The State of the Union

Just a quick note to let  you know that we're still alive... barely though.  Did you know that Yuma, AZ was named the hottest city in the country?  Apparently we average 114 days a year over 100 degrees... aren't you glad I told you that?  Now that I've given you a random bit of information we can move on... to more random bits of information... mostly in the form of pictures.

In April I took Red and a few friends to a book signing for Brandon Mull.  The boys are all huge fans and Brandon was fantastic with the kids.  It was a great trip!

April also brought us a broken arm for Little Bug.  Once we got the cast on things were good, but getting x-rays and the process of putting the cast on was pretty traumatic for all involved.  We've got our fingers crossed that we don't have to do this ever again...

Cruddy pictures here... but Baby Girl got her ears pierced in May... 

The last days of school arrived and we attended several awards ceremonies...

Including a "promotion ceremony" for Red who will be in middle school next year!

We had our Angry Birds themed Father's Day (I made the birds using this tutorial)

And then headed to Idaho to spend time with family.  We flew kites....

visited Craters of the Moon

 

Some of the caves still had ice in them... nice and chilly on a hot summer day...

And 2 of my nephews were brave enough to crawl through this spot... on their bellies... I couldn't quite bring myself to do it...

Little Bug went into all of the caves and on the hikes. He really seemed to enjoy the day...

Snow in the mountains...

Wildflowers everywhere else...  must be June in Idaho :)

4th of July brought fireworks at home... 

Of course, the sparklers were a big hit... 

That night we took the kids to see Cars at the drive-in.  It was great - we had the movie in front of us and the Idaho Falls fireworks on our right.  So much fun!  Of course, I forgot my camera for that...

We did a lot of other things while we were there and overall we had a fantastic time in Idaho.  It's always great to visit with family and friends.  

We've had other things occupying our time here in Arizona too... Baby Girl did 2 weeks of gymnastics camp and is starting her 2nd week of swimming lessons.  Red just got back from a week at scout camp and now gets to start his own swimming lessons.  We've done a craft day every Monday with friends and I think that might be a new summer tradition.  Little Bug has struggled a little this summer, but he has enjoyed time in the pool almost every day. 

We have 3 more weeks till school starts and hopefully we'll be able to make the most of what's left of this summer vacation! 

Before and After

I do this every time we move.  I get tired of packing/unpacking boxes and go into this creative decorating frenzy!  When we bought our home in Oregon I stacked all our unpacked boxes in the middle of the room and started painting the dining room.  Hubby wasn't thrilled, but I just had to do SOMETHING other than figuring out where all our junk would go.

Well, we've moved again (just around the corner from our last place) and I'm tired of boxes... so it was time to get creative!

First off we have this nasty bench.  I bought it at a yard sale about a year ago for $1 and it's just been sitting around my house looking sad.  The yellow/gold faux velvet stuff was stiff, dirty and just all around gross!

 There was a small tear in the fabric and the foam was coming out of it...

I'm working on recreating our master bedroom.  I'm using browns, tans, aquas and oranges.  So, when I saw this orange fabric at JoAnn's, I knew I had to have it for the bench!

Love, love, love the way it turned out!  The aqua and orange together are just playful and fun.  Can't wait to use this in our room!

Then we had the mirror I got from Good Will this week.  Loved the shape and style of the frame... not so excited about the, um, floral print... so, yeah.  Had to get rid of that... (p.s. I had already started the project when I remembered I hadn't taken pics yet... so this is just the frame.)

 I'm pretty sure those are flowers... or maybe they are really sad sea creatures.  I haven't decided which...

I scratched up the back of the mirror and then placed an aqua and white fabric behind it.  Painted the frame white and glazed it a bit.  Baby Girl is not a fan of the glaze... she said, "It just looks dirty".  But what does she know?  I like how it looks :)

It was harder than I thought to get a good picture of the mirror... hopefully you can see the fabric okay... looks a lot better in real life.

