.Brick.

We're getting ready to get some new windows installed in our home because ours are 34 years old and you can hardly see out of some of them. Trust me, they are beyond trying to clean. I am SO excited to get pretty new windows with white trim {instead of the ugly brown we currently have} and it's put me in the mood to update the whole outside of our home. Now, these things will cost money and time, but I have been saving ideas on what we could do to our outdated home. You can see in the picture below that we have reddish-brown brick,  brown trim around the doors and windows, and this ugly brown shade of wood for siding. Could it be hardboard siding? I don't know, but our realtor told us we wouldn't be able to sell the house with it because it's not FHA approved. So eventually, we will have to replace it.

 

 

I have ideas spinning in my head and they all include painting that brick. Should we whitewash it? Should we paint it a light gray? What about the new siding, what color should that be? Of course, the trim will be white. Our roof is new, so that's not going anywhere. Some of my ideas came from these pictures, some from Pinterest, some from houzz.com

 

This is my absolute favorite image of whitewashed brick. I love how faded it looks.

 

 

See how charming it looks? I couldn't find many existing pictures of houses with half brick/half siding, but these pictures helped me to see colors together.

This one I like because of the neutral brick, which would let me do any color shutters: white, black, a darker gray, etc.

 

 I love the gray brick in this picture with the black shutters; it would match the roof and look great! I could do a fun door color, like turquoise! ;)

 

What do you guys think? I'm torn! We don't have to make a decision now, but I am a planner & I like to know where we're headed before we get there :)

Gimme S'more...

"S'mores Cracker Candy" is what this is called. I found it on this sweet blog here.

You cover a baking pan with tinfoil and spray with Pam spray. Then cover the foil with graham crackers, like so.

In a small saucepan, melt 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1 & 1/2 sticks unsalted butter together until just before boiling. Pour over graham crackers and bake in the oven for 5 minutes at 350 degrees. 

 Here comes the fun part.

Pour 3 cups of mini marshmallows, 1 cup chocolate chips, and 4 mini Hershey's snack bars, broken into pieces, onto the warm graham crackers. Return to the oven for two minutes and then remove & cool in pan.

This is what they will look like all warm & gooey. They are delicious any way you eat them, but I love them when they are cold! They're much firmer and not as messy.

Yummy!

Enjoy!!

{Tara}

//Friday Favorites\\

Today I just want to share with you some of my favorite pins. I have a major obsession with exposed wood & that rustic look mixed with some white. ie: these barn doors. and that rustic antler chandelier. Somebody please 

 make me one of those sexy things. I'm begging you! Also, I want barn doors everywhere in my house. (Insert whisper voice).  Everywhere.

 I just think this little path would be so stinkin awesome on a country farm leading to a cozy little guest cottage.

 Love this window box and I think it would add lots of charm on a barn. So sweet!

 I've actually got a spare little bed in our garage that we got from a yard sale years back for only $10. I'm thinking I'm going to put it to good use and make a cute bench out of it for the front porch. Painted white, of course.

 Saw this picture on Pinterest and the shutters and window boxes were DIY-ed! We are about to get new windows and put up new siding soon (and white-wash our red brick!) and I would love to DIY us some shutters. Would be so much cheaper than buying them.

 Okay, so this has me all in love and swooning. I mean, seriously. I love the exposed beams and that table is awesome. Could totally make that. And those lanterns back there, and the planked walls and ceiling...oh, baby...

 This last picture makes me want to go buy some wood and do some handy things with it. Like make a smaller version of this vanity for both of our bathrooms. And frame out some mirrors. Love this! I think I have a problem with throwing that word around so easily. ;)

Tomorrow, I will be back with a super yummy, simple recipe I found that I love. See, there I go again. Don't tell my husband...

{Tara}

Land Owners. Farmers. Country Living

Hello there, friends! I know it's been a while since I've posted and I still need to share pictures of our kitchen with you, but today I want to share with you a dream. It took us a little longer to finally realize what exacty that dream was, but my husband and I have finally discovered it. It's beautiful, it's exciting, it's scary. It's going to be hard work, it will take time, it will take learning. It will lead us to a new place. It will be an adventure. It will be rewarding and profitable. It will allow us to have more family time. It will teach us patience. It will be a blessing to others.

This may seem like a weird dream to most people. Stupid, perhaps. Why would you want to do a thing like that? Don't you want to do something different, something bigger, maybe better? We want the "simple" life. In no way is this just "simple". Like I said, it will be hard work. We want to live on acres of land. Hundreds of acres. Maybe over a thousand one day. We want to build a home on a hill, overlooking the beautiful mountains like the ones above. We want to raise cattle and chickens. We want to have horses and a guest cabin for friends/family to visit us. We want to have lots and lots of fruit trees. And grow fruits and vegetables. We want to have pigs, maybe goats. Lots of soft, green grass and beautiful skies. We want to be, in a sense, farmers. Old fashioned. We want to live somewhere in God's beautiful country where we are completely surrounded by His creation. We want to be engulfed with it. To be involved with work that would constantly remind of us our Creator. We want to serve in a small community. We want to bless friends & family. We want to teach our girls what it means to be a hard worker and to be grateful for what God blesses you with. And we understand that there are many ways to do this. You don't have to live out in the country. But that's our dream. To be a little bit excluded. And I am excited. We both are. If we could, we would pack up and go right now. But we can't. We're not ready. So our goal is within the next 10 years. To set aside everything we can to help us reach our goal. Pray for us, friends. That we could get to this point in our lives. We will need God's help every single day, but it can be done!
And aren't those pictures just beautiful? That is Idaho! I am ashamed to say I have never really seen pictures of that state. I can say I am in LOVE. ;)

KitchInspiration

Today I just want to share with you some of my inspiration for our kitchen remodel. I've been "pinning" things for some time now and this weekend marks the start of our kitchen makeover (!!!) I am SO excited, I can hardly stand it. Our kitchen has been lacking a pantry since it was built (thank goodness we've only had to deal with it since we moved in two years ago), our dishwasher broke almost 11 months ago, and everything else is just old and gross. For right now, I will show you what has been an inspiration to me and within the next few days, I will show you what our kitchen currently looks like. And I will keep you posted on everything as we go along!

