Should I move to Utah?

This blog is going to be extremely truthful and honest about the freeze we received from Utah and I'm not talking about the below 20 degree weather. 

We uprooted our family and everyone was in shock and thought we were acting on impulse or just woke up one day and said "hey let's move" but the truth is we'd wanted to move out of Fresno since day one, I'm pretty sure it was the root conversation surrounding my husband and I's very first date. Over the years and through each place we moved to we always circled back to moving out of state and after we had our daughter the feeling intensified. We wanted safe, family friendly, room for growth, opportunity and we'd just gone through the rockiest point in our marriage and wanted space from anyone and everyone. My husband found schools he was interested in around salt lake city and we used his birthday to travel there with our little girl and we immediately fell in love with it. I felt like god brought us here 100% and wanted to use us to reach people here. I felt relieved because we'd already traveled all of California and could not afford anywhere there other than Fresno Ca which was where we were trying to escape. We'd also traveled all over Texas but my husband and I were not feeling it. 

So we visited in March and moved here in May, as I said family and friends had a lot of feelings over this understandably. My husband and I had spent the last 6 years researching and dreaming over moving while our family and friends only had 2 months to process through this. Our little Emily was about 22 months old when we moved, and it broke her grandma's hearts. It broke us too but we were comforted knowing this was gods plan. We have gone through some of the hardest times of our lives here and been tested with every ounce of our souls and fought everyday to get back up but I think the hardest part that I was and still am not prepared for is how hard it is to be a christian in Utah. 

We knew moving here that it would be predominantly LDS but holy cow we were not expecting to have sister missionaries knocking on our door day 2 of moving in here. I want to talk about this subject very carefully to not hurt anyone's feelings or start an argument but I also want to write freely which will be very challenging. So here it goes..

I started my journey off here eager to be a disciple of Jesus and to be bold and make friends and not be fearful of judgement or rejection. But here's what happened... Every dog park, kid park, mommy meet up, even the mommy support groups here are saturated with LDS which is no big deal right? Well it becomes a big deal when the 2nd or 3rd question in a conversation is "what ward are you from?" and when I explain to them I'm not LDS I get exiled from the conversation. It's even stickier because Im christian, and in the LDS faith they are taught that they are also christian so as I try to tiptoe around the fact that they are not one in the same the conversation usually dwindles off into a "well have a good day, it was nice chatting" or if we get as far as to exchange phone numbers I usually won't get a response so basically it's impossible to make friends here. It makes sense to me now when converted people I've met have said that they joined the LDS faith because they wanted friends or because they didn't want to feel secluded. So whats my overall take of Utah? It's freaking lonely.

After many many attempts at finding a Christian bible based church we did find one that we like, and it's been great connecting with fellow christians which is what god calls us to do BUT it's not all we are called to do. We aren't suppose to seek friendships with only like-minded people and My husband and I both feel a calling to be disciples of Jesus; at one point we opened our door to all the neighbors in our complex and every Friday I'd clean the house and order pizzas and have cookies and drinks and be so ready and eager to welcome people, but weeks turned into months of no shows. And we eventually stopped trying that. I know that isn't what jesus would do but holy cow it's hard to keep trying. 

It's a cycle honestly, we invite LDS members into our home or out for play dates and just try to build a friendship but it always circles back to an invite on their part "hey come to our church's event, it's just across the street" and I can say "thank you so much for inviting but I'm not interested" and then I wont hear from them again until the next church event rolls around and they want to invite us so they run outside while I'm walking my dog and they act like they were on their way out, and just bumped into me. They strike up a conversation and are so friendly but it always leads back to "hey sister Bautista, come to my church". And you see I want to invite neighbors and people in my community to church too and I have in the past but it ends in the same awkward conversation walk away. 

It stinks, because you want to build a genuine friendship with someone before you invite them BUT unless you accept their faith and church invites you are never going to be a friend to them or a part of their circle. That may really tick people off but this is my personal experience here in Utah. So there's that cycle. 

