Jumping on the SPT bandwagon!

This is the first time I've participated in any of the SPT challenges - but I can't resist spending money so...

With my $100 I would buy:



Are those not the cutest lambs you have ever seen! Image source here.

Unfortunately real sheep and lambs are not in my immediate future. I always laugh when people ask if I have sheep - our neighborhood association rules don't even allow you to hang wash out to dry and if you have a garden it has to be screened from view (I'm not sure what it is about towels and vegetables that some people find so offensive). If drying laundry and vegetables are taboo can you imagine what they would do with a request to have sheep? Instead, I will use my virtual money to buy virtual sheep. And in the mean time I'll dream about the upcoming Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!

Speaking of tax refunds - hopefully after today we will get the best refund ever - the return of Craig. I feel like we haven't really seen him for weeks. The sad thing is his "real" tax work isn't even 4/15 related...

Easter

Our Easter Sunday began with my favorite kind of church service - lots of music, narration and a great speaker. Following church we enjoyed an egg-cellent Easter afternoon. We were able to share the day with friends down from PA and with a new friend and ward member (a young au pair in our neighborhood). Don't worry Alicia, she hasn't taken your place. Although she did say that if she took your place she would help around the house - alot! :)

Kudos to Emily for making the place cards - without her none of us would ever know where to sit. She was also the instigator of several Peep duels in the microwave (see pictures above). We rounded out the day with good food and conversation. We are, however, still debating about the use of frozen shredded potatoes in the funeral potatoes rather than my usual home-cooked and grated spuds. This intense discussion/debate will be elaborated on and discussed at length in another post. There was also great Penn State ice cream (the dry ice it was packed in provided plenty of entertainment on its own), not to mention sushi overload (Saturday), and a cheese sampling (you really need to see Craig and Rhett discussing aged Provolone)! Hmm, I'm noticing a food theme again. At the end of the day we hated to say good-bye to company and to the next to last day of spring break. Tuesday am is going to be tough on all of us.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

After it snowed late Friday night and early Saturday morning I quickly took down my "Let it Snow" snowman as well as a painted "Winter Wonderland" sign - thinking perhaps I was the cause of this late snow! Of course, it melted quickly, but it was still very strange to wake up to. The cold weather and snow also meant that a proposed sunrise trip to see the cherry blossoms with friends was canceled that same morning. Maybe I need to invest in some "spring" related signage!

Movie Afternoon

After hearing the girls quote "I've got a big head and little arms" over and over ever since the previews came out - we knew our spring break had to include this movie. We gave it two thumbs up (that's six thumbs altogether)! Very entertaining!

Fun Frederick Finds

The girls and I enjoyed a quick trip to Frederick. We found lots of great stuff but only came home with the candle holder (Mexican sugar mold) and the Providence sign for Craig. I'm planning to take Craig next time - his antiquing stamina is just a little longer than the girls!

Spring

I'm not actually a Spring person (Autumn is my favorite time of year - all that dying and decay and what not!) but I do enjoy seeing everything in bloom and greening up. Our ornamental pear is in bloom and although the other tree isn't in bloom I took the picture because I love the little bird's nest. Hopefully we will have birds again this summer.

"Counties" Catch-Up

Emily recently had two opportunities to participate in County related activities.

* County Science Fair with her experiment "The Effect of Acid on Chalk". Her experiment was an attempt to look at the effect of acid rain on statues. She had an interesting afternoon explaining her experiment to various scientist judges. She received several certificates and a t-shirt for her efforts! I guess you could say that she has literally "been there and has the t-shirt". We were proud of her and the fact that she did it all by herself. She has already started to propose ideas for next year...

* County Music Festival. Emily and her partner received a Superior rating for their flute duet and were invited to participate in the State festival which will be held sometime in May (we think)!

