How to know when a man loves you

Michael, my stud muffin hubbie, tilled 1500square feet of garden for me today. He hates gardening. He was tired from work. The ground was really still too wet. He had a headache. But he did it just because I asked him to and he knew it would make me happy. He loves me. He is my hero.

Master Bedroom --- About time!

Michael and I have always wanted a nice master bedroom but for some reason it always gets put on the bottom of the list.  So now, after ten years of marriage, we finally decided to bite the bullet and give ourselves the treat of a beautiful master bedroom.

Beautiful? Yes.  Expensive? No.  I made this bench out of two Ikea night stands ($7 each) and  a piece of foam re-purposed from my brothers old sleeping mat.  Fresh paint and fabric, storage totes, and voila!  a great bench for under $25.

The inspiration for the room came from this watercolor painted by my late brother.  I love the colors he used and really wanted to keep it displayed. It is a very pleasant way to remember him.

A little green always makes a space more comfortable.  Ikea: $12.

How to make inexpensive curtains:  find a twin sized duvet cover on clearance for $9.  Invite your sister-in-law over and have a cutting and hemming party.  Hang, and enjoy!  

We reused the curtain rod set we had in our living room in Hyrum.  I almost got rid of it both times we moved, but now I am glad we held on to it.  It works perfectly.

Bedding was a splurge.  I got a duvet set that is a down alternative comforter.  We love it!  I have never been so cozy in my life!  And a few throw pillows for variety.

The original plan for this area was a dresser, but the budget gave out.  So we have my great grandmothers folding table here for now.  It works just fine.  All it needs now is a big colorful flower arrangement.....

This lamp is my "take a chance" purchase.  I really do like it even though it has such a "modern" look to it.  I picked it up at Ikea for $20.  Today I was at Walmart and saw a very similar one for $60.  I guffawed out loud!

$50 end tables, again from Ikea, painted to match the bed and bench.  Hardware added a lot as far as style for these. 

I love this wallpaper!  I saw it on a decorating show and thought what fun it would be to try.  So one wall has this paintable textured wall paper.  It was my first experience with the stuff, but thanks to my friend Holly it went up with ease and a lot of laughs.

Boy oh boy.  I wanted to buy a whole bedroom furniture set but it just wasn't realistic.  So Michael and I went to work with our "can do" attitudes.  I love the internet -- it is the ultimate inspiration!  I found a headboard I liked and googled how to upholster. Several batting, fabric, foam, and wood sections later, this is what we came up with.  Thanks to Daniel for helping us hang the big ol' thing.  It is big, and I love it!  I didn't want any artwork on this wall, so I made the board high to take up the empty space. 

This bed is a bit of a joke.  8 years ago we picked up a free water bed.  Since then we have junked the water bed bladder, stripped the huge edge boards, and just used the bottom support with subfloor sheeting for a platform bed.  Michael was determined to make the clunker work.  He added trim all around with a nice edge on the corners and tops.  He reinforced all the corners so it is solid. I puttied and painted.  I am so amazed at how nice it looks!  Michael really pulled it off.

Every bedroom needs a good reading corner with a great chair.  This was our other splurge for the room. Michael loves this chair and can be found reading in it every evening.  It rocks a bit, so the kids love it as well.  My favorite feature:  Leather upholstery.  Less to clean for this mom!

Things I forgot to highlight with photos:  newly installed crown molding, in-ceiling speaker system, and multi-tone paint.  

So there you have all the details of this master bedroom.  I hope you enjoy it.  I know we sure do!

Boy's Jungle Room

The main reason I have been so absent on the blog recently is due to this project that got a little all-consuming.  We bought the boys some new bedding when we moved in that has jungle animals on it.  Our imaginations started soaring, and we thought how cool it would be to have some jungle animals painted on their walls.  This idea evolved into the full-fledged 360 degree wall mural you see below.  We love the boys jungle room!  It took me about three months to complete doing one animal at a time.  The boys and I named each animal as I painted it, so the whole thing has quite a personal feel.  

I really am not a very good artist.  My technique was to find a picture of an animal on the internet, print it, grid it, scale it up, and grid it on the wall.  At that point it became a paint by number project.    All the animals were done that way.  The grasses, trees, rocks, and river were original though.  

I love to paint because it is totally reversible.  If you mess up, oh well. just paint over it!  In a few years we plan to finish the basement and move the boys down there.  At that point we will paint over the jungle walls and turn the room into an office.  Till then, watch out!  It's a jungle in there!

Bertha the Elephant.  She is by far my favorite animal in the room.

Gumble the Giraffe.  I was tempted to leave the spots off of him because he looked cool that way!

Timber Jack the Toucan.

Pablo the Macaw Parrot with his foreign visitors from Australia, Macho and Lei.

Cake the snake.  He watches over the boys at night ready to strike any boogie men.

Pascal the chameleon, Streaker the tree frog, and the blue macaws Mario and Retti.  *get it?

Jack the monkey.

Meerkats Rattat and Meery.

Leo the lion.

Mr. Crocodile.

