digging myself out...

whew! i embarked on a craft show last week, not super last minute-y but kind of so my days and every bit of spare time i could squeak out were spent sewing sewing sewing. my mom switched sewing machines with me when they came and watched our kids when we went to our reunion so the new machine and i (who doesn't have a name yet...suggestions?)got really well acquainted.

the show was...a good experience...i gave out some business cards...sold a few things but nothing overwhelming. the problem was that i signed myself up to do this, bought some halloween fabrics to make things and then found out there was only one show in october (not two as i had previously thought) so i worked furiously for about three days...i mean, it was actually astounding to me how much i made! i was rather proud of myself and i put in so much time that i think i was overestimating what might happen at the show...i don't know. and then when it was over i was bummed. i was. i'll just say it. i slept for two hours the night before so that probably had something to do with it.


but here's the thing. i don't make things so i can sell them (per se...that would be nice though:)) i make things because i have an actual need in myself to create things. it is important to me to create things, it's thrilling to make something from raw materials (be it baking, cooking, sewing or whatever). i really enjoy it. the whole process, the whole shebang. i learned this about myself this weekend (again...i keep relearning things:) the process of making things helps me feel connected and balanced as a whole. i'm not sure why it is this way with me, but it is. and i like it. so i'll keep trying to sell things...because it's fun when something sells but the whole REASON i make them...isn't for money...it's for my own sanity and love of the creation process.

so if anyone needs a halloween trick or treat bag or halloween bunting...let me know:)

crazy rain...

we have been in an intense rainstorm today! it has been pretty great to watch. it thunder stormed yesterday but today it has been all day and it hailed! our street in front of our house looked like this after the first round of rain...

the new shelf...

we have a wall in the kitchen that was kind of boring and i needed more "shelf" space so i went to DI and found this...

then i painted the shelf a charcoal color and spent a lot of time doing the dots on the decorative part with the pegs...

but i like how it turned out a lot!

we are getting our halloween decorations out around here, i had to hold the kids (and myself) off until oct. 1 but then we broke them out and have started getting them up and around:) so fun!

kid-isms...

today we were discussing that telling lies is not a good idea and it makes our Heavenly Father sad and avery said,"will He put me in time out?"

good question!

ethan has been a little bent out of shape that grown-ups can do "whatever they want" (in his mind anyway...) and he expressed this the other day and i said, "no we still have rules, we can't do WHATEVER we want" and he said,"the only person who can do whatever he wants is a king, and the only King around here is Jesus!"

Avery had done something supremely weird, dangerous, painful and/or messy (i honestly can't remember now what it was) but i said, in a very nice way, that next time she needed to use the good brains she had in her head to which ethan very quickly responded, "avery has more than one brain?"

gotcha mom!

crafty

i really like to make things, i do i do! the other day a couple friends and i got together (with kids in tow:) at my house to do some crafting...(we missed you alacey)! we made this countdown, so cute...it was fun and just a little bit stressful to coordinate all those papers on the blocks for the numbers:)



i have used mod podge before but i have a new found love for it now. i want to mod podge lots of things now! so fun!

we also made these jar lanterns...i wanted to do this last Halloween but didn't have enough jars saved and it just never got done. since last year, i've been saving jars!!! so i had MANY jars to choose from so we all could do a few. it is a fun craft and quick, just have to wait for drying time. i have seen A LOT of these around the blog world too, green ones for Frankenstein, white ghosts, purple witches...all very cute! but i stuck with the pumpkins:) i have seen them done with tissue paper and for the life of me, i went to three or four different places and couldn't find orange tissue paper so we painted ours and they worked out just great! go here for templates for faces if you don't want to do your own...


i just printed out the faces and then mod podged them on, no fancy vinyl or anything, and it looks just great to me! the kids love them lit up:)

the baby got a haircut...

this is before..i don't have a great "after" shot...and he's resting right now but he looks great:)



he did a great job and didn't even cry! he had just gotten up from a nap so he was a little groggy:) my sweet SIL elise cut all the kid's hair that day and avery cried during hers way more than blake did:)

Reunion...

