In a whirl

Hey everyone!

It's been an embarassingly long time since I've updated. My head is still spinning from this past school semester, which I barely survived (academically speaking).

Here's a list of big highlights you may have missed:

1. I never mentioned it here (shame on me) but on November 7th I got engaged! If you're curious, here's a link to our wedding website. It has the story of how we met and how he proposed, etc.

2. Zach and his parents came down to Arizona for Thanksgiving, because he has grandparents just a few hours north of Mesa. It was a crazy and hectic week, but we really enjoyed it.

3. Zach was diagnosed with a thyroid disorder called Graves Disease. We're still sorting out all his symptoms and new prescriptions, but are relieved to finally have some answers. He hasn't been quite himself the past few weeks, but things have taken a turn for the better.

4. Zach's best friend started asking my roommate/second cousin out on a few dates. They are now talking non-stop, and we all hope it goes somewhere! Zach and I feel like two little matchmakers.

5. I spent the few days before Christmas with Zach's family in California! The weather felt like a miracle after Rexburg's ice and snow. We had fun at the beach with a few of our friends, and I got to help decorate the Emmons family tree. It was his mom's birthday on the 22nd, so I helped celebrate there too.

6. Also on the 22nd, I got a new niece! Chloe Lynne Olave was born and gave us all quite a scare. She was in the NICU for about three days with liquid in her lungs. Happily, she made a good recovery and came home on Christmas Day. My parents and younger sisters are here in town with us, and it's been lots of fun.

7. I finished my internship well, and was promised a job as the substitute librarian when Linda goes to Ethiopia (probably end of February). Exciting? Absolutely!

So now I'm just chilling in my apartment, which would be empty except that my younger sisters are staying with me. Hallelujah for that! I really need a job, so I'm applying online for a job at Pizza Hut.

I'm also compiling a large list of books I want to read now that school is over. I plan on reading most of the "hot item" books from the junior high. =]

Today is Fast Sunday. I think we have good things in store.

I'm teaching Relief Society today, Lesson 45. It's amazing. Wish me luck!

I found this beautiful video on YouTube. Don't let the familiar soundtrack distract you!

Life = more than homework

... right?

It's hard to keep a long-term perspective on things when you're bogged down with homework. I just feel like this:

But ya know. Life goes one.

Anticipating the holidays!

Okay, so I promised my roommates I wouldn't put up my Christmas tree until mid-November. But it's going to be hard to keep that promise!!!! It's cold and wintery and I just want it to be Christmas.

On the other hand, it's still pretty exciting seeing all the Halloween and Fall stuff everywhere! We found a jack-o-lantern tablecloth in our closet, and we freaked out. Hooray for being festive! The only real problem is... I don't know what will I be for Halloween! =]

Last night Zach and I went to the Spirit Week rodeo. Sooo fun. We brought apple cider in a thermos, and ate homemade fried burritos on the way there. Delish. We both agreed we were jealous of the riders' skills, especially the five year old in the barrel racing competition. =] It was kind of funny though, they didn't play country music in the background! It was Black Eyed Peas, Jimmy Eat World, etc. lol. College town.

I decided I love kids books a lot. I've been reading a bunch of young adult books from the Jr. High library as part of my internship hours (I know, awesome, right???), and they are so much fun. I was rolling my eyes a lot at first, but... come on. Who can resist slipping back to the hope and innocence of being 13?

Armageddon Summer, by Jane Yolen & Bruce Coville

"Did we do wrong in believing, Marina?" Mom asked suddenly.

"Never in believing, Mom," I said. "Just in what we believed."

Half Moon Investigations, by Eoin Colfer

"All eyes were on me again, and not in a nice Oh, look at that handsome young man in the shiny shoes, I wonder if he's single kind of way. It was more of a nasty If he doesn't come up with the goods in ten seconds, let's lynch him kind of way."

