testing it out on my table

The mail box opens for mail deliveries.

Mia tested it out for me. She played in that house all morning.

So before this post turns into a novel which most people have stopped reading by now here are just a few updates on Mia. I don't think I ever mentioned that she is officially walking now! It's so cute. She's still getting a little use to it so she walks a little funny. My family kept teasing she looked like a chimpanzee when she walks because she won't really bend her knees. She's also starting to recognize more things that I say or tell her to do (like vacuum and wash the dishes...lol, ok so not quite yet).

One day I found Mia on this speaker by our TV. She sat on that for over a half hour and loved it without the TV on mind you.

This was after she fell off which she wasn't very happy about lol, however it didn't stop her from getting back on it.

Project Success!

In no way would I consider myself a "fashionista", but more of an admire of fashion for 2 reasons...number 1, I can't seem to bring myself to pay over $40 for a single piece of clothing (unless I absolutely love it and even then it's a rare occasion that I actually buy it) and number 2, I'm not brave enough to try some of the things I see other women wearing that I love.

However, there has been one recent fashion trend that I haven't been able to get off my mind....COLORED PANTS!

This picture from an awesome new blog with inspiration on how to be fashionable on a budget! The Dime Diary

 I'm kind of obsessed with them at the moment (keeping in mind that I actually don't own a pair). I see them everywhere and always am looking for them in stores, but never found any with the perfect fit or price. So the other day I came across this tutorial on pinterest of a girl who bleached some jeans and dyed them. I couldn't believe I have never thought of this before!! One day after learning this I was anxious to try it out and so I grabbed a pair of old pants I had and went to work!

I apologize for being awful at taking "before" pictures, but I snatched an original picture of the pants from Old Navy.

They are your basic khaki bootcut pants, which when I first bought about a year ago I wore a lot, but stopped wearing them a few months ago after they lost their flavor and after being 3 months pregnant and just barely being able to fit in them again now that I am not.

So I started out by trying to bleach them, but even after letting them sit for 3-4 hours nothing was happening. I then bought some RIT color remover and that didn't even lighten them. I decided to just go ahead and dye them since they were light pants anyway. I went for a coral type color since I am also very obsessed with coral clothing now as well. After dyeing them I made them into straight-leg pants by laying a pair of straight-leg pants I already had over them, pinned them, and sewed! They were already pretty fitted in the thigh so I just took in the pants from the inside seam from the knee down.

Thanks to Sara who let me talk her into modeling them for me, here is the final product!!

Can you believe she had a baby only a month ago?!?!

I absolutely LOVE how they turned out and feel like I have a whole new pair of pants for only $5 which was the cost of the dye! (I had to mix two different colors of dye. I used RIT dye for $2.30 each which I got from Hobby Lobby.) Infact, Sara and I loved them so much we bleached a jean skirt Sara had and dyed that too!

It seems that I am more likely to try projects when I know someone who has tried it...so for those of you on a budget and want cute colored pants for summer take it from someone who has done it and TRY THIS!! It is so easy!

Here are a few tips

1. The thread on the pants will not bleach and dye so make sure it's a color you don't mind showing up once you've dyed your pants. My pants and the jean skirt I dyed had tan stitching so it blended really well with the color and gave it a little detail.

2. Bleaching jeans, especially a dark wash jean takes 4-6 hours if not more! When we did Sara's jean skirt we let it sit in hot water with bleach for about 6 hours. We changed the bleach water 3 times to keep the bleach process going. We were also pretty liberal with the bleach!

3. To skip the process of bleaching and trying to find a pair of pants with a good thread color go find a pair of white pants on clearance or at the thrift store!

4. Pants that are mostly in not all cotton bleach and dye better. Mine were like 95% cotton and 5% spandex.

5. Once the pant's are bleached to where you want them throw them through a cycle in the washing with laundry detergent. Once that is done you are ready to add some color!!

6. I wouldn't recommend dyeing your pants in the bath tub or a sink if it is not stainless steel. It could dye them so if you don't have a stainless steel sink use a plastic tub to put in the sink. I've also read that some people did it in the washing machine, but after trying it I'm glad I did the sink.

7. This brings me to my next point, which is...dye is messy and get's everywhere if you aren't careful! One little speck of dye powder on your finger and you could have a nice dye spot on the next thing you touch. So wear gloves and have an clear area! I felt like in the sink I had more control over what I was dying and didn't run the risk of having some dye get leftover in the washing machine and bleach all my clothes! Plus it was easy wipe up of any that got on the counter.

8. RIT dye has an awesome website! It has a color formula guide to get just about any color you could ever want! Check it out HERE.

I hope some of you give this a try and let me know how it goes! As for me...I am enjoying my new "fashionable" pants :)

A Day at the Zoo

This weekend was filled with lots of fun and family! We got to spend Saturday with Eric's family. We hadn't seen them since they moved so we really enjoyed that they could come down for the day. The afternoon was spent in Salt Lake with Mia's first trip to the Hogle Zoo! It was a hot day and the zoo was packed with people, but it was our first "family fun" trip since having Mia! I loved seeing Mia's reactions to all the animals as well as William's since it was his first time to the zoo as well.

Enjoy all the fun pictures for our visit to the Zoo!

Mia loved to point at all the animals she saw.

There was this wood elephant that would make sound and shot mist out of it's trunk. This kids all loved it and William is not afraid to go make new friends!

Mia pointing at the elephants

Along the sidewalks they had fans that would blow mist to cool everyone off. This was Mia' reaction to it...haha I love her scrunchy face! 

Proof that I was actually there!

In the past Will has seemed to be afraid of carousels and would only sit on the benches. I made a bet with Eric that he would get on a bench and Eric bet he would get on the praying mantis...lo and behold Will jumps on the praying mantis and I owe Eric dessert. Proof that I would be an awful gambler!

Our best shot at the "perfect" family trip photo. :)

Today we got up and went to Provo for Addi's baby blessing and church was at 9am! Even though we barely make it to our ward at 9am on time somehow we managed to leave home early enough and be on time for Sara's ward. It was good to be around lot's of family and attend church together, especially since I got to go Relief Society which I won't be going to anymore because I got my first calling! *This is kind of a side note unrelated to the weekend, but last week I was set apart to teach a class of 8 year old boys. The 7 of them were quite rowdy and...well...young boys but I think I'm going to enjoy it! I teach my first lesson next week.* Anyway, after church they had lunch at a park near them and everyone got to visit.

And if you haven't noticed already...another great thing about this weekend is that I got a hair cut! I decided to stray from my usual A-line hair cut and went short with thick bangs. With Annelise's amazing hair cutting skills I am ready for summer! 

Mia and I thought we would take these "lovely" pictures to show you :)