Testing Colors

I have just found the greatest invention of all time!...Ok I guess it's not the greatest but I've sure been having fun with it lately.

It's a website, mycolortopia.com by Glidden.  You can test out paint colors on your very own walls by uploading a picture...GENIUS!  Why didn't someone think of this before?

I have to warn you though, this is a definite time-waster.  It's so fun!

When we built, we just chose an overall color for the whole house.  It's called Sprite and no, it does not resemble the drink in any way ;)  It is like a yellowy, creamy, beige color.

I have this large vaulted wall in my living area that definitely needs some tlc.  I have plans to put a picture collage up but am still collecting frames and what-not.  Long term we have major plans for this wall- it's going to be fantastic and I can't wait till we can do what I really want with it but that probably won't be for another year or so so for now I am thinking maybe throwing some paint on it and making it an accent wall.

Paint is one of the best ways to make a dramatic change to a space and it's so inexpensive too!

I know I want a pop of color and am really drawn toward the blues but there are SO many shades.  So I narrowed it down to a bunch and I need help, what color blue do you like?  I understand some of these are pretty close but I can't choose!

You will notice the paint color is typed on the wall in white.

This is what the room currently looks like

Thanks for your input!

Life as a Toddler

James is now 21 months old...Carson hates when I tell people he is 21 months.  He thinks I should say almost two.  He wonders how long we will tell his age in months.  Makes me think of that Adam Sandler movie, Grown Ups.  Haha if you've seen it you know what part I'm referring to. My argument- he still has 3 months till then and A LOT changes with a toddler in that amount of time, but I am now humoring him.

James is now almost two.

This kid has a lot of personality.  He is so fun!  Buuuut I'm afraid the terrible two's have hit the Cullimore house hold.  I know, I know, you say 3 year olds are much worse.  Well I like to cover my ears and pretend I can't hear you ;)

Ignorance is bliss, right?

James has quite a high vocabulary for his age.  Strangers even comment on how well he communicates.  I guess that makes up for his not crawling (on hands and knees) till he was 10 months old and not walking till he was 14 months.  One day I was singing  loud and he put his finger up to his lips and said "Shhh Dada's ni-night." Carson wasn't even home from work yet. He cracks me up.

He is obsessed with trains, more specifically Thomas the Train.  He even knows all the characters names!  Maybe he watches it too much...  Though he is really good at remembering and saying names especially family (and Thomas characters).  He loves to look at pictures of our family and go through and name everyone off.  He also a few times a day will ask, "Where's so-and-so?" to which I'll answer, "Probably at school, or work, or home."  and then he'll move on to the next person and ask the same thing.  This kid even talks in his sleep...no surprise there :)  He is definitely his mother's son.

He for some reason does not like to wear his shoes (and sometimes his socks) in the car.  So we just don't ever put them on until we have arrived at our destination.  Now that it's cold outside, we get comments asking where his shoes are, to which I have to explain I'd rather not put his shoes on twice.   Speaking of shoes, he loves his snow boots and will often be found wearing them around the house.  Yes, he helps himself to this.

He is so sweet and loves to give kisses.  He often kisses his books, his stuffed animals, gives kisses toward something on the tv.

He often tells us "I pee" or "I poop" after he has gone, maybe even before sometimes.  He also has tried sitting on the toilet- he does that all on his own.  Now, I am definitely not saying he is ready for potty training.  We have a lot longer to go for that but it's interesting seeing him become more independent and aware all on his own!


He has become mama's little helper.  He says, "I help" all the time for everything.  He loves to help me cook and clean which was such a hassle in the beginning but now I embrace it and put him to work!  Before he was sort of in my way and I felt I couldn't get anything done around the house.  Now I give him a rag when I'm cleaning and he follows behind me, helps me load the washer and dryer, and stirs things for me while I'm cooking.  It takes me longer but at least I'm getting it done and I'm keeping my toddler happy while I do it.

Every day isn't always a good day.  We definitely have our struggles, but we are enjoying each day we are given.