Once Upon a Marigold, by Jean Ferris

"Whose idea is this?" she demanded. "In the first place, I don't care if Christian is royalty; I'd marry him if he were a goatherd. And in the second place, he hasn't asked me. And in the third place, I'll not have him railroaded into something he doesn't want to do. Where's Mother? I'll tell her myself that there's going to be no wedding today."

"But I want one," Christian said, trying to get out from under the pile of dogs. "The only thing I want in all the world is for you to be my wife. We can sort out the rest of the stuff later."

"Oh," Marigold said.

Her sisters grabbed her and dragged her off to get dressed.

Competition?

Today Enoch picked me up to babysit Emma Leigh. As soon as I walked in the door, the first thing she said to me was, "Where Set [Zach]?" He came later because he was taking a test.

I brought cookies to share with her, one for each of us. She made sure to set aside Zach's cookie on a special plate from her tea set. The whole time it was on the coffee table now, she kept reminding me that it was "For Set." lol.

A few minutes ago we had a little argument. It went like this:

"That's my Zach."

"Nooo, my Set!"

"Um, no. MY Zach."

"NO, MY Set!!!"

Needless to say, he has made a good impression. lol.

We love Emma. Babysitting is our favorite time of the week

Happy in Love!

What I Learned Today:

Rhetorical means more than "don't answer that."
My only class today was Eng 450, Rhetorical Studies. (Which sounded like a funny name for a class that gives exams, until I thought about what "rhetorical" actually means.) I love my teacher, and the people I sat next to are very friendly and easy to talk to. It sounds like an intense-but-worth-it kind of class. The only real thing that I'm worried about is how time-consuming it will be, and the fact that the teacher wants us to bring our laptops to class. (I have enforced a strict no-folding rule on my cracked laptop. That means if I want to take it to class I'd have to hold it open on my lap while riding my bike. lol. Doesn't that image make you think of a circus?)

Word of the Day: Super
After class, I coasted on down to Main St. to the Jr. High for my internship. I was super excited, and I wasn't disappointed! The atmosphere is super laid-back. I don't have to dress up too much, my supervisor is super nice, and I get to spend all day organizing, labeling, checking-out, and recommending books to super cute kids. Hooray!!!!

Tomorrow's Forecast: Partly sunny with a high of 19 textbooks and a low of 2 class periods

Summer Summary

My break ends this weekend! I've been too lazy to go online much, so here's another list-blog.

This summer I read:

1. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey
2. FableHaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary
3. The Lightning Thief (#1 in a series called Percy Jackson & the Olympians- Thank you Kristen!!!)
   
4. The Sea of Monsters(#2)
5. The Titan's Curse(#3)
6. The Battle of the Labyrinth(#4)
7. The Last Olympian(#5)
8. A Day with Wilbur Robinson (The picture book Meet the Robinsons is based off of. I bought it for $3!)
   
9. 
10. Anastasia's Album. Found it for $1 at Half Price Books. It has old photographs of the Romanovs, a biography for children, etc. My best find of the summer!
    
11. Currently in the middle of Brisingr (#3 in the Eragon series) and Rules

I sewed:

1. A baby sleeper, which has an unfinished neckline because I ran out of ribbing
   
2. A toddler dress. Turns out it's extra long... my bad!
   
3. A fully lined jacket... Cute, but bigger is not always better, even with kids' clothing!
   
4. A nursing cover for my aunt Peggy, and a matching wet wipes case.
   
5. A little girl's nightgown
   
6. Another Margaret Sling Bag in super cute paisley fabric, with matching wet wipes case.
7. Tomorrow I will be making another lined jacket and another nightgown. Let's hope I can get the sizing right this time. =]

I saw:

1. Terminator #The New One. I hadn't see any of the other ones, but it was pretty good.
   
2. Imagine That-- loved it!!
3. Harry Potter #6 - liked it a lot!
   
4. Race to Witch Mountain (ended up getting a $10 fee from Redbox because I forgot about it...oops)
   
5. A Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers game! I'm the Diamondbacks' most ignorant fan! I don't know anything about baseball, I just like to yell. We each picked a random player to be our favorite. I lucked out and picked Ojeda, who happens to be one of their better ones. We also discovered that I am good luck-- the Diamondbacks won!
6. "The Magic Flute," broadcasted from the Met. Awesome.
7. Knowing, with Nicholas Cage. Prettttty creepy, but interesting
   
