I l-o-v-e IKEA!

So I'm in Phoenix this weekend and today took a little trip to IKEA- one of my very favorite places. I got to go roam around for a couple of hours with actual money to spend! (Thank you Uncle Sam for giving me my $$ back and making this trip possible!)

My goal over the next month is to get my bedroom decorated into the romantic get-a-way I've been wanting since we bought the house 2 years ago! I've run into several road blocks on getting this done sooner: lack of funds, spending $$ in the more visible rooms of the house, TIME, and then just not knowing exactlly what I've wanted to do (Ryan doesn't really care what I do. He trusts me with whatever I do, isn't that great?!)

I'm now at a place where I've worked many of these things out...I've got a little bit of cash (although I'm still super budget conscience), I've made my room my biggest decorating priority, I've got my friend Hilary on the project of helping me plan things out (she's even going to bed at night thinking about ideas- she's so committed!) and I'm just going to make the time- no matter what!!

So getting back to today, I bought a really cool canvas photograph from IKEA that perfectly matches my bedding. It's 3ft x 4ft and will look great over my bed. I also got a nice mirror and floating shelves that I can now buy accessories for. And Hilary is on the hunt to help me find the curtains I want. Once we find the right color of curtains- I can get the right paint colors and get some color on the wall! My room is seriously a big ugly white blank canvas with zero decor- so I'm really excited about this- if you can't tell!

(It's more blue than grey in real life.)

I'll post pictures of our projects and progress as we go!

Our Weekend Accomplishment

The following post is really for the benefit of those who have seen the state of chaos that our garage has been in since we moved into our house two years ago. Even when we had moved to Surprise we had left the garage here in Chino as is. We've been frustrated with it for a very long time, but this weekend we had had enough. We spent at least 8hours (well Ryan spent 8 hours, I probablly spent 2) cleaning up and organizing and throwing out junk, etc etc. We also bought more shelving which really helped!

Look mom and dad- both cars are in our garage!!

It's kind of fitting for a Easter weekend project- we gave our garage new life!

MUST See Movie: August Rush

If you haven't heard of it. watch the trailor here:

http://www.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK//video/trailer/me60688448/

Pictures That Make Me Happy

Since I haven't posted much (or at all) over the last few months, there are too many things that have taken place for me to go back and tell of the stories. So instead, as I was looking through my pictures trying to decide what I really wanted to share- I decided just to post all of the pictures that show you what makes me happy to be a mom and a wife and a daughter...

This is my mom & my mom's mom with Katelyn.

This picture of the girls makes me smile because it's such an everyday thing for Hailey to be laying on the floor with Katelyn.

Hailey LOVES to help me cook. Here we are making chocolate chip cookies- a favorite weekend thing for us.

The picture with Hailey in front of the pink quilt is special because my mom made this quilt for Hailey and gave it to her for her third birthday. She spent SOOO much time on this quilt! I wish you could see the star quilting on each of the squares and in the borders.


Even though it was obviously a cold wet gray day, I love this picture because of what it represents to me. This is the spot in front of the Salt Lake Temple where Ryan proprosed to me! At the time I couldn't have pictured where we would be in our lives together 6 years and two kids later! Unfortunately there was no one around to take the picture so that I could be in it as well.

I also like this one from our visit to Temple Square. I'm holding my little girl and it looks like Christ is ready to pull us into an embrace as well.

The is the girls with my grandpa- their great grandpa in Salt Lake.

And finally, here's my beautiful happy baby!

New Addition to Our Family

So a week ago today we bought a piano. No one in our family currently plays the piano, but Hailey is learning and because Ryan gets to take her to her lessons, he is learning in the process. I'm totally jealous! I can't say that I've always wanted to learn, but now that I have a piano I REALLY want to learn! Ryan wants real lessons as well, but unfortunately we can't afford for all of us to be taking lessons at the same time. So we bought a teach yourself book and we'll see how that goes.

I'm a visual learner and do so much better with someone showing me how to do it. Example: I have had a sewing machine for 2 years that has only been used once- when Ryan's mom borrowed it. I have no idea how to use a sewing machine. I would love to use it, but I absolutely hate the idea of having to get the book out and teach myself. I want someone to show me how to do it and then I know that I'll do great with it.

So if someone is looking for a service project- teach me how to use my sewing machine! And if someone wants a really big service project- teach me how to play the piano!! :-)

Isn't she cute?

Long Awaited Updates

Hailey is a very busy girl lately. Ryan has Thursday and Friday off every week, so Hailey is now taking piano lessons and gymnastics once a week and in April she'll be taking swim lessons as well. She loves having so many fun things to do! Her favorite thing to do right now though is to make her Grandma Barbara play puppets for hours on end!

Katelyn is such a happy baby! She is 7 1/2 months on now and weighs 17 1/2 lbs and is 27" tall. She drools like you've never seen, but there's still no sign of teeth yet! She is rolling all over the place and has just started scooting herself forward in the last couple of days, I'm still working on getting good video of it!

