For Grady, Baby

Here is the latest quilt for my friend's new baby whose name is Grady. I really love that name! Anyway this is just another version of my favorite baby blanket pattern. Click to see the pics bigger.

Here is the back, it's flannel and I pieced the back together along with a cute little square to make the back big enough. Once again it's so nice to be able to give a gift like this to show my love to the recipients. It also perfectly matches his bedroom, which I had no idea!

This week has been rainy and cold. We have still been able to pick blackberries in the morning and the evening and the boys are raking in the cash. It's so good for them to have the resposibility to their customers, so they pick each day to fill the orders that are coming in. Clancy is saving for the family computer and Clayton is stashing his cash for remote control accessories.

Today was the last day of volleyball camp at the school. It was great to see girls who did o.k. last year show up and do great! It's fun to see them mature and figure out how to make their long arms and legs work right. This has made me excited for the season to start which will be in just a couple of weeks!

Summer is winding down fast. The boys are restless and it's all I can do to keep them distracted. I can't say that I'm ready for school to start, though! Cheers!

Alaska all the way

On July 24th we drove to Seattle, where we boarded the Holland American ZanDaam. You see, David's parents celebrate their 50th anniversary this fall and decided to take their children and the children's spouses on a cruise to Alaska! There are five children in the family, so with everyone we were a group of twelve. I don't know if I can begin to describe the fun we had with everyone! I know we all had a great time. Here is a picture of Sheryl, my mother-in-law and myself on a tender going to Sitka.

That was a fun stop. We bought homemade jelly from a girl who is Orthodox Russian. Her family is large (her mom is expecting #12 this summer). They have a great business with their yummy jelly and sell to tourists in their shop and on the sidewalk in front of their house. There is a large Russian contigient in Sitka and there is a beautiful onion-dome church there as well.

Here's what we did lots of....eating! This is close to midnight and we are eating at the Dessert Extravaganza. Pretty much the only thing I worried about the whole trip was getting myself to the next round of food. It was nice to not have to cook for a whole week. It's a good thing we went dancing almost every night! That was a blast! I never thought we would all end up on the dance floor together! Every night we could boogie to "Billie Jean". (ugh)

Here is Glacier Bay. Seeing the glacier is only half of the experience, though. It makes a lot of noise and there is constant movement as the ice is melting and causing small avalanches that you could see and hear. The glacier made lots of noise! It sounded like target practice was going on! It was a beautiful day in the Bay and so much fun to see.

This is from our stop in Ketchikan. We got off the boat and bargained our way onto Sourdough Jack's tour bus. He was great fun and took us all over. Our first stop was to see some eagles in their nest. Then we saw the eagle above in the top of a tree drying its wings after fishing in the ocean. A little farther down the road we stopped to watch two bears fishing along a stream. It was almost like they were planted there for us to see and photograph! We went to a neat totem park. I was really interested in learning more about the native people in Alaska and this was a great place for that. There were also a couple of lectures on the boat that I attended that talked about the native life in Alaska-super interesting!

Thanks to Dana for staying with my kids during the hottest week of the year without any air conditioning!
The biggest thanks goes to Roger and Sheryl for a great vacation! Thanks for being a good example of marriage and the strength of family. As the sun goes down on the last 50 years, there's a lot to look forward to in the next years. Happy Anniversary!

Summer Makeover

While his older brother was in Europe, Clayton and I made over his room. He picked the paint colors, decided on the diagonal pattern and picked the curtain fabric. After a couple of trips to Ikea (thank you very much) the transition was complete. New comforter cover, new artwork--which is sooo Clayton and even a new garbage can--orange of course.

The curtains have an island feel to them. Thanks to the next door neighbor for the bamboo curtain rod!

The artwork is so much fun and we also made a bulletin board that is on the wall next to his bed. All his medals for wrestling and certificates for shooting at cub camp. It's really fun to see how proud he is of his creation. He is even keeping it cleaner than usual. A nice perk that I hadn't anticipated.

Both boys have been to scout camps this summer. David and I went to Alaska, which I will post about later. Summer is flying. I even bought some school supplies today:(

Volleyball starts next week and school is close behind, sigh.

