I am taking sewing lessons from Cheryl Mills and our first assignment is a button-down shirt with a collar. {sidenote: yikes! What did I get myself into?}

I went to our new Joann store and found a pattern that would work for a shirt for Kenley, even with the coupon I paid about $9.

Today we went to Value Village and I insisted on going through every sewing pattern. I am so glad that I did because look what I found!! 2 of the exact same patterns as what I already bought!! For 0.35 cents a piece!!!

It is so worth it to take the time to look!

In none awesome news, I had a water cup spill in my diaper bag and drench my camera :( it is officially out of commission. Thankfully it happened after the ball! We have been planning on getting me a DSLR for Christmas this year anyways but I think I still might shop around for another small point and shoot. Any suggestions?

Pinkies up Ladies!

Sunday Afternoon Nap Time

2010 Marine Corps Ball

November 10th 1775 is the Marine Corps Birthday so every year around this time we get to dress up and celebrate! This year it was held at the Seattle Aquarium which is where our ninth grade banquet was!

{Do you like my photo wall behind us? More on that in another post!}

This years ball for us was so much different than the years past. When Brian was a part of Mals-14 there were around 1500 people at our balls. This year it was a Navy-Marine Corps Ball and was mostly filled with ROTC people and there were only about 225 of us! Most of the traditions were the same but there were a few new-to-us Navy traditions. I think the weirdest part of the whole night for me was that there were only a handful of Marines in Dress Blues everyone else was ROTC and dressed in the Navy dress uniform! It was very easy to spot the Marines! Another thing that was different was that there were only a handful of wives there. I am definitely not used to being one of the most senior wives!

I received a lot of compliments on my dress (Thanks Kimi!) and my necklace. I think its because I was the only pregnant person there so I kind of stuck out if you know what I mean :)! 29 weeks down 11 to go!

Kimbe was nice enough to come up from college to do my hair! I loved it! She really should be a hairstylist because I would have paid big bucks to have my updo done!

(This is what all of our self portraits look like if I take them. :) I forget that Brian is much taller than I am.)

And to end the night with a bang, as we were walking up to our house I slipped on something rolled my ankle and fell completely to the ground landing on my hip. Thankfully I did not land on Claire and also thankfully it did not happen at the ball! I am sure that had the big pregnant lady fallen, I would have been the talk of the unit for many balls to come.

We had a great time and it was definitely my favorite ball so far! Happy 235th Birthday Marine Corps!

Dear Bridesmaids

I am so sorry for making you wear these shoes to our wedding! I realize now after wearing them for a night that making you wear them for an entire day was so mean! I love you! Thanks for loving me enough to wear them!

The Second Amendment

As of Monday, I can officially say that I have exercised the 2nd Amendment! (I think...Does it count if I don't actually own the gun?)

Brian, Dad, Fred, Terri, Kenley*, and I went to the shooting range. I had never before fired a gun and I was a little nervous!

Once I started shooting though my competitive nature took over and I had to make each shot better than the last! I actually did pretty well which surprised me and REALLY surprised Brian. So we now know that if needed I could protect us :) Terri was really funny, I think she only shot like three or four times and each time she screamed. I was a little nervous to be in the stall next to her :)

*We took turns waiting outside with Kenley... just in case you were worried that we let her be in there with the guns :)

The Pumpkins!

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins! Next year I want to do something a little bit more detailed because we were able to knock these out really fast and I was left wanting to do more!

My pumpkin started out this awesome bright yellow
but after 2 days it got all greenish and weird. We think it might not have been a pumpkin but some sort of squash. The insides of it smelled just like a watermelon.

Here are our pumpkins! We make Jack o Lanterns! Emphasis on the Lanterns! Kimberly found the templates on Country Living.

We didn't have a costume party to go to this year so no costumes. (Steel Family: We missed coming to your party!) We planned on being Little Red Riding Hood, The Grandma, and The Wolf. It would have been so cute but we wouldn't have really had anywhere to wear the costumes to. Next year we are definitely going to throw a costume party!

