Long time, no write

Whew! I have truly been trying to get this done, but the forces that be conspire against me. Then this morning I tried to write and Tristan came running in to tell me that Alex had followed Daddy to work on his bike, which meant down 1st Street. About 25 minutes later, with help from Sister Baird and a lot of prayers, we found Alex at Grandma and Grandpa's house on 3rd St.! Which means that he crossed 1st St. and Holmes on his own. I don't want to think about it. Needless to say, the bike is in time-out now.


So, my computer won't let me move my pictures around, and it is driving me crazzzyyy! It won't let me drag or click and paste. All I can do is move a picture to the bottom of the screen. It won't even let me move my text. So I am just going to put the pictures on here and they will all probably be random and out of order and OH WELL!!! I don't care anymore. I am "simplifying" my life by not caring. :) I have also simpified my life by deciding not to do yardwork anymore. When does simplifying become lowering your standards? I am also considering simplifying by not wearing makeup or exercising anymore. What do you think? Thus far, I am well on my way towards full impementation of my new program. Anyway, here goes. Here are about 5 million pictures. Yeah!

How Lainey greeted me after her "nap"

Playing at the park, which we have been doing a lot of lately.

Okay, so Haley and I tried to take some dance pictures, but we only had like 40 minutes and didn't know where to go or what to do. I feel really self-conscious about putting these on here, especially since I'm not really doing anything cool or dancy. But, I did appreciate Haley's time and we got a few cute ones. It would be fun to do some in a studio with my poofy red costume. But, since that may never happen, here are a couple out of the like 100 we took.

This is a cool place to get pictures, but none of them turned out very well.

A cool mirror I got at a garge sale for $5. I want to put it in Lainey's room with dainty little plates around the sides. Too bad I didn't clean the fingerprints off before I took the picture.

Tristan riding his bike, which got run over this morning by Danny. I think I might be able to save with a new wheel.

Alex on his new, big bike that he rode to Grandpa's house with. The new, big bike that is now in time-out.

Alaina and Tristan with their new obsession. "MY BABY KITTY!!" is Alaina's favorite phrase.

Elephant, hiding under the blanket.

Francine, who was very happy and purring in this spot, even though she doesn't look like it.

These are kind of backwards. But this is Alaina asleep on my lap- DURING THE FIREWORKS!!! She was verry tired.

Different people at the fireworks. We had ham and cheese and tuna sandwiches and caramel corn and grapes and drinks. Yummmm.....
Danny at the barbeque. I forgot to take any more pictures, which is too bad, because we had a lot of really good food and lots of people. We had hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks, watermelon, coleslaw, potato salad, green salad, fruit salad, asiago bread, oreos, cookies, chips, and I know I am not remembering everything, but it was really good. More "obsession"pictures

This is how Lainey sits sometimes when we eat dinner. Sometimes she rests her head on the arch of her foot. Silly girl.

Other than all this, we have been playing, reading, cleaning (not enough) and busy with callings and work and things. We love summer, but it is really busy. Tomorrow I am going to Girl's Camp at Darby and I am really excited! But I am sad to be gone for so long. We will be back Friday afternoon, which isn't too long. But I think that is the longest I have been gone from Danny since we had kids. I hope they all survive!!

Well, that's all for now. Wish me good luck at camp at hopefully I will come back with lots of pictures and good stories!!

Air show, new bishopric, and Alex sings

Howdy-ho! Well, there is kind of a lot to write about. On Thursday the kids and I went to visit Hawers in Rexburg and we had lots of fun! Her house is so cute, wayyy nicer than mine ever was or most young couples houses are. And her nursery is so cute, too! I hope she puts pictures up soon!

On Saturday we went to Rexburg for the Legacy Museum Air Show. We didn' think we were going to go, because it was supposed to rain, but when we woke up it wasn't too bad, so we decided to risk it. And I'm glad we did!

We ended up getting there about an hour after it started, but our friends who were there said we hadn't missed much, so that was really a blessing. They have gone the last 3 years, and they said there weren't nearly as many people this year, which I'm sure was because it was so cloudy. But that actually worked out great! It kept the temperatures really nice and cool and you could look in the sky without burning out your eyeballs. Every one in a while the sun would come out and then it was soo hot, I could barely stand it for five minutes. So we were glad it was cloudy!

The kids have been really into airplanes lately, since we saw the bomber at the airport here, and so they were really excited. And they were duly rewarded for their anxious anticipation.

The planes were so cool and so close and did such neat tricks! Tristan loved it when two planes went flying really low and fast right past each other. I liked the plane that went really high and then just sat there in the air, in one spot. Then in fell end over end and corkscrewed out of it. There were so many cool things they did, too many to list. We brought snacks and blankets and sat by friends who had brought food, too. The kids were so good and sat for all 3 hours we were there. I think they were too fascinated to look away. Alaina got really scared the first time a plane went by

and was really loud, but we taught her how to cover her ears, and she seemed to enjoy it after that.

There were planes on display, too and a big army jeep the kids could play in. I should have told them that is what Uncle Phillip drives. They would have been impressed.

At the end there were bagpipers, who turned out to be the two Pettit boys! We knew that they played, but had never seen them play before. They were really good!

And at the very end the skydivers jumped out and then we fel the first raindrops of the whole day. Perfect!

Afterwards we went to Haley's to go potty and so Alex could ask Dallin "Boat?" which is what he says every time he sees him.

On Sunday we got a new Bishopric! Brother, er.. Bishop Baird (weird) is the new bishop, which I totally guessed, Shannon Mitchell, whom you guys don't know probably is 1st counselor, which I also guessed, and Bro. Hall is the 2nd Counselor. It will be a great bishopric! But change is always a little hard at first.