New Years

As we say goodbye to the year 2012 I can't help but think back on what myself and my little family has accomplished this year.  We had some major events happen this year.  Just to name a few:

• January: Carson started his job working part-time at Anglepoint 
• February: Busy busy with school
• March: hmmm celebrated St. Patty's day?? haha
• April: Carson and I graduated- Carson with his Masters in Information Systems from BYU and I with my Associates in Radiography!  We also celebrated James turning one! 
• May: I turned 26...really?  I'm closer to 30 than I am 20... I also took my Radiology Boards and passed!  Carson was offered a full-time position with Anglepoint.
• June: I started working prn at The Clinic doing Radiology and Medical Assisting.
• July: As we were building our home, we were blessed to not be affected by the Saratoga wildfire.
• August: We bought our house! 
• September: SWe ran our first half marathon- the Big Cottonwood Half Marathon.  Our community was hit by a devastating mudslide but we were fortunate to not have been personally affected.
• October: Took James trick-or-treating for the first time.
• November: Payed close attention to the election- we were bummed about the outcome but know the Lord is in control.
• December: Grandpa Pulver passed away. We celebrated our 5th Anniversary.  We also celebrated Carson's 27th birthday- he's getting old.  

Now, I am not one for New Year's resolutions but I will say that I am going to strive to be an overall nicer person and be more service oriented this year (and really, hopefully for the rest of my life).  I would like to make a difference in the world, my community, my family's lives.  To have a more Christ-like attitude.   

We are looking forward to what 2013 will bring us!  We hope everyone else has a great year!

Whoa December

Yes, December is a crazy month for everyone but it is even more crazy for us with celebrating Carson's birthday on the 17th and our Anniversary on the 29th.  We have the privilege of throwing those into the mix of parties, shopping, etc!

For Carson's birthday we actually attended his work party at Ruth's Chris Steak house.  This was our first time there and it was phenomenal...I can not even describe how good it was.  It was a delight getting to know Carson's co-workers better.  All are such great people and we enjoy being in their presence.  Before going to Ruth's Chris Carson opened his presents.  I surprised him with a really nice chess set and a vintage BYU shirt that he has been wanting.  We have played a couple games of chess and I will just say I am not a good contender against Carson.  There is definitely no challenge for him ha.

James was so fun this year with Christmas.  He is kind of starting to get it.  He knows who Santa is and can say his name (don't ask him to sit on his lap) but he doesn't quite understand what his role is in all this Christmas business yet. He loved seeing all the Christmas lights and decor.

Opening presents is hard work

For our Anniversary to celebrate our good ol' wooden 5th Anniversary we decided to do a little over-nighter get away up to SL.  This was the first time I left James overnight.  I have been kind of paranoid to ever do this- I know he would be fine I was just always worried about how I would do.  I can't believe I didn't do it sooner!  Ha, I handled it just fine.  It probably helped that it was just one night and I did miss him but the fun and freedom we had outweighed it :) We saw Les Mis (meh) and went to Ruth's Chris (it was so good the first time, we had to go back a week and a half later for more).  Actually we had already planned to go there and made reservations before Carson's work decided to have their party there.  Oh well.  It was delish.  We tried to stuff all that we could into our bellies but when we finally gave up we decided we would have them pack the left overs up and we'd find a homeless person in need of a good meal.  We gave it to a very appreciative homeless woman outside the temple/city creek area.  It felt good to do something nice for someone else and by giving a meal rather than giving cash, I knew my money was being put to good use.

We did a little shopping at City Creek

They had ice skating right outside our hotel.  It was beautiful with the rink and the lights on all the trees.

This month we also squeezed some time in for some Jungle Jims.  Laurie had a Groupon that she needed to use before the year was up.  Carson grew up going to this place and it was kind of fun taking James on all the kiddie rides.  He enjoyed spending time with his cousins.  And it was really funny watching Carson try to fit into the rides :)

James didn't like this one

And to end this post, I also went to a beading party this month and it was so much fun.  I was in heaven putting my creative senses together.  I came up with these two beauties.  I kind of like them :)  I gave them as gifts for Christmas but I think I need to make some more for myself.  So fun!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Tomorrow is December 1st...can you believe it!?  I love seeing how people decorate for the Holidays.  I'll share my decor.

We got started putting up our Christmas decor the day after Thanksgiving.  I used all that we had the last few years but added just a couple new things.

Here is how I decorated my "mantle" shelves.  I love my shelves :)

I went with a more muted white/cream theme with a few pops of the traditional Christmas greens and reds

I had everything from previous years but felt I needed something along the "Believe" blocks so I bought this garland at Hobby Lobby.  All their Christmas is 50% off this week!  Here's a close up.  I love the crystal-y winter look and love how it completes that shelf.  I then traded out my usual small wreath on the holder to the right of the "Believe" blocks with just a cute red berry one from Micheals (also 50% off).