Big Brother T for James

I think that Kenley and James must have conspired together to NOT model my projects for picture time. :)

Big Brother shirts in infant sizes are a little hard to come by so I decided to make James one for Baby Nate's arrival day.

Here is the image in case you have the need to print it onto iron on transfer paper. The edges are a little wonky but it doesn't really matter since you will cut it out before ironing it on the shirt anyways.

I made the image using picnik. Homemade by Jill has a great tutorial for using Picnik to create things.

Time to carve those pumpkins!

Polo Craft #3

My little model was being a little less than cooperative for me to take pictures of her sporting the third Polo craft. In most of the pictures I attempted she was running away from the camera...

or making a silly face and turning her head so that I cant quite get a picture...
But, drawers are a pretty cool distraction for a toddler so I was able to get one side profile shot where I wasn't pinning her down to get a picture of the bow in her hair :)
Polo craft number three is hair bows! The navy and white bow was actually the first polo project that I attempted and the project that set all of the other Polo projects in motion. Just like the last Polo craft I used the cover button kit and instead of gluing on a magnet I glued on a hair bow with clip.

{I have fallen in love with cover button kits and I have another project for Kenley's bedroom in the works! Don't worry, its not Polo :) There is only one more Polo craft post after this one!}
After the first bow, Kenley then needed a purple bow so that she could show her Husky pride for Daddy and her Polo pride for Mommy all at the same time :)

Pregnancy Brain is a Real Condition

... and it has taken its full affect on me lately!

So the day before yesterday we were visiting John+Amy+Baby Nate at the hospital and when it came time to go I could not find my keys. I was looking everywhere, under every seat cushion, Amy's overnight bag, Brian's school bag, I made John check his pockets, I was about to call Tonia and see if she grabbed them by accident on her way out.. I could not find them at all and I swore that I had put them on top of my wallet...

So then I start trying to retrace where I put them.... Okay I had my wallet, phone, valet slip, and keys...... Wait a minute... Wait a minute... Valet slip.... hmmm

OH DUH! Haha I had parked Valet!

Dear Brain Cells,

Please return. I miss you.

Sincerely, Keri Ronk

Check out that dark hair!

He is such a handsome little man!

Nathan John Carruthers!!!

9lbs 7oz! He is a big boy!

The Pumpkin Patch

Thursday, Kimbe came home from SPU so that we could take Kenley to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. She was feeling a bit under the weather so we weren't out there for long but we still had fun!

Claire's Ultrasound

Wednesday we were able to go and get another peek at Baby Claire. Everything looked great! She is already weighing in at 2lbs 2 ounces! Seeing her on the screen makes me want to meet her so much more!

We surprised my Mom and didn't tell her that we were going for an ultrasound! It was a special treat since she didn't get to be there for any of my pregnancy with Kenley.

This is the only good picture I got of Mom and Kenley before my camera died. No joke while they were watching Claire on the ultrasound screen Kenley said "Wow" haha! It was perfectly timed!



I love this one of her face! I cant wait to do a 3D ultrasound and see if she looks like Kenley or not!

Definitely my child

ten twenty twenty ten

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Me

10. I could eat at Taco Bell every.single.day. I love it! I am currently in love with their new XXL Chalupa (no meat sub beans) ... Yes it is completely horrible for you and I have purposefully avoided looking at the calorie count on it but it is so yummy!

9. I HATE brushing my hair. It has got to be the most annoying part of my day... so most days I avoid doing it.

8. We have a piano sitting on our front porch. I want to paint it a fun color and make room for it inside but I cant decide on a color... Suggestions??

7. In High School, I wanted to be a News Anchor when I grew up.

6. My first job was at an Espresso Stand that has since turned into a Bikini Barista stand. Sad. I do not like that I have to tell people that that was where my first job was and then to have to reassure them that it was NOT a bikini barista place at the time!

5. I dont like most herbs. I claim to be allergic to basil because it makes my throat feel funny :)

4. My favorite flower is Hydrangeas. They are beautiful I want to plant tons of them so that I can have huge hydrangea bouquets in my house all the time. For our wedding I paid $25 dollars per hydrangea for deep purple ones to be flown in from Africa just for my bouquet... day of the wedding my flowers were obviously white flowers that had been sprayed purple by the florist.... Can you say sucker?

