Jonsson Family Journal

The Taj Mahal on Wheels....

2012-02-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

In 2008 we decided we would look into getting a pop-up tent and start camping. Katie was 2 1/2 and Maggie was about 7mos old. We found a nice little rig on KSL Classifieds and decided to get it. This is us then....

About 2 years ago, we started thinking that our little rig wouldn't last us much longer as the kids got bigger. Jeff had to sleep diagonally on one bed, the girls were on the other, and I made out the table into a bed and slept there. One day, on our way home from Smith and Edwards (one of our favorite hangouts) we stopped by Ray Citte RV and there we saw it...

The Rig of Dreams....

The Taj Mahal on Wheels....

The Rockwood 2318G!

It had all the options we wanted plus a bunch we didn't know we wanted! And the sticker price proved it. It was just a bit out of our price range then. But we started looking at rigs and for the next two years we surfed every RV maker and looked at pop-up tent specs. If it had the right bed size, it was too long to store in our garage. If it was short enough to store in our garage, it had small beds and not all the options we wanted. So we kept coming back to our "Rig of Dreams" and made the goal to upgrade for our 10th wedding anniversary (at the end of March).

The other day Jeff happened to be surfing the RV dealers and found that Travel Village here in town, had one one the lot- cool! And that is was on SALE for the up-coming RV show- really cool! And basically, we felt it was a deal that could not be passed up!

Jeff picked it up Wednesday afternoon and we spent Saturday cleaning out our small rig, loading our new rig, and taking lots of pictures. My parents and Jeff's parents came by to admire our new set-up. We already have camping sites reserved for early June and cannot wait to get out there and get camping!

Back side view- pop out kitchen table area-

Inside the door looking to the right- King bed, sink, stove, with a small fridge under stove-

Inside the door, opposite stove- No longer will I have to make the night time walks to the pit toilets- YAY!-

Across from the door- large kitchen table and looking left is a Queen bed-

Another view of stove/sink/fridge-

The proud owners-

We have exciting news!

2012-01-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

KATIE IS ON TWO WHEELS!!!

I am so VERY proud of her! Last spring I bought I small bike off KSLclassifieds.com but I didn't really do much with it last summer. The bike did come with training wheels, but I took them off as I wanted her to learn how to balance. Fast forward to two weekends ago, and since it was 50 degrees outside, I said "Katie, get your shoes and jacket and meet me outside". We pumped up the tires, adjusted the seat, and reviewed some fundamentals. Oh she was resistant. She cried and cried. Wanted to go inside. I kept insisting that she stick it out. The tears slowed down and she finally started to be able to go short distances on her own after I got her a running start. I started screaming and jumping up and down. Katie started crying again. I said "Why the tears? you were riding!" Katie says "I'm crying tears of joy Mom". Awww.
The next weekend, we go out for another session. This time she's got it! We practice getting started by herself (as the leaning over to hang onto her bike was doing a number on my back) and trying to keep her balance. She is getting better everyday. Yesterday, I took her to the church parking lot and let her go. She was FABULOUS!! Every lap around the lot Katie got better and better at starting on her own, and using her hand brake to stop.
I am SO VERY PROUD of her. She has done amazing. And the cute thing is that riding her bike so well has given her extra confidence- especially when she hears of other kids in school who don't know how to ride yet.
CONGRATULATIONS KATIE!!!

Donuts!

2012-01-23T11:22:00.001-07:00

I could go on and on about how I woke up at 6am, and mixed up some dough, and kneaded it, and rolled it out, etc. All in order to create these beautiful donuts this morning.....

BUT----
I didn't! I found a recipe to make donuts using a can of Pillsbury Grands biscuits (of all things)! If you google biscuit dough donuts it will give you several variations on a theme. But basically I used my electric skillet, turned it on to 350 degrees, filled it up with oil (about an inch), and once the holes are cut out of the biscuit you throw it in your pan and cook 1-2 minutes on each side. Once you take them out of the oil you drain them on some paper towels- top with glaze or toss them in a ziploc bag with a cinnamon/sugar mix (which is what we did). They were SO good!!! And EASY!!!
Katie, Maggie, and Jeff all gave their thumbs up!

And We're Back!

2012-01-18T12:14:00.001-07:00

I took a little blog break, but that doesn't mean we've been sitting around! Katie got an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas and has really enjoyed baking treats for us. Here are some Red Velvet cupcakes she made, complete with frosting and sprinkles! She also got a cookbook of Easy Bake recipes and we have been making treats out of that. Much more economical than buying the mixes made for the Easy Bake Ovens...

The first week of January, Maggie started dance class. The same dance class Katie was in two years ago (geez, has it really been two years?!). Maggie LOVES to dance and is thrilled to be in a class. She looks forward to class day every week!

The girls also started back to swim classes at Murray Park Center. They LOVE swimming class. They may never be the next Esther Williams, but as long as they get comfortable and can navigate the water (unlike their mother) then I am happy!

I have been cleaning up my Craft Palace and practicing my free motion quilting. I made Maggie a couple of dolly quilts with some leftovers I had kicking around.

So long, 2011!

2011-12-31T23:23:00.000-07:00

We have had a wonderful year. We did not take a big trip this year, but took the girls to a couple of National Parks. They enjoyed completing the Jr Ranger requirements and receiving their badges. Katie started Kindergarten and is thriving! Maggie and Katie love to do things together and are great friends. We have had some great camping trips and welcomed a new puppy into our family. From our house to yours, we wish you a Wonderful, Healthy, and Happy 2012!

Fun with Geodes!

2011-12-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

One of the gifts Katie got from Santa, was a "break your own geode" kit. This box has about 12 small geodes that you can crack. Jeff picked up some goggles for them and a rock hammer, and today they went to town and cracked about 6 of them. Katie was so excited! Then we all took turns with the magnifying glass to get a good close up view of the crystals on the inside. Santa also brought her a great book all about Rocks and Minerals and we have been learning some new things while reading that.

Christmas Day, 2011

2011-12-25T23:40:00.001-07:00

Began at 4:45am. Katie came into our room and asked if Santa had shown yet. Um, kiddo, it's the middle of the night, go back to bed. She willingly did so, but you could hear here tinkering around in there. About an hour later, seeing as how we couldn't sleep either by this time, we decide to see if the girls wanted to check out the Santa loot. I went in to wake Maggie, and asked her if we should go see if Santa came. She says to me (still half asleep) "no I don't think he did". Then my question actually got through, at which point she jumps up and says "IT'S CHRISTMAS!". We collected the cameras, and then let them come down and tear into it. They were very thrilled with everything they got.

Then my mom and dad came over, as well as Jamie, Matt, Ella, and Eva. The girls were excited to see their cousins and exchange present details. After they left, we got ourselves in order to host a party for Jeff's side of the family. Christmas Day dinner was very low key, we got a couple of trays from Winco and I made a cranberry salad, and then our cookies that we decorated Friday evening. It's a very relaxed party and it was good seeing everyone.

Once our guests left, we went up to Jeff's parents house for more gifts and fun. They are always very generous and the girls both make out like bandits. One thing Jeff's mom does that I really LOVE is every year she makes a book about each of her grandkids. That is gift enough for me! Here is a shot of several of the books she has made, with the newest book having pink along the borders.

Once we finally got home those two kids got ready for bed quickly and essentially passed out! We had a wonderful Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve, 2011

2011-12-24T23:40:00.001-07:00

Christmas is finally here, hard to believe! Christmas eve morning we started the day with some french toast (a favorite around here) and then started getting the house in order. I had my iPod going with Christmas tunes, and then anytime the kids would balk at the work to be done, I would remind them that Santa was coming TONIGHT and to act accordingly. I am really going to miss the Santa threat come January...

That evening we got dressed up and made our way to my sister Laura's house for my family get-together. At these get-togethers everyone brings one or two appetizers to share and we just sample all of them. So delicious! We brought bacon wrapped dates, stuffed with blue cheese and topped with a balsamic reduction glaze. WOW!

My sister Jamie and her family was in town for Christmas. Because of that we had 5 girls (6yr, 5yr, and three 4yr) running around screaming. Not sure why girls that age find screaming so entertaining, thoughts anyone? I made them all skirts from Christmas fabric that I found on sale. They all loved them and wore them all evening.

We left the party at about 7:30, the kids were getting tired and we were pretty sure they would get an early start the next day. When we got home they each got to open their Christmas PJ's. They wanted nightgowns this year, and since I couldn't find a pattern I liked I basically turned a pajama shirt into a night gown. I think it worked out rather well.

Jeff then read "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" to them and then off to bed! BUT, not before leaving some treats for Santa and his reindeer. Katie wrote this note and Maggie signed her own name!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas.....

2011-12-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

And all through our house, we are ready for Christmas! Thursday night I sewed the last seam and wrapped the last gift! Today, we just started getting things in order for our busy weekend coming up. One of the things we did was make Butter Cookies. This was something Jeff did with his Grandma at Christmas and he wanted to share the fun with the girls. They sure can decorate! They are being good because, as Maggie says, Santa Claus is always watching so we have to be happy helpers!

Grandma's Cousin Christmas Party

2011-12-19T11:45:00.026-07:00

Yesterday my mom hosted a Christmas party for all the little cousins. Katie and Maggie were joined by Ella, Eva, Victoria, and the two newest cousins- Emma and Benjamin.

All the older girls were excited to see each other. Ella and Eva live in New Mexico so we don't get to see them very often. We had lunch first, then the festivities began.
My mom found a cute Christmas Bingo game that was perfect for all of these pre-K kids. Instead of trying to figure out the numbers called, all the girls had to do was match the pictures.

We played a few rousing rounds of Bingo and then on to the Hokey Pokey. I really should post the video but fear that if I did, I would be disowned. Then we played "hot potato" but instead of passing a potato, the kids passed around a small gingerbread man doll. This was fun to watch them freak out trying to pass as fast as they could.

Then we went upstairs to do a craft. I found an idea on the internet to make Christmas ornaments by gluing some sparkly pom poms to a styrofoam ball. They all really seemed to have a good time decorating their ornament.

Then Aunt Erica read Twas the Night Before Christmas after which they all got to unwrap Grandma's presents to them.

Katie was thrilled to open a chest with several sets of beads so that she can make her own jewelry. She has on one of her creations in the photo.

Maggie got a Cinderella doll that she has been wanting. The doll comes with a blue dress and a pink dress. She was very happy!

After gifts, it was time to decorate Christmas cookies! And you can never have too many sprinkles!

The Nutcracker

2011-12-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

I was going to get some pics of the big Nutcrackers they have in the lobby, but it was too crowded with people that had the same idea. This is one of our nutcrackers at home.

On Saturday we took the girls to see The Nutcracker ballet at Capitol Theater. They were excited to put on fancy dresses for the show. We climbed all the stairs up to the balcony and when we walked around the corner they were amazed! Maggie loved the large chandelier that hangs from the ceiling. Sadly, all I had with me was my phone for pics. They enjoyed to orchestra and when the curtain went up, Maggie says "oh it's beautiful". They both did really good the first half of the show. I made the mistake of not smuggling in some kind of snack and the second half they got kind of restless. But they made it through good enough and both said it was amazing and kept talking about it all the way home. They are already talking about next year's performance!

Our Ornament Collection...

2011-12-04T13:57:00.001-07:00

I bought my first Christmas tree in 1994, just after I moved to Boise. It was about 4ft tall and looked really good once I got it all decorated. Then I decided it would be fun to collect Christmas ornaments whenever something "momentous" happened, or as a souvenir from a vacation. In 1997 we took a family trip to Washington DC and I got the 1997 edition of the White House ornament. When Jeff and I started taking road trips, we started picking up ornaments as part of our souvenirs. When we bought our first pop up tent a few years ago, I found a great ornament that looks alot like our pop-up. I always make sure the ornament has the year on it, or I write the event on it myself with a fine tip Sharpie. This is just a sampling of some of our vacation souvenirs, most of the others are on the tree and difficult to reach.