Summer Lovin'!!

Summer is in full swing! I love summer and I tell myself that this year I'm going to sit in my lawn chair, read and drink diet coke. So far, it hasn't happened...This is what's been going on.

Clancy went to Europe for ten days! He had a great time, took great pictures and he's really grumpy when he has jet lag. Here is a great picture of the Louvre in Paris. The picture of him on the Segue was also in Paris. I'm so proud of him for working so hard to earn his way. It was definitely a memorable adventure. While he was gone Clayton and I painted his room and had a lot of fun doing a "make over". He and I also went to the beach with my sis and her girls. We had so much fun, the weather was nice for a couple of the days and typical for a couple of the days! We went to Tillamook, Oceanside and Lincoln City. It's fun to take Lisa and her crew to the beach because they live in Utah and never see it, so it's a huge treat for them.

We've already been floating the river. It's the perfect thing to do when it's so hot outside. Cools you off real quick. Clancy is volunteering at he library one afternoon a week. It's hard to find enough to keep him busy...

My friend, Cheryl, and I found some tables at a yard sale for $2.50 each. We had a painting party and here they are. Cheryl painted hers black and she copied a drawing freehand! She's mighty talented! Mine is the red one with the stars. I traced a stencil for the stars and then masked them off with tape. Pretty lame compared to what Cheryl can do!

The Fourth was a lot of fun. Dave and Clayton were in the parade again! We had about 15 people here to watch it and it was fun to visit beforehand. In the afternoon we were all too hot so we took a dip in the river. It was so refreshing! Finally, we went to fireworks at the school. It's really the best show I've ever watched! It's hard to believe it, but this little town puts on a great show.

Yesterday we celebrated Gma Lovell's 94th birthday! She is such a great woman and still has some spunk. I'm thankful to have her in my life.

There's still much to do for the rest of the summer. Boy Scout camp, Day Camp, Paul family reunion and then the long days of August...

something I threw together

I've wanted to do a red, black and white quilt for a long time and here is one. I also wanted to do the pattern which is Triangle Tango. It's really not difficult and it was a neat technique to learn. I really thought the red, black, white quilt that I've wanted to make would go in my room. This one is for my friend, Brooke. She is the culinary arts teacher at school and a friend. She is leaving for Western Asia with the Peace Corps. I think she has made a courageous decision to leave all that is comfortable here to pursue something she feels so strongly about. The Corbett colors just happen to be red, black and white (go Cards!!) and some of the prints are specific to her; the beaters because she works in the kitchen, soccer because she coaches, exclamation points because she never shuts up!! The other side of the quilt was donated by staff members and I just put it together and gave it to her for her birthday. I've said it before, but giving handmade gifts is a great way to show love! I'll miss you Brooke!! Good luck...

I'm home alone because the guys are at a father-son campout with church. I should probably be going out and having fun with friends, but I'm going to make a chocolate milk shake and watch a movie or just read. Ahhh, there's nothing like having the house to yourself!!

Time to Brag

Here's my sharp man in black! Doesn't he look good? He performed in a music festival at Warner-Pacific college on Friday. He plays the oboe and he does quite well. All of the schools at the festival were the same size-about 150 students in the middle/junior high schools. All the other schools had about 12 or 15 band members, but Corbett has 50--that's right, 1/3 of the school are band geeks! But it's cool to be a band geek in Corbett, even in High School. I think I have lots more festivals in my future.

Saturday was a gorgeous day and I cant think of a better way to spend an hour than watching a soccer game! Clayton is really getting the hang of the game and really enjoying himself. What a great action shot this turned out to be!!

I always have the best Mother's day and each year I say that this one is the best ever!! It's really true though, because my guys are sooo good to me! Breakfast in bed, sweet gifts, yummy dinner and lots of love. What more could I ask for? Thanks guys. You're the ones who give meaning to my life, I couldn't ask for better kids (except when you hit each other in the store)!! Love you guys!! Kisses

Sweet elephants

Here is the latest quilt that I finished. It's for one of the teachers at work who is expecting in a couple of weeks. It's a boy and she (the mom) loves orange. I think this is my new favorite baby pattern to make because the pieces are big so putting it together is relatively easy. So here's the front. (click to big it) Here's the back. Who doesn't love elephants on flannel? I pieced together a section because the fabric wasn't wide enough and I didn't have any extra elephant fabric. I like how it turned out.

