Aprons

So my ward relief society has a really fun "retro homemaking" night coming up in a few weeks. We are going to have a class on pressure cooking, learn to sew an apron and make little apple pies in jars. I am going to be helping in the apron class. My friend Jill, who is amazing on the sewing machine, found a cute pattern for an apron in an hour. It's a cute half apron and I have now made two for practice! The first one I made at our craft group with Jill sitting next to me, walking me through it. Then I went home and sewed a second one to see how I could do on my own. The second one I gave as a gift to my mother in law... it's her birthday today, so why not. This apron is so easy, I'm sure I will make a few more to give away too :)

Here is the first apron I made

Here is the one I sent to my Mother in law

Paradise Bunco

I am in a Bunco group back here in the forest on Paradise. It is a really fun group of ladies who get together once a month to eat food, chat and play bunco. I had only played bunco once before joining this group, in Arizona with my best friend Camie. Bunco has been quite the treat each month to get out of the house for a few hours in the evening.

This month, I volunteered to host bunco at my house.( Billy took the boys over to the neighbors house and also watched her kids too. What a guy!) It was such a fun time. I was a little sad that none of the "old timers" made it over... but I had 12 fabulous girls come and enjoy an evening with me. I made a huge taco salad and everyone else brought things to share. There was 7 layer dip, guacamole and a large table of yummy desserts. We were all very full by the nights end. Besides the main dish, the host is also supposed to supply a door prize. I decided to make a door prize and then I decided one was not enough so I made two. Prize number one was a tote bag and prize number two was a lunch set, sandwich wrap and snack baggy. The girls who won the prizes were pretty happy I think.

I only snapped a couple pictures during the evening because I was having way too much fun playing and..... winning! Yep, I won half the pot for rolling the most buncos! I was shocked actually :) Each time you roll a bunco during the game you have to wear a silly hat- it's pretty funny.

I really enjoyed hosting bunco and having lots of friends over! I even made a sign (not finished yet) that may get passed around to each house that hosts bunco from here on out! BUNCO!

Zacharys 15 month check up

Well, Zachary is growing at a steady rate :) in the 3rd percentile. He is 29 inches, 19 pounds and healthy as can be. I almost gave him his first hair cut today when I was trimming Williams hair, but, I just couldn't cut that baby hair yet. I need to get my little baggy ready to put his first locks in and then I will do it! Zachary is still a baby of little words. He says uh oh and today at the doctors office he said ish when we were looking at the fish tank. Besides that everything is ock. But he is a good listener and understands a lot and is good at following directions.
William is 36.5 inches and 31 pounds and also healthy as can be. He is potty trained and doesn't give it a second thought. I love that I only have to change one little bum instead of two, it's great. I owe him a trip to the zoo and a ride on the train. It is the reward he chose for earning all of the magnets on his potty chart (in one day). I guess I should have made more than 5 slots on the chart starting off. Who knew he would poop 5 times in one day! Haha.
I am so proud of both of my boys and love them very much.

Cuddle Brothers

I didn't take a lot of pictures over the weekend that we were in Truckee and South Lake for Ian's wedding. But I did snap a couple of the boys the day after we got there, taking their nap together on Grandpa's bed. They were so tired from our drive late at night and getting in at 3am. They didn't sleep as well as planned in the car :( Anyway, looks like William makes a good pillow! It's so sweet to see them cuddle.

New family pics

When Tracy came to visit I asked her to take some pictures of us... and boy did she take pictures!

Thanks Tracy, you are a wonderful and talented photographer! Here are a few of my favorites.

5 times!

So, this week we are potty training William. He has done quite well so far and has mostly spent the days in his birthday suit to help him out. He was doing awesome to run and pee in the toilet, but was holding in his business. Well he couldn't hold it in any longer and today he took five different trips to his new seat to let it all out. 5 times! He feels much better today I'm sure :) Way to go William, we are on our way to letting Zachary take care of all the diapers now. Before I know it you will be driving!

New look

So with all the many fabric options I purchased to recover the pillows on my over sized chair... this is what i chose. I think it matches pretty well and I am happy with how it looks. Much better than the crazy purple and black patterned fabric & hiding it with a blanket :)

Trip to Utah

The boys and I took a trip to Utah to visit some family. We drove through the night with Aunt Tracy who was out visiting us the weekend before... thanks Tracy. We left Sunday night, July 24, and drove into Mapleton Monday morning. It was quite the drive, but we made it, awake. The first week we were there Kristy and her family were on vacation in Pennsylvania... so we did a lot of shopping with Grandma. I got to experience my first trip into a hobby lobby and went to a really affordable fabric store too. I went a little wild in there... how do you pass up $1.50/yd fabric when you are used to paying $9!! My mom also showed me the trail she walks up maple mountain, beautiful. We did it one day together, I pushed the boys in the stroller, and the second trip I took a solo run :) That was so nice.

When Kristy and the kids got back into town the party began. William and Zachary were in heaven playing all day with the cousins! Grant and William got along so good and were excited everyday to play together. It was really fun to watch them together. Zachary got quite a bit of attention from the girls too. We took all the kids to a farm near Kristy's house in Springville one day to visit the animals over there. We also went to a water park in Spanish Fork and let the kids soak themselves in the water geysers. Zachary was in heaven there, he loves playing in water.

Almost every night there was a thunder and lightning storm that came through which was fun to watch. Kristy and I also got to go on two runs together... wish it could have been more. It was really fun to run with my sister! We are planning on training for a half marathon together, I'm really excited to run a race with Kristy. We also got in a sister craft night. Tracy bought all the stuff to make boxes to organize our cards, a be-lated mothers day gift! Thanks Tracy!

It was really nice to be with family for almost two weeks. However the boys and I were very ready to come home by the end of the trip. Home sick, exhausted, and ready to be back in our own beds. I took two days to make the journey home by myself. Left Friday evening so the boys would be sleeping for the majority of the trip and I made it all the way to Barstow. Saturday morning we finished the drive only to hit the Fiesta traffic in Santa Barbara- aahhh. It was so nice to be home. We headed for the river about 2 hours after getting home. It was nice to be in the water and warm sun back in the canyon again. Home sweet home.