When the girls came along, I decided to do an ornament with thier little faces every year. They love this! When decorating the tree it is fun to see how they have grown from the previous year. And, eventually, when they move out and get their own tree, the plan is to give them all of their ornaments (if I can part with them...).

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!

2011-11-26T19:16:00.003-07:00

Today the girls and I put up the Christmas tree. They just loved doing this, and were great complaint free helpers! They really loved it when I turned off all the lights in the room and turned on just the tree. I think we are ready to start thinking about Christmas shopping!

The first two shots were taken using some of the "artistic" settings on my camera. The last shot of Katie and Maggie, I could not get them to hold still long enough to get artistic. So I just turned on the flash and snapped it. Even then, with those two, it took several tries...

Utah Museum of Natural History

2011-11-20T16:27:00.022-07:00

Wow. Wow. Wow. This place is incredible. Now, I am not talking about the location on the University of Utah campus in the Really Old Building, but the new fabulous facility that just opened up next door to Red Butte Gardens.

We made reservations to go this morning and got there about 11am. On your way into the building from the parking lot there are plaques identifying the stages of time the earth has been through, (i.e. Jurassic, Triassic, Cretaceous, etc.) all the way up to near the door which is the time of man.

You go in and get your tickets and then start moving upwards. The way the building is designed, you are moving through exhibits and walking up gentle ramps to new exhibits.

The displays are amazing, so many interactive things for the kids to do and experience. The number of dinosaur skeletons on display is just wonderful. There are even two areas where the floor is plexi-glass so you can walk over more skeletons.

There is a section on all of the wonderful rocks and land formations that are found in the great State of Utah. There are many fabulous displays on the ancient people and how archeologists work in a "dig". Katie is really interested in archeology at the moment so she was fascinated by the "mock dig".

There is an area about habitats and the animals that live there. Katie and Maggie had a great time running from one thing to the next. If you happen to have a smartphone- there is an app for that! You can log onto the wi-fi there and get additional info on displays. I am definitely doing this next time. Our heads are still spinning with all of the things to see and do!

We definitely want to go back and spend more time in this wonderful facility. It is truly a top-notch museum and absolutely well worth the trip. Here is a link to the Museum. You really need to check it out!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-13T11:47:00.005-07:00

We didn't have any Thanksgiving decorations and definitely that was a priority! So I dug around in my craft supplies, made a run to Jo-Ann's for more paper and some pipe cleaners and we were ready. We made our turkeys by tracing our hands and then Katie, with permission (for once) to use scissors, cut out our hand tracings. We turned the thumb area into the turkeys head, and the fingers were where we glued our feathers- also made out of paper and cut out by both girls. Katie and Maggie both got great practice on their scissor skills. And not once were the scissors used on hair!
We used the pipe cleaners for the legs and I bent them in a such a way that we ended up with some toes. Then Katie used some of the yellow scraps to make fall leaves. We loved how they turned out so we took a pic of our turkey farm.

The Trick or Treat Report

2011-11-01T11:43:00.005-06:00

Too bad for me I had to work. But Jeff took the girls over to my sister Erica's house and they had a Trick or Treat party. They ate dinner and then hit the street. They loved hanging out with their cousin Victoria. Victoria and Maggie were both princesses. Katie was a vampire. I made Katie and Maggie's costumes. They were thrilled! They hit alot of houses and got a nice sack of goodies. Once Jeff and the girls got home they hit a few more houses in our neighborhood. When I talked to the girls this morning they were so excited to show me all the candy they got.

Trick or Treating- if you aren't sprinting, you're doing it wrong...

The newest cousins, Benjamin the tiger and Emma the ladybug, were a little more relaxed in their Trick or Treat pace...

Katie's great vampire face and black hair sprayed hair that she was really thrilled about!

Oh, I made their Halloween sacks too..

A Very Busy Halloween Weekend...

2011-10-31T12:45:00.000-06:00

All of our festivities got off to an early start on Friday. The girls were invited to my cousin's house in Provo for a Halloween party. It was a potluck and my assignment ended up being "Monster Mouths". Katie and Maggie thought these were great. What you do is cut and apple into fourths. On the skin side cut out a wedge shape, then poke slivered almonds into the apple to make teeth. They turned out very cute and we took a tub of caramel dip to go with them.

My cousin had a ton of food, and there were lots of kids there. She had game and activities for them, including pumpkin bowling. Katie liked this! Then my cousin acted out a spooky story and all the kids were enthralled. We had a great time there!

Sunday was my birthday and we carved out our pumpkins and put up our spiders and webs. Then Jeff and I worked on the Millenium Falcon. We are both HUGE Star Wars fans. Yes, I'm a geek. Now you know...

Today at school, Katie had her first Halloween costume parade. She dressed up as a Vampire and Maggie and I went to enjoy the show. All the kids looked really cute. Then we got to go see her class and watch her and the kids play a few games. Tonight Jeff will take them Trick or Treating, I have to go to work. Bummer.

The (new and improved) Hunstman Cancer Hospital at the University of Utah

2011-10-25T11:34:00.000-06:00

In 1999, The University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics opened the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The goal being to increase cancer research at the U. Some Oncology clinics were housed there as well as the Infusion Center (where you go for chemo).
They also opened a great cafeteria on the top floor- The Point. All those windows looking west over the valley makes for a fabulous view!

Fast forward to 2004, and the Huntsman Cancer Hospital was opened. This was added to the Institute. We started with 4 ORs, and 50 beds. 25 post-op beds and 25 Oncology beds. I started working at Huntsman in the Recovery Room in May of 2006. I have been at the U in various locations since March of 1996. After Katie was born, I quit my full time position as a Cardiology Case Manager and went back to work part-time. I was very happy when the Recovery Room manager offered me a position there! Sadly, most days the current Huntsman Cancer Hospital runs at capacity. So the decision was made to expand. They broke ground 2 years ago and yesterday they had the Open House of the new expansion. We move patients in next Tuesday. The new part of the Hospital is as beautiful as the rest of it.

Here is a shot of the front entrance of the Hospital. I did not have my camera with me so all photos were shot with my phone, many did not turn out very well. But you'll get the general idea.

This is an example of one of the exam rooms in the Clinic area. Notice the fancy floor? There is a wide use of granite-style counter tops, and warm cherry wood in all of the Huntsman Cancer facilities.

Here is a pic of the Infusion Room. I think they said they have 50 stations! All chairs face the windows for great views of the mountains and valley.

Each station has its own TV and a chair for a family member. It's almost like flying in first class!

There were more areas, but those pics didn't turn out so good. One of the areas is the new Breast Care Center. Basically you come in for your mammogram, if they see anything funny they address it right then so you don't have to reschedule further tests and be a nervous wreck until you return! Two thumbs up on that idea! They said they see 11,000 patients a year with more coming in every day.

This is an intra-operative MRI machine. You may have seen this little gem on KSL a few weeks ago. Basically this big MRI machine is suspended from the track on the ceiling. Behind the MRI is a door to the OR. If a patient is having something done that needs checking during the case, they open the door and drive the MRI right over to the patient. Then they can immediately compare before and after shots to see if everything was done that needs doing. Pretty amazing.

The cafeteria of the Hospital is also on the 6th floor, like it is in the Institute, and has been expanded and upgraded. Across from the cafeteria is a new Cancer Information Center where patients and families can go to get additional information on Cancer treatment, nutrition, options, etc.

As cool as it all is, no one want's to be a patient in a cancer hospital. But if you find yourself in that situation, Huntsman truly is the place to be.

Happy Birthday Maggie!

2011-10-21T20:18:00.000-06:00

Maggie was 4 last Wednesday. She is such a big girl now! We got up early and did presents before Dad and Katie left. She was really thrilled about all of her gifts.

Here she is opening her markers. These are cool, the special coloring book has treated pages that, when colored by the 'colorless' markers, colors magically appear. If they color on their clothes or wall, nothing appears. This is good news for my two muralists....

This a a dolly that she really likes, she calls it a LaLa Loopsy....

New Barbie clothes, she loves her Barbies!

Her reaction when she saw the quilt I made for her. This isn't a full size quilt, but more of a throw. It is pink with lots of fairies, and princesses, and frogs... She loved it. (my apologies for the laundry in the background)

After she opened her gifts she enjoyed a delicious bowl of neon colored Trix! We let them pick a crap cereal for their birthdays. The rest of the year they enjoy oatmeal or "dredded wheat".

Katie and Maggie: A Retrospective....

2011-10-14T22:22:00.001-06:00

Oh yes they are cute, but mischievous! Follow me as I take you through the last few years of living with these two.
There have been numerous art projects on the walls. Katie's room hardly has any paint left on the wall in some areas.
There have been Desitin disasters, soap disasters, lotion disasters, two salt spills, $60 worth of mineral makeup dumped on the floor, nail polish spilled, my good Sephora makeup brushes have been used numerous times to paint the inside of Katie's closet in whatever shade eyeshadow they grabbed.
They can eat a whole bag of Oreos before your alarm goes off in the morning.
The evidence of their misdeed is shoved under the bed, under the dressers, or in their closets.
Here is a slideshow of some of the highlights. Click on the little dialogue bubble for captions on the pics.

Sometimes I feel like I am in a Greek Tragedy...

But as aggravating as it can be, I sure do love those two little rascals and can't imagine living life without them.

Happy Birthday Katie!

2011-10-06T11:11:00.003-06:00

Katie is 6yrs old! This morning before school she opened presents. She got a new backpack, a quilt, a Junie B. Jones book, a Zhu Zhu pet sleeping bag, and a Sponge Bob Square Pants Lego set. As a special treat, she had Lucky Charms for breakfast. I don't normally buy sugar cereals, but they can pick out one they like for their birthday. She was excited for all of her things. Maggie, on the other hand, was upset that she didn't get any presents. Hang in there Mags, only 13 more days!

The other day, Maggie was having continual meltdowns. I finally got irritated and sent her upstairs. After a while I went looking for her and found her crashed out on the floor in the hallway.

Awwww! Gratuitous dog pics!

Again?!

2011-09-28T09:15:00.004-06:00

At least she didn't lose an ear or a finger, and the dog is unscathed. But I give up....

Meet Minnie!

2011-09-19T09:31:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was surfing KSL classifieds and found an ad for Mini-Schnauzer puppies for sale. I jumped right on it. Jeff and I had discussed adding a dog, and thought after all the camping trips were done it would be a good time. Yesterday, we picked our puppy up from the breeder. She is the cutest little pup! Katie and Maggie are both very excited about her. Here they are making sure she eats all her breakfast.

Maggie is a very proud big sister. She was glad when Katie left for school so she can have puppy all to herself!

Utah State Fair 2011

2011-09-12T08:52:00.000-06:00

On Sunday we went to the State Fair. I had entered a shawl that I had knitted and wanted to see how it did. We found it and I got a third place ribbon. I also noticed that it was displayed inside out. I found one of the fair ladies and had her flip it around the right way. Now I am wondering if that is how the judges judged it. Anyway, I always enjoy looking at all the stuff people make.

We walked around some more and found ourselves at the "Little Hands on the Farm" display for the kids. Katie and Mags love this! They call it the kids farm. What they do is go in the first building and pick up a bucket and an apron and then proceed to different stations, doing different farm tasks. At the end, when they have collected all of their items, they take them to the "Market" and sell their goods. Then the kids get a "dollar" that they can take to the store and buy a snack with. It is a really cute idea.
Then we wandered around some more and saw all the critters, alot of them were getting ready for show and judging.
It was great weather and we had a great time.

