Queen Quinn Turns 2

How did this happen? Our little sweet baby grew up to be a 2. And in a flash she will be 16. I'm scared. She is hilarious and trouble all in one. She is a sweet girl. We are so happy she is a part of our family. We pretty much want to squish her to pieces most the day. Sometimes because she is so cute we can't stand it and sometimes - well cause she is making us crazy. But that smile easily melts us.

I went with the owl theme for birthday. So many fun ideas out there.
Party Favors: Owl Bean Bags
and chocolate owl suckers  with flavored colored chocolates from Orson Gygi
Owl Cupcakes
Owl Pinata We thought it would be easy to break open. It is made out of cereal boxes and tape. Seriously easy but it would not give in. That thing had the life beat out of it and it held strong. So funny.
A true sugar fest for the Queen of Sweets - check out her tray.
We invited just a couple of her cute friends (that she talks about all the time) to join us for a little celebration. Boy, did she love all the attention.

I have been busy. Kristine and I spent one day creating this quilt for our neice's crib. We are in love with it. It was a combination of ideas that we pulled from other quilters and it worked out perfect. Our sister, Jen, is expecting baby girl #5 very soon. We can't wait for her to arrive.

A New Scripture Bag

Look what came in the mail today from my sister-in-law Lindsey. She made this for Elise for her scriptures. I am in love with it and so is Elise. 

Sewing Camp

My sister, Kristine,
is starting a summer sewing camp for girls 10 and older. They will love it and so will you. Kristine is a talented and creative teacher. You will love what they learn and make. Feel free to spread the word. There are limited spots in each class so that each girl will be able to spend time on the machines and get the help they need to complete their projects.

You can see some of her amazing creations here and here and here and here.

Copy Cat

I am a copy cat. I admit it. My sisters and I have been having this discussion this week about copying ideas. Cool or Not Cool? I certainly hope I always give credit to my ideas. And you can always be quite sure that whatever it is - it wasn't my idea. I wish I could be more original. I wish that I could even take a good idea and change it enough to make it mine. But I can't. Or Don't. Or something. Maybe I am just lazy. Anyway - here are a couple of things I copied this week that I really liked. I found them on this blog. Matchbox Valentines. Gavin LOVED this project. He loved emptying the matchboxes and filling them with candies. He loved writing his G on each one. And I think he loved passing them out to friends at preschool. And it was a cheap project. Always a good thing.

I fell in love with these cute little party favors and it was perfect for valentines and so easy. Plus really what could be better than sour grapefruit balls and cinnamon heart candies. Yummm.

So there you have it. I copied and I loved it. It was nice to have a little creative outlet this week but it didn't require too much time, money or running around.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Here is Quinn! Can you believe she is already 4 weeks old? She is getting so big. I know she is still tiny but it isn't the same as that new born tiny. Gavin told me today that she is so cute that sometimes he gets tears in his eyes. Teague said that she is so cute he just can't stand it. We are pretty smitten.

No official turkey bowl this year but Kenyon took the kids out to the front yard for a our own little mini family flag football game. The kids had a great time and no major injuries.

Now we are counting down the days to Christmas. I love advent calendars and I saw one like this in Creating Keepsakes so I gave it a go. It is the first part of a Christmas present for my sister-in-law Lindsey.

Check it out!

Here is my blag of the week...my cute twin sisters (recent graduates of BYU-I) have opened their own etsy shop - OneFourThree. They have made darling things. They are super talented and I hope to one day make something as cute. Keep checking out their store because they will keep adding new creations. Happy Shopping!

What Do I Do In The Summer Time?

Normally, I would be very busy doing things with the kids. Hopefully lots of swimming. But not this summer. So, with the extra time while I am sort of stuck at home - I have done lots of projects and a little reading.

My favorite project was this blanket I made for Baby No-Name. It was not as easy as I was told it would be but it turned ok. I really just loved the fabrics. Sadly, they have discontinued this fabric line. Darn it.

I made these little make-up pouches for my sister-in-laws for mostly late birthday gifts. The best part is all the cute fabrics that you can use. I especially love Heather Bailey's new line. I passed them out at lunch today. We ate at Settebello's in downtown Salt Lake. It is authentic Italian pizza. They brought the oven over from Naples. Yummm.

I also made a few more nursing aprons - aka Hooter Hiders.

