Wednesday, May 30, 2012

A Farmers Life for Me

Every few years the field behind our house is cut bare of the lovely green grass and then plowed and smoothed and planted again.  Of course that whole process isn't quite as easy and beautiful as I have just described it.  It takes long hours, hard work and a lot of patience.  But for me it's pretty much as easy as watching out my back window, and occasionally missing my husband.  The best part about this process going on behind my house is that it totally keeps my kids entertained.  They love to watch all the goings ons.  There are even times that my son can't handle it anymore and runs into the field, (with permission of course) and thumbs for a ride.  And of course his Auntie Em can never say no.


If you didn't know, Ty has some pretty kick butt Aunts.  They can drive massive trucks, tractors, forklifts, just about anything you can imagine.  And somehow they still manage to be quite feminine while doing it all. They are some pretty amazing chicks.  And yes, they are married to some pretty amazing men, who can deal with being married to very capable women. I'm glad that Ty will grow up knowing that girls can do anything boys can do.  I'm even more glad that he's growing up doing a little farming.  There is something about it.  Its hard frustrating work.  But from what I have seen, it grows some pretty amazing kids up into some pretty amazing adults. Of course it might be more parenting than farming.  All in all, I'm proud to be a farmers wife, and a farmers mom (and sister and daughter in law.....)







Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Bring on Summer

It's the second week of no Preschool, and I am already wondering what I am going to do to keep my munchkins entertained all Summer.  Mostly keep a four year old entertained.  Last week was rough, Ty thinks he needs to have a friend over to play everyday.  But I have to agree with him, there's nothing better than a little bike ride with a friend.  Especially when they are as cute as Ty's friend Toby.



On Saturday afternoon Ben and I loaded up the kids and headed out, determined to find something fun to do for a few hours despite the bad weather.  We ended up at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point (sorry I don't know it's official name.)  Since we didn't even know where we would end up I totally forgot to take my camera, dang.  So all I got were these two crappy cell phone pictures.



I love how my son thinks I can't tell if he only moves his eyes.  Ty thought it was really cool though, and Ben and I had a pretty good time too.  Oh and Ally, she is always just happy to be along for the ride.  The weather was finally good enough to take flowers to the cemetery on Sunday evening.  I love Memorial Day, weird Holiday to love I know.  I think that there is just such an amazing spirit at the cemetery, all the colorful flowers and people there remembering those who have passed on.  Even though I never met Ben's grandparents, I feel very connected to them.  It is probably because I live in the house they built.  I am sure they are here, helping me with these little people.  I know that sounds creepy, but it's comforting to me.  Anyway It always makes me happy to take them flowers.  Again crappy phone picture, sorry.


My sister (in-law, but I just call her my sister) Emmy cut these gorgeous Iris' that were in her back yard.  They were so pretty! Thank you Em.


Well I had better go, Ally has this new plan to pull herself up to everything she can reach.  She doesn't ever know what to do after that though, so it usually ends up looking like this.


Life is rough.







Thursday, May 24, 2012


The 10th Annual
Peteetneet Quilt Show
"A Decade of Creating Heirlooms"

The show starts June 15th and runs through the 26th.  Classes and Demonstrations are Friday June 22nd and Saturday June 23rd.  If have a quilt you would like to enter in the show they will be accepted June 11 from 10am to 4pm and June 12 from 9am to 12pm.

For more information, entry forms, and class sign ups go to

I am on the committee for the local quilt show this year.  We have been meeting every month since January to make sure this year is the best show yet.  So far things are shaping up to be just that.  It is going to be lots of fun. There are going to be some awesome classes and demos (even one taught by yours truly!)  And food, that's right, we have all the important stuff covered.  So sign up NOW.   There really is something for everyone. The Mystery Quilt class and dinner is crazy fun every year. You DO NOT have to be an experienced quilter to participate in the classes. The table runner class is perfect for beginners, it teaches a little bit of a bunch of different techniques. I have a feeling things are going to fill up fast.  Hope to see you all there.



A sneak peek of the "Let Freedom Ring" table runner, Isn't this the cutest!  I am super excited!  The fabric and the pattern are included in the price of the class too, so it's really a great deal!  And trust me its not hard, you will have it done before you leave!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Since Thursday....

Since my post last Thursday I have been busy trying to redeem myself.  I dug a quilt out that has been done for over a year, all it needed was binding.  As if that isn't bad enough, it took me an HOUR, one whole hour, just to find the dang thing.  I had put it away in a very safe place, I was so mad at myself.  Luckily after the hunt, I still had time to do what I had set out to do in the first place. It took a whole whopping 45 minutes, why did I put that off for so long? (oh yeah, because I hate to bind) And now it's D-O-N-E.  I can check it off my list, yay.




