Our finished lamp

Yay I finally did it! I finished spray painting my living room lamp! I've been randomly running to the garage for a few seconds on and off for WEEKS to paint. Enough talking. It's time for some oohing.

Lamp BEFORE:

Not very special. It was too much brown and not "happy" at all.

Lamp AFTER:

I think it's fabulous! The lamp shade was found in the "as is" department of IKEA for $3.50. The white primer was $2-something. The white gloss spray paint was $2-something. Both were purchased from Walmart. I guesstimate that to be somewhere around $10 total! It's given our living room an instant burst of freshness. Yay!

I'm currently still working on a chubby little candlestick. It's going to end up ADORABLE. My next BIG project I'm gonna tackle is our entertainment center. It's made of laminate so it's gonna take some serious sanding, priming, painting, and modge podgeing. So much fun!!!

Seating & Privacy

We LOVE our couch but are well aware of the fact that our living room still needs more places to sit. I fell in love with this double wingbacked chair on craigslist but the seller never answered my inquiries. Then it happened: Monday I saw an ad for a cute little striped loveseat for $30!

Isn't it adorable?! Of course, JT was sure to get a promise out of me to eventually cover the loveseat in something more neutral. In the meantime I get to enjoy the girlishness of it all. :) All that's left now is two chairs for the other side of the room. I have big plans for DIY upholstering on that one. Yay!

Our second dilemma was our entryway. There is NO privacy! Instead of a peep hole, two windows line our doorway. People knock, look in, and wave to us. There's no ignoring. That's really hard when I've finally gotten the twins to sleep and am heading back to try and catch a nap...and then I get caught. Yesterday JT begged me to take some money and buy material for curtains. Anna and I hopped in the car and ended up at Walmart! We found some pretty gray silky material for $1.50 a yard! 3 yards and a curtain rod later we were out the door. Today I spent a major chunk of the day at Brandon and Anna's learning how to sew. It's difficult getting it all just right, but I'm sooo glad I did it! I feel so much more accomplished!

JT immediately hung them when we got home. I realized that we cut them too short but think that it's for the better. I plan on adding a strip of fabric at the bottom to bring in a pop of color. I haven't decided what color I'm going to end up painting the front door. I may do a light yellow with white trim against the blue-gray walls. I already held up the curtain fabric against the blue-gray and it looks wonderful! The BEST part is we now finally have privacy! That actually was the first thing JT said about it all. Now if only we could get people to stop knocking when we post "please don't knock--sleeping babies" signs. Baby steps.

Heating Issues

Last week (I think it was last week) the weather here in Provo couldn't make up its mind. It got hot and then went back to cold. The first day it got hot I about died. We couldn't get the A/C to turn on and the landlord wasn't showing up. I was sweating and the babies were feeling hot. Delilah wasn't really napping and while Porter was sleeping I kept running into the nursery to take his temperature. I was terrified that he was going to get too hot! The thermometer said he was ok every time though. Anna and Brandon were nice enough to take us under their wing until the A/C got fixed.

Well almost as soon as the air conditioner was fixed the weather turned cold. It was 65 degrees in here during the day! There was no winning. I then proceeded to bundle the kids up. The same thing happened again last night. It was too cold and Porter had been sleeping in just a shirt. He woke up that morning unhappy so I changed him into pants, socks, and a hoodie sweatshirt. He was out again within seconds! Anyways, I got some cute pictures of him in his little beanie from the first time.

Sunday Post....on Monday

Oops! The second official Sunday after announcing I'd start doing picture posts is already a bust. This is the lame belated post instead.

I never realized how forgiving black is--even if you're pregnant with twins! This picture was taken when JT's parents came up to Utah to visit the family. They asked Lacie's VERY talented mom to take family pictures. They came out absolutely beautiful! I love the little shadow on JT's chin. You'd think he had a goatee or something. I had a really good time that weekend with family and really appreciated the chance to commemorate that stage in all our lives. I also think that this is the MOST happy I've ever been with my hair. The color and length were perfect. Now that I'm 3 months un-pregnant it's brown and falling out. Anyways, this was a really good day and a picture perfect picture. :)

JT's surprise

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my husband! Not because he buys me things (although I do appreciate that!), but because he knows me so well! Yesterday JT had training up in Salt Lake. On his drive home he saw the IKEA sign and decided to stop in and pick up a surprise for me.
This is the IKEA play mat I've been drooling over for weeks! I love that it has a mirror, different textures, fun colors, and soft playthings on it! I know the kids will love tummy time ten times more now. Thank you Love!
THEN my wonderful husband decided that he deserved a fun toy too. Rightfully so. He picked out a new wall unit for over our TV! He was worried about it not being perfectly spaced apart from the entertainment center but I told him not to worry, I would fill the void. :)


Lastly, we got a new rug! I was shopping at Ross and came across this little beauty for $40! What a steal! It pulls everything in the room together wonderfully. I couldn't be more thrilled.