Surprise visit....

2011-09-08T09:26:00.005-06:00

Just after Katie left for school, Maggie decided to go out to swing in the backyard. A few minutes later she comes in and tells me "I don't want to swing, there's a big turkey out there". OK, sure Mags, whatever. Few minutes later she goes out and comes back in "now there's two turkeys out there, and they're big". I go outside, and whatdyaknow? Not turkeys, but two peacocks! I have no idea where they came from, they were both perched on the fence, but by the time I got back with my camera one had hopped down to the front yard. They walked all over, and then moseyed off.

Camping at Spruces 3.0, and the rest of the Very Busy Weekend

2011-09-05T09:35:00.000-06:00

Well our weekend kicked off on Thursday. It was the first football game of the season and we have tickets. It was fun to be back and see all the fans in their red, and ready to cheer the team on for another year. The Utes played Montana State. It was not a glamorous game, Jeff says they weren't revealing any tricks for USC to pick up (the Utes play them next week). But the Utes did manage to pull off a W.

The next morning we packed up for our third camping trip to Spruces. This is also our last one of the season. We were able to reserve our favorite spot for Labor Day weekend. We had all of our shopping done, so that when Katie got off the bus after school, we were able to get on the road. When we got there, we got our gear all set up and sat back for a cold one. The campground was full, but it was actually pretty quiet. We ate our tinfoil dinners and then enjoyed smores.

Saturday morning we had our breakfast and then about lunch time my parents came up for lunch and brought along cousin Victoria. The girls had a great time playing, and running around.

Saturday night we got the girls in bed and sat out enjoying the fire and the stars. The campground was really quiet as compared to other times we have been there. Sunday morning we got up rather late, and had a leisurely breakfast and then eventually got our stuff together and came home. We had originally paid through Monday, but Jeff and I decided we were too tired to stay another night.

For the last several days Katie has had a loose tooth. Her first loose tooth! It is on the bottom. While camping, I noticed her tooth seemed to be hanging on by a mere thread. Once we got home and cleaned up, I half jokingly said to her "come here and lets yank that out". She said OK and put her head in my lap. I counted to three and it came right out. I don't think she really even felt it! But she was so amazed and ran right upstairs to look at her new smile in the mirror! She was very excited for the tooth fairy to visit.

Monday morning Katie reported that the tooth fairy left her 50cents, and "How did the tooth fairy get my tooth out of the envelope and put money in it without opening it up?"

And since Maggie is nearly 4, and we are done with camping, I told her it was time to try sleeping without a diaper. Monday morning she woke up and came running into my room to tell me she had no accidents in the night! WOOHOO! I think I see the light at the end of the diapering tunnel!!!

First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-29T10:09:00.000-06:00

Today is Katie's first day of Kindergarten. At nearly 6 years old, she has been ready for this for a long time. Over breakfast this morning she told me she was nervous. I told her don't worry all kids are a bit nervous the first day, mom included- I never could sleep the night before the first day of school. But I reminded her that we met her teacher last week, and she saw where her classroom is, bathrooms, and playground. Today was her first trip up the school bus steps. There were other, older kids there and a little boy that was also starting kindergarten today. When the bus pulled up and opened the door, the older kids lined up and Katie fell in right behind them. She never gave me a second glance. She needs this whether she knows it or not.

Fun with Cousins (new and old!)

2011-08-28T09:30:00.007-06:00

For the last week my sister Jamie has been in town along with her two girls, Ella and Eva. They are fairly close in age to Katie and Maggie. On Wednesday, we rode Trax downtown just to walk them all around Temple Square for a bit to see the flowers. The girls all had a great time. Cousin Victoria came along as well.

On Friday, we all went to see our newest Cousin: Benjamin! After 4 nieces, I now have a nephew (on my side of the family)! My sister Pamela had her baby last Monday. He is the cutest little guy. Mom, Dad and baby are all doing very well.

After visiting with them for a while, we took the older girls to Kangaroo Zoo to run around. Now that school has started, there were hardly any kids there. They loved it and had a great time. Up until Ella met a girl that apparently wasn't nice to Katie, who then referred to her as "Ella's Evil Friend". I tried really hard not laugh out loud on that one!

Saturday night I had a work party that all of us went to. It was at Sugarhouse Park and it was alot of fun! Everyone brought their families and there was hot dogs and hamburgers to eat, and a bunch of yummy salads. There was a pie eating contest at the end and Katie voluteered to do it. She was really cute, and just sat there with all these adults waiting for the contest to start. When they said "GO!" she dived right in and kept her hands behind her back the whole time. She was very proud of her efforts and so were we!

Yellowstone!

2011-08-24T08:01:00.020-06:00

This past weekend we went to Yellowstone National Park. We both just love it and felt it was time to introduce our two cuties to Yellowstone.
We left early Thursday morning and drove until this rest stop near Malad. As you can see they were glad to have a break from riding in the car! Katie is inspecting a sagebrush plant, and Maggie is happy to run around.

We had lunch in Pocatello and then stopped for a minute in Idaho Falls to see the falls. Back in the car and off to West Yellowstone, MT.

We checked into our hotel and wandered around the town; first stopping at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center right across the street from our hotel. This place is cool, they have two enclosures. One side is the bears, the other is wolves. It was a hot afternoon so the animals weren't doing much. They did have a playground at the end of the trail and the girls enjoyed that for a few minutes.

They had these buffalo statues around town that were painted, and the kids liked this one in front of the Train Depot museum.

We set our alarm for 6am to get a good start Friday morning. We thought we would do geysers today. Our first stop was at Fountain Paint Pots. These two just loved the bubbling mud!

We stopped here and there at the other sites and at Midway Geyser basin we looked at the Grand Prismatic Spring.

Here is Jeff pointing out something of interest

Here, the girls and I, check out the bacterial mats that form in the warm spring waters.

But the whole time, all Maggie could ask is, "Is this Old Faithful?" We finally made it there and they were thrilled, but wanted to know why there wasn't any water. But then the show started....

After watching Old Faithful, we wandered around the geysers there, but just about half of them. Jeff and I were feeling about wiped out by this time and so were the kids. We loaded up in the car and went out to West Thumb geysers. It was just enough of a nap in the car to re-energize their little batteries!

After West Thumb geysers, we drove on over to the Mud Volcano area. We are big fans of the "boiling mud"! But the smell, not so much....

By the time we got back the hotel Friday night, we were all beat. We ordered a pizza in our room and relaxed the rest of the evening. But even after all that walking, the girls were too wound up to go to bed right away, so there was alot of giggling and talking for far too long.

Saturday morning, we got up again at 6am to get our breakfast and get on the road. Since we were working on our Jr Ranger badges, we had to get over to Canyon for a Ranger talk. On the way there, we stopped at Norris Geyser basin and walked around the Porcelain basin part. Yellowstone is fun in the cool morning air, you can really see the thermal areas well with all the steam.

We got to Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone about 15 minutes before our Ranger talk and took in the view. Jeff took this photo, and if you look closely, you may be able to see the rainbow at the bottom of the falls. The Ranger talk was all about volcanoes and how Yellowstone was made out of a volcano. Katie and Maggie got their paper work signed and then we were off to the Canyon Ranger station for the swearing in and awarding of the badges. They are very proud, and so are mom and dad!

After lunch in Canyon, we decided to drive toward Lamar Valley to see if we could find any buffalo. WOOHOO! A big herd and up by the road!

We decided to make a stop in Mammoth Hot Spring, to look around and plan our attack for the morning. As we drove into town, there was a herd of elk relaxing on the side of the road, so that was fun to see them up close. We wandered around a bit and then bought some ice cream!

We drove out to the north entrance where the stone gate is and then back to the other side of the park and our hotel, where again, we ordered pizza for dinner as we were much to tired to do anything else!

Sunday morning we got up and got out, and on our way to Mammoth Hot Springs, we saw this guy on the side of the road. The pic isn't very good, but we didn't want to make him angry. Those guys are big close up!

After the buffalo excitement, we stopped at Artist Paint Pot and walked up to check it out. The thermal features are a short walk away from the parking lot and it was a lovely walk. At the top of the walk you can look down at the whole view. But the best thing was more boiling mud!

When we finished at Artist Paint Pot, we went back to Norris Geyser Basin to finish seeing the rest of the features. Norris is a pretty interesting place. Smelly, but cool.

We then drove out to Mammoth, and by this time Jeff and I really don't want to hike up and down the hot spring mountain, even after our lunch break. So we decide to drive to the top and do the upper terrace drive. We did stop at one little hot spring called Orange Spring Mound.

Since it was still a bit early in the afternoon, we decided to go back to Old Faithful and see it again and also go in Old Faithful Inn. Maggie really wanted to see the bedrooms of the Inn. She loves hotels! This time we went to the balcony on the Inn to watch the geyser. It was a great show!

Then it was time for ice cream, and we went back to the balcony to enjoy our treat.

We got back to our hotel a little earlier this time, and since I couldn't do another pizza, we walked around town and finally found a pretty tasty Chinese place. Then we walked around a bit longer...

and then back to our hotel and, wouldn't you know, the last night there these two decide to fall asleep by 8pm!

Monday morning, we had breakfast and drove back into Yellowstone one last time. It was a beautiful sunny morning, but there were a couple of big fog banks we drove through. Weird.

We left Yellowstone through the south entrance so that we could hit Grand Teton National Park. Those mountains are wonderful! We were at Jackson Lake Lodge on the patio in back, and the girls were running around. Poor Maggie took a spill and hit her face on the sidewalk and ended up with a fat lip and some scrapes.

We got out of there quick and went to Jackson Hole for lunch. As we were wandering around the town square, we had a crazy idea to take a stagecoach ride. Katie and Maggie loved this! They thought this was great and Maggie told me that next time she wanted to go on a much longer ride!

We found a place to eat, a little "hole in the wall" lunch counter that served up great burgers. The fun thing about it was that the bar stools looked right at the cooking area and we watched our lunch being made. Katie thought this was pretty interesting. You can see poor Maggie's lip from her fall.

We had a great time and got two more stamps for our National Parks Passports. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to do Jr Rangers at Grand Teton, but we plan to next time. It was a long ride home and we are glad to be back! Oh, and did I mention that we had a fabulous time?

Camping at Spruces 2.0

2011-08-09T11:13:00.001-06:00

Three weeks ago we camped at Spruces campground in Big Cottonwood, and this past weekend we returned for another stay. This time is was the Hansen Family Camp (Hansen being my side of the family). We arrived on Thursday around 3pm and set up our gear. My cousin and her family arrived a couple hours later, and the girls were thrilled! It was Keaton (from the zoo trip). They camped right next to us and my uncle, and another cousin camped on the other side of us. The kids had a great time playing together. We cooked up our foil dinners and afterward we went to my uncle's campsite for the fire and smores. Just as we are finishing our smores, the sprinkles start. Then some thunder and then the rain. It was raining on us pretty good for about 30 minutes. The girls were not big fans of this. But the storm moved by quickly and we had great weather for the rest of the weekend.

Friday morning all the campers got together for breakfast. We made "omelettes" in a plastic baggie. Put a couple eggs in a Ziploc with some of your favorite toppings, and then throw into a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes and enjoy. After we cleaned up and put away breakfast, I took the girls up to Donut Falls for a hike. They did really good! My cousin Kira and her husband Lee were with us. When we got to the falls we ate our granola bar and peach and then hiked down.

Friday night we had the big dutch oven dinner. This is when all the rest of the family shows up. We had BBQ chicken and pork, Yellowstone beans, salad, and fruit. For dessert we had 2 apple and 2 peach cobblers cooked in the dutch oven. We had a great turnout and I think everyone had a great time. It is good to see alot of aunts, uncles, and cousins that I don't get to see very often. After dinner, my sister Pam and her husband Derek came back and hung out by the fire with us for a while.

