Friend

We're big fans of magazines around here and Molly has recently discovered that we get one for her too.  We started getting the Friend at the beginning of the year but recently Molly has become attached to her "zeens".  She's flipped through the 9 or so copies that she has and names them too.  Her favorites are "Happy Birthday" (Pres. Monson's Birthday pictures on the cover) and "upside down" (the cover with kids playing on the monkey bars.)  Pretty cute stuff!

Pillow Project

Seriously, does it get any better than this!

 I started this pillow for Molly the day she was born.  We were waiting at the hospital for Molly's birth and I still needed some embroidery thread.  There was a craft store across the street and since it didn't appear that Molly would make her appearance for several hours we decided to walk over and buy the thread.  20 minutes later as we were walking through the hospital doors we got a phone call from Molly's birth-grandfather saying that we needed to get to the birthing room as quickly as possible.  Miracle of miracles, our sweet baby girl was born within the hour.

I finished the embroidery work before Molly was 2 weeks old and then it sat. And sat, and sat.  And now, just in time for Molly's birthday next month, I'm finished!  Yeah!

Molly is just as excited as I am!

Quiet Book: FINISHED!!! (with the option to add on...)

Hooray!  I may be the worlds slowest sticher, but that just makes every completed project that much more meaningful!  Truth be told, I don't need a finished project to get excited.  Every little accomplished step is a victory for me.  Isn't this just about the cutest Quiet Book cover you've ever seen!  I didn't have a pattern,  but I knew I wanted handles, some kind of clasp and an inside pocket.  It took way more time than it should have for me to figure it all out, but I did it and learned so much in the process.  Hopefully all these new sewing skills will stick with me and make the next project go a bit quicker.

 Here's how it looks open.  I love the fabric!

 I was completely mystified about how to connect the cover to the metal rings holding the pages together.  I came upon the most brilliant idea online and I forgot to write down the site so I can't give proper credit.  I sewed a piece of ribbon down the center of the inside of the book cover leaving gaps for the metal rings to slip under.  Thanks to whoever came up with this genius idea!

 I sewed a pocket to the inside back cover for paper and pen or to tuck in a little treat.

 And here are the last 2 pages of the book, at least for now...

 I'm in love with these little felt finger puppets.  So cute and really not too difficult to sew!

 This page pales in comparison to the barn, but is still a great page for learning in and out or on and off (you can stick your hand in the glove).

All buttoned up and ready to go

 Here's my inspiration! 

March 2011 Project: Quiet Book

At the beginning of the year I decided to choose one project every month to work on during Molly's nap.  For January I chose to catch up on Molly's scrapbook, in February I made fun Mr. & Mrs. pillows for our bed and in March I started a quiet book for Molly. 

Growing up we had a quiet book that my mom made and I've always planned to make one for my kids.  I've been filing away ideas for years and Molly is at the right age to really enjoy something like this.  The initial book will have 12 pages that are fun and will hopefully teach something.  I'm making it so that I'll be able to add pages as Molly grows and is ready for more advanced quiet fun like braiding a girls hair and a tic-tac-toe page.  These are my first 4 pages:

Molly loves airplanes so I had to include one in the book.  It opens up so she can load and unload the suticases.  This page doesn't really teach anything, but Molly likes to count the button windows, so we'll call it a counting page (1 airplane, 3 suitcases, 4 wheels, 5 buttons...)

This is big enough to tuck in a bag of fruit snack with the luggage.

The balloons have velcro on them so they can be removed and matched with the right color.

Flower Pot: Button the flowers onto their stems

Noah's ark: unzip the ark to find the animals

Bedtime Stories...

One of our favorite parts of our bedtime routine is story time.
Tonight we found out it's even more fun with cousins!
Thanks "Story Teller Shane"!

Scout Camp Report

Scout Camp at Camp Napowan in Wisconsin was a blast. We spent 8 days and 7 nights camping in the woods, swimming in the lake, shooting guns and bows and arrows and repelling down a 50' climbing wall.

This was my best archery score at camp...my Scouts were very impressed...or maybe it was fear that their Scoutmaster could be so accurate with a bow and arrow.

This is me repelling down the climbing wall.

This is "Bear", our climbing instructor. This is his happy look.

One of the best things about Summer Camp are the Dutch Oven Cobblers that we make. Here are 2 of our best.

Cherry, chocolate, Hershey Bar, marshmallow, graham cracker Cobbler.

Apple Cobbler with our secret ingredient. Hint-Light Purple G2 Gatorade.

A special thanks to all the Adult Leaders that came to help out...Sydney, Dan, Terry, Bryan, Greg, Peter and Bishop Holyoak.

Can't wait until next year!

Schwinn "June" Cruiser

Shane has logged over 300 miles on his road bike since he got it last month and I've been feeling a bit jealous.  I don't know if I'll ever be the road bike type, but I fell in love with this little cruiser the moment I saw it.  I've only had it a week, but I've already put it to good use riding back and forth to the library and along the bike paths near our home.  I think everyone should get a bike - it makes you feel like a kid again! 

Trek 100

Last Saturday, myself and some friends from our ward went to Waterloo, Wisconsin for the Trek 100. It is a bike ride to raise money for childhood cancer research. We decided to do the 100k / 65 mile bike ride. There were hundreds of cyclers that rode anywhere from 19 miles all the way up to the 100 mile route.

