. . . plan "b" . . .

. . . good thing we're flexible . . . 

. . . plan "a" was to head 

to the beach . . . 

. . . juggling four children, 

beach towels, 

toys,

 chairs, 

drinks, 

and snacks 

proved a bit much . . . 

. . . something had to give . . . 

. . . unfortunately, it was 

the car/apartment keys . . . 

. . . did you know 

there's a two or three inch gap

 between solid ground 

and the inside of an elevator? . . . 

. . . yep ~ a black hole 

just big enough 

for keys to fit through . . . 

. . . if you've either got great aim,

 or you're super unlucky . . . 

. . . amber's gotten 

a great tan living in cali, 

but her face went completely white

 when the keys

fell down the shaft . . . 

. . . bless her heart . . . 

. . . a couple of hours later, 

the keys were safely returned ~

 albeit with a ring that was 

quite bent out of shape . . . 

. . . apparently, this happens 

all the time . . . 

{according to management} 

. . . at that point, 

we decided to head 

to the pool instead . . . 

. . . one of several lovely facilities

 in the complex . . . 

. . . it oughta be lovely . . . 

. . . a two bedroom apartment 

 rents for three thousand dollars 

per month . . .

. . . holy california, batman! . . .  

. . . i especially love 

the magnolia trees . . . 

. . . see them 

in the background? . . . 

. . . white blooms the size 

of dinner plates . . .

. . . the kids were good sports . . . 

. . . they played together

 and with every other kid 

who entered the water . . .

. . . their philosophy? . . . 

. . . what's your water toy 

is my water toy . . . 

. . . it worked surprisingly well . . . 

 . . . addi and tate . . . 

 . . . halleigh and tagg . . . 

. . . i've always felt like 

the good thing 

about summer swimming 

is it keeps the kids 

relatively clean

 and completely worn out . . . 

. . . not to mention 

ravenously hungry . . . 

. . .  nonstop

 snacksnacksnacksnacks . . . 

. . . grampa got a little hungry 

just watching 

from the sidelines . . . 

. . . but he had a hard time 

reading the el torito menu 

on his iPhone . . .

. . . my glasses helped . . . 

. . . he looks good in cheetah . . .

. . . don't you think? . . . 

. . . brave . . .

. . . it took us two tries . . . 

. . . but we eventually made it 

to the right theater 

in huntington beach . . . 

{we were looking for a showing 

where closed captioning was available}

. . . i would have been content 

just to sit outside 

and enjoy these impatiens, 

which were the size of saucers . . . 

. . . we were "lucky" enough 

to share the relatively small theater

 with a group of sixty-four kids 

{and all their keepers} 

from a daycare center . . . 

{remarkably well-behaved ~ 

but they took up the entire back two-thirds of the theater ~

 #wesatreallyclose/ournecksarestiff}

. . . these kids were 

good as gold, too ~ 

as long as 

we kept the popcorn coming! . . .

. . . but i must admit that 

brave was a darling movie . . . 

. . . these cgi films 

are nothing short of fantastic . . . 

. . . i was fascinated 

with merida's hair . . . 

. . . she's fierce ~ 

that's for sure . . .

. . . at the shower last saturday, 

i saw a photo 

of jessalyn's cousin 

who works 

at disneyworld in orlando . . .

. . . she gets to dress up 

as merida every day . . . 

. . . her wig is fabulous . . .

. . . how fun/sweaty 

would that be? . . .

. . . unveiling . . .

. . . yoinked this 

photo of jessalyn's shower 

from her private blog . . . 

. . . i love the light 

coming through the quilt . . .

. . . and her face . . . 

. . . and the clothesline 

of darling outfits . . . 

. . . which would you rather? . . .

. . . rumor has it that 

the valley of the sun 

experienced another

haboob tonight . . .

. . . lucky for me . . . 

. . . i sat this one out . . . 

. . . at marios . . .

 . . . with some of 

my very favorite people . . .

. . . all gussied up . . .

. . . jessalyn wasted no time 

in dressing up the crib 

as soon as they got back 

to provo . . .

. . . she couldn't even take time 

to wash the sheets . . .

{highly recommended. there's so much sizing in new fabric 

that might be super harsh on baby's delicate skin.

she's planning on washing sheets and all the outfits 

she got at her shower this weekend. 

with as many outfits as she received, 

she'll be busy all weekend! 

lucky girl!}

. . . washing will also help 

the sheets shrink to fit . . .

. . . i can't wait to see how it looks 

when they get the quilt hung 

on the wall behind the crib . . .

. . . the quilt is what ties 

all these random fabrics together . . .

. . . but that's my fault . . .

. . . last minute-ness kept me 

from running to home depot 

to purchase the wood pieces 

that slip into the hanging sleeves . . .

. . . now drew and jess 

are back to real life, 

which is keeping them 

from running to home depot . . .

. . . soon, though . . .

. . . very soon . . .

. . . bare . . .

. . . it's nearly the end of june . . .

. . . so ~ the party's 

pretty much over . . .

. . . gone are the pink geraniums 

and alyssum . . .

. . . and . . .

. . . AND . . .

. . . adding insult to injury . . . 

. . . my valentines day topiary 

got crunchy and died, too . . .

. . . bye bye to this view 

from my front door . . .

. . . no more 

overflowing flower pots . . .

. . . i was fully prepared to toss 

all these plants today, also . . .

. . . but yesterday, 

my home teachers 

talked me out of it . . .

. . . saying they still look great . . .

. . . i'll take their word for it, 

for now anyway . . .

. . . they ARE green, but . . .

