THE HILLS ARE ALIVE....

Every time Paul is in a group meeting over google hang outs, I have this urge to start singing super loudly. Sometimes I even get up and start dancing around. and SOMETIMES Paul starts laughing in the middle of his meeting.. Yes! That's the best thing ever. I dunno why I think it's so funny.

Right now he's in a meeting and it's taking everything in me not to start singing, "THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MUUUUSIC!!"

Primary nut heads

It's time for me to brag about the only children I have. Paul and I teach the 7 and 8 year old Primary class in our ward and we LOVE it. These tiny humans are like the ultimate examples of faith and love and kindness. I feel so lucky to be able to be with them every Sunday. They for sure drive me crazy sometimes and I honestly sometimes think they have no clue what we are talking about but they are nice enough to nod their heads and act like we are super awesome teachers haha. We've been called to teach, but I really know we've been called to learn from these children of God. 

PVC Pipe Puppet Theater

This post is specifically for a class this semester. 

Enjoy some poor lighted pictures of my creation! 

Who knew PVC pipe was so AWESOME? When I first started this project I thought, "How in the heck am I going to do this?" Luckily my husband was kind enough to help me out a bit.. especially with cutting the pipe. 

So the skeleton is obviously made out of PVC pipe, fabric from wal mart, and Mr. Owl I got from D.I. (Whhaaaa!!). It was fun to make and a lot easier than I thought it would be, although it was time consuming. 

So here's your shopping list in case you'd like your very own puppet theater.. 

• Four 10 foot 3/4 inch pvc pipes cut to the following lengths:
  • 46 inches x 2
  • 36 inches x 4
  •  23 inches x 2
  • 19 inches x 2
  • 12 inches x 4
  • 6 inches x 4
  • 1.5 inches x 2  (You can’t see these in the photo, but they are between the two tee joints on the bottom.)
• 8 tee joints
• 4 side out elbow joints
• 4 end caps
• PVC pipe cutter

From there you build yourself the skeleton of your puppet theater. To see an AWESOME blog post about puppet theaters click HERE. My list of materials came from her site and it is, like I said, awesome. 

Next you'll need to dress those ugly pipes up with some fancy curtains. I went to Wal Mart and got Four yards of fabric all together (two- Maroon, two- Polka dots). You'll need to do a rolled hem on all raw edges. Once that's been done you can start making your curtains. I wont go in much detail just because it's hard to explain a how-to without detailed pictures (next time I guess). 

I didn't have time for this but in the future I want to make flannel backings (one light blue and one dark blue to represent day and night). Along with that I want to make felt props such as trees, castles, houses, or anything that would go along with a story. Putting velcro on the back will make it stick to the backing and would make it even more fun for students to act out their stories. 

And there you have it! I love puppet theaters and I think this turned out especially cute. 

Thankful

I'm thankful for a lot but mostly for my love.

Our Tiny Apartment-The Living Room

Working at an apartment complex for a year taught me a lot about how to look for apartments in a college town as well as what is good and bad about an apartment once you are lucky enough to find one. About 18 months ago Paul and I were over it. Our overpriced, 3rd floor, apartment, with screaming neighbors was just not our thang.

I was searching on Craigslist and suddenly found a crappy one bedroom, one bathroom ad and I knew I needed to see it. What made me HAVE to see this apartment, I'll never know. The pictures were awful and it looked like it was made in the 20s. But it had a yard, only shared one wall with a house, and was walking distance to the college. It literally had everything we wanted in a tiny apartment. (NO newlywed NEIGHBORS!!) So we wrote a check and it was ours.

Although it's tiny, it works perfectly for us. We've had to be a little creative and come up with ways to make our space work but it's been fun to have a minimalist style.

Almost every piece in the living room is either from IKEA or Target. Duh. :)

This tiny side table is probably my favorite thing we've bought specifically for our tiny apartment. We don't have room here for a kitchen table.. well I take that back. We probably do have room but it would literally take up half our living room. So we use this little guy when we need one. It usually sits over by our futon but get's moved to use for homework and eating dinner every day. Plus I think it's super cute.

We used to have a giant microfiber sectional that was suuuper comfy but, come on, it was totally not practical in our tiny apartment. We sold that sucker and bought this futon from Target. Since, our space has felt SO much more open and inviting.

This wall was completely blank a few weeks ago. Vinyl dots saved the day! Paul is still getting used to it. I think it's cute but he says "for a little girls room". haha. I don't know I can't really decide on them to be honest. For now they're staying though. 

We have tile throughout the apartment so we doubled up on our rugs in the living room. This just helps with keeping the place warm.

I LOVE this giant mirror we have. Definitely helps open the place up a little more. I also use it as my mirror when getting ready in the morning.

 And there we have it! Our tiny living room. I'm pretty proud of how it's turned out. Also check out that tiny christmas tree!! (insert heart eyes here)

Vinyl

When my sister and I started our vinyl business (hobby..activity..bonding time??) I didn't even know how to spell vinyl. I've practiced though and I no longer have to think about putting a y instead of an i before the l. So proud.

I'm so lucky to have an awesome sister who has awesome ideas and awesome machines. Her husband does window tint and has a giant plotter to cut his tint. So we thought, hey! We could probably use that when he's not looking and sell vinyl decals! So we made an fb, got some business cards and got to it. and I have to say, I'm surprised at how well we've been doing.

We did our first craft fair last Saturday and did AWESOME especially for our first show. We made about $500 and ate some Bambinos while doing it. It was a good day. I hate to admit, but I was extremely sore the day after. and like evvverywhere. I didn't know that being at a craft fair could make me feel like a ran a marathon.

I'm looking forward to getting my next work out in at the Hilcrest Craft Fair on Decemember 5th.

Obsessed

Yesterday marked three years since Paul asked me to be his forever. I can't believe how fast time flies by. Like one minute we're dating and kissing in potato fields and are completely dizzy with love and then next we're sleeping in the same bed (still dizzy with love) and what the heck? Where does the time go?

We were in Wal Mart the other day buying dish soap (or something random) and the cash register guy asks how long we've been married. He was completely surprised when I said it'll be three years in April. I love it when people think we're just barely barely married. That's just how it goes in Rexburg.

We go into the post office pretty frequently because of my Etsy shop and we ALWAYS go together. There's been maybe one or two times when I've had to go by myself or I've sent Paul alone. It's like a giant shock to the (amazing) workers there when we aren't together. "Where is your side kick?" They ask me. and I'm like, "Seriously.. I feel so out of place without him!". He is totally my side kick. We're best friends and we do pretty much everything together.

I get it. People think we're weird because we are seriously attached to the hip. I HATE leaving for class or him leaving for work because we're apart. Sometimes I call him while I'm on my way home to him.. just because I miss him.

We're obsessed with each other. and I love it.