Saturday morning we had a sausage and pancake breakfast for the campers and afterward, everyone started getting ready to leave. Once the cousins left, the girls got bored. But, no worries, they found some kids across the road in another site to play with! Then Saturday evening there was a group that moved in next to us and they had some girls that were Katie's age and then that was great! Katie and her new friends, found small caterpillar that they named "Buster" and then proceeded to take care of him. Apparently that includes alot of ripped up leaves. Before I went to bed I put the caterpillar back on the bushes and in the morning the girls looked into the cup they had put him in and found a moth. So yeah, Buster turned into a moth in the night, who knew? Jeff and I stayed up (far too late) playing card games and then Sunday morning after breakfast we started packing up. We had a great time, but we are thinking that three nights may be the maximum time we can spend in the woods. My girls both just love camping. We enjoy going to Spruces because it is so close to home. Spruces- Part 3 is coming up soon so stay tuned....

Our Day at the Zoo...

2011-07-30T11:05:00.001-06:00

One of our favorite cousins (Keaton) is in town these next few weeks and today we got together with him, and his two little sisters Savannah and 2 month old Tessa. We got there at 10am and already it was crowded! Gorgeous day for the zoo. While the girls and I were waiting for everyone else to arrive, we spent some time at the playground...

And checked out the Prairie Dog pen. They became enamored with Prairie Dogs last September on our trip to the Black Hills.

Once our cousins met up with us, we started checking out everything else. The zoo currently has an animated dinosaur exhibit going on. They are life-size animatronic statues, so they wag their heads, move their arms and eyeballs...

Really cool, unless you are the Jonsson girls. They were freaked out by just the statues, but when the soundtrack that played dinosaur roars started up they both lost it. My mantra the whole day at the zoo "they are not real, they are statues with a microphone". Alot of Katie's zoo experience was spent like this...

We enjoyed the monkeys, as always, and there were no scary dinosaur roars there!

Here is the gang, L to R, Savannah 2yr, Maggie 3yr, Keaton and Katie both 5. They have alot of fun together...

Later on I gave the girls a choice, Carousel or Train? Obviously they chose the carousel, and were very excited. Until I put them up on their chosen critters. This is Katie before the ride started....

Maggie didn't mind as much, but she is still white-knuckling the pole...

However, once the ride started they both had a great time and didn't want to get off...

The dinosaurs at the zoo are neat, but I think they are only there until mid-August, so hurry on down! Here is a link to Hogle Zoo's website to help you plan your visit.

Exciting News!

2011-07-28T22:23:00.003-06:00

Meet Emma Elizabeth! She is the latest addition to my side of the family, my sister Laura and her husband Sam are the proud parents. Emma was born today at 3:35am. She weighed in at 7lb 4oz, and 19.5" long. I took the girls up this afternoon to meet their new cousin. Funny thing is, Maggie has been convinced, ever since she found out about the baby, that she would be the Big Sister for this baby. However, she was very worried about having to give her beloved monkey blankey to the new baby. I assured her that did not need to happen. The girls loved holding baby Emma and were very gentle and quiet with her. They are excited to show her all of the toys at grandma's house!

Sorry this is so small, I got it off my phone...

Camping at Spruces 1.0

2011-07-17T20:48:00.002-06:00

Last weekend we skipped our camping trip to Soapstone that we had planned due to thunderstorms in the area. So we came up with a scheme to try and go up to Spruces in Big Cottonwood canyon. Now typically you have to reserve your camp site about 6 months in advance, but there are 56 first-come-first-serve spots at Spruces. Despite not feeling too well Thursday afternoon, Jeff loaded up our old tent, the girls and a bunch of blankets (sleeping bags all in the pop-up), and went to go get a spot. They had 1 left! So they took it. It was a funny spot, practically right on the edge of the road and right across from the toilets.But we did have a front row seat for the 2 or 3 moose that wandered by.

The girls thought this was a great adventure! They had hotdogs over the fire and 'smores. In the morning they woke up and came home to get me, the food, and the pop-up. We love camping at Spruces because it is so close to home! When we got to the camp site, the girls were really excited to show me the tent, and where they slept, and the little stream right outside the tent.

That evening, we had a camping guest! My brother, Adam, decided to join us. He brought up his gear and spent the night. They girls loved having their favorite uncle hang out with us. Then in the morning we had french toast, sausage, and hashbrowns! Saturday evening my mom and dad, and my sister Pam joined us for dinner. The girls love having camp visitors. We had a great dinner, a campfire and more 'smores.

The weather was great, and at night a great big full moon. Sunday was going home time. We love camping but it is really nice to get home and clean up. We have another two trips planned to the Spruces later this summer. We can't wait!

What we did this weekend....

2011-07-11T10:08:00.001-06:00

was not go camping. We were supposed to go out this weekend, but with a bunch of thunderstorms in the forecast, we decided not to go. So instead we did a craft room makeover! When we bought this house, it was billed as a 4 bedroom. That included this long rectangular room in the basement. There are no closets in this room so we turned it into our "office". Jeff has a computer and shelves for his hobbies, and then the other half of the room is my "Sewing Nirvana". Why it took 8 years for us to get around to this, I have no idea! Jeff did a great job at putting up the shelves. Then I picked up the sewing cabinet from my mom for the old Singer and we installed that.

Here is a pic of my shame from earlier this Year...

And here is the same view after all of our hard work this weekend...

Sewing corner- Baby Lock, Pfaff, and old Singer...

Folding craft table, knitting supplies, photo albums...

My 1935 Singer 15-91 in the cabinet and ready for action!

This is Jeff's side of the room- the black chair is facing a computer.

Daycation!

2011-07-03T09:28:00.001-06:00

We got up this morning and headed north to Golden Spike National Historic Site. We have been there before but Maggie was only a few months old at the time. AND- they have a Jr Ranger program, so the girls were very excited to check that out.

Our arrival was timed perfectly. We got there about 15 minutes before the afternoon "show". First they talk about the trains and move them to and fro on the track, and then they do a re-enactment of May 10, 1869 when the last spike was driven. As we were watching the trains move back into position, Maggie asked "are we going to our hotel now?" We laughed, she must have thought we were on a real vacation.

Then it was time to do the re-enactment. They had a bunch of people dressed in period costume, but even then, were shorthanded so they picked a few guys out of the audience. Guess who got picked?

The girls and I thought this was great! Dad doing a part in the show! He played the telegraph operator that wired the details across country. After the program Katie said to him "it was fun that you were in the movie"!

We had beautiful weather and the trains were beautiful in the sunshine, running up and down on the track. The girls finished their papers and were sworn in as Jr Rangers and were awarded their badges.

Then from the visitor center you can drive west a few miles along the original railroad bed. We stopped at the sign on the way out, and after many tries managed to get a picture!

PAC 12 Day!

2011-07-01T14:00:00.002-06:00

Today it was official that the University of Utah joins the Pacific Athletic Conference. There was a party at the State Capitol so I thought I would take the girls up there to enjoy it.

It was a beautiful day! We got there about 11am and wandered around the capitol building. The girls were very impressed. Maggie walks into the rotunda and exclaims "Mom, it's like being in a city!" not really sure what she meant, but the amazed look on her face was really cute! I am ashamed as I have not taken them up there before. We plan on going up again for a picnic.

Anyway, the party was about to start so we walked around on the lawn and found out the Crimson Line was passing out balloons, buttons, and ice cream sandwiches. We definitely made sure we got in on that! Then the band played a couple rounds of "Utah Man" and then the speechifyin'. This was when the girls started to whine, they were not happy with this. But just about the time when a major meltdown was about to start, they let out tons of red and white balloons to float up, up and away. This made it all better!

By this time it was about lunch and we headed for home. We had a great time together running around and looking at all the statues, and watching people.

On a side note, I found a really cute FREE pattern on the internet for their little dresses. Quick, quick, quick! And very easy, a great project for beginners!

At last!

2011-06-26T20:45:00.001-06:00

Mother Nature has finally delivered us camping weather! And this past weekend we took full advantage of it! Friday morning we packed up and headed off to Ponderosa Campground just outside of Nephi. Given all of the road construction on I-15 in Utah County, we decided to go down Redwood Road all the way down and around Utah Lake. It is very scenic and it made us feel like we were on a real vacation! We pulled into our campsite at 2:30pm and set up.

Then we got right down to relaxing! The weather was beautiful. The girls had plenty of room to run around and play. We cooked our tinfoil dinners and then had smores. Katie and Maggie LOVE a good campfire!

Saturday we relaxed some more, and then decided to drive into Nephi to the store and get a few things. I didn't even make anyone go on any hikes. We like to drive up to Devil's Kitchen, but the Nebo Loop is still closed! When we got back from the store, Jeff set up the hammock he bought.

From the sheer entertainment factor for the kids alone, this was money well spent! They had a great time crawling in, and swinging. Mostly they played pretty well without too many fights.

Satuday evening, Jeff's parents came for dinner and a fire. We love to have them hangout with us and they enjoy it as well. All the fun of camping with none of the work!

Sunday we got up and put everything away and headed home, again going around Utah Lake. We love going camping, but it is nice to come home and clean up and sleep in our own beds. We have at least another 3 trips planned this summer so stay tuned!

Weekend getaway to .....

2011-06-19T19:57:00.001-06:00

We are fed up with this cold rainy spring! So we cooked up a trip down south to Bryce Canyon National Park! Jeff and I were last there 6 years ago, and decided it was high time we went back and take our two favorite girls with us. We left Friday morning around 9am and had a nice drive down. There were alot of clouds driving down and we were thinking we had brought the rain with us. But we got to Bryce and it was lovely. The sun was out and after stopping at the Visitor's Center, we headed on out to Sunset Point. Lovely views and the girls were very good about holding hands and staying off the fences.

When we were at the Visitor's Center we looked into the Junior Ranger program. I figured this would be something Katie would just eat right up. You collect your activity book and then start following along. The requirements are picking up any trash you see, doing some of the worksheets in the book, and attending a Ranger talk. We signed up for the Kids Program on Saturday morning. Katie and Maggie both did an excellent job picking up garbage and learning about appropriate behavior in our National Parks. We ate at Ruby's Inn for dinner and then went back to the hotel (Best Western Bryce Canyon Grand) and went to bed. Or tried to anyway, the kids were just a bit wound up!

Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, and went into the park to Fairyland Point. We had about two hours to kill until the Ranger talk. But the lighting was great and the girls were loving the view. Lucky for us, we happened to have TWO small binoculars in the car.

The Ranger talk was at 10am and it was all about how the ancient indians survived. She talked about how they made tools, found food, and built shelters. Katie was really into this. There were probably 12-15 kids and at the end of the talk the Ranger talked about the dance circles, and had all the kids come and do a dance circle. Katie and Maggie were chosen to shake the gourds.

This talk completed the Jr Ranger requirement and at this point we went back to the Visitor Center and Katie and Maggie were sworn in as Junior Rangers complete with a Ranger badge!

After that we went up the road to Sunrise Point to hike to the Queens Garden. After hiking down the initial steep trail, Jeff took Maggie back up top and Katie and I continued on. I don't think we actually made it to the end of the trail, but we went as far as we could and enjoyed some different views of the canyon! We stopped and took a couple of pics.

After our hike we had a picnic of sandwiches and chips. Then we drove to the end of Bryce Canyon road and made our way down the drive, stopping here and there to check out the views. The girls are little troopers and just seemed to thoroughly enjoy our adventure.

At the north end of the park boundary is a short hike to Mossy Cave. This hike puts you at the bottom of the canyon and you hike among the hoodoos. The hike follows a stream that the pioneers diverted water to in order to have irrigation in and around Tropic. Mossy Cave has water dripping out of the rocks, and then a short ways up the trail is the water fall. Jeff got a great pic of that.