I made this for Ty so that he would have a new quilt when his little sister was born. (I can always find an excuse for a quilt!)  I had the dog print in my stash, I once had a dog named Peppy, so when I saw that I had to have it you see, because I have no self control, remember?  Ty picked it out of my stash and then we picked all the other colors to go with it.  He sat on my lap and helped me sew almost the whole thing (it's a wonder my arms reached the sewing machine, with a huge belly and a three year old on my lap).   He helped lay out all the blocks, and he helped sew them together.  He also used my rulers as "jumps" for his monster trucks and snapped one in half.  The memory of it all seems sweet now, but at the time it took all the patience I had to get through this little doggie quilt.  Maybe this thing is cursed?  When we went to buy the back for it, he got sick in the store.  He was running around crazy one minute and the next he was telling me his back hurt.  He just wanted me to hold him.  After about 10 minuets of carrying him around he started panting and then he barfed into my chest.  I tried to curl him into me so that it was all on me and not all over the store, or worse, on any fabric, which worked, but sucked. Luckily Ben's Mom was with me.  I ran into the bathroom and she took care of the fabric I was having cut.  It was awesome because I was wearing a sweatshirt and a tank top.  So I took off the hoodie, rinsed it the best I could, in what seemed like the smallest sink in the world, and then I got to put. it. back. on. D-U-M-B.  Whats even better is that he had four more of those little spells over the next five weeks.  He ended up at Primary Children's to have an MRI (Ally was 10 days old, yay, so fun) because every time he would just complain of back pain.  They never found anything wrong, but it pretty much sucked all the way around.  So I was so excited to finally get this thing done on Friday and give it to him, and when he got home he had a fever!  Yep, now that I think about it I am getting rid of this thing for sure. It is definitely cursed.  But that might break the heart of a certain little boy, he really loves it.  And he stayed snuggled in it almost all weekend.
OK, moving on, sorry, I tend to ramble, I would tell you I'm working on it, but that would be a lie.  On Thursday night Ty had his Preschool Graduation.  He was so excited, and I was so proud.




Thank you so much Miss Kelci, you are the best!  Ty had so much fun at Preschool this year, everyday he would ask me if it was a preschool day.  He learned a ton and made some awesome new friends.  We were both sad that it was over.  But since my little man won't be old enough for Kindergarten, we will get to do preschool again next year, Yay! 

For the past few weeks after Sunday dinner, there have been some pretty intense Frisbee matches going on.  I decided I had better bring my camera along so that I could get in on the action.  Since I am not much good at throwing, or catching, or any thing sports related at all.  But it's fine with me, because being in the middle of these guys and taking pictures was way more fun anyways. This week they tried throwing two at once, pretty tricky.


Do you think these two are related? Good thing I have a camera to hide behind.
I will never be half as graceful.  It looked like they were doing ballet out there.



I'm pretty sure Ty didn't take ballet, I'm also pretty sure that's a good thing.
He really is good at Frisbee though, I just couldn't resist posting this one funny pic.

 









If you think that the only reason Brian jumped through the air, and risked his life to catch a Frisbee (that was already on the ground) is because he likes to give me great material to photograph, well you might be right.  I can always count on him to pull through for a good shot, he seems to like the camera, and I'm pretty happy about that.  In fact my whole family is pretty good to let me take their pictures, even knowing that it's going to end up on here.  Have I told you lately what a fun family I am a part of.  Yeah I'm super blessed, and trust me there is not one day that goes by that I am not extremely thankful for them.  It's crazy to see how much our family has grown over the past few years, just when you think it can't get any better, it totally does.

After the Frisbee showdown we hung out on the porch and watched the solar eclipse.  I pulled out the MRI films of Ben's back and we held up the undeveloped parts and used them to look at the sun.  It worked really well.  And when Ben mentioned how funny and concerned we all looked staring at his films like a bunch of doctors, it was even funnier.  Brian, the one who is always helping me get good photos, convinced me to try and take a picture of it.  I was hesitant but I'm so glad he talked me into it,  I think they turned out pretty awesome.



I wish I had gotten a few when it was smaller, but hey, you live you learn.  OK, this is maybe the longest post in history.  It has taken me hours and days to write it.  I promise the next one will be short and sweet. Now I need to go make sure that my baby, who had to cry herself to sleep, is actually sleeping, and try to keep a four year old quiet so that she stays that way for more than 15 minutes. And maybe I should unload the dishwasher and start dinner...... 







Thursday, May 17, 2012

Embarrassing

Today I have a quilt ready to go to the quilters.



This is big news for me.  The last quilt I had quilted was before Christmas.  I am embarrassed to even call myself a quilter. It's not that I don't have plenty to send out, it's just that I can't afford it.  It can't be because I'm addicted to buying fabric. (I can't believe I am really going to post this next picture.)


Embarrassing, it's the only word for it.  I think I may need some professional help. These are only two shelves too, it's possible it is even worse. It might give you comfort to know that the rest of my house does not look like this. I am not a hoarder, please do not call to put me on the show. In fact I even mopped today, which I can't decide if that should be something I'm proud of or not, our floor was nasty, it was also.... you guessed it, embarrassing. I give credit to a one year old that feels the need to clean her tray when she is done eating, by throwing everything on the floor.  And also a four year old that frequently misses his mouth. 

Even though all of this seems to be more than enough embarrassment for one day, there is one more thing.  Maybe the most embarrassing of all.  I did an entire Mothers Day post without any pictures of those one people, the ones who made me a Mom. SUPER Embarrassing. In my defense, have you ever tried to get a picture of a one year old and a four year old together?  Well if you have and succeded then good for you, I am still trying to figure it out, obviously.




Trust me Ty, it was just as painful for me :)