DIY Headband Holder

When you have a little girl, there are a lot of little accessories that usually accumulate with her. Bows, flowers and headbands. And while they are little things, they can make a big mess if you don't have a place to put them. After browsing Pinterest and Etsy I figured that I had a pretty good idea of how to put together the hair clip/headband holder I wanted. I decided to document my little adventure along the way. 

What you need:

- picture frame

- sandpaper 

- ribbon

- paint (I used acrylic, but spraypaint works too) 

- paintbrush (if you're using acrylic paint)

- staple gun or thumbtacks

- cup hooks (I got the 7/8 inch ones from lowes)

- something to protect your table from the paint (I just used paper towels)

First, I took the glass, matting and back off the frame leaving just the wooden part. It was a little dark and pretty shiny so I sanded it down. Depending on the type of frame you get you may or may not have to sand it. Once it was sanded I laid it down on some paper towels ready to paint. 

Now keep in mind that depending on the color you want and the color of your frame, you might need to have some yellow or white on hand. I realized this after I painted my first coat.

*It might just be my perfectionist self but it was more hot pink than coral for me so I just mixed in some yellow and painted over it until I got my preferred color.*

Next, you measure out the ribbon. I measure it long because you can always cut off the extra but you can't add more. Then space out the ribbon where you want it to be. I clipped one of Marleys flowers on the ribbon so I knew there would be enough space between the ribbons. 

Next, you staple them into place. I taped mine down with some scotch tape to hold it in place while I stapled. You can also do push pins instead of staples. 

Then I marked where the hooks were going to go. I wanted them to match the color of the ribbon so I dipped the hooks in paint and let them dry. After they dried I had my strong husband screw in the hooks. Some of the paint came off so I had to touch it up. You can wait to paint the hooks until you put them in. 

Then voila! You are done! 

It has saved me and my OCD from going crazy. I love it! 

The Gentry Family 2013 Christmas Card!!

Let me just say I absolutely love Shutterfly. It makes me look creative when all I really did was drag some pictures onto a template. I love it! Plus you can Google 'Shutterfly coupons' and combine a whole bunch. I saved over $40 on these ones! Anyways, without further ado, here is the 2013 Gentry Family Christmas Card!!

Our Little Marley Mae

On Sunday, June 16th 2013 [Father's Day, holla!], Carson and I welcomed our beautiful baby girl Marley Mae Gentry into our little family. It was the hardest, most rewarding thing I have ever done.

And I will now tell you how it came to pass...

Her due date of June 13th had come and passed and at my check-up I had not progressed very far. My doctor told me that if I didn't go into labor on my own before the next week, he would induce me.

[Little side note: Dr. Stanton Bailey at the Nephi hospital, is the best doctor I have ever had! I highly recommend him and I will be taking the 80 min round trip drive to see him for all my other babies. Bless this man!]

Anyways, back to the story. I woke up Saturday morning and I just knew that I'd be going into labor that day. So I cleaned our room, did laundry, unpacked and repacked my hospital bag, reorganized her clothes and got everything into order.  That's when the contractions started. They weren't very bad. I could definitely talk and walk through them. Half the time I didn't even notice I was having any but could tell because my stomach got really hard. The got progressively more intense but not to the point where I felt a sense of urgency. So we went and visited my family, went shopping and ate dinner. I had been timing my contractions all day and they were ranging from 2-6 minutes apart. The rule of thumb is 5 minutes apart for at least an hour straight before you go to the hospital. So we headed to the hospital. I walked in and said "Um, I think I'm in labor..." I wasn't freaking out, screaming or doubled over in pain and so they looked at me kind of skeptically but admitted me for observation. I was there for a few hours but the monitors weren't picking up any of my contractions I hadn't  progressed at all since arriving so they sent me home.

I went to bed around 11 thinking it was all in my head and I was just overreacting because I was a first time mom. I was actually pretty embarrassed but I still couldn't shake the feeling that she was coming really soon. Super strong contractions woke me up around 2 am. Still no pain but a LOT of pressure. I was able to fall back asleep but woke up an hour later shaking uncontrollably. I threw up and couldn't walk or talk through the contractions so to the hospital we went. This time I couldn't walk so they put me in a wheelchair. I felt kind of smug and if I could have talked, I would have yelled "I told you so!". They got me in a room and checked me. I was at a 6! So I asked for an epidural. Then half an hour later when the anesthesiologist shows up they check me again and I was at an 8. After I got the epi I felt no pain, just pressure, which I loved because then I could really focus on what I was doing. I got to a 9 and my water was about to break when my epidural all of a sudden stopped working. two hours later the anesthesiologist showed up to fix it. During this time the nurses also couldn't get a hold of my wonderful doctor [turns out he was in surgery with one of his patients who had a miscarriage. What did I tell you?! Fabulous guy.] Right when my water broke he walked in the door and we got the show on the road.

I pushed for about 20 min when I heard him tell a nurse to get an O.R. ready. Now, I watch Greys Anatomy so I knew that meant operating room. Yikes, a c-section! I'd seen all the scary stories on Grey's and I did not want that happening to me. [Looking back I realize how ridiculous it was to think but I blame the hormones]. So I pushed as hard as possible during every contraction. Then I heard the baby's heart rate dropping on the monitor. Again all of the Grey's stories ran through my head and I just wanted her out so she could be safe in my arms. So I started pushing even when I didn't have contractions. 5-10 seconds resting 10 seconds pushing. I have never worked harder in my life.

