30 June 2012

. . . 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? . . . 


29 June 2012

. . . 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? . . .


28 June 2012

. . . 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 . . . 


27 June 2012

. . . 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 . . .



26 June 2012

. . . 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 . . .


25 June 2012

. . . 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.}


24 June 2012

. . . 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
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}


23 June 2012

. . . hayden's quilt . . .

. . . i love 
. . . 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 . . .


22 June 2012

. . . 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 . . .


21 June 2012

. . . 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 . . .


20 June 2012

. . . 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 . . . 


19 June 2012

. . . 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 . . .



18 June 2012

. . . 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 . . .


17 June 2012

. . . 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}