Busy Bees

We have been busy bees since we got home and definitely taking advantage of our last days with Justin before school starts tomorrow. I think I got all my "honey do" items done, but of course it will only take me a few days to come up with more. : )

Our first project was putting up our new headboard. You may remember that last summer we made a headboard out of some scrap wood we found in the alley and we used leftover paint from our table. It did the job but was a little ghetto. Well, before he left this summer Justin found a headboard in perfect condition in the alley. (Alley's are good for only one thing...finding treasures.) So we made the switch. Our new headboard looks great! We didn't want to throw our little creation in the trash though so we attached it to the fence with hinges and made a little store for the boys! It has been so much fun.They will play store forever. Even Koyle will stand at the window and ask you, "Want?" and then he will give you a ball (we have been using our imagination and using our ball assortment as play food).
Yesterday at our Stake Share Fair (basically a giant free garage sale where everyone donates stuff and then you can come take anything for free. They open it up the night before to families in need, and then anyone is welcome to what is left.) we found the cutest little cash register toy. It is in awesome condition and works great. They have played with that thing non stop.

We have had a couple of good rain storms which were much welcomed as our backyard grass that we babied along all spring totally burned up while we were gone. One day we went out to play in the rain. The boys were having fun standing under the shower of water that drains off our roof, when Koyle walked over to the plants, hung his head over, and told me he was watering the flowers! It was so funny. Matthew thought it was great too and had to try it out.

Our next big project was painting! I have been wanting to paint ever since...forever really. Being gone from your house for 2 months helps you see it in a new life. I did some rearranging and am loving the new setup. Anyways, we had some friends move into our townhomes and they put us down as their  referrers so we got a $200 rent credit this month. Awesome! We decided to use some of that money to do a project with the house. Painting was an easy choice for me.

The before picturesChoosing the color was a little hard for a few reasons. I wanted something that would warm up the space and add color, but I really had no vision of what I wanted to do. And second, I have these plaid couches that are hard to ignore. So I had to find something that wouldn't clash too bad with them but still be a color I liked. 

And surprise, surprise-we decided on yellow! I really did try to not pick yellow. We had a red picked out we really liked but were afraid it would be too dark. We found this color and it was the perfect fit.

Benefits of having a tall husband is you don't need a chair to paint the top of the wall!

It turned out so awesome! I love love love it. It changes the whole feel of the room and is exactly what I was going for. And it really wasn't too difficult. We did it one night after we put the boys to bed and were all finished by 10:30. We also used up every last drop of paint; we could have used more but I'm glad we didn't pay for that extra can because we really don't need it.

A friend came over to play one day and he brought this cute little drum set with him that his mom found at a consignment store. Koyle looked so adorable sitting there playing the drums.

I had Justin build me some extra shelves in the laundry room and pantry too. This was helpful since I went to Sams and stocked up big time. Our membership is ending and I am not going to renew it because COSTCO is coming in the fall! So excited.

We also got our money-woot woot! Pay day is very exciting when you only get money twice a year. And even though it's not real money, it pays the bills. Our budget is looking good this year and I am feeling optimistic.