Here's a close up of the elephants...

I always get nervous when I make something and give it for a gift. What if they don't like what I picked out? What if they don't like the design? What if ....I could just drive myself crazy with all the possibilities. My friend really liked the quilt. Even one of the male teachers said "wow". It's fun to be able to share talents with other people, I think it's one of the nicest ways to show love. Hasta!

This and that

It's weird how when you haven't blogged and you feel like you should but you feel guilty that you didn't so then you don't and it just goes round and round like that...

So David was gone last week and I coached his soccer team for him. It was fun and it didn't rain on us. I like coaching volleyball better because there isn't any running involved. I'm glad Dave made it back by Saturday for the game which they won 5-1.

Spring has sprung and I love how everything is beautiful and green again. I'm even glad for all the work that I have to do outside. We really were cooped up this winter. The goats love spring too. I happened to come home for lunch one day last week and there were Doublestuff and Marshall munching on the lilac tree and other plants in the front yard!! It ended up being short of a rodeo, but I hustled them up to the pasture. When I came home after work, guess what??? That's right, goats in the yard again!! I think the fence is repaired now and the goats have been chastized!

Clancy had a big week this last week. The middle school went to the beach for an overnight field trip. That's right folks, 150 7/8 graders with their raging hormones spending the night away from home! Since I've been on a couple of these field trips I know that it's well-chaperoned. The kids had fun in the tide pools and had lessons by a park ranger-type person. Then they all rode in the ocean in an Indian style canoe. Everyone came home very tired and sunburned. On Friday Clancy packed up again and went on a scout trip to do the pioneering merit badge. They made it home late last evening, but with another badge for his sash!! Then he had to speak in church today about the blessings of the sabbath. We got to church and right before the first song started he came over to me all panicked and said "I left my talk at home, so I think I'll tell them to cancel me" He's a smart kid, so I wrote 5 words down to help him remember his talk and he aced it!! I'm so proud of him for pulling it through!

I have a new calling at church. I'm the Laurel advisor! I can't even begin to explain how excited I am to have a change! I'll miss my cubs, but I'm not so sure they'll miss me! Have a great week. Cheers!

Unfocused

I can never get my pictures the way I want them... Why is Clayton in first place you might ask? You'll have to scroll down to the last picture to find out!

I love this picture. This is the smallest house that we've owned. I wondered how it would be being together all the time (what a brat I was). It's nice to see these guys being this close together and not hurting each other. Having a smaller living space has been a boon to our family. It's a joy to be together and be a family!!

Here's our guy!! He has participated in a wrestling camp at school that the varsity team puts on for the elementary kids. This is Clayton's fourth year participating and the fourth year that he has won 1st for his weight class. He's in the green shirt above. It has been really fun to watch him since kindergarten. He really improves each year with his skills and moves. This year he really understood how to use his own body weight to win points. He hasn't pinned anyone, but he always wins by a large margin of points. I'm a proud mama!

I feel unfocused and uncentered lately. I can't put a finger on what my problem is, but I don't have a ton of ooomph. David mentioned that we have more daylight and I should be feeling energized! Maybe it's the idea of all the work that needs to be done during the daylight!!

It's spring break and we were all so ready for the break. We have a few things to do here and around town the next couple of days and then the boys and I are off to the beach for the rest of the week! I'm excited to go and have a change of scenery.

I'm in the throes of making baby gifts again, so I'll have some pictures to post about that soon. I love making baby quilts just because they come together so quickly and I can make them cutesy or fun and funky!

Have a great spring break!! Cheers!

Does this make by butt look big???

