Every mom deserves an office.

This is mine.

When I was a junior at BYU, I read A Room of One's Own, by Virginia Woolf.
I wouldn't call myself a deep thinker (that title belongs to my little sister, who reads Virginia Woolf for pleasure) and I am definitely not a feminist, but I loved the idea that women need their own space.

So when I saw my first "mom office" in a dreamy house in Indiana,
I was smitten.
It was really beautiful.
I have been on the lookout for my own room ever since.

When we moved into our 1978 Ranch house in Arizona, it didn't have my office. But it did have a little room conveniently located off of the kitchen that could be the perfect office space. Inconveniently, it was full of laundry room things (like a washer and dryer). Since Mike is all about making my dreams come true (isn't he wonderful?), he hired a plumber for my birthday (I kind of miss being 28) and had the laundry room moved into the previously unused/wasted half of the Arizona room.

One side of my office is for sewing (not pictured) and one side is for computer-ing (pictured).
It's just little, but I think it is perfect.

All women need a room of their own.
I am lucky to have mine.

Fall Fling

Did you know that Mike and I met at the BYU Fall Fling our freshman year?
I know, that's so sweet, right?
Well, that's a story for another time.

We are home.
It was a wonderful trip.
Thank you Mom and Dad!

Here are my favorite shots:

At first she wasn't so sure about wearing long sleeves, but it was cold!


I think this is the only picture I have of just me and my kids.
I sure do love them.


The leaves were beautiful.
It was exactly the fall get-away that we needed.

It's still really hot here.

Like 100 degrees hot.
I don't really want to talk about it.

I do want to talk about the fact that I am currently wearing jeans.

Why, you ask?

Because in a few minutes we are heading out of town.
To a place where it is actually fall.

Crisp mountain air.
Leaves that change color.
Sweaters.

Oh, I am so excited.

He's a robot.

Obviously.

I was wrong.

She insisted on helping me sort the laundry rather than take her nap.

Remember when I said that Stella was my best sleeper?
Well, I was wrong.
Turns out she's not.

But we'll keep her anyway.

Oh dear.

I found this note under my pillow last night.

First grade must be harder than I thought.
Poor thing.

I love crawling babies.

Speaking of making something out of nothing. . .

Oliver is serious about our "new" bench.

Mike and I are doing this thing where we try not to buy things we don't need. {I know, novel, right?} Well, I wanted something to hold shoes in the kitchen, because we always seem to end up with a huge pile of shoes there, and Stella likes to chew them, which is totally gross. A while ago, my mother-in-law gave me a little cupboard with a basket inside. It was white and a little beat up and I didn't quite know what to do with it so I stuck it in our Arizona room {a patio-turned-sunroom, just fyi}. I painted it red {because doesn't everything look better painted red?} and made a pillow for the top and now we have a place to sit and put our shoes on and it didn't even cost any money.

Now, if only my stuff would sell on ebay and Craigslist, I could go buy a message board for my new office {because some people (like Mike) don't think that is a necessity}.

Right now at our house

the kids are running through the sprinklers

(yes, before school)

and Stella is becoming a cupboard-opener.


What happened at your house this morning?

4

My handsome, stubborn, cuddly, kind, weapon-loving boy is 4.
We really love him.

I love making something out of nothing.

That is my favorite kind of project.

I was starting to feel bad that my super squishy baby had to sit in such a hard seat.
So I grabbed some scraps from the fabric I used to make curtains for our old kitchen and some batting from who knows what, and stitched up a little cushion for her little back.

I'm not sure how practical it is, but I sure do love the way it looks.

In other news, we are in the middle of a mini-remodel (turning our Arizona room into a laundry room and our laundry room into an office), so look for pictures of that soon.

And tomorrow is Oliver's birthday.
He wants to celebrate at McDonald's.
Bless his heart.