Merry Christmas!

Nothin' like the last minute quilting...the receiver of the quilt came to stay before I sewed the binding. Oh, and must explain the hair...yep...I went dark to help hide the dark roots that had grown.
We had a wonderful Christmas! My parents here for Christmas Day is icing on the cake. It wouldn't be the same without them. It was especially great to attend church first before opening any gifts. After church, we scurried home to wait for son's skype call from South America. He wasn't able to find a camera so that we could see him but he could see us. I am so grateful for electronics that enable us to be more connected. It felt like he was in the next room!

Another one bites the dust!

Finished another UFO...So glad to have it done. The quilt top is made of scrappy strips that I quilted individually on fleece, then sewed the large blocks together. I then backed it with some 60's funky flannel that was at Grandma's yard sale. I tacked it down with yarn ties at intervals to keep the back in place. #3 child has already slept under it and says it's very comfy. On to the next UFO...:} Just to say....I LOVE SCRAPPY!

Happy Seventeen!!

Happy Birthday #3!!! Can't believe it's been 17 whole years! I remember bringing you home on Halloween day. We dressed you up in a little clown bib and hat. When trick or treaters came to the door they all wanted to see you.. You were such a doll! Such a good baby!!! What can we say? So glad you are apart of our family. Love, US

Block of the Month

Just finished another quilt top. It took forever! Another one to get quilted. I'll just add it to the pile, darn it.This was a block of the month at a local quilt shop. It was supposed to be a horoscope quilt with all the stars, but I didn't like the theme so I added a ton more smaller stars to make it more complete.

August 2011

Our family had a great August! Time just flew by. It all started with #5 at Beehive camp and #3 at EFY. We then went to Burley for the traditional fair activities which turned out to be anything by traditional. Grandma's estate yard sale was huge. I had no idea that it would take four days to put everything out and price it all. WOW! The girls made cookies to put into the fair as well as items they had made through the year. We went to the parade and to the rodeo. We went to see 17 Miracles, which was wonderful! Most of the time was spent doing yard sale "Stuff". When we left on Saturday night, the girls said that it was the funnest time they had spent.(They say that every year.)

The bestest part of the trip was being with all of the family that was there. We visited with Grandma a few times and #4 got some crochet tips from her.
#2 finished her job at the Target store and headed down to college. She is doing great! It is weird setting the table for 5!

Trek 2011

My computer has been doing some wacky things this past month and I can now work on the blog! July 14-18, 2011 was perhaps one of the highlights in my life. It ranks right up there with my wedding and having babies. I just can't write the feelings I experienced while at Martin's Cove. The feelings are precious to me. It was a wonderful time. I am so grateful the stake leaders offered me a spot to go with the ym/yw. I was surely blessed with good health. Muscle and joint aches and pains were not apart of the experience. A blessing to me! My two dd's were also able to go as well as my dh. He is over the stake yw. Here, my #3 is holding the moon!

Here are two very cute pioneers!

HUMP DAY!

Congratulations Elder, You are half started! It has gone lickety split. WE LOVE YOU!

Trivia

Shampoo Alert
A friend sent me this the other day.
It really pays to read the labels.

Shampoo alert!
As I was conditioning my hair in the shower this morning, I took time to read my shampoo bottle.
I am in shock!
The shampoo I use in the shower that runs down my entire body says "for extra volume and body"!
Seriously, why have I not noticed this before? Now I understand why I am so "full-figured"!







Tomorrow I am going to start using "Dawn" dish soap.
It says right on the label "dissolves fat that is otherwise difficult to remove.

Shop Hop

It's quilt shop hop again! #3 dd and I went yesterday to a few shops. The theme of the hop is The Greatest Quilt I Ever Read. Each shop chose a book to make their theme. The decorations, games and goodies are centered around that theme. Here is one of our favorite shops called Quilts Etc. It's theme was Sherlock Holmes. They were all decked out in English policeman's outfits. We played mystery games and had pulled pork sandwiches. Yum!
Another shop had The "Twilight" theme. They had the characters' quotes from the movie placed in frames everywhere and larger than life photos of all of the characters. They served red velvet cake pops with white icing. Here is a quilt that I just loved hanging in one of the rooms. It comes from the book "Quilt Obsessions" Here is #3 with Edward. She looks a little frightened. He was looking like he was hungry!

One shop which will remain nameless had not done much with their theme but I really loved this quilt that was hanging above the bolts. Had to purchase the pattern!Great for scraps!
Today was dh's day off so we took off to the Salt Lake Temple after #2dd's class. We had a really nice time. We went out for lunch at a mexican dive that turned out to be really good food. In other words, don't judge the food by a grungy exterior.Here's a picture of the gang when finished at the temple. What a beautiful day! Our valley is being blessed because the weather is unseasonably cold. It is slowing the run off from the mountains which will delay the flooding that was predicted.

