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I've started a new blog. Follow my crafting adventures on creativeirony.com.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Blast from the Past Saturday

Woah, this post is all the from back in 2005. It's mostly about Xander, who would have been three at the time. He's starting 2nd grade soon.

The expression "popping your poop" endured in our family for quite some time. It did eventually go out of vogue.

I added the pictures so you get a better idea of Xander's age at the time. I was still pregnant with Griffin.

Also, I'm still working on that darn degree. I'm no longer going to UVSC, but back at BYU-Idaho, my original school through their online program. I'm working on my BS in University Studies, a wimpy degree, but at this point, I'm not too picky. I just want one. I have about 24 credits left. I'm chipping away at it slowly. I'm going to get that piece of paper, even if it involves pulling each hair out of my head one at a time. Or fifty more years. Or earning the money by scrubbing toilets with my teeth.

Probably won't have to do any of that, just demonstrating my dedication there.

Oh, and you might be interested to know that I placed top 50 in the Memory Makers Masters contest that year. I still really love the layouts I did, amazingly enough, so I think that's a sign that they were really good.

From August 8, 2005
Xander Said a Prayer All by Himself

Xander said his first prayer without any help today.  I was dying, because it was so cute.  He said, "Dear Heavenly Father. . . . . . .Thank you for church.  Thank you for bath.  Name of Jesus Christ, amen."  I was pretty impressed.  Oh, and Maxton thought Xander was telling him what to say in the prayer, so he kept repeating "Henee fader (Heavenly Father)."

He also has this thing lately where he wants to know what every noise is.  A few weeks ago, he tooted and said, "What's that noise?"  Well, I didn't hear it, so I thought he was talking about the air conditioner blowing.  He just looked at me, and said, "No, that my bum."  He also refers to it as "popping his poop" which I think is a pretty creative description.  We're getting into the stage of fascination with bodily functions.  How long does that stage last?  Like 20 years, right?

The other day we went to the movies and we were the first ones in the theater.  As soon as other people started coming in, he asked me what that noise was.  Then he looked around the theater, and said, "That's lots of friends!"  He was so excited.  He really is a little social bug.

School starts this week for me.  I'm a bit nervous and sort of excited.  I'm taking just two classes at UVSC, a photography class and another design class.  I'm going to start working towards an associates, but we'll see what I really end up doing--I still don't know.  Nothing seems right.  But I'm sure I will enjoy my classes.

I've been super busy lately scrapbooking.  I finished up the five layouts required to enter the Memory Makers contest, and mailed them last Monday.  I'm sure I won't win, but I had so much fun making the layouts and they are some of the best I've ever done.  Just for that, it was worth it.  I would of course, love to win, but there are so many talented scrapbookers out there.  I'm just a very tiny fish.  They said that last year, 680 people entered.  That is a crazy amount, because they only pick 10 to be masters.
I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Share-A-Craft Link Party!

My older boys started school this week. We've been busy around our house lately. I love back to school time, but it's been a bit tough around here lately. If you don't know already, I'm bipolar II (we recently figured out that was what was going on and not just regular depression), and I'm working on getting the right combination of meds. I don't think I'm quite there yet, which is frustrating. Blah. Seriously, it can be so annoying. Mental illness can be a lot of things: devastating, impairing, horrible. And sometimes it's just a pain in the ass. So, the first thing to go is the blog when I'm not feeling up to things. On the plus side, the older boys are loving school and their new classes, and I think it will be good for me too, to get into more of a routine. Anyway, I'm telling you this because if I don't keep up my regular schedule, you'll know I'm just off doing things like feeding my children and making sure they bathe. And trying to not bum myself out too much. :)

Anyway, I did get around to commenting on the links and admiring all the awesomeness that is my readership. I'm picking five this week since I didn't do last week.

Clarissa Emily at A Little Stone House wrote up a tutorial for how to make those little charm pendants that are soldered together, with a picture between two pictures of glass. I just had a friend a few weeks ago ask me if I knew how to make them, and I don't (she almost fell out of her chair that I didn't--well maybe not, but I am usually a good person to ask about things like this), so I was thrilled to learn how to do it. And I'm really tempted to go out and buy the supplies. Like right now. But, I will probably refrain and ask for them for my birthday. I can see these making super cool gifts for everyone from my mom to my kids' teachers.

