This is a post just to gush! 
My favorite little baby was born on January 5, 2014. Camber Douglas Taylor was born while I was at a conference in Tucson, AZ for work. I was sad to miss the day my favorite Godbaby came into the world but got to see him as soon as I got home on January 10th. 
He is just the cutest little guy that makes me smile daily! 

I am so happy for my cousins, Doug and Lindsay on this new joy in their and our lives.  He is a blessing to us all!
The other weekend we went over to have dinner with the few family and Doug and Lindsay asked us to be Camber's Godparents. It is a honor and I cant wait to watch this little guy grow up in front of our eyes. I don't want to wish time away but I can't wait to take him to little league practice or go watch his basketball games. 

Here are some photos to show him off a bit :) 

Look at this little man! 

Visiting

He just melts my heart! 

1.Ikonik Makeup Bag - Cute to carry around your essentials  2. Shop Dandy- Pillow - Every Day I'm Hustling Pillow  3. Rob Hodgson, Psychedelic Face- Just makes me smile  4. Rose Gold Fossil Watch - I love my Fossil watch, it never goes out of style 5. Hunter Rain Boots- and my finally purchased Hunter Boots which are perfect for these Midwest winters 

Our Home... let the nesting begin!

I am finally getting around to starting a blog for Jeff and I...better late than never.

Going back a few years 
November 2011 Jeff and I purchase our first home together...and so we began nesting. 

Before we even moved in we had the shutters off, a shrub out front pulled out and the yard rearranged! 

Jeff doin' work already! 

Before moving in we also enlisted all of our friends and family, THANK YOU, to  those that help us remove wallpaper from a majority of the house. It was a  huge task and took a lot of time but it paid off, the house from the 80's was gone!

A great family friend of ours came over and painted the whole main floor before we even moved our things it. Much better way to start nesting, without wallpaper and with some neutral wall colors! 

Once spring hit Jeff and his Dad poured us an AMAZING patio out in our backyard. 

The bottom right photo is of the storm that came through shortly after they guys finished pouring. Good thing nothing happened to the new crete! 

It is so nice to have that extra living space for the nicer months in Iowa! 

We are still searching for the perfect patio set for this XL patio. 

Once it got a little cooler out and we couldn't do much more around the outdoors of the house we worked our way in! 

Ripping up the carpet to expose the beautiful hardwood underneath original to the home. 

I started ambitiously of course on one of my days off before Jeff even got home. By the time he got off work I had the two spare bedrooms torn up carpet, staples, and all.

We spent that weekend sanding and staining the floors in the hallway, living room and dinning room since they weren't. Thankfully I have a handy father-in-law that is always willing to help with home projects. 

Here are some the photos while the stain was drying

Dinning room (those curtains are horrible...they changed soon after this as well)

Living Room 

And the View from the kitchen looking at the dinning and then living room.

Looks like a completely different house! 

Final shot of the living room as things were put back together. Crazy how much some things have changed even from this photo in 2012 to now.

The next spring, that puts us in 2013 we did a little more outdoor work; planting and replacing the front door! 

That is the fun part about being a homeowner we can do whatever we want to the house. Not so fun part it all costs :)

We try to do as many diy projects (some diy projects will follow on the blog) but the door wasnt one of them. Since we have an older home the door isnt a standard size. So we called in a professional and got to costume make our door. It is a high glossy gray door with a 4 panel window at the top. LOVE it sooooo much more than the old one! 

Door before...

Door After! 

DIY headboard

Our bedroom was the next. We didnt have much in our room but the newly purchased king sized bed...quite an upgrade from the full we had been sleeping in our old apartment.

I decided we needed a head board and some decor, and that mean at DIY project was coming.

A weekend when Jeff was away at a softball tournament I enlisted my father-in-law to help me with my DIY headboard. We made a trip to the hardware store where he is a regular. Picked up some wood and stain and headed home.

Kim, my father-in-law did the major sawing and sanding and then it was my turn. I distressed the wood with a heavy chain and some nails. Makes a lot of noise but it worth the weird looks from our new neighbors once I had it stained and up.

What an easy DIY headboard for only $40!!

DIY heart pillow covers

A fun way to spice up the bedroom is with some fun pillow covers.
This is a DIY that is quick, easy, and cheap! Cant beat that.

Supplies:
2 pillow cases
Some fabric scraps
Heat and bond

Total cost of the project around $10

First decide what you would like on the pillow covers. Since it is close to Valentine's Day I decided to make some hearts on my covers.

Step one:
Iron on the heat and bond to the fabric scraps you will end up using. This saves you from trying to iron it on after you have cut out the letters and shapes. Only cover as much as you think you will need.

Step two:
Then cut the fabric pieces out to desired shape and iron on to the pillow case.

Super simple and a cute!