Goodbye

Dear Summer Break,
Summer Break, I have enjoyed your stay so much this year. What fabulous times we have had together. I took so many pictures to remember you by, some of them are so darling. With Kelsey starting school tomorrow, it truly means our time is over. Oh how I will miss you!! Thanks for staying as long as you did and for extending our visit these last few weeks. I will try to enjoy the present and not look forward to our future visits too much, but it is so hard to tell you goodbye. I truly have loved the time we have spent together and will look back on this past summer with great memories.
Until our next visit . . .

Sincerely,
Rachel

I just joined (like 3 minutes ago) a 9 patch quilt block exchange group. I am pretty excited about this. Would love to have a few of you join me that are itching to sew. 9 patches are easy easy and cute cute. Check it out at www.piecenquilt.blogspot.com.

Do it, you know you want to.

QUILTS

In spring 2008 a bunch of church ladies and I started a block of the month quilt. We meet once a month and make a block. Everyone chose their own fabric and everyone made/is making their own quilt. This is one of mine (I am doing 2). I finished piecing it together this past winter and I finally got around to having it quilted. My friend Deonn does machine quilting and I had her quilt it for me - it looks fabulous. I still have to bind this quilt around the edges, but I had to lay it on my bed today and see what it will look like. Check out the matching pillow cases I made too! DO NOT notice Matt's book case overflowing with books and magazines.

These pictures show the machine quilting close up on the top of the quilt.

These are pictures of the back of the quilt where you can see the quilting so much more and isn't it amazing?!?!?! Deonn did an excellent job. You can see more of her quilting at www.quiltscapesquilting.com.

I love it love it love it.

This next picture is for my friend Maurice. Kelsey made this 'I Spy' quilt and put it in the fair this year and Maurice wanted to see it. Kelsey sewed all but about 7 stitches of this quilt. She tied it also. She even picked out the WILD flowery border fabrics. She is getting ready to start another project . . .

This quilt is one that I pieced together last summer but just quilted this past week. I started putting the binding on it today because I need to hurry and finish it for our Labor Day Weekend family reunion craft raffle.

Carrots are done until next week! hooray hooray hooray!

(I did do more than 3 quarts. Much more.)

Note to self:

Next year when you plant carrots in your garden, please thin them like the seed package tells you to. The odd and very suggestive shapes have your seven year old daughter giggling like crazy and thinking about body parts.

Growing Up

My kids have grown up so much this summer. Emmitt is close to 5 months old and he can sit up for quite some time and he is trying to crawl! He gets on all fours and rocks back and forth and when that doesn't get him anywhere, he does a sad little beached dolphin kick and then moves around. He is super sweet and we all love him so much.

Kendal has been in real panties for about 3 weeks now. She is doing so great. We have sure had some nasty accidents, but overall it is so WONDERFUL! Monday night we were outside all evening with friends and I realized she hadn't gone to the bathroom for awhile. I said "Kendal, do you need to go in and use the bathroom?' She said "No, I otay mom, I dust peed in the bushes." She cracks me up.

I bought some super cheap little wooden birdhouse at JoAnns a few weeks ago and I was brave enough to get them out for the girls to paint the other day. I could not believe how great Kendal did. She surprised me so much with her steady hand but most of all her attention span to complete the task. Plus, she didn't even get paint in places that it shouldn't have been! We hung them up last night in our yard after a Family Home Evening story about birds. They thought it was great. (yes, we had FHE on Wednesday night - we do what we can!)

My Kelsey has always been very particular and such a perfectionist. She is also quite artsy, crafty, and creative. She would love to paint everyday if she could. She has been so good this summer too. I can not begin to explain how great she is with Emmitt. She is such a good helper. I gave her an assignment this summer and that was to read at least one chapter in a chapter book every day and write in a summer journal at least once a week. She loves to read and sometimes I just have to turn off the light or else she would read until midnight. She has been reading Magic Tree House, Junie B Jones, Ivy and Bean, and The Secrets of Droon (until she had a nightmare and then I took away the sci-fi books for awhile) books and it makes me happy to see her enjoy books so much.

Our district is late in starting school this fall. We are not starting until Sept 1st and then Kendal's preschool doesn't start until the 14 or something like that. I am so glad we get to have a little more time together this summer. I am not sure I am ready for them to go back to school yet. Oh wait, maybe I am. I can think of a few things I would like to get done. But still, it is sad to see them leave me for the day again.

HELP

I just tried to upload some pictures for a post and I got this message from Blogger:

There were errors during upload.

You have exceeded your total photo upload quota.
We're sorry, but you have exceeded your photo upload quota. For more information, check out this Blogger help page.

I went to the help page and it tells me I have used my 1 GB of free Picasa photo storage and that I need to purchase more ($20/year). Has anyone done this? Should I really purchase more or just go delete a bunch of folders on Picasa?

two extra boys

Last Monday my sister in laws Emiko and Mindy came up to Heber City for some school clothes shopping. They spent Sunday night here and it was pretty dang fun. We had 11 kiddos in my house and it amazed me how nicely everyone fell asleep and stayed asleep! After we were shopped out in Park City (Emiko said that kids are NOT invited next year - amen) Emiko and Mindy headed south to Provo and then on home. Emiko's 2 sons Judd and Larry stayed here in Heber City with us until Friday.

