Just a LITTLE Windy

On Monday morning, around 12:30 a.m., I was awakened by screams from Michael's room. I went in, calmed him down, and tucked him back in. A few minutes after falling back asleep, he started screaming again. This time Brian headed in to repeat my previous comforting attempts. Shortly thereafter, Brian came back to bed, and we both fell back asleep, only to be awakened by Michael yet again. I headed back in and climbed in bed with him this time. He tried talking to me about stuff, just like it was daytime out there, and after reminding him that we were supposed to be sleeping, he finally conked out, and I slipped back to my room and my bed. By that time, it was around 3 a.m. So, when, at 7:30, Michael woke up screaming again, I was not the happiest person heading into comfort him. What was going on with him? Upon entering his room, I figured out the cause of his alarm. The wind was howling and his window was being assaulted by large raindrops. The wind blowing from the South was hitting his window with a vengeance that our north-facing bedroom was sheltered from. So, back into his bed I climbed, explaining that it was just the wind and it was okay. I wonder if the wind is what kept waking him up that night, but for the life of me, I can't recall hearing it when I went in to check on him. 

After venturing outside later on that day, I was amazed to see that our garbage can had done a little early-morning walking. The circle indicates where the trash can usually stands, and the arrow marks where we found it. Michael is helping provide a point of reference. (actually, he's just playing with the wheels). 

Of course, this isn't as impressive as our neighbor's Little Tikes slide and climbing wall that traveled 30 feet where it was stopped by those electric post things. Or the neighbor who's trampoline tried to fly away. But still, it was a little scary how windy it was.  

Traditions Ball

Last year, we decided to make the BYU Traditions Ball a tradition. This year, it snuck up on us, but we were still able to make it. And in classic Devri fashion, I pulled a new outfit together, stitching and gluing right up to the last minute. This time, I used one of my dresses from high school and a $3 DI cardigan. The dress was sadly too small, but since it was cut on the bias, I just chopped off the top and slipped it over my head. The cardigan needed a little something something, so I made some flowers out of some sheer fabric Chelsea gave me and sewed beads leftover from my wedding dress onto it. Brian said that another girl gave me a once over while we were all going up the elevator. I wonder what she thought of my outfit...hee hee. 

After dinner at the Olive Garden in A.F., we headed down to Provo for an evening of fun posh-ness at the beautiful Hinckely Center at BYU. 

We HAD to visit the Gazebo where Brian popped the question three and a half years ago:

 We danced there and laughed and reminisced. Maybe this is one of the reasons why we love going to the Hinckley Center so much! Plus, it always feels like coming home since I worked there the year Brian and I dated. Such good times.

We'd both been sick, so we were easily winded, which was pretty sad, but we still had a blast doing the Cha-cha and the swing. Before next time, we are taking a dance class to refresh our feet of more than just the basic steps.

It was the perfect night to dance the night away with my Prince at a wonderful ball. Here's looking forward to next year!

Finally!

On St. Patrick's Day, Brian and I bought our first set of couches. Farewell to our old, second hand, second hand, couches! Enjoy your new home in the basement! We've been itching to buy new couches since we moved in here back in June. They were delivered on the 21st (which is why we forgot to call you on your birthday, Greg), and we celebrated by renting The Muppets from Redbox. They've taken a bit of getting used to--they're bigger and darker than our last ones, but our living room actually looks like a living room now!

 And since we were getting couches, I couldn't stand this anymore:

I journeyed to Home Fabrics in Orem and found some awesome fabric for $3 a yard and spent the rest of the week doing this:

I'm very pleased with how this chair turned out--and that's a bit of an understatement. Brian and I are both amazed at how well I pulled this off. 

Now for the before and after pictures:

Maybe now I won't be as embarrassed to tell people I studied Interior Design in college. I've got the design itch now, so stay tuned for more projects. (My neighbor, upon seeing our office littered with fabric and stuffing while I was re-doing the chair, commented, "You always have a project going." Lately, that has certainly been true.

Not Eventful, but Oh So Good

" 'After all,' Anne had said to Marilla once, 'I believe the nicest and sweetest of days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.' " --from Anne of Avonlea, ch. 19, "Just a Happy Day" by L.M. Mongomery

I read this and thought it perfectly described so many days around here--nothing really eventful or "blog-worthy", but just good days with simple joys that mean so much more than some of those really eventful days. And we are blessed to have many such days, especially last week when the weather was so nice. Here's an attempt to capture such days in a few pictures:

Michael losing his gum--in his hair! No gum for a few days after that! Apparently, he was so funny looking for his gum that Brian just had to laugh it off. 

When Brian and I got sick a couple of weeks ago, we were so grateful for this happy little guy who only got sick one day with a small fever while were out of commission for nearly a week!

Michael's fleet. We are constantly finding similar formations. 

This one is the most common, and it is ALWAYS in this spot--right in the middle of the path to the fridge.

Michael loves books and construction vehicles. He spots more excavators when we're out and about than anyone I know. And I love it.

This is Michael's self-portrait. His many different expressions keep us laughing. 