So whether you're a bit skeptical about the way things will turn out....

or in love with the changes...we will keep you posted on how things are going in our little home!

How quickly they change

I cannot believe how quickly they have begun to grow up. I keep begging them to stop. I want to keep my little babies forever! As I type this Delilah is falling asleep in her swing and Porter is eating his hands while playing with his toys. It's ONLY been 3 months!!!! What's up with that?!?! I'm almost afraid to weigh them. It's like knowing their weight will solidify the fact that my newborns have disappeared.

However, this new phase of life for them is stinkin CUTE!!

Delilah totally beat Porter out in the chubby cheeks category. I love kissing them all day long. She's absolutely beautiful. She just started smiling and laughing recently and melts our hearts everytime she does. I'm consistenly amazed by her dainty little princess-like ways. Too bad along with the royalty comes the princess-and-the-pea complex. She REFUSES to sleep on anything less than a pillowtop mattress. We went against all baby bedding standards and put a foam topper on her mattress. Although her favorite is our bed, she will now most times deign to nap in her own crib. Delilah is very strong too. She's been holding her head up for a while now and has no problem holding herself up when placed on her tummy. But the crying will let you know that she's not thrilled to be there. She's definitely started crying less. Although less for her is still more than Porter, it's a start. Her babbling is sufficient to get our attention. She knows how to twist us around her little fingers.

Porter is a charmer and quite possibly the happiest baby I have ever seen! It can be really frustrating when we want to "reprimand" him for not sleeping and he flashes us the biggest grin and giggle we've ever seen. How can you stay mad at a cutie like that?!?!?! It's not fair. Sometimes JT and I will be talking amongst ourselves and look over to see him grinning at us. He's a fun one. Porter has also started actively playing with his toys! It's amazing to watch him zero in on a toy, reach out his hand, and actually touch it! I LOVE watching them learn and develop. It's like I can see the thought process behind it all. I'm convinced my babies are geniuses! Porter started (and Delilah soon followed) trying to hold his bottle too. It's usually one handed but he gets a pretty good grip on it. Lastly, his cooing and babbling is quite possibly the most adorable thing we have ever heard.

There you have it. I've fallen in love with my children. I'm torn between wanting them to stay little and being excited to watch them grow. Heavenly Father is the ultimate genius and I'm thrilled to get to care for His perfect little children.

IKEA trip!

Today Anna and I packed the babies up in her car and drove up to IKEA. It was the perfect day to do so. Our air conditioner isn't working so the house is too hot to keep the babies there. I was really nervous with how hot it was yesterday. The entire time the twins were napping I kept running into their nursery to take their temperatures. They were never close to dangerous levels so as uncomfortable as it must've been to sweat while they slept, they were fine.

My real reason for going into IKEA today was to buy a children's tent. I would like to spend some time outdoors working on things and Brandon's outdoor graduation party is Saturday. To keep the babies with me without worrying about their sun exposure, I bought their $10 tent. It's a cute little igloo. :) While there I may have splurged on a few more items.....

*a crib sheet protector

*a serving tray

AND

LAMP SHADES!!!!!! Laugh if you will, but it's so exciting to be updating our living room lamps!

I'll give you a sneak peak of the lamp shades but you'll have to stick around for true before and after photos. I have some work to do with the lamps. Walmart was kind enough to supply me with a couple cans of spray paint. I'll let you know how it goes.

We also stopped at a really cute antique/boutique/consignment shop next to Thanksgiving Point. There was a good diversity of things and although there were some pricier items, a good portion was actually reasonable! I almost got 2 signs that said "My prince, my joy" and "my princess, my joy". I decided to hold off.

Anna and Brandon let us stay while we waited for JT to show up. After fixing the A/C issue JT came over and they grilled hamburgers for us! Anna experimented with making corn on the cob in sea salt water. I'M A FAN! I'll definitely be trying it again. We're so glad to have them here! They're awesome family and friends. We'll definitely miss them when they head off to Vanderbilt.