We were pretty hot after our hike so we stopped in Tropic for an ice cream and then back to the hotel. We wandered around the shops for a bit, dinner, and then bed.

Sunday morning after breakfast we checked out and drove to Zion National Park. Sadly, we were not able to take the shuttle up into the canyon, but we are planning a trip when we can do that. We mostly just wanted to drive the kids through the long tunnel.

What a great way to spend Father's Day. Here is a pic of a great dad with two really cute girls!

Well I have been lagging behind in the blogging....

2011-06-12T17:56:00.005-06:00

My Grandpa Springer fixed sewing machines for years and years. When my Grandma passed and my mom and her sibs were cleaning out the basement, there were a bunch of old sewing machines. All, of course, in pristine condition and running well. Several were sold, but my mom brought a couple of them home with her. At the time, I wasn't really doing much sewing and had a nice new Pfaff that did lots of tricks. I sure wish now that I had looked at the rest of those machines more closely! I have been into this quilting thing lately and the old vintage machines are great to use in quilting. The reason being, is that they sew a very nice looking stitch. Also, the older machines are HEAVY and therefore great to use in doing your own quilting.

I took one of these old machines off my moms' hands last week and brought her home. I started her up and sewed about 3" when Katie asked "why is there steam coming out of that hole?" I stopped sewing and decided we best do some research before doing much more. I was able to find and download an owner's manual for this old machine and found out it probably needed some oiling. ALOT of oiling. I oiled it and oiled some more and last night I made a simple blanket. It sews great and the oil did the trick! No more "steam coming out of holes"!

My "new" machine is a 1935 Singer 15-91.

Now that it has finally quit raining we have been spending some time in the backyard. We noticed this nest, and I think it belongs to the Mama Robin and the two babies I have seen hopping around the backyard. I sure wish we had known about this earlier, it would have been really fun to try and watch Mama Bird build the nest!

Here are a couple of dollies I made. I found this pattern and I couldn't resist. They were relatively easy and they use scraps so it's easy to find fabric for them. Each girl picked out what fabric they wanted for their dolly. The hair is two layers of felt sewn together and can be braided. Yes, Mags is still in her nightgown. There are some fights you just can't win...

The Baby Shower Quilt and another revealed....

2011-06-05T09:46:00.008-06:00

A while back I found this quilt pattern on Moda Bake Shop and I thought it would be fun to do for Laura's baby shower. If you haven't heard of precuts before you are in for a treat. This company (Moda) makes fabric precuts. Basically they take all of the fabric printed for a line, and then cut it into premeasured shapes. There are 10" squares, 5" squares, and strips 1.5" wide and 2.5" wide. In each pack you get 40-42 pieces of fabric from that particular design line. For this quilt I used white 2.5" strips to write on, and 1.5" strips as the trim. At the baby shower I had each guest sign advice, or a wish for the baby, or in the case of the kids, draw a happy face. You could even do this for a newlywed couple, instead of signing a guest book, sign a block and then they have a cute throw for the couch. I think that it turned out really cute. Laura seemed pleased with it.

Here is another quilt that I made for my cousin Kira, who's just welcomed baby Tessa home. I used a pastel roll of the 2.5" strips along with some fabric that I found. I didn't have enough fabric to make a quilt (end of the bolt) so I kind of pieced it all together. I think I turned out rather cute and I did a bit of free motion quilting on it. The first time I tried it- I just knew I was going to mess it up!

Now just in case you are croaking thinking that this has turned into just another quilting blog, here is a pic of the Girls from Friday. We had our hair cut and then went on a geocaching expedition. We are getting good! We found 6 together on Friday and then took a picnic to the park where we had a play date with Katie's best friend from preschool.

Another quilt revealed....

2011-05-28T16:56:00.001-06:00

On Thursday we held a baby shower for my sister Laura. She thought a monkey motif in the baby's room would be cute and when I saw this pattern I thought this would be perfect! A couple months ago my friend Shauna (we work together) and I did this quilt together. It was my first trip into the wonderful world of applique and she held my hand through the process. We had an assembly line going to put two of these together. Applique is tedious and very time consuming. While the finished product was really cute, I don't really see myself doing a whole lot of applique. The backing is a repeat of that banana print that I used on one of the front panels.

So I have been a bit crazy with quilting lately....

2011-05-23T13:41:00.004-06:00

It all started in January when I finally finished the quilt for Maggie's bed. Then I found a Quilting blog that was doing a postage stamp quilt along. And I followed along and made the quilt with all the little squares. Well since then I have made 6, and another 3 are in the works. This is a quilt I made for my mom. She always spoke of learning to read with the "Dick and Jane" books as a kid, so when I saw the retro print kids all playing different games I thought it would be fun to do. The pattern is called "In and Out" by American Jane. Very easy pattern to put together. The fun part came in the quilting of it. I did straight lines (stitch in the ditch) along the edges of the tickets, and also around the inner border, and between the squares. Then around the kids I did a little free motion quilting. I did an all over stipple pattern, and I am very proud of myself as it was my first foray into this on my regular machine. This is the kind of thing people send out to have done. The back is pieced together out of the leftovers from doing the top. The pics aren't the best, we had a break in the rain and I needed to get them done quick! There are more quilts to show, but as they haven't yet been given to the recipients I will need to keep them in the dark a bit longer....

Katie's Spring Show...

2011-05-20T16:27:00.001-06:00

The school year is winding down and Katie's preschool had a spring show for the parents. On display was alot of the art work they have done through the year. They opened the show with the kids singing two songs complete with hand motions. Last Christmas in the show, Katie was not at all interested in doing a song and dance. What a difference a few months make! Katie sang and did all of the motions and really seemed to enjoy herself!

Once the kids were done singing, they showed a short video about the past year. In every shot Katie is happy and smiling. She has really enjoyed school this year! (pic below: Miss Ayla, Katie, Miss Karen)

The other day it was raining (again) and pretty much curtailed any outdoor excursion. What to do? We made Peanut Butter Cookies. This is a perfect recipe to make for two girls that love to "help" cook. Maggie is in charge of rolling the dough balls in sugar, and then Katie does the fork design. Everyone has a job and there are no fights this way.

Spring Planting...

2011-05-15T15:38:00.003-06:00

Well last year we did not plant any flowers and, I am ashamed to say, let the flower beds go to grass. I am sure the neighbors were disgusted. This photo I took last fall just after I dug out a bunch of crappy paver stones. The flower bed we worked on yesterday was covered in really long crab grass and morning glory! It was awful!

We spent alot of time digging out the grass and weeds and then went to Glover's Nursery for a few marigolds and a canna lilly. Once we were done planting I was done in, so I sent Katie outside to take a few pics for me. She is a pretty good little photographer. Jeff and I did not help her at all with her photography.

Last spring the girls and I planted some snow peas by the house. This year we have a surprise snow pea volunteer! The girls are really excited about this. I have also picked up some carrot, green bean, and pumpkin seeds that we are going to plant in the next few days....

Quilt Show and Mother's Day project....

2011-05-09T11:02:00.007-06:00

Last Friday we went to the Quilt Show at South Towne Expo. It was huge! They had many quilts on display as well as plenty of shopping. I tried VERY hard to contain myself....

The girls loved looking at the different quilts and I took a few pics of some of our favorites. However, about 1hr into the fun, the meltdowns start. First it's Maggie, she starts whining and crying and I am still not exactly sure why. Then Katie starts in. I didn't leave though, I had been looking forward to this for ages and paid good money to get in! So we went from booth to booth looking for candy bribes and that bought us a bit more time.

At one of the booths, the gals there had "chalkboard mats". They were made out of chalk cloth, quilt batt, and about a half a yard of fabric. This is really cool! So I let each girl pick out her favorite colors and then I made them up Friday night. The chalk cloth works really well and they have had a great time this weekend playing chalk.

For Mother's Day gifts I had a great idea to do up a dish towel with some fabric paint. So I went over to my local Jo-Ann's bought some fabric paint and foam brushes and a couple of flour sack dishtowels. I taped the towel to a piece of cardboard and then painted a kids' hand. Pressed the hand down on the towel and presto! Tulips! Then I painted on stems and leaves, and wrote the names and ages with a fine point Sharpie. The grannies loved them!

And since the dish towels for the Grannies turned out really well, I dug around in my towel drawer and found two towels for the girls to decorate for me!

Katie's Creation....

Maggie's Masterpiece....

The Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T15:02:00.001-06:00

I set the DVR to record the Royal Wedding of William and Catherine and the girls and I had a great time watching it. We loved to look at all the wonderful hats. I really think Americans need to adopt the hat thing. Anyway, we are watching the wedding events and talking about the hats and all the sudden it dawns on me: WE NEED HATS!

So I grab a couple of paper plates, some curly ribbon, scissors, and the tape. I cut a hole in the middle of the paper plate and would periodically try it on a girl and then cut it some more until it fit their head. Then I punched a hole for the ribbon on either side of the head hole and threaded some curly ribbon through the smaller hole to use to tie onto their heads. Then we decorated with curly ribbon. They thought this was the BEST. IDEA. EVER!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-27T14:32:00.001-06:00

We had a wonderful Easter Weekend. On Saturday I helped the girls make some Easter decorations. I had a random thought the other day about crafts I did as a kid and this one came to mind. Crayon shavings between two sheets of wax paper and melted together with an iron! They loved this. I Google directions just to make sure I wouldn't set the house on fire and then we got to work. I found that the micro grater works really good for the crayon shavings. What we ended up with was a cool stained glass effect. Then I took some Easter themed cookie cutters and had the girls line them up how they wanted, traced and cut out the shape and hung up with curly ribbon. They thought this was the best ever. Then we got ready for eggs.

I had hard boiled 18eggs and they got through these in record time. Katie found that if you wrote on your egg with the plain wax crayon from the kit then the dye wouldn't color over the letters. Maggie wasn't ready to let the fun end so she took her last egg and dunked it multiple times in all of the colors! What she ended up with was a rather cool, camo-effect egg.

The Easter Bunny found our house (a bit too early) and they had a great time finding all the eggs that were hidden in the family room. They were also thrilled with the loot left with their baskets.

Here is a pic of them in their Easter dresses I had made. I found this cute and very easy pattern at a local quilt shop and made them coordinating dresses. Maggie picked out the fabric. They looked lovely all day. We had an Easter brunch at our house for my family, and then went to Dad's family for Easter dinner. It was a very nice day.

Geocache Fun (we tried....)

2011-04-23T10:59:00.001-06:00

I thought it might be fun to try to find some geocaches. We live near the river and there are alot of finds to be found. So I downloaded an app from iTunes that links to www.geocaching.com, and off we went. This app is cool in that it figures out where you are and then points you in the direction of where the treasures are hidden. Unfortunately, we looked for 5 and found 0. We did have a nice walk though. And through a bit more research I think I have figured out how to look for these caches so the girls and I want to head back.

When we got home, we made some butter! I know that sounds really odd and random, but we had watched a video clip the other day of a guy explaining how to make butter and we were suckered in! It didn't take very long and the kids were very impressed! My pic isn't very good, but then you all know what butter looks like.

Rainy Day fun...

2011-04-20T21:16:00.006-06:00

Today we had plans to meet our cousins (Ellie, Gwen, and Preston) at Kangaroo Zoo. The kids loved it! They have several "bouncy houses" to jump on, as well as climbing and sliding fun. There is also glow in the dark mini-golf (but we weren't there for that today). Jeff's mom and dad also come for the fun. The minute we walked in the door the girls couldn't wait to get jumping. We stayed for 2 hours!
And after the fun day we had, I am pleased to report that I am back in Katie's good graces!

