Almost halfway!

Hey, friends!

This pregnancy is absolutely flying by, and I am sorry that I haven't had more time to talk about that and the other adventures that have come along with getting ready to be parents, full-time school, and part-time work! My natural love for crafts of all sorts has come back with a vengeance! I borrowed my mom's sewing machine earlier in the pregnancy, but my little sis borrowed it back to sew a quilt for our little one. It's darling, and I'll have to post a picture of it later. I didn't think to take a picture of it when I saw it at my parents' house over Thanksgiving. My mom decided to buy a new machine on Black Friday, so that means she is gifting her old one to me! I'm soooo thankful! I can't wait to go crazy on all these projects I have folded up, just waiting to be sewn!

Baby Update:

I'm 19 weeks and 5 days today, and we have known the gender of Baby Springer for almost five weeks! I meant to blog about it, but these pregnancy hormones keep getting the best of me. Work and school take it out of me, so I'm lucky to get a post in every few weeks. We announced the gender of our little one with a picture via Facebook, so I may as well do the same here. :) Introducing, Little Girl Springer! :)

We are absolutely thrilled. We thought it might be a boy because of some of my pregnancy symptoms (and just a gut feeling), but we could not have been more excited to learn that our first child is going to be a daughter. The only downside is that we hadn't thought of any girl names yet! So we got busy on that right away, but we're still working on it. I'm so indecisive that we might end up waiting until we see her to finally decide. Then again, I'm pretty anxious to pick a name for her. We'll see what happens. We've been throwing a few different names around, but any ideas are welcome. :) Austin jokes that we're just going to name her Little Girl. I might call her that until we decide on a name. :)

Halloween came just after we found out what we were having, so I wanted to make sure our little girl got to dress up too! I saw this idea used lots of times on Pinterest, so I decided to use it for myself. I used freezer paper and white paint, and they turned out really cute!

I added a pink bow to the baby's skeleton after I took this picture. Here is the finished product on us. Everyone loved them!

We took family pictures with my parents and siblings that same day, which was lots of fun. :)

I think I'm mostly caught up, so now on to one thing I've been dying to add to the blog: a weekly pregnancy update! I'm not saying I'll be able to do it every week, but the ones I've seen on other blogs keep everybody updated on the ups and downs and are so much fun. So I'm trying it out. The list I'm using is very similar to the one I found on V. Dub im Haus. It's an excellent blog with lots of fun pregnancy stuff (among other things).