8. Hannah Montana the Movie. Ohhhh yeah. I'm half adult, half kid. I've got the best of both worlds.
   
9. Wizards of Waverly Place the Movie, in conjunction with a wizards party with my girlies (see photo below).

AND, best of all, I wrote:

1. The first bits of my newest story! I'm going to put up a super rough draft of the opening on my writing blog. It's historical fiction with a bit of a time travel twist.

So pretty much, I've been having a blast.

The end.

No place like home

I'm right there with you, Dorothy. But there's also no place like Rexburg. I really miss my friends, the way of life, my friends, my new bike, my friends, everything within walking distances, my friends.... did I mention my friends? Shout out to all of them, who are moving onto bigger and more exciting things.

Someone asked me today what I'm doing with all my time now that I'm home. I had to think pretty hard before figuring it out. lol. Most of the time the day is over before I realize that I haven't done anything. Pretty much, I've just been acting like a kid on summer break. Filling my days with a whole lot of relaxing nothingness.

1. Playing with my nieces/nephews/sisters
2. Running errands and hanging out with my mom
3. Goofing off with Steph (see picture above)
   
4. Earning frequent flyer miles with Redbox. (Do you think they do that???)
   
5. Doing odd jobs for my grandma
6. Reading books (Just finished the 4th Fablehaven and the sequel to The Mysterious Benedict Society. I love young adult fiction!)
7. Jogging in the mornings with my friend Corinne from Institute. It's only the second day, and I'm sore.
8. I got to meet two Ukrainian kids! They came with a foster children's group a week ago and are staying with a family in my ward. They called my dad and asked him to help translate, so I went with him. It was pretty exciting, but Alyona was really hard to understand.
   

Even though I have been productive in some ways, I know I need to earn money for next semester. Luckily, I found an opportunity! My aunt (who lives about three hours away) is having her baby next week and needs someone to drive her around, so my Grandma hired me. I'm leaving for Snowflake in a few hours to hang with her and my four cousins for a week. We'll also try and crank out the birth announcement.

Wish me luck!

P.S. The Critical Language Scholarship (that sends students to RUSSIA to learn RUSSIAN for FREE) is opening up applications for next summer's program soon!! Eeeeep! Since I'm already planning on going, I can't wait to apply. lol.

Past Tense To-Do List

Friday:

• Turned in two assignments that have been hanging over my head for a long time. *phew!*
  
• Had a super fun evening that included a picnic, a merry-go-round, playing with clay, great conversation, frozen custard, and an awkward comment from some dweebs on their bikes.

Saturday:

• Finished up white glove!!
• Made breakfast snacks for the rest of the week and put them in the freezer.
• Started my Russian paper... sort of.
• Went to the civil defense caves for the first time and played glow in the dark tag. Ohhhhh snap. Uh-mazing.

Sunday:

• Went to some most excellent church meetings. Our bishopric even came around to say bye to everyone. Love those guys.
• Put darts in Sam's dress so that it would fit her better. Helped Bethany put darts in the waist of her pants so they would fit her better. Hemmed Jenny's pants for her so they would fit her better. lol. Our apartment has a habit of buying cheap clothes even if they're too big. Made a hot pad that matches my spiffy apron.
• Borrowed paint from my neighbors so that Zach, Rob, and I can paint our sculptures tonight!!! Pictures soon to follow.
• Ate rice krispie treats made out of Cocoa Crispies. DeLISHious. And soon, I will be eating Sam's famous curry. Hoooooray!
  

Monday, Finals Week officially begins. But Sam and I don't plan on letting that get in the way of our last-days-together fun time!

