Knock Off Wood

Happy Halloween!

What do you get when you mix lumber, screws, power tools, and a determined woman?
...
Ana White's Knock Off Wood!!!
(PLEASE check out her blog here ---> http://ana-white.com/ The woman built her own house!)

She's a totally inspiring, DIY, Stay-At-Home-Mom determined to make furniture affordable for everyone. She draws up easy-to-use plans (originally intended for women, but some of us allow our husbands to help) for how to make pieces of furniture that resemble those you would pay hundred$ to thou$and$ for at places like Pottery Barn or West Elm. Then she puts them online for people to use for FREE! All she asks is that you post pictures when you're done, leave some comments/tips, and tell your friends!!

Thanks to a few leftover wedding gift cards, and the fact that our end tables are currently TV trays - I had all the inspiration I needed to try my hand at one of these nifty projects. A few trips to Home Depot & Lowe's, a handful of startup questions for Darrin, and several hours later and I've assembled and sanded my first carpentry project. Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you the "Tryde" End Table! (Similar to Pottery Barn's "Hyde" End Table but about 1/10th the cost and 1,000 times the pride!) Paige Hemmis better watch out! Now all I've got to do is stain this puppy and she's done. :)
*I did build this pretty much by myself, but Darrin gave me a few pointers before using any of my our power tools and he gave me a demo on the sanding.

Demonstrating how to use the new hand sander, in his Church clothes! :)

Assembly completed

All it really needs is a good staining.

Still needs to be stained but I was excited to put it in the living room so here it is.

Stay tuned for pictures of the finished product. 

So proud of my little sis

Remember a few weeks ago when I said that Kaitlyn was nominated for homecoming queen?

Allow me to introduce to you Miss Kaitlyn Lampley, Rudder High School's [first ever!] Homecoming Queen!!!! :) She SO deserves this! <3

Finalists

Winner being announced

Getting her crown

The King & Queen

The Royal family :)

Brent & Kaitlyn :)

Dancin' the night away!

A Birthday Party, Travels, Beauty Queens, Conquering Fears, and a Baby Girl

Whew, we've been busy! I just realized I haven't posted in over a month. I really thought there hadn't been much going on to post about, but as I started thinking about what to write I realized how wrong I was. :)

We started our September travels with a trip to Dallas for our sweet niece, Avaree's, 1st birthday party!! We can't believe she's one already! She's growing up to be such a beautiful little angel and already walking - crazy!

Birthday Princess!!

Ave with her Gigi & G-Pops!

Her first taste of sugar, Yum!! :) 

September held many more weekend trips (mainly for football) and lots of fun times with friends. All this traveling has made our church hunt slow, but we've been visiting a few and working on narrowing down our list. We'll sure be glad when we find our "home" and get settled in!

Kyle Field <3

Visiting Darrin's Mimi

Last weekend I got to go home (Darrin had to stay in SA to prepare for inventory at work) and help the little girls get ready for their boyfriends' homecomings. Me & Chrissy were the "fill in Moms" because Mom was out of town - we decided our parents are superheroes! They were both so beautiful - I am so proud to have 3 beautiful, caring, kind sisters and do miss being around them more often. This weekend is their Rudder homecoming and Kaitlyn has even been nominated for Homecoming Queen!! :) I can't wait to see them all dolled up again.

with my gorgeous sisters and our Daddy (We missed you Mom!)

the Beauty Queens :)

Layne & Seth

Kaitlyn & Brent (their 4th year to go to homecoming together!)

This week was a week full of [accidentally] conquering my fears! I spent 3 nights alone while Darrin was in Houston for training. While he was gone I managed to cut myself on a paper cutter at work (it wasn't as bad as it sounds) causing me to need a tetanus shot. The next day we had annual flu shots at work - 2 shots in one week UGH!! I also started a new workout routine complete with a pedometer to help put a number to my goals. We topped off Friday night by going to a Haunted House with Andrew and his girlfriend! Whew! Glad I had my handsome Hubby to protect me! :)

The icing on the cake for this post is that my sweet cousin Camille just welcomed her second baby girl into the world on Friday! We're so excited for them and can't wait to meet sweet baby Caroline! According to my mom, her side of the family now has a ratio of 11 boys to 17 girls!

That's all I've got for now, I'll try to keep up better in the future. :) (Yeah, I always say that...)