Lisa and John

I think the last time we had professional photos taken of our family was about 7 years ago.  Well, that doesn’t count the several times we did photos with Grandma Pratt.   We aren’t that great about gathering the children together, finding outfits, and keeping in good spirits during the photo shoot, spending the money, etc.  There are lots of excuses for us!

But, we finally bit the bullet and did it.  We found a great lady through Craigslist.  (Actually, we bought a couch from her.)  Her prices were great and she did a fantastic job.  I highly recommend Rebecca Hoffman of Zion’s Studio (facebook) if you live in Utah county.  We paid a low fee and got the copyrights to the images.  It was a lot of fun, believe it or not.   We offered a reward of ice cream to the boys if they would cooperate and smile.  (Worked like a charm!)  Here are some of the photos we got….

I couldn’t resist and ended up getting a bunch of Avy.  She is just so adorable!

So, that’s us.  The Pratt Family.  July 2010.

I’ve been busy working on some home projects.  First, I rearranged all of our rooms.  We made the small little room into our “master” bedroom.  Our king sized bed just BARELY fit!  I had fun painting it and John and I both love our little honeymoon corner.  It is very cozy.

Next I began to tackle the living room.  This is the before picture.  I really needed some more color.

BEFORE

And, here is the after.  The color is called “Organic Sage”, but it really is more of an apple green.  I love it and it makes me happy.

AFTER

My next dilemma is window curtains.  I am pretty sure I want my accent color to be a blue of some sort.  Maybe turquoise-y.  But, what color for the curtains?  My red couch doesn’t really go with the green and although the black chairs look nice, I think they are too large for the space.  So, the furniture needs some thought….  This picture below was taken during the painting process, so things are a little out of order.

Do you have any ideas for me as far as colors go?  I’m open to suggestions.  Feel free to comment here or send me an e-mail.  I really love cottage style, but the more contemporary cottage style.  Elizabeth says my colors are modern.  I love the colors, but modern isn’t the look I am going for.  Am I difficult or what?

Help…..please…..

Aunt Elizabeth made Avalon a beautiful tutu and magic wand for Christmas.  Here is a picture of her wearing it.  We were all standing around watching her angelic happy expression.  The Fruit Loop necklace was made by Ivan.

Aurora captured an adorable picture of her wearing it at home.  She is such an angel!

Don’t you just love to make something out of nothing?  Here are a few thoughts from President Uchtdorf (from my church) that were put into a short video from the Relief Society broadcast last fall.  It is from the www.lds.org website.

Create Video

He expresses that because we are Heavenly Father’s children and He created us, that we have those same desires to create here on earth.  And, yes, we help create children, but we also have a desire to make the world around us a better place.  To create something out of nothing.

So, I wanted to post a few things that I have created this past year.  It has been so fun to try new things and CREATE stuff for my home and for others.

First, I discovered that refinishing furniture is a lot of fun.

Grandma Pratt had this old, beat up shelf thing on her back porch.  It had been painted brown and was in pretty bad shape due to the weather.  She said it was Jared’s that he had made in wood shop class in high school.  I painted it all up and had a great time.  I proudly showed the finished project to John and he said, “I made that!”  So, it was actually John’s creation!  So, it stays in the family.  I put a distressed finish on it.

And here is the king head board that Grandma gave us.  I thought it was a bit outdated.

I put a white finish on it first…

Then, I distressed it as well.

And, here is how my room looks now.  (I have a lamp for the “side table” but it is being used to hatch a robin egg right now.  Not that the egg will hatch, but Ivan had to try.)

I also did some sewing for Christmas.  I made these cool reversible aprons for some friends of mine.

And, here is what I’ve been up to most recently.

Yup.  I made these!  Elizabeth helped me choose the fabric and the bling.

Isn’t the trim so sweet?  I just love it.

And now, for my next project.  I am going to paint this table and probably the chairs, too.  The table is weathered badly.  The finish is very rough and snags everything.  It probably was left on someone’s porch as well.  Obviously, the leaf was not on the porch with it.

I love the cool lines of this table.  So, what color should I paint it?

And here is my sweet “hunk-o’ hunk-o’ burnin’ love” doing the dishes.  Not a project, but so fun to look at.  Thanks, hon for being such a wonderful help around the house!

So, what have YOU been up to?  I’d love to see some of your creations.  Post it on your blog and let me know!

Now, I’m off to CREATE dinner.  I wonder what I should fix tonight….  Always a dilemma for me….

Yes, I’ve been slack with my blog.  I’m sure when I get high speed again I will be boring y’all even more!  Here is a pic from Sunday before we went to church.  I got this cute new skirt and a cute haircut and wanted to show it off.  The skirt comes down to my knees.  It wasn’t a particularly good hair day, but you get the gist.

Well, we had an offer accepted on a home down close to where Daniel and Kaylene live.  Now, we are crossing our fingers and saying our prayers that everything will go through without a hitch!  We should be moving the first of September or so.  It is a tiny house with a bit of land where we can have chickens and perhaps a cow one day.  The boys are thrilled to have some space to roam and explore.  It is located right next to some train tracks which is an added plus for them as well.  Trains are cool!  We will keep you posted!