At Last!

Here it is...

The promised Quilt!

A view of the back.
An upclose look at the design I chose. (The machine quilting I did not do. I had a quilting shop do that part. I am not skilled enough to take on that task.)
A closer look at the front.
Here is the cute quilt with the matching crib bedding. They look great together.

I am quite proud of myself. I started a project that I had absolutely no idea how to do and completed it with little help.

Sure, a few phone calls were made to my sister, and a question or two of opinion asked to my husband, but other than that. It was all me (and the wonderful ladies at the quilt shop.)

Pure Talent

Remember how I have to try to be crafty? Well, my sister just has a knack for craftiness.

After spending much time searching for the perfect crib bedding and not being satisfied with anything I found, KaLee, my extremely TALENTED sister, offered to make the bedding. I just had to find and purchase the fabric and materials.

The searching began again, only this time for fabric. And then, I found it. The perfect fabric.

So, for the past few weeks I have been anxiously awaiting the completion of this gift and now I can proudly show it off.

Here is the entire crib bedding. KaLee made the bumpers and the crib skirt.

A closer look at the cute bumper.
She also made curtains that match the crib bedding. They turned out so cute!
I am absolutely in LOVE with the baby's room. The bedding and curtains have exceeded my expectations! I would say KaLee has pure talent!

Now this has even made me want to try out more sewing projects. I would try making something like this, but ya know, I just don't think we are going to have another baby for a little while. We need to at least wait 'til this one is born and probably MUCH longer than that! Anyone want to have a baby so I can try it out? Just kidding.

By the way, be looking forward to pictures of a quilt that matches the bedding.

Oh, and if anyone would like to see upclose pictures of everything that KaLee made, just click here.

Showered with Gifts

This weekend we made a quick trip to Pleasant Grove, Utah for a baby shower that my Aunts threw for me. They did a fabulous job! It was so fun to get together with family and celebrate the coming of this little one.

Can you tell that we were SPOILED?

Here I am with my mother-in-law, Ilene, and my mom. Poor Ilene was feeling under the weather, but she was so great for coming anyway.

And here I am with my two sisters, KaLee and Sarah. Aren't we so cute?

Trying to be Crafty

After moving, unpacking, organizing, and organizing some more, I stumbled across something...

An unopened sewing machine. Yes. The box had actually never been opened.

Dan had given me this sewing machine for my birthday (7 MONTHS AGO!!!). Believe it or not, I was thrilled when he gave it to me. It was something that had been on my wishlist for several years, but I had never gotten.

There was just one thing that came between me and that sewing machine. Time. I never found the time to start a sewing project. Sound familiar? It seems to be the case with a lot of things I want to do.

Now that school is out and the baby is not here yet, I figured it was the perfect time for me to open that box and see what I could really do. (Let me assure you, not much.)

So, I thought of a few projects that I wanted to tackle and I began "trying" to be crafty. I found out that I am not as talented at the sewing machine as I would like to be, but I am definitely getting better.

So, here they are, in all their glory. (yeah, right.) Two of my sewing projects.



Mind you, they are NOT perfect, but I figure people will be look at the adorable little girl wearing the dresses, not the uneven stitching.

No Camera!

So, I want you to know that I really have been thinking about blogging...

But I have no camera! (remember that annoying spot that showed up on EVERY picture I took? Well, it is now getting fixed! Yea!)

And EVERYTHING that I want to tell you requires some sort of picture.

Be looking forward to when I get the camera back. I have some fun things to share!

Ahhh, the suspense!

School

Today is the first day of school, here in St. George, and I have to admit I am feeling a little (ok, a lot) "schoolsick". I know that's not really a word, but we'll just pretend.

I know some of you reading this are thinking I am absolutely crazy!!! Let me clarify that it's not being the student that I miss so much, but the teacher. So nonetheless, I am missing Kindergarten terribly. At the end of this last school year I was wondering if I would ever get to this point again because I thought the tattle-telling would NEVER end and I was beginning to feel like my name was being over used. (Mrs. Stevens he did this... Mrs. Stevens, so and so won't stop bugging me, etc.) I can just hear it now, but I am actually missing those little kidos something fierce.

Although I only taught for one year, I soon found out that I was in the absolute perfect profession for me. I knew I would like teaching, but I didn't know I would LOVE teaching Kindergarten. The more I taught, the more I liked it-which is what everyone wants to say about their career, but not many can. I was fortunate enough to work in the most wonderful school with fabulous co-workers. I truly was spoiled.

So now to end this walk down memory lane I will leave you with one of many of the humorous moments of teaching.

Background: My classroom discipline policy was based on a clip system. The kids each had a nametag that they would turn over each day for attendance purposes. (We also did a lot of work with the letters in their name, vowels, etc.) If a student was misbehaving and broke one of the rules, they would put a clip (a small clothespin) on their nametag as a warning. Two clips-they missed afternoon recess, and three-I called their parents. This was very effective in my classroom.

Me: Tom, if you do not stop throwing things, I am going to have to call your parents. You already have two clips on your nametag and if you do not make a better choice, you will get another clip.

Tom: I'm gonna call YOUR parents.

Me: Tom, I don't think they'd care. (As I am trying not to laugh, while I am envisioning my Dad answering that phone call.)

Kids. You gotta love 'em.

* I am trying to document all of my funny classroom stories (I know I should have been doing this as they happened) so that I can post some of them for a good laugh. Be looking forward to some more later on.

Here I am on the first day of school. In case you are wondering, the black thing around my neck is a microphone. Our school had some hearing impaired students. Although not every class needed a microphone, we all used them. I think every school should have them in their classrooms. They are awesome!

Do Re Mi

On Monday night Dan and I were able to attend The Sound of Music at Tuacahn. Me, being the musical lover that I am, thought it was wonderful! And Dan, being a typical guy, when asked what he thought, said it was "pretty good". So we know it was a success. The temperature was perfect. There was a light sprinkle of rain and no wind throughout the entire performance, so were set.

If any of you have been to Tuacahn, you know how great it is. It is an outdoor theater that has beautiful red rocks as the backdrop. Unfortunately, they do not allow you to take any pictures so I do not have any documentation of the acutal play, but here are a couple pictures of the entrance and the outdoor scenery.

You Know You're Not in Wyoming When...

While having lived in St. George for almost two months, we have noticed a few differences from the Wyoming life we knew before.


You know you're NOT in Wyoming when...


1. There seems to be a palm tree on just about every corner.

2. It takes less than 10 minutes to drive to the temple.



3. You can hear the sound of crickets both night and day. Sometimes they seem extra loud 'cause they are in your house!




4. On every medical form you fill out there is a box asking what your religion is. (Ok, maybe this is something that is on all medical forms, but I don't seem to remember it before now.)

5. As you are getting ready at 6:30 am you notice the thermometer says it's 78 degrees.

6. At 1:16pm the temperature is 105 degrees, soon to be at least 107 degrees within a hour or two.

7. Driving to a garage sale you notice there are two LDS churches sitting RIGHT NEXT to each other.

*This picture may make it seem as though these churches are pretty far apart. Nope, the space you see between them are their parking lots.




I'm sure as time goes on we will add more to the list.

P.S. So far we have really enjoyed living here!