OOPS!

Correction -- James plays(ed) Modern Warfare 3 -- a bit different than what I said.
Christmas is upon us. The weather is being so nice!!!
Isaac got accepted to the Masters Program at ISU and he is working at a credit union in IF. Becky is still working at Michaels. So yup, you guessed it, grandma babysits Xander. He can be a stinker some days...especially by the end of the day when he is sure mom and dad are not returning. Wears me out!!! :)
Michael got his mission call to Iowa Des Moines Feb 15 2012.
James is taller than us all now. I think he is pushing six foot. I had to buy new sunday dress pants. The salesman tried to talk me out of getting 30x32's. I nearly gave in and then I said Nope, I'd rather return them if they're too long. James put them on this morning and they were barely long enough...Hopefully he will make do for a few months!!!
Kayla and Abe are expecting baby #4 June 23rd!! Hope all goes well for them. Whew! What a busy busy life! CR and I didn't have our babies that close, tehe. Alissa is due also come June-ish. Not sure on a date yet. Yup, that will give her three. And put CR and I at 15 grandbabies!!
Reese (Alissa's) was awful sick this last two weeks. The docs had her on antibiotics for a UTI and ran a dye test in her kidneys. Thankfully all is well.
I think we're all hanging in there. Grateful for all our blessings. Thankful I have the strength to do all I do. Looking for some quiet time...yeah, I heard you laugh!

Thanksgiving

You'd think that I'd pull out a camera when most of the kids get together....but NOPE. Well, I should say, I tried. I was too busy making and doin'. And then when I did think about getting pictures the batteries were dead.

James and TJ went to Blast-Off for his b-day and well had a Blast climbing walls and laser tagging each other til their hearts content. Then sat in James' room and play World of Warfare 3. They played it for three days straight and beat the game a few times.

Michael Skype's a friend in Arizona nearly every night...She's a cutie!!

Oh and I've been busy with Christmas. Wish I could post pictures...it's no fair that I can't. LOL

Alissa's table runner she requested before harvest began. I finally figured out how to keep the points. I could have cut them off and it would have been easier, but I like it with the points.

Really -- it's been a month! Wow -- Merry Christmas, just in case it gets here before I know it. :)

A quick and fun table runner -
It's not finished yet!

Happy birthday to those of our family who have birthday's this month: Melissa, Isaac, Katelyn and Becky (the first). ;-))
The weather is beginning to turn -- the last few morning's we've been 34 degrees at 7 am....brrr! It just can't be that this short summer is gone! Right?
Copper's little jaunt he went on earlier this week was an all nighter! Guess he's a teenager? He came home unharmed and hungry. Now he gets to wear the shock collar when he's out of the kennel, for any reason, even to eat.
I got called to be the Humanitarian Specialist in the ward...I don't know what that entails nor did the Bishop. But apparently the stake wants each ward to have one. And today's RS lesson was on Compassionate Service! The teacher gave us all a notebook to use as a service journal-- given or received -- I thought - that's a whole lot of pages to fill in. And she had taken a bunch of time and personalized the cover with a picture of Christ and a quote on service and other cutesie stuff. Udawna always, always goes beyond. Like two months ago her lesson was on genealogy and she had done research for most of the sisters in RS. She handed me three-four stapled pages of research she had done just on our line! Awesome lady.

James was put in two honors classes at school. The first week we knew he had Honors English, a day later he came home and said they had taken a pre-test in physics and had switched his class schedule because he scored so high in the normal class that he needed to be in the honors physics class.
What a bunch of brainiac's we've got!!!

Hmm

It seems like the only time I post anything on this page is when i've got pictures to show. Not Today!! haha I just thought I'd stop and say that it was a nice day seeing and being around some extended family.
The other day -- now that the house is beyond quiet -- James and I were flipping tv channel's and came across this show about raising children. Silly to have sat and watched it but we did. It was informative and I felt good watching it because I felt like I had done those things with my family when they were growing up...but that's beside the point --- what I wanted to share was about Mia. Mia sat on the floor next to me watching this program. It had children in the activities and Mia was glued to the tv. I think she misses having Alden, Eli and Gracen here to chase and play with. It was obvious she loved watching the children on the tv. Something else I've noticed -- Mia barks at the girl piano students and not the boys.