Natalie over at Get Scatty posted a bunch of projects she's taken on recently. She calls them "small projects," but I'm calling her out on that one, because I don't think you can rightfully call refinishing a dresser, a bedside table and a tv stand small projects (hopefully she will forgive me). Nope, they are each beautiful pieces, and I love her idea of putting a floor lamp next to a small nightstand. Too cute! She also spray painted the lamp shade. And her mid-century modern dresser is to die for! (She might be able to get away with calling her lamp shade and her family frame small projects, maybe.)


Laura at Laura Thoughts recovered her carseat. Now, I think that I would tackle just about any project, but the things she tries, I'm just not sure if I would attempt them. And they turn out beautifully! I love the idea of having some beautiful and funky fabric for a carseat (for once) and she does an awesome job.

There were some really great sewing projects this week and I went back and forth trying to pick one. I finally settled on this adorable dress from Cheryl at Sew Can Do. She calls it the Re-Tee Dress Tutorial, and it combines my love of upcycling and little girls dresses. I'm getting the itch to sew!

Cindy from Little Did I Know made some hand trees with her family. I haven't seen these before, and I love Cindy's version. Too cute! I love the canvases wrapped in burlap. Genius idea.
If you've been featured, feel free to grab an "I've been featured" button!

Link party rules:
Link to the actual post, and not your blog main page. I'd appreciate a link back to my blog, but it's not required.
Comment on one other link.
Please, link us to something you made, not something you are selling or an unrelated post on another topic.
I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Trip to Zion National Park

Another trip report. I hope you guys don't mind. I will try to keep it brief, but who knows. I tend to start going off. You can just scroll down to the pretty pictures if you want.

Last Wednesday, we dropped off the kids at my sister's house (that woman deserves sainthood, seriously; I've offered to take her four kids for two nights whenever she wants), and my mom, my dad, David and I set off to Zion National Park. We were going to go on an overnight backpacking trip to hike the Narrows from the top down.

We get our back country permit. We rent our shoes. We set up camp in one of the campgrounds, ready to leave in the morning. We've been watching the weather, and we know there is a slight chance of scattered thunderstorms.

Look at the moon peeking over the ridge at our campground! It's beautiful! And no clouds in sight.

You know where this is going. When it involves me and the outdoors, it's bound to go awry.

I have never been so close to lightening it my life. It was hitting the ridges on either side of our campground. David swears he could hear trees cracking. We stayed dry, but it was not a restful night.

We get up at 6:00 am (very few clouds) and head to the shuttle that is supposed to take us to the starting point. We know there is a chance that we won't get to go, because the Narrows is a slot canyon and prone to flash flooding. It depends on where the rain was exactly last night.

It was in the wrong place.

On Wednesday the river was running at 55 cubic feet per second. If it gets any higher than 120, it's not safe to hike in. When we woke up on Thursday morning, it was running at 1560 cubic feet per second. That's not a typo. More than 10 times the allowable amount. Yeah, don't want to be hiking in that. We walked down to see the river and it's chocolate brown and nasty looking. Unless you think of it as chocolate milk, in which case it looks delicious, and now I want a glass.

We get a refund on our gear and shuttle and a rain check (literally caused by rain) on our back country permit and we all look at each other and wonder what we are going to do for the next two days. We decide to stay in the park and do some of the other hikes that are around.

We decide to do Angels Landing.

My mom and dad on the trail as we approach:

Another view:

Another view:

It was not the same driving through it as it was hiking through. It's just stunning, all of it. There isn't another word. The sheerness of the rock, the beautiful morning sun, the vegetation that is surprisingly lush. The trails are beautifully maintained and most of it up to Angels Landing is paved.

This is about half way up, looking back to Springdale. Each of those is a mountain. I wish I took more pictures of the switchbacks.

Maybe I was too mad. I thought on this trip I wouldn't be gaining any elevation. I was counting on a lot of rough terrain, on being wet and miserable, and jamming my feet between rocks, and having to lean on a walking stick and carrying my own pack, but after hiking Timp, I was really looking forward to not having to go up anything for any significant distance. Stupid rain.

Then we hit a place called Refridgerator Canyon. Cool and pretty and walking right next to the sandstone.