So there you have it.  Now I'm working on the quilt for our room and then I have a few other projects in mind.  And eventually... one day... I just might finish unpacking!

I Know

I'm not the most intelligent person on the planet.  Heck, I can't help my 12 year old with his math homework any more!  But there are a few things that I do know.

I know that my Redeemer lives.  Jesus Christ came to this earth to set an example for us to follow.  He suffered and died to atone for the sins of the world and he rose again that we too may overcome death.

I also know that this life is difficult.  Trials and troubles come our way no matter who we are.  But we can have hope that things will be better because of Jesus Christ.

In the Book of Mormon there is a scripture that I love.  It's found in Moroni 7:41 - And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.


We can find joy and peace even in the darkest times because we can have hope for life eternal.  This life won't last forever.  Time will pass.  Our trials will end and we will be better for it all.  

My prayer for you is that you can find hope and peace through the Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that He lives.  I know that He loves us.


Have a very happy Easter!

A Laugh

A friend of mine bought a wooden sign today and the quote on it made me laugh... so, I thought I'd share.

I understand that scissors can beat paper.  And I get how rock can beat scissors, but there's no way paper can beat rock.  Paper is supposed to magically wrap around rock leaving it immobile?  Why can't paper do this to scissors?  Screw scissors, why can't paper do this to people?  Why aren't sheets of college ruled notebook paper constantly suffocating students as they attempt to take notes in class?  I'll tell you why.  Because paper can't beat anybody.  A rock would tear it up in two seconds.  When I play rock, paper, scissors, I always choose rock.  Then when somebody claims to have beaten me with their paper I can punch them in the face with my already clenched fist and say, oh sorry.  I thought paper would protect you.

I'm not sure if the fact that I found this so amusing means I have a really great sense of humor or a really twisted one...

Dig, Dig, Dig

We were listening to a Disney CD this morning and the "Dig, Dig, Dig/Heigh-Ho" song from Snow White  came on. It's a song I've always loved, but as I was listening to it today I had an odd little epiphany towards the end of this verse:

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig from early morn till night
We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig up everything in sight
We dig up diamonds by the score
A thousand rubies, sometimes more
But we don't know what we dig 'em for
We dig dig dig a-dig dig

And just for the record... I cannot read through those lyrics. I MUST sing them. Every. Single. Time.  Okay... moving on!

The line "But we don't know what we dig 'em for" just kind of hit me today.  I mean...isn't that how life seems to work?  I know it is for me.  I dig through trials and troubles. I dig through the craziness of everyday life. I try to do my best and work hard and and sometimes... well, sometimes I just kinda sit back and think "What in the heck am I digging for???"

Now, I know that I'm rewarded with blessings throughout my day. Not necessarily HUGE things each day. But little things. A phone call from a friend. The giggles of a child. A hug from my husband.  A beautiful sunset. The good bits of every day that make life so much better. And yet, for me, I seem to miss the value of these diamonds and rubies.  In my case, I think I don't recognize the gems like I should.

Maybe it's because the digging process can be difficult, monotonous, frustrating and extremely time consuming. And by the time I get to the good stuff I'm tired and covered in dirt. And sometimes those blessings don't look quite like I had thought. I was hoping for a sapphire when I plucked out that ruby. Or maybe the blessing is something that really doesn't look like a gem at all. It's rough around the edges, dull and has absolutely no appeal (in my life, these ones are often disguised as a U-Haul van.... I think I won't understand the beauty of these gems till later in life or maybe not till the life after this...).

 I guess what I'm trying to say (and not doing a very good job of it) is that this life is a lot of work, but it's worth it. I may not understand what all of my diamonds and rubies are for right now... but someday I will. The only question left is this: which dwarf am I going to be like as I dig, dig, dig from early morn till night?

Now I'll leave you with a few gems from this month...
Little Bug at horseback riding lessons.  Look at that grin!!

