JASON IS HOME & More

In April we got Jason home and it was so nice to have us all together again for a few short days. It was a busy week with getting prepared for Jason's homecoming and Carter's baptism. I am so proud of my family and the choices they are making. I am going to stop and take it all in for I know that Satan is working hard and life is not without it's trials and so for this brief moment I am going to soak it all in and rejoice in the blessing from my Heavenly Father. I am so abundantly blessed, so much more than I deserve.

CHRISTINE'S BIRTHDAY GIFTS

For Christine's birthday I made her this quilt and than with the leftover fabric I made her some pillows for her couches to match. It all turned out so cute and she was thrilled.

PIRATE QUILTS

These are the quilts I made for Carter and Easton for Christmas and just got some photos of them the last time we were in Arizona. I am glad they love their pirate quilts!

JASON KEEPS HOEING UNTIL THE END

Jason had a great experience this week, he was able to be apart of the baptism of the Dominguez family. This was a great experience for Jason and he learned that it was planned for him to return to Vidor Texas where he had spent six months of his mission. He loved the people in Vidor and the people in Vidor loved him and it would have been a great way to end his mission. Just before the transfers were to take place his Mission President felt impressed to keep him in Antiscocita and the Mission President shared with everyone at the baptism that this was one of the reasons Jason was to have stayed is so he could help the Dominguez family.

As always we are so proud of Jason and the work he has done in Texas. He will leave Texas a better place but we can't wait to have him back with us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINE!

We had the best day celebrating Christine's birthday down in Arizona. We woke up and opened presents. Scott and I gave her this quilt that I made for her and some fabric to do some pillows to match.


After presents we got ready and went to one of our all time favorite places to eat -- Joe's Farm Grill. I have been craving this since we went in January and I wasn't disappointed, it was just as good as before. The wedge salad and garlic fries are so amazing.

We came home and some napped and others just hung out until dinner time when we went to San Tan Flat. This place was awesome, it was like a huge outdoor bar-b-que. The food was wonderful and it was a fun atmosphere. After dinner they have these big oil drums that they build fires in and you can roast marshmallows. You can also buy smoore kits and roast your marshmallows and make smoores with them if you want. The kids had a blast and we just couldn't get over how warm it still was at 8:00 at night.



After dinner we came home and had homemade oreos for dessert and sang happy birthday to the birthday girl.

I have such an amazing daughter and I feel so blessed to have been her mother.

VALENTINE'S

I started making these table runners last year and they were all finished but the binding. As I stated before, the binding is my least favorite thing to do and since I got them back from the quilter's so close to Valentine's day I didn't get them finished for last year and so I finally got them done this year.



This is the scrappy back to my table throw. I love doing scrappy backs and using up all the left over fabric. I also made one for Christine but forgot to take a picture of it before I sent it to her.

I have started a tradition where I make a "Surf and Turf" Valentine's dinner for my kids. Costco always has there lobster and crab legs for sale this time of year and so I splurge and get some and make a delicious dinner.

I have found that grilling the lobster is the best. It makes it taste sooooooo good and I also cook the crab on my side burner on the grill so that my house doesn't smell like fish.

It was a little brisk doing it this year, but the end result is worth it.

For dessert it was my custard I make for my banana cream pie only I didn't make a pie crust so we just had it in bowls with fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and whipped cream. Can I just tell you how delicious it all was. The only sad thing was that Christine and her family couldn't be with us this year.

DOES ICE REALLY MAKE YOUR DRINK COLDER?

Dan and I have this fun little debate going on. I like a lot of ice in my drink because I like it really, really cold. He keeps telling me that it doesn't make a difference that it only waters down your drink that a little ice is the same as a lot of ice. I don't know maybe it really doesn't make a difference but to me I can tell.

One night I asked Dan to get me a glass of water with lots of ice and this is what he brought to me.

I couldn't even drink the water for all the ice. We had a good laugh over this. I love having Dan around because he has a cute sense of humor and is always making me laugh.

Quilting Projects

For Christmas I made 9 of these table toppers. One for each of my sisters and sister-in-laws. One for my Mom, one for Christine, the top prize for my Bunco group and I even took time to make one for me this time. They were a lot of work, but well worth the effort for some amazing people that I love.


I love this pattern because of the 3-D effect of the trees and pinwheels. Thanks to Mary Jo for helping me iron over 100 of those little pinwheels and thanks to my Mom for helping me bind which is my least favorite thing to do on a quilt!


This quilt is one I did for the quilting store I work at. I have called this quilt "The Phases of Christine". It was not my favorite quilt to do but I ended up liking it more than I thought I would and when it was done it reminded me of Christine and some of the phases she went through growing up. There was a time when she was about 8 - 10 years of age that everything had to be lavender (there is lavender minky on the back). Then about the time she turned 12 pretty much everything was black and white and so I have fallen in love with it now because of what it reminds me of. But the battle is on, because Christine thinks she should have it.

I love using chenille on my quilts. I love the different textures and how unique it makes it look. The little circles on this quilt are made out of lavender chenille. I just wish it wasn't so expensive!


