{ fall wreath obsession }

Um, I love wreaths. 

Like, totally, completely, 100% love them.

and when I found this wreath over at Dream Home, I almost freaked out.

Okay, okay, I totally freaked out.  But how could I not?  I mean, look at this beauty!

 It is simply GORGEOUS!

I LOVE the simplicity of it.  Oh, and those adorable rosettes.  To. Die. For.

When I get back to Utah, I'll be replacing my store-bought wreath (which I do still love):

with a knock-off of Kasia's adorable wreath!

Any other wreaths I should be checking out and swooning over?  Point me in their direction, and I'll gladly come drool over 'em!

{ project: nursery }

Wow.

Obviously I am VERY new at this whole decor blogging thing, because I completely spaced posting for the last week or so.  If I were more "with it", I would have planned some posts ahead of time.  Ah well, live and learn right?

Sorry for the brief hiatus -- I am back and ready to go!

So, as some of you may know, I am a little bit pregnant.

Oh, who am I kidding -- I'm about to explode.

I am 35 1/2 weeks pregnant and baby boy (no name yet) is due to make his appearance on August 3rd.

This was me at 29 weeks:

  I have not taken a more recent pic -- if I do, I'll post it for y'all to see.

While we could not be more thrilled, I am suddenly thrown into nesting overdrive. 

See, with my Taelie girl, I made her nursery bedding, and I've been planning on making this little one's too, but between moving for the summer and having to haul stuff back and forth, I decided to just wait until I got home to worry about it.  (and I could not for the life of me, find any fabric that I just LOVED in Baltimore.  Soooo frustrating!) 

Well, I'm home now...and I only have 3 1/2 weeks to whip together some of this cuteness:

Boy, those bumpers took a lot of work -- they aren't hard at all - just time consuming.

And, knowing me, I had to make the crib skirt difficult and use multiple fabrics instead of just one.  I have issues, people...issues!

This blanket took by far the most work though...luckily I love it, but man!

I love making baby bedding, so I am actually really excited to get started on baby boy's nursery.  I have it all planned out in my head how I want it to look. 

As soon as Taelie girl wakes up, we are off to the fabric store.  I am praying this little boy waits until his induction date to get here...if so, then I have T-26 days until delivery.  That is plenty of time to make everything, right?  (just nod along with me...it will make me feel better!)

Now, if I can just find fabric I love...we'll be set!

{ patriotic love }

We have quite a bit of American pride 'round our house. 

My hubbs was thisclose to signing up for the Marines.  He tore his hamstring practically in half the day before he was going in to sign up, and by the time it healed, he had other responsibilities to attend to.  His favorite song is "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood, and he tears up at the sight of soldiers or memorabilia about our great country. 

Even with all of this, we haven't been able to celebrate the 4th of July properly - because pretty much since we've been married, my husband's job takes us out of state all summer long.  We leave our home and family and travel to somewhere else in the country.  Don't get me wrong, we LOVE these adventures, but I wish I could decorate our house during this time to show our American pride. 

We do have a little something up...it stays up all year to remind us how lucky we are to live here:

(don't mind the messy messy entertainment center...I swear that thing will be the death of me one day.)

I'll zoom in to give you a closer look:

Now, I know that I don't have to decorate to show pride, but, let's be honest, it's a fun way to do so!

Especially after seeing some of the awesome ideas around blogland.

Take this for example:

How stinking adorable is that?  Those girls over at How Does She? never fail to amaze me.  I might stalk their site for new ideas....maybe....I'll never tell!

As soon as I saw that, I about died.  "I MUST have that!" I thought to myself.  And I will be making one as soon as I get back home.  I'll show you the finished product soon, I promise!

And then I saw Thrifty Decor Chick's post about this same decoration PLUS her own twist on it to make it into a door hanging:

Ack!  Could you just die?  I just love it.  So simple.  So sweet.

Sarah never ceases to amaze me with what she comes up with.

So then I decided I had to make one of those too.  Darn it all.  Why do you all have to be so talented?

If you could give me about a lifetime minute to catch up, that would be great!

And then, if all that weren't enough (sheesh! Seriously.), I blogstalked stumbled upon Living with Lindsay's Teach Me Tuesday post.  Her guest blogger this Tuesday was Sarah from A Little of This, A Little of That.  Sarah made the most adorable little girl's American flag shirt.  Seriously. To. Die. For.

Don't take my word for it though, see for yourself:

I am pretty sure I have to make this for my little Taelie-girl now.

In fact, as soon as she wakes up from her nap, I just might have to run to the store.

Yup.  I'm gonna have to.

The best part is, all of these girls gave us tutorials so we can be as crafty as them!  Score!  Just click on the links with their names and you'll be taken right to their sites.  (Nope, no one paid me to advertise these girls -- no one knows I'm here, I'm a newbie!  I just love these ideas that much!)

What are you waiting for?  Get busy crafting!  Have you seen any other to-die-for 4th ideas that I've missed? If so, let me know, and I'd LOVE to check them them out!