How far along: 19 weeks 5 days
Size of baby: Mango
Total weight gain/loss: I haven't weighed in a little while, but last I checked I had lost ten pounds since I started out. My belly has grown quite a bit in the last little while, so I'm hoping I'm finally putting on a little weight. Morning sickness was pretty hard on me!
Stretch marks: None yet.
Maternity clothes: You all saw the DIY maternity jeans I made a month or so ago. Those have been my only maternity clothes in rotation until the last week. On Black Friday, I bought 3 pairs of maternity jeans and a few maternity shirts. The next day, one of the ladies in my parents' neighborhood offered me some of her old maternity stuff. Jackpot! My belly is still small, but everything is getting too short or too tight, so I'm grateful for all my new maternity things!
Baby-related purchases: I bought one tiny newborn outfit for baby on Black Friday, and I also bought two bolts of girly fabric at Joann's. It was way too cheap to pass up! We were also lucky enough to have another family from my parents' neighborhood hand-me-down a whole bunch of baby stuff to us. We went from having just a few baby things to owning a gorgeous cherry wood crib, boxes of baby clothes, tons of blankets, bottles, newborn pacifiers, and lots of other baby doodads. I can't describe how grateful we are for that family's generosity! Going through the clothes made me realize just how tiny she is going to be! I could not get enough of the little "Justborn" sized onesies. I am absolutely in love with them.
Gender: Girl!
Movement: She kicks around a lot! I started thinking I might be feeling her around 15 or 16 weeks, but I wasn't really sure until a couple weeks later. I definitely feel her quite a bit now! She kicks against waistbands that are too tight, does flips, and exhibits all kinds of acrobatics in there. She's still tiny, but I feel like she already has a personality, and I think she is going to be silly like her daddy.
Sleep: Weird. I fall asleep at the drop of a hat, but it's not always very restful sleep. I take naps when I can snag them, which ends up being a lot less often than I'd like. Other than that, I fall asleep pretty early at night. My dreams have been strange and very vivid since I got pregnant, but they say that's pretty normal. I always have to pee right when I get up, too, but I'm just grateful I haven't had to wake up to use the restroom very much yet!
Belly button in or out: Kind of out! It can't seem to make up its mind, but it has been flopping back and forth for a while now. It's about half and half right now, with the top half sticking out.
What I miss: Having lots of energy! The pregnancy fatigue is hard to deal with sometimes. I also miss being able to eat a whole serving of food without feeling like a stuffed pig. My few months of acne-free skin are another thing I miss, but at least this time I have a good excuse for the breakouts. :) Honestly, though, I'm feeling pretty good about things right now. The second trimester is a nice little reprieve from a lot of the yuckiest symptoms of pregnancy.
Cravings: I haven't craved anything weird to date, but I have had LOTS of cravings for Italian anything and Ranch. My side of the family loves Italian, so maybe she'll take after my side.
Symptoms: Morning sickness very rarely now, thank goodness. Symptoms lately have been along the lines of headaches, fatigue, bloody noses, acne, and lots of mood swings! My poor hubby.
Worries: Finances, getting the bedroom ready for the baby, any abnormalities in the 20 week ultrasound next week..mostly just excited, though.
What I look forward to: 20 week ultrasound! I can't wait to get another glimpse of our little girl! It will be nice to make sure she really is a girl and that everything is going just the way it should with the pregnancy.
Celebrations: This isn't pregnancy related, but Thanksgiving was this week, and I loved being able to celebrate with family and friends. It was wonderful. :) My mom's cousin came with her newborn son, and it really hit home that this is happening! For real!

Thanks for reading, guys! Hopefully I'll be back to post again soon!

-Malia

What to do with a bag of apples?

Hey, friends!

This beautiful fall weather is bringing the last of the garden and orchard goodies our way. A coworker of mine gave me a huge bag of organic golden delicious apples a little while ago, and I had no idea what to do with all of them! I realized that I am the exact opposite of creative when it comes to eating apples. I have always eaten them like they're going out of style, but I needed to use them up a little faster than that! After searching lots of different sites and blogs for apple ideas, I found one that I wanted to try: oven-dried apple chips. I don't have a dehydrator in my newly married state, and I don't really have the money to go out and by one, so I was excited to see an oven-friendly version of the recipe. Here's how I made my own batch.

Oven Apple Chips

You will need:
Apples (any kind--some kinds tend to brown more than others, so be aware of this)
Parchment Paper

Wash apples. Set your oven for a very low setting. (I used 225 for my first batch and about 200 for my next batch. They seem to do a little better at a lower temperature, but both temps worked.) Lay a single sheet of parchment paper on each cookie sheet. Cut out apples using a knife and cutting board or mandoline.

It took a little practice, but it wasn't very difficult at all to cut the slices as thin as I wanted them. With this project, the thinner the better. There's no need to be too perfectionistic, though. This is not a very picky project. I left the core intact, just making sure that all of the seed bits didn't make it into the oven. I like the way the core leaves a pretty star in the center of each slice. On the other hand, it would work just as well to core the apples before slicing or as you go. Whatever works for you!

As soon as you have one or two apples sliced up, pop them onto the parchment paper and in the oven they go!

This picture is of my very first batch. I ended up using only the top rack for the rest of the batches. It turned out that the bottom pan was too close to the heat source. They turned brown and tasted burnt, so I did my best to learn from my mistakes. I cooked these pans for a little over two hours to get them to the point of crispiness I was hoping for.

They actually turned out really well! It's a fairly low-maintenance project, but you would definitely have to have some time at home to make a multi-batch version of this recipe feasible. The good news is, it only takes a couple of apples to do one pan of chips, so you can do as few or as many pans as you'd like!

If I do another batch, I think I'll try moving the bottom pan closer to the top one and see if that helps keep the crisps from overcooking.

Thanks for reading, guys!