So, should I move to Utah? Should "I" move to Utah!? My personal answer to that is no. Not unless you're 100% ready to defend your faith and beliefs, to get the cold shoulder when you do or unless you're already LDS or ready to convert. 

I've heard horror stories of children growing up here non-LDS and being left out of everything including things like sports, birthday parties or sleep overs. As parents; I'm not sure we are prepared for that, my children will be raised as bold, jesus loving christians and the kids in our church share openly about their faith; as young as first grade you will see or hear of kids arguing over the truth of Jesus which is AMAZING but a christian child will always be the odd man out in a classroom and ganged up on and eventually shunned or left out for it. It's absolutely heartbreaking. Kids in our church have been totally accepted by LDS families but then shunned within a few months if they do not get baptized or start attending the Sunday Service in their church.

 Is that what Jesus would do? I personally have invited kids and families over or even offered to babysit neighbor's kids and because I'm not LDS I'm turned away. 

It brings me to this question...if LDS is "considered christian" then why cant our christian children play with your LDS children? Why can't we have a genuine friendship aside from the invites to church? 

We've been here now for 1.5 years but we are feeling the need to move again.

Who am I?

I think you can be a completely different person based on what stage or chapter of life you're in at that given moment. So who I am today is not much like the girl you may have known in high school or college. When I think of the question "who am I?" the first thing I want to say is I'm Adrina and I am a wife and mother. People often identify with their profession I believe; I joke that I am a full time hustler but the truth is I have to be because I don't have a profession, I'm in a season of my life where a career mom just doesn't fit right now and to be honest I struggle with that, and it's okay to struggle and to not be okay with that because I will grow from it.

When I was 21 years old I decided to drop out of college to follow my now husband to Chicago IL to pursue his goals and dreams, yeah that lasted all of what...3 months tops..? Sure if I could go back in time I'd tell my 21 year old self let that man go pursue his dreams and you stay here and finish up yours. But that was not god's plan for us. You see we went to Chicago and things were not the way we thought they would be so when I got a call from home saying "I'm going to get surgery and I need your help" my butt jumped on a plane, I literally sold the snow coat off my back to pay for a return flight home. My now husband landed a mobile job and a month later he moved in with my family too. We lived there for 3 weeks before we realized it wasn't going to work and that's when we signed our very first apartment lease together. We built a warm little home for ourselves there and stayed for a whooping 6 months. Are you guys seeing a pattern here? We don't stay anywhere very long.

Just around the time our 6 month lease ended there My husband popped the question and I said yes, we started wedding planning and moved into our first town home. So many good memories in this home, lots of parties and sleep overs with friends and all nighter gaming because yes we play video games. But also it was in a not so great part of town right down the street from where I grew up, our car kept getting stolen, multiple break in attempts and lots of guns popping off through the night; I legit think our neighbor turned into hulk every weekend when the clock struck midnight we heard pretty much everything that went on.

 I want to say we lived there for 3 years, got married at the end of the 3rd year and then moved into a house on the "nice side of town". Just 2 month after signing our lease I found out I was pregnant with our first. Had a pretty hard pregnancy, lots of SPD and physical therapy needed. We celebrated with friends and family at our gender reveal finding out "It's A GIRL", I was in shock and thought surely I was having a boy. That was not god's plan for me though, everyone said "girls are more fun" and heck yeah they are, this child came into the world on July 10 2016 at 9lbs 2 oz vaginally and the epidural FAILED guys. Holy COW it was painful, I tore of course and almost 3 years later my body is still a mess below the waist, I now go once a month or as needed to receive a vaginal injection (as in a shot in the front butt) with steroids and lidocaine to numb the pain. Basically I have two options; wait it out and have more children and pray my body repairs itself after a second vaginal birth or have surgery to repair that has an 80% chance of infertility. So injections it is....