Michael's Room Make-over

I finally finished a much needed/anticipated make-over on Michael's room. My mom brought me a twin size bed when she came down to help us move. It was going to be Ethan's bed, and then she said I could keep it for Michael. It's an old bed. I think my mom said it used to be my great-grandma's. I used this frame back in my later childhood and high school years. I've been itching to refinish it for Michael for months. 

For Christmas,  Mom Saville (Julie) made Michael a sock monkey pillowcase. It was just perfect for Michael. After the excitement of Christmas died down, she showed me a stack of fat quarters of sock monkey fabric that she had just purchased. A week or so later, I called her up to see if she would help me make a twin size quilt out of those fat quarters to go on the above mentioned bed for Michael. I thought it would be fun to be tutored by the best in the state. So, on January 2, while Brian was at Shayne's birthday party, I headed to my fabulous Mother-in-law's house to cut out blocks. We decided on a simple Snowball block, and after cutting out all the squares and triangles, I headed home and eventually put it all together. I laid it out, numbered it, and started sewing, but then decided I would be ashamed to show Julie what I had come up with. So, I redesigned the quilt in photoshop and re-laid it out and started again. Finally, towards the end of February, I had the top finished and met with Julie to put the batting and back on. She took it from there, quilting and binding it. We picked it up last night.

Julie had texted me towards the beginning of last week, saying she was just about done with the quilt. That text lit the fire for me to re-finish the bed and other bedroom furniture. The sock-monkey fabric became the theme for the room. After sanding and painting the bed white, we glued these wooden cut-outs that Brian, Michael, and I picked out at Hobby Lobby. (Michael picked the Elephant). 

 Here's his new bed. (I wish I had a picture of the entire quilt. I'll have to post it when I get it from Julie.)

 I also decided to go with a red and white theme, using mostly red for accents. Here's his room (looking in from the doorway).

 I made his banner out of felt, ribbon, and a few buttons. It was cuter in my mind, but I still like how it turned out.

 This dresser is also a piece from my childhood, although I don't think I ever used this dresser, but Ethan used it. Chelsea acquired it from my mom, and she recently re-painted it brown. I wish I had before and after pictures from when Ethan had it to when Chelsea refinished it. She did a great job, but after a little debate with myself, I decided to once again re-do the dresser to be used for toys.

 The wooden cut-outs are labels for what goes in the drawer. My original idea was to put a square of chalk-board paint, and write what goes in the drawer, but then I remembered that Michael can't read. So, the bottom drawer holds the little people, the next drawer up holds Michael's cars, the football holds the balls, the Frog holds his other random animals, the dinosaur holds dinosaurs and his lizard, and the rocket holds everything else. The three of us had a lot of fun picking out cut-outs at Hobby Lobby. Unfortunately, they didn't have any good people ones, so I painted skin onto gingerbread man cutouts and then glued fleece and ribbon to make clothes for them. I wish I had a close-up because I love how they turned out.

I re-painted Michael's clothes dresser and updated the hardware. It is now happily in the closet. It is a tall, slightly awkward thing, and it fits better there. Plus, I was tired of picking up clothes that Michael occasionally pulled out.

 I saw these bins at Wal*Mart on clearance a few months back when I was planning Michael's room, and they're really what solidified the red accent theme in his room. I wanted to get a little shelf or nightstand to put them on. Instead, we decided to use this shoe shelf. It used to be brown, and it was a bit of an orphan our house with no really good spot to hang out. Some of you may remember it being in our entryway.So, it got new paint and is now perfectly situated next to Michael's bed.  The "Michael" sign was a gift from our good friend Michael Simmons (someone gave it to him years ago, and when he didn't want it anymore, he decided to pass it on to his namesake). It got a fresh new coat of red paint as well.

 I found this table and chairs on KSL. The table legs and chair used to be pastel colored (one chair was blue, the other green). I spray painted them red to match, and I just LOVE how they turned out.

 His walls needed something, so on Saturday, after we moved everything in again, I headed to Wal*Mart for felt and made this banner:

 It was cuter in my head, but I'm still fairly pleased with how it turned out.

His window needed a little punch of color too. I was hoping there would be enough fabric leftover from making the quilt, but there wasn't enough of one to really make a good one. I didn't want it to look too pieced together, so this is what I came up with:

 It's supposed to look like a Roman shade pulled up. You can kind of see the fold in the fabric.

Here's the pillowcase that started it all. I love how well it goes with the quilt!

 And just had to put in a picture of our favorite Monkeys:

Michael LOVES his new room. He loves the monkeys, and he loves having such an awesome bed to jump on. That's probably his favorite part. And it's so cute hearing him giggle that I haven't had the heart to make him stop. We love you, Michael!

What Happened in Vegas...

Due to everything that happened back in January, we decided that we needed to get away. Plus, we kind of had a lame celebration for our anniversary. We decided to make a big deal out of Leap Year Day--the day we officially became a couple. So, after leaving Michael in the able and caring hands of Lea, we took our car on its first road trip as a Savillian and drove to Las Vegas, Nevada on February 28, 2012. We checked into The Tropicana Hotel and headed out for dinner. We decided to participate in Restaurants week, and ate at Baccio's, a deliciously amazing Italian restaurant housed in The Tropicana. 