Pretty amazing.

That's right, y'all. I made that adorable bag with my sister and her sister-in-law last night! Becca's amazing at getting me motivated to do projects like this. Even when they take about 7 hours to do, and we have to stay up until 0-dark-hundred to get them done. Sooooo fun!!! (Also, in this shot you can see my crimped/waved hair! Andrea did it for me. It felt like dreadlocks, lol.)

I'm feeling pretty adventurous lately. I made a homemade doll by mySELF (and altered the pattern), made that intense bag (again, had to alter the pattern), participated 100% in the ward closing social (human foosball, water balloon volleyball, human battleship, and a climbing wall), and went to school with super crazy curly hair.

Oh snap. Look out, world. =]

Newest Life Goal

Harry Potter in Russian.

I laughed out loud because a girl in the library read the title out loud as, "Fappu Nottep." I forget that those all look like English letters!

Slideshow!

We have wayyyy too much fun.

Napping with the Ducks

Nature Park is probably my favorite place in Rexburg! Friday was absolutely BEAUTIFUL, so Bethany, Sam, and I went on a walk! We saw 9 little baby ducks!!! Sooo cute.


I saw these guys all settled down and napping. Sam and I decided to be kids again and see how close we could get to them.


Remembering my lifelong dream of recreating that scene from Beauty and the Beast, I tried to get them to eat Cheez-Its out of my hand. It didn't work, but look how close they came!


When we ran out of Cheez-Its the ducks ignored us and went back to their naps. The ground was amazingly comfy and warm.


Bethany found this teeny tiny grasshopper! Look how small, compared to my finger!


Sam and I went different directions, found awesome flowers, and reported back. I thought for sure I'd win the prettiest-flower award... except we found the same ones!

After watching the old WWII planes practice for Saturday's airshow, we walked home. Oh yeah, we made a slight detour to Park St. because Bethany and Sam wanted to show me "Park Saint Park," lol....


Once we got home we borrowed Swan Princess and Beauty & the Beast, made cheesecake, and had a blast!

Best weekend ever, and Saturday is just starting!

Party in Greenhouse #4

SOoooo, this past Thursday I discovered the magic of the campus greenhouses! I've scrubbed sinks and labs and tables and cabinets full of dead things in the science building, but I've never gone into the pretty part! So here are a few of the funny ones.


Catching a waterfall in my mouth... nose?


Super stealth ninja moves... caught on camera, so not so stealthy?


Fun little garden chairs.

Coming soon: Slideshows of all the fun pictures we've been taking this weekend!!!

Baby Clothes!

I love my sewing class so much! Sometimes I wake up from a daydream and realize I was imagining myself sewing something on a serger, matching up seams, threading the serger (it's so cool! Air pressure threading!), etc. So crazy. My projects get "stuck in my head,' so to speak.

Anyway, now that you all officially know I am bizarre, enjoy these pictures of my adorable creations!!!!!



Every project so far! A sleeper, newborn hats and bootees, and toddler bibs. (Actually, the bibs are big enough to be smocks. lol)


Close up of the sleeper. I'm in the process of doing a pink one out of stretch terry. It's all cut out, I just have to get matching thread.


My very first projects, baby boy hat and matching bootees. You can't see it very well, but they're sitting on top of the boy's bib.


Extra credit bootees and hat, right next to the girl's bib.

Coming soon: Matching onesie and pants! (the pants are being graded, and I'm putting ribbing into the legs of the onesie.)

Adventures in Idaho!

I have explored Eastern Idaho this weekend! Friday, Gary took me to South Butte for the first time ever. It was absolutely beautiful. We saw a snake, lots of butterflies, flowers, seagulls that looked like penguins, and the first dragonflies of the season! Plus, we had a little fan club of bugs that followed us over our heads (I think they wanted some of his tootsie rolls), and a pretty dog that followed us back to the car. Then of course there was the view of the entire valley that we had from the top! It was so much fun, we ended up staying for about four hours without even realizing it. Hooray! Oh, and I played about two bars from Come Come Ye Saints on the harmonica. I think I've found my newest hobby!

