Quilting for a Cause

On Tuesday night I went to help take down the Quilt Show and have a little meeting.  While I was there Marion mentioned that she was collecting quilts for Julie over at havingfunquilting.blogspot.com.  Julie lives in Sanpete County and has been watching the Wood Hollow fire destroy thousands of acres and several homes. At one point she was even evacuated from her own home, so to say she is close to the situation is an understatement.  So instead of just sitting around and worrying she decided to do something to help out.  She is collecting Quilts for people who have lost their homes.  And she has just expanded her mission to not only help the people from her area but also to neighboring states!  What a woman, can I just say quilters totally ROCK!  It's about so much more than fabric and thread.  It's about connecting to each other and giving comfort.  Is there a better feeling than knowing you are helping someone stay warm?  It's even more than that, it's letting them know that you care.  That you spent time making something with your own hands hoping to bring them a tiny bit of hope, comfort and love.  So if you have any quilts, quilt tops, or anything else that you would like to donate to her fabulous cause, then just leave me a comment and I will help you out.  Or you can visit her blog to get all the info.

The smoke from the fires has been especially thick by our house over the last few days.  Yesterday at about 2:30 in the afternoon it seriously looked like it was 9 pm.  It freaks me out.  My Mother in law keeps saying that its like living in Hell.  While I hope I never know how correct that statement is, it seems like a good way to describe it.  It's almost 100 degrees everyday and it literally smells like you are standing next to a camp fire.  Yesterday there was ash falling from the sky, and the smoke was so thick you could hardly see the mountains less than a mile away.  

So far today isn't much better.  The worst part? It's only JUNE!  And if it doesn't rain by Saturday, which isn't likely, it will be the driest June in history, only a trace of rain.  And we haven't even gotten into fire season yet.  It's going to be a very long summer at this rate.  

Also yesterday I decided to clean out my sewing closet, big mistake, remember that horrible picture of how bad it used to look?  Yeah, it's even worse.  But hopefully it will be getting better soon and I can show you what I have been up to lately :)  Hopefully it's just one tiny miracle that happens this weekend.

  

Rite of Passage

DISCLAIMER:  I know that there are some of you who are going to think that this is totally unsafe and you will want to call and report me for endangering my child.  First of all, my Husband has ridden a motorcycle his whole life, It's possible he is more stable on two wheels than on his own two feet.  Second of all, he never goes out of first gear.  Third and most importantly, Ben or I would NEVER do anything that we thought might put our kids in harms way, we are responsible parents.
(If you don't count letting them eat Zingers for breakfast and dinner :))

In every family there are certain milestones that everyone looks forward too.  In our family a child's first motorcycle burn with Daddy is a major one. When Ben unloaded his motorcycle on Saturday night, Ally's time had come.  And of course just as we suspected, she was in heaven, we are pretty sure she is going to be a little daredevil.

"Let me get back on there Daddy... I will drive this time" :)  Ben's face is so dirty because he had just gotten home from riding with his friends.  His helmet only lets the dust get to that bottom part of his face making him look a little funny.  I like having some pictures of it though, I always want to remember how he looks when he comes home from having a little fun.  I think that pictures of my kids and their Daddy on the motorcycle are some of my favorites of all time.  These are some of Ty and Ben a few years ago, not Ty's first ride, but one of my favorite pictures ever.  I told Ty that he had smile for me before they left, so he gave me this huge fake cheese so they could get on their way.  I still have it in my kitchen, It makes me smile everyday.

Also, the last two days to see the Peteetneet Quilt Show is Monday and Tuesday, 10 - 4.  We have had such a great time this year.  Thank you to everyone who has come and participated and helped out.  

Summer Love

Ty is perhaps one of the pickiest eaters ever.  You would never know it by his size, but really the kid will only eat a few items.  And when it comes to trying something new, it has to be his idea or there is no chance.  The funny part is that usually when he does end up trying something new he goes crazy for it and just can't get enough.  Last Summer we caught him and Maddie in my in-laws garden picking and eating them some corn.  Since then he has been in love with corn on the cob. He asks for it at least once a week, and has been impatiently waiting all winter and spring for it to be in season again.  Yesterday Ben took Ty with him to run an errand up town and Ty noticed a stand selling corn, he begged Ben to stop and buy some.  When they got home we couldn't cook it fast enough.  Ty was in Heaven, this could be his favorite thing about Summer.

When he was done I asked him to put the cobb in the garbage.  He headed for the fridge and told me he was just going to save that part for tomorrow.  I told him that we could make some more tomorrow, so he reluctantly placed it in the garbage.  I'm pretty sure he would have slept with it if he thought he could have gotten away with it.  I have a feeling I will be boiling a lot of corn this summer, and that's  a-ok with me :)

My favorite part of Summer?  Kids who play so hard that our afternoons often look like this...

(Or it could be Ty wearing Bens old faded IFA hat, it makes my heart melt just a little.)

