Happy Birthday Audrey Mae

This pretty girl is not just my friend, she is my Sister.  I didn't have any siblings before I married Ben, I am an only child.  This girl, and her two Sisters, are my dream come true.  I couldn't love them more.  I love you so much Audrey Mae, thanks for being my sister and showing me what that really means.  You will never know how much it means to me.  Happy Birthday.

36 Hours

Last weekend was crazy busy.  It was also crazy fun. Since Ben works most every Saturday, and we usually need to be back for church by 11am on Sunday, we don't often go to far on weekends.  But last weekend we squeezed in everything we possibly could.  Ben's Mom asked if the kids could go with them on Friday night... ummm, yeah!!!!  I said, and I quote, "It would be my pleasure, literally."  Ben had told me earlier in the day that he needed to work on my Mom's tractor that night.  So the two of us hung out together at the shop.  It was just like the old days, Ben works on stuff and I watch.  I am always so amazed that he knows how to fix everything.

Saturday morning Ty's Friend Toby had her Birthday Party.  It was a Puppy Party, and it was to die for.  Toby's mom is amazing, she always has awesome ideas.  I have "why didn't I think of that" moments quite often while in her company.  I told myself I wasn't going to post any of these pictures because it wasn't our party.  But seriously, they are so cute!  (Sorry Steph, I just couldn't help myself.)

Happy Happy Birthday Toby girl!

I am pretty sure this was their favorite part, when Steph old them that puppies don't eat at the table they eat on the floor, there were several squeals of delight.  Ty told me that he is going to eat like this from now on.  To bad his Mom is such a fun hater.  Sorry Buddy, someday you will understand. I hope.....

After the party Ty, Ally and I took a flying trip to Walmart to grab a few things, and then we met Ben who was just getting home, and we frantically loaded up the camp trailer.  Yes we bought a trailer!  WooHoo!  I have been meaning to post about this it just hasn't happened.  Our friends Jason and Nicole and their kids were camping up Payson Canyon and invited us to come up.  Since we hadn't gotten to take our trailer out we were really excited, even if it was only for one night.  

No this is not Ben's bike, him and Jason were trying to convince Jason's son Collin to jump over this big ditch.  If the smile on Ben's face doesn't tell you everything you need to know, then let me tell you, it was a bad idea.   It's a good thing Collin knows these two so well, he wasn't about to be peer pressured into it.  I had good intentions of taking a whole lot more pictures.  But honestly, it was so relaxing, I just sat in a camp chair pretty much the entire time.  I love camping, I am so excited that we have a trailer.  The whole process of  searching for, looking at, and deciding on a trailer was exhausting, but totally worth it.  I hope this is the first of many, many more camping posts.  (My Mother in law also said that our generator will totally run a sewing machine! I haven't told Ben this yet, I am waiting for some perfect timing :))  We got up Sunday morning and packed up and headed home by 10 :(  Jason made us breakfast before we left, and a good portion of the trip was him teaching Ben how everything on our trailer works, can you believe how lucky we are?  I am so grateful for such awesome friends.  We had such a great time, our kids were in heaven.  I learned that I didn't have nearly what I need to cook, and I drastically under estimated the amount of clothing I needed to pack for my children. But that was the whole point, to figure a few of these things out.  It was really a great trip, just way too short, and not nearly enough pictures.  I will do better next time, which will be soon, I am hoping very soon.

Mess maker

mess maker, make me a mess.  I know I will miss this one day, but today is not that day.  We are at that stage.  The one where they do pretty much everything you wish they wouldn't.  If she goes missing for two minutes I know I am in big trouble.  My bottom cupboards get unloaded at least twice a day (I REFUSE to put those lock things on them, I hate those!)  Toilet paper is often trailing out of the bathroom and no matter how many times a day I sweep the floor she always finds something to put in her mouth.  I just keep telling myself that she is going to have one heck of an immune system, ha.  A few times a day I sentence her to her high chair so I can have a few minutes.  She always uses her time wisely, making as much of a mess as she can muster.  Good thing I am partial to her smile.