Our Team - Eddie, Chris, Steve, Matt, Patrick and Shane.

All along the route, about every 15 miles, there was a rest area to refuel with Gatorade, fruit, powerbars, sandwiches and even Famous Dave's Bar B Q chicken wings.


Eddie and I eating our cookies and chocolate milk after the ride.


Thanks for a great ride...boy are my legs sore!

Kitchen Organization

We like to cook and we collect a lot of spices for our hobby.  Unfortunately, we don't have extra cupboard space for said spices and after they'd taken up over 2 shelves I knew I needed to come up with a better alternative.  I bought little craft jars with screw on lids (the kind used to hold tiny beads), and I glued magnets to the bottom.  All of our spices are now housed on our refrigerator within easy reach of the stove. They are clearly labeled and even placed in alphabetical order.  You can buy spice jars with magnets on them for $3- $5 dollars a jar, but I made all of mine for less than $15!  And those 2 shelves that I was using for spices?  Don't worry they only sat empty long enough for me to clean them!

Fish Food

Shane and I are always saying that we should eat more fish, so this week I made it one of my intentions.  Sunday night we  grilled Chile Lime Tilapia and served it over a Black Bean Spinach Salad.  It was really delicious and pretty easy, plus since we did it on the grill it didn't make our house smell fishy!  I'll post the recipe when I've got a bit more time.

Broken Camera won't ruin our Spring!

It finally feels like spring around here and we are spending as much time outside as possible. Last weekend we got a table and chairs for our patio but because of rain we didn't test them out until yesterday.  Once we sat down to our BBQ feast and tried to document the moment with a photo our camera went all crazy adding in all kinds of stripes, blurs, and colors.  Off to the repair shop for you, dear camera. Hopefully it will make a speedy return!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's BIKER SHANE!!!

Shane spent our tax refund on the fancy-shmancy road bike and is aglow with love for his wonderful new toy.  

He loves it.  

He's  happy.  

I love that he's happy.  

Hurray for happiness! 

(and who said money can't buy happiness...or was it love?)

No Doubt

NO DOUBT

JULY 11th, 2009

Who's coming with us?

I'm so excited!  We just got our tickets for the No Doubt concert.  Tickets are only $15 so pick some up and join us while we party it up in the lawn section. See you there!

If you like yoga you need to check out my favorite new exercise site -  yoga today.  They broadcast a different yoga routine every day and the sessions are an hour long.  It's great because you get the variety and challenge you expect from a class without having to go anywhere.  Plus, you can workout whenever you want.  The routines are intermediate to advance, so if you are new to yoga proceed slowly and do what feels good to your body.  Namaste.

Ode to Spring

Spring break is here but where are you?

I hope you haven't come down with the flu!

I have a week to sleep in and I'm ready to play

Will you send the sun our way today?

The Cardinal in our tree tells me you're near, 

but the weather's predicting snow, I fear.

I've cleaned the house and I'm ready to plant

But the Earth is still frozen so digging I can't.

I'll try to be patient, and still wear my coat

 I'll accessorize it with my new scripture tote.

And I'll start on my list of things to do

I think I might paint our bedroom sky blue.

And if I have time and you haven't yet come

I'll make this spring quilt as a gift of welcome.

I must now say ado, before my friends think I've cracked.

but I'll say it once more hurry up and welcome back.

Girls Night in...

When I go to Utah it is a tradition with my mom and sisters to get together one night with the girls in town to eat, talk, and play games.  My mom suggested tying one of the quilts that I'm making for our baby (I'm making a boy and girl quilt so that we're prepared whenever our baby joins our family).  I was worried that my sisters wouldn't want to spend our girls night tying a baby quilt but I was wrong.  Not only were that happy to help, but they took it a step further and when we finished the quilt they surprised me with a mini baby shower!  They gave me some adorable little onesies, burp cloths, and other necessities.  It was so sweet of them and such a fun surprise.  We truly are blessed with such an amazing support group of family and friends who love us and help us remain positive and full of hope during this adoption adventure.  We know that our baby will join us soon and we are so excited for that day!

Girls Night!

I'm in Utah visiting family and having a great time (while my sweet husband is at home holding down the fort and making a living)!  I got together with the girls from Shane's side of the family for a night of good food and great company.  We went to one of my favorite restaurants - Rafael's.  I love their chips and salsa.   

After dinner we did a spring craft.  I made wood blocks that say "spring has sprung"  I should take a picture but I packed it up in my suitcase already.  We had such a great evening and stopping for ice cream on the way home was a sweet way to end the night.  Thanks ladies!  I love you!

HAPPY FEBRUARY!

February is one of our favorite months.  Not only is it filled with love, hearts, all things pink and Valentine's Day but we also celebrate our wedding Anniversary at the end of the month!  Happy February!  Hug someone you love today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANE!

Oh wonderful talented husband of mine.  You've got some serious skills and on this special occasion I'd like to share my favorites...

Your drummer skills...

Your childcare skills...

Your gymnastic skills...

Your toe touch skills...

Your skills for trying all foods and loving the good ones!

I love you!  Have a fabulous birthday!!!