Happy Girl

Makenzie has been sending her outgrown clothes to Isabella. She saw this dress come out of the box and had to put it on immediately. She loves all the clothes Makenzie sends but this one dazzled her a bit more and she had to wear it the rest of the day. It is still a bit too big at this point, but not too much. I love that she loves this dress because it was handmade by her Aunt Jessica. I have such a love and appreciation for all things handmade and am tickled when the kids feel that too. Sometimes I think they are so used to having handmade jammies and blankets and bedding and toys, they don't notice. But the other day both Bella and Jack asked if I could teach them how to make pillow cases and I must say I was thrilled. I love that they like what I and their aunts and grandma's make, but what could be better than they wanting to create things themselves. I know that Jessica poured a lot of love into the dress Bella is wearing and I thank her for passing it along to a girl who appreciates it!

I am married to a famous guy.....

So about 4 years ago, my brother in law, Marshall, was doing some extra work for movies being made around Salt Lake. The needed some more extras one day and he asked Nate to tag along with him. He came home and told us what the movie was and who was in it-so we waited and waited for it to come out. It was a very long wait. Then, the movie, isn't all that great----but----you can definitely see Nate in it. We got the DVD in the mail yesterday and had to go slomo through a few sequences to pick him and Marshall out, but they are there and it is pretty funny to see. I could tell Nate was excited to finally see the final fruits of that one day of unpaid standing around. It was pretty great. Then I realized, he is also in this book:

The photographers came to Russia while he was there in the early 90's and he managed to be in a few shots as well. Then he reminded me of the time his band's music made it on to Farmclub-a TV show in the late 90's. And then I reminded him of the short film he was in a few years ago that won an award at a local film fest-not a famous one, just a local one. I've been giving him a pretty hard time of it all since these things are all strange coincidence. But I am also sure I better get some autographed photos ready to send out! Love you Nate!

Congrats Tim and Vanella!

Nate's youngest sister got married yesterday! The wedding was beautiful and everyone had a really great day. We started in the morning at the temple, went to a Chinese restaurant for the luncheon, took naps in the afternoon, then decorated and had the open house in the evening. The kids were good all day. Sophie tolerated having no good naps all day pretty well. And we all were at the point of lovely exhaustion when we got home. The above is a picture of the bride and groom with the nieces and nephews on our side. There are seven more that were sorely missed.

The wedding was really refreshing after everyone being sick for the past few weeks. I am finally starting to feel normal again, and I think Nate has dodged the sickness all together. Bella and Jack had a just a touch, but Soph and I were really yucky. She had the sticky eyes and the pathetic coughs. I had the sore throat, cough, headaches, and general yuckiness as well. We are so grateful to be on the mend!

The wedding colors were blue and yellow, so Alice and I did lemon filled centerpieces. This has left me with about 15 pounds of lemons, so send me your fresh lemon recipes!

Microwave-can't seem to live without it...

So the day after we bought our van, our microwave stopped working. We were not at all surprised, usually when we get something new, something old dies, and the microwave was almost 11. I took this opportunity to get the space saving over the range microwave. We went to H. Depot to buy all the stuff we would need to put an outlet in the cupboard, only to be strongly discouraged from doing so by the H. Depot salesman. He really thought we should just use an existing plug. We came home a bit dejected-well, I did at least-and started looking at the installation instructions and planning what to do when Nate said-hey, this can't be plugged in below it-the cord can only go up-we were both a bit peeved with H. Depot man as this seems obvious about all over the range ovens now, if they are to be flush against they wall, how would you snake something behind. So we took the plunge and cut holes all over the wall and cupboards, no one got injured or electrocuted. And the microwave works just fine to boot. Pbbbbbtttt to the H. Depot man.

Officiallly a Minivan Mom!

We took the plunge and bought a Kia Sedona this morning. We test drove it on Saturday and everything seemed great, so we went in today and finalized things. Both older kids were in school, so we could concentrate on what we were signing. I must say, it feels very big while I am driving it, even though it is still smaller than most of the SUV's on the road.

The kids were very excited when they saw it, they are already arguing about who gets to sit on which side. One side has one more cup holder than the other causing a bit of contention. I may have to work out some sort of schedule if they keep it up. We are already looking forward to roadtrips with all the extra space! And now I will be more soccer mom at soccer practice than ever!

Goals!

Lately, I have been really evaluating and looking at things I want to do and accomplish. I have a list of projects that need to be finished and I need somewhere to be a bit accountable for them. So here goes....

I have a tendency to start things and not finish, or buy things for projects that don't get started. So I was looking around my sewing room and feeling a bit claustrophobic. It is the room you first see when you enter the house, so I would really like to streamline things in there a bit. So I got out all my part way finished projects and lined them up. I am giving myself three months to finish them all.

Thus far, I have finished a skirt for Bella that I started last fall, it still fits, yay! And I finished my freshcut charm quilt. I feel pretty good about those considering I have to sneak sewing time in while Sophie is asleep or in the few minutes she plays in the exersaucer.

After the three months is up, or before if I get everything completed, I will start on the stuff I have bought to do projects but just haven't started yet. I plan on saving knitting and handwork stuff for when the kids are at their various sport practices and evenings while watching TV. My overall hope and goal is to consolidate all projects and materials into my one large white cabinet. Rid myself of projects I no longer am interested in and cut down on the stuff that has been sitting there for years. That means I need to clear out the small white cabinet and the plastic drawer bins. As well there are three other bins of fabric that need to be projected. My cheese at the end of the maze is a nice comfy chair for the corner to make the room homey and more comfy. I will try and post pics as I finish up things. And I will try and get in a few tutorials for my friend Crystal!

Things Sophie likes to do

Sophie would really really like to drink out of a cup. She watches us like hawkes at the dinner table and really wants to see what it is all about. I am really in no rush so far as food goes for her, so she is outta luck. I still need to acquire a high chair, pump enough milk to mix with cereal, and make a few more bibs. Then she will get the all important intro to food. If she follows in her brother or sisters footsteps, she will not think baby food is all it's cracked up to be and request to eat what the rest of us are eating, thankyouverymuch!

Sophie has also learned the trick of sitting up for a while by herself. She finds this to be delightful and a bit frightening all at the same time. She will perch like this until she is tired, then she will curl/roll onto her side. Gotta work those abs....

She has also learned that she should smile at the camera! What a ham! I will pull the camera out and she will look in awe for a moment, then smile. I take the camera away, she stops smiling, put it back, she smiles.

Also this week her bottom two teeth have broken through, so she hasn't been feeling very well. She keeps running her tongue over her gums and looking really concerned-like what are those very sharp things stuck in my mouth! She is over a month younger than Jack and Bella were when they got their first teeth, so I am at a bit of a loss on how to help her best. She really doesn't like her teethers, not to chew on at least, and she hasn't got any experience with regular food, so chewing on other stuff isn't really an option. I tried to get her to chew on a cool wet washcloth, but she looked at me like I was crazy for putting such a thing in her mouth. I will just have to wait it out.