DIY staining

I was so excited when I finally found the perfect dresser for our babies nursery... and before they came :). I swear I searched for months. I didn't change the color to much, but my goal was to make it look newer and not so worn looking and to fill the little pieces of wood on the bottom that you can see chipped off. This was my first time staining anything so I was a little nervous but luckily I'm addicted to pinterest :) and already had great tutorials to follow I used these two tutorials.....wood filler and staining. The first one I used only for tips on wood filler and the second I used the entire tutorial.
Here is what it looked like originally....

Supplies: 
Mask (especially if you are pregnant)
Sander
80 grit sandpaper
Wood Filler
Minwax wood conditioner
Staining pads
Minwax gel stain (in the color you want)
Gloves

I'll give you the basics of what I did and if you want more details I would head over to the tutorials I referenced.
Step One Lightly sand the dresser. Unless you are staining it a lighter color you don't need to sand it that much. My dresser was delicate so I just took my mouse sander, with 80 grit sandpaper and just roughed up the surface a little.
Step Two Put the wood filler in the chipped parts on the bottom and a couple of cracks on the top.
Step Three After I had let the wood filler dry for the recommended time I sanded it down so it was flush with the rest of the dresser.

Step Four Condition the entire piece
Step Five Rub on the stain. At this point I got really frustrated cause although the wood filler said it was stainable it was still very noticable. So I had to improvise. I would let the stain dry and then just do another coat only on the parts that I had filled. I probably filled the wood filler parts like six times. I just kept it in my garage and every eight hours or so I would take a small foam brush and only stain the small chipped parts. Once the wood filler areas were matching the rest of the dresser I did one final coat of the entire dresser and here is the result.....

Most people also change the knobs, but I loved the old fashion look of them and thought it would also be nice to save the money. I'm pretty happy with the results :) I am a perfectionist though and could tell you I almost re stained it because of certain parts but once put in the room you can't even hardly see those spots, Greg thought I was crazy to think of redoing it and he was right. So if you are like me let the little things go :). I am going to have to learn this eventually when I have two little munchkins running around my house, luckily for now I have Greg to remind me.  

nursery sneak peak

Here is a glimpse of our babies nursery (just for you Lindsey :). I still want to do a TON with it, but at least now it is livable. I just barely finished their dresser last week which was a huge relief to get done. It took me forever to find one that fit the space and that I loved. Pictures to come and a tutorial on how I fixed it up. Their room is pretty small so it was hard to get pictures but you get the idea....

Plans that are still in the works for their room.....curtains, wall hangings, fabric bird mobile, decorative mirror, paint lamp, bed skirt and different crib sheets. Maybe if they stay in there for three more weeks I will have time to get it all done. Not counting on it though :)

honeydew

7.2 lbs of baby

 I apologize that all I blog about is pregnancy and babies, but it has consumed our lives :) and thoughts. We are trying to get a lot of projects and things done before they come so when I do have time to blog it is only to keep you updated with how they are doing.
I'm happy to say though that projects are getting done and my to do list is finally getting smaller not bigger and....tomorrow is my last day of working full time :) so maybe I will have time to update you on our projects we are working on, but for now here is my week update. The picture was taken on Sunday when I was 31 weeks, this weekend I will be 32 weeks. My doctor says twins normally come between 36-38 weeks. We are getting so close, I can't believe it. Am I ready? Will I ever be ready?

oh and I had to share this picture of my dorky, but adorable husband...

While I am getting the camera set up for Greg to use, he poses for me :)

maternity pictures {seven months}

Last weekend my talented and super sweet sister in law drove up to Sundance with us to take our pictures. We love them and can't wait to put one up in the babies room. The only thing I think I would have changed is my outfit, I think I tried on a million outfits that afternoon... it is hard coordinating outfits when you have such a small selection to choose from. 

It is so amazing being pregnant. It still all seems so surreal we are going to be parents soon and we are going to be responsible for the survival of two babies. I kind of feel like now we are just playing house and my belly is growing but in a couple months things will just go back to normal. Although now I can't imagine life without them. The further along I am the more I am getting a glimpse of the love a mom has for her kids, it is an amazing feeling. I can't wait for it all!! 

is it fall yet?

As much as I love being pregnant and feeling the babies kick and how much easier they are probably in my belly then out of my belly I'm so excited to be able to wear this cute outfit, to be able to squeeze into my skinning jeans again, bundle up in a sweater  and be pushing our babies in a stroller to go do .......anything :). 12 more weeks, Ugh I can't wait to hold them! 

dreams

One of my symptoms of being pregnant is having crazy dreams. I have had dreams about Lauren and I being chased by bears, dreams about Jimmer :) wanting to date me. That one was entertaining, haha.   Recently I had a dream that I delivered the babies on the 28th. Don't know which month is was just the 28th, I would be pretty amazed if it actually came true. My most recent dream though was the best. It was of this baby girl....

I had a dream I had just delivered her and I was holding her and she was gorgeous with lots of brown hair. I was so infatuated with her that I forgot that I still had to push one more baby out :). Can't wait for that day! We got to see our baby girl in 4D on Tuesday. Baby boy was being stubborn though and we didn't get to see him, next month hopefully.

4.5 lbs of baby

busy weekend

Not only did my sister get baptized last weekend, our nephew celebrated his one year birthday, our good friends Lindsey and Orlando came to visit and Kathrono Suprano visited with her adorable kids. It was a crazy, fun filled weekend. While they were here I realized that our house is not ready for toddlers. Luckily we have a little time before we have to start buying covers for the outlets and expand our dishware to something other then glass or ceramic, or I have a feeling we wouldn't get everything done in three months.  

 Isn't she so cute. She helped me make the noodles for chicken noodle soup and the most important noodle of all... Mr. Petey. Growing up we always made a little noodle man and one lucky person in the family would get them in their bowl of soup. She had a lot of fun. Can you believe how much she has grown up? Check out the old post from when we babysat her over night. 

 Oliver the new baby brother....

mari gets baptized

 My littlest sister Mariana got baptized last weekend and became a member of the LDS church. It was so cute to see her so happy and beaming. As soon as she came out of the water she let out a little giggle it was priceless. Having babies in my belly really makes me see everything so differently. I hope we can raise our kids to love the gospel and want to be baptized.  Luckily they have more then one example to follow. Mari can't wait to be an Aunt the other day she said  "I'm so glad I get to be an Aunt when I'm young" :) Only three more months!! I want the time to go by faster, but at the same time I'm so not ready for them to be here yet. 

nursery ideas

Just found these on etsy and decided I have to have one. We are pretty sure the babies names will start with J and A, but I might have to change them ;) just so I can get the L.  The middle name is going to probably start with an L does that work? 

5.5 Months

moments that matter most

"We would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most"

I love this video! It make me so excited to become a mom. I hope I can remember this everyday. 

knudsen family reunion

My blog has been lacking majorly lately, mostly because my motivation level for writing and uploading pictures has drastically decreased and pinning always seems so much more appealing when I'm sitting on the computer. 

So here is me having a little motivation...

Last weekend we had a family reunion on Greg's moms side of the family. It was a perfect little trip...besides the million bug bites I got. We were able to get the camping feeling, but me and babies got to sleep on our comfy air mattress. I love my family and am so glad I married into such an awesome one. 

(babies @ 21 weeks)