9 patch bliss

I posted a week or two ago that I had joined my first online quilt block swap. Well, it is pretty fun. I get to send 9 patch blocks to quilters in Alabama, Minnesota, Arizona, California, and Texas. Let me show you how easy it is to make 9 inch 9 patch blocks.


first you start out with 3 1/2 inch strips of two colors


sew them together in two patterns like this

after they are sewn, cut them into 3 1/2 inch strips the other way

assemble them into blocks like this - the famous 9 patch block

address your envelopes, stuff them with blocks and check the instructions ONE MORE time to make sure all is well

THEN START OVER BECAUSE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO MAKE 12 INCH BLOCKS NOT 9 INCH BLOCKS!

DANG IT ALL TO HANKSVILLE!

I NEED 4 1/2 INCH STRIPS!

I guess Emmitt gets a really cute blue and white quilt.

That's all of 'em!

Yep, here are the Crane kids. There are 15 Larry and Ellen Crane grandkids walking around this pretty little planet, one in Heaven, and one in her momma's belly. We haven't had a picture with all of them in it for a few years. ALL the Cranes (Matt and his siblings) met a couple of Sundays ago at Maple Grove near Scipio and had ourselves a nice little BBQ. It was a wonderful time. It rained like in Noah's day, but still it was nice to be together.

Before the rain

During the rain

(love these bum shots! Guess who - no, not me, I wish my rear were that cute!)

After the rain

Me, Emmitt, and Larry - my super duper father-in-law

Sweet Kendal is getting so big!

My sweet little Kendal is growing up! Just last week when Kelsey went to school I dared to let her play computer games by herself for the first time. She spent all summer watching Kelsey play, but when we let her play she would just click the mouse randomly all over the screen 23 times per second. Well, nickjr.com seemed to mesh with her because she did great. She played DORA games and actually listened and did what the computer told her to do. She has also played on ldsfriend.com. She likes that one too. She is getting so big!

This is what she does when I tell her to smile! Last night I deleted 54 pictures on my digital camera that were all of DORA and the computer desk. I guess I can't leave her alone for too long!

Yesterday was Kendal's first day of school. She has been pretty excited and when I got out the school clothes we bought last month, she got super excited. It went well and she is liking it. She is such a silly girl. I asked her what she learned yesterday and she said "I dest play." I asked her again today and she said "I dot to paint! I like to paint."

For some strange reason Matt thought it would be great to sign Kendal up for fall soccer. She had her first game today. She did pretty well considering she is only 4 years old!


Don't let these AMAZING action shots fool you - she just walked around half of the time! She did do super great though and we are proud of our little soccer girl. When we got the soccer clothes out of the closet yesterday, she tried them on and said "Oh my dosh, I det to be number 4!" She cracks me up.

I love Labor Day Weekend!

Well, all the laundry is finished from our fun weekend in Lyman for the Chappell Family Reunion. What a super time we had. My uncle George and aunt Linda were in charge this year, and does that guy know how to cook! It was so much fun to see my favorite cousins, watch the kids run wild, play some volleyball, eat great food, and just chat the days away.

This is my sis Tori.

Here are some of the kids waiting patiently for the BIG swing, and for someone BIG to push them into the treetops so they can taste the leaves. I remember doing that myself. It gives me a headache to think about it now, and almost makes me pee my pants.

This is April, my niece on the Crane side and my cousin's kid on the Chappell side. I know, sounds confusing and somewhat Southern right? Her mom, Emiko, is my first cousin and happened to marry Matt's brother. Double Whammy. We love April.

This is a bunch of the younger kids. I think they were waiting for the treasure hunt to start, otherwise why would they all be in one place?

My cousin Kacey is serving with the Air Force in Iraq and her squadron is holding a school supply drive for the rural Iraqi children. We were asked to bring certain supplies to the reunion and assemble the kits.

Rachelle and Alyssa were the brains and the brawn of the operation. They said to me "This is kinda fun isn't it?"

Our family has quite a few members serving this great country and its citizens. Thanks to all of you, you make us proud.

Presley and Taylor

We had a REALLY nice volleyball tournament going on for a couple of days. We had some really nice volleys and some major grass stain action. It was so much fun and I am pretty sure my team won the whole deal. You don't mess with uncle Alton, April, Curt, Tacey, Jared, and me!

