A New Desk!

I have been a little absent from the blog these days.  What can I say?  Life has been running us wild and time to sit and write has not been as frequent.  What has kept us so busy you ask?  Well, I have been doing a few home projects.  I love a good project and for some reason they are so therapeutic to me.  I count myself lucky to have a husband who doesn't mind me wanting to change the paint colors in a room or build a desk in a closet.  He is pretty wonderful at letting me just go for it!  And in the project I am sharing today, he even jumped in and helped!

The reason behind this project was that I am going to be doing a little work from home starting this month and so I needed a place to where I could do just that.  Tyler has a "home office"  but if we are being honest, that room is much more like a man cave than an office. So there wasn't any room for me there!  And since I hate clutter I really didn't want to set up anything up in the guest room.  That's when I found the perfect idea on Pinterest-- a desk in the closet!  It works perfectly because I really don't need that much space and I can close the door and the clutter is hidden! Ahh... hidden clutter... it's a beautiful thing.

Here are a few pictures.... I must say, my amazing husband is responsible for constructing the desk.  If I ever said he wasn't handy, well, I was wrong!  At first I thought I would paint the closet and while that would have been great, I had a second thought.  I used fabric to cover a project board and measured it to fit perfectly in the space between the desk and the top shelf.  It works great to post notes on and in case I want to change the look, its super easy to take it down and switch up the fabric!

The empty closet and the handyman :)

 Desk is ready to go! And Tyler didn't think it needed any "frilly" details....

....But SO much cuter!

Grace: We can't wait to meet you!

The Lord has been working in such a neat way in my sister and her husband's life.   They have two of the sweetest little boys in the world (okay, I am biased!)  and they are excited for their newest addition, Grace, who they will be adopting from China.  My whole family is anxious to meet Grace and we have begun to pray for her during this time she is away from her "forever family". I wanted to make a little something for my sister this Christmas to let her know how much support and love we feel for their family as they move forward in faith on this journey to bring home their daughter.

So I made these stocking hangers...

One for Robby

One for Daniel

and one awaiting a picture of Grace.

I hope you will pray with us as the Lord directs each step of the adoption process.  You can follow everything more closely on my sister's blog. 

A Baker Family Christmas!

Tyler and I got to go to Florida for Christmas this year!  The temperature was a cool 80 degrees- which we were definitely not expecting! This vacation was long anticipated because it was the first real vacation for us this year, since most of our travel time this year was spent on trips to Birmingham.  But we also looked forward to this trip because it was so wonderful to have all of my family together.  We only wished my sister, Meg, and her family could have been there!

Tyler and I were lucky enough to stay at my Grandma's.  This is one of Tyler's favorite things about going to Florida because staying at Grandma means lots of homemade yummies and all the special treatment. Its always a treat to stay at Grandma's!  While we were at Grandma's, my sister, Amy, and her family were at my parents.  We managed to spend as much time as possible as a whole group with lots of eating and just hanging out.  My mom always has everything planned and so it seems like everything happens so smoothly, but I know it takes a lot of effort on her part! Santa actually came a little early for us, since we all wanted to be at church Sunday, we thought it would make the most sense to open gifts on Saturday morning.  It was so fun to watch my nephews tear into their gifts.  They were so excited!

You know me, I think pictures tell the story so much better than I do, so here are just a few from the busy trip!

Christmas Morning!

Robby and Daddy Bob

Tyler and Grandma

Tyler's Stocking :)

He was so excited about this little ball that lit up! What a cutie!

The boys opened up a present for Grace.  It was the sweetest little sweater! We can't wait till she comes home from China!

Daddy Bob and Mimi with Robby

Sadly, it has probably come to the point where I have been out of Florida long enough to be considered a tourist.... so Tyler and I had to check out the sites :)

We had such a great time and so enjoyed being with family! We hope your family had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior!  

The Annual Pizza Party

This season has been especially hectic, so we didn't get to plan like we normally do for our friend Christmas party. This is another one of those special traditions created and passed down by my Aunt Jackie and whether it was well planned or not, we were still determined to keep the tradition alive.  We kept it simple, just our friends Allen and Jessica, and it was perfect.  We all got together at our house and made homemade pizzas.  The boys always try and get creative while the girls keep it pretty original.  This year the boys though sauce on top was the way to go. After pizza, we ate sugar cookies and watched Christmas with the Kranks. It was a perfect Christmas evening!

We were excited about the new Dr. Pepper 10- which Tyler let us try even though the commercial has convinced him it is "for men only."

Until next year!

Captain's of Industry

I hope my husband always knows that I am and always will be his biggest fan. I am just so proud of him! This year he was asked to speak at the annual Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Captain's of Industry dinner. It was the perfect opportunity for Tyler to express our deep gratitude for all of those who give so generously to help find a cure. It was wonderful to be able to put a face with many of those donors who we will forever feel grateful for.

Tyler was, of course, such a natural on stage and we had a great time at the event. I tried to refrain from taking too many pictures.... but I had to take a few!

Tyler's mom came with us :)

Thanks to everyone who continues to fight for a cure! We are closer everyday and we couldn't say that without you!

Claire's Baby Shower

My sweet friend Claire and her husband Cal are expecting their first baby.  Tyler and I are SO excited for them!  And although it took some careful planning, since Claire and Cal moved to Texas (so sad!), when they came to visit their family for Thanksgiving it seemed like the perfect chance to get some girls together and celebrate this new baby!

The shower would have never happened without my friends, JoAnn and Jessica, who helped put together all the food. My favorite thing about this shower was how relaxed it was.  We all just enjoyed each other's company and caught up on time lost.  I am so thankful for these sweet friends and am so glad that the Lord blessed me with each of them.

Check out a few pictures from the shower! 

My first baby shower cake :)

We can't wait to meet Rebekah!

"Children are a gift from the Lord, they are a reward from Him."
Psalms 127:3

Santa Saturday

Tyler and I love Christmas! I guess, who doesn't?  The decorations are fun, the presents are nice, and the food is great, but what I think we love most about the holidays is the time we spend with our families. One Saturday before Christmas, however, Tyler and I set aside a whole day to spend together- just the two of us!  It is always great to just hang out with zero interruptions before things get really busy.  We wake up and eat sweet rolls, decorate our tree, watch our favorite Christmas movie, Elf, while eating sugar cookies, and this year Tyler added a new tradition- we built a lego Christmas scene. I mean people do Christmas puzzles, right? Why not legos?  This day is always so much fun. It's a tradition we look forward to each year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!