Zoo

We went to the zoo yesterday and had so much fun! My cousin Katie came with and we met up with kelsey and the two kids the nannies for. It was 90 out and felt great! Our first stop was the petting zoo where carter was in love with the little goats! they were so sweet and loved him too! He was funny because he would stand and pet one, he insisted on sitting down with them!





Carter is really great at animal noises. When he saw this african lioness his response was to scream "kitty kitty" really load over and over! lol

This is his first sno cone that he got to share with his cousin Katie! he didn't do to well trying to bite it so we ended up getting a spoon to make it easier. his response was " mmmmm!"

Oh the sting ray encounter exhibit! by far the highlight of the day, so much that we went twice! he loved petting them! he would squeal and just die of giggles every time one would swim up real fast and splash him! it was SOOO hard keeping him out of the water. he seriously wanted to get in and swim with them!









this was such a special treat! a little baboon was sitting right next to the glass with his little face smushed up against it and kept falling asleep. It was so neat that we got to sit so close to one!



Oh it was so much fun! i cannot wait to take carter again next week! With Lyndsey South and her girls!

Spring has Sprung with a visit from the Bells!

Devin's parents Rich and Giselle came to visit us from northern California. We had so much fun with them! Unfortunately Carter was a little under the weather with RSV, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, and a double ear infection while they were here :( We didn't get to do as much as we wanted to because we had to share them with our sister in law Amy's parents who they have been good friends with for many years. Amy's parents are going to Brazil for 3 years to work in the mission so we weren't too upset about having to share Rich and Giselle's company :) On Monday Giselle, my mom, Carter and I went to Joe's Farm Grill in Gilbert. I had never been before so i was excited to try it!I had a Cheddar bacon cheeseburger and onion rings, it was absolutely delicious! My mom and Giselle both wanted to try the fontina burger but were nervous that it might not taste very good so they ordered one of those and one regular cheeseburger and split them both! I'm pretty sure they both wished they would have each ordered a fontina burger to themselves because they said it was the best burger they had ever had! The Garlic fries that my mom ordered were yummy too, they remind me of California! This is such a great place to take carter because he loves to be outside! Here are some more pics of our enjoyable lunch, i can't wait to take Devin there!

Bell domestic bliss

We have recently been redecorating our home, it has been a lengthy process especially because most of the stuff we have made or redone ourselves! I am inspired by the french countryside with a little pop of quirkyness! here is a peek insideHere is the entry way:Great Room:The dining room:
the fabric on the china cabinet is what i am using for curatins over the arcadia door!

Our bedroom:
although i do love the french country, devin and i both find tranquility at the beach so i wanted to bring in a coastal cottage feel. i tied this theme in with the rest of the house by having pops of blue throughout so that it would still flow.

hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

one mans trash is another womans treasure

I love the look of shabby chic however since i am married, i don't feel like the uber fem decor would be appropriate for our humble abode. Instead i have incorporated shabby chic furniture design with electic french country flair! I have been wanting a beautiful distressed china cabinet for quite sometime now. Devin didn't quite understand the obsession because well, we don't have any china! But being the loving, decorating challenged husband he is, he decided to let me have my way! woo hoo! After shopping around some stores i found most distressed china cabinets were hundreds if not thousands of dollars out of my price range. My girlfriend lyndsey had some furniture redone by a lady in mesa, after checking out her blog furniture facelift i was sold! So i started by seraching goodwill after goodwill, after no luck i resorted to craigslist. And just around the corner from our home a couple sold us this cabinet for $80
Next step: contact cherica at furniture facelift! After days of agony waiting for her reply back as to how much she would charge to shabby my cabinet up i had a reply! however much to my dismay cherica is no longer restoring furniture because she had to return to work because of the economy. Now what?! sure i could redo the cabinet myself.... but i live in an apartment. where would i do such a task? well we picked up a pair of sawhorses and transformed out patio into a workshop! My inspiration for the piece and actually my whole dining room was this plate from anthropologie
i love red green and yellow and strawberries will always remind devin and i of northern california late spring into summer, when you would go straight to the strawberry stands to buy fresh strawberries. So after some sanding, Jungle trail paint from home depot, and a crackle medium and english tea room paint from lowes, and lots of elbow grease and love this is what we have: