DELETING BLOG

Just FYI.  I will be deleting this blog.  I haven't been keeping it up so it's pointless to keep it.  Also, I got a Facebook page that Alicia made for me.  Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to use it, or post anything.  I apparently am Facebook Brain dead!  So I need to learn that.  Sorry!

UPDATE

This post is under construction.  We have had a super busy summer and I am attempting to organize my thoughts, and especially pictures.  We went on a cruise to Alaska and I have narrowed our 1500 pictures down to 148.  Now Calvin wants to narrow them down to just a few.  We'll see how many we end up with.  So...I will update the blog with pictures as soon as we have some time to go through them.  Then I will probably do 3 or 4 posts.  Check back in a few days and hopefully it will be all done.  :-)

MY PROJECTS

Now that Christmas is over, I can post a couple of pictures of my big projects. I made these neck pillows for all the grandkids for Christmas. One of them was for Alicia. Can you figure out which one? I'll give you a hint...It's like "Where's Waldo" There are 15 total.

I also made this rag quilt/robe for Tyler. I think it turned out pretty good. Tyler loved it! I used a bunch of my scrap fabric to make it. It was actually fun to make. I may have to make me one now. : ~

CHRISTMAS 2011

Katie and the kids came to visit the first part of December. We really enjoyed their visit and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I only got a couple of pictures.

This was such a cute picture of Grandpa and Jackson.

Grandpa blew up balloons and played hide-n-seek with them. That was one of the favorite games.

Our ward did a Whoville Christmas party. I was asked to make a cake for the program. This is what I came up with. Actually, Katie helped me with it. Thanks Katie! You are a life saver!

Santa's workshop at the party. The whole church was decorated. It was amazing.

Self-explanatory picture

I thought these paper snowflakes were cool.

My dad and step-mom came to Denver and spent Christmas with us. I made homemade caramels and then everyone helped cut and wrap them.

Christmas morning. It was a really wonderful day.

We got this Tetris game for Christmas and had lots of fun playing it. We also played Domino's and Blokus.

FUN IN UTAH

I went to Utah to visit recently. It was a lot of fun. This is me and my niece being silly.

This is what happens when you have crazy nieces, get in the hot tub, and leave your phone on the table. I found these pictures on my phone while they laughed hysterically. One is now my background picture. These guys are so fun.

Whitney's dog Skip. He is such a good sport. He just sat there while they tortured him by putting this Coke box on him.

Breakfast with Ty and Alicia. The restaurant was out of big glasses, so brought Tyler two small ones.

A FEW PICTURES

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I do kinda have an excuse. I have been so busy lately. It seems like I haven't had a minute to relax. Most of the projects I have been working on are for Christmas, so I can't post pictures of them. Sorry.

• On Labor Day weekend our ward goes on a bike ride together up by Vail pass. It is such a blast! This picture is about half way through the trip. It was 15 miles total and about 14 miles of it was downhill. When we got to Frisco we all had a picnic at a little park with a small lake by it. SO FUN!

This is several of the people from our ward that went.

The scenery was so beautiful. This blog uploads pictures out of order, but this was the beginning of the trip and the one above is almost to the end.

Last weekend, Gail, Lindsey, and Kenzie came and visited. We had so much fun with them. We went to the Temple, Hammonds Candies, Denver Aquarium, Casa Bonita, some shopping and played dominos. The trip was too short. I didn't want them to leave.

Calvin and Kenzie at the aquarium.

Gail and the girls by one of the shark tanks. Unfortunately, the sharks were camera shy.

Lindsey and Kenzie at Casa Bonita making goo goo eyes at Frankenstein. I got a lot more pictures on my phone, but I haven't downloaded them yet.

We played in the arcade and the girls got these lovely glasses for us all. Nice huh?

Lindsey...um...hmm...well, Lindsey being Lindsey.

And finally. One of my projects. These outfits took forever to sew. I think I unpicked more than I sewed. I think the Andy outfit turned out so much better. Those wigs took a full day each to sew. I'm glad that one is done! This was at our trunk or treat at the church tonight.

UPDATES, GOOD NEWS, & HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

• Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. I have been super busy. Lots of trips and lots of things going on here. I have been trying to upload pictures and videos for a week and today is the first day it's worked for me. I still can't upload a video.

• GREAT NEWS! Calvin graduated with his Associates Degree! WOO HOO! He graduated with honors with a 4.0. Congratulations Sweetie! I am proud of you! I will have to post a picture of him with his diploma when I can get one.

• Chet Carter also graduated high school this year with honors! That is fabulous. We weren't in Utah for the graduation, but we got to go to the awards night where he got 6 academic letters. Congratulations Chet! Great Job!

• More superb news! I got a new calling. I am a worker in the Denver Temple. I work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It has been challenging, but fun and very fulfilling. I am learning faster than I thought would ever be possible. It is almost culture shock to be there for so long and then leave the peaceful environment and drive home in rush hour traffic. The only problem I have run into so far is finding white shoes to fit my little tiny fairy feet (as Alicia calls them). We stand and walk so much that I had to get shoes instead of just slippers. I finally found some, but they are a little big. They don't make them in children's sizes. Oh well, such is life. They will just have to do.

• This is a hanging plant we bought for our balcony. I thought it was pretty and wanted to share.

• Calvin leaves me notes on the dry erase board a lot. I take pictures of most of them. He is so sweet. I thought this one was fun. I spent that day sewing rag quilts. That's why he left this particular message. On another day he left one that said "YOU ARE MY SUNCHINE" I had to laugh that he spelled Sunshine wrong. He laughed when he got home and looked at it. I told him it was probably because he gets up at 4:30 every morning and he most likely wasn't awake yet.

• These are a few of my recent projects. I made these pillows for my nieces. They were fun to do and my nieces loved them.

• This is the most current project. I wanted to use up a bunch of my fabric. Each pile is a rag quilt ready to sew... with the exception of a couple of piles which are finished and one quiet book I made. That's the yellow one on the left side of the picture. Yep. Keepin' busy.

• For Easter I made these sugar cookies. They take forever to decorate, but they are so cute and delicious. I made over 100 of them and gave them to people in our ward and took some to Utah for Tyler and Alicia. Tyler has been asking for them for a long time.

• This was Alicia's gallery wall. She had her paintings up at a gallery in the University Mall in Orem. We went the day she was setting up because we had to come back to Denver before the actual show.

This is one of my favorite paintings that she has done.

• I got the movie "Passage to Zarahemla" from Netflix. Calvin thought it would be fun to make these swords and shields so we could protect ourselves from the Gadiantons while we watched the movie. He is so funny, he makes me laugh.

• At the end of April I went to Utah to Women's Conference at BYU. It was fun. Jenny went with us for the first time this year. I think she had a good time. I went out of my comfort zone again and joined the instant choir. It was a lot of fun. There were so many women there. It was crazy, but fun.

Sheri C, me, and Jenny This picture is blurry. I don't think the girl who took this picture knew how to use a camera.

• About a week after Women's Conference, I went to Arizona with Tyler and Alicia. We stopped at Cove Fort on the way down. It was a long drive, but fun. While we were there we went to 3 different symphony concerts. They were a blast! I really enjoyed them and I'm hoping Calvin will take me to some Denver symphony concerts sometime. This is Tyler and I at the first concert. Thanks Tyler and Alicia for the tickets. It was definitely one of the highlights of the year!

YUMMY! There are no other words. Just YUMMY! This is what it would look like if you were to be lost in the desert. I went with Tyler and Jon, his brother-in-law, target shooting in the desert. This is where I took the video I wanted to upload, but it didn't work. Shoot. (no pun intended...well, maybe a little) Jon and Tyler A massively huge, scary lookin' saguaro. In the car with (back seat to front and left to right) Luke, Tyler, Sam, Cyndal, and Calista. They are cute kids. It was fun to spend time with them. We went with the kids to an indoor playland called Makutu's Island. It was a lot of fun. They actually convinced me to climb up to the top of a 3-story "termite mound" and slide down the curvy slide. I screamed going down because it was so slippery you couldn't control how fast you went down, and Alicia made fun of me for like 3 days. This is Cyndal, Luke, Calista, Alicia, Tyler, and Sam. Tyler ran, and played, and climbed, and slid, and swung, and chased, and danced for 4 hours. He looks somewhat exhausted in this picture, don't you think?

• We were supposed to go to Yellowstone after Arizona, but it was snowing up there so we cancelled our trip. We decided to stop in Zions on the way back to Provo instead. Much warmer. :-)

We hiked and walked and took lots of pictures. It was a lot of fun. It's amazing what some photographers will do to get the perfect shot. It's only about 100 feet straight down where Tyler is sitting.

• After we got back to Provo, Calvin and I went up to Salt Lake and spent the day with Marshall, Jenny and their kids, and Maria and the kids. Ellie had a soccer game that day that we went to. After the game we had a BBQ and played and visited. It was a great day and it was wonderful to see everyone.

• Ellie and Grandpa with Landon in the background.

Ellie kicked in the first goal of the game. Way to go Ellie!

Connor looked so cute in that hat. He loves the grass and crawled all over the place.

Now this is the way to block out the sun while playing games on a phone.

Kayla is such a cute big sister. Connor crawled in with her and she just put her arm around him and let him in.

• So, that's what's going on in our lives recently. And lets not forget...HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! to all the wonderful father's in our lives!