We bleed RED.....

2011-04-16T18:49:00.004-06:00

So much so that we went to the University of Utah "Red and White Game" to see the football team play the annual practice game. They even had some tailgating fun! We took the kids and they had a great time playing scooters, running, and walking all over to see all the other tailgaters.

We were there with our friends from last year (Hi Ray and Mel!) and we did some grilling and a dutch oven cake. Swoops the Mascot was roaming around, and while Katie was brave enough to get a pic with him, Maggie was not. She was crying and saying "no Mom, I just want to peek at him".

I am out of practice taking candids of people as all I seem to get today were scenery shots. But I did get a really nice pic of Coach Whittingham!

It was a bit cloudy in the morning, but by game time the sun was out. It was a really nice day!

This is the thanks I get....

2011-04-09T19:03:00.003-06:00

I carried them for 9 months. I got up countless times in the night with them. I bathed them. I changed their diapers. I wash their clothes. I read them books. I comb their hair. I take them to movies and buy them popcorn. I make them skirts, and dress-ups, and pillows. But when I tell them to clean up their toys and make beds, this is the thanks I get.

Well at least they didn't draw it on the wall....

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

2011-04-06T08:42:00.003-06:00

Yesterday in school, Katie's class made stick puppets on the Three Billy Goats Gruff story. She, and Maggie, have been having puppet shows ever since. Here is a pic of the goats and the troll. And, no, I did not take a pic of my "bed head" that Maggie mentioned in the video!

Happy Anniversary!

2011-03-30T10:12:00.009-06:00

Ten years ago next month, I replied to a guys ad on Match.com. That guy was Jeff. We spoke on the phone for a couple of weeks, then went on our first date in May. By July we knew we had something pretty special. We became engaged in August and were married on March 29, 2002. It has been the best 10 years of our lives! Sure, we have had some highs and lows, but the highs have definitely outweighed the lows. We have been blessed with two cute little gals, extremely mischievous , but lovable all the same. Here's to another wonderful 9 years and to many more beyond that!

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Crap.

2011-03-25T13:40:00.005-06:00

Well here is the wall after cleanup.

Magic Eraser?
Wore a hole through it.

Soapy water?
Went over it three times.

Vaseline?
Didn't work and made the wall greasy.

Toothpaste?
No go, but now the wall smells minty fresh.

Any other ideas?

Question for the ages....

2011-03-23T10:24:00.002-06:00

The girls got in my purse today. This is not the first time in my purse or in my make-up drawer. We have had many "discussions" on this topic. I was first alerted to the problem by some frequent hand washing this morning. And since I didn't think they both developed an acute case of OCD-ness, I began my investigation.

"Katie what is it that you two are doing in your room?"
"NOTHING" said very loud and angry (cue the alarms and red flags).
"Just show me what is going on ok?"

At this point Katie produces my Stays-on-for-24hours lipstick (gone), and my new Ulta lipgloss (mostly gone).
....sigh.....
"Why child, why?"

At this point she starts screaming and shouting, I sent her to her room. I asked Maggie what was done with my lipsticks, as their lips weren't painted. She told me Katie's wall was instead.
....sigh....

When I went to Katie's room I found the following "art work". But this is all Maggie's fault, according to Katie.

Now for the philosophical question....
If painting the wall with my lipsticks are all Maggie's fault, why is it Katie's self-portrait?

Alright Mags, if you insist....

2011-03-22T09:31:00.001-06:00

On the way home from dropping Katie off at school, Maggie insisted she wanted to go swimming in the back yard. I kept saying it's too cold, etc. She would have none of it. I was getting tired of this conversation, so I said "OK Mags go get your swim suit". She put it on and went outside. She stood around for about 2 1/2 minutes and then decided to come in the house. It was really hard not to say "told ya so".

First picnic of the year!

2011-03-15T13:27:00.001-06:00

It is such a beautiful day out today, that I asked the girls if they were interested in a picnic. "YES!" They both shout. So I fixed their lunch and sent them outside with it. They have been entertaining each other out there non-stop since we got home from school with Katie. They are playing some kind of dress-up/gardening/princess/digging for worms kind of game thing.

Spring is here....

2011-03-11T15:05:00.009-07:00

Or at least it felt like it today! The girls and I took a walk to Great Harvest Bread Co. This location is 1 mile from our house. My girls did great, we walked the whole way. When we got to the bread store we got some lunch, cookie, and a water and then walked a mile back home. We spent time talking about different things and looking for leaf buds on the trees. Katie noticed that some trees have buds and some didn't. She decided that "some trees like warmer weather before making leafs". When we got back home, they spent a long time outside enjoying the swingset. (They won't play outside if it is windy).

They ate about half of their sandwich at GHBC, and we saved the rest for when we got home.

Here is a video of Mags going wild on the glider, then Katie joins in on the swing. I took this with my phone so the quality isn't the best, but still fun. Apparently when you take a video on the phone you need to hold it horizontally.

We've been slimed!

2011-03-09T07:00:00.006-07:00

I found a recipe for slime on the internet a while back and it intrigued me. Now if you Google glue slime you will get alot of recipes for this. But we'll make it easy for you and post directions here.

What you will need:

4oz bottle good ole' white Elmer's Glue
Borax (found in the laundry aisle)
Food coloring

Dump the glue into a bowl, then fill the glue bottle with water and shake it up and add that to your glue in the bowl. At this point you can add a few drops of food coloring. In a separate bowl combine 1C of water with 1 tsp of Borax powder. Stir it until it dissolves. Then slowly add the glue mixture into the Borax water. The best part is to have the kids stir this with their hands. I mean, what kid doesn't love making a mess?

Almost instantly it starts to clump up and next thing you know you have SLIME! This has entertained them all morning. It is pretty juicy at first, but the more they squish it and work it, the "dry-er" it gets.

Store it in the fridge in a plastic bag. It doesn't last indefinitely and may eventually develop mold. But it was fun while it lasted....

Pillow Talk!

2011-03-06T20:24:00.004-07:00

I found this pattern while surfing the internet one day and just had to do it! I let each of the girls pick out their two favorite fabrics. Katie fell in love with the lollipops and dots, while Maggie is all about the pink. This is a pretty easy pattern to do. I think you could probably make one in about 2hrs or so. It has two sizes to it, and I made the girls the smaller size. They just love them and were so excited when I was finished stuffing them and sewing them shut. They take alot of stuffing, about 96oz or so. And, they are great to have while watching a movie!

When Katie goes to school...

2011-03-01T09:25:00.001-07:00

Maggies loves to get in a laundry basket with some pillows and a blanket. Right now she is "reading" Green Eggs and Ham to herself. "Could you, would you on a rainy day? I would not could not on a rainy day." I am trying really hard not to giggle at her interpretations of the story...
She has a cup of Cheerios as a snack and has set that next to her on the upside down panda bear bucket. She calls it her snack table.

New Socks!

2011-02-27T18:51:00.001-07:00

Aren't these great?! Just the thing to brighten up a snowy day! The yarn is shades of bright pink to deep purple.

Quick sewing project....

2011-02-17T09:55:00.004-07:00

The other day at Jo-Ann's I saw a "sewing machine apron" and I almost bought it. Then I thought to myself, it is crazy to spend $25 on something that I could make in about an hour! For the last week or so, I have been surfing the internet for ideas and patterns. I finally just decided to wing it and make up my own thing. I dug around in my fabric bin and found this pre-quilted, two sided stuff.
I measured the length of my machine, and added a 1/2" on either side for finishing. I used my rotary cutter to square it up, figured out how deep to make my pocket- which is cut from a second piece. If you had enough fabric, you could make your rectangle piece longer and then just fold it up to create the pocket.
I found a package of bias tape that I had handy and used that to finish the edges. I sewed it to the pocket edge first, then I pinned the pocket to the main piece and put the bias tape all around that, making sure that the pocket piece was sewn on at the same time. I remembered that my machine has a nice bar-tack function so I used that at either edge of the pocket and in the middle where I sewed the pocket down. I decided that a smaller pocket would be perfect to hold my thread snips and then I have a larger pocket to hold marking pencils, tape measure, etc.

Katie's first school Valentine party

2011-02-15T11:53:00.005-07:00

She has school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we just got home. She was excited to show us all of the fun things she got at her school Valentine's Day party. Maggie is happy too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T11:24:00.001-07:00

Hope you are all having a very lovely day! Not much going on around here, but Katie is very excited for pre-school tomorrow! They will be having their Valentine's party. I was going to make some cutesy, crafty kind of Valentine's for her to take, but she fell in love with these Dinosaur cards in a box. Yesterday she wrote her name by herself on the back of all of them. I am so proud of her!

Ok, that was fun!

2011-02-05T16:00:00.009-07:00

I found a blog a few weeks ago that was just starting a "Quilt Along". Basically, once a week you are given a new set of instructions, and at the end of the series you have a quilt. This is called a "Postage Stamp Quilt" due to the fact that all the little squares are reminiscent of postage stamps. This is actually not as complicated as it may seem. If you can cut and sew in a straight line, then you could easily make this as well!

My finished quilt is 60"x60". I had a few extra blocks leftover so I incorporated them into the backing.

Maggie enjoying a snuggle with it on the couch.

My latest creation....

2011-02-02T13:29:00.002-07:00

These are my latest socks. Looks complicated but the pattern is extremely easy. They were very fun to knit. I may make another pair with this pattern!

Here's an idea...

2011-01-28T16:29:00.002-07:00

When your baby outgrows their receiving blankets, turn them into a cozy rag quilt they can use for few years more. These are Maggie's leftover receiving blankets that I turned into a rag quilt, and she calls it "Big Blankie". I am no good at tutorials, so I won't bog you down with instructions here, but there are plenty of instructions on the internet. So dig out those old receiving blankets and give them new life. Happy Sewing!

Project update...

2011-01-27T10:38:00.004-07:00

The slippers for Maggie and Jeff are done. They are both very excited about them....

Maggie's slippers worked up really fast and by throwing them in the washer and dryer it shrinks them down to size and makes a dense fuzzy fabric. Jeff loved his last pair of slippers I made him, but they were wearing out. I made him a new pair and this time have sewn leather soles on the bottom. Should help them wear better...

Weekend Update.....

2011-01-23T22:40:00.005-07:00

Saturday morning the girls had their first swim lesson at Murray Pool. Actually they have had swim lessons before, but this was the first time I didn't have to get in the water with them! Katie is the only girl in her class of 5. Maggie was thrilled to be in a class with other "big kids". In fact, they so enjoyed their class they didn't want to leave!

I knit socks. Many socks. I have alot of leftover yarns balls . What to do? I found a pattern for an afghan. This is turning out really well! I use a different yarn every row, and knot the fringe together every 5 rows. I won't be finished any time soon, but it is good TV watching knitting as it doesn't take much concentration.

I found a pattern the other day at Unraveled Sheep that I just could not pass up. And since I already have yarn for some Maggie slippers I thought I would try this out for her. Basically you knit these squares together and then start folding origami style! Then you throw them in the wash to get them felted/shrunk down to size. I just need to do the wash part then I will post pics of the final product.

I'm finished and Maggie is thrilled!

2011-01-16T19:24:00.009-07:00

I finished Maggie's quilt earlier this evening and she is so happy! Yesterday afternoon, she "helped" me spread the layers out. As she watched me do this she said "Mom can I kiss you?" I said "sure" and she gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then I said to her "You should be giving me a hundred kisses for all the work I am doing". She then grabs me around the neck and starts to give me a "hundred" kisses on the cheek! So cute! With gratitude like that I will keep on sewing things for her!

Anyway, I got all the quilting done last night; nothing fancy, just straight lines along the seams of the squares. The old "stitch in the ditch" to the seamstresses out there. Then today I picked up some quilt binding at Jo-Ann's and put it on tonight.

