We have a new blog...

I'm starting a new blog.  I've attempted adjusting and tweaking this blog to my liking but to no avail.  Sooooo I realize I could probably reset everything and start over completely with this blog OR I could just scrap it and start a new one.  I opted for the second course of action.  Our new blog address is www.our3x5s.blogspot.com

Come check it out :)

"It's not my fault. I was exposed to Harry Potter" -Voo Doo Mama JuJu

I've been looking forward to making caramel apples for...pretty much ever.  What better way to get into the Halloween spirit than consuming ridiculous amounts of sugar?

  Do you like how Garrett refuses to make a normal face in pictures?  He has a rare talent for making the strangest faces, ever.

We added white/milk chocolate, sprinkles, and crushed oreos. 

Then we devoured them.

   This was by far the best part of the process.  Delish.

Oh goodness, I love that cute man.

Next we sat down to enjoy a little H-peazy (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) while Adrian carved his 2nd pumpkin.  Yep his 2nd pumpkin, and there will probably be a few more.   

This was his first pumpkin of the month.  Pretty shnazzy.

Ta Da!  His second pumpkin of the month.

He is quickly becoming a pumpkin carvin pro.  I'm so proud.

Happy Haunting

I don't know about you, but I am pretty happy about the fact that it is OCTOBER.  First of all, we kicked the month of with General Conference.  As always it was just what I needed to hear. I walked away from it feeling so much love from and for my Heavenly Father and the Savior. 

         

       Another reason I'm happy to welcome the month of October is because AJ and I will be going home at the end of the month to see his little brother Cody before he leaves on his mission in November.  We are so proud of the person that he is. Cody and I are pretty much polar opposites, and for some reason this has completely endeared him to me.  He has taught me so much.  I'm truly grateful that I get to be his sister.  We are so excited to see family!

     Lastly, October means Halloween!  I love Halloween, even if it is a completely useless holiday.  I have Halloween date nights planned throughout the month and I'm so excited to surprise the eternal boyfriend.  He's gonna love it.  To get us in the Halloween mood I decorated our little casa.

 

This little Halloween tree is probably my favorite.  I love it... a lot.

I was so excited to use my chalkboard for a halloween countdown and decided I needed a festive banner to go with it.   I don't know if you can really see it or not but they are little pinwheels.  I thought they just looked so fun and they didn't cost me a penny.  I just used paper, ribbon, and buttons that I already had to throw it together.

        I think the month is off to a good start, especially since it snowed this week!  I think the first snowfall is so romantic.  I am totally aware how sappy that sounds, but I don't care.  "I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it!" name that movie?  Until next time, Happy Haunting!

3 years :)

So the mister and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary.  It has seriously flown by.  I can't believe it has already been 3 years. Three years later I can still say marrying him was the best choice I have ever made.  Three years later I can still say that he is everything I ever wanted and more.  Three years later I can still say that I'm totally in love with him.  He is absolutely everything to me.  I am so grateful that I can be with him forever.

To celebrate we just took a day off of work to relax and spend time together.  The morning of our anniversary I woke up to roses and a scavenger hunt which may or may not have led me to the craft store.  I surprised him with a afternoon of shooting, his fav :)  We topped it off with dinner at Stockmans.  Oh so tasty.

In other Steineckert news... I'm slowly but surely getting our little apartment to look the way I want it to.  I had this empty wall that I just couldn't seem to fill.  Nothing looked right.  My sister gave me this lovely frame a little while ago and I couldn't figure out where to put it.  Then one day I put two and two together.  Empty wall that is driving me crazy + fantastic frame that I love.  Match made in heaven.

  I painted it green and Kali had already painted the center with blackboard paint.  It was easy as pie.   I am seriously in love with it.  I also love the crazy face Bailey is making.

My next project...curtains.  I can't wait, but my budget is making me.  I'm pretty excited :)

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, what do we do we swim

"Finding Nemo" anybody?  We have been doing quite a bit of swimming lately.  Between Monkey Rock and the Sand Bar we have been spending loads of time in the water.  A good part of this has to do with the fact that Garrett and Bailey now live here and I'm fairly certain Garrett is part fish. 

 Last summer we were totally lame about getting outdoors, but we have been making up for it this summer.  I love it.  The oregonian in me is totally rejoicing about this.

Normally we go swimming during the day, oh you know like normal people.  It was really hot one night, and even though we had already gone swimming that afternoon,  AJ decided going swimming at normal hours of the day wasn't going to cut it.  So we packed up his flashlights, grabbed a few glowsticks and headed out to the sandbar.  (For those of you that don't know, my husband is a bit of a flashlight fanatic and since my sister-in-law is an engineer with Leatherman, he has a source to feed his addiction)

His fancy schmancy flashlights are water proof so he and Garrett placed them in several spots under the water to shed some light on where they were swimming.  The picture really doesn't do a good job of showing it but those flashlights lit the water up well.  They kept the glowsticks around their wrists so we could see where they were when they were diving into the water.  I was kind of freaking out about the whole thing to tell you the truth.  Each time they would dive in the water I would hold my breath until their head would pop up again.  Call me paranoid, I don't care.  AJ and Garrett on the other hand weren't paranoid at all and had the time of the lives.  But it's like I always say, AJ makes sure we have and I make sure no one dies.

