The Great Closet Overhaul of 2009!!!

I was reading on a friends blog about getting organized and it REALLY inspired me! It's been one of my resolutions this year. Although I'm embarrassed to post these before pics of my pantry and closet, I love the end result -so it's worth it! Hopefully it will serve the greater good and inspire others out there to do the same! :D

My closet ended up being the beginning "project" that truly exploded into a bigger construction zone! The top shelf was ALWAYS a disaster zone before!(As you can see!) The piles constantly ended up merging together and reaching the ceiling making it IMPOSSIBLE to find ANYTHING! Which added to me being late ALL the time! ( another resolution I'm working on FYI! :D) I finally had an epiphany to just add a second shelf, making the 2 foot shelf into TWO 1 foot shelves! BRILLIANT!!!!- Why it took me TWO YEARS to figure that out... I don't know! I enlisted my crew and we got to work! Of course, with ANY project- SOMETHING has to go wrong! For us- We spent two days painting the shelves the WRONG color!... I know it's just a closet- But it really bugged me! We fixed that then everything else went pretty smoothly. Enjoy a slideshow of the process:

HEEEEEEEERE'S THE AFTER SHOTS!!!

I'm trying an new organizational "trick" to help out for next years spring cleaning.... We'll see if it works. I saw it on a home make over show- once you're organized, you hang all your hangers backwards. As you wear and re-hang your clothes up, (hopefully after washing them! :D), you place the hangers on the rod the correct way. After a year, you know what you haven't worn because the hanger is still facing backwards. NEAT, HUH!

I loved how the closet turned out that it SNOWBALLED into ALL of the other closets! It took us about 2 months, but WE FINALLY DID IT! Out with the old!!! Which meant BRINGING IN THE NEW... SHOPPING TRIP! HOLLA! HA! HA! :D

Let's Hear It For My Boy!

HE DID IT!!!!

BEN HAS HIS JOURNEYMAN in PLUMBING!! WOOO-HOOO!

He passed with flying colors on his practical exam this week! Congratulaions My LOVE! I'm soo proud of you and ALL you're hard work for our behalf! I don't know what Heavenly Father has in store for us down this road, but I'm so grateful to have a husband as giving and dedicated to life as you!!! This last couple of months has been FULL of ups and downs for our family and you've stood tall and strong. You are my ROCK and always my example of how to be a better person! I LOVE YOU with EVERY FIBER of my soul! And I stand right beside you COME WHAT MAY!!!

ahhhhhhh...... TOUCHE' !

Ben TOTALLY got me back for the mohawk thing! (which by the way- ONLY lasted FIVE days!)
So Ben had been growing out a goatee about two weeks prior for a Cinco De Mustache party. It entails getting together, eating some Mexican... And for all the guys- and some girls I guess??- to grow mustaches! Unfortunately, we couldn't make it do to a one reason after another last minute! Lame... I know! But we heard it was a BLAST and can't wait till next year! Congrats to Eric on winning the big race too, by the way!

So fast forward a couple of days later and.... Ben still has his goatee that is REALLY growing at this point. It has officially reached the annoying point for both of us! .....SO Saturday night, I'm comfy-cozy on the couch watching some t.v. I got my favorite pillow....my blanket is perfectly situated to provide an equal ratio of warmth and ventilation! :D.. You get the picture! I call it my "COCOON SPOT" on the couch. Ben walks in the room and decides to come snuggle with me. And we've been married long enough now that I just don't look at him EVERY time he enters the room! HA! HA! (The "Cocoon spot" also comes with tunnel vision, by the way!) He lays down behind me and after a few minutes... begins rubbing his cheek on mine to let me know that he has shaved! Yeah!!! I turned around but to my surprise...ALL I SEE IS THIS CATERPILLAR ON HIS LIP! I fall off the couch.. at first to get away! :D Then I'm just laughing realizing that Ben has FINALLY gotten his revenge! Well played good buddy! WELL PLAYED! :D

I GOT BORED......

Ben held a meeting for Elder's Quorum at our house last night, so Mason and I tried to hang out upstairs as much as possible so's not to disturb them. . . We ran out of stuff to do! But then I had a FLASH of GENIUS! "LET'S GIVE MASON A MOHAWK!!!" .... YUP, That's right!! And of course, me being a very IMPULSIVE person when it comes to ANYTHING FUNNY!... I jumped right on that! I couldn't stop chuckling to myself, thinking about how I'd just let Mason stroll through the meeting and watch Ben's reaction from afar! HA! HA! I'm such a stinker!

IT WAS PRICELESS! Mason ran down the stairs too fast for me to get the camera and capture Ben's reaction. Ben just got all WIDE-EYED and just kept saying "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?" I'm still smiling thinking about it! TOO MUCH FUN! I think we'll keep it for a week or so... Mason was WAY overdue for his summer buzz anyway! See I'm practical AS WELL as impulsive.... I just like to have a little fun on the way to being practical! :D

Please!.... No "Plumber's Crack" Jokes! HA! HA! :D

WOOHOO! Ben had his graduation ceremony a few weeks ago! We didn't think is was going to be as big and fancy as it was- I was fighting a migraine, and we were running all over the place with errands- so we ALMOST missed it! (that should explain why we are so casually dressed!) I wish we would've dressed up A LITTLE more! HA! HA! OH WELL!

Ben passed his State Written portion test a few days later. Now he is working on his Practical Job portion of his State Licensure. He has to do a job by himself, start to finish, then pass inspection. He's looking like he'll complete that this week!!! So he's in the HOME STRETCH to acheive his JOURNEYMAN!!! We've been truly blessed having moved here! Heavenly Father has held us in his hands and we've felt him opening MANY doors for our behalf!

I'm VERY proud of Ben! I LOVE YOU MOSTEST!!!!!