My corners turned out beautifully...

Notice the "fancy stitch" I used. Katie was fascinated by this...

And I even sewed my binding together at the end and you can't even tell!

I love the internet. With a few keystrokes, the wisdom of a million quilters is at your fingertips!

So, I am thinking about taking up a new hobby....

2011-01-15T14:19:00.008-07:00

I am going to try my hand at quilting. I really blame the gals I work with, the Quilting Bug is contagious and I got it from them! This weekend I worked on Maggie's quilt for her big girl bed. Three years ago I made one for Katie.

Now that I have a few more squares, it's Maggie's turn. I sewed all the squares together this weekend and as soon as the flannel is out of the dryer, all the layers will go together.

Then here is a pic of some pieces that will eventually be a Postage Stamp Quilt. (I hope...)

Katie fixes lunch!

2011-01-12T13:12:00.002-07:00

The girls got tired of waiting for me to fix lunch, so Katie took matters into her own hands. She made a peanut butter and honey sandwich on sourdough bread! And since the SD bread slices were a bit large, she even cut it in half all by herself and gave half of it to Maggie. Katie even got out a string cheese for each of them. What smart girls!

Happy New Faucet Day!!!

2011-01-09T21:44:00.006-07:00

I have been unhappy with my kitchen faucet for some time. We put it in new 7yrs ago when we moved in and it is just not adequate. My problem with it was the fact that there is not much clearance from the bottom of the sink to the aerator. So to try and get big pots under there, or washing large pans, well you see what I mean. Here is a pic of the old faucet, look behind the cute little chef in stripey PJs....

For Christmas I got a shiny new Kohler faucet where the spout pulls out and turns into a sprayer! Today Jeff installed it for me all by himself. I would have taken pics of the "man in action" but I didn't dare (tensions were high and I was walking on eggshells). Of course the install was not complete without an additional trip to Home Depot (we went yesterday to get a few things for the install).
BUT, it looks great and works great and I am thrilled!

First Girl's Day Out for 2011!

2011-01-07T17:01:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I took Katie and Maggie over to Murray Park Center to sign up for swim lessons. They saw the "playground" in the pool and were very incensed that we could not stay and swim. So this morning we went over for swimming! They loved this! It was $12 for the three of us. There is the "playground" in the pic, that sprays water all over, and then back behind that is a pretty good sized water slide. We did not do this. They are very cautious. But we did have a good time and spent about 90 minutes in the pool. It would have been longer if they had their way though! After leaving the pool they had to run in circles outside. They are good at running in circles....

After the pool, we went to Murray Library and got a stack of books and then off to lunch at Noodles and Co. Then home to read our books. Katie was excited to find a book on Dinosaurs that compare them to animals that are currently on the planet. Maggie is busy pouring over a "Where's Waldo" book. We had a good time.

It dawned on me recently that our Girls Day Out will change drastically later this year when Katie starts Kindergarten. That makes me sad....

Almost midnight....

2010-12-31T22:33:00.003-07:00

And we are sitting here watching TV and waiting for the New Year. 2010 was a great year. We were all healthy and happy. The girls are fast friends and love to play together. The occasional fight will break out but it doesn't last long. We went on a bunch of camping trips, and a great vacation to South Dakota. Maggie learned how to use the potty by herself, Katie started pre-school, I won a Blue Ribbon at the fair! Jeff and I are thankful for our two beautiful girls, our great jobs, and our wonderful family. So as 2010 is about to end, and 2011 begins, we all wish you a very Happy New Year and Best Wishes for the New Year.

Merry Christmas to All- Part 2....

2010-12-27T16:42:00.019-07:00

Christmas morning the girls were up about 7am. We went downstairs to see what Santa brought. Katie was thrilled to find a Lego set, a Mermaid Barbie, Skip-Bo Jr, a Tinkerbell hop-scotch mat, and some Tinkerbell make-up. Maggie got a Hippity Hop ball (which has been a huge hit) and Toy Story Barbie, Playdoh set, bath paints. Both girls got a pack of unmentionables, their ruffle skirts, a knitted scarf, and kaleidoscopes in their stockings. They were both thrilled with what they found!

We had a quick visit by my parents to inspect the loot, and then we started getting ready for party #2.

Jeff's family came to our house and we had a casual lunch, cold cuts and rolls. A few salads, and a fabulous bread pudding with rum sauce, courtesy of my sister-in-law, Jennie. There were a few more gifts, alot more commotion, and a great time all around.

After that party we went to Jeff's parents house for a gift exchange. They always spoil us every year, and this year was no exception! The girls each got alot of clothes, and books, and they each got Barbies- Katie's doll is Wedding Party Barbie, complete with Groom, cake and two flower girls. Maggie got a Barbie Car! We had a very busy wonderful day and look forward to the next few days of playing with our new toys!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and here's to a healthy and happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas to All- Part 1...

2010-12-26T14:46:00.013-07:00

Christmas Eve my side of the family came over for a party. For the last few years we have done an evening of Appetizers. Everyone brings 1 or 2 appetizers that they want to try, and we feast on that instead of a formal dinner. This has been really fun. We had a great time laughing and getting to know our newest brother-in-law, Derek.

The girls got their crayon pockets I made and had fun coloring with their cousin Victoria.

Maggie and Katie got new Christmas PJ's and were so excited to open them. The tree and snowflake on their shirts is actually an iron-on that I found at Jo-Ann's craft store. I ordered the shirts from Hanes.com and then made PJ pants. I think they turned out rather cute!

Then it was off to bed so Santa could come and we could get ready again for party #2.....

Free at last! Free at last!

2010-12-19T20:59:00.004-07:00

Today I am free from the unimaginable ruffling hell I have been in for the last three weeks! Remind me to never read "crafty" blogs again! A few months ago, I read a gal's tutorial on how to make these skirts. I said, "hmmmm". A few weeks later we were in Costco and pass by a stack of skirts similar to this. Maggie saw one and immediately wanted to put it on and wear it the rest of the day. You can imagine the meltdown when I said no. At that point, I figured I better get sewing.

Now, for some reason, I don't really think about Christmas sewing until Thanksgiving weekend. I don't know why, maybe I like the pressure of a deadline. Anyway, these took me three weeks between all the higher math required and the interminable ruffling. I am so glad I know how to put my serger to work in the ruffling arena! But still....

Tonight I finished! I was going to have them be from "Santa", but there is NO WAY he is getting all the credit for this! I just know Maggie is going to have a heart attack when she opens this up!
So Merry Christmas Katie(blue) and Maggie(pink)!

It doesn't happen often....

2010-12-17T16:34:00.001-07:00

But every now and then I can get domestic. Today was one such day. The girls and I got up and made chocolate dipped pretzels and thumbprint cookies. They were great helpers! They loved dipping the pretzels and helping make the "thumbprints" in the cookies. Then we plated everything and made a few deliveries of Christmas Cheer!

Katie's first school program....

2010-12-16T12:27:00.009-07:00

Today Katie had her first school program. Three of the classes got together and performed a few songs. All the kids were singing, doing hand motions, performing their little hearts out. Except Katie. At one point Maggie whispers to me "mom, why isn't Katie doing anything?" Geez Mags, wish I knew. And stupid me forgot that I had the video camera in my purse. BUT- she was the cutest statue on stage! I tried to get her to do something but she decided she was content to just stand. Oh well, maybe next year....

Addendum: I finished Katie's hat today. She looks so cute!

Christmas crafting...

2010-12-13T11:27:00.003-07:00

I spent all day on Friday making these crayon rolls for the cousins. No, this isn't my original idea, I borrowed from various websites. But I think they turned out really cute. In all, I made 10 of them. I feel OK posting this as none of the cousins can actually read yet.....

I also made Katie and Maggie their Christmas PJ's which they will open Christmas Eve so I will post pics then. And I made another three Fat Quarter skirts; one each for the girls and one more for their cousin Victoria who takes after her mother and loves to perform! I need to get a pic of those three together in their skirts....

Congratulations Pam and Derek!

2010-12-06T19:12:00.010-07:00

Last Friday we drove to Las Vegas for my sister's wedding. Pamela and Derek were married on Saturday, Dec 4 at The Wynn. It was a beautiful ceremony, made even more beautiful by the five little flower girls!

They were pretty good sports, though there were a few tense moments, and at one point I thought Maggie wouldn't participate unless she carried "monkey blankie" down the aisle with her. But everyone calmed down at the last minute and participated!

Friday night we went to a lovely dinner hosted by Derek's family at Lawry's. We had a private room and we were able to meet his family and good friends. The girls did pretty good, I brought along new crayons and coloring books for them, you can really get alot of mileage out of that!
Saturday morning we had some time to kill before the wedding so we took them to walk around The Venetian shops (they loved the river and gondolas!) and then over to M&M World and the Coca-cola store. Maggie wanted nothing to do with the M&M guys or the Coke polar bear. I didn't get any shots of them, it is really hard to juggle all the stuff and keep an eye on those two at the same time.

We got back to the hotel and got ready for the wedding. We met up with our cousins in the lobby and they all looked so cute in their matching dresses. We got to The Wynn a bit early and luckily there was a long hallway near the wedding salons so it was easy to keep the girls entertained.

The wedding dinner was held across the street at the Capital Grille. The dinner was at 7pm, and the food was delicious! But by 8pm my little Cinderellas were both sacked out on extra chairs. Sadly, I did not get any pics of this. Katie was so out she was drooling all over the chair! They were so happy to get back to the hotel and get to bed.

Sunday we woke up and got on the road to Hoover Dam. We also wanted to see the new bridge that has recently been finished. The girls loved the dam. We took the power plant tour and went down inside to look at the generators.

When we left the dam we decided to drive to the Valley of Fire. Sadly, we didn't have too much time here but we drove around a bit. It is really beautiful and I would love to go back sometime and do some hikes.
Then we got back in the car and drove all the way back to old Vegas. We parked at the Golden Nugget and walked to Fremont Street. We saw all sorts of characters, (including Santa!), and some showgirls in their glittery, feathery outfits. We stuck around long enough to see the Fremont Street light show. That was alot of fun and Katie and Mags just loved it, they thought it was amazing. If you go to the Fremont Street light show, it starts every hour on the hour. We had to stick around longer than we really wanted in order to catch the show. And I realized that that part of Vegas is not as kid friendly as the newer parts. No place to eat with little kids.

Monday morning we hit the road and stopped in Kolob Canyon for a few minutes to take some pics. We are glad to be home, unfortunately we are all suffering from coughing, sneezing, runny noses, etc.

ps- My sweetie took that pic in Kolob, isn't he good?!

We are ready for Christmas!

2010-11-30T13:22:00.003-07:00

Sunday we put up the tree and all the other stuff. Katie and Maggie were in hog heaven! The picture is kinda crappy, I was trying the "Dramatic Lighting" setting on my camera....

Game Day.....

2010-11-27T21:20:00.011-07:00

What game? THE GAME! Utes vs BYU- some call it the Holy War. Rivalries don't get much better than this. Jeff and I were there. Kick-off was at 1:30 pm. It was cold. We wore as many layers as we could and still get our coats zipped. We got to the RES just before the game started.

I knew this game would be a death match going in; I didn't think anyone would give up easily. I was right. The first three quarters were just crap from a Utah fan perspective. We couldn't really seem to get a momentum. BYU did a couple of field goals and then a TD, and the score sat at 13-0.

Then the 4th quarter started. I don't know what happened during the half-time pep talk; maybe Starbucks came in and passed out double shots of espresso, I don't know. But all the sudden the Utes are now in the game. REALLY in the game. There were interceptions, and fumbles and we got a field goal and then a very dramatic TD. Now the score is 10-13, but we are gaining. Another TD and some effort on the part of the Y and the score is 17-16 UTAH!!!