Yes, the brown poop houses were considered out-of-bounds.

LeEllen and Rick

They are smiling so much here because they kept supplying the little kids with silly string cans and plots to get their parents! They are so great with my girls, well, all the little kids actually. My girls love them. Whenever I tell them we are going to my parents they talk about Rick and LeEllen too.

My little Emmitt was a such a good boy. He had nice naps everyday, which allowed MOM to play volleyball like crazy!

Crab apple wars have always been a part of the reunion. My cousin Scott, my brother Glen, and my dad, always seem to be the ringleaders, and it was no different this year. They hide out on the hillside in the dark with their hats full of apples and pelt everyone that walks by. Butt my Matty took it to a different level. He somehow got Waylon's sling shot and was shooting them at poor little Larry.

The bad part was that Larry kept coming back for more!

Here is our new family president, Sara, conducting our annual general family meeting. After the meeting is when we have our raffle drawings. We all wait with much anticipation!

Glen and Presley

Curt and Norah

Tori, Kelsey, and Brogan - applying lip gloss!

The drawings turned out great this year, although I did NOT win the quilt my uncle George and aunt Linda made - DANG IT! We have had 28ish family reunions and I think it is about my turn to win a quilt!! I did win a really nice picture of my grandma and grandpa's house though. My kids made out well - cute balloon flip flops, lip gloss, princess bag with goodies, fleece blanket, wood blocks, hair bow/flower thingies, etc,

Emmitt

I told Kendal to smile and this is what I got.

She had such a super time with all the kids and running wild and playing on the playground. Oh yeah, and getting DIRTY!

Lori and Kanyon or maybe Canyon, and baby Dragon or perhaps Draigon - not sure

Sean, Judd, and Rhett

All the kids had a super time. With 10 acres of hill, corrals, and yard to play on, we didn't see too much of them around. Kelsey would seriously disappear after breakfast, show up when she was hungry for lunch, and then take off again for the afternoon. I didn't worry about her either.

My little man was introduced to many things over the weekend without my knowledge! My dad was holding him one afternoon and I didn't realize he was also holding a snickerdoodle cookie in his mouth! Then Emiko was loving on him while I was volleyballing and she gave him a dumdum sucker. She could not believe how strong he was when she tried to take it back out of his mouth!

What a wonderful weekend we had. Thanks mom and dad for everything and letting us crash the house. Thanks George and Linda for a great year. Thanks family for good memories.

We are off to my super fun family reunion for the weekend. For those of you that groaned, this is not your average boring reunion. This is my favorite weekend of the entire year. I love my family and can't wait to spend some time with them. It will be fabulous.

Look at these cute little bags I made for our kid's raffle. The center ones are for the girls of course and the two outside ones are for the boys. If you can not tell from my amazing sewing, one is a croc and one is a lizard. They are drawstring bags, but they don't have the drawstrings yet. We are stopping at JoAnns in Provo on our way down this afternoon. I am so excited, did I mention that? Oh yeah, and for some reason I am participating in a buffalo wings contest even though I have NEVER made any or even partaken of the little-bits-of-meat-with-a-whole-lotta-bone. Wish me luck!

roses

Kendal and I just went over to my sweet neighbor Gwen's house who happens to have a gorgeous yard. She has some beautiful roses in the front of her house right by the front porch. When we were leaving Kendal saw the roses and instantly had to touch them and ooooh and aaaah over them. Then she said in a sweet little voice "Oh mom, tan I det mawwied?" while she tried to pick off a huge pink blossom. Translation - can I get married. I think she has been watching too many Barbie movies!

2nd grade

It is 10:30 and Matt and Kendal just got home from Salina. Matt got a load of firewood while he was down there (gotta love that hot burning pinyon!) and he just finished unloading it. Before Kelsey went to bed at 9:00 she said to me "How much longer until Dad gets home?" I told her about an hour. She said "Dang, I wanted to chat with him about my first day of school." I told her that I would have him wake her up when he got here if she wanted. This is what she said "No no, I don't want him to spoil a good dream. I don't like waking up when I am having good dreams." SPOIL, what 7 year old in the world says SPOIL in 2009? That is something little British kids used to say 120 years ago! She surprises me everyday. SPOIL, I don't think I have ever used that word. Maybe second grade is really getting to her.