Baby BamBam, You Are Loved

As you know, my sweet sisters planned a shower for me and BamBam. This past Monday evening we gathered in Tessa's peaceful backyard on the ranch to celebrate one of our family's littlest lives. From the weather to the company, the orange and turquoise details to some of this mama-to-be's fave foods, it was perfect.

Everything was bright and beautiful.

Perfectly updated. 

Sydni looked so grown up, like a little lady, in her sundress from her Grandma Beth 

and with her hair curled by Nana.

Millie was a little crazy babe, trucking everywhere and bumming lemonade off anyone willing to lend her a straw. Had there been a prize for best dressed she most likely would have won it in her adorable pillow case dress.

She couldn't grasp why the pretty circle banner hung conveniently at her level was not to be pulled off...

Beth was such a servant, greeting everyone and ensuring that each lady's mason jar remained filled to the brim with frozen pineapple lemonade.

Beth is [Bro-in-law]Brian's mom. Her trips to Washington seem to always align with one of our parties. We can't decide if she has fabulous timing or if we just have a lot of parties. Either way, we love having her as part of our family celebrations.

I was beyond excited to eat my 'Moof' sandwich. 

The story behind the 'Moof': 

Each summer, upon arriving to our sites on our annual camping trip, it is tradition that Mom disappears into her trailer and comes out moments later with a great big muffaletta sandwich. We all proceed to scarf it while setting up camp. It's a big deal. (It would be bad if she ever forget to make it.) It was an even bigger deal that she made a pretty version for my shower, just one week before our annual camping trip. We made her promise that the shower moof, as we call it, won't be replacing the camping moof. 

*Muffaletta is an Italian sandwich set apart by it's olive mixture and ideally made an hour or two prior to eating so that the dressing has time to soak into the hearty bread. 

Thanks, Mom, for introducing us to things as good as moof. We love our moof...and our mom. :)

Reading my Mad Libs 'An Adventure in Birthing.' It involved twirling and eating through contractions, Brian packing the pink scooter to take me to the hospital (which ended up being a barn), and after 1 million pushes Baby 'LuLu' was delivered by a cowboy. Baby LuLu had a squishy elbow, 13 fingers and toes, and weighed 3 lbs 2 ounces and was 1 inch long.

That is one wide baby!

...Hopefully our actual birth story is a bit more logical...

Oh Babe, we have been blessed.

It's hard to make out but this is the cutest little cowboy bib you ever did see! (Leave it to the crafty mamas at Bellingham Baby Co. to attach handkerchiefs to baby bibs. Love!)

The sign says it all. Made with love by my sweet sis.

Toy Crate and Matching Wall Shelves Handcrafted by [Bro-in-law]Brian and Grey Washed by Tess.

Beautiful baby girl.

Reunited with my dear friend (and cousin) Janna! After 7 months of phone friendship we were ready for some hugs! (She works and is pursuing her Masters at Creighton University. One.more.year...)

Love, love, love, adore, and miss her.

She tried to shove out her tummy but there was nothing there. At 22 weeks pregnant I have her very, very beat.

Me 'n my girls. 

Tess and Amy, Thanks for throwing a beautiful party in celebration of our little one!

Sweet Baby o' Mine, 

I have waited for you, I have prayed for you, and God has lent you to me. Enjoy your last 4 months of cooking to full turkey term, and know that you are anticipated every day and loved more than words can say.

Dilapidation turned Dashing

It all began with what some might consider a pile of junk, or firewood. It consisted of old fence boards, a couple of free-alongside-the-road pallets, as well as some burly, new pallets donated to the cause by Circle K Ranch.

But it wasn't junk at all, it was our soon to be headboard.

We began by taking each pallet and fence panel apart and removing all the nails.

 Although our bed is a queen, I looked up the measurements of a king size bed, because I wanted the size of the headboard to exceed the size of the bed. I spaced the legs the correct distance from one another, prior to working on the layout, so that I knew how much space I needed to cover.

 I pieced the boards together in a way that I found visually pleasing,
alternating rows of older and new boards.

 Each board was screwed into place from the backside.

 Brian trimmed the extra off each end.

 We weren't worried about making a perfectly clean line because the next step was adding trim to each side and the top to create a finished look and to bring all the boards together. 

 We added our trim and made sure that the boards going on top were bigger, creating an overhang.

Once the headboard was assembled I broke out my trusty Ryobi corner cat sander to round any rough edges and remove any old junk from the front sides of the boards.

I wanted the completed project to have a grey hue about it. I knew that applying a grey wash would tie all the mismatched boards together without making them too uniform.

I had never white washed anything (or grey washed, for that matter) 

but I decided to go out on a limb and try it anyway.

And I'm so glad I did. I turned out exactly how I saw it in my head.

Stay tuned for our bedroom reveal starring our new headboard. :)

The Latest off The Ranch

Back when we still had snow on the ground, I spent a day at Circle K. Tagging along with Tess on the ranch is one of my favorite things to do, getting to truck around with her littles makes it even better. Kolt is still most interested in playing with in the water but Sydni's developed quite a little work ethic. Feeding grain is a chore she's had mastered for a couple of years now. Her newest task: cleaning two water buckets per day.

She's a cheerful little worker!

Keep up the good work, SydniSueWho!

Beautiful babes, not so babyish anymore.

In fact, yesterday KOLTER turned TWO!!!

Happy Birthday, you scrunchy-nosed, sweet-voiced, papa lovin', "truck!" exclaiming, guy!

We love you!

We're so excited for your and Sydni's big birthday bash in the barn!

See you two next week!