This kitchen made me fall in love with the idea of dark base cabinets and light top cabinets....

It also made me go crazy with this chalkboard obsession everyone has lately..I've come up with my own way to incorporate that idea into our kitchen and I can't wait to show you!!

I'm still tossing this idea around in my head, but that dark trim is gorgeous..

This is THE color I chose for our base cabinets. It's called Ashwood Moss by Benjamin Moore. Beautiful.

We will also be adding some thick wooden shelves to one area in our kitchen for our (new white) dishes.

source

This is a Kohler sink we found at Lowes for $269.00. It's cast iron and HEAVY! I found the exact one on Craigslist for $100. Score!

Last but definitely not least, we fell in love with these DIY wood counter tops. We've got plans to make them a little thicker and do less work, but I am looking forward to replacing the laminate wood for some real wood. :) 

source

We will also be adding a pantry cabinet to one side of the kitchen, beadboard to the ceiling, and a white subway tile backsplash among other details.
So that's it! Can't wait to get our hands dirty and make our kitchen beautiful!!

I'll be posting "current" pictures within the next few days, so stop by!

{Tara}

Control Freak

One thing I don't like to admit is that I can be a control freak. This has always been something I've struggled with. When I was little, I tried to control my brothers and tell them what to do, how to do it and I would always say "I'm the boss" or "You have to listen to me because I'm the oldest". Now I try to control where my husband and I eat or what we should do with our finances or how to discipline our kids. I don't do it with a purpose to "wear the pants", I do it because I have not learned how to let go and not be the boss. I've been reading (for a few months now thanks to work and being a mom, which I don't mind..it just takes me longer to read now than it did before) The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg. It is such an eye opener into my spiritual life and how I am supposed to live for God and it gives a much bigger picture than what I ever imagined. As I was reading today I came across this quote Ortberg wrote that I LOVE:

"I find that every moment I worry

is a chance to practice letting go

of the need to control outcomes.

There is a God.

It is not me."

This quote was perfect for me! Every time a situation presents itself and I feel the need to control it, I need to remember that God is in control of my cirumstances and I desperately need to let go and let God take over. There have been so many stresses in our life lately-my husband lost his job and I wasn't working, our (only) car broke down after I got the job, and then again a couple days ago (we have a second car now, thank you God), and we are in debt and it seems to get worse every time we have a car problem or some other crazy thing happens. Sometimes we feel like we're drowning and we're doing all we can to get to the top to take a breath and then we get pulled under again and we're doing all we can to survive. I know that there are so many people that are suffering much more than we are, but for us this is difficult and I am constantly finding myself trying to figure things out instead of looking to God for the answers. And when I do look for Him, He has always been right there next to me, planning my steps before I take them and opening doors before I reach them. How awesome is it that I have a God that actually cares and takes care of me! If I could just learn to let him take care of my problems before I try to figure them out, His mercies would be revealed to me sooner.

Working Momma

I am reading a friend's blog and realized that I haven't blogged in forever! Life has been crazy hectic lately and I would love to share some more projects I've done/recipes I've tried, but I can't. Because I'm a working mom now and I don't have time for those things! I WISH I could be home working on some DIY projects, but alas, I must work and make money. I must be the help meet my husband needs me to be right now. And you know, it's really not as bad as I had imagined. I actually love my job. And I love getting a paycheck. At first I was so against the idea of working because I didn't want to leave my sweet girls. Stephen (my husband) and I were going through a bit of a rough patch in our marriage and with only one income, it was making our marriage a little more difficult to work on. You know, with all the stresses of one income and debt piling up, my husband felt like I didn't want to work to help. After talking to God and tears and reading "Created to be His Help Meet" (which is one of my favorite books ever), I decided that if i wanted my marriage to improve, I needed to change some things, and the first step was to get a job. It actually happened all within a week. I went in to interview on a Thursday, got a call Monday that I got the job, and started the following Wednesday. God definitely had His hand in all of this. I was hired on as a part-time teller and when I went in on my first day, they offered me full time and I accepted. Two days later, they offered me the receptionist/loan processor position and I GLADLY took it.
And I love the reaction my husband gives me every time I come home in my work clothes or talk about work. Like, he seriously thinks it's hot. It's amusing to me how men find things attractive, but he is all over me! He really appreciates that I'm working to take some of the stress off of him and I honestly can see the difference in our marriage. Of course, we talked and worked on some other things too, so it wasn't all about the job thing. But it has helped tremendously and I am so happy!
I havent worked, though, since our first daughter was born and it kills me to leave the girls. Especially Zoey, because she isn't even 4 months old yet. I've adjusted much better than I thought, but now I'm finding it SUPER hard to keep my home organized. This morning I left for work and the kitchen sink was piled up so high, I could barely stick my hand under the faucet. And our sink has two sides! AND, I washed dishes last night! I am a clean FREAK and it kills me that I can't find time to sweep the floors, do laundry and the dishes (our DW is broken) during the week. Addison makes messes and I can't really avoid cleaning. Any tips, working moms?