Family Pictures

We met up with Rendy Tucker (of Rendy Tucker Photography) at Manito Park in Spokane. I felt very gloomy as we got in the car to drive to the park, because the skies were dark and it just started to rain. I said a little prayer that I would just relax and enjoy the process rain or shine (come what may and love it - right?) as we were crossing into WA and no kidding....once we were a little passed the Spokane Valley Mall the sky became blue and the rain had passed through. YAY! It was a bit breezy and my feet were numb from the soggy grass, but well worth it. Kelsi wasn't very cooperative. Better than last year, but she really wanted to just play with sticks, flowers and Rendy's props - not smile for the camera. Rendy is so talented that she was able to get a few that we LOVE. Thanks, Rendy! We'll miss you when you move in a few months.

Kelsi started off in a bad mood so we swung her around to get her smiling.

Rendy bought this umbrella and Kelsi LOVED it. We have MANY umbrella shots.

I love Kelsi's smirk in this picture. Her personality is so much fun.

Let me just say that it is SO hard to look at 70 pictures of your beautiful little girl and only pick a few. It was a rather fast process to pick a couple family pics that we liked....but the ones of just her was torture to decide between.

Family Fun

My parents flew in for a few days. It was SO good to see them. Sadly, the weather was overcast, windy and even some hail. But no weather could stand in the way of our fun!

Kelsi loved spending time with her "Gamma and Pa".

We went to Riverfront Park in Spokane. Kelsi didn't want to ride the carousel (I hope this changes by the summer when we take her to Disneyland). At first, she didn't even want to play on the SLIDE. But eventually, she was having soo much fun that we literally had to take her away kicking and screaming.

We took a gondola skyride over the Spokane falls. It was pretty, but not worth the $7. Better to walk down the stairs of the falls....less money and more exercise.

Kelsi did NOT want to take a ride in the gondola, but she ended up being fine halfway through (notice that look on her face of -" I'm going to throw up any second"). Oh yeah, she also loves sticks. So, we let her hold a few while we were on it....it helped.

She loved talking on Pa's iPhone and scrolling through the pictures.

T for "too cute". One of her favorite things at the park was to feed the ducks and geese.

Thanks for the fun Mom and Dad. We miss you and look forward to seeing you this summer!

EASTER

We had a great Easter this year. When I told Kelsi that the Easter Bunny came by overnight and left her some presents, she asked if he left them under the Christmas tree. SO funny!

She loved the bunny that was left. She wants to take it everywhere with her.
Here she is looking for eggs around the house.

Finding some eggs!

and decorating John with her Easter grass.

We ended the day with a HUGE family feast. We are thankful for the time we had to spend together and to reflect on the the wonderful atonement and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Bed

I have "lost" a lot of the building process pictures...I can't find them anywhere on my computer...WEIRD! Anyway, in January I came across a really cool blog called Knockoffwood. Ana is truly amazing and has TONS of plans to build your own knock-off Pottery Barn furniture. You'll be hooked....consider yourself warned. I have 2 friends that already built stuff and another one that is getting ready to start. It is super addicting. ANYWAY, Kelsi is almost 2.5 so I thought I would tackle making her a bed. CRAZY, I know!! ME???!!!

SOOOO....I printed out my plans (she gives a detailed shopping list of the lumber you will need) and grabbed the truck and headed on down to Home Depot. The man in the lumber department looked very doubtful when I told him I was making a bed, but pointed me in the right direction for all the sizes I would need. I got a HUGE and I mean HUGE splinter in my hand while I was picking my lumber and pushing that big 'old flat of wood with my hurt hand gave me a few doubts about my plans, I have to admit...but I purchased it all. I also had to buy a few supplies:

Lumber - which is supposed to cost about $100, but I sprung for a few boards that were knot free and pretty so, my total came out just under $140. Then I bought wood glue, 2 & 2.5 in. screws, L-brackets (not necessary, but I bought some anyway) & 1 gallon of paint (didn't even use half of it). Total cost of my bed was just under $200. It was a little more than I planned on...but I spent more on the wood, which I didn't need to do once we got to the next step.

The next day, I took all my wood to my MIL house. Her neighbor has a shop FILLED with the most AWESOME tools. We made all of our measurements and then took them over and cut then with his sliding miter saw (more about this later) and then sent them through the planer to get them sanded (this is why I didn't need the nice wood, that tool is AWESOME. Lost pictures of this. Very sad) I LOVED using the saw. I was smiling the whole time. (My bro-in-law Bryce showed me the correct way to cut).

The next step was to assemble the headboard and footboard. SO EASY. We used wood glue to press all of the planks together and then used a top/bottom trim piece and used a nail gun to nail it all together.

Then came the tricky part and I am SO glad that my MIL and Bryce were there to help me with. We couldn't find the 4.5 in. screws that were listed in the plans and my MIL had the brilliant idea of using L-brackets. We threw a little extra wood glue in and screwed them in place.
We pre-drilled all our holes so we wouldn't end up splitting the wood.

After the headboard and footboard were put together, my FIL and Bryce loaded them back in my truck for me and I took them home and filled the holes will wood putty, let it dry and then sanded them down again. Then I primed them with two coats of some primer I already had around the house.

Then I painted them both with Mosaic White paint (I can't believe how many choices of paint there are! - sorry I don't have a pic of them just painted). I gave them about 2-3 coats of paint. I also painted the side trim and the support beams (not pictured).

I hauled all the wood upstairs into Kelsi's room (John helped of course with the headboard) and put him to work assembling it. Here is where we ran into a few problems. My biggest rookie mistake was pre-cutting EVERYTHING. SOOOO...my measurements were off very slightly on a lot of my pieces of lumber. The support beams were just 3/8in. off and I thought I was going to have to go buy another 2X4, but John said he could work with it. If you look closely on the support beam and cleat on the right hand side of the picture, you will see a gap. Once we had it all together, it just did not seem sturdy enough with the gaps, so I went back and bought MORE L-brackets and we used them to give the bed more support.

Then I put all the slats in place and it was ready for a mattress!

TA-DA!!!!

I love this little quilt. It has so many different textures to it. It's DARLING.

Kelsi loves to jump on, run on and sit on her bed. But does NOT like to sleep on it. Oh well, all in good time.

She's so big I can't stand it.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED:

1. I'm awesome (ok, I already knew that - LOL!)

2. CUT TO MEASURE, DO NOT pre-cut!!!!! A lot of my wood does not lay flush with the other wood because of this. So sad.

3. Going back, I would have done a toddler bed so I could get all my rookie mistakes out on it before I made the bed I want her to be in until she goes to college.

4. Listen to my friend Leslie (who built two of these beds for her girls) and shorten the legs of the headboard so it isn't SOOO huge.

5. Need to buy a paint sprayer to get a more professional look. I had to brush paint it, and while it has a rustic look to it, it's not the total look I prefer.

6. I am at TOTAL odds with the side trim. Since I don't have a box spring, it is a PAIN in the REAR to make. UGH. My hand gets all bruised from that darn thing. I am soooo close to ripping it off and just drilling in a frame to the headboard/footboard as one of my friends suggested. OR I could put a box spring in, BUT the bed is so high already that Kelsi can't get in by herself. So, I am still wrestling with that one.

OK, sorry for the ridiculously long post, but someone (my sister) wanted ALL the details. I hope this suffices.

All in all, I had a LOT of fun, I learned TONS and now my hubby is going to buy me tools! I already have a few other things I want to build from her site: a headboard for our guest room bed, a night stand for Kelsi, a end table for our living room, an entryway bench, a kids picnic table. I just can't get enough!!!! (One project at a time)