I've begun another quilt...this one is beautiful too. Well you know what I mean -- the pattern is beautiful and popular. I'll whip up a few blocks and some time soon post a few blocks...Hopefully before we're dealing with harvest. The apples really need to get a move on though if they're going to get any bigger!!

I still manage to quilt with all the activity going on here. I have to say that the colors in this quilt are one of my favorites. Maybe because I worked on it during the long, dreary days of winter and it brought a little sunshine into those cold days.
The pattern is called "Candy Shop" from McCall's Quilting magazine Apr 2010. The fabrics are from the Sip of Summer line at Connecting Threads.
I took this picture before I put the final white border on.

The newest babies!!

Our family was blessed with three sweet new babies this year. Phoebe, bottom right, was born in March. Reese, bottom left, was born in April. Jeffery, top, was born in May. This brings our grandchildren to a total of 13.

A family bursting at the seams!!

Ever since Jaron and Becky came to stay with us, we have tried to have a family dinner once each month. Sometimes we've had two or three get-togehers for other reasons. The cousins have had a great time playing, making messes with every toy and puzzle Jaron and Becky have, running and playing outside when the weather was half tolerable, helping Grandpa gather eggs and feed dogs. We knew that all this chaos would end someday. I've not been the best at getting pictures of all the activities because I'm usually in the kitchen or holding a new grandbaby. Hopefully some of the pictures will post!!

Vinegar

I've been putting something I read to the test and have found that it actually has worked quite well. Besides saving me money, which is always a plus, right? I have stopped using fabric softener, sheets and liquid. And have substituted plain ol' white vinegar to the rinse cycle. The advantages are wonderful. You're probably thinking what about static cling? Static cling especially in the dead of an Idaho winter where the air is dry, dry, dry. But I've found that there has been no problem with static cling. The vinegar removes any leftover soap residue in the load of clothes making them so they dry quicker in the dryer. My towels don't need that extra bit of time to get dry. They smell - well there is no fragrance at all. They're fresh. My whites are whiter and the darks look good too. I guess I'd have to put a brand new pair of levi's to the test to see if the vinegar helps them not to fade. Good excuse to buy a new pair of levi's!! You may be wondering how much vinegar. I have a front loading wash machine so I put 1/4 cup into the fabric softener dispenser. If I had regular top loading machine I'd probably put 1/2 cup into the rinse cycle. Oh! Another plus!! The vinegar does not build up on your machine. The inside of your machine where you can't see, the fabric softener starts building up and does not come off easily, same for your dryer. I'm sure the vinegar helps to clean out the drain system inside the washer too.
There you have it....hope you give it a try!!

Ok, slightly better. I have a new camera I'm working with and not too good at it's settings. The living room was bright and sunny, but you can't tell here. Oh well, you get the idea. I started this quilt in Dec '09. Added my own sashing and cornerstones (as they are called in quilting) because I didn't want each basket block connected to the other. So all the lines between the blocks and the little green squares are my own addition. Which I might add, the directions did not include so I was on my own. I suppose that is why it took so long in the finishing. The actual blocks were a snap and I had them done as they were posted on the blog (15 weeks - one block each week). Last night as I laid it out on the floor, DH said, that would look more like a basket of flowers if you had done some real flowers. !! He's talking applique, obviously. But the thought has crossed my mind to do just that!

Basket quilt...bad picture!!

Doing the Happy Dance!!

I finally added the border to my sampler quilt. It has 99 six-inch blocks.

It looks like it's on Paul Bunyan's bed the picture is so distorted. But at least you get the idea!!

I think I'll add another one -