Adrian mid-flip off the diving board.

 Bailey and I decided not to participate in the night swimming because
1- we had already been swimming that afternoon
2- the water was way to cold for any sane human being
3- How freaky is it so swim in a river in the dark?  I say it is seriously freaky.

We are sad to say it but the summer is definitely giving way to Fall.  Fall is my absolute favorite season but I am not ready for summer to be over just yet.  We are going to try and squeeze in a few more warm weather activities before it is completely gone.

On a side note we have been married for 3 years as of tomorrow.  After 1,094 days of being married to him I can conclusively say that I am married to the most wonderful man.  I am so proud of him.  He really does make my world go round.

Ta Da! My shnazzy duvet

Oh yes those are ruffles.

Lots and lots of fantastic and lovely ruffles.

And oh yes I made it.

I'm oh so proud.

It was tedious and took quite a bit of time for me to complete because I a complete NOVICE when it comes to sewing. It has been in the works for a number of weeks but I was only able to get an hour in here or there to work on it so it has taken some time. As far as sewing goes it was a lot of straight lines so pretty much anybody could make this if they wanted to. seriously.

If you are curious, the following is the how and why behind it...

I found this blanket online at Urban Outfitters for $150.00. It was love at first sight but I can't justify spending $150.00 on a blanket I don't in any way, shape, or form need. I REALLY can't justify spending $150.00 on a completely girly blanket when Adrian has absolutely ZERO interest in said frilly blanket. Getting him to agree to let me spend money on something I don't need is one thing but convincing him that he should let me get this super girly and beautiful blanket for our bed, you know the one he sleeps in, was another. I think it is a testament to how much he loves me that he finally consented to the blanket.

I figured I could make it for significantly less money but was pretty hesitant to try it because of my serious lack of knowledge and skill in the sewing department. I was afraid it would just end up looking homemade until I saw a craft blog where a woman had made a blanket similar to this one and I decided I had to try it.

I made it out of 2 sheets and a bunch of white cotton fabric.

Easy and inexpensive. A match made in heaven.

To start I measured out the size I wanted the duvet to be. Then I cut and set aside the 2 sheets that would later become the front and back of the duvet. Next I measured how long I wanted the ruffles to be. Then I cut and set aside those strips of fabric that would later become the ruffles.

I don't have a ruffling foot for my machine so I had to make the ruffles by gathering them myself. I did A LOT of this. Those ruffles took forever to make. After making the ruffles I would iron them flat to prep them for placement on the sheet.

I measured and marked the space needed between the rows of ruffles...

... and then I went to town pinning the ruffles in place.

Row by row I sewed them on and ironed them down until finally....

I had the front/top portion of the duvet completed. Lastly, I took the two pieces of the blanket and sewed them together to actually make it a duvet. Then I promptly had a little dance party because I was so happy it was finished.

After I put the blanket on the bed I knew I needed a bedskirt. It just looked incomplete. So I whipped one together out of the same fabric as the curtains. I wanted both curtains and the bedskirt to drape a little onto the floor so I made them a bit longer and I love the way it looks. The curtains and bedskirt are also made from sheets because the name of my game is "Cheap" I like to decorate but my budget doesn't like me to spend money. This means I get to be creative. I looked around for inexpensive curtains that didn't look nasty and didn't find what I wanted. I had a very specific color in mind and was about to give up finding it until I discovered these sheets. They are the perfect indigo, tealy blue and they have the slightest sheen to them.

As for the rest of the room it is still a work in progress but I do have a few things up.

I got this picture frame at D.I. for 4 bones and fell madly in love with it. Our bedroom color scheme is blue, white, and gold. I love color so I try to add splashes of it where I can. Initially I was going to get a huge print of us to put in this frame but the idea of adding color was far more appealing to me. So I found some adorable paper, two of my favorite pictures from our wedding, our wedding announcements, and painted the frame this really vibrant blue and viola I have my splash of color.

All in all I spent about $60.00 for the bedspread, the bedskirt, the curtains, and the picture frame. Not too shabby when compared to the $150.00 price tag of the duvet alone from Urban Outfitters.

cupcakes from my cupcake

I had a bad day this week. You know those days. Every little thing about it was irritating. I try to be very understanding with the interviewers I work with but it just wasn't happening that day. I feel bad for pretty much everyone that I worked with because I know I could not have been much fun. All day I just kept thinking, "I get to see AJ, I get to go home to AJ, Don't snap at that interviewer for asking really obnoxious questions because you get to go home and see Adrian!"

My shift finally ended and I did indeed get to go home to my dreamboat of a husband. He obviously knew about the fantastic mood I had been in all day and had baked cupcakes for me. Oh he knows me so well. Not only did cuddle with me while I rambled about my day, he infused me with sugar. Easily two of my favorite things from my favorite person ever. To sum this post up, Adrian is perfect. I love him more every day.