Love Against All Odds: 6 Years in the Making

I know, I know...you're probably sick of hearing our "love story." I feel like I've blogged about it a lot BUT...we just celebrated our 6 year anniversary!!!! This was Shannon's year to plan the festivities and he did a great job. Life has been so busy lately that I wasn't sure if we would do much more than go to dinner but Shannon surprised me and planned a quick weekend getaway. He took me back to the place where we celebrated our 2nd anniversary: 7 Wives Inn Bed and Breakfast. Only in Utah, right?! We get a kick out of the name but it is seriously the cutest old house and their breakfast is to die for! Look at us in 2007:

 Me saying, "I'm number 1 and the ONLY wife!" lol

Shannon with his Fire Academy haircut (which he's not allowed to get again lol) saying, "I came to get 7 wives!" What a dork!:)

This little Bed and Breakfast has seven rooms that are named after the "wives" that lived there. Last time we stayed in a cute room named, "Harriet" and this time we stayed in a room called "Jane." It was in the attic. Very cool. Take a look at our pics this time...

The stairway up to the attic- the room we stayed in. So cool! I'm not gonna lie though- I constantly teased Shannon that he chose the attic in order to force me to exercise! lol. By the time we went up 3 flights of stairs over and over, I was definitely winded!

 

It had 2 beds...hmmm. Was Shan trying to tell me he didn't want to share a bed? jk

I LOVE the old timey tubs.

Shan told me I couldn't share this picture...but I just couldn't resist. I mean come on! Look how cute he is! 

These rooms just have such cute personalities.

It was so cool because one night it rained really hard and the rain was so loud against that old roof. The power went out and we couldn't watch tv or anything. It was so fun. We crawled into bed and just talked and played "Farkle." I know. We sound like old fart already! haha. 

Thank you, Shannon for a wonderful weekend a couple of weeks ago and for your love and service these 6 years. It is a rarity for me to not get choked up in my prayers each day when I'm thanking Heavenly Father for you in my life. I don't know why I was so blessed. 

I wanted to share another excerpt from my journal about Shannon and my love story...but I'm blogging in the Labor and Delivery room right now trying to catch up before baby 2 appears. I will have to share an excerpt later. 

But what really has been on my mind as I've pondered about my wonderful marriage is the fact that we made it! We both have made this marriage what it is. We try to do the "little things" to keep it fun and fresh. The element of surprise goes a long way. It might sound corny, but Shania Twain keeps popping in my head, "Looks like we made it. Look how far we've come my baby... They said, "I bet they'll never make it. But just look at us holding on. We're still together. Still going strong. You're still the one."

I just wanted to share my feelings. When I became enagaged, I was told by several people that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. I understood that to so many on the outside looking in, they felt like our situation was a little ludicrous and impossible to know that we truly loved each other. For more on the history of us, read more here. It was a hurtful time to have opposition, negativity, and no support from many who were close to me. It's good to be concerned for those you love but it's also good to listen to your heart AND your mind. This is what people were missing. They thought I was acting only on feelings of "puppy love" or lust and it was all just "following my heart." This was not the case. I knew without a doubt Shannon was the one I wanted to marry because not only did my heart burn so deeply with love, but my mind felt clear and unclouded. It made perfect sense. When something is not only a strong feeling in your heart but also manifests clarity in your mind, this is a right decision. You can call it what you want, but I know that convictions in your heart AND your mind combined are the results of an answered prayer and the Spirits' way of telling me everything is right. 

I was sad that family and friends didn't believe and trust in my decision making. In their defense, I did get engaged when I was 18. I see so many 18 year olds myself that are engaged and I know they're personally not ready. Me, I was ready. My life situations and life experiences growing up matured me before many others. I'm so glad that I didn't listen to those voices around me telling me to postpone, delay, or cancel altogether. Slow down. Grow up. Finish school. (This one cracked me up the most. Apparently getting married means that you quit school? Education becomes less important? Life goals disappear? It's quite the opposite. Finding someone that you love more than anything means that you support them in their dreams and push them to reach their potential. You can't stand to see them live less than their capabilities. That's true love.) I remember specifically 2 people told me that we wouldn't last 1 year. I remember people telling me he was probably cheating on me because he was so far away and there was no way he was staying faithful to me during engagement.