Ryan just got called as our ward's Scout Master and he's excited but overwhelmed by the challenge. He has big shoes to fill of our previous scout master who was in that position for about 5 years. Luckily scouting runs in the Lowry blood and he'll have lots of help from his dad!

I have to run, but will try to post more soon- thanks for everyone who keeps coming back waiting for more!

A little about me...

1. What is your occupation? mom, wife, Staffing Consultant/Recruiter for a bank

2. What color are your socks right now? no socks- just painted my toe nails

3. What are you listening to right now? I'm watching Divine Design

4. What was the last thing you ate? a Milky Way

5. Can you drive a stick shift? No. In theory I know how to, but I doubt I could do it very well.

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Macaroni and Cheese

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? A piano tuning guy

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? yeah- I wish we had become better friends while we lived near each other though!

9. How old are you today? 25

10. Favorite drink? Tropical Punch Koolaid

11. What is your favorite sport to watch? I don't really watch any- but I enjoy going to baseball games

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? numerous times

13. Pets? we're working on getting puppies

14. Soap or shower gel? neither, creamy body wash

15. What was the last movie you watched? I went to Horton Hears A Who on Saturday (loved it!) but I also watched Oceans Thirteen for the first time last night

16. What was the last book you read? Dan Brown's Deception Point

17. What do you do to vent anger? clean my house

18. What was your favorite toy as a child? I don't remember a particular favorite, but I liked Rainbow Bright

19. What is your favorite season? Spring

20. Hugs or kisses? hugs

21. Cherries, Blueberries or Strawberries? Strawberries

22. Do you want your friends to play along? I don't really understand this and the next 2 questions- play what?

23. Who is most likely to play?

24. Who is least likely to play?

25. Living arrangements? 3 bed house, Hailey and Katelyn have their own rooms- but Katelyn has to share her space with our computer and office stuff

26. When was the last time you cried? I don't remember crying since the week after I had Katelyn and my hormones were a mess! I'm sure that I've cried watching a movie though since then

27. What is on the floor of your closet? shoes that overflow from my shoe shelves and boxes of clothes

28.Who is the friend you have known the longest? Renae- since 1st grade in Mrs. Grant's class

29. What did you do last night? As previously mentioned, I watched Ocean's Thirteen with Ryan- I had both girls asleep by 7:45- yay!

30. What is your favorite number? 21

31. What or who inspires you? A lot of different people inspire me in a lot of different ways- too many to mention here

32. What are you afraid of? Driving in snowy/ice conditions! Also, having a tire blow out when I'm traveling (which I do a lot of for work)

33. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? cheese

34. Favorite dog breed? Chocolate labs

35. What is on your key ring? too many keys and a Shea Homes key chain

36. Favorite day of the week? I guess Saturday and Sunday because I don't work, but Ryan does- so they're not as great as they used to be.

37. How many states have you lived in? 3- born in UT, moved to CA, but I've been in AZ since I was 6.

39. Favorite holiday(s)? Christmas

40. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? Nope- no desire to either


Now a little about Ryan....


What’s His Name? Gabriel Ryan

How Long have you been together? Our total time together is 7 years- married 6 1/2

How long did you date? From the time we initially met til the time we were engaged was about 5 months

How old is he? 30

Who eats more? For the most part he does- but I can put away twice as much french toast as he can!

Who said I love you first? This is really bad of me, but I don't really remember this moment- I'm sure it was him though. I was waiting on him for everything- saying I love you, kissing me, etc. He had fun torturing me because he already knew how I felt!

Who is taller? He's 5'11, I'm only 5'2

Who can sing better? Yikes, let's just say neither of us would ever dare auditioning for American Idol for fear that our auditions would be the one laughed at for the next year.

Who is Smarter? We're both smart in different ways, but he's the one with the college degree (In Aeronautical Science with a minor in Meteorology)

Who does the laundry? I do.

Who pays the bills? I do. When we got married Ryan was definitely the more financial savvy one and paid all of the bills, but for the past 6 years that I've worked at a bank he's let me handle it all.

Who mows the lawn? We don't have a lawn but we're working on getting one in the backyard right now.

Who makes dinner? I used to do almost all of the cooking, but he's off work earlier than me now and really does quite a bit of the cooking.

Who sleeps on the right side? Facing, the bed, I’m on the right side.

Who is more stubborn? Definitely me.

Who asked who out first? We hung at at Singles Ward activities (and after the activities talking in the parking lot) A LOT after we met- I think the "first date" just kind of happened naturally.

Who proposed? Ryan did- I was on vacation in UT with my family and he missed me. So in a matter of 24 hours he bought a ring and a plane ticket and flew up there to surprise me and took me to temple square to proprose! It was awesome! Then he had to fly home to be back at work the next day. I found a wedding dress the very next day!

Who has more friends? Me. But Ryan always gets a long great with all of my friends and their husbands.

Who has more siblings? He does, I have 2 and he has 4- kind of (I think of you as family Jon!)

Who is more sensitive? He would probablly argue this- but Ryan!

Who wears the pants? We've very good about making decisions together.

TAGS: Dawn & Shiela