LOTS OF PICTURES!

the reunion was really great. we went to WA on wednesday and it rained and rained but i loved it! i miss all that rain to be honest! kendall, however, does not miss it, but i love it:) so we spent the days leading up to friday just getting ready and going to the fair that was going on in Puyallup. blake was a total trooper and really traveled well. he was fascinated with long sleeves and long pants, though! that was really funny to me...he kept plucking at his pajamas and pants, and couldn't figure out the socks! too cute:)

This was outside the restaurant Steamers...almost to Gig Harbor...AWESOME bread bowl clam chowder! loved it! (definitely NOT my best moment here in this picture..yikes!)

This was outside the Goodwill (where we found a sweet Hawaiian shirt for one of the funny awards we gave away) but the irony of the sign is that it was raining...shorts and tank tops 40% off??? awesome.

This is outside of our high school...love those rams!

kendall was lucky enough to be standing near this GINORMOUS pumpkin (weighed almost 800lbs) and was asked to help rotate and tip it up so the guy could carve it...awesome!


isn't it just beautiful? i think it is!

blake at the fair...he was just a bit grumpy that day, doesn't he look cute? those are some of my favorite pants that ethan wore...love them!


we made a nest for him on the other bed in our hotel room...a couple of days after we'd been there i could hear him waking up from his nap but i didn't go over, i just wanted to see what he would do and he didn't disappoint...he put his arm straight up in the air (he was still laying down in his "nest") and started waving. he did this twice before he rolled over and peeked out and that was this picture...

for the actual reunion we had it at a place called The Varsity Grill in Tacoma. Nice place, upstairs, lots of tables, we had a slide show, music, funny awards, good food, and great friends! it was so good to see those people again! there were quite a few that i wish had come but have moved farther away so maybe we can hook up with them later!


our good friend mandy, i just love that girl! she is so sweet and one of those people that you just pick right back up with after so long! she's wonderful!

a whole slew of wonderful people! we all look like grown up versions of our high school selves...pretty funny really:)

so all in all, a great trip! my parents were wonderful taking care of the kids, they had a blast! we had to detox avery though when we came back...apparently nana sharon (my mom)let her sneak some sips of diet coke...and probably ethan too...whew...but we've switched her to root beer and she's done well:)

they gave blaker a name tag...so cute. that sweet child slept through almost the entire reunion and we didn't go back to the hotel until 12:30 am and then he went to sleep at the hotel...bless him!

longest post EVER i know but this has to be said:


obviously the best thing i took away from high school was kendall and his family, now my family. (here pictured with our good friend, Joe) i met kendall the summer before 10th grade and we became good friends and then started dating in junior year. kendall has a wonderful sister, kate, that i think is awesome, a fabulous brother who is married to a wonderful girl elise (who cuts our hair! what will we do when you leave us for UT?) and amazing parents (happy birthday Kara!) not to mention equally fantastic grandparents...to sum up, the family i married into is great, but it all started in high school and i am grateful that i am with him every single day! thank you honey for being my love, then and now:)

When company comes to town...

I tend to look at things with a more critical eye you know? my mom and dad came to watch our kids last Tuesday so we could go to our high school reunion (10 years) in Washington State. That was super duper nice of them! I have such great parents! (and in laws, but that's another post:))

This is a project I'd wanted to do for a while but hadn't gotten around to...so I made it a priority knowing my parents were on their way!



I bought a body pillow when I was pregnant with...Blake, I think...it was huge and orange...not super pretty. In fact I never got much use out of it, it didn't really help me that much when sleeping, so it has been in ethan's closet for a while and he drags it out to play camping, or sleepover or whatever.

We recently changed the cover on our futon to a ticking stripe and it definitely needed pillows...enter body pillow makeover!



I cut the body pillow up and made the two longer pillows (sewing the cut edges of the orange pillow together to prevent any stuffing leaking out). What I had left after getting them the size I wanted was bits and strips and pieces...and I was out of time..so the "W" pillow is actually a pillow we previously used but don't any more...I think they turned out really nice. the floral is an old sheet and if anyone sees another one of these sheets at a thrift store or yard sale, please buy it for me and I will pay you back...I ADORE these flowers...for whatever reason they speak to me. I make some reusable shopping bags with the fabric and then wanted to use it here as well.


I finished the backs with an "envelope" style closure and thank heavens for binding because it was so much easier to just sew that on the raw edges than taking the time to finish it otherwise.


Close up of my favorite flowers...they just make me happy...it's a good thing!