The Fair Report

The County Fair came to town a bit ago, and Trev and I both entered our handiwork/produce.  We didn't break the bank, but both came away with a little premium money and a few ribbons to show for our work.

Trev's 3 warty pumpkins each earned a blue ribbon.  His 3 wood carvings took a red each, and his origami rose (far right, hard to tell), was awarded a white.  

I entered the above quilts.  The Grinch quilt took 1st and the Sunflower quilt took 2nd.  

Its always an interesting experience to find out what "experts" think about your projects.  I always learn a lot when I get to help during the judging of quilts.  This year I didn't get the call to help, but I would have really loved to hear what the judges said as they evaluated each of my quilts.  Watching them judge one of your quilts while you are standing there is also an interesting thing.  (They have no idea who the quilter is, no names are visible).  Its very tempting to try to explain why you did something when they point out a weird thing, or wonder why something turned out the way it did.  The quilter usually knows exactly what they are talking about. When I was a less-experienced seamstress, there was no way I would have entered anything to be scrutinized and possibly criticized. NO WAY!!  I'm glad I have a little more confidence and a lot thicker skin now that I have a little more wisdom!  :)

GBE Day 6 - Young Womenhood Recognition

Amber and Co. with their medallions and certificates of completion.

This group of girls received their YW Recognition all together.  For Amber, this was a great achievement.  There were times she declared she was done with Personal Progress, there were times when she'd get geared back up, and then times she would wane again.  But in the end, she persevered and earned her medallion.  We couldn't be prouder of her.  

As you may or may not know, the girls have to complete eight 10-hour projects as part of the process.  Some of the projects Amber did were reading the Book of Mormon (mandatory for the Virtue value project), planning and preparing meals for 2 weeks, participating on the High School Tennis Team, and probably her least favorite, making a quilt.  Her favorite was her Faith Project in which she studied the Preach My Gospel book during Mission Prep.  (There is a potential blog post in and of itself).  You can see that it is a very cute quilt, but she didn't enjoy the process beyond picking out the pattern and the fabric.  Again, she finished, although, not without a lot of, shall we say, encouragement from me. :)

The very cute quilt, made by a girl who loves wearing rain boots.

The important thing in all of this is that she completed the program, and did it because she wanted to, and because of that it will bring blessings into her life.  

Good job, Amber!!!

April in Review (and a Smidge of May)

Amber and Kristin were paired up as doubles partners for the match against Moscow.  They won the first set, lost the second and were tied 9-9 in a tie-breaker when the match was called for snow!!  Sleety, hail-y, snow!!

Trev's soccer season ended today.  They lost to Grangeville 4 - 2.  It really could have gone either way.

Thanks to this little guy, born 49 minutes before Grandpa's birthday...

I got to go hang out and play Grandma with these two...

And I got to make this very cute airplane quilt.  Notice the minky backing.  I love it!!

The whole Dallas family.

And the end of the school year means end of the year dances.  Amber came out of Seminary to find her car completely filled with balloons.  She said yes!!

Forrest, Mikayla, Amber and Aaron.

A little better shot of Amber's dress and yours truly, seamstress of said dress.  It was brutal toward the end, but it all turned out.

Of course, Freshman year wouldn't be complete without Freshman Dance.  Miranda,  Kristin, Riley, Ashley and Nikki - all fancied up.  (I made Kristin's dress also)  Hopefully her slip wasn't hanging out all night!  :)

And because they are Freshman, (well, really just girls who like to have a bit of fun) they had to jump on the tramp in their fancy dresses.  This is not a quality shot, but I think it conveys the feeling of the moment.

Fourteen Things to Note (plus one more)

My victorious candle extinguishing job!  There aren't 50 candles, but there were enough!  (Note the Scrabble tiles in the foreground!  My opponents probably let me win since it was my birthday!  NOT!! :)

Our picture perfect turkey on Thanksgiving!  Too bad we couldn't eat it right away, as my new meat thermometer did me wrong and it wasn't cooked all the way.  Luckily, we had turkey #1 at the ready.  And it was cooked!

