Day 59

Today we went to the Draper Temple open house. There were very few photo opportunities. I feel lucky to have gotten this one shot.

This is NOT what it will look like

My least favorite part of quilting is the sewing. I love the luscious fabrics. I love matching up fabric patterns and colors. I love seeing patterns come to life and I like creating my own patterns. That is what this is, an experiment. I plan to sew four pieces together to form a square and then twist and turn them to create an interesting pattern. I had to lay it all out tonight to see if I had enough squares and I did. Now all the pieces are stored away in a Ziploc where it might stay for a long time since it is the sewing part that comes next.

Keeping with the Laundry Theme

This is what I affectionately call sock soup. At the end of each laundry session I take all the mismatched socks and throw them into a laundry bag. They live there until we get dangerously low on socks for the kids. At that point I dump them all out and match them all up. It's a never ending cycle. Once it is determined that a sock as lost it's soul mate it is then eligible to be made into a puppet.

Oh Sweet Heaven

That was Andrew's response to the treat Paul brought home. My dear husband is simply the greatest. He surprised us all with Einstein Bagels and shmear. He picked up all of our favorite flavors which is impressive (his memory amazes me) since we haven't gotten these for literally years because they closed the store that was kind-of near us. We love you honey!

Monday and Tuesday

Tuesday~I like to get a few books at a time when I go to the library. Last time I went they only had one of the books I needed, the others were checked out. I have been bookless for a few days now so I decided to stop and try my luck. See those two green books? That is the one I was waiting for. I also got the next two. That's it for this series. 

Monday~
I know this is just mean but it cracks me up and really, it could be worse. Honestly, I have worse! We had planned on getting snorkel gear for Hawaii. The idea of renting it didn't sit well. Putting our mouths on something that someone else had used. Eww! Paul also wanted to make sure it was a tight fit since he wears contacts. Last night at Costco we found some sets so we picked them up for a lot less than we were planning on spending. He had to come home and make sure everything fit right. 

Sunday

I love pretty things. I love jewelry. I love pearls. I love stones mixed with pearls. I love this necklace that I wore to church today.

Saturday

I have a hard time staying focused. I have a few projects going right now but last night I started a new one. I have had these fabrics for about 14 months with no clue what to do with them. I have finally made up my mind and started cutting it out last night. I will hopefully get the rest cut tonight while I am watching the Red Carpet before the Oscars.

Thursday and Friday

Friday~As I was driving home yesterday I saw this nest hanging precariously in a little tree. I don't know if it was built on it's side or if it has blown over but this is the first time I ever noticed it, so it could even be new. I have always admired and been intrigued by all the work and intricate details that birds put into their nests. I might even love them a little.  I can't wait for spring!

Thursday~This is my latest, most favoritest, food. Our awesome neighbors invited us over for a BUY game last fall. I brought some munchies and she had this out. At first I was a little concerned by the appearance. I tasted it and while it was good, it was a little mild compared to what I usually eat. As the night went on I couldn't stop eating it. A couple of months later I really had a hankering for some more. I called her up and she told me it was the Black Bean and Corn Salad 2 recipe from Allrecipes.com. I don't put in the red pepper since she didn't but otherwise I make it the same. I do add a little more salt and some pepper and eat it with chips. It is so good and really filling.

Tuesday and Wednesday

Wednesday~Last year I got a call from Emma's teacher. He said that she had asked to be moved closer to the front because she was having a hard time seeing the board. Since Paul is blind as a bat I took this somewhat seriously, but I had my reservations. We took her in to see the optometrist and sure enough my darling child was faking. Since there was deception involved we did not buy her a pair of frames to wear just for fun. Finally, after all this time, she convinced grandma to buy some for her. Today she got her fake glasses and she is loving them. I should have gotten a picture of her before I braided her wet hair (she wants it wavy tomorrow) but I didn't think about it until it was too late. Sorry babe, I know this isn't the best picture. 

Tuesday~Tonight the kids decided to put all of Andrew's cars (or I should say anything with wheels) on his rug so that I could take a picture of it. They were able to fill up almost all the roads. There was some confusion and Emma started cleaning them up before I got my picture of the day. There were tears and harsh words exchanged but we managed to get it all fixed up.

Yummy

Once we were about on hour down the road on Friday night I started to really think about all the things we were missing out on. The chocolate dipped strawberries were one of those things. This time of year our strawberries don't have a very long life expectancy so I was worried that they would be green fuzzy mounds when we got home. Amazingly they were still pretty good so I hurried and dipped them and then ate them with Emma. I didn't even have to worry about making them look nice.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Sunday~This is the middle pool of Emerald Pools in Zion's. We hiked through snow, mud and ice to see this. I *had* to be the photo of the day. I need to upload a larger file. This small picture isn't doing it justice.