Our Own Little Piece of Zion

As I traveled through Zion's National Park on the way to our home I marveled again at how beautiful the canyon is. I feel so fortunate that it will always be a part of our lives. I also had to laugh (again) as I drove through Rockville, Utah and thought about how different two Rockville's can be. Here are a few updated pictures. Paint and tile were the next two things to be finished - so things are really moving along at this point. When I looked back through the pictures on my camera I realized that most of them are of the view - looking out the back. I have a feeling we are going to be living on the deck. Some of the workers were telling me about the deer, rabbits and wild turkeys that they have been seeing every morning. Can't wait to invite everyone over!

There's Nothing Like a Wedding...

Thanks to lds.org for the first picture - I'm afraid the wedding pics I took are kind of lame - what can I say, I just didn't get any good shots (I'm hoping Alicia has better ones) - it was also freezing cold I might add. In spite of the wind, Tracey looked radiant and Eliot was handsome as ever. The wedding itself was beautiful and we (A and I) had a great time reuniting with friends - especially Texas friends who were there. I almost typed "reuniting with friends and family" - so many of our friends who were there feel like family! The wedding luncheon was yummy and I have now officially met all of Mont's siblings (too bad there wasn't time for more stories)! We are only too happy to have been part of El's and Tracey's engagement/proposal and were delighted to be able to share part of their day with them.

Other people's weddings have always been a wonderful reminder to me of my own sweet husband, marriage and family (and the almost 24 years we have spent together) - I'm so glad that families can be together forever!

Catching Up - In No Particular Order

While visiting with family and celebrating my brother's B'day I learned about a new craft - how did I not know about this already. Vanessa had made a Valentine's Day pillow for my mom and had used a punch needle design in the center of it. She (Vanessa) showed me how to do it (punch needle) and gave me some pointers. We had planned to meet at a great quilting shop (The Corn Wagon) on my way back to Las Vegas to buy supplies, etc. but unfortunately it didn't work out to go together. I ended up going to the shop by myself and it was FANTASTIC. Lucky for Craig I only had a half hour before they closed and lucky for me the airport screeners didn't confiscate my brand new punch needle (they almost did). My first project involves - a sheep - what else?! The pattern above is the one I am doing - check out Pine Mountain Designs Tomorrow the catching up continues....a wedding and Zion's House.

I've been a little flakey...

Yikes, it has been a month since I posted last - no I wasn't bedridden, no I wasn't involved in the witness relocation program and no I wasn't without Internet service. Let's just say I was a little busy, out of town for a while, and well a little flaky (get it, like pie)!

Needless to say, I've got some pictures to download and some posts to put together and will get caught up asap. At the moment we are off to a YW activity - an Iron Chef cook off and the secret ingredient is chocolate. E has had so much fun making little place cards for all of things that the Beehives are preparing. They are making about 6 different kinds of S'mores. I'll try to remember to take the camera...

With the exception of Kirchener stitching the toes together, these socks made from the Tongue River Farm yarn that Craig gave me for Christmas are finished. The socks are for Craig and should 1) last forever 2) be the warmest socks he has ever worn. The yarn is fabulous - from Icelandic sheep. I had so many comments from people when I worked on them in public. Several people asked if they were sleeves for a sweater. In retrospect, considering the time involved maybe turning them into a sweater would have been a good idea!

My current project is quite different - it is a purse that will be felted when finished. I've gone from a fairly detailed pattern on small needles (the socks) to a very slubby nubby yarn on fairly large needles. This yarn is from Dancing Leaf Farm (a great MD sheep farm in the foothills of Sugarloaf Mountain). I've also gone from working off and on for a couple of weeks to finish the socks to being able to complete a purse in a little more than an afternoon.