Wow! Where would I have been had I not trusted the feelings of the Spirit of the Lord? It's important to listen to advice of loved ones, but at the end of the day, who has to live with your decision? You! I look at my life and try to imagine my past 6 years without Shannon. My stomach turns, my heart jumps to my throat and tears swell instantly. He has changed my life. He has made me a better person. He has loved me unconditionally. He has served me and continues to serve me. He has supported me in my life goals and pushed me to be better. I'm so glad that I trusted in myself and allowed myself to love someone more than I ever imagined I could.This is true love...against all odds.

Baby Ky's Room!!!

I am so stoked about meeting Kyden. I have been running around like crazy tidying things up and getting projects done that I know I won't have time to do for a while when he comes. I finally finished his room (except for hanging the photo of Shannon in turnouts when he was a toddler - see 2 posts ago)!

Take a look at what once was an empty white room. It's now our little fire fighter's dorm :)

I LOVE the bedding. There were only about 3 fireman bedding options online and this was by far the cutest one. The other ones were too baby-ish. This has the perfect balance with not too much baby!

Love the little fireman boots! :)

 This dog makes the room! I LOVE it! He's taller than Keshlyn and she drags him everywhere! As a matter of fact the 1st night we got him, I put him up in Ky's room. We were downstairs having family scripture study and she said, "Wait! Doggie!" She ran up the stairs and struggled dragging him back downstairs by the neck to throw him on the couch (grunting the whole way!) in order to have him with us while reading. She climbs on the couch and looks at him and says, "Scripture time, doggie." It. Was. Adorable!

These plain red curtains were in my Kitchen...but I made new ones! So the red ones were the perfect addition to this cute valance. Pictures of kitchen curtains to come soon!

It's hard finding red accessories...let me tell ya! Everything is always a maroon color instead. I was thankful to find this cute red shelf at target to hang the diaper stacker on and I found cute little red toy fireman at the dollar tree. So, I threw them in a jar I already had and threw some ribbon around it. Cute, huh!?

This little picture was in Shannon's box of baby things his mom gave to us and I just had to frame it and put it up! I love the saying. I spray painted a frame I already had and stuck it in there! Voila!

So, originally I thought about buying the lamp that went with the bedding set. But, it was $50 and on back order. 1. I'm impatient and 2. I'm very choosy on what I spend my money on. I shop around for the best deals and almost always buy everything on sale. This was the lamp that went with the set...it's cute. But, for the size of it and the money, I just thought that I could come up with something cute for little to no cost.

 

So I had this old lampshade in a pile for Goodwill and decided to transform it into a dalmatian print lampshade. I had the supplies. It was late but as I said, I'm impatient and started to paint away. When I went to bed I felt satisfied and excited that this project cost me $0! But in the morning when I went in to look at my finished product again, I was mad at myself. "Why didn't you think this through? Why did you jump the gun and do it before thinking?!" I kept telling myself I was stupid because CLEARLY this lampshade looked like cow print and NOT dalmatian. See for yourself:

 

So what's a gal to do? Go to one of my favorite places on earth, of course, to make another lampshade. It was my lucky day because I walked right into Goodwill and found this beauty waiting for me for $3- a white lampshade with black trim! Perfect!

I repainted it this time with some caution as to what I was doing instead of being on auto-pilot in zombie land! It turned out like this:



Mucho better! I love it! A cute lamp to match the decor for $3! That rocks! And P.S. That bear was the first gift Shannon ever gave me. The first time I flew out to see Shannon in Vegas, it was Christmas break from school. As a surprise he took me to Build-A-Bear to take home this cute little furry friend. He put a lion's roar inside him so he would roar when I pressed his hand. He said it was to remind me of him while I was back home and he named the bear "Shannon Jr." I slept with this bear every night until we were married 6 months later. I woke up many times in the middle of the night to a roar from rolling over on him. It always made me smile. This bear means a lot to me. :)

 Spray painted these baskets to be dark brown. They were white and in Keshlyn's room. The dog: $.99 at Goodwill. He washed up quite nicely. The changing table was my desk in high school. It was a light oak color but I painted it white. Do you know how hard it is to find a red changing pad cover? HARD! I got the last 2 on Etsy they had!