Saturday we went into Zion's National Park for the first time. Part of what makes everything so spectacular is the magnitude of the formations. It is very hard to convey that size in photos. Everything is so huge you can't put a person or car in for perspective. The indention/arch was simply huge. I mean gigantic. It is something you will just have to take my word for though because I know it doesn't look that big.
Friday was our Valentine's Day
The kids were being silly sipping from their candy sundaes. When they saw these they exclaimed "That's soooo cute!" I think they're pretty cute!

Wednesday and Thursday

Hello Lover (Thursday)

Isn't that what Carrie Bradshaw says to shoes? Well that is what I say to chips and salsa. I told Paul we were having leftovers and he brought home Costa Vida for everyone. Who can argue with that? 

Welcome to our Disaster (Wednesday) 

The good news? It is only going to get worse. Tonight we go most of Andrew's room emptied, only his bed and carpet remains. We still need to get a lot more stuff out of our room (dressers and our bed) but we aren't going to do that until we know when the carpet is coming for sure. As of right now it still hasn't been delivered. Good times, good times. 

I'm a Lucky Girl

This is the view from my house. I get to watch the sunset over the lake every evening from my living room. I love pink sunsets the best but they are all great. I really like the way the sun was reflecting off of the water tonight.

Gloomy

Today we woke up to snow and then it cleared for the afternoon and I even had glimpses of blue sky. While I was taking Emma to piano I saw this cool cloud formation but by the time I got home to my camera it had turned to this. Still pretty but not nearly as impressive. Less than 30 minutes later the whole sky was dark at it was snowing pretty hard.

Saturday and Sunday

Sunday:

Kristy does it again. I really don't know Kristy but this is the third time that she has come in a lifted my spirits. It was because of her that I had the courage to quit my job. I know that she was sent to let me know that my talents would be appreciated if there were ever a time when I needed to work again. She had to have followed a prompting. She was there at the right time and in the right place when I needed her. She got me through a time when I could have gotten really down by asking me to be part of the catalog photo shoot and today she handed me a catalog and told me to pick out the stuff I wanted. I need retail therapy right now badly and it is great to be able to look through a catalog and know you can pick a few of your favorite things and not have to pay for them! I don't even think she realizes how she has touched my life. I really need to write her a note of thanks.

Saturday

Yesterday was the first day I was tempted not to take a photo. I was tired, irritable and down in the dumps. I didn't even feel like looking for something positive. I decided to take a photo of some of the bathroom accessories that we bought for the kid's bathroom. We are trying to make the house look appealing on a budget so we got this stuff at Wal Mart. They missed the turquoise so we got this shower curtain to bring some blue back. The sad part is the kids can't be trusted so we wont get to use this until the house if officially on the market. If we put it up now it would be streaked with toothpaste globs in no time.

Mom, don't kill me

Emma was Betsy Ross today at school and grandma and grandpa came to see her. My mom, bless her heart, doesn't take a very good photo. I love this one because it looks like the real her and it shows the admiration and love that she has for her granddaughter.

This may be cheating.....but just a little

I couldn't pick just one for tonight so I stuck them together. We let Emma read tonight (We've never wanted to take the extra time before so this was her first time. Isn't that terrible?) and she did great. We will probably start letting her read on a regular basis. This is what Andrew did while she was reading. Normally we have everyone just sitting but he was playing so quietly I didn't say a word.

Help Me Decide

I bought this kit in January. You sew six strips together that are the width of the fabric and then cut those into six inch squares. After that you alternate the squares, every other one. One goes vertical and then the next horizontal. It creates a basket weave type of pattern. It looks really cool. However I am totally and completely in love with these stripes. (They would be horizontal in the finished quilt and I would probably have more fabric strips than I would need, so it could be wasteful) The other pattern that I mentioned yesterday is done the same way only it is set on the bias. It would give me two totally different looks if I keep this one stripped. I could do the red, white and blue one in stripes. Oh man too many choices.What would you do? Please vote. Stripes or Basket Weave?

Red, White and Blue

I had a coupon for $1o off of a $50 purchase so had to find something to use it on. This is the beginning of a new project. I have the pattern that I plan to use but it is similar to one I'm working right now so I think I have something else up my sleeve for in between. It makes me happy to have it sitting around waiting for me. I can't wait to see how it looks all put together.

Proof I am a Great Wife

One thing I do for Paul pretty consistently is mix up cookies. We are cookie snobs and prefer them hot and fresh out of the oven. I make a batch, shape the dough into balls and freeze them. Whenever a cookie craving hits, he pulls out a few of the frozen balls, bakes them and he has warm fresh cookies in minutes. After the long day I had I still managed to find the energy to whip up a batch of cookies for my hubby.

Super Bowl

Tonight we watched the Super Bowl. We were rooting for the Cardinals and towards the end there we thought they had it. When Fitzgerald ran in the last touchdown we were so excited we started yelling and jumping up and down. On the next play I caught this shot of Emma grabbing her daddy's hands. She was full of nervous and excited energy that she had to grab Paul and hold on. I love that they have such a great bond. He is truly a great daddy.