I sent this baby off in the mail today - what a relief!
This is what I have been doing for about 2 weeks - all wrapped up in this pretty little envelope. It is a grant proposal for the Heber Valley Civil War and Living History Weekend 2011. We have set a date - September 30th, October 1st, and October 2nd and it will be at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. It is going to be great! Cross your fingers that they like this grant proposal so we can have the funds to help us have a fantastic event! Thanks for all your help Amanda and Victoria!

birthday package

I celebrated my birthday was last week and I received the sweetest package in the mail. It made me smile all the day long. In the package was a letter addressed to Mrs. Rachel Crane, Crane Ranch, Heber Valley, Utah Territory. It was wonderfully sealed and imprinted on the back; it almost made me swoon!

The letter was written in the most elegant hand and wished me a happy birthday, and commended me on my efforts with the Christian Ladies Society and the Sewing Circles I am involved with. It also informed me that my canteen was mistakenly taken at our last meeting and that I would find it returned to me in the package, along with a few other tokens of friendship.

One of those tokens was this framed picture of Robert E Lee, with whom I share a birthday. It was inscribed just for me and reads "To Miss Rachel, While we share a birthday please know that you have the fullness of my esteem and admiration, Robert E. Lee, General Commanding" and then something I can't read, a few letters that I can not make out but look like ANV. Isn't that just sublime? It is on my bedside table where I look upon it everyday.

Here are the contents of my birthday package that brought so much joy and jubilation to my heart! Thanks so much Doctor Bowman! You are such a thoughtful man!

Monday was a beautiful melting day here. It was so nice! We all went for a walk since the girls were out of school, and we only had to avoid a few sections of the sidewalk that were not shoveled. It was gorgeous. The kids loved playing in the gutters where all the snow was melting and running downhill. Yesterday was nice too, not as warm, but still so nice. All the snow had melted off the south side of my roof yesterday by 4:00. Now the north side is another story, we still have a good foot on that side! Yesterday a gardening magazine came in the mail also. My mother in law does that for me as part of my birthday present each year. I love it. I have been very involved in my quilting magazines and catalogs, but last night I read that gardening magazine cover to cover.



When it was past time for me to go to bed, I stayed up and looked out the window at my snow covered yard and decided what my yard projects will be this summer. I imagined every little detail. I went from window to window looking out and imagining it all (it was a full moon). I finally went to bed and tossed and turned because I was thinking about spring and summer and green grass and kids laughing outside and all the grand gardening plans I had come up with.


I finally fell asleep, but was awakened by Emmitt twice asking for more milk in his cup. All was clear outside at 3:00 am. At 6:00 I woke up to more snow. I knew a storm was coming, I just hoped it would be a small one. It was small in comparison to our other storms this winter, but I still shoveled the driveway in my robe at 6:15 this morning. I did it again at 8:30 before I took the girls to school.

My thoughts of spring and green and flowers and arbors have fled. I still have hope, but I think for today I will do laundry and sew!

Kelsey's hygiene

Last night as I was tucking my sweet little darlings into bed and going through one more round of hugs and kisses, Kelsey and I had this short little conversation.

Kelsey: Mom, feel the very tip of my pinky finger.

(Kelsey has a nail biting problem and I thought I would be feeling a bit of a fingernail she had not indulged on during the day.)

Me: (Not feeling anything in particular.) Okay. I don't feel anything.

Kelsey: Now feel the tip of my pointer finger.

Me: Okay, I don't feel anything again.

Kelsey: Can't you feel the difference between them? One is slicker than the other. Try again mom.

Me: (Feeling both fingertips again and not feeling any difference.) I don't feel it honey, sorry.

Kelsey: Well, I just cleaned my ear out with my pinky and I think the earwax made it feel so much softer and slicker.

Me: (Nearly gagging) Kelsey, that is disgusting. Why did you make me touch it?

Kelsey: (Laughing) Good night mom.

Time Marches On

For quilt guild this year, I got to plan and design the quilt project that members can participate in if they would like. My friends Cat and Shantelle helped with all the designing and the pattern writing. The theme for guild this year is TIME MARCHES ON and all year long we will be learning about quilting history along with some of the major wars the United States has been involved in over the past 235 years. Every month the members of the guild will receive a block pattern to make into their own Time Marches On quilt. Since I designed this quilt chronologically, the first center block can be either the Puritan Star or Flowers in an Urn.

I chose the Flowers in an Urn block because it was a common block used in medallion quilts during the 1700s, and I chose the Puritan Star just because of it's name. Our nation started out with the Puritans. So here are the 2 blocks. The star is more of a beginner block and and urn is a more advanced block. Throughout the year we will add to the quilt. Next month we are learning about the Revolutionary War period, so the block will go with that time period, and so on until December!

Here are my ragamuffins holding up the blocks. These center blocks are quite large as they are the center of the medallion quilt everyone will be making. I chose to make my quilts out of civil war reproduction fabrics, but the members can chose any fabric they would like.


Emmitt watched me take pictures of the girls, so he wanted to have his picture taken also. He grabbed a block and backed up against the wall. He is so cute! Then Kendal has hers upside down, we are quite the crew!

Quilt historian and fabric designer Barbara Brackman has started a new blog in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the civil war this year, and she has designed a quilt block for every week of the year. It is a great blog if you are interested in the civil war and quilting. http://www.civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/. There is a link to this blog on the right where all the blogs I visit are listed.

By the way, I'm a Mormon.


I just made my mormon.org profile. Click on the cute little yellow link button on the right to see my profile and to find other mormons' profiles with your same interests. Pretty fun deal.

New Year's Eve

I actually got Matt Crane out of the house for New Year's Eve, only from 6:30 to 8:30, but hey, that is a start right? Amanda had a few couples over to her house for a wonderful candlelight fondue dinner. It was fabulous and delicious! Thanks so much Mark and Amanda for having us over and for such a great time. Thanks to Lyn and Heather, and Troy and Susan also! You guys were a hoot!