I am a Young Life Leader

I lead Young Life at Brier Terrace Middle School where I attended in middle school.  It is a blast to hangout with 7th grade girls, go to their sporting events, live life with them and share Jesus.  Middle Schoolers listen to every word you say, and it is really cool to see them grow up and also to see how they view the world.  They make me laugh and my heart gets bigger and bigger every time I am around them.  Tonight, I got to give a club talk where I shared about my life and something that I have learned from Jesus.  Tonight I talked about when I was in the 8th grade and I broke my collar bone while playing soccer.  I talked about how a girl fouled me so hard that when I fell, it broke.  I talked about how I couldn't play soccer, which was my life at the time for two months and how I wanted to retaliate.  I then talked about what Jesus says about when people hurt or wrong you and what you should do.  It was really cool sharing about Matthew: 5:38 and how back then people would do "eye for eye and tooth for a tooth" and sharing with the kids that even though that girl fouled me and broke my collar bone, I should not in return brake hers.  But that Jesus tells us to do the opposite in Matthew: 5:39: "Do not resist an evil person.  If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, you should turn to him the other also."  It is a hard lesson to learn and even for adults to consistently think before we react when people do wrongly to us.  It is very difficult.  And without Jesus, there is no way, I could not retaliate for everything bad that has been done to me or my friends and family.  I am very thankful that I have Jesus in my life.



Here is a picture of me and some leaders at neon club.  It is a lot of fun dressing up to each theme.  This was earlier this fall.


Thanks for letting me share this incredible joy that I have in my heart with you.


-Hayley

Valentines Day

I saw a picture of a pug with a heart on them like this floating around on facebook and knew I had to try.  Rudy did awesome with it on him in the kitchen watching his daddy cooking.  Rudy is a sucker for food.  But when we tried it later on the couch, it was very difficult as he was not interested.  These shots are priceless and make me laugh every time.

Sean made this delicious fettuccine alfredo (my all time favorite dish) and salad.  We had a nice cozy night in for Valentines Day and it could not be more perfect.  This was our 7th valentines together.  1 while dating, 1 while engaged and 5 being married.  Crazy!!!

Hope you all had a Happy Valentines Day!!!

-Hayley

Afraid to Create

I am so afraid of creating art or something meaningful in my life.  I thought I was lazy and didn't have the time, but lately, I have come up with any and every excuse not to create.  I am too busy, I want to watch a show instead, it takes to long to set up my space, to put everything away, yadda yadda.  It is me.  I am my own worst enemy when it comes to creating art.  I actually love creating, but I think it is at the end, when it is said and done and I stare at my tapestry and am so extremely critical of myself.  WHY?  Are people going to tell me that is sucks?  Well, then they suck, lol.  What am I creating for?  My house, for relief, to relax, for my own personal enjoyment?  My husband and my best friend are my best cheerleaders.  It is pretty funny actually, I could take a piece of foil roll it up in a ball and they would both give me praise.  That is why I love them.  But honestly, I need to get over myself, use a talent that God has given me and create something!!!!

So with that being said, I am going to create a painting.  I have been oggling (is that even a word?) over the birch trees and I am going to try.  If I screw it up, then I can start over and create something else, but at least I attempted, or am going to....

So world, and to myself, here I go!

I used acrylic and painted this for Sean.  There is even a little heart with our initials.  Hope you like it, Sean sure did!

Thanks for reading along!

-Hayley

We Don't Have Kids

This is what my life looks like and I am okay with that.  I have a lot of friends who are pregnant or have kids and that is awesome and Sean and I want to have kids one day.  But we are enjoying the moments we have with each other and with our little Rudy who we treat like a kid.  So I am okay with dog toys laying around the house that squeak and dog hair on my clothes.

Rudy has so much character that he acts like an actual person and that is enough for us right now.  If you are tired of me posting pictures of Rudy on instagram or on here, then sorry, but I am not sorry because he is a big part of my life.  

My Home Office

My home office is my actual office for my job as a regional admissions counselor for the University of Idaho where I went to college and played soccer.  That is why the room is grey and yellow, the colors for U of I.  It is really nice to work from home and this space makes it feel like a professional office that is separate from the rest of my house.  The only exception is that Rudy stops by from time to time.

My soccer jersey my senior year.

I really like post it notes.

Cheap black out shades.  I now have actual curtains.  

Rudy checking out the office.

Thanks for touring my office with me.

-Hayley

DIY Wood Fence Headboard

When we bought our house the front part of the fence had fallen down and needed to be replaced.  Instead of burning the wood or throwing it out, I saved it for over a year and my cousin Cory made me a head board for my birthday!  I have been drooling over the ones I have seen on Pinterest and have wanted one since we moved into our house in late June of 2012.  My original inspiration came from:


House Tweaking .  They did an amazing job and I loved the 'love' on the board, but did not want to paint it as I wanted it to be natural.  I might add a burlap banner with love on it later.  Check out their blog as they have a step by step way to make one as well.

Materials used:

-Four old fence boards
-Flush mount hangers, they look similar to this:

-Two 4x something size boards.  Cory bought them at Home Depot so not sure what size and he cannot remember.  Rule of thumb, just make sure they are shorter than the headboard, so they do not show.
- A handy cousin good with tools and an amazing husband to help install it.
-the black hinges were from the old fence gate and of course, I had to use them.

Cory laid the boards down on the ground to see what they would look like.

He used the dark brown board to hold the boards together (see it in the middle) and added the newer boards from Home Depot to match together.  

In this picture the flush mount hangers are being screwed onto the first board that is on the fence boards.  Then the other board will have the flush mount hanger to be connected onto the wall.

What is nice about having the flush mount hangers is that you only screw the base boards into the wall studs. So there is minimal holes in the wall.  And it is very stable.  Pretty awesome!

Then you connect the flush mount hangers together from the headboard to the base boards on the wall. It slides on like a puzzle.  

Overall, after minimal supplies were purchased, it took Cory about 1 1/2 to complete the project.  The longest part of the project was triple checking measurements for exact, straight and easy installation.  

Finished project!  I am very happy and in love with my headboard.  Thanks Cory and Sean!

Thanks for reading friends!

-Hayley

Michael Buble in Concert

I have been obsessed with Michael Buble since the first time I heard his voice on my friends Ipod.  I just loved the way his voice sounded like the older generation of Frank Sinatra.  I would literally blast his music in my room (by myself lol) light a candle and just dream as I listened to fun, romantic songs.  I even wanted to use one of his songs, 'Everything' for our wedding first dance, but Sean said it was too fast to slow dance to lol.  Anyway, if I could see one performer or go to one concert in my lifetime, it would be Michael Buble.  In July, my mom called and said she heard tickets were going on sale and that we should do it for the November concert.  I was in!  Then, my grandparents heard about it and thought it would be fun to go. So basically, I went with three of my favorite people and had a blast.  Here are some pictures of the evening before the concert:


Me, Mom, Michael, Grandma and Grandpa.



And a photo of my mom and me.


I had the best night and we actually sat and enjoyed his music during the concert, which was a nice treat.



Thanks for stopping by,

Hayley