Then another series of little switchbacks (they call them the Wiggles, which gave me the giggles and made me think of the kids), and we were at Scout Lookout. It's not that far of a hike to Scout Lookout, about 4 miles round trip. The next part of the hike is scary. That's the part which the actual Angels Landing section. It's only about 1 mile round trip, but it's fairly sheer cliffs on both sides. There's a chain you can hold onto for most of the way, but heights are not my thing, and the trail gets fairly narrow in sections (maybe the width of a sidewalk). After walking up the trail, I wasn't feeling too sure footed. Plus, there was a ton of people on the trail, and the thought of trying to navigate past all those people just freaked me out. And people have died up there. Maybe if I sprout wings before my next visit, I will attempt it. So I happily stayed with the pack at Scout Lookout, while my mom, dad and David went. It took them about an hour and twenty minutes.

We hiked back down, had some lunch, then decided to do the Emerald Pools. It wasn't a long hike, about 2.5 miles, and it doesn't gain that much elevation, hurrah! It was very pretty though.

It's a loop, with three pools that feed each other. If you ever go, I would recommend going right on the trail, which will bring you to the bottom pool first (if you go left, you will get to the middle pool first). The pools were neat, but I'm afraid that after the crater lakes at Lassen Park, I just find any other pools described as emerald to be. . . misnamed. However, they were beautiful and worth seeing, if not exactly emerald in color.

The waterfalls down to the first pool.

You walk behind the waterfall. A view of the first pool.
A frog we saw on the way:

Then you walk up some more trail and see the 2nd pool, which isn't very deep at all.

And it goes over the edge, to form the waterfall down to the first pool.

You are almost surround by these sheer cliffs.

And you hike up some more.

Then you find the top pool. And there's another waterfall. I couldn't get the whole distance on my camera.

There's a beach and everything.

Then we hiked down and decided to get a hotel in Saint George, because sleeping on those tiny backpacking mattresses two nights in a row when you don't have to do so is just silly. So, we did. Only I didn't pack enough underwear for an extra shower (I brought a pair to put on at the very end of the trip--which I put on after we realized that we wouldn't be hiking the Narrows, because when you hike the Narrows, you don't want to wear regular underwear, because it gets wet and then you get chaffed--you want to wear quick-drying underwear). David had to go buy me some at the Kmart which was across the street from our hotel. Then we went and saw Salt.

The next day we slept until 10:30. Also, my dad snores. David finally got some hand-towels to throw at him when he started up. My mom can sleep through it. It's not really loud snoring, but enough to wake me up.

We started back home, but we knew we wanted to stop and see Kolob Canyon, which is not far off I-15 near Cedar City.

I've always thought of that part of Utah as the ugliest part of Utah. It doesn't really have any distinguishing characteristics. The plant life is all low and scrubby. The mountains look stunted and they all look the same. It goes on for about two hours longer than it's interesting. I'm sorry Cedar City, for thinking you were ugly. Because you were hiding something spectacular over the hill.

You first see this mountain. It's beautiful. And huge. I don't think you can tell how huge in the photo.

Then you drive a little more and there's a whole range of fantastical formations. And it's all laid out in front of you. And you can't even see it all in one glance. You have to turn your head around to take it all in. There are hanging valleys and grottos and chimneys and just all sorts of interesting things. It's like God's Cathedral and scaled to his size. My pictures aren't the best because we got there right around 1:30, nearly the worst time for photos. We also did a small one mile hike. I would love to go back sometime and really do some hiking in there.

Then we drove home. I'm sort of glad we didn't do the Narrows, because we got to see a lot of really beautiful things. On the other hand, I really want to do that hike. We are hoping to do it early in the season next year, when the risk of flash floods are low. Pbbbtttt weather! You are mean! (I really hope the people who were in the canyon got out ok. They were probably stuck in there a few days longer than they meant to be, but it's lucky that this flood happened at night, when people were sleeping on high ground. The park is also really good about educating people on the dangers and warning signs.)
I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Blast from the Past Saturday

With summer winding down (we go back to school this week), but the heat still around, I loved looking at this entry from a few years ago. Makes me want to go out and start another water fight.