3. All growing up I wanted to be a Mom to three little boys. Now that motherhood is here I am SO glad that I have such a sweet little girl and another one on the way! I wouldnt have it any different.

2. I never ate meat until I was 18. And even then it was only because Brian asked me to and he was leaving for boot camp the next day. Even though I have now been an omnivore for almost 5 years, touching raw chicken totally grosses me out.

1. When Brian was at boot camp some days I wrote him 3 letters a day. I am lucky that he decided to marry me instead of getting a restraining order :)

Haha well that is ten totally random facts about me! Hope you enjoyed getting to know me just a bit better than you ever wanted too!

Care to share one random fact about yourself?

Polo Craft #2

Polo Craft Number Two is...

Refrigerator magnets! Now I know right about now you are thinking that I am crazy. But that is okay because these make me smile every time I go into our kitchen.

Its amazing how many Polo shirts my family still had around from back when I worked there that had since gotten stained or something along those lines. I used cover button kits to turn my cut out ponies into buttons and then I took the wire part off of the backs and glued on some magnets! It was super simple and I love the finished product.

Doctors Appointment 10-15-10

Friday I had my first prenatal appointment here in Washington. I went going into the appointment thinking that I would eventually switch doctors to somewhere where I could do a VBAC since I was told that this practice did not allow VBAC's. I am so glad that I still went to see this doctor though! He brought up that I could do a VBAC with him! So that is a HUGE Praise for us! We both really liked this Doctor and are both so thankful that the VBAC thing seems to have worked itself out! We still would love your prayers for the safety of Claire and I as we go through the whole labor process!
At the appointment we let Kenley get on the scale and it said that she weighed 17 lbs 6 oz! Granted that is with lots of clothes and a full diaper but I think its safe to say that now at 14 1/2 months she has finally doubled her birth weight!! Way to go Kenley girl!!

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese

One bite of a bagel topped with this Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese and you will instantly feel like it is fall! If you need a little extra Fall push feel free to drink lots of Hot Apple Cider too!

I started out by making the Pioneer Woman's Pumpkin Butter. It was just okay I wasn't loving it on my toast and then the light bulb went off in my head..... Add cream cheese!!

Seriously is there anything that cream cheese doesn't make taste a million times better?

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1/2 Cup Plain Yogurt

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

8 oz Cream Cheese (softened)

Combine all ingredients until thoroughly incorporated. Store in refrigerator until ready to use. Serve on toasted bagels or bread or muffins or pancakes or waffles or .... or.... ... :)

Happy Birthday Kimbe!!

Happy 19th Birthday Sister! I love you so much and I am so glad that I finally live in the same state with you!

Unlike Daddy...

Kenley LOVES tomatoes!

In two seconds my day is shattered

Second Use Salvage

Friday afternoon I got lost for hours driving around ridiculous Seattle streets met Brian down in Seattle to check out Second Use Salvage. We didn't buy anything but I sure was tempted! There was so much to look at it is definitely a place to go for decor inspiration!

I have no idea what I would do with these coffee sacks but they were only $1 each!
I *REALLY* wanted both of these old locker baskets. They were $10 a piece and since I have no idea what I would do with them I used self restraint. They are however on my birthday wish list :)
I think that this old apartment mail holder thing would make for the neatest entry way table!
They had tons of old signage! If I ever find a Polo Pony there it will most certainly be coming home with me :)
I loved these barn doors! If we were in our forever house I would totally buy this barn door and do this to my fabulously huge walk in closet!

Our forever house will of course have a giant mudroom off of the garage lined with these old lockers so that each of our twelve kids can have their own space to store their backpack :)
I really wanted some of these skeleton keys but once again it was a case of "This is so awesome but I have no idea what I would do with it" So I passed which is probably a good thing since each key was $5 and that could add up quickly! Though I am totally keeping my eyes open for awesome skeleton key projects now!