The Real Deal

I took these pictures on my phone so ignore the horrible quality...you get the idea.

Here's the finished product:

It might not be the prettiest thing in the world, but I made it and I think it looks better than it did when it started!

Reupholster Trial ONE

So I bought 2 chairs from D.I. a few weeks ago and thought to myself  "I'll have some free time this summer...I should try to learn how to do something new". I wanted some chairs for the Study room I'm going to make for Jake when we move into our apartment because he will be studying like crazy when he's taking the Paramedic classes and I don't want him to have to go to the library every night. Now I admit- I do not know anything about reupholstering furniture, but I watched a youtube video and it looked pretty simple.   As you can tell, these chairs needed a little TLC. They have been reupholster once before, and they were dirty as could be! 

 

So I went to work..... 
 

I unscrewed everything, wiped off all the dirt, sprayed the cushions with Lysol and added a cushion to the butt part of the seat. I didn't remove the old fabric for the bottom part because I wanted as much cushion as I could get.
 

Then I started to staple....
 

This is where things started to get a little tricky. I didn't want anyone to be able to feel that I had put in a square cushion, so I added Poly-fil to the end of the seat to smooth everything out. This really was hard to keep everything together and where I wanted it while I stapled it down because I only have 2 hands and I didn't have any help. 

 

Oh snap-What's up?! I have successfully reupholstered the bottomhalf of a chair. It's kinda comfy too! The back looks a little lumpy because I didn't add poly-fil to that part, but when the top is put back on it will be fine. I was really proud at my first attempt, and it looks a lot better now then it did when I started! Jake was getting back from work, so I ended with removing the first layer of fabric from the top half of the chair. The staples wouldn't have gone through all the layers if I didn't, so check out this old fabric that was underneath...
 

You can't tell from the picture, but that is lime green and purple squiggly lines. Ew. I'm really glad I took off that top layer because when I did a ton of dirt and dust was flying out of that thing. So I soaked the top again in Lysol and left it to air out overnight. I'm hoping to finish the rest of the chair tonight! 

I'm so proud of myself :)

Nothing Like Spending The Weekend Together

What an eventful day :)  I picked out flowers for the reception centerpieces and ordered them all online today which is what I have been working on all week! Then I got ready for the day and Jake took me out to lunch in Idaho Falls. After we were done at Chili's we took a walk around the Idaho Falls Temple (where we are getting married) and we got to see a Hubble Telescope exhibit in the Visitor's Center which was amazing! 

After we left the temple, I asked Jake to take me to D.I. (which is Goodwill to my east coasters) and we found vases for the centerpieces for super cheap. We bought 7 of them $6.36!! 

 They turned out to be perfect for what we want to use them for! And might I add... I'm marrying a very funny man. Jake had to work tonight, but we had a few hours to play this afternoon, so we went to Home Depot and bought $90 worth of wood to start building our bed frame... it should look like this when we are completely done with it-

 Storage drawers will be put in underneath inside of those cubby holes and we will make an upholstered headboard like the second picture. I'm really excited to build this all; we will have really nice furniture for cheap! Just need to put in a lot of time and a little sweat and it will turn out perfect! We're still debating whether or not we will paint it or stain it, but we'll worry about that once the thing is actually made. Once we got done with our adventures in Idaho Falls, we went back to Jake's house and found some baby birds. I have never seen baby birds this young before and I was kind of grossed out by them... They look freaky when they are newly hatched. 

They look like aliens. Ew....but look how big their beaks are! haha... Let's give them a few weeks to get a little cuter.

Jake and I have been exercising together more lately, which has been really fun. We usually do P90x, but today we tried out the exercise balls. We did a 25 minute workout but it wasn't really worth our time. It was more of a warm up then a workout, but we had some good laughs during it. While we were "working out", Carlie (Jake's youngest sister) went up to the school and rented a canoe til Monday for $15. The river behind his house is high which will be perfect for canoeing. I think Jake and I will take it out tomorrow and go for a little birthday canoeing trip! I'll have to take some pictures because it is beautiful down there, and who knows... maybe we'll see a moose that isn't dead this time. 

Other note worthy pictures taken today include the one below addressing tourists. On our way home from I.F. we went to an antique store and this sign is posted down the street from it:

We also took a few pictures out on the trampoline...

 My hair looks crazy in the sunlight...it really doesn't look white trash in person, but either way I will be coloring it this week!

Tomorrow, June 13th, will be my birthday which will also be our 2 month mark until we get married!!! 

My life is blessed.

68 days to go! It's coming too quick and not fast enough.

Good news- I got a job at an elementary school here in Rexburg. I interviewed and received a phone call about 4 hours later saying they wanted to offer me a job. I took it since 30 people applied for the job and I couldn't ask them to wait 2 weeks for my other interview. I canceled the interview for the 7th because I didn't want to risk not taking the one I have for sure. The job I accepted gives me a few more hours a week anyways and I need to take all I can get! So there's one more stress crossed off the list!