On Saturday, my roommate Jenny, her sister Kayla, her cousin Josslin, and I went on a family history road trip! We drove over to Aberdeen and took pictures of her ancestor's gravesites. I also happened to find some graves that I think fit into my family somewhere! (A whole little family section with the last name Savage. Coincidence? I think not! Only PAF will tell. lol)

By Monday, only two of my roommates were still in town. Rather than going camping, we decided to go on a hike! Megan's from around here, and took us to one of her favorite trails, in Driggs, Idaho. It was be-awesome! Here are some amazing pics for you: (Megan gave me batteries, so my camera finally worked again! Tragically, they died before we got home. lol.)


Jenny, Megan, and me at the trailhead.


Halfway there!


I love these girls!

We got to the top of the trail, and decided we wanted a better view. So we climbed UP the side of a mountain. It was pretty steep though, so after lunch we had to slide down it!! It was X-treme Sledding, minus the sled! lol


Here's me trying to slow down before going over a rock... Yeah, that didn't work. I went right over it, and Jenny's convinced I even got some air. Go me! haha. Luckily I was numb.


After sliding the first half, and bracing ourselves for the longer stretch (Jenny wisely decided to navigate the rock patch on foot, rather than... posterior).


The victors! (And their dirty pants...)


On the way back, we were pumped full of energy (adrenaline?) and decided to make a little snowman while we were already numb from all of our "Butt Slaloming," as Jenny called it. Ta-da!


It was a beautiful day, our feet were muddy, and the creek looked falsely alluring. It was FREEZING, but we got clean! (Jenny and I called it quits on our who-can-stay-in-the-longest contest after about 40 seconds.)

Now we're getting ready to make popcorn and watch an old movie, so we can rest our tired bones. =]

But the most amazing news of all: I have not been sunburned ONCE this weekend, even though I've spent quite a bit of time outdoors. Ohhhhh snap. Tomorrow's agenda: hit the books. Homework time!

Therapy

I've noticed that sometimes when I help give someone else a little therapy session, I end up feeling the benefits too.


I've had the opportunity lately to befriend someone who... is hard to describe. Suffice it to say that I would have seemed justified in disliking this person, and that at first it was rather difficult not to. Well, with a few good prods from the Spirit I realized that I needed to be as nice and as gentle as I could to this person. I started realizing that their behavior should have nothing to do with mine. I still had an obligation to be the best I could be. Now, I am SO VERY grateful for those promptings. A window opened up and I got a glimpse at this person's heart. They really need someone to be gentle to them. It's a very humbling and awe-inspiring experience to be in this kind of position. Heavenly Father loves all his children so much.

Well, I was looking through some old stuff I wrote and realized something: I said that for my birthday this year I wanted to finish a short story! So, since I've been busy and have been putting my ideas on the "Later" shelf, I decided I want a little help in choosing. I have posted a survey just to the right of this post with a few of my story ideas. So please, vote!!! Or write-in with a comment. I just need a little bit of a kick in the pants to get me going. Thankfully, I have a deadline. Three weeks! Yowsers!

Fort!

Last summer, Sam and I dubbed ourselves "The Weekenders." So we were eager to start the party again this summer!

This weekend, The Weekenders built a fort! Then we made homemade pizza, Reese's cookies, and watched the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Hoooooorayyyy! It's okay to be jealous.


Sam, Jenny, Stacy, & Bethany

Babysat Emma today!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. BUT. I remembered that I took a few pics of the last time I got to have a play date with Emma. Here they are!

Bakin' a cake!


She LOVED being allowed to stir by herself and didn't like that I kept insisting it was "Stacy's turn" every once in a while. She would get excited and stir as fast as she could, so the flour/cocoa, etc., would splash out. She would gasp, and then crack up laughing. How does she make EVERY part of life so funny? We had such a blast. And the mess wasn't too bad. =]


(Notice that the teddy bear in the background is wearing a baby hat and booties. She wanted to dress up the bear. lol.)