I'm seriously glad that I am not a goose! The two large orbs above are goose eggs while the blue and brown ones are chicken eggs. The top one just gives a reference point to the diet coke can. David wanted to get geese last spring. He ordered them from the farm store. Geese can be pretty nasty unless you let them imprint on you while they are young. To encourage the imprinting, our baby geese lived in the bath tub for a month or so. Baby geese are seriously cute!! The geese have grown a lot and one was killed by a savage animal this winter. We didn't know if we had the male or female left. I noticed over the weekend that the goose's beak was rather red, hmmmm....Then this morning I found these two eggs in the chicken coop in a small nesting area of straw! I was so excited! It really made my day that the goose has finally laid eggs. I'm a farm geek now, I guess.

What else has been happening? My parents came for a visit. It was nice because they stayed longer than they generally are able to. The boys really enjoyed spending some time with them. While they were here, Dad celebrated his one year anniversary of his heart surgery. Thank goodness for technology!! I'm glad you're still here, Dad!

The kids have had a lot of fun activities. Clancy had a Valentine's dance at school. Guess who won the dance-off at the dance???? That's right, Clancy the dancing machine!! He's still pretty excited about it. He was funny because before the dance he decided it was time to shave off the 14 hairs on his lip! I tried to take pictures, but he wasn't very cooperative! How funny to see him care about his appearance now.

Clayton is gearing up for wrestling next week. It's his fave sport and he's pretty good at it too. He had a Music program at school last week and had a speaking part. He nailed it! No dancing for him, though!

We are cleaning up the carnage of the wind storm. We had 8 trees come down in the storm. It seems like no matter how much we work outside, we will never catch up. I remember feeling this way when we first moved here, and we did get it all cleared away! I have to remember that.

That's all for now. Take care. Cheers!!

Holy Big Feet, Batman!!!

He'll be 13 next Saturday and these are size 10 1/2!! That's bigger than his dad's feet. I'll be surprised if he isn't taller than me this summer...All this to go with the big attitude, right? I sure love this guy!

New Year Stuff

I thought if I just write it down then maybe I would feel more compelled to accomplish some yearly goals.

1. Be more fiscally responsible. Buy what I need vs. what I want. This will be hard in the fabric and fiber arena, but I will use what I have first.

2. Be a better mom. Why do I think more volume will help my kids understand what I'm trying to say to them? Quiet words can have a great impact.

3. Be a better wife. There's not enough room here to list how I can improve in this area...

4. Be kinder to my body. Not eating gluten has been great for me. Now about the extra weight I'm carrying around. Some exercise would do wonders and so would laying off the sugar.

That's it. I can do a reasonable job with a smaller list. I'll check in next year and see how I fared.

Warm and Fuzzy

He wanted to make a blanket by himself. Never mind that I am making him a quilt. He picked the fabric himself, decided the dimensions and did it all. Not too shabby for a kids who loves skating, four wheeling and all that dangerous stuff. I love that he wanted to do this on his own.

Winter Break Quick List

1. Missed the week of school before the break.

2. It snowed.

3. Ran around house maniacally looking for hubby's gifts. I couldn't find them anywhere.

4. Knit some baby booties.

5. Asked the boys if I had them hide Dad's gifts. They looked at me like I was crazy and pulled them out from under their beds--already wrapped. We had wrapped them together!! Argh, I do this every year.

6. It snowed-a lot.

7. Enjoyed being snowed in. Nothing says time with family like watching the Back To The Future trilogy in one day!

8. Made cinnamon rolls.

9. Saw some family.

10. Made some rockin' candied citrus peel! Seriously good stuff!

11. Did I mention that it snowed?

12. Went sledding with the kids.

13. Loved time with my family where we didn't have a schedule to keep.

14. Missed seeing my siblings.

15. Surprisingly had the power on the whole time!

16. Did some more knitting. (see #7)

17. Loved watching the lads love their Christmas gifts.

It has been a great break. I think we are going to try and brave the big city today. Little C is going to the skate park and Big C has a gift card to Powells Books. I'm looking forward to our outing. Ciao!

Just Wonderin'...

We were all hanging out and watching a movie when little C says "Do you think I can do the splits in tighty whiteys? They aren't as flexible as boxers." Well, this isn't something that I can weigh in on, so if you have an opinion, by all means let us know what you think! Merry Christmas...