In May 2018 we uprooted our family and pets and skipped over to Salt lake County Utah. Moving to a new state was exciting, and I know, I know you all are asking why Utah? Guys I don't know why Utah and not Hawaii okay, Hawaii wasn't god's plan for us. No, but in all seriousness my husband and I had been researching good places to raise a family as in less guns, drugs, gangs and more things like unicorn festivals, sidewalk chalk art, museums and parks. Of course we kept in mind schooling opportunities, career growth and what really sparked our interest was the seasons. We don't have seasons in central California, and we thought it'd be so cool to live somewhere it rained, snowed and actually got cold....we thought.

Our first year here has been full of challenges and tests but I can say I have grown so much from it all and my walk with Jesus and prayer time is strong than ever.

It's been a while, life as a mom, life as a christian

It's been years since I even posted on here, I honestly forgot about it for sometime but then I was at church...yeah I go to church now and my pastor said "Hey I heard you're a blogger, or you do blogger stuff" and although blogger/vlogger is passed around these days like candy on halloween; it did make me think about this blog I started long before I was a mom. Oh yeah by the way I'm a mommy now. We had our daughter on July 10, 2016. I won't share my gruesome delivery story or my two and a half years of injections to repair the damage it left behind because honestly..you may not want to have kids of your own after hearing it but I will say it was all totally worth it.

There she is, isn't she beautiful? Times were simpler when she slept. Now she's a full grown rampant toddler with the mouth of her mother and the courage of her father, all I can say is our hands are FULL. 

Lots of people lately have been asking "so anymore kids for you guys?" "when is baby number 2 coming?" Honestly guys I have no clue, somedays I think bring it on! One more won't hurt, I can totally do it and other days..days like today I thank god that she is an only child and he knows what I can handle. There is nothing easy or blissful about parenthood when you're a stay at home parent down in the trenches of potty training and fighting a head cold from hell. Meanwhile said potty training child woke up way too early an then refused to take a nap, so every, and I mean EVERYthing is making her cry.

 I love being a mom but that does not mean you are going to love every second of it, your patience will be tested daily and your grace will grow along side of it. I am so thankful God blessed me and made me the mother I am today and one day....someday we will have another by god's grace. 

For now I will learn to love every moment I get with my monster, the good and the bad. If you need a reminder to love your toddler like I did today then you should watch this short clip. 

Words by: messyfootprints

Her view from home- I love terrible twos

Also if it isn't clear already; we found christ! Holy cow we are born again christians. Who would have thought? I grew up completely agnostic and unsure of faith and my husband was raised catholic but was atheist. Well our first year into parenthood we found ourselves at a crossroad in our marriage and it became very clear we needed some Jesus in our lives, we were saved in August 2017 and baptized in November 2017. God has changed our lives and our outlook on our lives tremendously. Seriously guys we have experienced and witnessed miracles before ours eyes, and that brings us to Salt Lake City. I don't know what we are doing here; other than my husband is going to school but i know that god wanted us here. We came here on faith alone and even though it's only coming up on a year of being here, we have grown and learned a LOT.

DIY - Do it Yourself Wedding Robe

What you'll need:

• Nice robe (I bought mine off the clearance rack at target)
• Fun and cute fabric (I chose a floral pattern to keep with my rustic theme -- from Joanns)
• Heat N Bond iron-on adhesive (purchased at Michael's in a big roll)
• Ink Pen
• Iron
• Scissors

Step 1: Print out the word BRIDE or name in your chosen font and font size in **mirror image**. (backwards) Make sure the font is big enough to fill a regular sized piece of printer paper and try to use an easier font to cut out.

Step 2: Cut to fit heat bond to the printed paper and place adhesive side down then trace the Letters on the opposite side of the heat bond paper with your ink pen. (steady and slow)

Trim down excess paper if needed

Get your iron and begin to iron ink side down for at least 18 seconds

Step 3: Trace the Letters on the opposite side of the heat bond paper

Step 4: Place the word you traced, adhesive side down, onto the back side of your fabric. DO NOT put it on the right side of the fabric. You can Iron according to the heat bond packaging, about 45 seconds did it for me.

