may recap (that's right - it's been almost a whole month!)

So apparently when you don't blog for awhile, too much happens in between, you get overwhelmed and then don't blog anything thus allowing even more to happen and allowing the whole cycle to continue.

We have been insanely busy since we moved into our house! We've been unpacking, hanging pictures (Danny), sewing curtains and throw pillows(me), making millions of trips to Target/Pottery Barn/Wal-Mart/Tai Pan/Costco for various essentials and now we're working on our yard!

We spent Memorial Day weekend slaving away tilling, raking and shoveling all of the rocks in our entire yard. Apparently, since we had the last lot in the nieghborhood, our yard was the rock dumping ground for everyone else. Nice. Danny's parents were SO awesome and called us up Saturday morning and offered to come help. We got a ton done and I'm really looking forward to getting everything in and having a big old BBQ in the backyard to celebrate! We are having two big loads of topsoil delivered today to mound up our beds and we're pouring some cement to extend our patio and add a sidewalk from the front yard to the back this week. Next comes installing the sprinkler system and then we're ready for grass! I can't wait!

Also since my last post Danny had his birthday! And since I'm pretty much the worst wife ever I didn't even mention it on here. He is getting a new BBQ as soon as he can finally decide which one he wants. I was just going to surprise him with one but changed my mind and just let him know that's his gift and he can pick out "the one" -which has proven to be quite a big decision. Must be a guy thing. He also was able to take a break from the house/yard work and go golfing at Talon's Cove with his brothers (even though he also goes golfing every Tuesday evening) and then we had dinner at Famous Dave's. It was a good day and he definitely deserved it. He's been working his tail off getting us settled into our house and does so much for me every single day. I really lucked out when I got him.

We also celebrated Mother's Day and even though I'm not a mother quite yet, Danny surprised me with a "Future Mother's Day" present...a trip to New York in August to visit one of my most favorite people, Anne. I seriously can't wait! Last year was so much fun and I can't wait to do it again!

The last big event in May was that Danny's youngest brother entered the MTC where he will spend 12 weeks before flying across the world to serve in South Korea! I'm really excited for him.

And finally, because many of you asked, here are some pictures of our house now that we've unpacked. These aren't exactly "after" pictures because there's still a ton to do so think of them as "middle" pictures.

Here's our kitchen. You can kind of see the cafe curtains I made. They're definitely not perfect but considering the fact that I was pretty much just winging it, I'm quite proud of myself.

Here's a shot of part of the living room/great room/whatever you call it. I made the striped pillow but the ivory ones and the curtains are courtesy of Pottery Barn - thank goodness for gift cards!


This is the part where I need your help:

1. I'm thinking I want to paint he mantel white. That was always my intention and we didn't pay the extra $400 to have the mantel stained and glazed but the builder forgot and they ended up doing it anyway, free of charge. But now that it's done it makes it a little more difficult to want to paint over it. But I'm thinking I want to anyway. What's your opinion?
2. Does anyone have some creative ideas of cute things to hang on the wall above the mantel?