Don't worry, Ty doesn't mind being under a pink skull blanket,

when he wakes up he will thank Ally for being so nice and sharing :)

For Father's Day I made this little photo strip for my Dad.  These pictures were taken while we were in Lake Havasu for Thanksgiving.  I can't believe how little my baby looks. 

Father's Day I'm realizing is a hard holiday for me.  I feel pulled in a million different directions.  Which isn't a bad thing, I am a very lucky girl to have a lot of amazing Men in my life who have helped me become who I am today. But I can't help but miss one who is unavoidably absent.

Gill loved summer maybe more than anyone.  He loved to be outside on his riding mower, and he mowed everything possible, the lawn, the neighbors lawn, the weeds on the side of the road, even the entire pasture a few times.  He loved to ride horses, go to the cabin, go fishing, and "bronzing up", which meant working on his tan.  He was always the life of the party no matter the season, seriously there was never a dull moment with him around.  He taught me a whole lot about life, and not just the pretty stuff either.  He taught me how to stand up for myself, and how to be resilient, and to have fun and find the humor in every situation.

 You would think after almost five years you would start to get used to the void, and sometimes we are less aware than other times.  But for some reason I miss him a whole lot lately.  I have a good idea why, and I will write a big ole' post on it one of these days soon.  But today I just want all the men in my life on Earth, and the ones not here anymore, to know how much I love them, so very much. 

Happy Father's Day, a few days late. 

Sew far, Sew good.

This week has been crazy!  But the quilts have been delivered and hung, and they are ready! The Quilt show looks better than ever!  Maybe it's just because I have been involved that I am so into it this year, OK that's definitely why.  But seriously, it looks amazing, so many talented people.  I have an even bigger list of stuff I want to make now too.  Hopefully one of these days I will remember to take my camera and snap a few photos.  If you are in the area and have time you should definitely stop in and check it out.

Since I cannot post without pictures, I will show you my latest adventure.  It's a block exchange.  You make several of the same block, one for each person participating, (for us it was 13) and then you keep one and mail the rest on.  So far I have these four, I'm pretty excited about it.

Sorry my pictures are so bad, I don't have the energy to try and make them good tonight.  Tomorrow my friend Cindy and I are going Shop Hopping, so much fun, I can't even wait!  Maybe I will take my little camera along and see if I can get a few pics along the way.

Fun and Done

On Thursday Ty, Ally, Maddie and I met up with our friends Nicole, Collin, Waylon, Jen and Miss Bentley, at the Splash Pad.  It could have been a tiny bit warmer.  It felt fine if you were nice and dry but being wet was a little chilly.  I didn't know this first hand, but Maddie's face said it all.

Ty made one pass and was done, he made friends with a little boy and we only saw him here and there after that.  Bentley was all about it, it was really funny.  She was very curious about all that water and where it was coming from.  Waylon also preferred to stay dry, despite Nicole trying to ditch him in the middle.  Ally just scooted around, far from any water.  Yes my daughter just scoots on her bum.  She is far to much of a lady to be on her knees apparently.

On Wednesday I bound two quilts! Yay me!  The second one is for Miss Ally.  I pulled it out of my stash of quilt tops and sent it to the quilters with the other one.  I'm not sure why I thought she needed another quilt, but I'm sure I totally justified it at the time.  The first one I plan on entering in the upcoming Peteetneet Quilt Show.  That baby only took me a little over a year to finish.  Thank goodness for girls weekend! (more on that later) I have to say I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  My pictures are a little rough, I am still trying to figure out quilt photography, if you have any tips I would appreciate them :)

And of course, my lovely assistant.  She is definitely the prettiest thing I have ever made. My masterpiece, one of two anyway. I am one lucky Momma.

Eight Years

Eight years ago today I married the man of my dreams. 
I thought I couldn't love him anymore than I did that day, I was wrong.

Ben surprised me on Saturday with a night away in Salt Lake without the kids.  It was HEAVEN.  I thought my wedding day was the best day of my life, not even close.  Punk you are my best friend in the whole world, I love you more than you can ever imagine. Thank you so much for giving me a life better than I could have imagined.

A hiking we did go...

I talked Steph and her girlie's and Maddie into going hiking with us on Thursday.  We had been talking about it forever, and finally found a day that worked.  It was so much fun, seriously I think I want to do this once a week.  Steph and I agreed while hiking, free fun is really awesome!

Ty and Toby ran the whole way, except on these water crossings.  Ty was pretty nervous about them at first, you would have thought that was the amazon under there. Since I had Ally on my back Maddie kindly consented to be my Sherpa and haul all our snacks up.  Such a sweet girl that one.

If you have never been on this hike, or even if you have, you must go.  It was really beautiful, nice and cool, and it's a nice short walk. If I can make it anyone can :) 

Also, three posts in one week will probably never happen again, I apparently have way to much time on my hands.  Or maybe I am just slackin', either way it's just wrong.