Step 5: Your fabric should now be attached to your printed out Name or word. You can now Begin cutting out each letter individually, and you may need to grab a smaller pair of scissors to get in the tight corners. Take your time and be very careful.

I made one for each of my bridesmaids with their names on the back instead of the traditional "bridesmaid" because they won’t be a bridesmaid everyday of their life and I wanted them to be able to use these robes any day they wanted. I did put BRIDE on mine with a heart, because although I'm only a bride for a  day I wanted to feel extra special for the day of.

Apartment Decorating - Christmas Style

 Just because you live in a small space doesn't mean you can't go all out and have fun with your holiday decor.

At my parents house we always hung our stockings on the chimney, when I went to price stocking holders I realized right away that paying 12$ each for a stocking weight just wasn't reasonable. I picked up some pearl beading at a thrift store and used a staple gun to string it across (staple guns leave very tiny holes and can easily be filled in before you move).
Make sure to add your stockings before stapling both ends. ( I used push pins last year but my cats kept pulling it down and so far no issues this year)

I absolutely love this table centerpiece! I purchased this at a local church thrift store for 3$ and it really brightens by dining area so make sure to check out your local small time thrift stores before you try to purchase decor from a department store.  

So sorry for the bad quality photo, a good camera is on my list of savings but I bought this garland at big lots for 10$ and it did come pre-lit and it wraps around perfectly. The candy canes I purchased at dollar tree and it really just gives it that perfect christmas touch. 

Another perfect thrift store find I also bought at the local church thrift store 2$ find, i brought it home and spruced it up with some ornaments and absolutely love it as a bathroom piece so you can continue the christmas cheer all the way into the bathroom.

Stockings purchased for 25 cents at yard sales

mini tree- Ross dress for less 3$

mini glass ornaments- church thrift store 25 cents

character ornaments- 99 cent store 1$ (6pack)

mini tree skirt- Walmart 70% off 75 cents

I love having a mini tree in the bathroom and I get to decorate twice as many trees 

My personally made wreath you can find info on a previous post and dollar tree wall cling ornaments!

I LOVE wall clings! Perfect way to decorate without causing any damage to the apartment or rental home.

Last but not least! Our tree!! 

Tree- walmart 45$

Ornaments- dollar tree, thrift store, yard sales, 99 cent store.

Lighted tree star topper- walgreens 90% off 5$

We also lined our windows with multi-colored lights and Santa with his reindeer was placed in our main window. 

So have fun decorating!

Simple Christmas Care Package

 Tiny and adorable artificial christmas tree about 1 foot tall was purchased at Target in their 1$ - 3$ section for 3$, they also had some in the back near all the christmas decorations, lights were purchased separately at Family Dollar for 2$ and they are perfect length to light up the tree.

16 piece tiny tree ornaments for 1$ in the Target 1-3$ section

I used  really cute wrapping paper I had left over from gift wrapping. Paper purchased at costco in a 4 pack for 11.99$ lots of paper on each roll and very strong and durable so it doesn't tear at the corners when you are folding, I definitely recommend it!

Add some elmers glue on the flaps of your USPS box 

(I always use the Medium flat rate boxes) And glue the wrapping paper down.

I decided to top off the box with a strand of sparkling green garland purchased at dollar tree and glued down with a hot glue gun.

Before shipping the box we added wrapped up personal gifts and a box of nestle's hot chocolate with marshmallows to help keep our army friend warm. 

Now he can decorate his mini tree and put his gifts underneath to help bring in some holiday cheer. 

Easy Christmas Wreath

Michael's was having a sale on wreaths so i bought an artificial pine wreath for 5$ and I already had a lot of Christmas picks, gold glitter garland, and mini christmas bulbs that I bought the previous year after christmas during a 90% off sale. I always buy after seasons to save the difference.