Can't wait to get the photo up above the crib! Then it will be complete!

Keshlyn likes to untie the bumper on the bed! That little stinker. I guess I'll just have to tie knots!

And lastly- remember I redid the guest bathroom? I needed decor in the room. I took two canvas and used leftover sample paint from the guest room. I then used doilies to make a design on the canvas. I got the idea from something I saw that used doilies that looked awesome but their art cost $50 each! I thought I could do something almost as cute for $10 or less. I didn't spend more than $10 and this is what I came up with:

 They didn't turn out exactly like I imagined it. I wish I would have used more of a navy. They're a little grandma-ish but cute enough. I'm happy with them.

I found this little pic of the birdies for $3 at Target on Clearance! Cute! And just what I needed.



Annual Princess Day!

So, I told Keshlyn earlier this week that it was really Annual Princess Week (AKA my birthday week). She is really the only one who has humored me in this whole thing because she told me right away with excitement, "Happy Birfday Mommy!" So stinkin' cute. The next morning I woke up to little hands patting my face saying, "Happy Birfday Mommy. I wuv you. You pity" (pretty). I just thought that was the sweetest way to wake up!!!! She gets that it's Annual Princess Week... Shannon on the other hand... lol

In his defense, he's been working SO much and we've both been running around crazy on his days off trying to accomplish some errands and projects. He says my birthday present was Hawaii... ok. That's somewhat fair except he said that was for both our birthdays, mother's day, anniversary, Christmas...lol He's joking with a hint of seriousness behind it! So, we really didn't do much for my birthday this weekend. I did have some girlfriends take me to lunch yesterday. That was nice! When I came home there was a cute little present on the table for me. It was from Shannon. My gifts:

A card. on the envelope it said, "To Princess Keshia. From Your Knight in Shining Armour." Then the card which usually is princess themed said this instead:

This was so hilarious to me because we joke about how I'm his trophy wife and he expects me to work on my looks and stay in shape since I'm a stay-at-home mom (which is funny in itself because he's jokingly implying I have nothing else better to do than work on my body. All stay-at-home mothers know that time is a limited commodity for ourselves when we have crazy, energetic little toddlers running around!)

Inside the card it said this:
"I hope these gifts remind you of the "SPARKS" we made in Hawaii and how much you "CHANGE" my life for the better every single day! I love you sweetheart and hope you have a wonderful 1/4 century Annual Princess Day!"


And then these were the goodies inside the bag:

SPARKlers and a remote control (aka Channel CHANGEr)

(Quick explanation on the remote: I had just bought a dvd/vhs player from Goodwill and it came with no remote. So we were both just saying how we need to get a remote to use with the player. He got one alright...lol)

And a home-made coupon! LOVE IT! Love his usage of "Smooth" from the actual coupon? lol

Happy 25th to me!

Oh my cute husband! He's such the clever one! We're always trying to come up with clever little ideas for gifts and such. Isn't he adorable!? I just love him.

Last night, we had our date night in. I had planned it a while ago and it was so fun! We put Kesh to bed and then we turned out most of the lights. We then took turns hiding our little hearts (stuffed toys) anywhere in the house. We both then had little nerf guns and we were to "capture the heart" of our spouses that they hid. If we shot the other person, they had to stop where they were and count out loud to 30 while the other person continued to search for the heart. It was so fun and we laughed a lot! It made us feel like kids to run around our house in the dark trying to tiptoe in different rooms without getting caught and shot! I won one round and he won another. It was so nice to laugh and have fun! 

What's your most fun and creative date night? 

