Birthdays

Tony celebrated his 33rd birthday on Saturday, and I turned 30 today.

 The cake Tony's mom made. 

No, Tony didn't burn the house down and he managed to brow out all the candles at once!  

Happy Birthday to us!  

Easter

This year for Easter we invited Tony's parents to come and share the holiday with us.  With Easter being so early this year it was also Tony and my birthdays, so our weekend was pretty packed but fun.  Friday afternoon the kids and I dyed our eggs.  But since is was just me and the kids there are no pictures.  Trying to keep a 1 and 1/2 year old out of egg dye was nerve racking to say the least!  That night after Tony's family made it into town we went out to dinner to the only good Chinese Restaurant in town, Mandarin.  It was delicious and very filling!  Saturday morning the guys went shooting to prove whose gun was the best.  Of course ours is the best.  ;)  That afternoon we all had lunch outside and then went to the park because the weather was beautiful.  And in Rexburg you got to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts.  We had our big Easter dinner after the park.  Ham, Funeral Potatoes, Rolls, Asparagus, and Birthday Cake for Tony.  It was super yummy and we all came rolling out of the dinning room after we were done.  Then we went out to Green Canyon Hot Springs for Swimming.  Charlie was super brave in the water.  Walking around in the shallow end all by himself and was even jumping off the edge of the pool (from a sitting position) to Tony and I.  We all had a good time.  We got back and the adult stayed up late talking and laughing.  Sunday morning the kids got up way earlier than I would have liked and spent the day eating their candy.  We had our Easter Egg hunt right before lunch.  The egg hunt always goes fast, but the kids love it and it's lots of fun to watch them search for eggs.  Then it was off to 1:00 church.  Once church was over it was time for Tony's family to go home.  The kids watched their movies, we went for a walk to the park and came back for cupcakes for my birthday.  Phew!  Crazy, busy, fun weekend!    

 Our eggs this year weren't that great.  I can promise you I will never again buy the glitter egg dying kit!  What a pain!  

 The kids Easter baskets.  Carson and Alaina got new movies and Charlie got a toy car, a camaro none the less.  

 Alaina in her new dress.  

 Charlie's new tie.  I couldn't get this kids to smile for nothing this morning.  I guess he was more interested in eating his candy than smiling for the camera.  

Carson's new tie.  So Handsome!  

Alaina's Easter Dress

The last few weeks I've been working on this dress in my spare time.  I finally finished it on Friday afternoon.  I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out and loved using my new machine.  It's amazing the difference it made on how the dress turned out.  

 The finished product.  

 On the sleeves I used more ribbon instead of elastic.  Honestly I wanted to use my automatic button hole function on my machine and this gave me an excuse to do it.  Also I wanted to try something other than what the pattern showed.  I messed up a bit at the beginning and almost went back and did it just like the pattern but ended up getting the sleeves to look super cute.  

 I did a specialty stitch on the hem.  Another excuse to use a cool function on my new machine.  

 Buttons,  and again another excuse to use a cool function on my new machine.  

 Matching purse.  Honestly I am not that pleased with this at all and will probably refashion it later, but frankly ran out of time.  So here it is...for now.  

Alaina in ribbons and bows.  I even made a matching hair bow that you can't see in the picture.  She loves her Easter outfit...and that always makes all the time and effort going into it worth it!  

IPad Mini

This year Tony and I got Ipads.  He got a full sized one for school and I got a mini.  I never thought I would be the type of person that had something like this, but I have to say that I love it!  Its so nice to not have to carry so much stuff any more.  Now I just take my keys, wallet, phone and Ipad.  I do my reading on it.  My lessons for sunday school.  Texting.  Social Networking etc.  It was a bit a pain to get the case I ordered for it, but after a month of waiting for 3-5 day shipping it finally arrived!  And yes it's purple!  

Sewing

I've never considered myself an major seamstress. Not like my mom, who could sew just about anything and has. Or my big sister, who sews wedding dresses and formal wear. I've always done it here or there when the urge struck me to be creative. I'd have to say that most of what I've done over the years have been a dress or two a year for Alaina, a few pairs of p.j.s for the kids, some bedding, and mending. To be honest for many years I simply didn't have the time or the place to sew. Being a working mom made it difficult to do anything besides the necessities of caring for a family. Our house in Nampa provided no real place to sew. I always ended up using the dinning table and almost no sewing project can be completed in an afternoon when you've got kids. So the sewing mess would be in the way of meal time, etc. So eventually It got to the point where it was more of a pain to get everything out then it was worth. Once we moved to Rexburg and I was no longer a working mom I found myself getting the creative bug more and more. Then once we moved into our current place, I had a place for my sewing! I could keep it out and shut the door so little fingers wouldn't mess with my current project. It's in our basement storage, which is less than ideal when it comes to warmth (especially in the winter) and light. But just having a place for my sewing is wonderful! I've been using a basic White sewing machine since I was 18 years old. Every few years it would act up, but my very handy husband would manage to get it in working order. Well, last week even he wasn't able to get it to work correctly. Don't tell him, but I was secretly hoping he wouldn't be able to fix it so I could get a new one. The timing was just right because we had recently gotten our tax returns back. Once my machine started acting up I began researching and asking around about a new machine. I came to the decision that I needed to look at and try out some machines to see what I'd like. Most of Saturday was spent going to different shops and talking to different sales people. That night I came hope with my brand new Viking Opal 650! My wonderful husband gave up seat covers for the truck until next year so I could get it. We did end up spending more than we had originally planned to get a better machine. The difference between the lower and higher end machines was astounding. Ultimately the decision was to get something for now or something for the next 20+ years. Also we wanted to get something I could grow into so to speak. So I've already got my sewing space set up (as you can see). I've started Alaina's Easter dress and Charlie's backpack. So far I'm loving my machine! The only problem is finding the time to sew. Usually it's from 8 to 10pm. After the kids go to bed and before it gets too late that our neighbors start complaining about the constant hum. I must say that I've been bitten by the creative bug hard and can't wait to share with all of you my upcoming projects.

A Finished Project.

So, after a few weeks of working on this scarf in my spare time, I finally finished it.  Well, more like I was tired of this project so I finished it even though it's a bit thin for a scarf.  This is a single crochet stitch scarf that I added fringe to the edges to hide my unevenness.  Overall I'm pretty happy with my first attempt at crocheting.  Right now I'm learning a double crochet stitch and like it a lot better than the single stitch. 

 Alaina always more than willing to model whenever she has the chance.  

Crochet Project #1, Finished.  

Charlie Talks

Charlie's talking more and more each day.  It's so much easier when these kids start communicating with you.  Here is video I took from my Ipad a few days ago.