Happy oh10!!!

I'm calling it oh10, I don't care what anyone says.  I'm a huge New Years Resolution person, and that's probably mainly because I refuse to come to grips with the fact that I never follow through on them.  I painstakingly make a list and put it in my journal every single year.  Every single year I look back and go "Oh.  Hmmm.  I was going to do that, wasn't I?".  But this year, I'm splashing it for all to see, maybe some accountability will spur me to complete some goals.  2009 was such an amazing year (birth of a child and all, growth of a toddler, etc), but also a really awful one and I'm hoping that 2010 brings better things.  I'm aware that saying that will mean it won't, but here's a glass of Mormon bubbly to positivity. 
It did start off on a productive note though.  We had Ben's sis and fam (J.D., George, Brittan & Braden) over for the evening.  Dev went to bed at his standard 7:30, and we let K stay up until 9:30.  Ben was pushing for later, but I prevailed.  Sorry, but bedtime is bedtime!  We were not a rowdy group at all, but it was a nice night.  We played games, ate far too much of J.D.'s delicious food & Santa Juice, and I finished tying a quilt I've had in my ottoman (doubles as a storage drawer thing) for 2 years. My sis Megan made it for me and we were supposed to tie it but never got around to it.  My foremost resolution for oh10 is to be less lazy and more productive.  When I finished tying it at 11:55pm, all I really wanted to do was jump around and do fist pumps in the air because I FINALLY FINISHED SOMETHING!  This is so rare for me!  I got pretty giddy, but had to hide it, I don't know that my exaggerated sense of accomplishment for something this small would've been as appreciated as I found it.  Nonetheless, I did fist pumps in the air secretly in my head.  So, hoping this is a good omen for the year, here are a few other projects around our house that I hope to show completed before & after pics by the end of 2010.  Since $ is an omnipresent factor in our lives these days, it will probably take all year.  But slow and steady wins the race, no?  These pics were taken with my amateur hand and a nice camera, but I had fun:
Here is the quilt!  I heart it.

Here is another project completed during Ben's vacation which I'm including in the New Year.  He made a toy box and all of us (except Dev, he hung out in the high chair) helped paint and bang it up.  It's a nice thing to have anyway, but it's a family completed project, and I love that!

Ben workin' on the junk sidewalk

Our family in rock form.  We painted rocks up in Sflake a while ago, and thought they'd be a good addition to our sidewalk, kind of like stamping our hands in concrete.

Someday I will get out there and help Dad!  Ben is so excited to have a son, he can't wait until Dev can get out there and hang out with him and help.

Kyndal is a good helper too though, she helped clean up some of the rubble that was grinded off edges.  She was very serious in her endeavor and wouldn't stop to let me take a picture of her face.

Here is a chunk of the sidewalk that goes in front of our porch (that will later this year hopefully be tiled in saltillo tiles).  We have pavers, bricks, granite leftover tiles, you name it, it's in there.  It looks AWESOME. 

This is what it'll look like when the cracks are filled in with sand (a special sand that gets glued in basically, so it won't ever come out, yay!).  I can't wait until our backyard is done and I don't have to see dirt ever again! 

By the end of this month, I sincerely hope that this project is completed... A few pics of our entry way and the color we'll be painting it.  The accessories in the niche will stay red, plus a few more I hope to add, and of course the Christmas decorations will leave.  The mirror frame will be painted in the same teal color as the wall.

My favorite room to decorate in our house so far has been our kitchen.  I LOVE RED!  Hoping to add to my collection of things from goodwill that I spraypainted and glass vases from Hobby Lobby that are 50% off! 

I am the absolute worst at hanging up pictures.  I had foolishly grand plans for a frame wall with frames I spray painted and distressed.  All that's done, but I stink at ordering prints and also some of the frames need mats, I broke the glass in my two biggest frames, BAH.  I so need to get this done, but it's far from complete.  Sadly, since I have so many good pictures to put in them!

The other room I plan on working a lot on is our bedroom.  It all revolves around the quilt my mom is making (from the Thanksgiving post), and I have big ole plans for it.  That's kind of last on the list, but I hope we can get it done this year too!  It's going to look great!