We're still picking out the pictures we want to order for our announcements, and it's hard because there are so many cute ones. Still need my mom's input (cough cough) and anyone else's who would care to comment. 

Next week I do not have to work, so the Idaho reception should start getting details set. I'm excited to get some more things planned and out of the way. My to-do list doesn't seem to get much smaller, but I know I've been getting things done! Jake and I decided on a mattress, I bought a couple chairs to reupholster for his study room (yes a couple-so I can bug him when he's in there too long), and....crap... that was all I really got done this week. I worked extra hours this week and it was Jake's birthday on Tuesday-don't judge me. Oh wait, I did pick out some wedding favors too, so now I just need to buy them.

It's still cold and rainy in Rexburg, and maybe that's why my blogs are so boring lately. I need some sunshine! I heard next week is supposed to be beautiful, but we'll see. It's June for crying out loud...come on universe, cut me a break. I did get a good laugh yesterday when I was driving to work-some man had attached a regular flatbead trailer to 2 horses and was cracking a whip at them. He was taking up a full lane of traffic and it was probably the most ridiculous thing I saw all day. Thank you Rexburg...you never cease to amaze me.

PICTURES ARE UP!

Engagement pictures are finally up!!


http://amybennion.instaproofs.com/category.php?id=591449&event=232556&pageSize=40&pageNumber=1


If that doesn't work, go to www.amybennion.com, online ordering, Jake and Darcie Wilcox Engagement, and my email is Naldergirl@aol.com


Tell us which ones you like best! We're going to be making our wedding announcement soon :)

Things are starting to come along

 So we got an apartment as you read in the last blog, and last Saturday we had engagement pictures taken by Amy Bennion Photography for free! Chelsea won a free session from a contest and she let us have it. She's such an amazing sister :) So hopefully the pictures will be put up on Saturday and as soon as we get the pictures we can make a wedding announcement! Amy did a fantastic job and we are all very excited to see how the pictures turned out.

This morning I received a phone call about an interview for a job with Special Services for the school system here in Rexburg. June 7th is my interview date and I'm really hoping that I get this job. I applied for one other position and I think I will be getting an interview for that job this week as well. I really need one of these jobs so keep your fingers crossed for me! Getting a job would be a huge relief right now, since Jake will no longer be working as of September. He might work a little here and there, but he needs to focus on the Paramedic Program. I will still be working part time for Journeys, but 22 hours a week at minimum wage won't cut it once we get married. The school job would start at the end of August or the beginning of September so I would have a full time and part time job... just like the good 'ol days before I started school.

79 days until we get married! We're going to start planning the reception for Idaho in the next couple of weeks and the Virginia one is pretty much done. Plans are being made, registries are almost finished, and  now I just need to figure out what shoes I'm going to wear and how I'm going to do my hair for the wedding. (I'm wearing Chelsea's dress, so I'm glad I didn't have to go out and search for one). We're starting to collect odds and ends when we can. Chelsea and Rhet gave us a TV this past weekend when we went down to Santaquin for Kyler's first birthday. (He is getting so big and he is one of the cutest babies I have ever seen!) We have my old microwave and some old dishes that will be nice to have if we don't get any dishes as a wedding gift. We are keeping our eyes open for a good deal on a mattress set, but I think we will probably end up going to the mattress warehouse in Idaho Falls. They have some pretty sweet deals going on right now.

Anyways, those are the updates and now I am going to go up to the fire station and eat lunch with Jake.

Rexburg is Dreary, but Life is Good

Living in Rexburg, I have learned to take advantage of the sunny days. You never know what the weather is going to do here, but when summer finally comes it will be beautiful! This past weekend we had some really nice days and now it's back to cold and rainy :( oh well...

Life is Good!

Last week I was stressing out BIG TIME about wedding plans, job hunting, and finding an apartment, but this week is looking up. Jake and I found an apartment! I got a phone call a couple nights ago from an apartment I applied to live at and we were accepted. We're moving into a cute little two bedroom apartment and I'm very excited to make it our own place starting August 1st. Jake and I signed the contract together as Jake and Darcie "Nalder" Wilcox and I'm going to go up to the office today and put down our deposit. It's going to be a beast moving in since we are living on the 3rd floor, but we'll survive.

After we looked at the apartment yesterday, Jake had to go back to work and I still had an hour before I needed to go to work so I went over to the D.I. I found a chocolate fountain for $18.00 and I'm thinking we might use it at the reception. I heard they get kinda messy though, so we'll see. While I was texting Jake about what I had found, I told him that I loved him and his response made me laugh.... he said: "Well that's good cause you have to live with me for the next year. You signed a paper saying so..." Haha. He is so witty-that one. He makes me laugh every day.

I'm still looking for another part time job for the summer and a full time job for the fall, but something will work out sooner or later. As for the wedding plans- they're coming along. Jake and I are hopefully going to take some engagement photos this weekend and then we can design our announcements. Everything is getting done and I will be a lot less stressed now that we have a place to live when we get married. Thank you to everyone that had to put up with me last week...my major stressor is gone now and I will be more pleasant to be around from here on out!