The only tool you will really need is a glue gun and possibly a couple extra glue sticks.

You'll want to start by fluffing your wreath 

I then Added my gold glitter garland 

These very pretty clip on birds are amazing because you can move them around and you don't even have to glue them down.

I added the Christmas picks of pine cones, drums, and cute little present boxes and only added a bit of hot glue to keep them from falling out.  Then I hot glued all these cute mini christmas bulbs throughout to fill in all the empty spaces.

I decided to top of my wreath with a big red ribbon bow and a spinning green heart. 

I was able to make this wreath for all under 10$ by shopping with after season sales the year before and purchasing the wreath 30% off from Michael's. 

Thanksgiving Care Package

Items needed:

Feathers

construction paper

googley eyes and pipe cleaners

elmers glue

hot glue gun and glue sticks

postal box

Scissors

I decided to post this care package a little early because I know there are some friends and family who are trying to figure out how to include their service men and women for the holidays.

My personal favorite part of care packages is the decorating of the box. 

I found some feathers from Michael's art supplies store that reminded me of a turkey and decided I would turn the box into a turkey!

I covered the flaps of the box in construction paper with elmer's glue and then I hot glued the feathers on the two longer flaps of the box and the top of the box. 

Once the glue dried I doubled up with the left over feathers to make the turkey look much fuller and fluffier. 

For the bottom flap of the box I added some green construction paper (grass) and just a little bit of feathers (cut to fit) and glued down some turkey legs and toes made with black construction paper.

With the eyes and beak I used some googley eyes and pipe cleaners, I had to shape the pipe cleaner into a triangular shape and then glued them down with my hot glue gun. 

The items I bought to put in the care package:

Hormel compleats meals, these are awesome! They have over a year of shelf life and when I saw a turkey and dressing (stuffing) meal I was way too excited! I also picked up a breakfast one these run for about 2$ each and I purchased them both at Walmart. 

The second thing I was most excited in sending was some sparkling apple cider in a singles serving size, these little bottles are too cute!

Since our care package is for my Fiance's best friend he had a lot of fun helping me pick out the rest of the items. 

We bought dried cranberries (the kind you'd add to a salad) in place of cranberry slices

Banana cream pie snack pack puddings 

Microwaveable velveeta mac n cheese and Idahoan mashed potatoes

Microwaveable turkey gravy 

Turkey Jerky just to add a little more turkey on top of the hormel meal. To top it all off we did add some little Debbies apple and cherry pies before shipping the package. Not in the picture but very easy to find in a grocery store.

As I Am Cowash

So I have started co-washing with the No Poo method (no shampoo)

My friend recommended the As I Am brand to me and I wasn't really sure if it would work for me but I tried it out and I am hooked! My hair was so dry and had to more volume or life left in it and I seen an immediate difference after the first Cowash. 

I also purchased a Turbie twist from the As seen on TV section for 5$ and I love this towel. It is perfect for drying my thick hair and it doesn't do any damage or cause breakage. 

I had to search on youtube how to co-wash and I found some pretty helpful videos. 

This video is a little wacky but it was very thorough on the how to steps and it also shows how to properly use the Turbie Twist towel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSJkTOjGad4

Last Minute easy Halloween Costume on a Budget

This year we were too busy to plan out any halloween costumes or ideas so the day before I hopped on pinterest to scope out a quick "couples costume on a budget and at last minute"
Scarecrows! I found the straw hats at Michael's art supply store, One of them was about 10 inches wide and the other was 18 inches wide. I paid under 8$ for both!
Right next to the Michael's was a goodwill thrift store and I was still on the hunt for a plaid shirt. Just as we were about to leave I spotted one, it was a men's Abercrombie and Fitch but it fit perfectly and I paid 3.50 for it! Score!! Since we already had boots and hay we didn't need to worry about that :)

On Halloween night I started my Makeup by applying my moisturizers, primer and foundation.

