Mini Vacation

I usually forget the camera or if I remember the camera I forget to use it. This past month I actually remembered to use my camera a few times so I am doing a few updates all at once! Hey Jill, this is for you. Since I posted 3 updates do I get about a year and a half before I have to update again? Don't forget to keep reading after this post.

The first week of summer vacation we decided to make a spontaneous overnight trip to Yellowstone. I was able to get us a little cabin to stay in by Old Faithful and it was a great and simple trip. The kids were awesome and it was great to spend some time together. We even saw some areas we hadn't seen before.

We decided to drive up through Jackson and Teton National Park since we have never been through the South Entrance to Yellowstone. What a beautiful view. Jim has been into Geo Caching lately so we made a few stops along the way to find some Geo Caches. This first picture is by the first Geo Cache we found.

Here is some of the scenery we enjoyed while going through the Tetons. As usual James looks thrilled to be with us but he really was a good sport and great to have along. Besides all the teasing he is good at coming up with games to keep all the kids busy. It's hard to believe that some of these little excursions with him are going to be less and less now that he's growing up and needing to work.
And, one of the pictures we took in Yellowstone. The rest are on Jim's phone because even though I started out good at remembering to carry my camera it didn't last for long. It's too much effort to get the pictures off Jim's camera so this will have to do.

I have been to see Old Faithful several times but have never done the hike that goes up the mountain behind it. Before dinner the kids and I went for a hike and ended up timing it just right. We were able to watch Old Faithful erupt from the overlook on the mountain. It was a great view and fun to see Old Faithful from a different perspective. While we were hiking both James and Trinitie ended up stepping in mud. I'm not sure how James ended up wet and muddy, he was forging his own trail, but Trinitie was leading Autumn and I through a swampy area and found a spot that was wetter than it looked. We all had to laugh. It was fun to see new scenery and spend some time together.

Mother's day gift

I found this fun free pattern from youcanmakethis.com It was a perfect idea for a mother's day present for my mom and of course I had a blast making them. Just thought I'd share while I'm actually updating my blog. Now I need to make a pair for myself.

Autumn's glasses

In May Autumn got glasses. She is thrilled to wear glasses like her brother, sister and dad. I am now the only one in the family that has perfect vision. I thought that at least one of our kids would get my vision instead of Jim's. Oh well, at least Autumn is excited about the glasses.

I also tested a new pattern for a designer and this is how it turned out. I hurried to take some pictures so that the designer could see how it turned out. It was a fun project!

This year's creative outlet.

There are some great fabric stores/quilting stores here in the area. I have fallen in love with fabric (Most of the time it takes second to my family). It's been fun to try different techniques and styles. Here are some of the projects I've had fun with this past year.

Christmas Table Runner

Americana throw size quilt.

Reversible apron.

Spring Table Runner.

Fall Table runner.

Quilted Wall hanging.

Baby girl quilt (no I'm not making any announcements, I just loved the material).

Rag quilt.

New looks...

Someone's blog had a link to a great website with great ideas for girls hair. (now I can't remember who's blog had this great link, but thanks!) always want to do fun things in my girls hair but 1st, my girls usually won't let me and 2nd I can't think of anything to do. When I showed Autumn some pictures from the website she was unimpressed until I spent a lot of time doing Trinitie's hair one Sunday. Of course by the time I was done with Trinitie's hair there wasn't much time left to spend on Autumns, but she insisted she needed a fancy do also. This is the one we found that could be done quickly. Also, How do you like her shiner (it doesn't really show up in these pictures)? She was playing with friends at one of James' baseball games and fell and hit her eyebrow on the curb. The actual goose egg and scrape were up by her eyebrow but it turned black and blue along her lash line and eyelid. She thought it was great when her friends dad asked her if she was wearing makeup.

Here's Trinitie's do. I should have taken a picture of the back but of course I didn't think about it as we were rushing out the door to church. It was really fun to create. Also, as a permanent new look, Trinitie now wears glasses. She kept telling me she was having a hard time seeing things but we had her eyes check a couple years ago and glasses weren't needed. Finally, when she couldn't read the stove clock that was only 4 feet away I decided we'd better have her eyes checked. She got her glasses the beginning of May. Just in time for summer. 8) She was funny the first day she got them. She kept walking around commenting on how great it was to be able to see the things she couldn't see before.

What happened to spring?

Winter was great! There was definately more snow here than where we lived in Colorado, but it was all good. The kids had fun sledding, James had fun snowboarding, and I really enjoyed the snow covered ground. But I have to say "Enough already!!". The first day of spring was perfect. It was 60 degrees and beautiful. Now that we have had that nice tease of spring weather I'm done winter. --- At least the snow should be melted by tomorrow afternoon.

The lengths our kids go to avoid doing a job!

It really was an accident, but I have to laugh because I had just asked Trinitie to move the stools out of the kitchen before she went to play with a friend. She was working on getting the first stool and somehow knocked the stool over. The seat of the stool landed on her pinkie toe and that was as far as she got with moving the stools out of the kitchen. (After we got ice on the toe and Ibuprofin taken, mom moved the stools and swept the floor.)

Her whole toe was purple and swolen in just a few minutes. It was obviously broken and we knew that there wasn't much you could do for a broken toe. I was determined we were not going to waste our money on a trip to the doctor. I rented some crutches so she could get around but by the third day the whole right side of her foot was bruised. Jim and I were afraid that maybe her foot was hurt worse than we thought. She wouldn't put any weight on her foot and it really looked bad. We caved! I took her to the doctor the next morning and found out that our diagnosis had been correct. Her little toe was broken but that was all. They did encourage her to wear the boot and use her foot more so that it would heal faster. All this for a pinkie toe.