. . . as soon as the flowers open, 

they fry . . .

. . . we'll see how long 

i can keep the ivy alive . . . 

. . . because it's no fun 

to be out there watering it . . .

. . . oh, well . . .

. . . only four months 

'til i can plant again . . .

{i learned a valuable lesson today: 

five weeks is too long to go 

without balancing your checkbook. 

that's two hours i'll never get back. 

and please keep your quicken comments to yourself. 

i'm old school. 

the end.}

{it eventually balanced ~ to the penny.}

. . . sugar and spice and everything nice . . .

. . . it really was fun to sew 

for a baby girl again . . .

. . . our granddaughters will soon 

be nine and ten years old . . .

. . . since then ~ we've had 

five little grandsons . . .

. . . so ~ we're excited 

for another pink baby . . .

. . . these ruffles are what kept me busy

 for a big chunk of last week . . .

. . . inspired by

this adorable ombre aqua crib skirt 

i spotted on pinterest . . .

. . . jessalyn selected three coral prints

 from the vintage modern fabric line

 by bonnie and camille . . .

{sadly these photos don't do the colors of this darling fabric justice ~

 yesterday's quilt photos are more accurate colorwise}

. . . we tried to mimic 

the light, medium, and dark tones

of the inspiration crib skirt . . .

. . . although you can't tell 

from these photos 

{hastily snapped in the dark of night on the family room floor}

i actually did make ruffles 

for all four sides of the crib . . .

. . . the skirt is folded in half crosswise

 in this photo . . .

. . . i also lined all the ruffles 

{this thing weighs a ton}

and finished the back 

so no raw edges are exposed . . . 

. . . hopefully it won't have to be

 washed too often . . .

{fingers crossed!}

. . . but if it does, 

there shouldn't be any fraying . . .

. . . i also made six 

of these bumper pads . . .

. . . here's one side . . .

. . . and here's the other . . .

. . . i made jessalyn promise 

to send me some photos of the crib

 when she gets it all gussied up 

and the quilt hung on the wall . . .

{my intentions were to disassemble my crib, 

take it outside and have a little photo shoot ~

before drew and jessalyn went back to provo. 

sadly, when the last stitches weren't finished 

until nearly midnight before the shower, 

i had to let go of that dream}

. . . hayden's quilt . . .

. . . i love 

a freshly pieced quilt top . . . 

. . . the time it takes 

to select fabric . . .

. . . cut . . . 

. . . stitch . . .

. . . press . . .

. . . trim . . . 

. . . arrange . . .

. . . ahhhhhh . . .

. . . i love that whole process . . .

. . . designing and printing a label . . .

. . . using up scraps on the back . . .

. . . pinwheels made 

from leftover 

half square triangles . . .

. . . but the very best part 

is picking it up 

from the quilter . . . 

. . . she's the one 

who makes it truly beautiful . . .

. . . phew . . .

. . . the ruffles are done . . .

. . . the binding is stitched down . . .

. . . wrapped up and bows tied . . .

. . . with nearly twelve hours to spare

 before the baby shower begins . . .

. . . boy! ~ i love finishing early . . .

. . . multiples . . .

. . . true story . . .

. . . one of bill's brothers 

has twin boys . . . 

. . . another brother 

has triplet girls 

. . . five babies born just 

eight days apart . . .

. . . that was a lot of babies 

at one time . . .

. . . and two busy mamas . . .

. . . i'm glad my babies came 

one at a time . . .

. . . but every time i see 

these two together, 

it's like they were 

separated at birth . . .

{drew looks a little wiped out after eighteen holes of golf in this blasted heat}

. . . elliot and drew . . .

. . . twin sons of different mothers . . .

. . . born nineteen years apart . . .

. . . ruffles . . .

. . . and we're not talking 

crinkly potato chips . . .

. . . rather ~

yards and yards 

of frilly, girly ruffles . . .

. . . thirty yards of ruffles . . .

. . . but, the end is in sight . . . 

. . . lets go to the movies . . .

. . . have you seen bernie? . . .

. . . i don't go to very many movies, 

but husband thought 

it'd be a good idea

 to take the kids tonight . . .

. . . a few highlights:

•jack black's mustache

•jack black's singing

•matthew mcconaughey's glasses

•shirley macclaine's 

general crankiness
•jack black's outfit 
and walk of shame 
in the closing scene

. . . but my favorite part 

was the commentary 

on this true story 

from real life residents 

of carthage, texas . . .

. . . their accents are stellar . . .

. . . crunch time . . .

. . . can't get this movie clip 

out of my head today . . .

. . . mine's slightly different:

"just keep sewing" . . .

. . . i work well under pressure . . .

. . . all about dad . . .

. . . highlights of fathers day:

•drew and jessalyn are in town

•we heard amanda give 

an excellent talk in church

•both our moms came to dinner 

at our house

•after much googling 

of proper technique, 

drew grilled the filets to perfection

{on the minus side: we missed amber, chris and family}

•i tripped on the bathroom rug 

and fell all the way to the floor

•my red shoe broke in said fall

•my mom washed nearly all the dishes

{i kept telling her to stop}

•bill got this swell clock 

to hang in the bathroom 

so that i he can stop checking

my his phone for the time 

while getting ready in the morning

{and i say if you're going to pose like this for a photo, 

you deserve to have it posted on my blog}

. . . and since he obviously loves

 wearing his mitt shirt, 

i got him another one . . .

. . . so the next time he has 

an encounter like this, 

he'll look a little more classy . . . 

{the comments were awesome. go here to read. 

the timeline date was 17 march 2012}