I felt we needed a wreath on our front door.  I have been sort of looking around as I am in stores but I am not particularly fond of the traditional Christmas tree wreath look for my house.  As I was at Micheals shopping for other things, I ran across this one and had to take it home! It was exactly what I was looking for!  It may not look all that cute against an orange door but it is what it is :)

And a close up...I love close up shots :)  I love the blue beads and clear crystals in this and love how it's all glittered and frosted.

Here is our sad little Christmas tree.  We have had it since our first year married so about 4 years now and it's starting to fall apart.  It actually has been a good little tree.  I think we bought it for like 35 bucks at Target and it has served us well.  Next year we are thinking we will retire this little guy.

I love this Advent calendar I made with my MIL and SIL's last year...or was it two years ago??  It's in an old vintage Coca Cola crate.  Love.

We are almost done Christmas shopping!  I didn't hit my goal, to be completely finished by December 1st but what can you do?  I just hope I'm not one of those out Christmas eve scrambling to finish up...

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!

A Little Update About the Adults

I feel like we have had a busy couple of months lately, with moving into our new home, fairly new jobs, parenting busy-boy James, and just getting settled into our new community and church callings.

I knew owning a home would be hard work but wow, there really is a lot more to it than I expected, for example, sealing our front porch and backyard "deck" for the winter...what!? (I put quotations because I'm not sure if I'd go as far as calling it a deck per say, but we fit our grill on it comfortably and with it you can fit like two or three adults) And of course we still need to get blinds and a water softener...Okay, don't panic, we do have blinds (I guess you can call them that). They are those make-shift paper blinds that you get from Home Depot for like 5 bucks.  

At least we have privacy :)  

There are so many projects I have been wanting to do to make our home represent our style.  I also would just love to go out and buy a whole bunch of furniture to totally redo complete our family room and the same for our living room buuuut....budget.  

And then there's the daunting task of putting in a yard.

"It'll all come together in time, Rachelle...Simmer down." 

 I tell myself that on a daily basis :)

Carson has been super busy with his job and has been working long, crazy hours.  This has been a struggle for us both. I think we saw each other more when we were both going to school full time and working.  At times I feel like a single parent and often times I. Am. Exhausted.  I seriously don't know how single mama's do it everyday.  And I know there are a lot of my friends and family out there who have similar or harder situations than mine so I really can't complain.  

But really Carson likes his job aside from the crazy hours which won't last long anyway.  I am still working for a nearby clinic and am loving it!  And I am loving my most important job, being a mama to this sweet boy...crazy hair and all!

We are liking our neighborhood and ward.  I was called to teach Primary like two weeks after we moved in and currently teach the 11 year olds and really like it.  Carson is in nursery and definitely has his hands full.  We have 3 nurseries in our ward!  Ahhh

Despite being busy or overwhelmed, we are loving life and 

still have time for some fun.  

Halloween 2012

This year Halloween was so much fun!  Having kids makes it ten times more fun!

James is still pretty young to understand it all, especially the actual trick-or-treating part but he had a blast with all the Halloween decor, lighting the pumpkins, going to costume parades, parties, and dressing up in his puppy costume.

Since we are new in our area, we decided we would stick around our neighborhood this year so we could get to know some more people and also let James trick-or-treat around the cul-de-sac.  It took FOREVER! ha, I'm glad we only did our circle :)  He was way cute though.

I absolutely LOVE Halloween and plan to get way more into it with decorating now that we have a house of our own.  I did do a little decorating with my new shelves which I already previewed here.  And I also made this really fun Witch's Spell book.  It was super easy AND cheap! I got the idea from a very talented friend, thanks for letting me copy you Leslie!

Here's with all the decor around it

I also love to dress up.  This year since James adores puppies, I thought it'd be cute to see him go as one.  And of course I have to coordinate mine and Carson's costumes to go with James' so we went as veterinarians.  Plus it was easy since we have access to plenty of gear.

puppies heart sounds great

ward Halloween party

the lighting of the pumpkins

at cousin Addie's school parade

As I mentioned, James didn't get the whole trick-or-treating thing on Halloween day but we went to grandma and papa Cullimore's house for dinner the following Sunday and he saw their candy and all of the sudden had it all down.  He pointed to the candy and said, "trick or treat".  So we practiced for next year.  We went outside, he rang the doorbell, grandma answered, he said "trick or treat" and she handed him some candy from a basket.  He's ready for next year!

Now whenever he wants some candy he says, "I want trick or treat".  haha