Can I just say that it sucks? That it’s been over 2 years since our tubal pregnancy and it still bums me out (I honestly wonder if that will ever completely go away? I don’t think so). I mean, sure – day to day I’m totally fine and so content with the life we have here in Austin. I am so dang happy with Tyler – I feel so lucky to be his wife. He is so funny and easy-going, he is kind and patient. Tyler is one of the best people I have ever known. I for reals lucked out in the husband department and I am forever grateful for that. And we are so happy here – it’s hard to be so far from family & old friends, but we have it so good here!

So I feel like I am in a much better place emotionally than I was a few years ago. I can look past the failed pregnancies and our current infertility and see all the wonderful blessings we enjoy. But there is still a part of me that wonders why us – why is it taking us so long now – why is life so unfair? Wah, wah, wah. I know it’s immature to think like that and I know I’m better than that (I hope I’m better than that!). And part of me thinks that we’re lucky we don’t have kids yet. Moving to Austin and downsizing to a 630 square foot apartment with NO JOBS! That was a crazy gamble but it’s paid off so well, thankfully! And we’re working hard to pay off all our debt (consumer + student loans). We couldn’t have done all that we have if we had a baby already. So these warring sides of me – I’m both grateful and sad that we don’t have kids yet. And then I feel guilty for being glad to be childless. Color me confused!

But we’ve got plans to kick this infertility crap in the butt. I’ve got to find an obgyn here in Austin and start there. I do believe that we will get this figured out and have a baby, one way or another :)

Last Saturday we went hiking around Bull Creek. Tyler passes this area on his way to work every day and we decided to check it out. It was so beautiful, even in the dead of winter.

Along the path we took, we came across several fire hydrants – in the middle of the creek.

(photo by Tyler) We couldn’t really figure out why there are fire hydrants down there, but it was interesting for sure.

On our way back we came across this really old truck buried in the riverbank. To the right of this picture there are some cliffs, with an almost sheer drop into the riverbank area. We wondered if the truck had driven off the side of the cliff and crashed down here. Sad to think about! It’s obviously been down there for ages.

It was a beautiful hike, right in the middle of the city. I definitely want to go down there again in the spring. I think it will be even prettier with all the trees green and in bloom.

We went to San Antonio this weekend. It was so fun to play tourist and spend a few hours wandering around. Tyler’s Mom flew into to San Antonio, it was nice to see some family! Neither of us are homesick, but it is weird not being able to just go visit friends/family. We bought a super-fancy inflatable mattress, so we are ready for more visitors! :)

Also, how crazy is it that girls can go on missions at 19 now? I think it’s awesome, but boy oh boy – having the age of elders & sisters so close – I think they are in for trouble! Though I do think it is great that boys & girls will both be able to leave on their missions earlier, it is a good change, I think.

One of the job interviews I went on last Friday was by Lake Travis. This would be my drive to work every day.

Isn’t it so gorgeous? I love all the trees and how they canopy over the road. It is just so pretty here.

So where are we? Austin!! TEXAS!! We are SO happy to be back in Texas. We arrived on September 2 – around 9:30 pm and unloaded our Beverly Hillbillys Truck & Trailer

We stopped somewhere in the middle of Arizona for a quick break/check the tarps. Truck doesn’t look too bad, right?

Sorry the picture is so blurry. Isn’t the tarp such a mess! All the rope & bungy cords. So classy! After 20+ hours of driving the tarps on the truck were beat up. We kept stopping and adding rope to keep everything tied down. It was a mess by the time we got here. But at least we arrived all in one piece – it took us a couple of hours (in the dark!) to unload the truck and trailer. The next morning we were in for a huge mess.

We’ve got a tiny apartment, just enough space to suit our needs.

It took us nearly the whole week to get settled in. A lot of our tchotchkes and clutter is still in boxes – there’s just not enough room in our little apartment for everything. Luckily our storage closet off the patio is big enough to store our boxes of junk.