After 45 minutes total of pushing, Marley came out screaming at 12:03 P.M. She was born a whopping 8 lbs 8 oz, 21 inches long, with big lips and tons of hair!

She had some bruising on her face because she was sunny side up and they had to turn her in the birth canal. But she was still so cute, don't cha think? 

She screamed and screamed till they brought her to me. We did skin to skin and I started talking to her and she nuzzled right up and just looked up at me with her big eyes. I have never been so in love so instantly. 

And that my dear friends is the story of  how my baby girl made her entrance into the world.

Oooh Baby Baby!!

It has been a while (again) since I've written last, but this time I have a good excuse! I've been busy growing a baby inside me. That's right! 

Carson and I are expecting our first baby on June 13th!!

I had a feeling that something was different. I had recently gotten extremely healthy. I was doing either Zumba or Hip-Hop everyday. I was eating healthy foods. I was loosing all the weight that I had put on with my birth control. Then all of a sudden one day I just stopped loosing weight. I thought I had just hit a slump. So I started pushing myself a little bit more.  But then I started GAINING weight! Not only that, but I just felt different. I couldn't push the thought from my head that I was pregnant. I decided to wait and see if anything changed. When it didn't start changing I bought a pregnancy test. I was terrified to take it, so I kept putting it off. Then when I was packing my bags to go up North to spend the weekend with my family, while Carson worked, I just threw it in with all my other stuff. We went to the Saturday Morning session of General Conference and during the whole meeting I couldn't shake the feeling to take the test. So right after the session I went to the bathroom and took the test. It came back positive. I freaked out. The first people to actually know were actually my sisters and my dad. My sisters were excited but it was nothing compared to my dad. He started jumping up and down like a little girl. I called my mom and told her. She was so excited too. I was still in shock. And I had no idea how I was going to tell Carson. I had been joking around with him that I was pregnant and that's why I was gaining weight again. And he wasn't too fond of that. So when I told him I wanted it to be special so I put together a little present for him:

Needless to say he was in shock. He kept asking me if I was joking. I think it finally hit him when we went to our first doctor's appointment and got to see our sweet little 8 week old 'bean'.

Then again at 10 weeks.

At my 14 week appointment we had a little scare. When I went into my regular appointment the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat with the Doppler. Of course it was the one and only time I had come alone. The doctor was kind of worried and scheduled an emergency ultrasound. Of course they couldn't see me for a few hours so I drove back to Ephraim, got Carson and went back to the appointment. Within ten seconds the ultrasound tech found the heartbeat and also the reason the doctor couldn't hear the heartbeat. The little stinker wouldn't stay in one place for more than five seconds. The baby was flipping, kicking, punching and headbutting. So there was no doubt that the baby was alive and well... kicking! 

Two weeks ago we found out that our baby is also very modest. It took the ultrasound tech an hour and a half almost an hour to get just the right angle to tell us that she is 90 percent sure that we are having a little baby girl. 

A Few Months Later...

            Life has definitely gotten a whole lot busier since the last update. Over 9 months have come and pass. So here are some pictures of what we have done in those 9 months. 


                                    Our first Christmas together! 

My 21st Birthday!

We went to a Jazz game with Tanner, McKenzie and Andrew.

Then went to my house to celebrate with the fam. My sisters made this awesome ice cream cake for me.

At the end of the school year I said goodbye to some of the best people I have ever known. They will be changing the world. I love my SBA's! 

We decided to work up in the mountains at the Fish Lake Resorts for a whole summer. It was beautiful and quite the adventure. 

Carson's 23rd birthday!!

[Because it was his birthday I had to do what he said, which means no pictures]

Now we are back at good ol' Snow College and we love it! Carson is going into Range or Wildlife management. And I'm going to be an elementary school teacher. This is my last year here at Snow and then it's a year at USU and then I'll have my degree. Carson is debating getting a degree at Snow with a new program they are getting here or go to USU. We are in a great apartment. We have great friends, fun classes, amazing teachers. We are so blessed to be where we are today. We love the married life. 

Day 13

Carson got up really early again this morning to go ice fishing. He accidentally locked the keys in the car while it was running and it was just a nightmare. Poor guy. I don’t know what he ended up doing because I was in bed nice and warm. But he was fishing for a good 8 or 9 hours. He loves it! While he was off fishing I got up, got ready, sorted through presents and wrapped some more. Then we went to his grandmas. I met almost all of his mom’s siblings and their families. Then we went to the Hansen Christmas party. It was so much fun! There was lots of good food. Santa came, then we played Bunko. It was my first time playing but I loved it! Carson lost his ring (second time since we’ve been married!) but he ended up finding it in one of those metal strainers for the sink. His ring is tungsten carbite and it’s abnormally huge. So it doesn’t look like a wedding ring, it looks more like a giant washer. But luckily we found it :] After the party we packed up and headed to our home sweet home in Ephraim.

Day 12

We slept in until about a half hour before we had to check out. I woke up with this awful migrane and I felt so so sick. Carson did all he could to make me feel better. He’s so good to me. Then we hurried and packed and then headed back to Richfield. We stopped in Cedar City for lunch at Gandolfos. It was so snowy and stormy. I was really scared because my car sucks in the snow. So I just had to lay back and sleep or else I would have just freaked out. Carson is an excellent driver though so he got us back safe and sound. We got back and I was still feeling really sick so I went downstairs and took a nap. Then I got up feeling a lot better and Carson and I started watching the new season of Supernatural. Ate some delicious dinner and then we wrapped some Christmas presents and went to bed.