Next I applied mascara to my eyelashes and even added some fake lashes for a more dramatic effect and lined my eyes with a thin liner on the bottom and top of my eye.

Then I started with the scarecrow "look". I started by using my E.L.F Jumbo Lip Gloss Stick in the Pink Umbrellas color, this was used on the patch for my nose and the circular cheeks. I use the gloss stick regularly on my lips and I purchased it from target for 1$ (link below)
http://www.eyeslipsface.com/elf/lips/gloss/jumbo_lip_gloss_stick

Once the Lip Gloss Stick was applied I added a generous amount of pink eyeshadow on top of the gloss to make it more vibrant.

I then lined the patch on my nose with a black pencil eye liner and added the stitched lines to give it the "patched look". I also went over the pencil liner with a liquid liner to help prevent smearing and to make it last  longer.

I used the same pencil liner to make the stitched smile from my lips to my scarecrow cheeks and went over it again with the liquid liner.

I had a lot of fun giving him big triangle eyebrows using my black eye liner and filling it in with black eye shadow.

I did the same steps for the nose on my fiance except in dark browns and then added his stitched smile and placed hashtag like stitches throughout his face for fun.

To top off the look we put our flannels, straw hats and boots on and stuffed hay in our boots. It's okay if it messes up or doesn't look perfect because scarecrows after all are not perfect!

My inspiration for his makeup was found in this helpful youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=KwOfQqjfVBI

And for my own makeup I was inspired by this video but added my own twists and different choices in makeup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVoN5USVapQ

Pumpkin Pie Shake

Ingredients for Homestyle Pumpkin Pie Ice cream Shake:
Ice Cubes
4-5 scoops of Sunnyside Farms Pumpkin pie Ice cream
Silk's original soy milk or Milk
pumpkin pie spice
Reddi whip
Serving Size: 2 large cups/ 4 Small cups
Tips:
You will need a blender for this shake
Savemart Supermarket had all the ingredients we needed and I believe they are the only chain that sells Sunnyside farms limited edition premium ice creams, such as the homestyle pumpkin pie flavor

Add 4-5 scoops of ice cream in the blender and blend it until all scoops are blended

Add as much soymilk/milk as you prefer.....
I like my shakes thick so I only add about 1/4 a cup

Drop your ice cubes into the blender and blend until cubes are all crushed

Pour mixture into a tall glass and top with the cool whip in a can (reddi whip) 

Sprinkle your pumpkin pie spice on the top and if you'd like add a graham cracker to top it off

Easy Vegetable Soup (vegan friendly)

Ingredients:

4 large Peeled Potatoes
1 large can Tomatoes (italian seasoned)
1 Bag Peeled baby Carrots
2 Celery hearts
1 can Peas
1 medium Cabbage
1 canLightly red Kidney Beans
2 cubes Vegetable Bullion
1 can Grean Beans
1 Box penne Pasta (whole grain)

You will need a very big pot for this recipe
Add about 6 cups of water in pot and leave to boil

While water is heating up get your cutting board and knife out and begin chopping

Celery and peeled carrots and red cabbage (purple in color) and your potatoes 

Size of chop is really up to you. 

 
Add your chopped ingredients to the boiling water and begin opening all your cans

(these ingredients can also be bought fresh if you prefer, but I was in a hurry so i grabbed cans)

the order of canned ingredients doesn't matter, 

just add everything to your pot and drop in the bullion cubes.

 Stir frequently throughout the last steps

The pasta can now be added, add as much or as little as desired.

(the whole box was a bit overwhelming but I needed to feed 10 people so I put it all in) 

You Will need to add water as needed

Cover and Leave to simmer until carrots and potatoes and pasta noodles are soft 

remove from heat and set to cool at least 15 minutes. 