I need to tidy up and post some pictures of our apartment all clean and organized. It will probably be a few days before I finally get that posted because Tyler & I have interviews on Friday! Let’s all cross our fingers that we both get hired!!

Sooo…our house, you know, the main focus of this blog? Yeah, we don’t live there anymore. We rented our house in April, so that we will be able to move as soon as Tyler finds a new job. That’s right, folks! Tyler’s graduated!!

Can you find Tyler? (Hint..he’s in red!)

Graduation was in May and I was crazy proud. We are super glad school is finally done. So with our house rented (with most of our stuff stored in my sister’s garage) and Tyler graduated we are finally ready and able to move from Vegas. All we need now is a job to move for!

For the time being we are staying with my parents, which has been really nice. Now that our house is rented, I obviously won’t be doing more projects to post here. So I’ll be blogging about more day to day goings on (if I actually blog anything!). At least I’ll be blogging a little more often than once a year.

Up next: our trip to Acapulco to celebrate Tyler’s graduation!

(Please ignore the paint-splattered tile. I wasn’t very careful. Oops.)

Awwwwwh Yeah! After 3 long years, we FINALLY painted our kitchen cabinets. The effect is major – such a huge difference. Remember what our poor kitchen looked like?

On the left is the original kitchen, when we bought the house. The right photo is how the kitchen has looked for the past 3 years.

We’ve obviously still got a long ways to go. On the to-do list: clean the floor!, cut counter tops, stain & seal counter tops, install sink & counter tops, move some electrical outlets, tile the backsplash, and repaint.

Yeah, I’m painting the downstairs again. The 4th time in 3 years. Yowza. I just can’t seem to get the color quite right. The paint now is too muddy blue-gray. I’m leaning towards a greige instead, to balance out all the blue. My current favorites are the 2nd row, the middle and right colors. Any thoughts or opinions?

I’m going to get a few testers and paint some swatches around the room so that I can be 100% sure this time and not have to repaint. Again.

Aren’t they so adorable? I just love them. When I walk into our bedroom, I catch a glimpse of the curtains in this room and I just smile. I love the way they turned out. I already had the fabric, it was originally purchased to upholster the wingback chair, and I already had the curtain rod [it was used downstairs for the curtains at the sliding glass door - I'll show you what we're currently using another day]. So I only purchased the clips to hang the curtains [$15] and more no-sew hem tape [$5-ish?], since the roll I already had ran out about halfway through. Oops. So the out-of-pocket expense was only 20 bones. Not bad.

Here’s how I did it [I didn't take a lot of pictures, so hopefully it makes sense]

Tangent: I hate our carpet so soo sooo much. I can’t wait to replace it.

First I laid out the fabric on the floor and measured 90 inches [our ceilings are 8' and I knew I didn't want floor to ceiling curtains and I also needed extra to hem - the curtains ended up being 86 inches hemmed] then I folded the piece of fabric on top of itself and remeasured to make sure it was still right and then I cut it straight down the fold – making sure to keep it even and straight.

Then I doubled checked my measurements again and cut the top piece to 90 inches, using the bottom piece as a guide to keep me straight and even. Make sense?

Now I had two panels perfectly even and both 90 inches. And then I totally forgot to take anymore pictures. I blame it on getting into a groove and forgetting to document it.

But seriously, the rest of it is the easiest thing in the world [maybe not the easiest, but pretty darn close]. I’ve used hem tape on other projects and it’s so easy. It’s great to use on things that won’t get washed often. I wouldn’t recommend for clothing or other items that get regular washings – the tape just doesn’t hold up to repeat visits to the washer and dryer.

So – I took my first panel and on the ironing board I lined up the hem tape to the edge of the fabric and folded it over – making sure to keep everything even. Then I ironed that small section and then repeated that same process over and over and over and you get the idea. It’s time consuming. But it’s faster than sewing the panels, I think.

I just love them so much I wanted to show them off again. We hung them slightly off-centered so that the window looks centered on the wall. Why do builders put windows off-centered? It seriously bugs me.

We are going to ditch these wood blinds too. I’d like to use a fabric roman shade in here, but I don’t feel like making it, so we’ll see what I can find.

I’m so excited to paint! No, not really. But it’s one of those things that just has to get done. These are some of the paint swatches I was thinking about. I ruled a few out but I don’t necessarily love the options left. I think I need to put up some new options. I’m thinking something similar in tone to the middle swatch – but lighter. I don’t want yellow walls to blind me when I walk into the room, it’s only about 10′x10′ so I don’t want the walls to overwhelm. If I can find the right color, maybe I’ll be painting this weekend. I kind of hope not!

No, not because I’m mean, but because I want to share the photo collage I put together for the room

Granted, some of them aren’t photos. I like the mix of photos, mirrors, and a couple of other pieces. Also – this is a work in progress shot. Some frames have old pictures in them that I will be switching out in the future [the bird pictures, the sideways drawing of the Las Vegas temple, the letters, etc]. I’m also going to paint the wood frames white, I think I’ll leave the brushed metal ones alone. I’m also thinking I might paint the mirror frames plum? I’m not sure yet.

So how did I do my collage? I planned ahead, rather than punching a ton of little holes in the wall.

I laid out my basic plan on the floor, to get an idea of how it looked together. Comparing the two, you can tell I made a few changes. I think I ended up with a few extra holes, but that’s not too bad – it’s not a wall full of holes.

Here’s a closer view of the wall as it currently looks. Just in case your interested [and feel free to roll your eyes and move on if you don't want to know the reason behind some of the pictures!] The top left is a wrapper from a bar of dark chocolate. It’s call ‘One Huge Hunk’ with a picture of some dude’s abs. Tyler gave that to me for my birthday [I love dark chocolate] and said, “cause I’m your hunk” [cheesy!]. Oh man, it still makes me smile.

Next to it is a picture I took of the Lubbock temple, which coincidentally, is where Tyler and I met – in the parking lot during transfers [for any non-mormon readers: Tyler and I were both missionaries for our church when we met and transfers is when the missionaries move from one area to a new one].

Then it’s onto a random flower picture that I think I’ll change.

I love the next picture – obviously it’s from our wedding. My ring is so pretty.

The next picture is of my mother’s parents. I love this picture of them.

The only other piece with a story behind it is the far right painted wooden piece. My dad’s mother painted it, she was so talented and painted a lot of things. She did mostly tole painting, which isn’t my usual style. This is one piece that I really love and I think it will work nicely in here.

Okay – all my sentimental stuff is over! Thanks for letting me ramble.

Just to prove that I actually cleaned the whole room. It was SUCH a mess! We’ve still got a long way to go. Eventually the sewing machine and my ghetto table will get stored in the closet, but I’ve got a few pillow covers to sew before I store everything.

This is everything I got finished by Friday afternoon. I got the curtains finished on Friday night and Tyler helped me hang them. I’ll be back tommorrow all the curtain-y goodness! I know you’re on the edge of your seat!

Blargh, it just didn’t look right and I had a feeling that a tall pelmet box would look wierd. So after reading your comments I realized that our whole house doesn’t have to have the same style of blinds in every room – it’s okay to change it up a little. Duh!

Major improvement, no? I also switched out the curtains, since I’m not using a pelmet box. I’m just not a fan of those fabric hooks and I didn’t want to leave them exposed. These drapes with grommets look much better, I think.

The window generally looks like this. I would love to keep the blinds open all the time, but we live in Vegas and the houses are super close together. I don’t want my neighbor catching a glimpse of me in my undies. And I’m pretty sure it’s not a view they want to see either. We bought some stuff to frost the window, it’s some film-type thing, which is entirely removable – so that’s good if we end up hating it. YHL did it too and I think it will work perfectly to enable us to leave the blinds up, but still have our privacy. Even at night, which is pretty cool.

I’d like to frost the window this weekend, but I’m on a roll in the bedroom of doom. So we’ll see how the weekend goes. For now, we’ll just leave the blinds down!