The plan was to use the castle mold Isabelle bequeathed me, hence the little flags for the towers. But after she helped me color them and we got them all taped up, I realized the cake was STUCK in the pan. Apparently, you can spray-grease a pan too much. Ooops, lol.

I saved the flags though, and good thing too! Today Emma and I made a "sand"castle out of oatmeal playdough, and the flags made it twice as fun. She kept pulling them out just so she could squish them in again. For anyone interested, oatmeal playdough is just 1 part water, 1 part flour, and 2 parts oatmeal. Easy peasy!

Happy Saturday! I'm going to go enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather!

The Best Friends in Life are Free

My best friends have been 100% there for me! I hit what felt like a crisis in the past few days, and suddenly none of my friends had anything better to do than listen to me. They insisted they were free, and had nothing else going on (even though one of them dropped what she was doing and literally ran down to see if I was okay). Even my friends who are out of town have been here for me in a very real way. It's amazing!

I was given an awesome book called "Hearing the Voice of the Lord," by Gerald Lund. It's reminding me of the other priceless gifts I've received through the Atonement and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I can't put it down! I highly recommend it. (As a bonus feature, it's hard-bound like a bunch of my favorite fiction books. I don't know why that makes a difference, but I got excited as soon as I noticed that.)

In addition, Bishop Bishop called me Sunday night and asked me to give a talk on personal revelation. Perfect, wonderful timing! I'm very excited.

EDIT: I saw this Jane Austen quote on Sam's page and decided to steal it. Here it is, every girl's problem: "Where so many hours have been spent in convincing myself that I am right, is there not some reason to fear I may be wrong?"

Puritanical Poetry & a Generous Thought

I had a really neat experience today. I am retaking a rather in-depth grammar class so that I can qualify to tutor for it (I got a B last time). Since it's only the first few weeks of class, I've been rather bored with the lessons. In contrast, the other students in the class are still struggling to remember everything their 7th grade English teacher taught.
Seventh grade seems even farther away for an older woman in our class who just came back to school. Today in class she asked for quite a few clarifications, but nothing the teacher could say was helping it click in her head. The difference between transitive and intransitive verbs didn't make sense to her, and she didn't quite grasp the idea of a direct object. The two sample sentences were "The Smiths lived in New York" and "The Smiths read the Bible." She didn't get why "Bible" was a direct object, but "in New York" wasn't.
I was watching her leave at the end of class, understanding why she didn't get it. I got the urge to just go chat with her, and to try to explain it myself. I hesitated, because she's my mom's age and I didn't want to embarrass her or anything. Suddenly, the quote popped into my head, "Never suppress a generous thought" (who was it that said that?). So I called her name, introduced myself, and... magic happened!
In trying to explain something I understood in my brain but had never articulated, she forced me come up with a much better way of explaining it. "The Bible" was being read, but "in New York" was not being lived. And, ohhh... watching it finally dawn on her was so awesome (grozny, lol). It definitely made my day. Plus, I have a new friend now, plus a little practice in tutoring. Hooray!


Okay, this post is pretty long already. HOWEVER. If you are ever looking for some good spiritual poetry, look up Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor. We studied them briefly in my American Lit class, and they are proof that good things did come out of the Scarlet Letter- era in history!
My favorite Bradstreet poem is currently "As Weary Pilgrim," but I couldn't find a link to it online and it's too long to post here. Just trust me... it's so good! It's about longing to be at rest with God. Love it. Edward Taylor's "Meditation 38, 1 John 2:1" is similarly wonderful.

Seriously. Look them up.

cookies and a good book

So, my awesome roommate is letting me borrow two novels that are set in Russia. I think I'm hooked on the first one! And I was seriously craving some chocolate chip cookies, so I made some. Delicious. All you need in life, folks! All you stinkin' need.