The Y lines up for a field goal kick on or around the 22yd line with 4 seconds left on the clock. It was looking pretty certain for the Y. The ref blew the whistle, the guy kicked the ball, and then all hell broke loose! WE BLOCKED THE KICK AND THE UTES WIN THE GAME!!!!!

The stadium went wild. Wild is actually a mild term, it was pandemonium! Jeff and I were hugging and jumping up and down, and hugging strangers, and high-fiving! Next thing you know we are running onto the field with our friends, and half of the stadium. The crowd was euphoric! The band was playing and people posing for pictures, flags waving. What a way to end the season and start our future in the PAC12!

This is what Jeff posted in a Utah fan forum. I think he was rather eloquent....

"As I stood there in my seat on row 2 of the NEZ, during the timeout with :04 left on the clock......I sat down on the bench, and I steeled myself for the loss. I felt like staying there, and watching it without making a sound. Then the ref blew the whistle to start the play clock. I thought to myself: "Well, there's still hope. We could block the kick. I'm not gonna give up, and I hope the team hasn't." I jumped to my feet and started screaming.

The ball was snapped.

And then a miracle happened. I sit dead center next to Ute King. I clearly saw that ball headed towards the hoberman arch. I screamed, I saw it fall, and I had a brief thought that somebody better cover it up.

Pandemonium. Elation. Joy. The Agony, and the Ecstasy. Jumping up and down hugging everyone around, stranger or loved one. We rushed the field as fast as a bunch of middle aged folks can, and reveled in the moment. It was fun, and it's the first time I've ever done that.

Don't blame me for rushing the field. Emotions were too high.

I'm home now, and I'm contemplating watching the replay on CBS-C in real time.

Thank you Utes for a solid season, and a huge thrilling ending."

My New Sweater!

2010-11-26T13:13:00.003-07:00

I started this on Sept. 22 and finished on Nov. 24! It fits great I think. Just in time for the arctic deep freeze we have right now!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

2010-11-25T09:24:00.003-07:00

Here is a bit of Thanksgiving art Katie did at school this week. She is thankful for Mom (orange dress), Maggie (white dress), and Dad (smiley face "with stickin-up hair"). Maggie is thankful for her backpack (thanks Kellie B!), her monkey blankie, and her toys.
I am thankful for a great job and great people to work with, my family, and Jeff and my babies.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, and say an extra prayer for all the men and women serving in the Military who can't be home for the Holidays.

Snow day!

2010-11-21T18:35:00.004-07:00

We woke up this morning to a Winter Wonderland! Jeff and I weren't real thrilled by it, but the kids were out of their minds! They almost couldn't wait long enough to get dressed and get out there. We don't often get this much snow, one of the benefits of living in the bottom of the valley!
This is the amount of snow on the hood of the car. I couldn't find a tape measure, but you get the general idea.

We all got our cold weather gear on and headed outside to shovel it off the cars and the driveway. The girls worked on shoveling the front yard.

When we finished our shoveling; Katie, Maggie, and I all made a snowman. I haven't done that in years and today's snow was perfect for it. They loved helping me recreate Frosty!

Yesterday I spent the day getting ready for the two Thanksgiving dinners we will be attending next weekend. I made a bunch of rolls, and a few batches of pie crust. And an apple pie just for fun. I think every thing turned out pretty well!

Some updates...

2010-11-14T10:30:00.003-07:00

November 6 was the TCU vs Utah game. At the time the Utes were ranked #5 and TCU was at #3. Because of this "showdown" the ESPN Gameday crew decided to do the show from Rice-Eccles. The U of U opened up the tailgating for overnight revelry and Jeff decided to take a bunch of camping gear and stay overnight up there with our tailgating friends. The girls and I drove him up to the lot and help him set up the tent.

The place was packed! It seemed just as busy at 7pm as it is on gameday just before the game! I took the girls and went home and he stayed and then went with friends to the ESPN broadcast. I came back before the game to tailgate. I have never seen so many people! It took a half hour to get into a port-a-potty!

It was a beautiful day as we walked into the stadium.

And then the game started.

And it quickly got ugly; the game not the day. I was eating a snow cone at halftime on Nov 6th! How often can you do that?!

The Utes did not win, and that is about all I can say about that.

On a brighter note, I have finished a few projects.

I made these fingerless gloves in about 4 hours last week. They are really warm, and made holding two different yarns together; a wool and a mohair. The mohair gives it a fuzzy look.

I have alot of sock yarn- and the girls need winter hats. I let them look through my bin of yarns and pick out their favorites for a hat. I just finished Maggie's hat last night.

A few months ago I bought this pattern for a girls' skirt made with five quilters quarters. A quilters quarter is a piece of fabric 18"x 22". I let the girls pick out their color combos at the fabric shop and made up these skirts last Friday. Very quick project! Maggie has been twirling non-stop.

Halloween Fun!

2010-11-01T12:34:00.005-06:00

Saturday morning we went to Jeff's brother Jeremy's house for some pumpkin carving fun. The had several pumpkins growing in their garden all summer and kindly shared them with us. Katie drew a mock up of how she wanted her pumpkin to look.

Maggie just wanted a "happy pumpkin with 3 square teeth". Okie-doke Mags. The kids were interested in the carving at first, but it shortly turned into a mom and dad job! Here is the finished product of all the pumpkins that were carved. I think we did a great job!

When we got home we set up our pumpkins and then decorated with our spiders and spider webs. The girls thought this was great!

Saturday evening I took the girls around the neighborhood for Trick or Treating. It was raining. Alot. They didn't seem to mind at all though. Katie would run to the door and could barely reach the doorbell. Then when the door was answered, they would both say TRICK OR TREAT. It was so cute! About halfway through the rain slowed down and then stopped and it wasn't too bad. However, we didn't last much longer than that as the three of us were soaked from the knees down. Jeff stayed at home to pass out our candy and watch the Utah/Air Force game. They loved trick or treating!

Tailgating fun....

2010-10-24T14:02:00.004-06:00

We bought season tickets to the Utes football games this year and have been tailgating with friends. This has been a blast!

The people up there take tailgating seriously. Not only are there regular RV's parked and put into use, there are also alot of custom jobs.

This is the Amb-U-lance. It belongs to our next door neighbors, the Mauchley's, and they tailgate just up the hill from us. That is a sweet set-up!

There are dutch ovens going, grills, portable fire pits. The band makes trip through the lot playing Utah Man, and Swoop (the mascot) runs through the crowd high five-ing all the kids. They have a store set up and you can buy any last minute Ute gear you may need.

Yesterday we went up for the Utah vs CSU game. We dropped the girls off at Nannie and Grampa's house (thanks again!) , picked up some treats and got to our spot around 1230. It was cool but not raining. We enjoyed lunch and the company of friends. Life was good.
But around 3pm the rain started. It didn't look like it was going to let up, but we packed up our gear, donned our ponchos and headed to the stadium. It rained hard the whole first half. We were soaked and cold. But that did not dampen our spirits. At halftime the rain quit and a beautiful rainbow appeared over Rice-Eccles Stadium. The second half was rain free and full of touchdowns. The Utes beat CSU 59-6!

Of course my camera died just before the game started.

Dear Maggie,

2010-10-19T08:11:00.001-06:00

Today you are 3! You are a happy, helpful little gal. You love to play with your big sister, Katie. You have been trying to keep up with her since you were born. You are loving and always have a hug and a kiss for mom and dad.

In January 2007, my Grandma Hansen was sick and I went to say goodbye. I always hoped we could have another baby to love, but didn't think we could be so lucky again. Grandma Hansen had always loved children, and the last thing I said to her was that when she got to heaven and happened to see any babies that needed a family, please send them our way. She said she would and that she loved me. Sadly, she passed away 5 days later. Two weeks after that we found out about you. I told your dad that if you were a girl you would be named Margaret after her, and luckily dad's grandma is also named Margaret. So you are named after two wonderful ladies!

You were born on Oct 19, 2007 at 1:13 in the afternoon, 7lbs 13oz. You had cute chubby cheeks, and Katie was so excited to meet you. All of your grandparents came to the hospital to meet you.

You were such a sweet baby, and you grew so fast. You are a little ray of sunshine. It has been a pleasure watching you grow into such a fun loving little gal. We all love you so much!
So from Mom, Dad, and Katie HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

2 months.....

4 months.....

6 months....

8 months.....

10 months.....

1 year....

2 years.....

Corn Maze Fun!

2010-10-11T10:11:00.006-06:00

Saturday we took the girls to a Corn Maze. I have always wanted to do one of these, and thought the kids may enjoy running around as well. When you buy your tickets they give you a map of the maze and there are 10 checkpoints along the way. At each checkpoint you answer a T/F question of corn trivia and it tells you which direction to go depending on your answer. We had alot of fun tromping through the maze and answering our questions.

Jeff is missing half of his head because I asked a 15yr old girl if she would take our picture. Otherwise it looks great!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

2010-10-09T13:33:00.002-06:00

Dear Jeff, Today is your birthday- but don't worry I won't tell everyone how old you are! We have been together nearly a decade now, and I can't imagine life without you. You have given me so many wonderful memories and two beautiful girls. I hope we have many more decades together. I love you very much and Happy 41!
(umm, oops! sorry.....)

Dear Katie,

2010-10-06T08:18:00.001-06:00

Today you are 5. The last 5 years have just flown by. It has been so much fun watching you learn and grow. I will never forget how I felt the day your dad and I found out about you. We had been through alot up to that point and didn't know if we would ever be parents. But on March 7, 2005 when we saw your flickering little heart beating on the ultrasound we were so thrilled, amazed, and joyful. Seeing that little beating heart dissolved 3 years of pain and frustration. I still start to cry whenever I remember that day.

You are named after two wonderful ladies; your dad's Nana- Kathryn, and your middle name- Belle is my Grandma Springer's middle name.

You were born 3 1/2 weeks early on Oct 6, 2005 at 7:58pm. Even though you were early, you did wonderfully! Your grandparents came up to the hospital and were there watching through the nursery window while the nurses helped dad give you your first bath.

We left the hospital a few days later. You were a very good baby from the start. Everyday you seemed to change a little more. I used to love watching you sleep. You just grew so fast. You loved your toys and books. And spending time with your extended family.

You figured out how to crawl, then walk. You were my pal and came with me to all my doctor appts when we were expecting baby sister. When you were 2, she was born. You loved helping me take care of her. As she got older, you loved to make her giggle. You are now best pals.

This fall you started pre-school. You love school and can't wait to get there. You love learning new things, seeing new places. I still can't believe how grown up you are now. You are a delightful young lady to live with.

So today, on your fifth birthday, Mom and Dad and Maggie all want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

2 months.....

4 months.....

6 months.....

8 months.....

10 months.....

1 year.....

2 years.....

3 years.....

4 years.....

A month of Birthdays....

2010-10-03T09:32:00.002-06:00

October is a busy month at our house. We all have birthdays. Yes, all four of us!

That is alot of cake....

Girls Day Out at Red Butte Garden

2010-09-17T19:46:00.008-06:00

I thought I would take the girls to Red Butte Garden today for our Girls Day Out. Lucky for us, Grandma, Aunt Jamie, Ella, Eva, Aunt Erica, and Victoria all came along too! It was a beautiful morning and the flowers were amazing. We got there about 10am and all the little gals had a great time running from garden to garden. The Children's Garden was a big hit!

After we walked all over we went to the Corner Bakery Cafe for lunch. After lunch everyone else went home, but I took the girls to Marriott Library to surprise dad with a visit and a treat. The girls love to go see dad at his office. Katie and Maggie just loved Red Butte and are already asking when they can go back!