Girls Weekend 2012

I can't believe it's already over.  Why does the fun stuff always go by so fast?  OK, everything is going by way too fast, but especially vacations.  I had all my stuff and my kids in the car by 2:00 on Friday.  No one else was leaving until 3:30.  I was just a little excited.  After driving around aimlessly for an hour we finally headed North.  We met up with the girls at The Store in Midway, BEST grocery store ever.  They just have tons of stuff you can never find anywhere else.  I called and ordered a cake from them on Wednesday.  We are a little crazy when it comes to cake.  Schmidt's cake to be exact, which they have at The Store.  When I ordered it I couldn't remember what size, I told the lady I thought a quarter sheet was what we usually got.  She said yeah, that will feed 24.  24 what? midgets?  She had clearly never met us.  After a long moment of contemplation I told her that would be OK.  After I hung up I instantly called Dee to make sure I had ordered right.  She said yes but if I messed up and ordered a half sheet there would be no hard feelings.  I'm so glad we are on the same page about things.  While we were in The Store it started raining, hard.  That seemed to be the theme for most of our trip, scattered rain storms, it was heavenly.  When we finally got done clearing out The Store, we made our way to Park City.  You should have seen the poor bell boys face when we opened the trunks of our cars and Dee's SUV.  He was so kind and helpful though, and after an hour or two we were all settled in and talking about what to sew first.  For the next four days we only left the room three times.  Once to swim, once to take my children to their daddy's truck, and once to go out to dinner.  We had all cooked and brought food, and it was all really, really yummy.  Audrey made us Peirogies for dinner one night and bagels roasted with fresh tomatoes for lunch one day.  I made a veggie quiche and chicken enchilada's which we ate for lunch and dinner one day.  Emmy made Manicotti, like the best I have ever eaten in my life.  She also made us Margaritas, (virgin of course) which we were all dying for.  And Dee made everything else. She made a wedge salad one night that was so pretty you felt a little guilty eating it, until you took a bite, then you were fine with it, it was sooo yummy.  I didn't take any pictures of our food, my brain doesn't work that way.  You put food in front of me and pictures are the farthest thing from my mind.  Anyway, by Monday night we were all sick, not like caught something sick, like we had eaten ourselves sick, sick.  We were all sick, but still eating! I love this family.... So these are the pictures that I did manage to take, they are random, and not a great representation of everything that got done, which was a lot.  For everyone but me.

Dee made Ty this apron, excuse me, BOY apron.  

He is in love with it, he kept filling his little pocket with her M&M's.

Emmy getting in The Zone.  She only stayed in "stretchy pants" all weekend so that I had company :)

Maddie with her mini charm pack all layed out, she sewed it all together, but I didn't get a picture of it, I am a terrible person. It is going to be a pillow one day, it's really cute.

I worked on this one block for 12 hours, I complained the ENTIRE time.   I am pretty sure they wanted to throw me off the deck.  I wanted to throw myself off the deck.  I do not enjoy applique.  I didn't even take a picture of the finished block, I was really over it. I only did it to finish up a quilt that I started like two years ago.  It was a block of the month, so all the other blocks have been done for awhile, a long while.  It was fun until it came to this block for the center and then putting it all together. Luckily Dee had also made this quilt, and finished it, so it was beyond helpful to have her around to help me. But by day three I was so burned out that I put it away and started on something else.  Looking back I really wish I had stuck with it and gotten at least one thing done. Oh well, next year. (My family wants to stab themselves thinking about enduring it again next year. I better get it done, or lost, before then.)

Emmy's stack.  She cut for the entire 12 hours I worked on the dreaded block, 

she complained slightly less, but only slightly.  

Audrey tracing her Turtles. 

Her Turtle fabric, I was extremely jealous.  

I have always wanted to make something with Batiks, hers were gorgeous.

Audrey finished this quilt that she had already been working on, it is GORGEOUS! 

This picture is terrible, it does not even come close to doing it justice.

Audrey and Dee's work stations, and the cute pin cushions I made for everyone.  I found the tutorial on Make it Love it, they were really easy, and super cute!

Dee was working on these big appliqued flowers, She got them all sashed and sewed together, but I didn't get a picture of that either... sigh. But trust me, VERY cute.

There was a hot tub on our deck.  LIFE SAVER, Ty and Maddie were in there like three times a day. 

(also, check out our awesome view!)

Frozen Margarita, also known as Manna. The only food I did take a picture of, 

only because I was eating so fast I got a brain freeze and had to stop for 5 seconds.

This was what I did after I gave up on my first project, yeah, I didn't finish it either, boo.

I did get all my blocks layed out, but I was too tired to finish, it was 12:30am.

Dee was also working this farm applique quilt, it was so cute we could hardly stand it.  She schooled us, she got a ton of stuff almost done.  I think she didn't finish anything just to make me feel better.

Audrey finished her turtle quilt too. She is awesome. It is amazing, we were all drooling over it. 

One of Emmy's blocks.  They are Camille Roskelley's pattern Swoon, and swoon we did.

This trip will go down in history, just like every year.  We had so much fun and really the best part was just being together and laughing, talking and being best friends.  I am so grateful for these women.  They mean more to me than I can even express.  They are an answer to prayers and I will never be worthy of the love and acceptance they have for me.  I am the luckiest girl in the world to be a part of this family.  I have been home for 24 hours and I already can't wait for next year.  Let the countdown begin....