And last but not least (he's actually the very first thing I painted)  George the Zebra.

And there you have it!  A Jungle room for two special boys.

Date night with the Scanlons

We don't get to see our friends the Scanlon's very often anymore  Andrea and I used to get together every couple weeks for a visit when we lived in Cache Valley, but those days are gone since we have moved south.  So when we get the chance to meet up, we take it!  This occasion was at the Provo Mall around Christmas Time.  Josh and Emma took their own table, Andrew and Allie took their own table, and the adults and babies hung out on a third table.  It was fun to see that the time and distance has not diminished any friendships.  How we love the Scanlons!

Glitterati

One day, when the Jaussis were visiting Carlie had the oportunity to babysit.  As a payment, I gave her a set of glitter bottles.  Naturally we spent the next day blinging up our toes and fingers.  There was glitter all over the house for weeks!  I love those girls!

Boys in Trouble

Have you every found yourself facing a situation where you have a choice:  start yelling or get the camera?  Andrew and his friend Lincoln put me in one of those recently.  They were playing upstairs with all the toys, games, puzzles, etc which should be ample entertainment for hours, but chose to keep themselves busy with the popcorn supplies instead. I came upstairs when things got quiet and discovered two boys with bright orange sock bottoms, two empty Tupperware buckets, and a carpet covered with popcorn kernels and butter salt.
"We wanted to make our socks orange" they told me with big innocent eyes.
First I counted to ten.  Then I sent them to individual naughty spots while I cooled down.  After a good while we all had a serious "why was that wrong, don't hurt the house" kind of discussion and I sent them back up with the vacuum.
After that I finally thought about the camera and caught this pic.  We ended up spending the evening vacuuming salt out of each individual crevice in the carpet and finding kernels in the shag with our toes.  I bet if you come visit and walk around with bare feet you may still be able to hunt down Andrew and Lincoln's kernels.  I guess a new house with kids in it doesn't stay new for long!

Christmas 2011

Christmas is just magical.  This last one was particularly fun because we have kids that are so willing to believe in the magic of it all.  Caitlin was such a treat.  She got a baby doll with a stroller which she thought was the best thing that had happened to her in her life.  None of the other presents mattered after she opened that!

Andrew asked for another t rex so he could have battles between the two.  So now we have two huge t rex figures, and a very happy five year old.

I guess Santa decided that if we are going to live in Gunnison there had better be a rifle in the house.  Joshua was so excited to get the airsoft bb gun.  It has actually created some quality father-son time.

New fishing reel for my outdoorsman

Even the dog gets remembered on the big day.  Daniel gave her a fire hose chew toy that she didn't put down for days.  Her favorite toy ever!

Shooting practice Barlow style.  plastic cups on a picnic table in the dirt back yard with a dog.

The big surprise from Santa this year was a new trampoline.  We have had so much fun with this already!  The boys love it, and so do I because I can finally talk my kids into going outside.

We had such a wonderful Christmas!  Now we can rest and recoup till next time.

Bath Time

I love it when babies get mad. I have a great pic of Joshua when he was a babe pulling his ears and squalling, and now I have one just as priceless of Caitlin! She actually loves bath time but this day was an acception to say the least.

Purse Girls

Oh how I love being a girl!  And something I love even better is being a girl along with other girls that I love!!  Heather came for a quick visit so we all got together at Carries.  We watched sappy movies, ate plenty of chocolate, talked up a storm, and soaked in each other's company.  During our visit we noticed how similar and bold each of our purses are and had to get a picture.  I love my sisters!

Sanpete Skies

The night sky looks so different when you get away from the city.  Gunnison has been a great place to live for just that reason.  At night the stars are incredible from our house.  The sunsets are to die for as well.  The other night we were driving and had our breath taken away by the sight of the moon.  It was enormous and surrounded by an eerie green and golden glowing ring.  bisecting the sight was a dark jet contrail.  The picture does it no justice, but I wanted to share nonetheless.  The sky holds some pretty impressive things.

joshuas birthday

My awesome little dude turned 9 in December.  We had such a fun party!  Because his birthday is close to Christmas we decided to have a Polar Express movie party with hot cocoa, pajamas, and of course, birthday cake! (cupcakes count, right?)  I can't believe how fast he is growing and becoming his own independent person.  I have to keep reminding him that he will always be my baby, even when he is all grown up.

I am so sorry for the anxiety I may have caused you...

So I am completely aware of the stress I have caused all of my devoted blog fans by my blatant failure to update for almost three whole months. But do not fear my dear stressed out friends. All is well, and I am back! Prepare yourselves, because you are about to be deluged in Barlow blogginess. I have to admit that the main reason for my neglect is pure business. I have been wrapped up in a few large decorating projects along with a new calling and a revived ambition for exercise. I have also been striving to study my scriptures more diligently. Now that I have these big goals fairly scheduled anuncorked into the mayhem of my life, i think I can succesfully squeeze blogging back in. Hallelujah! So hopefully you have been faithfully checking the buzz every now and then during the dry time and are around to see that I really am still a blogger mom!