We had a super time with the boys and did lots of fun summer activities. They jumped on the tramp with the sprinkler, rode bikes and scooters, played restaurant, made jello, went to the skate park (twice), played on the beach at Deer Creek Reservoir, went to the library, got a load of firewood, played at my friend Jen's house, went to the park, etc etc. My kids were so happy to have someone else here to play with. The boys were super great too. They went to bed nicely, did EVERYTHING I told them to do, ate well, brushed their teeth well, and even had a couple of baths.

It was a little crazy having 5 kids and there were a few things I realized having 5 kids:

1. The dishwasher sure fills up a lot quicker with 2 more mouths eating

2. So does the washing machine!

3. A loaf of bread disappears much more quickly with 5 kids

4. So does a gallon of milk

5. It can seem like you don't even have kids when they play nicely together and have fun outside together.

6. My Chevy Malibu does not fit 5 children plus me

7. The Dodge truck does fit 5 kids plus me and it is a pain to drive around town in!

8. I have great kids and great nephews

9. Those 2 brothers, ages 10 and 6, sure took good care of each other - it made me smile several times

Kelsey and Kendal at the skate park

Judd, entering one of the big bowls

Kendal, she was much braver than I expected

Larry gave me the giggles. His cowboy hat, his boots, his knee and elbow pads, and Kendal's pink bike with training wheels just made me laugh and laugh. His cowboy hat was so out of place with the grunge kids hanging out there with their skate boards, and he so does NOT need training wheels, but he and Kendal took turns with the bike and Barbie scooter. Larry would rather have a great time on a girl bike with training wheels than sit and do nothing while waiting for his turn with the scooter. What a great kid. He is quite the little dare devil too! I told him that I didn't want to go to the emergency room and he just laughed at me and said "OK." He got the respect of quite a few grungy teenagers with his moves!

My sweet Emmitt was an angel most of the time.


Kelsey loved it and has made me promise to take her back to the skate park.

Thanks Mark and Emiko for letting me have your boys for a few days and for letting us have so much fun.

ONE

I am happy to report that Kendal and the toilet have become one with each other. On August 2nd Kendal got to wear panties. She has done pretty well since then. A few wet accidents, one occurring last night at the skate park. You should have seen the look on the 11 year old boy's face when he saw the puddle on the concrete and realized what it was! There have also been a couple of other nice clean ups Kendal left me outside in my garden and also at my mom's house. No big deal I suppose because she didn't mess her panties. Yesterday however there was a nasty problem and Kendal's Cinderella panties and pink skort, along with almost an entire package of wipes, just got left in the HUGE garbage bin at Midway Park. Overall though, I am so proud of my little girl and her relationship with the toilet. It has been a LONG TIME coming. I have waited 2 years for this week!!

I caught this picture and it just happened to be right after said accident. By the way, the kids had a super time and we are headed back to the skate park again tonight.

I got after Kelsey yesterday for something she didn't do but should have done, some chore. She said to me "I wish I were 2 (years old) again!" I wanted to say "I wish I were 7 years old again" but I didn't. Wouldn't it seriously be great to be 7 again? My childhood was amazing, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

the first wood trip of the season

On Tuesday the Rowsers and the Cranes headed up on the mountain for wood. Matt and Brian cut it, Jen and I hauled it, Charlee and Emmitt watched, and the older kids ran wild and caught frogs. It was a super time.

Sweet Emmitt, he was not too happy about being left in the stroller. Not only was it Emmitt's first wood hauling trip, he also experienced his first sunburn. I felt so horrible when I realized how red he was the next day! My poor little fair skinned man is just fine now though.

I found the kids down by a creek (once again, pronounced CRICK) trying to find another frog. I told them to get together and say 'macaroni and cheese' for the camera. Jack said "macaroni and squeeze" and he gave his brother a big squeeze.

I told Jen to hug a tree, she did. She cracks me up.

Kelsey is my little tree climber. She always climbs trees and she ALWAYS gets in trouble at one of the Grandma's house for doing it. Jen and I found this tree with the perfect broken branches to climb up. Kelsey probably could have gone at least 30 feet up, but not me. Jen is a great photographer, if only she could photoshop my hind end!

Thanks Rowsers for a fun day in the hills.

more summer

My crew slept out on the deck last night. I can not believe that August is here and what do we have to show for it? We have had a good summer, I can not complain at all, but it seems to be flying pretty fast!

Matt, Kendal, and Kelsey got snuggled in well. Emmitt and I slept in the house. It was a good night's sleep for us all.

Just a quick picture of my Emmitt. He LOVES the little jumping thing-a-ma-bob Tori gave me. My other kids never had one of these and now I am feeling badly about that since Emmitt loves it so much. He is growing up and he has his mom around his little finger.

2 days ago I changed a light bulb in my house that has changed the world it seems.

We have been in our house for 7 years in October. There is a light at the bottom of the stairs to our unfinished basement. When we moved in, it didn't work. As in the light switch at the top of the stairs didn't turn it on and neither did the switch at the bottom of the stairs. You see, it didn't work. How very inconvienent and annoying.

Well, 2 days ago for some strange reason, the girls and I put in a new light bulb. (no 'how many Cranes does it take to change a light bulb' joke here) You know what? It works! How ridiculous is that? Almost 7 years of thinking it was one way just because it was, and 30 seconds later, it is the opposite! Why do we just take someone else's word for it? Why do we just settle for things the way they are even if we don't like it? Why don't we change things that bother us?