Happy cooking!

Big News!

Hey, friends!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in ages... We have started a whole new adventure. Austin and I found out just before the semester started that we are pregnant! We are so excited, but it's made life a little more crazy than usual. Between full-time school, part-time work, and full-time incubating, I've been one tired mama! I finally put up my last post after leaving it in draft mode for a couple of months. I promise I'll finish it eventually. :)

Meanwhile, I've been having lots of fun pregnancy adventures! All-day-long morning sickness and drowsiness have not been very fun, but other things have been! My first prenatal appointment was Friday. It was absolutely wonderful. We got to hear our baby's tiny, little heartbeat, which was incredible. Everyone says it's an amazing experience, and it is. I couldn't help tearing up a little bit.

I am just over 13 weeks along, and I'm getting to that cute-but-awkward stage where pants are too tight but maternity clothes are out of the question. I was lucky enough to stumble onto Megan's amazing pregnancy blog--DIY Maternity--soon after I found out I was pregnant, and I have bookmarked half of her tutorials to try later! I finished my first project, easy maternity pants, and it was very successful! I didn't really take enough pictures to write up a tutorial, but I thought I might do a step-by-step how-to.

Start out with a pair of pants (jeans, cords, etc.) and a piece of jersey fabric in a similar color. I had an old t-shirt that was ready to be upcycled, so I used that. My pants were on clearance at a thrift store, so they were just $4. Not bad, right? Most maternity pants are sooo expensive!

Step 2 involves cutting off the extra fabric. I removed the belt loops and the thick portion above the pockets. The zipper also has to be removed. Be careful not to cut out any bits that are holding things together! After you've done all that, machine sew the zipper area shut. You don't want an awkward hole there!

Step 3 is measuring out your elastic and jersey material. You need the jersey to be twice as wide as the elastic, but hey need to be the same length--about two inches less than the distance around the waist of the pants you're using. This means you'll be stretching the elastic to fit the jeans while sewing, but it is worth it. This way, the elastic is tight enough to comfortably keep your pants up.

Notes: As I said, view the tutorial here to see Megan's full photo how-to. She used a thicker elastic, so I followed her lead. Mine was a 3 inch elastic, and I feel like it's perfect. It doesn't cut into my growing belly the way many waistbands do, but it holds up the pants without a problem. I imagine a thinner elastic would work just as well, but Megan seemed to think it would cut into your belly. That is exactly what I don't want, so I followed her advice. :)

Step 4--Sew! Separately sew the elastic and jersey into continuous circles. Fold the jersey (pretty side out) over the elastic. Keep the pants right side out as you sew the elastic on. The tutorial I used sewed the jersey and elastic onto the pants at the same time, so I pinned them in place in a few places around the waist to make sure everything would be evenly stretched. Sew around the waist, flip the waistband up, and you're good to go!

It should look something like this:

I'm on my own today, since Austin is at work, so these are the best I could do picture wise. I wanted to show off the final result, though!

The thick elastic waist is surprisingly comfy! My growing belly is picky these days, but I really liked these!

I'm sorry this picture isn't better! I just wanted to capture the whole look.

 All in all, I'm really pleased with the way they turned out! I still have lots of elastic left, so I might have to try it again on another pair of pants. :)

In the upcoming weeks, I'm hoping to do some clothing tutorials, more on decorating on a budget, a few favorite fall recipes, and pregnancy updates.

Before I sign off for the day, here's my first belly shot! I can't believe I'm 13 weeks along and haven't taken any. It's the best I can do on my own, but enjoy!

Thanks for reading, guys!

Decorate for Less

Hey, just-marrieds!

Moving into a new home is like sitting down in front of a blank canvas--all the walls are empty! Every room brings an opportunity for your own style to decorate it! It can be overwhelming, but it can also be fun! The hardest part about decorating when you're a newlywed is usually the budget. I'm usually overflowing with ideas of what to do to our little apartment, but the funds are not always there for my ideas. The good news is that I have a few tips for all of my friends who are decorating on a budget (like me). Hopefully they come in handy!