For some of the cutest, unique date ideas go to www.loveactually-blog.blogspot.com 

On her blog, she then has lots of different links to other dating/marriage blogs that are fun an useful! I love to find new silly little things to do to keep our marriage fun! It makes life so much more exciting! :)

Future Fireman

My husband is a smokin' hot fireman now but he was a stinkin' cute "future fireman" when he was a youngster. I'm doing a fireman themed bedroom for our little man who will be debuting soon and while looking for "art" ideas to put on the wall above the crib, my mother in law passed me a few darling photos. Take a look...if our little guy looks anything like his daddy in the top right hand corner of the photos below- I'm in trouble! His little grin makes me melt. What's funny is that little grin in this photo is the same "little grin" he uses on me today for just about everything. Works like a charm.

Just wanted to share :)

Tick Tock

Tick Tock Tick Tock...


Time is definitely NOT in my favor these days! The time seems to pass so quickly and I have SO much left I still want to get done before our sweet baby boy arrives! AAAHHHH

Time is going by SO fast and our sweet little Keshlyn Jolee is 2!!!! I can't believe it! Remember her here?

Now she's all potty trained, sleepin' in a big girl bed, and talking up a storm! I'm amazed at how many sentences she says these days. Keshlyn is very much into princesses and so we took her to Disneyland for her birthday! Here's just a few pics from her birthday weekend:

My heart melts at that last one. She is growing up so stinking fast. *tear

What have we been doing the past couple of weeks? Well, I've made a car seat cover, throw pillows, curtains for my kitchen, decor for my bathroom, Shannon's installed more shelves in our closet and tomorrow he'll finish up a closet downstairs, cleaned out 3 closets, organized stuff to be put in attic, potty trained Keshlyn, painted Ky's bedroom and painted baskets for under his changing table..his room is almost done! Just a few small touches will do the trick! I can't WAIT to post pictures...probably end of this week or beginning of next! YAY!

Phew. I'm tired! Nighty night!

Keshlyn's New Room!

So this was our little pumpkin's nursery when she was born. It was simple and cute.

 

These were the darling letters I made that adorned the wall above her crib. I still love them.

I'm so mad at myself that I never got a full camera shot of the rest of the room. I didn't get the curtains or rug or changing table with the cutesy polka dot changing pad... oh well. This is the best picture I could find that showed where the bed went. And can I just say that I want to cry because my little Keshlie is so stinkin' cute and little right here?! I miss those chubby cheeks. *tear

 

Last night was the first night for Keshlyn in a big girl bed! While Shannon was taking down the crib yesterday she was crying over and over, "my bed! No, my bed!" I have been telling her for a week or two now that she was getting a big girl bed because baby Ky was going to need the crib and she has been so excited. But, seeing the crib come down made her sad...and daddy too. He was feeling a little down just knowing that his baby girl is going to keep growing. He was so sweet. Time does go by too fast! 

Take a look at her new "big girl room!"

We went away to Disneyland and this was waiting on the wall late the night we returned! Isn't Keshlyn so lucky to have an artistic grammy who can paint? 

Isn't it darling? Collett did such a great job! It matches the bedding perfectly!

Keshlyn insisted on being in the picture! She's so protective of her new bed. haha. Can you believe we snagged this cute bed for $50?! It was marked up but nothing a little magic eraser couldn't fix! Now it looks almost good as new!

Cheese!

 

Her favorite chair for reading story books!

Her cute kitchen set we've had for a short while... (psst. $20 find at a yard sale! I just LOVE good deals!)

 

Cute matching dresser also $50. Cleaned 'er up right nice!

Overall, I think it turned out really well! She went to sleep right away on night 1. However, she came running into my room at 4:30am. I put her back into her bed. She came back into my room around 5:20am. Put her back to bed. Saw her sweet face at my bedside again at about 6:15ish. Put her back to bed...and finally she slept until I woke her up at 8:15am. Wondering how long it will take her to stay in bed all night? Naptime... that was rough today. Took me about 8 times of putting her back in bed before she finally fell asleep. I'm just glad I'm dealing with this now and not at the same time as dealing with baby #2! 

Painting Baby Boy Phill's room tomorrow... can't wait to share pictures of his cozy place!