Hello Again Blogland

Don't fall out of your chair, but yes we do still exist. I know, it's shocking news. Summer came and went and I seemed to have forgotten how to use blogger for a while. And honestly I really didn't think any of you guys missed reading about our little family, but I have heard lots lately from friends wondering whats going on with us, so here we are back again. I hope.
Mostly I think that I am back to blogging because I used to take pictures of things just so I would have something to post here, but since I wasn't posting anything I was't taking any pictures. And then I go to scrapbook and uh-oh, no pictures. What is a mother to do?

So without further ado, a catch up on our lives for the past four months.

Ben participated in a triathalon. It was so much fun to watch him, that I think I may even do it with him next year. With fall here he is back in school and working on his Masters.

We ran the Ragnar Wasatch Back race again this summer. Always a BLAST! And just a little side note we still need people for our team next summer, so come and join us. You don't have to be fast by any means just like having a crazy time and getting a lack of sleep.

Kiya turned 4. I can't believe how fast my little darlings are growing up. She also started pre-school this year and is loving it. She gets to go to Teacher Vicki's, and can't wait everyday for it to be time to go to school.

Jaynie is just as cute as ever and makes us smile everyday. She also tests my patience like no other but I still love her. Every day is a princess day for her, so I rarely get to see her in normal clothes.

As for me, I loved every minute of my summer off with the girls. We spent the summer just enjoying being with each other and doing all sorts of fun things. This year I have gone to teaching part time which has been a great thing for our family. I love it because I don't come home exhausted and mentally drained like I used to, which is so much better for my patience with the girls. I also spent lots and lots of time quilting. It is my new very most favorite hobby. I tell Ben all the time that I am just going to stay at home with my girls and make quilts when I grow up.

There you have it. Our life in a nutshell. And I promise I will be back again sooner than later.

Fabulous Friday!

Today was my last day of working! For a little while anyway. It was such a great day, I got my classroom all packed away and ready to be moved to my new school. Went to a quick lunch with a few of my teacher friends, and then went on a date with my sweet hubby. We went and saw Iron Man 2, which was not as good as the first movie in my opinion. But then again I can't think of any movie where the sequel is as good or better than the first. What a great day it has been.

Oh, and I finished Tiff's (my sister) birthday present for tomorrow. I'm so excited to give it to her, I'll post pictures tomorrow after the party just in case she reads this today.

The Best Picture Ever

I bought my grandma's computer from my grandpa (they each had their own, funny huh), and thus got all of her pictures with it. To me this is the best picture ever because this is exactly how I remember Grandma looking before she got sick. Glasses on, and a great big smile on her face, and hair pulled back in a ponytail. I have no idea why they are holding up their hands showing their CTR rings up, but I like that you can see their hands. My mom's hands are just like that, not quite as wrinkly yet, but still just the same.

The Magnificent Obsession

I have a new obsession . . . quilting. It is on my mind all the time. I'm constantly trying to figure out what I have to get done before I can do more sewing on the quilts for my girls. It may be driving Ben crazy, but he is surviving.

I have the tops of both quilts finished, and the backs almost complete. I am going to be brave and try free motion quilting on my machine, this makes me nervous, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Here is Kiya's quilt top. I love how it turned out. At first I was worried about the colors being to bright together, but I think they look great.

Now for Jaynie's. I'm not sure how I'm feeling about this green border. It may be too bright and distracting for the rest of the quilt, so it may be coming off and being replaced.

My First Quilt

I came upon this blog a few months ago from a link my friend Emily posted. I found a tent there that I wanted to sew for my kids. Well, I was feeling in the crafty mood one day last week, and decided it was time to finally make a tent for the girls. Lets just say I'm now a little distracted from making a tent and am set on making my first quilt ever. All I know how to sew is straight lines, so hopefully this is just right up my alley. Care at Obsessively Stitching is running this series, and I get so antsy every day waiting for the next instructions on the quilt. It is so exciting for me, and I love making and creating things lately (I think it makes me feel like a little bit of a better mom). I honestly am disappointed each day when I have no new instructions on what to do for my quilt.

I took Kiya to the fabric store on Saturday to pick out the fabrics for her quilt. We had a great outing and spent over a good hour picking out fabric. I tried to get her to pick some pinks and purples or something similar but she was set on the yellow with ladybugs. There was nothing I could do to persuade her decision, so I spent forever trying to find 9 other fabrics that would match. Finally I ended up with classic primary colors, when I first got them home and started cutting out I was a little worried that I wouldn't like them together, but now I think they will look great together.

I was almost done cutting a got a little bit careless and cut 2 of the squares 5" instead of 6". It just so happened that that particular fabric ended up with about 2 inches extra, so instead of going and buying another cut of fabric I just sewed my 5" piece and 2" piece together and made a 6" square out of that. Hopefully this doesn't bother me later on. If it does I guess I will just have to deal with it.
And here's where I started getting really excited. Sewing the squares together, and guess what it was super easy. Care's suggestion of joining the blocks together in a chain is great. Maybe that is a commonly known thing among quilters, but I think it is a fabulous thing to know.

Then putting all the nine square blocks together. I decided that I should have picked more than 3 colors. It was quite difficult to not get the same colors next to each other. Now I'm wondering if it will be even more difficult after I cut the squares and have to rearrange them again. More to come again later after further instruction from Care.

Goodbye Grandma Cheney

Grandma holding Jaynie

My Grandma Cheney passed away early yesterday morning after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Watching her journey down that road was tough, but I will be forever grateful for the small amount of time that we had with her knowing that it was close to the end. Each visit with her seemed to be more special than the last. I will treasure in my heart the recent conversation that I had with her about scripture study and coming to love the scriptures. Personally, I do not know anyone who knows the scriptures better than Grandma did and she truly loved reading them.

My most favorite memory of my grandma, or one of my most favorite memories, was one day not to long before we found out that my grandma was sick. My little family and I were going out to visit Grandma and Grandpa for some reason, I don't remember why. When I told Kiya that we were going to visit Grandma and Grandpa Cheney she jumped up and down and got so excited. Once we got there Kiya and Jaynie asked Grandma if they could go downstairs and pick out some toys, so Grandma went with them and got some toys. Then they all came trekking back upstairs with toys galore, and Grandma sat on the floor and played and played with my girls until we left to go home. I loved watching my kids with my Grandma.

I am going to miss her family news letters, treasure hunts at Easter, her calling me Mandy (I never let anyone else besides Grandma call me that), always having home made wheat bread at her house, hearing her say "Oh, Goodie" anytime she was excited about anything. Grandma I am just plain going to miss you! Thanks for being the best white-hair-grandma you could have possibly been.

My Grandma, My Mom, Me and Kiya

New Recipes

So cooking dinner is not one of my favorite things to do, but I really don't mind it unless I'm stuck in a rut and feel like I'm making the same things all the time. So, I try to cook new recipes quite often to change things up. Most of the time these turn out just short of disastrous, and I'm not kidding you sometimes they can be really bad.

Today I got lucky. I found a great new recipe on the Taste of Home website. It was quick and easy to do, had a few common ingredients, and my kids even ate it. I posted the recipe on a cooking blog that of few of my friends and I do, so you can check it out HERE if you like. I did change the alfredo sauce to a bottled instead of refrigerated sauce because it was much cheaper. All in all I was very pleased with the results of trying this new recipe. I guess I keep trying new things because every once in a good while I find one worth making again.