This quilt is one I did for the store at Christmas time to try and sell this fabric because it wasn't moving. It was kind of a fluke that I ended up making this and I had never done pinwheels before and so it was very overwhelming. I started making this quilt with the little singer sewing machine I had purchased about two years ago. The machine wasn't fancy in any way it just sewed what I needed alright with a few frustrations here and there and it was inexpensive and it had worked for me up until I started sewing this quilt. When I got to making the pinwheels it would not go over the many layers of fabric without bogging up and bird nesting the bobbin thread. After two hours of sewing I would only have two pinwheels made because of all the unpicking and resewing I would have to do. I came into Scott more than frustrated and so we ended up getting me a new Brother machine that was a steal of a deal on Costco.com. I swear the Lord watches out for me because at the very time this was happening I got an email from them about this great deal on this machine that was regularly $179.00 for $149.00. It is a great machine and I have loved sewing on it. I have since found out that Singer is at the bottom of the list now, where they used to be at the top of the low end to middle end machines and I was fortunate enough to sell mine for $70.00 covering half the cost of my new one. I am so happy in more ways than one!

I actually hated this quilt by the time I got it done. There is also a mistake in the pattern, there should have been another row of pinwheels and star blocks. When I was putting it together I realized that I had not made enough blocks and that I needed four more. It literally brought me to tears and I knew I could not make four more of those blocks and so I figured out how much I needed to make up for the loss and added the top and bottom white and striped row which ended up being one of my favorite mistakes after the lady quilted it because I love how she put the reindeer running across it. Fortunately by the time I got it back from the quilter I was in love with it and I am so proud of this quilt. I have also become more confident and I am not afraid to take on bigger and more complicated projects.

NEW HOME FOR CHRISTINE AND FAMILY

We had a great time going down with Brad and Christine and helping them move into their new home in Gilbert, Arizona. It was a lot of work, but we are so glad we took the time to do it. Now we can picture her in her new home and her surroundings. The best part of all of it was the weather. We were in shorts and flip flops and enjoying high 70's to low 80's.

The area by her house is so nice. It has lots of parks and ponds, you can even go fishing in the pond if you pay for a permit. There are turtles as well as ducks in the pond as well. The boys had a blast feeding the ducks. They have a cute wading pool in walking distance of their home and a pool close by that they can drive to. We were very impressed with the area and how kind the neighbors were. We know that they will be well taken care of down there.































On New Year's you can light fireworks down there and so we bought some and set off fireworks. We were all so tired and most of us sick and so we went to bed early.


We had a great time trying out some food places that were a must. We tried out Oregano's and our favorite was Joe's Farm Grill. At Joe's he grows his own herbs and vegetables that he uses and the food was not just great but amazing! Check out these lemons I bought there for only $2.00 each.


All in all we had a great time and enjoyed the warm weather. Even Lake Powell looked inviting on a cold winter morning.


Unfortunately the good-bye was difficult. One of these days I am going to stop being teary as I look at their picture. I left part of my heart in Arizona and I miss them so much. My world just seems a little more empty without them so close by.

JASON MET A BEAR

Jason sent us these pictures with a story on the back of the pictures. We think this bear statue is located in Vidor, Texas where he served for 6 months. We not only got a big laugh out of his story, but were glad that he is having fun on his mission. He has had over 20 baptisms in the 7 months he has been there and we have received many phone calls and emails telling us how great he is and what a dedicated servant of the Lord he is.

Enjoy the story.

Once I met a bear on my travels in the East of South Texas.

He was not a nice bear and roared at me! RAWRRRR!!! (Notice the tie being blown back.)

So I ran around him and came at him with a flying punch!

We met face to face in combat while I threw a Round House Kick!!!

He begged for mercy and through it all we became best friends. The scars where replaced with healing love.

The End

A BEAUTIFUL SATURDAY OF FAMILY TIME

We had the most wonderful day today, I wish it wouldn't of had to end! Christine invited us to go to the Joseph Smith movie at the Joseph Smith Memorial building and it turned into an all day event.



After seeing the movie we took the opportunity to try and have family pictures which didn't turn out so great. We got some great pictures of some and not so great of others. I shot this one of the two boys looking at the temple. Future missionaries for sure.

We ate lunch at the Lion House and then went to the Joseph Smith Memorial building and just sat in the lobby and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and talked and laughed together. Then we went over to the Visitor's Center and checked some things out there and after that we came home and played some games and snacked a little until it was time for the old and the young to go to bed.


We live in such a beautiful state with some beautiful sights to see and enjoy. But always my most favorite are the Church historical sights. Such a wonderful feeling there and I am so grateful to so many that went before us so that we could have what we have today. I am thankful that they were all that they could be so that we can be all that we need to be.

NANA'S 99th BIRTHDAY PARTY

Wow, 99 years?! I can't imagine living that long and I don't think I would want to unless I could have good health and a keen mind like my Nana.

We talked one time about all the things that she has seen change in her life time and it is simply amazing. She has gone from going to church in a horse and buggy and no electricity or running water to a high tech world that can't even begin to imagine a life without a phone in their hand.

We celebrated her birthday early and it was so fun to see so many family members that I haven't seen for so long. It was great to connect with them and good friends of the family. Nana enjoyed it so much that she told my mother that it was probably one of the best birthday parties she has ever had.

I couldn't resist getting this 5 generation picture with her. It didn't quite turn out like I would have liked, but time is growing short and I felt like I needed to take advantage of the situation.

I am so grateful for my Nana and for the influence she has had on my life. She has never forgotten a birthday, anniversary or special day my whole life. I treasure my memories of her. Thanks Nana and Happy Birthday!