Zone Conference

It's easy to guess where my sweetie is standing. He looks so happy and I couldn't help but notice that he needs a smaller suit size! Transfer calls are tonight and we are wondering if there will be a change for him. The only reason why we at home hope he gets a change is because we are out of pink stickers and can't find more of them at any Walmart. He has been there so long there are no more of that color. Pretty pathetic reason, I know.
Summer has officially come but we haven't turned on the air conditioner yet. My youngest dau. has brought out the blow up pool but I still think it's too cold to actually use it.
Trek is coming fast. Tonight was stake youth meeting. We are each taking buckets to put our personal belongings in to keep them clean and safe. We also had the kids learn a few square dancing techniques.They rounded out the evening with homemade bread. I will be going with dh to be an adult with a group. Hopefully, I will be able to enjoy it.
Shop Hop is this weekend. I will post any cute things I may find. I will take my dd. With the price of gas so high, we are not certain we will go to all of the shops. I'll post tomorrow.

A Getaway!

My oldest daughter wanted to go on an airplane ride. I kindly consented to be a companion for her. What a great time! Taking off in the airplane she said, "This is so COOL!" I will attempt to share a few things we did while we were there. Here is a picture of us at the Rockies game. It was very fun even though it rained on us.
I also got to work on one of my quilts on Sista's quilting machine. So fun but also stressful! She needs a machine with a longer arm. I now understand her frustration with it. It was nice though to finish quilting a twin quilt in just two nights of sewing.
We went to the Museum of Natural History and saw the National Geographic's Exposition of "Real Pirates" We sure learned a lot, maybe a little more than we wanted to know....about the real life of pirates. We went with Sista and niece to the Downtown Aquarium in Denver where the highlight was feeding the stingrays in their tank. Daughter swears one of them bit her while feeding it. I just couldn't get myself to put my hand in there with a baby fish in my fingers.
We drove to Estes Park to get out of the valley and to see some scenery. Of course, I had to visit a quilt shop or two on the way. We saw a few critters too.
We had more adventures...just too fun! Many thanks to Sista and Bro. Sista for their hostess skills! We love the Castle family!

Sadie loves to pose for pictures! I have quit piecing for awhile and have been spending the past few weeks catching up on scrapbooks from the last three years. I have been feeling very grateful for all that we enjoy as a family and the fun times we have together. I have been discovering the years have been running together so much that I can only guess the dates by the length of our hair or lack of...or what color car is in the driveway. HAPPY TIMES!

Easter's on it's way!

"Here comes Sadie Cottontail, hoppin' down the bunny trail." She is ready for spring!Aren't we all! We received five or so inches of snow over the weekend. My daffodils are touching the ground. Hooray for Fort Collins, Meridian and Winnepeg! How exciting! We all enjoyed conference and the lazy weekend.

Temple Trip #3

Everyone had a day off today so we drove to the Bountiful temple. It snowed the whole time. It was so beautiful. There was a wedding group taking pictures. I'm sure the bride wasn't expecting a winter day for her special day but it was gorgeous with the trees all white. We are working on our temple passports we bought at Christmas time. Three temples done and many more to visit.

Happy Birthday!

I forgot to write that my BFF just had his birthday! He turned 35. Why is it that men get better looking with age and women don't? We had a really fun time on his special nite. We had a pretend flight around the world, stopping in different countries to have some fun games and a "souvenier" gift from each one. We ended by going to Greece for greek gyros. It was discovered that one dd does NOT like lamb. It was a fun evening!

Happy Scrappy Houses

Completed another quilt top yesterday. This was super fun and used up more of my scraps.

The Play

Here my dd #3 played it up as Raggedy Ann in Once Upon a Matress. She was wonderful! She is glad that rehearsals are over and the play was a success. We think she looks cute with red hair but prefer her to be blonde!

So Good to be Seen!

I am thrilled to see my cute Elder in a picture this week. His camera was taken in the robbery and so this one is the latest image of him that was posted on the mission president's wife's blog.It was taken on Thursday. You may have to enlarge it but see if you can pick him out. He's smiling and that makes me happy too!

Great News!

Just posting pictures of the latest quilt top I have finished. It's called the Weed Whacker. It is on the site called Quiltville. I was given the pattern last fall at my guild meeting. I found a few bags of strip scraps at my local quilt shop for a dollar a bag and so this is my two dollar quilt...except for the 1/2 yard of muslin sashing strips....anyway, went to my six month mammogram check and I am good to go until next year! YIPPEE!

Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY! I can't believe it's been twenty years!

I'm taking the Studio 5 ten pound challenge this month...my dd made some of these last night with her friend. Can I keep my hands off of four dozen of these? HELP!

January quilt

Here are twelve, 12 inch blocks that are ready to "set." They are wanting something with a romantic feeling to surround them. I am looking for inspiration.

Even More Stunts!

More Holiday Fun

More pictures of family fun. Stacking golf balls and tic tac toe

Holiday Fun

Our holidays were wonderful! Much of the preparations for Christmas was in sewing a lot of cute monkeys for friends and family. It is a pattern by Melly & Me. It is called Magoo the Monkey. I was able to deplete my storage of fiberfill! My dh thought I should go into business after the holiday but no....I don't think I could do it. Lots of work..Here's a picture of them...Cute!

And here they are up close.....

Here are some fun pictures of the family get-together on Christmas Eve. My second dd made a Minute to Win It game for us all to play.