There are more projects to come but currently - Breaking Dawn is begging for my attention. Oh yeah - and so is Kenyon. :) Time for meds. Things are going fine with him. The infusion pump is now on an 8 hour timer so the sleep situation is a little better. I think he is making progress in the puking department but it is still not great. I just can't wait for him to be hungry because I am hungry ALL THE TIME!!

Elise has lost her 2nd tooth in Cali (that makes 3 toothfairy visits in California in 2 weeks). The kids also experienced their first earthquake and generally thought it was pretty cool. They will be back soon. I am excited to have them home - except that might put an end to the projects.

*Have you read Seriously, So Blessed? It is pretty dang funny but now that I have re-read this post, I pretty much want to delete it. The author of that blog would have a hay-day with this one. Oh well.

Our Basement is Finished!!

Hip Hip Hooray! Our basement is finished. (There are a couple minor details of having a lighting fixture installed and paint touch up). I wanted to give a huge shout out to our good friend Chris Morley of Morlove Construction who pulled it all together and made it run so smoothly. It turned out great. My little sales pitch - if you want to buy/sell, build or remodel then it would be worth your while to call Chris. He does great work. It will be a nice space for Kenyon to use but it will be even more fun to use when he is all better.


We are so grateful for all the help. We had a few neighbors moving my dumb appliances out of the kitchen and down those cement steps to the basement. The Relief Society Pres (my good friend) laid the tile. It is beautiful. Her husband picked out my paint colors and tile. Thank you!! That was seriously stressing me out. Several other neighbors used the shop-vac to get it all clean at a couple different stages. And yet another neighbor suited up in full protective gear to paint the basement. It was quite a project. And then of course more neighbors and my parents helped me clean. It is beautiful and we are again - so grateful!

Do you like the lounge chair? It is actually quite comfy and it works until we get something else. I am anxious to use it out in the backyard. :)

Blag?

I think the I am using the term correctly - to blag - brag on a blog....

Look what my friend made me! I came home from a crazy day to the cutest gift. She made these hot pads with some sort of thermal batting and the cutest fabric. Love them. Plus it came with a Martha Stewart Cookie cookbook! Yum and fun.


Jul has been my friend FOREVER (well really since we were in Jr. High). I learned to sew with her. We learned to sew quilts together when we were in YWs. She is so talented. I always wish I could have her taste when I am trying to pick out fabrics or doing anything creative.

So, thanks Jul!!

Funny thing

I was listening to Dr. Laura and a caller was complaining about a teacher being mad at a group of students for misbehaving. Dr. Laura went off on how terribly behaved children are these days and the teacher should expect better behavior. Then she said, (and I quote) "If you want to see really well-behaved children, go to any mall in Utah. They are so well behaved because they have been raised to respect their parents."

Seriously - I laughed out loud. You have got to be kidding me. I know my kids aren't the only one who do not behave in malls or just about anywhere else for that matter. But, that is why I never go to the mall - so maybe only parents with well-behaved kids go to the mall. I don't know. Kenyon took a group of kindergartners on a field trip to the zoo today and he can tell you they are not all well-behaved. He had quite the little brat who was begging for Kenyon to buy him food at the concessions. That kid obviously doesn't know Kenyon. :)

Ok - so another thing - I thought I would post my 2 latest projects. I have given one away and I don't think the other person getting this project reads my blog so I can post it now.

Help Someday Help

I have had so many projects. It is fun but super time consuming. I loved making this scalloped blanket. I got the pattern from a cool book called Bend-the-Rules of Sewing by Amy Carol. Thanks to another blog (thanks April) I saw this super cute floral fabric that can be found at JoAnns. I didn't think you could find anything super cute at JoAnn's so I was very happy. Then I found the orange polka dot from Amy Butler at Material Girls. I know it isn't very baby girlish but I liked it. I just gave it to a darling baby named Ava.

I tried another diaper bag with a few adjustments. I think it still needs a few more tweaks and next I think I just want to try a different shape altogether. But, I loved the texture of this fabric. I gave a friend of mine a diaper bag 3 years ago and she has used to to shreds. I noticed how worn it was the other day so I took her this one. It needed to be updated. The scary thing is that you don't want to impose a diaper bag on someone. Everyone is so particular about what they want to carry around.

The biggest and most stressful project of all is putting on an 8 year old birthday party. Magic themed. The birthday boy insisted that I MAKE magic capes. Who does that? I guess I do. They turned out good after a few tears and some stress. We had 9 crazy boys over and filled 2 hours with magic potions, tricks, games and food. I think everyone was happy. I was worn out.