The story of the Ugly dresser and free furniture.

Just over a year ago I married my best friend, we went on a wonderful week long honeymoon to the Bahama and then we came back to real life.  When we came back we had a week to go through and pack up before we left to start our life as married college students in Rexburg, Idaho.

Dennis and I were engaged for 16 months so lets just say I had a lot of time to plan the wedding, research apartments and look for furniture on craigslist and the school bulletin board.  It was a fear of mine that we would be all unpacked in our cute little apartment eating dinner on the floor and sleeping on sleeping bags and until the day before we left to move to Idaho this was the case... we had nothing as far as furniture goes besides the beautiful coffee table, tv stand, and end tables Dennis built as his wedding gift to me.

Well... a miracle happened the day before we left. I told my mother in law we had nothing as far as furniture goes so she pulled this ugly dresser that my brother in law painted in their garage and told us we could have it. I was so happy! We could unpack our clothes! The next furniture miracle was right before we left... I quickly got on craigslist while Dennis and his friend were packing up the Uhaul.  The first post was giving away... yes that is FREE... a decent hide-a-bed couch in Idaho Falls.  I quickly called the owner and asked if it was still available and he said yes.  I was so happy.  I told him when we would be there and promised him if he held it for us we would take it off his hands.  Then on our way up we stayed the night at Dennis' Grandma Nielsen's house and she gave us old... very old... card table and chairs, but they are the sturdiest things ever!

I have a gift/ talent i guess to find good deals.  It is a gift passed down from my Grandma Joyce.  She never bought anything full price... you should see her house it is amazing!

to help my luck a couple months ago I entered a giveaway for a free quart of paint.  So... the ugly free dresser is now a prettier and freer dresser than it was a year ago.  Thanks to my sweet husband for sanding dresser and the hardware and painting it and my mom for lending us her sander our ugly dresser now looks like this...............................

There are so many more projects I have so stay tuned!

Home is where the heart is.

The month of August has been a great one for me.  I finally got to see my in-laws after almost a year of being apart, I went to my home town of Gilbert, AZ and went to the Bay Area of California to visit my grandpa and other family.  It was a wonderful 3 week long vacation, but unfortunately for the majority of the vacation my sweet husband had to stay home and work his little tushy off.  Thankfully we have some wonderful friends who made sure my skinny husband would eat and was entertained on a regular basis... what did he ever do without me?

Some of the high lights of my vacation was:
Going to Yellowstone with the in-laws

Mesa Falls and the huge trout at warm river
Grandma Nielsen eating (or pretending to eat) a Big Juds
Learning to crochet
Going to the 105 degree Arizona for the first time in 11 months 2 days.
Getting lost on the way to Santa Monica beach and driving passed Disney Land
Going Santa Monica beach and reminiscing about when my mom used to take us to the beach and it only took us 2.5 seconds to get our clothes wet in the Freezing water.
Going to Six Flags Magic Mountain and waiting in lines for 6 hours to go on three rides... the scariest rides of my life (Tatsu- the world's longest, tallest, and fastest flying roller coaster and X2- worlds 1st 5th dimensional roller coaster )!
Having a ToGo's picnic at Vesona Park in San Jose and then FINALLY going swimming this summer!

Going to San Francisco on the busiest day of the year, trying crab, going to Ghirardelli square and getting 4 pieces of free chocolate.
Deciding to go see the Oakland temple during rush hour traffic, but making totally worth it for my parents to be there almost 23 years to the day from when they got married there.
Relaxing with the family.
Going to the beach and getting sunburned when it is totally over cast.
Getting free clothes at my Grandpa's stake my Best Friend Closet.
Going through my grandma's craft room... very emotional, but great to come home with a bunch of craft stuff.
Going to my Grandma's grave and laughing (after a little crying)
Driving home with my family (five BIG boys and my mom) for 13 hours and having the AC break down 4 hours away in San Berrnidino.
Going to Tia Rosa's with my mom's friends and seeing and taking with some great women I look up to and miss.
SHOPPING!!!

Having Dinner wit Dennis' family and holding and meeting baby David for the first time!
Going to YOKO'S!!
Relaxing and getting sick.
Spending time with my mom.

Hanging out wit my girl friends and meeting Emilee's new husband!

And last, but not least... Going to the temple with my brother for the first time.

I had an amazing vacation full of memories, laughs, cries and doing all those things I miss about my old life... but It was my old life.  I can't even tell you how much I missed my husband in that time. I don't know how i could live with out him for four semesters, but we did it.  I love my family, but I am so excited to start my own family with my own life and memories with my husband.  I discovered that I love my family so much and had a wonderful time, but I could not truly enjoy myself without my husband. My husband is where my joy is and my heart.   Home is where my heart is and my heart with my husband.

I was practicing some skills on Illustrator.
This is a printable I made if you like It I can send you a pdf version or change the colors.