Red with his new hair cut... I told him to give me a "Hurrah" cheer.  This as good as it gets when you're 12...

Baby Girl finishing homework...

A finished project for a friend...

It's the little things...

Christmas Quilts

2 out of 3 kids needed a new quilt for their bed this year.  I had already started a quilt for Red just a little over a year ago... and yeah.  Never finished it till this fall.  I pulled all the pieces out, reminded myself of the pattern and got to work.  It didn't take too long to get it all pieced.  Then I took it to a little place here in town to have it quilted.  My hand sewing is pretty much terrible, so I was more than happy to pawn the job off on someone else.  They did a fantastic job and this is the final product...

I did hand sew part of the binding... it took about forever to get it done.  But I did it :)  And I really love the way it turned out.  I didn't get a great photo of him opening it, but he really loved it!

 I knew I wanted to do a rag quilt for Baby Girl, but wasn't sure how exactly I wanted to put it together.  I sketched out several things, searched Google and Etsy for ideas and finally came up with this...

I was pretty much THRILLED with the way it turned out!  It's bright and fun - just like Baby Girl.  She was pretty excited about it too...

I just finished a baby quilt (that I'll blog about later) and then I have another baby quilt to put together and then a quilt for Little Bug and THEN one for me :)  I'm really looking forward to the me quilt.  I've bought the fabric, picked the pattern and I'll hopefully get to work on it.... in a month or two :)

Creative Juices

Lately I have felt like I was in a creative slump.  Just couldn't get the wheels in my head to spin the way I wanted them to.
Awhile back Busy Bee Lauren wrote a blog post about a new book she had received for Christmas (I think). It sounded like the perfect way to get my thought process moving.  So, I got a copy for myself.

I forgot to get a picture of it before I started... just imagine the cover without the doodles on it.  Okay??  Okay.
So, the instructions are pretty simple...

(Can you spot the "hidden Mickey's" throughout my book??)  And so I began.  We took Red to the Cracker Barrel for his birthday and so, I "documented" my dinner...

Hubby thinks it's totally gross... but it makes me laugh every time I look at it.  Here are a few other pages I've done...
I don't drink coffee... so this is my hot cocoa page.

 This was something my 3rd grade teacher would have us do if we were bored... draw a bunch of swirls, pick 5-6 colors and try to make it so that no colors are touching (except at corners).

 Fruit stickers...

 Stamps (some of these are from Christmas cards from last year...)

 I didn't do such a great job connecting the dots with my eyes closed...

 Still need to figure out what I want to decorate the other hand with :)

This is my FAVORITE page so far... which makes me sad since one of the instructions in another part of the book says I have to give away my favorite page...

 My nonstop line got a tad damaged (and it's not finished quite yet...)

I have to admit... I've struggled with some of these items.  You're not supposed to wipe your food in a book, rip the pages, burn the edges, or doodle everywhere... and so far, I've done the easier items.  At some point I have to tie a string around it and take it for a walk... which sounds kind of embarrassing.  I also have to take it to a public place and ask people to write/draw in it.  I thought about just letting my kids do that part, but that seems the cowardly way out.
But the best part?  It's helped me cut loose a little bit... and I've been feeling more creative...

I'll post pictures when it's complete.
So, here's a question for you...
how do you get your creative juices flowing?

That Face

I really don't have much to say today... I was just messing around with some photos and loved the way this one turned out :)

This was taken in Idaho over Thanksgiving break.  She was SO excited to play in the snow!

Help...again!

I have a decision to make... and I really don't want to do it.  So, you get to do it for me!   Aren't you excited?  I knew you would be.

This is a life changing decision.  Please don't take this lightly... ready??

With the stem....

Or without?

Okay... so maybe it's not life changing.  But I can't decide and I'd love your thoughts (just like the last time I made a baby quilt).  Ignore the ruffle and extra bits of fabric laying around and let me know... with or without??