Aubrey was just a little thing and none of my kids were in school. In some ways, it was a simpler time. In some ways, it was NOT. I still had three in diapers and I was not getting any sort of regular sleep. We were all in a fairly small three bedroom apartment. Aubrey slept in my craft room.

On the other hand, I want to pick up Griffin and squeeze his fat middle and cover Aubrey's cheeks in kisses. I love the simple relationship of Griffin and Max in the last picture, something that has long gone, I'm afraid.

From August 22, 2007
Just Sharing Some Photos (with the inevitable commentary)

Griffin, why does he have that binki in his mouth? He supposed to only use one while sleeping. I started this hose-fight. It was hot!Xander, spraying the hose. Notice how he's not even looking at the water. :)
Griffin and Max splashing in the puddle on the sidewalk that always forms just right there. Usually, we try to avoid it.
Griffin looking quite pleased with being wet. Also notice Xander running away in the background.
She's waving hi in this one. Also, there are spit bubbles. She's getting drooly and likes to lick thinks, like shirt shoulders and forearms. If I hold her facing outward, I get copious amounts of drool down my arm. But isn't she sweet? We're thinking she'll probably have blue eyes, but more like the gray-blue of Maxton's.
Maxton, looking quite pleased with himself. My SIL said that in this photo, he looks like the Henry side and I agree. Such a handsome dude!
Aww, she is just so cute! She's getting cubby. I love this blanket my MIL made for her. She really thinks the camera is bizarre. Everytime I get it out, she looks at it like it's some alien object, which I'm sure it is to her.
Here are Griffin and Maxton. After a spell of hating to have his picture taken, he has lapsed into wanting his picture taken all the time, usually with Griffin or Aubriana.
I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Project Progress: Kitchen Update Week 11

This week is basically a quick post to show off the chairs I've finished so far. I've got five done. You can check out my first finished one here, along with the before pictures if you didn't catch the first post.

They look darling in my kitchen. Just what I pictured.

I cannot wait to get all six around the kitchen table! I have eight chairs, but two of them hang out in my craft room most of the time.

I love how they pick up the colors in the wall art. The navy bowl in the center was a wedding present, and the teal bowl in it was from my great-grandma and it looks charming as a center piece, particularly when filled with green apples.

I still really want to get new light fixtures and curtains. I have not a single curtain in my entire house. Luckily, there are nice blinds on most of the windows, but there is a horrible lack of window treatments.

And, I need to finish up my rag rug. I've been working on it, but like I said last week, that is taking much longer than I anticipated.

I also want vintage metal stools for the breakfast bar. I bought one and it's perfect, but I want three more, all different styles. I'm hoping I can figure out a way to get all the things that I want. I usually can. I'm very crafty (I mean this in the stealthy, cunning way this time) when I want something. And I want to finish this kitchen makeover and complete the whole vision of the thing.

On the other hand, I must not get too caught up in decorating fever. There are more important things. Hard to think what they are at the moment. Humm. . .

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Share-A-Craft Link Party!

I'm without internet today, so I'm going to combine last week's party and this weeks party and do my three (except I'll do five) picks next week. But, I didn't want to leave you without a link party, so link away!

Plus, I'm really looking forward to looking through everyone's links when I get my internet back. Can't wait to see!

In the meantime, check out who interviewed me! Suzy from Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom interviewed me yesterday. It was so much fun, and I loved answering all her questions.

I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Obessive Much? A Whole Slew of Bracelets

So, I already showed you the bracelet I made as a giveaway (it's closed, sorry) and the two I made using smocking, but there are more.

Yeah, because I like variety, so I want a lot of different options when I go to wear something, and because when I get on an idea and I want to explore that idea. And then beat it to death. And then try to resurrect it and then sail around the world with it and kiss it shyly and marry it, and I think I'm starting (starting?) to mix my metaphors.

Anyway, most of these were done using the soda can tutorial. I ended up using the basic instructions, but then sewing the base fabric on and then hot gluing the embellishments on top of the base fabric. Very, very carefully so as little hot glue would show as possible.

And this isn't counting the three I made my sister for her birthday and the two I made for my friend Heidi and neglected to photograph. And. . . I don't think I'm done.

On the left is the front and on the right is the button closure.


I've started a new blog: Come follow my crafting adventures on my new blog. Find me at: creativeirony.com.