Serve in a sourdough bread bowl or soup bowl. 

Perfect for cold fall/winter days and easy to feed a large amount of people. 

Turning an Ottoman into a Shoe Cabinet

I found this Idea on pinterest while browsing for a nice way to store my shoes instead of kicking em' off at the door and leaving them in a pile or having to re-organize them constantly to keep them on the rack I originally had. Plus it gave me a great reason to go out and find a cute ottoman. 

After a long search I came across this burlap style ottoman for 50$ and tagged a 10$ coupon on top of that at the Burlington Coat Factory. 

When I got home I started brainstorming on how to organize the shoes inside the ottoman and found that I could fit my original shoe rack I bought at Ross Dress For Less for 6$ a couple years ago right inside of the ottoman and shuffled my shoes around until they fit just right. 

As Always it never hurts to have your furbabies appreciate new furniture as much as you do. I later added some cute decor pillows on top I bought from goodwill thrift store and my cat truly thinks it is her bed. 

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns and thanks for reading another one of my Homemakin' Secrets

Helping out a friend with an Upcycle Dresser

So my best friends recently got their own place and they have been having a lot of fun with DIY (do it yourself) projects so whenever I go shopping for my next potential project I try to take at least one of them with me. I found a table on craigslist to go check out and picked my friend Bianca up on the way, the table didn't end up working out for me but the seller did have a lot more to look at and Bianca fell in Love with this dresser that she bought for a steal of 50$ and with a little bit of help from homemakin' secrets we transformed it together!

Once we got started we made sure to wear a face mask and gloves. Citristrip's stripping gel worked very well for removing the varnishing for the most part. It's a bit more expensive but the chemical call smell was hardly present.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Citristrip-1-Qt-Safer-Paint-and-Varnish-Stripping-Gel-QCG73801T/100208204

We used an old t-shirt to apply the gel and then let it sit for an hour (or however long it says on the bottle)

Once the gel finished drying we got our scrapper out and started scrapping off the old varnishing. Do  not worry if you scratch your dresser during this step because you can buff it out with sand paper later. 
I'm sure most scrappers will work but you don't want to buy a flimsy one. The one we used is linked below.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Allway-3-in-Bent-Extendable-Scraper-BS3HD/202251540

The gel did not remove all of the varnishing, especially on the front and sides, I will probably let the stripping gel sit longer next time. Before you begin your sanding make sure t wipe down your furniture with a damp cloth to remove any other stripping gel and to prevent build up on your sand paper whether you plan on using sand paper or an actual sander.

Our Next attempt was to try out the black and decker mouse sander, don't waste your money on this sucker. I ended up returning it and buying sand paper with my refund. If you are going to use a sander invest in a good one, but if you're like me and do not think you will be doing another project like this one anytime soon then sand paper will suffice just fine.
(drawers were the hardest part)
Once your dresser is entirely sanded down to the underlying wood you can wipe it down again to remove all the saw dust.
Saw dust + wood stain/ paint = no good
so make sure you remove as much as you can.

We ended up taking a break and picked back up on it when we both had another free day. When we returned to the project we examined it to make sure it was ready for stain and then we suited up in our gloves and face masks again and grabbed some old socks. We stirred up the stain (never shake) and dipped the socks in and started rubbing it directly onto the dresser. We waited an hour for it to dry and then added a second coat.  

My friends chose a red mahogany color stain made by minwax which came out beautifully (dark wood with red tint). Once the second coat was dry we applied the top coat with clear satin polyurethane. Like me, they did not want too much of a shine with their furniture so that is why they went with clear satin and we let the top coat dry all day outside. (can said 4 hours, but it was a bit colder than usual). Once it was dry..the fun began! I helped her carry it in and get it all pretty so she could surprise her girl friend before she got home from work.

And voila! There it is! Went from an old dresser in a backyard to a beautiful entertainment center. 

Thanks for reading guys, feel free to leave any questions in the comments.