Journaling

Blogging is about the only way I consistently journal. It's sad but I've decided to make the most of it. If for no other reason than to write down my own memories, every Sunday I will start doing a short blog post about an old photo. It'll probably bore you all to tears but I'm excited! The pictures will be picked randomly and out of order. So Sunday post #1:

This photo was taken in 2008 shortly after JT and I were married. We were living in San Clemente at the time while he finished out his 4 year go with the Marine Corps. His parrot/cat was our new kitten named Snickers. I think this is a fun picture because it kinda shows how odd Snickers really was. She made our newlywed phase VERY interesting. She'd always try and sleep on JT's chest. I'd wake up in the middle of the night and scratch her so she'd start purring away like a little diesel engine and making JT's entire chest vibrate. He wasn't a fan. We started trying to lock her out of our bedroom but she headbutted the door with such force we were afraid she was going to break it. Then there was the dolphin flips, the playing fetch, the climbing up my jeans, and the weird little meow/barking noises she made. It was NEVER boring around our little 500 square foot apartment.

My not-so-secret project

Spending time with Anna has made me realize that I don't have to be ok with having a home I'm not proud of. It's not so much the messiness. I've come to accept that my home is going to reflect where the majority of my efforts go. I have two dressed, fed, and happy little babies...and a messy home! However, even the messy stuff is slowly getting cleaned up. :) Back to my original point...Anna has opened my eyes to the world of interior decorating! It's SOO much fun! I've already got my list of home decor blogs I frequent and have visited IKEA multiple times in the past month. It didn't take JT long to hop on the bandwagon either. Our first step was painting the living room. I wanted a neutral gray for the walls. Oh boy, well I wish I had studied up on color undertones BEFORE we purchased the paint. I didn't even know that paint had undertones! Our paint ended up a light gray/blue like you see condos painted by the beach. We went back to the store and picked a darker color. So now it's a dark gray/blue. I've not only come to accept it, I actually like the blue tones now!Did you catch a glimpse of our ceiling? We finally have a ceiling light! It was SO annoying to not have any overhead light. I know it's not for everyone, but I LOVE it!
Our ceiling light isn't the only new light fixture to find its way into our home.Please ignore the weirdness of the font/color/underline thing my writing has going on right now. The blog page is freaking out. Now some of you may remember our big leather couch. It was given to us by a friend for our wedding. Free was the perfect price. However, 2 years later and our backs are suffering. It's too plush for us. JT's back has been so bad of late that I had to sleep in the guest bed one night last week. Saturday we decided to bite the bullet and we drove down to IKEA to pick out our new couch. We wanted something modern, supportive, and practical for a family with kids. Our friends Jenny and Jason were so sweet to pack up their family and drive down to help haul our couch. We settled on a contemporary style. It's black which will be perfect to hide stains. It also comes with a slipcover that can easily be thrown into the washer. The best part is the support. It's nowhere near as soft as our last couch. I had big issues with that at first. But now I like it and realize it's what's best for us. But don't worry. Even though multiple people have told us it's comfortable, we'll keep some cushions on standby in case you disagree. ;)
The living room hasn't been our only project though. We've been hard at work on the nursery! Porter's crib has been set up for a while with the bedding made special just for him by Grandma Trout. But this week Delilah got her crib too(brief shout out to Autumn for the SWEET crib setup she gave us)! Grandma Trout is still working on her bedding, but until then her sheets and plain white bumper will suffice. We repositioned the dressers and hung the yellow striped curtains over their window. JT bought their mobiles. He made sure to get the sports one for his boy and he "picked something pink" for his little girl. All that's left is paint touch-ups and decorations! YAY! P.S. sorry the picture is so dark. iPhone doesn't handle lighting issues very well.
Lastly but not least, our babies are 3 months old as of today! Here's a picture of their sweet little selves.

Our 2 Year Anniversary

Yes, I know this is late.

Last weekend was our 2 year anniversary! We were pretty stoked about it. It was fun to laugh about the whole "2 kids in 2 years" thing...and a little crazy. If you want the whole big story about our wedding day then I suggest following this link: http://jktrout.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html
Maybe on a slow day I'll also write about our reception and post a few photos.


Anyways, JT had a 3-day weekend from work that was FANTASTIC! It was so nice to see so much of him. Christina and Joe took the kids one afternoon and we were able to go sightseeing and check out some stores. Later Brandon and Anna watched the kids while we went and got ice cream and watched The Bounty Hunter. We thought it was a fun movie! That weekend we also went to the Living Aquarium in Sandy and Temple Square. The picture sequence below is backwards so please forgive me. I'm just too lazy to fix it!

It was great to spend that time together both alone and as a family. When we went down to temple square I couldn't have been happier. The temple is where our beautiful family started and it was the perfect place to visit on our anniversary.