Thanksgiving!! :)

..this means family

and food...

 and pretty flowers...

I'm so grateful for all of these things, plus my camera

my sewing machine

my education

my faith and testimony

my ability to play volleyball

music

my home

my parents and everything they do for me

my savior

cheese-its

the temple

the mountains and nature

my clothes

my bed

nephews

support from my parents

water

computers

phones

mario-kart wii with brothers

electricity

a mom who can sew (and taught me)

movies

my sister serving a mission

modern medical science

and a whole lot of other things that i can't think of right now... :) 

xoxo CPTVPT

Re-Done Tables

This might get a little wordy... i told you how we wanted to redo our tables? so this is what it looked like before

here is the sanded one

 this is a picture of all four of the tables we were re-doing...

 here's where my story comes in. we were using a 2-in-1 stain and top coat, and my mom and i being the amateurs that we are, forgot to stir it! So we did the first layer and it was fine, then we did the second layer a few days later, and for the first table it was fine too. for the next three, we started getting down to the stain that had settled to the bottom. by the end, we were literally trying to spread TAR onto the tables!

this is after the first layer on our big table

 first layer on the small tables...

 second layers is PERFECT color on this table....

 because we didn't stir, most of what was at the top was the polyurethane coat. so this table is unbelievably shiny...it's reflecting the door like a mirror for heaven's sakes!! :) haha

 this is the second layer. you can see that it is completely matte and a TON darker. this was the last table we did the second coat on...

 this one didn't turn out quite as bad so my mom decided it was fine because she didn't want to sand it again and everything...

this is the darkest table re-sanded...we are going to re-stain it and we will REMEMBER TO STIR THE STAIN!!!! :) it's the simple things that make life sooooo much easier!!! :)

xoxo CPTVPT

Milk...

...fabric?!? my dad just showed me this article about this woman in germany who has made a fabric purely out of milk!

read the article here.

wow...i just think that's awesome! a silk-like fabric that can be washed like cotton...i WANT some!! :) that probably won't happen for a while though...darn it. :)

xoxo CPTVPT

Sundays...

I've been making a whole bunch of cards today. It was nice to have a day to just sit down and work on something besides homework. :)

I was making cards because ten minutes before she needs it my mom will ask me to make a card for something and then I end up putting something together that doesn't look good at all. so I made some wedding ones, and some grateful ones and a couple "just because" cards.

anyway, just thought i'd share... :)

xoxo CPTVPT

Veterans Day

Because it's Veterans Day today, i thought i'd just share how thankful i am for all the men and women who have fought previously, and who are fighting for us today.

"only two defining forces who have ever offered to die for you, Christ, and the american soldier. one died for your soul, the other died for your freedom." 

i took this picture a couple weeks ago when i went to visit my sister at college at BYU-Idaho. this is the Rexburg temple and there was a flag pole right in front of it and there was a beautiful breeze blowing the flag and i just had to take a picture with Moroni in it. :)

 hopefully we can all make it a bigger part of our lives to be thankful for these brave men and women. happy veterans day!

xoxo CPTVPT

Newspaper Nails

okay, so i know these are kind of everywhere at the moment, but i heard about them a couple days ago when a friend told me how to do them! 

 (excuse the sloppy paint job, i took the pictures before i used remover to make them look a little neater)

these are super easy! you just need white or light-colored finger nail polish, newspaper, and some rubbing alcohol!

tip #1: let the polish dry ALL THE WAY before doing the rest

tip #2: cut the newspaper you are using into squares about 1"X1"... this will make it MUCH easier to put them on your nails (i just had the huge page and it kept getting in the way)

tip #3: just use a q-tip to apply the rubbing alcohol and then immediately put the paper on top and press down (more pressing if you want it darker, less pressing if you want it lighter)

that's it! super duper easy peasy! :)

xoxo CPTVPT

Snow!

...i've had such a busy week! our volleyball team went to state, and did NOT do well. we lost both our games so we are out of the tournament. it stinks but to be honest, i'm glad it's over. my experience with school volleyball has NOT been a good one this year.  

but oh well... did anyone see the SNOW?!!?!? wow, i was not expecting it!

even though the weather report said it was going to...i'm sure it will probably melt before it starts to really snow, but it just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling that the holidays are near!!! i love this time of year!

xoxo CPTVPT