Dallin is always up for a project!  He hung these fabric covered boards for me above the stairs.  I love, love them!

We took a hike down by Hell's Gate State Park.  It was a drizzly day, and thankfully the rain held off until we made it back to the car.  We made it to the top and had a lovely view of the river, and Tammany Creek Road.

We spied this majestic creature on our way down.  He didn't stick around long after  he spied us.

I truly think this is the largest tumbleweed I have ever seen!!!

The girls' Hobbit House

The boys' Male Mansion.  May I introduce you to Ryan?  He's the male on the right.   He came to visit for a few days before heading home for Christmas.  ( He mainly came to visit Alli, but he was a good sport and hung out with the rest of us also.  :)

The Male Mansion is full of all things "male".  We just have to use our imagination to see them.   See the sign on the Hobbit House? It says "No admittance except on party business."

Alli's 21st Birthday!  Strawberry Rhubarb and Banana Cream Pie!!

At Locomotive Park.  Cold but very pretty!  

Christmas morning post-present opening

The puzzle project, completed.  You can't tell, but the puzzle pieces are made up of tiny pictures!  It was hard, but the crew worked diligently and completed it in a few days.

A portion of the Grinch quilt.  My goal was to finish it before Christmas, so while Alli and Kristin made the Clam Chowder for Christmas Eve dinner, I finished the binding!  I LOVE this quilt.  It may be one of the top 3 favorites I have made.  (One of the many things I love about it is the pearl cotton I used to quilt it.  I think the bigger stitches suit this quilt perfectly.)

I couldn't resist including a picture of the whole quilt!   I think I will have to talk myself out of keeping it out all year!!
That is how much I love it!!

The winds of change are blowin'

Apparently the March winds are bringing change to our little world. Note, I didn't say the changes were bad - just new and most likely exciting.

After working with the Young Women in our ward for 3 1/2 years, I was released last week and put in the Cub Scout program. I am the new Bear Den Leader. I guess I'll be trading Girl's Camp for Day Camp and Personal Progress for Bear Advancement. Never fear though - after 5 hours of training in the last 3 days, I am ready for the den. I'm told its like planning a birthday party every week without having to make cupcakes! Party on!!! (I think I can safely say this will be the change which will bring much excitement to my life) Coming soon - a picture of Trevor and me in our uniforms! Too cool!

Grandma Hughes is coming to town!!! We are excited to have her come stay for a while and be a part of our madness. She'll probably have no trouble sleeping at night after spending all day keeping up with our family! We can't wait for her smiling face to get here.


And just in case you're wondering, Talmage (on the quilt made by great-grandma Sollenbarger) is still #1 on our list for the cutest baby in the world. John and I had a great time down in Dallas for his blessing. What a great thing for him to have all 3 grandpas in the circle and his dad give him a name and a blessing. It was a very special weekend. We hated to get on the plane but for the fact we had 5 wonderful kids waiting for us at home! Kudos to Chelsie and Allison for holding down the fort! They did an awesome job!

Always looking out for his kids and their interests, John took a very messy problem in hand and solved it for Ashley and Brandon. Imagine a few pigeons very comfortable in a roosting place right above a nice Honda Accord. Now imagine what the side of that very nice Accord looks like after the pigeons have been there awhile. I think you get the picture. Enter John. After mulling over the problem, he came up with the solution, bought the necessary supplies, and in no time, those pigeons were finding a new place to roost. Now, imagine that nice Honda all clean and shiny and staying that way! Very, very good!!! (John's solution? A long board with nails sticking up from the bottom. Clever.) Actually, if the pigeons just looked at the scary face, I'm not sure they would have stuck around long enough to walk on the nails. :-)


This month is full - Jr. Miss for Allison, Tennis for Allison, a visit from the gang from Texas, piano recital for Trevor and Kristin, soccer for Trevor, Kristin and Amber and work, work, work for Chelsie. (Spring break for a few of her friends means a little social life in her future! Yay!) This will be a good month for blogging!