{two new friends...}

Recently our church got a new pastor. Which means we got his wife and kids too! So glad they're a package deal. They came from a long ways away and we are so glad they came. Turns out the girls like to read. I thought making them new bags might be a nice welcome.

I decided to make two sizes since the girls are still pretty young. These are my materials. 

...and this was my helper  :)  She had her own craft she was working on along side my sewing. 

Yay for the finished bags!!

{for a sweet baby}

 My friend from college had a baby. Baby quilts are super fun to make. Not only are they a little smaller, but you can be a little more free with color choices.

...though I suppose I didn't go wild with these color choices...but I could have!

One thing I remember about this friend is that her favorite color (way back when!) was yellow. I'd seen a quilt top similar to this one and really wanted to do this layout. I'm so glad I did-- I love how it turned out!

Simple and cheery for little Sydney Lynn.

{a day of play}

 Today we did something we've only done a couple of times: we took the kids out of school so that we could hang out all together as a family. 


Our destination: Legoland.

It was such a beautiful day to be walking outside for hours and hours-- 65 degrees and sunny. 

Chloe is so good at making new friends...Or perhaps she just thought this man reminded her of Grandpa?? 

 We had a hard time persuading Audra to ride some of the faster rides. However, she did like this little ride.

 Even the little one put her hands up during that ride!

...Which leads me to talk about the other two crazies. This is called "The Knight's Tournament" or something like that. It is a giant arm that swings around and twirls those who dare to get on. 

I wish I'd gotten a better angle on this, but you can see that they are pretty much facing "down"! They loved this ride. 

And finally, yes, Audra did decided to try a roller coaster, albeit a slow one. She even got on it a second time! Wahoo!! 

 

{Epic Party of Doom}

 This one had a birthday recently...How has the time just flown by?? Wasn't he a baby just yesterday?!

 We had a few friends over for a "LEGO" party, and started it off with a little trivia. Do you know how long it takes to cool a brick down from 232 degrees C when it is being manufactured??

 Next on the agenda was a race to put together a car...no instructions and no pictures to go by! Just their own imaginations.

 ...still working.... 
These guys were so fun to listen to-- their chatter is just about as cute and funny as a certain 4-yr-old's that I know.

(They kept talking about how things were "the Epic ______ of Doom, don don don!)

 In the end we decided they all won that round, and that LEGO should print a box with all of their cars on it.

 Here you see my poor attempt at a LEGO cake...and all the candles that P had to blow out!

 After cake, the kids headed outside for an obstacle course. It was so nice they were willing to play along with my silly games.

...more obstacle course...












In the end, I guess it isn't so bad to let my oldest grow up...but it is still a little hard. He's not a little boy anymore. Just can't wait until middle school next year...yikes!!

By the way, the answer to the trivia question is seven seconds.

{traveling}

We drove pretty far to see family this past Christmas. Really. And my kids will tell you that they didn't hardly sleep at all in the car. Well I've got proof that they're wrong  ;) 

They did such a good job, hardly complaining. Really. I was very pleased. Books to read, books on cd and an occasional video helped pass the time. However, when you're passing this much time, it does get old, quick...

 Do you see how long this thing says we still have to go?? 




Along the way I noted many interesting names of places. I've always wondered how some names come to be. 



For example, one place we passed had a park called "Toad Suck Park". hmm. Another was called "Deaf Smith County". I can maybe guess the story there. Then there's the places that they just ran out of ideas and threw some letters together. Such as "To'hajiilee Road". The word "road" after that last one just doesn't seem to fit. I had a few more favorites from our 2000+ mile drive. "Tucumcari, Zuzax, and Pampa". Not to mention "Show Low Heber". Of all of them though, this was my favorite:  

 Can you read that? Lotawateh Rd. When we came through on the way out it was pitch black. This time we did get to see the wateh. It was there alright, and a lot of it.








It was quite an adventure. My last leg of driving was from about 3am-8am or so. Round about  6am I gave in and started eating my husband's sunflower seeds. ugh. Spittin' seeds at 6am is not my idea of a hearty breakfast.

As we raced this train through the California desert it was fun to imagine the gunslingers who may have been on that train many years ago--the outlaws and their rough and tumble ways. Okay maybe not that train as it is not a passenger train ;) but when you're sleep deprived you don't know what you'll dream up to keep entertained!

Who am I kidding? It was a long drive but well worth it. I'd do it again. Just not too soon  :)

Endings and Beginnings

This is sort of an end of the year picture gallery of sorts, of some of the crafty that happened here...





eggplant parmigiana --definitely a work of art!

 6 layer rainbow birthday cake...

starry quilt for a "spacey" teacher...

my first "strip" quilt-- definitely won't be my last! 

knitting issues happened...and were fixed...

stroopwaffles, yum! 

thank-yous made...

 ...miscellaneous gifts...

 ...and Christmas gifts...

...in all, a very good year!

It all began with these flowers here...

Followed by these right here...

...and here...

This was the bride's bouquet for the wedding my little miss was in this weekend. It was the first time I've ever made a bouquet! Whew! What a project. I am proud to be able to add this to my resumé. The nice thing was that the bride and groom liked it. That was my goal. It even {almost} made it through the tossing of the bouquet!