Laundry Room Revamp

I have to say, the heat is officially on in AZ.  While I'm grateful we have a pool to cool off in, the heat just kind of sucks the energy out of me.  I find myself just wanting to sit as still as possible in hopes that it will keep me from constantly sweating.  Luckily our AC works well to get us moving on a few more projects in our home.
Our laundry room is on our first floor next to our garage door and our 1/2 bath. It's maybe 4' x 6' so it's pretty small.  Which makes putting any effort into sprucing it up seem silly at times, but maybe if the room itself is easy on the eye, the chore of laundry won't be as bad. That's sound logic, right?
When we first moved in our laundry room looked like this:

First change I built up the stamina to do was paint the room. I used the same Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter that we have throughout the rest of the house.  It's just a winner I tell ya.

My next project was a bit more on the practical end than the pretty end. But I love it.  We put a piece of MDF board that we had left over across the otherwise empty and useless wall.  And added some hooks for some sweet functionality that normally wouldn't fit in the room.  I loved having it in our laundry breezeway in our last house to hang purses, jackets, laundry stuff, etc.  This set of hooks is already worth it's weight in gold by being able to hang pool towels, swimsuits, purses, laundry etc.

We had a really old set of plastic blinds in the room that served their purpose but I thought we could add a valance of some kind to add some color and excitement to our little room.  My friends and I ventured to a local fabric shop for some inspiration and I came across this beauty.  I picked it up and put it down a few times before I took a giant leap and bought the fabric.  I got almost 2 yards for under $8 so that deal made it much easier to decide!

I was originally planning for the valance to go around the blinds so I could still use them if I wanted to.  But I couldn't put a curtain rod in the room without losing the ability to open a cupboard door.  No thanks.  That's when I decided to ditch the plastic blinds and use a tension rod instead.  The curtain provides enough privacy and I could always unroll the rest to cover the whole window. Or just shut the laundry door.  Problem solved.
My friend, Kelly, helped me out a ton and used her sewing machine to make my vision a reality.  Luckily, it was pretty straight forward.  We hemmed the edges and created a pocket at the top for the rod to go through.  We also stitched the ribbon on the back so it stays in place.  Here's what happened...

Those honey cupboards are screaming for some white paint and pretty knobs but they'll have to wait until another day...

Overall, I'm really happy with what a big impact a few (really inexpensive) projects can have on such a small space.  Now, onto the next project...

Remember the Alamo...

...well, we saw the Alamo and have got to admit- it was a bit underwhelming.  But we won't forget our trip to San Antonio anytime soon.  It was fun! And what a beautiful city!

Michael had a work conference in San Antonio for the week.  We decided to drive so that Adelaide and I could tag along. It's a little over 14 hours so we broke it up by stopping in Tucson and had lunch with Josh & Laura.  We also stayed the night in El Paso.  All I can say about that long of a drive, is thank heavens for iPads.  (Seriously. How did people travel before technology?!)

That drive was LONG.  So pulling into San Antonio was very refreshing. It's so green and beautiful.  The conference was at the JW Marriott Resort.  So life was really rough with this view... (Read with lots of sarcasm.)

Michael had meetings during the day so Laila and I had a busy schedule of playing at the pool, watching HGTV, hanging out and napping in the hotel room.  When Michael got done with meetings he would come swimming with us, get s'mores (the resort put out supplies everyday) and eat dinner.

One day they had a little animal show in the lobby.  Laila loved seeing the animals.  She stayed pretty close to me for most of it.  When she started to venture out a little, they brought this guy around the corner and Laila bolted into my arms. (I didn't mind.)

^ Michael loved that they trained the porcupine to wear a leash.

One evening we were able to head into town and enjoy seeing the sites!  We first stopped at Michael's childhood dream... the Alamo.  He had Davy Crockett's theme song stuck in his head all night.  I thought the Alamo was pretty.  It wasn't what I imagined and the story is just gruesome.  But we can say we saw it. Now all I need to do is get Michael a coon hat and he will be completely his childhood dream.

 

We also walked along the Riverwalk, ate dinner and enjoyed ice cream with the beautiful backdrop.  I REALLY loved the Riverwalk.  I wish we could have eaten at every single restaurant along there.  It all smelled delicious and was so quaint.  Maybe next time...

^ I just love these two!

The next day, we were able to meet up with a dear friend of mine and her husband.  I've known Monica since elementary school and I am so grateful social media makes it possible to still be apart of each other's lives!  They recommended the most delicious Mexican restaurant and due to TWO accidental spills of the waiter, we also enjoyed some yummy flan.  It was a delightful evening. (Even if a certain two year old was demanding bed time at a few points in the evening.)

The drive home was just as long.  We got creative and took lots of breaks.

Overall, it was a very pleasant week and I'm glad we got to go.

Feeling the heat...and the love

Michael was gone for almost two weeks but I only stayed in Utah one week. So I was really lucky my roomie, Alisia and her two cute kids, agreed to drive all the way to Phoenix with us and stay the week.  We are talking 10+ hr drive and over 100 degree weather for a week.  Yeah. We felt loved! It worked out great though, both of our husbands were away for work and so we just enjoyed being moms together. It was quite the picture to see my car completely filled with two moms and three car seats. We were going to stay in Kingman for the night, but when we got there, we decided to chug on through. That's right. We made it all the way in one day!  Thank heavens our kids were troopers.

 ^This happened for like 5 minutes...

Train Park:

Lots of this happened:

Jumpy jumpy:

Crazy meal time adventures:

Stairs are mom's worst nightmares and kid's favorite 'toy.'

I know I have more pictures from our adventures, but my photo organization is all out of whack right now.  We really had such a fun time with Alisia and as Laila says, "her friends." They were lifesavers and kept us having fun even though Michael wasn't there.  I feel pretty fortunate to have friendships that can last all these years (And hopefully many more to come!)

Mother's Day 2014

Mother's Day was spent in Utah this year which was a happy coincidence. Michael had a work trip through Europe for two weeks so he drove us up to Utah for a week while he was gone.  Going home to Utah is really bittersweet to me. I love being there and am so grateful I have so many amazing friends I get to see when I go home.  But on the other hand, I feel like there's never enough time to see and do everything that I want to do.  This trip was no exception, but Laila and I did our best we could and had a wonderful time.

 ^Seriously one of the most funniest events ever!

^Love every moment with them!

So many happy memories!