Ornament Wreath

After Thanksgiving dinner the boys went for a dirt bike ride and the girls had craft time. We got our inspiration from this picture, and just kind of did our own thing with it. We really had no idea what we were doing, but they turned out well.

We started by tying and hot gluing the ribbon on since it gets covered by ornaments, and it would be much hard or possibly even impossible to put on after the ornaments were on. We did the letter next, but it can be done after your ornaments are on as well. The letter was a bit tricky since the wreath didn't touch the letter in very many places. You kinda have to work with a bit and just try to get glue in as many places as possible.

I started with one ornament and went from there. Just like the initial, the ornaments won't touch in very many places, but I also glued them to each other so they would be more secure. I didn't go in any certain order. I just did what i thought looked right, and tried to keep as much of the wreath hidden. I didn't cut the tops off, but I did turn them so that you couldn't see any of them. I did all of my big ornaments before I put on the small ones. Any gaps that I had between the big ornaments were covered nicely by the small ones.

The ornaments will make it heavy on one side so you should take that into consideration when deciding where to put your ribbon. Mine ended up being totally crooked when I tried to hang it up. Luckily, I was able to get some ribbon through a different spot that would make it hang straight. 

I think what I loved the most about these is that they can be done in so many different ways. 

Taylor's mom's wreath.

My wreath

Kayleigh's wreath (sister-in-law)

I believe that our wreaths were 18 inch wreaths, and our ornaments were bought from Target and Walmart. The snowflakes just happened to be in my box of small ornaments. The ribbon was some that my mom and I picked up last year after Christmas that was left over from my wedding. 

Mountains to Climb

A couple weeks ago in my early field class my teacher showed us this video, and I just wanted to share it with you.

It really made me stop and think what are the mountains that I'm climbing on, and who am relying on to help me climb them? My mountains are making it through the holidays and my first ever Christmas without my family, finishing this semester with the grades that I want to get, and other things. I also have hills that I am going over like dealing with things that people are saying about me or Taylor and I. There is always going to be something, but there is also always going to be help.

The mountains in my own life may be nothing compared to someone else's, but the fact of the matter is that they are still things that I am struggling with. I would never be able to reach the other side of the mountains and hills without the Lord. It is comforting to know that He is always there for me, and to have the gospel in my life. I can't imagine how much harder things would be without His love in my life. Whether we are climbing a mountain, going over a hill, or walking on flat land we are never alone. I will never give up my faith in Christ because I know the influence that it has. I am so thankful to have the gospel in my life, and I am even thankful for the trials that I face.

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Jeffrey R. Holland. 

“Don't you quit. You keep walking, you keep trying, there is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon. Some come late. Some don't come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in Good Things to Come.”

Should Have Checked the Weather

This past weekend we went on a spontaneous one night road trip to Grace. We were planning on going riding on Saturday, but since some people don't know how to check the weather report it almost didn't happen. We woke up to a couple inches of snow, snow still coming down, and some full force winds.

Of course that didn't stop these boys so off we went. (thank goodness I brought my snowboarding jacket with me)

 This is how your supposed to drive right?!

Don't worry I gave Taylor back his goggles quickly and just looked down instead. Taylor loved getting to play around in the snow, and I loved seeing him happy.

The Rzr doesn't have a windshield which meant full on wind. It was SO stinkin' cold!

Once we got to where we were going I chose to ditch the Rzr for the nice warm truck. Wearing jeggings in the snow was not a wise choice. I could tell that Sheldon was dying to ride (he asked me every time we stopped if I wanted to switch with him) so I happily let him take my seat for the ride back.

This ride stressed the fact that I really need to get my own pink helmet and goggles even more. Or maybe I just want them really bad.. It was fun, but I think that I will be okay if we don't do it again any time soon.

Burlap Tree Skirt

I looked for a tree skirt at many different stores without finding anything I liked that didn't cost a small fortune. I was getting discouraged so I decided that I would make one instead. I remembered seeing a burlap tree skirt on Pinterest a while ago so I decided to try making my own version of it.