You live in Oregon if...

You are snowed in during the month of December with only 18" snow. Granted we have received most of it in less than a week, but it still makes me giggle. This is a great picture of the shop in the snow and some of the drifting that we have going on. Some are really impressive.

Our neighbor came over and plowed us out with his tractor. David had taken the truck out to see if could get out, but couldn't make it back up the drive. We might be able to make it to town tomorrow if we don't have freezing rain. There's just no reason to go anywhere with all the stinkin' ice. In this picture you can see an orange topped figure. That would be little C who is snow boarding down that drift. He has had a blast playing in the snow. The wind should be calm tomorrow, so I think we will venture out and sled. We have enough big drifts that we won't have to leave our property.

You might ask yourself what one does while snowed in? Besides taking water to the animals and clearing snow away from doors, we have been watching all the free family movies on Comcast. On Saturday we watched the complete trilogy of Back To the Future. AMAZING!! I'm sure it makes you wish you could be snowed in as well... if only you could be so lucky! Well, I'm off to find a wayward retainer. Ta!!

It's always a party here....

I love how sparkly everything looks when it's out of focus! The guys brought home the perfect tree on Saturday--tall and slender. We decorated on Monday and now we are anxiously waiting for the big day to arrive! We have only been to school on Tuesday this week, church was even cancelled because of snow and ice. It makes sense only if you live here. Because it snows so seldom, nobody knows how to handle driving in it. But after growing up in Montana it seems pretty wimpy.

Here's some good-looking logger guy who hangs out in my living room in the evenings. He's even better in focus!! (Maybe that will learn ya to call me a blogging slacker)

Here is a great picture of big C on little C's birthday gift with a friend of ours. I love how messy the room looks! It's just lots of birthday festivity!!

I love seeing the snow outside, it makes it really seem like winter to me. I hope you're enjoying yours! Cheers, babe!

First dance, second hat and third handspun

Here is my third yarn that I have made. I think I might make a beret style hat for myself out of it. It's pretty small, fingering weight and took a while. I learned a lot about spinning smaller yarn. I think I'm going to continue to learn every time I start a new project.

Here's the second hat with my second handspun. I really love how the yarn turned out and the hat turned out well too. I think the kid wearing it is turning out alright as well. He had his first middle school dance on Friday after school. I stayed and spied on him. The dance started out as any middle school dance does with the boys on one side of the room and the girls on the other. Then groups of girls started dancing so groups of boys started "dancing"--I'm still not sure what they were doing, but at least they weren't just standing around. Then there was a snow ball dance and one of the cool volleyball girls picked Clancy. He had about three picks of his own to make until the song was over. After that everyone just danced in a huge group in the middle and really had fun. Clancy is quite a hit with the vb girls which is really good for his self-esteem. I loved watching him. He's pretty comfortable doing his own thing without seeking approval from everyone else. (he dances like his dad, but at least they both will dance!)

The mighty hunter went looking for elk and came home empty-handed. It's just the way things go sometimes. We have had beautiful weather with lots of sunshine. I really love it. I don't mind the rain so much when we have the sun in between. I think that's it. Probably not the most exciting post for my bros to read, but maybe I'll knit you a hat! Cheers!!

Rosy cheeks and creamsicle hats

For my guy whose fave color is orange...This is my first handspun yarn and I have to say that I'm kind of impressed that everything worked out the way that I planned. Now the weather needs to cool off so he can wear it!!

Pirates and Skeletons, Oh My!!

For the second time in my costume-making career I didn't make costumes for my kids this year. I feel no guilt and don't feel like less of a mother for the experience. Big C decided at the last minute to go trick-or-treating and a pirate costume was easy to put together with some of the stuff from last year's Indiana Jones costume.

Little C wanted to be a gorilla, but when he found the skeleton costume, his mind was made up. I love how it makes him look knock-kneed!

I didn't have to encourage this picture, it pretty much happens naturally when they stand next to each other! They really hauled in the candy and had a great spook night. Hope you did too. Ta!