Clearance
Utah happens to be an area where crafting is very popular, so there are countless craft stores to visit. Take time to visit some of the stores in your area. I promise it's worth it! One of my favorite stores (for clearance) is Hobby Lobby. I found these steals there...

I love this frame! Our wedding photos look adorable in it.

The hanging decoration and picture frame in this
picture are both from Hobby Lobby. The picture is
our first kiss outside the temple. :)

This frame is from H.L. too. I love that it's square and stands
by itself but could also be hung on the wall.

Losing the Entertainment Center

Hey, just-marrieds!

Since we got married, our apartment has been a constant work in progress. It is adorable, and we love it, but there is still a lot to do. We purchased a smaller flat screen TV with our abundance of Target gift cards a little while back, planning to eventually mount it on the wall. Until we purchased a wall mount, we made do with an entertainment center. Life got crazy, and the entertainment center became a dresser-nightstand-desk-entertainment-center mess. It looked something like this.

It worked, but it looked pretty bad. I was so excited when Austin mounted the TV (see his post about that adventure here), we were both thrilled! It looked great!

But there were wires hanging everywhere, and the DVD player's cords couldn't reach anymore. Not to mention the piles around the bedroom from moving the entertainment center. We were in a bit of a dilemma.

This is just a small pile of what was on the entertainment center.

We needed to find something fast. While I was at Bed Bath & Beyond buying the shoe organizer from my last post, I also found the solution to our problems. I had gift cards and 20% off coupons for both items, so I was pretty pleased with myself. I think it cost a little over $40 after the coupon.

This cute nine-cube shelf seemed like the perfect fit for our room. I was able to put it together all by myself in about an hour. (And I'm terrible at this kind of stuff, so if I can do it, you can too!)

The DVD player fit nicely on one corner.

Here is a picture of the final product!

One of my favorite things about it is that each little cubby can hold something different. It's kind of fun. :) 

I put books in one.

Austin's watches, gym gloves, and
such got their own organizer in another.

I'm still working on filling it up, but I'm loving it so far! Wish me luck! More posts soon to come. :)

Oh! One last thing. Just to show where the entertainment center ended up. It is loving its new home in the living room. :)

Talk to you soon!

10 Minute Closet Fix

Greetings to my fellow just-marrieds!

I have been busy around the apartment, organizing, painting, and putting things together. I can't wait to blog about all my adventures!

Marriage comes with lots of gifts! Our friends and family were very generous, and we are still finding uses for many of the gift cards. There are many things that newlyweds have to slowly acquire, and the extra money is incredibly nice to have around during the early months. Lately, when I have a project to tackle, I see if any of the gift cards can help. 

Project Number One:

Shoes. I have a lot of them. Austin married me in spite of my slight obsession, but they made quite a mess in our apartment when we dumped them all on the floor of the closet in the second bedroom. (I honestly have too many to put them all in our closet.) I left the pile there for a while, but it was always a chore to find a matching pair, and I hated the mess. One day, when I realized how many Bed Bath & Beyond gift cards we had, I decided it was time to find a fix.

There are many options for shoe organization, but many designs are more suited to about 10 pairs of shoes. Maybe a few more. I have at least 30 or 40 pair, so I knew those weren't an option! After some searching, I finally found one that was bigger. It said it could fit around 30 pair, so I decided it would be a good place to start. It wasn't overly cute, but the assembly looked easy, and it fit the budget. So I bought it and got to work!

I wish I had a picture of how the closet looked before so you could see the difference--but it is unbelievable how much better it looks now!

The final result!

My boots wouldn't fit on the rack, so I just put them on either side.

 I absolutely love it! The closet looks so much tidier now, and it couldn't be easier to find the matching shoes!  More to come soon! Thanks for reading! :)

Hello! Welcome to my blog.

Hello to all you just-marrieds out there!

Welcome back from the honeymoon! Like you, I am a newlywed. And I love it! But there is so much to figure out about life once the honeymoon is over. Cooking for two, running your own home, planning (and using) a budget, and all the other aspects of marriage can be difficult to figure out. In this blog, I hope to share some of my own findings, projects, and advice for my fellow just-marrieds out there. Look for blogs soon about organizing your home, DIY projects, decorating on a budget, and fun dates for two!

-Malia