And: it's the weekend, I walked to and from the temple today, I got two extra credit sewing projects done with Becca, I don't have much homework, and we're having a fun dinner party on Sunday!

Hooray for summer!

Another one

So, I just made another blog. Yes, yes... I know. I already have two. But it's warranted, I promise.

Just before I left home, my dad challenged us all to create our own project centered on the Book of Mormon. He's writing haikus based on chapters, my little sister is making a table of contents for the stories, etc. I was working on a story project for a little while, but it wasn't really right for me and my study habits. SO, I have decided on a new project, and have created a blog dedicated to it!

Here is a link to my Book of Mormon Patterns blog. Check it out if you want, and please leave some of your own insights as comments!

♥ Stacy

P.S. It's really plain right now, I'm still deciding if I want to take the time to make a background and stuff.

Ooo-tah

Life for me has calmed down quite a bit since Wednesday. Anne's wedding went fairly well. Considering how much threatened to go wrong. lol. The centerpieces turned out okayyy. The tables were bigger than I had planned on, so they ended up looking a little small. But it was good. See:


It was crazy busy at Mema's house (anne's mom) and everybody was running everywhere getting everything done. We're all very grateful it's successfully done with. =]

On the side, I got to:
1. Learn how to make fondant. yay!
2. Hike up to a NIFTY waterfall. (and a not-so-nifty cave, where I had a not-so-nifty panic attack. Ack. I pretty much just sobbed in terror on Sharon's shoulder because I thought I was going to fall. How embarrassing...)
3. Babysit adorable kids and play pony rides.
4. Watch lots of Hulu with Sam(antha)
5. Dance with a self-proclaimed Prince Eric (Anne's 4-yr-old niece, because she was wearing pants and I was wearing a dress.)
6. Go to church and be introduced as Mema's roommate. lol
7. Play spoons AND signs
8. Watch Raising Helen & Bedtime Stories

Aaaaand now Sam, and I are just trying to find things enough to do before we head over to the shuttle tomorrow. Luckily we have Maps(Anne's twin) to hang out with.

And now... pictures of our 2nd trip to the waterfall! yay!


Walking on a log


Pretty!


This is MY rock. lol

Montezuma!

Daddy and I had a good trip through AZ!

We decided to be spontaneous and stop at Montezuma's Castle National Monument. Thingy. It was way cool. See, here's some proof.













Yayyyyyy for road trips with papa. I found a funny punctuation error at Sonic. haha. And we were very intrigued by the sandstorm we went through, and the funky rock scenery.







Coming soon: pictures of the wedding madness and Utah vacation!

I am a genius.

No, seriously. I am.

haha, today I was babysitting my cousins Isaac and Lily. They are... rather active, and aren't supposed to watch too much TV. I found a great idea online for this bean-bag toss box. Check it out.

 

It kept them entertained forever! Plus, I had them help me make some bean bags (one held the funnel and one poured the little cup of rice) to play with as well. They love it. Lily thinks it makes a good mask. =]


This next picture is of two projects I'm rather proud of. Firstly, I made a bag for all of my toiletries (hair, make-up, toothbrush, etc.) out of a pair of jeans that were too small for me. I used some cheap ribbon to make loops on the inside for my toothbrush, hair brush, etc. I left the pockets on the outside for the few make-up things I use all the time. It was a quick, hurried sewing job, but I like it just fine. Then I looped a ribbon through the belt loops to hide the random stitches I had to make around the top. lol. You'll notice I cut out the zipper area, because I thought it was a little awkward. Plus, the ideal size jeans to use would be children's. (Nobody wants to see just how big their waist actually is anyway.)

I also made a homemade block for my niece Anna. It has ribbon loops in the seams for her to grab onto once she's old enough, and a little felt bear that tucks into a pocket on one of the sides. There's a big jingle bell inside the stuffing, so it acts like a gentle rattle too. I'm hoping to be able to make a few more before I leave her. I made a set for my nephew, and he seemed to like it.

 

Happy Spring!