 We had a four course meal. It was SO good that we carefully iced our leftovers for the following three days until we could come home and heat them up again. They were almost as amazing as leftovers. SO GOOD!

After dinner, we explored the South end of the Strip. We saw New York and Paris!

 We also saw the water show at Bellagio, visited M&M World, which is super lame now that they stopped the candy-making demo, looked at tons of Souvenir shops looking for something for Michael, and tried to avoid making eye-contact with the prostitute managers flicking their cards.

The next day, we celebrated our "anniversary" by going on a Cruise:

We boarded the Desert Princess right at noon (we had missed the turn-off, drove into Arizona before realizing it, frantically turned back, and made it just in time). We toured Lake Mead via this fun paddle-boat.

 We got to see Hoover Dam from the Lake Side:

 And, of course, have some laughs along the way:

 The captains were kind enough to take this picture for us:

 This was right before coming back to the Marina, and he said I couldn't touch the wheel. Then, right before his assistant took this picture, the captain said that I could touch it. That's why my hand looks awkward.

 After our cruise, we headed up to see Hoover Dam. They built this incredible Bypass Bridge to avoid bottle-necking and terrorist attacks on Hoover Dam. We drove over it before our cruise, and didn't even realize it. To get onto Hoover Dam, you have to go through a security check-point. We looked harmless, so they let us in. We drove over the Dam, parked, and then walked back across it. This is us on the Dam with a view of the new Bypass Bridge.

 Both the Dam and the bridge are incredible engineering feats. It's amazing that this Dam was built in the Depression. It is a sight to behold, especially when you see the canyon that they built it in. My Great-Grandpa Tyler worked on this Dam, and it was so cool to stand on something that he helped build all those years ago. He died when I was really little, and I barely remember him.

Here I am straddling the Arizona/Nevada state line. It goes down the center of the dam. It was windy, so I call this my Marilyn Monroe shot, only she managed to pull it off with a little more charm.

 After hanging out on the Dam, we headed up to walk across the Bypass Bridge. Pictures really can't show how amazing it is there. Here's Brian just before going onto the bridge.

 A view of Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam from the new Bridge (completed in 2010). Simply Amazing! (The view, not me).

 We spent more time at Hoover Dam than we had anticipated. We were unprepared for how cool it was, and we didn't even go into the visitor center or take a tour. After getting back, we got ready to head out for dinner. On the way out, we took a picture in the best part of the hotel: the tropical pool area:

 We headed to the Venetian, wandered around, ate dinner, and then went to:

 The Phantom of the Opera. Three words: Holy Amazing, Batman! I've been a fan of Phantom since I was little, and this was the first time I'd ever seen it performed. Fireworks, cool effects, and a shattered chandelier! (Okay, it didn't really shatter, but it still had some sweet effects!)

 After Phantom, we explored the Venetian some more.

 We saw an outfit in one of the shops that retailed at $3000. Seriously? It wasn't even cute.

On Thursday, March 1, we were going to go to the Las Vegas Temple, but then I woke up with a tummy ache. So, we checked out of Tropicana, and Brian drove me around his old mission areas. I got to see spring blossoms and desert architecture. It was cool.

After the mission tour, we checked into our new hotel room at Excalibur. We got our room for $22 plus taxes and the resort fee. We had originally planned on only staying two nights, but we decided that wouldn't be long enough, so we begged Lea and Brian's work for an extra day. Both were good enough to let us stay. We decided to see another show, and to stay in the cheapest hotel we could find to try to make up the difference. I was expecting a dump, but Excalibur exceeded my expectations. It was actually pretty nice. Not as nice as Tropicana, but for $22, it was awesome!

That night, we went to the Tournament of Kings, a medieval dinner show. We saw jousting, sword fighting, and some sweet pyrotechnics while eating dinner with our hands.

 We were from Russia that night. We had a front row seat in the arena. It was awesome!

 After Tournament of Kings, we toured some more casinos, including the Luxor and New York, New York. Here's Brian in the Luxor.

I decided that the Venetian is my favorite on the inside. It has a canal running through it, and they made it look like you are wandering through the streets in Venice. The Bellagio has the coolest free show. And if I were a gambler, I'd pick New York New York to blow my money in because the casino had the funnest atmosphere. I had fun seeing all the different architecture and interiors, but I have to admit, I had the song, "Here it Is" from Paint Your Wagon running through my head every time we were on the strip. ("Wanna see sin of the wickedest kind? Here it is! Wanna see virtue left behind? Here it is! ...Women and whiskey night and day? Here it is!")

The best part of the trip? Spending everyday with my Sweetheart and discovering that we still love each other. It was nice not having to worry about anything except where we were going to eat that night. I'm so glad that I get to spend the rest of forever with Brian. Thanks for a great trip, Honey!