I chose to buy a round table cloth as my base because I didn't want to sew fabric together. I used a pot lid to measure the circle for the tree, and then cut a line down it so that I slip it around the tree. I found the brown and green burlap at Walmart and the red burlap at Hancock Fabrics. I got two yards of each color and had different amounts of each left over. I cut the burlap into 3 inch strips, and overlapped them just slightly. I chose to use hot glue rather than sewing it so that it would be a little easier. I didn't measure how far apart the ruffles were. Instead, I just did what I thought would look right.

I folded it over at the top, put a dab of hot glue, and then held it until it was cool enough that it wouldn't try to fold back over. I eventually resorted to a bag of ice to help the glue cool faster so that I wouldn't have to hold it as long. 

As you can see from the picture on the left there was many white spots that appeared from the ruffling. To fix this I would put some hot glue at the end or farther up by the fold to keep them down. It still kept the ruffle enough to look nice, but the white spots were gone.

I love the way it turned out. It looks great with our tree. I will warn anyone that tries this that it takes a long time to do. I probably spent ten hours off an on working on this. You will also get burlap all over your work area and probably on your clothes as well. Even though it was hard work it was definitely worth it!

When the boy is away the girl will...

.. watch way too many cheesy abc family Christmas movies and love every one of them. I'm talking like six movies in two days.. Thank you Netflix.

really high quality photo I know.

.. allow their counter to look like this while she works on their tree skirt.

.. go to her classes like normal. I figured if the boy had to go to classes then I should probably still go to mine.

.. break the side mirror off of their good car. (definitely the boy's fault for moving our bikes)

.. eat sphagettioes for dinner because she is too lazy to cook for one.

.. nearly die from a cold. Maybe I wasn't anywhere close to death, but it wasn't any fun.

Taylor went out of town for some training for work for a couple days leaving me to fend for myself. I would say that I manged it quite well. It's kinda fun to be away from each other for longer than normal. It makes you grateful for him being there all the time.

Jumping on the Thankful Train

Everyone has been doing their 'thankful days' on Facebook or their blogs, but I never got around to doing anything like that(because school is slowly sucking the life out of me). I can't let November go by without taking a minute to think about what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my husband, and for the love that we have for each other. I'm thankful that he works so hard to support us, and I am even more thankful that he loves his job. I told Taylor the other day that Brei and Lehi want some ideas of what to get us, mainly you, for Christmas. His reply was, "Tell them to get something that you would love because as long as you're happy with it then I am happy." For real though, he says these things all the time. I hit the jackpot with this man.

I'm thankful for my mom. She truly is my best friend. She is the greatest person in the world, and I'm not saying that because I'm just like her. I love that I am exactly like her. I wouldn't want to be like anyone else. Living so far from her is never easy, but knowing that I can text or call her anytime makes things easier. She always takes the time to listen to me, and she has been the best role model.

Who wouldn't be thankful for this ghillie suited man and this wonderful grandma!

I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my dad, and the way he is. He's the most annoying, loving, funny but so not funny, caring dad in the world. I'm thankful that my family is growing, and that I have been blessed with awesome sister-in-laws. I don't get to see them often, but when I do it is always the best.

I'm thankful to have the gospel in my life. I'm thankful that I choose to attend church every Sunday, and to have the Savior in my life. It has brought me so much joy. I can't even imagine where I would be without it.

Even though I hate it so very much I am thankful that I am going to school. This semester has been my most challenging one, but I am so glad that I have the chance to get an education. I feel like I have learned more than ever before this semester, and I truly love my major. Let me just add that in four out of my six classes I have above a 97, the other two are above a 91, and I'm still working twenty hours a week. Yes I'm bragging, but I'd say that I'm earning that right!

I'm thankful that I have everything I need. Taylor and I may still have wants, but we have always been able to provide everything that we need. Big expenses have jumped out at us lately, but have been able to bounce back from them.

I'm thankful to have Taylor's family to spend the holidays with this year. They have treated me so well, and they make spending the holidays away from my immediate family a lot easier.

I am thankful for my health, and my family's health. We've had a bit of a rough patch recently, but we are all strong and doing just fine. I really don't think that I could be more thankful for that.