New Skirt

Emily has been looking forward to attending the temple with her Young Women's group ever since she turned 12. She had read in the New Era that you should wear your best to the temple and she wanted to make something modest that could be "her best", and asked if we could make a skirt together. How could I say no to that? We ran to JoAnn's on Saturday, picked out a pattern and fabric and spent today working on it together. In spite of the fact that I purchased the wrong pattern - CH instead of CS - and I didn't realize it until after I had started to cut out the pattern pieces - we think it turned out pretty cute. Thank goodness it was a skirt and not too difficult to enlarge. Emily helped as much as she could - the ruffles were a little more than she wanted to tackle. She is planning on wearing it with a white blouse. It is missing some ribbon trim on the ruffles - can you believe I can't find white thread ANYWHERE in this house??? I tried it with the blue thread that we were using for the rest of the skirt and it just didn't work.

Perler Beads

Do you remember fusible Perler Beads?? Emily received a small kit a few months ago and then "discovered" some that I thought had been tossed during our last decluttering... needless to say the past couple of cold and icy days have provided plenty of time to "perl"? While running errands on Saturday we picked up what I'm now referring to as a "bucket-o-fun" (6,000 beads). The projects above are destined for Alicia and her roommates. I'm partial to the "I Heart U" and the monkey myself. If you want to keep a tween or younger one happy the "bucket-o-fun" ought to do it! Emily is currently taking orders if you see anything you would like!

You've got to check out this picture of De-Hwa Liu that was made with 15,000 beads (not by Emily) - amazing. For some reason I can't get it to post. Kind of reminds me of the pictures made out of Jelly Bellys - smile if you remember the CA Jelly Belly tour!

A quick Cara post - we enjoyed following the poms competition season and were so proud of Cara and her squad. I hate to see it end - although the girls seem happy that practices are almost over (one more basketball halftime performance). They improved with each competition and ended up with a "Best in Show" and 2 Spirit Awards! The last picture is your first look at Cara's brand new new hair color (just hours old). I'm calling the new color strawberry blond. The new cut is darling - so short in comparison to her usual length. Too bad school was just canceled (for the 3rd day in a row) and she won't get to show it off tomorrow :(

Peanut Butter Recall

I'm always seeing recall information but they've never applied to me. Imagine our surprise this am when Emily saw the peanut butter recall on line involving the possibility of salmonella poisoning and then found this jar in the pantry. Thank goodness it is unopened - check your cupboards...

Braces, Pillows and Snow, Oh My!

After spending many an afternoon in the waiting room at the orthodontists (while older sisters were being seen), Emily now has her own appointment. She had braces put on last week (the day after her 6th Grade Honor's Band performance) and has struggled this week to eat, chew and adjust her new flute embouchure (lots of pudding, jello, soup and flute practice). She is trying to "keep her eye on the prize" - beautiful teeth! Currently the bands are pink and green - she has already planned the colors for several months in advance - perhaps the only fun thing about braces.

ANOTHER snow day - in addition to sledding and getting together with friends, Emily had fun sewing and stuffing a pillow. she isn't too fond of pinning - but did a nice job! The pillow itself is actually even and well proportioned (that one corner doesn't really sag) - my photography doesn't do it justice.

Sew much going on...

I've been "sew" excited about these pillowcases. I just finished sewing 10 Valentine's Day pillowcases and one apron. Alicia helped me pick out the fabric when she was home for the Holidays. The packages are ready to drop in the mail this afternoon - 6 to Alicia and her roommates along with candy and assorted Valentine's Day wishes and Alicia's apron (only slightly different from the picture above), also a pillowcase a piece to two of Alicia's friends who attend JMU in Harrisonburg, VA and a pillowcase for E and C - fortunately those do not have to be mailed!

Birthdays and Baptisms

Happy Birthday to Princess Miriam our cousin/niece who turned 3 yesterday! Who knew we were related to Royalty? This isn't our most current picture just one of my favorites. We love keeping up with her activities and antics via her mom's blog. We also think her mom and dad are the best and because she is a princess that must make them the king and queen!




Happy Baptism day to another cousin/niece who is being baptized today! Congratulations Marissa! We wish we could be there to celebrate you, your decision, and this special day!