And of course, Alex sang. I wish I could have taped it! He did such a great job! There were a lot of things that could have gone wrong, but he sang mostly all the words right and very clearly and waited for the piano and didn't do anything silly or strange while up there. Although, I did have several people tell me that their favorite part was when he was singing "I Love the see the Temple" and he sang, "to listen and the play" instead of to listen and to pray. He sang very loudly and I couldn't keep his mouth quite far enough away from the mic, but it was still great. There were a ton of people there with the new bishopric and there was a boy giving his farewell talk, plus the Stake Presidency, so it was really packed. But he wasn't nervous at all! In fact, we told him he would get a cookie if he did a good job, and as soon as we got back to the pew he said, "Cookie?" I think that made a bigger impression on him than the singing did! We got lots and lots of compliments and people were very impressed and pretty surprised, although we weren't surprised, just relieved. Some people even said it brought tears to their eyes. Sister LaPray had an old family friend sitting next to her and she told me that she told her friend, "That little boy is autistic," and her friend said,"You're kidding?!" And in a voice of awe said, "Miracles do happen." Truly, they do.

One funny thing- after sacrament Danny had to look for a minute to find Alex. He found him in the library, getting the librarians of the other ward to copy his "Jesus in the Clouds" picture on the copier. Danny said they looked a little flustered. It copied really dark and yesterday right as we were going to say prayers, Alex says, "Jesus in the clouds is black." Danny and I couldn't keep from laughing.

Tristan said something hilarious this morning when we were trying to get the car to start, but we can't remember what it was! It was some phrase that Danny always says when the car is being naughty. When we remember it, I will put it on here.

I gotta go now, 'cause the computer is being troubley and this has taken forever! Bye!

The Little Black Desk and My First Tutorial

As you know, I have been looking for some time for a small table to go downstairs, between the couch and the snuggler chair. We have about a gazillion remotes, so I really wanted something with a drawer and something to be able to set things on. Well, I found this cute little desk at Hidden Treasures, where everything I like generally starts at $100. At first I was sure this desk was wayyyy too short, so even though I loved the shape and color and it was only $24, I passed it up. Later, on reflection, I realized my mistake and went back and got it. Boy, am I glad I did! It is just the right size, any taller or larger would have been all wrong, and I already love having a place for the remotes!! Yeah! It seems to add a lot to the room and is one step closer to finishing it. Maybe someday I will finish it all the way. :)

I would like you to notice the lovely fabric runner, thingy, on the table. Yes, I made that. So now, for my first tutorial, I will teach you how you, too, can make a lovely runner thingy for your table. This is a fairly simple project, and if you use my instructions, you should be finished in about two hours.

Step One- Find your sewing machine. Here is a picture of one in case you can't remember.

Step Two- Pull out your cutting board and other items used for cutting fabric. Since you will undoubtedly have lost your clear, plastic thing used for making straight cuts, find some other item with a straight edge to use instead. As you see, I used an old matte I had on hand. Long books work well, too.

Step Three- After cutting your fabric, you will need to locate your instruction manual. It looks like this-

Refer to your instruction manual and use the next fifteen minutes relearning how to wind your bobbin. After bobbin is done being wound, realize that you used all of your thread on the bobbin, and you now have none left for sewing with. Rummage through your 6"x6" sewing box and try to find another thread color that is close enough to the color you just put on the bobbin, so that no one will notice you used two different colors.

Now your machine is threaded and you are ready to go. You should always start sewing on a piece of scrap fabric, to ensure that your stitch length is what you want.

Step Four- Sew slowly on your piece of scrap fabric, and feel a sense of satisfaction that all looks right. Pull out scrap fabric and try to figure out why the thread didn't sew on the back.

Step Five- Rethread bobbin. While you have the bobbin out, touch various pieces of the machine that surround the bobbin until they fall out. Spend another 15 minutes trying to figure out how they go back in. It is helpful at this point to have an innocent bystander around, preferably a husband, to randomly yell sarcastic and rude comments to about how poorly sewing machines are made.

Step Six- After testing on your scrap fabric again, try to spend at least 20 minutes learning what all the dials are and how to change the settings. After the 20 minutes, spend at least another 5 minutes putting all the settings back to where they were when you started. You are now ready to sew.

Step Seven- Sew approximately one inch on your fabric. Break your sewing machine needle. Look in various drawers until you find something that looks like more sewing maching needles. Using your manual, replace the needle, being sure to break it at least 2 more times in the process of getting it out. Put your new needle in and say a prayer that it is an actual sewing maching needle. While you are praying, apologize for all the mean things that you have been thinking, but had the sense enough not to say out loud. Pray for strength.

Step Eight- Sew to your first corner. This is where it gets tricky. You should try to break your thread at least once while navigating the corner. When you get to the corner, stop while the needle is in the down position, lift the presser foot, rotate your fabric and begin sewing again. Stop sewing, rethread the machine, and this time lower the presser foot before you begin. It is helpful to have needles in your fabric, so that you can stick one into your finger and occassionally sew right over it.

Step Nine- By now you are onto your last corner. If all has gone well, you will have rethreaded the upper and lower parts of the machine at least 4 times, as well as replacing at least one part. When you get to your last corner, it is important to reverse your stitches to keep them from coming up. Be sure that when you reverse, you make a new line of stitches next to the old ones. When your last corner is done, you may pull your fabric off, cut off the third and fourth unnecessary strings that are coming out of your fabric, and decide which parts are the worst. Strategically place flower or a picture frame over these parts so that no one will be able to see them.

Now you can stand back and enjoy the fruits of all your hard work. Now, that wasn't that difficult, was it? Join me next week, when we tackle checking the fluid levels in your car. And remember, with hard work, patience and endless tears, you, too can have a home as lovely as mine.