50th Anniversary

Here are a few of the cousins. Ethan, Hayden, Dwight, Whitney, and Ruth. They had so much fun getting to know each other. Larry's parents have been married for 50 years and the family came out for the celebration. It was nice to get to see the cousins!
This is Larry's sister and her kids. Her husband couldn't make it. With Grandma Lucy and Larry's parents Glenn and Nadine.
This is Larry's Brother Lance, wife Karen, and 2 of their 4 kids. Sariah and Josh. Jake is married and couldn't come (he starts law school soon) and their other daughter Hanna is on a mission in Brazil!
This is Larry with his siblings and parents!
All of us! I didn't get pictures of our family or Scott and Annette's family because my battery died. I also very sadly didn't get a picture of the quilt! Back in March I told Larry about how my family had made this quilt for my grandparents for their 50th anniversary and each family did a square. Larry loved the idea and said why don't "we" do that! (This meaning I do it!) We called his brothers and sister and checked to see if they would participate if I sent them a square to do and they all agreed. I got all the fabric cut the squares and mailed them to each family. They all got them back to me "on timeish" So I could quickly put the top together before girls camp, then hide it so Grandma wouldn't see it while she was here taking care of kids while I was at girls camp. After camp I spent the next week + getting it on the rack, quilted, and bound. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears (literally!) went into it. They love it and everyone said it looked good. I hope they just don't look to closely. I am not a perfect sewer but it turned out. I stole this picture off of Scott and Annette's blog!
I embroidered a family tree for our family square. It had Larry+Amanda stitched on the trunk, each of the kids were a leaf, then I had a little spotted dog sitting there (our dog Dottie) a bike sitting against the tree (Larry and I have been riding together pretty regularly lately) and I had a tire swing hanging from it. I also did one for each of the kids. Ethan's had a lot of stuff on his because we couldn't decide on one thing he would have represent him, he had piano, music, bike, water skiing, Boy Scouts soccer, and baseball. Brock had a long neck dinosaur (I know big shocker!) Amelia had a ballet dancer, Hayden had a butterfly with flowers, and Ruth had tracings of her hands and feet. I also stitched the temple they were married in and I did a 50th anniversary square. Larry's contribution was scanning and printing on a fabric square one of their wedding pictures. It turned out nice. I sewed 9 squares! Then put the whole thing together.... now I need to get busy on my holiday bazaar projects. I am starting to feel behind. It is almost August and haven't done a thing! Plus there will not be a grandma camp this summer so I will not have a full week of work work work with out interruptions to get a jump start on my stuff... So I better start busting some stuff out next week!!! Soooo don't come buy for a while my house will be a "work zone" I guess that is a nice word for PIG PEN! Oh but next year I will have the girls all moved into one room and I will have a craft room! That is another project I have to get done this coming month, paint bed rooms, pain beds, move all the bedrooms around!!! I think I am tired thinking about it now!

Cookies, Conference, and More

I have been pretty lazy about posting lately. Partly because I have been BUSY! Now that one major primary duty is done we are working on our Primary program for church. This is always a big thing for me, I shouldn't stress over it so much but for some reason I do, then I seem to crash as soon as it is over. So in a week from Sunday I will be feeling a lot better! Anyway on to things that are happening now!
Last weekend was our Church's world wide conference where we spend 2 days listening to our leaders. They give us direction, inspire us, and so much more. I have found with 4 kids it is just to much for them to go to the church and listen. We have been listening for the past few years at home from our Internet. Because we do this I try to have special things for my kids to do to help them listen to parts and then when they are to noisy I send them away so I can listen. I also make tons of cookies the day before so that they have something yummy to snack on and I don't have to think of what there is, can they have more. I just make so many they can eat as many as they want. One of my dear friends and I have made it a tradition to scrapbook together while we listen. (I actually listen better if my hands are busy.) She was on her way home from Disneyland this year so I was on my own :( Conference was so amazing. I felt like so many of the talks were written for me to hear. My heart felt so full I didn't want it to end. You would think that after 8 hours of listing to talks anyone would be done but I could have done it for another 2 sessions easy! The spirit was so strong, and I can't say enough about the primary choir! I doubt I was the only one in tears each time they sang. I felt kind of funny sitting at my scrap table with tears running down my face but it truly was beautiful and it sounded like a choir of angels! I don't ever remember there being a primary choir before but I loved it and I hope they do it again! Last week there was a conference just for the women and I went to that and came home and told my husband that Presiden t Ukdorf (sp?) told me that I needed to scrapbook more. Or at least that was what I heard him telling me. He talked about women having the need to create, and make beautiful things, and make unorganized matter into organized matter and make beautiful things for the world to see. I have a closet full of unorganized matter just waiting to be made into beautiful things for the world to see! (My friend Denise told me she thought this meant we were suppose to have more babies but I told her I didn't hear that part and she should not tell my husband that!:) Anyway I got so much done while listening!!!! I was so excited I finished 20 layouts!!! (To be honest 9 of these were done and I got them from a swap all I did was put pictures on them and added a title if it needed one, maybe journaling...) But 11 of them I did from scratch!!! Yeah me! I felt like I accomplished so much. I didn't really want to put my table away I felt like I was on a roll. But My house had suffered enough. But then I realized I have a month to finish a quilt for Hayden! (I always make a quilt for my kids when they turn 2. Because when they turn 2 we move them from crib to big kid bed. I don't know that I want to with Hayden because she is confined and there isn't a baby on the way to take over the crib so I think I am not ready. But I am going to do the quilt anyway and if the big girl bed is a problem it will wait. I had bought the fabric a month ago thinking I better get busy... Well now is the time. So Monday I started cutting and by Monday night I had all 30 12x12 squares pieced together! (Don't be to impressed I only sew strips of fabric together I never follow a pattern!) But I think it is cute! So today I cut the sashing and got all the squares put together and now have the top all the way done! I picked up a frame from my friend this afternoon and hope to have it all on the rack tonight before I go to bed. I would have it on already but someone had to fold laundry! I hate house work when I have other things I would rather be working on. (Oh wait I always hate house work! JK Not always I like a clean house I just let other things be more important sometimes!) Anyway We got the clothes folded so maybe I can get it on the rack tonight and start quilting. This is one of my favorite steps. Mostly because it doesn't involve my sewing machine that comes untreated, gets jammed, and I sew kind of crooked.... And I don't have to measure, or even think much I thread the needle and go to town! I have and excuse to have the tv on. (Not that there is anything to watch during the day anyway!) But I like it none the less. My sweat friend who I borrowed the quilt rack from offered to help me with the binding! This is my least favorite part! I am just not great at getting the angle cut right and getting the huge thing sew together very well. Once I have it together getting in on the quilt is my other favorite part. More hand stitching. This is funny because I don't ever hand stitch anything else like needle point or anything (it involves a pattern!) I am not much of a pattern person. Like with the quilt top I just do some basic geometry and make up my own thing. I like that part better then trying to figure out a pattern. Maybe I am just bad at following directions. I don't know what it is but I enjoy it more this way and it works for me! Anyway I am excited about the quilt. The colors are the same as Amelia's only different fabrics. I wanted them to go together since they will share a room and it is purple also!