I feel the love!

A while back I read The 5 love languages by Gary Chapman. He proposes that the five languages of love are:

Quality time
Words of affirmation
Gifts
Acts of service
Physical touch.

When I first read through what the 5 languages are, I could not believe that one was gifts. Gifts, that sounds so shallow and greedy. However after reading the book I realized that my love language is gifts. I know, embarrassing.

I show love to others with gifts. Usually gifts that are handmade or that I have put a lot of thought into, but to me gifts are not always "things". I also feel loved when someone gives me a gift. It is not the physical gift that is important, I just appreciate the time and thought that went into it and that they were thinking about me!

Having aired this dark secret I need to also confess that I can't remember a time in my life that I have received so many gifts in such a short amount of time. While Eric was away and then with my Birthday, I really have been overwhelmed by the amount of "love" that I have received.

My visiting teacher brought me home-made huge chocolate cream puffs. Oh ya.

Ms. Jenny sent me a package with a huge box of red hots (already consumed) a dark chocolate candy bar, note cards and a quilters calculator. Now I have no excuse for buying too much fabric or running short.

Natasha ( a blogger that I have never met) sent me handmade note cards with my initial. So cute.


My Sister gave me these extreme Mary Janes. My new favorite shoes.


Jill sent me these great note cards with my name. I love them!

My quilting Sistas took me out to Claim Jumper for dinner and gave me a subscription to the best quilting magazine.


Since these quilting friends are all moving away from the area, I made (just showing my love) them each a 9 patch of black & white photos, hand-tinted and stitched together.


Suzanne gave me some beautiful fat quarters for my "Baby"... Baby Jane quilt that is.



My Mom sent me two super cute Maggie purses by Vera Bradly. They are the perfect size and have pockets in all the right places. Fyi-I always tease my Mom about changing her purse every day to match her outfit...I guess she is trying to convert me.

Eric's Mom & Dad (Hawley and John) gave me this incredibly inspiring book. Although I can't compare my life to these pioneer women (as I sit in an air conditioned house blogging on a computer), I can relate to their need to create and make beautiful things and work together while so many of their husbands were gone for long periods of time.


Ms. Casey gave me these groovy scissors. I seriously needed a new pair of small sharp scissors. I love the colors.

Kristi sent me a subscription to her favorite magazine along with post it notes inside marking all her favorite ideas. Good mail for the next two years!

Jinky (a super sweet Lady in my Ward) gave me a coupon for a dinner for us any night we want it. She is Philippino and an amazing cook- I can't wait!


Ms. Nicole sent these beautiful flowers to my house!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I feel so loved!

Happy Birthday to me!

I used to be young...







But now I am old.

35 years old today... ouch, that hurts.

Happy 4th Birthday Lucy!!!

Last night I got to hug Lucy for the last time as a 3 year old. It made me so sad.

Lucy loves Max (our dog). There have been a few unfortunate events with animals, but for the most part she is very kind to him. She has been feeding Max for the past year. He will bang his bowl when he gets hungry and she just runs out to the garage, measures the right amount and feeds him without me ever needing to remind her. He sleeps on her bed every night and most mornings she has her arm around him like a stuffed animal. He loves her, when she's sleeping.


She woke up (ok, was woken up by Sisters singing) as a very happy 4 year old. Lucy is always happy and has a wonderful smile.


Ruby's made a little Birthday card for Lucy.



Lucy LOVES her sisters. She wants to eat what they eat, say what they say and do what they do.

Lucy loves to jump. She jumps and bounces all the time.

I Love Lucy's little curls, and big blue eyes.



Lucy is such a blessing to our family.

Happy Birthday Lucy!

Nest ring

Here are some more photos of the nest ring. I tried to try to explain how I made it, but the explanation is probably more complicated then just looking at the photos and doing it your way.

First I explained how to make the "ring" part that fits your finger then the nest. Fyi- I never cut the wire, I just kept bending it until I was done.

I took a ring that fits me and went all over the house trying to find something that was the same size as my finger. I finally found a nail polish lid that was the perfect size for my ring to fit it (no making fun of me). I used the nail polish lid to wrap the wire around to make the actual ring. I wrapped the wire around the lid about 6 times and then pulled the wire wring off the lid and wrapped it one more tie weaving around the ring from inside to outside. I checked to make sure that it fit my finger and it did.

Now for the nest on top of the ring. I took the long end of the wire and strung the 3 pearls the way I wanted them to look. They were basically in a flat triangle floating slightly above the ring. then I just wrapped the wire around the pearls in a circle. After every 3 or so wraps I would weave the wire around the circle. If you look at the rings on Etsy.com (just search for nest ring) they are wrapped very tight. I kinda wanted mine looser, to look more like a nest then a wreath.

Then I wrapped the wire around ring to the left and right of the nest and then tucked the end of the wire into the nest and bent the tip with needle nose pliers to make sure it would stay put.

Typing this out I realized that I am horrible at explaining this kid of stuff, so I am sorry that it sounds so confusing. I don't want to put a link to something that someone is selling and then give directions for how to make it, but if you were to happen to see one of the nest rings on Etsy.com, their photos are way better then mine. If you were to look at those photos and then you happened to read my lengthy directions, you will know what to do.

Lake Tolloch

For the past 3 years we have gone to Lake Tullock with my Sister and her family. My Brother in law's Parents built a beautiful house on the lake for all their kids to use. This is not your ordinary "lake house", it's amazing and Linda (David's Mom) spent a lot of time making sure that everything that went onto this house is the best of the best.

This is what I found outside at 6:30 in the morning... two of my girls out on the dock sporting life jackets over their nightgowns, fishing with their cousing Ryan. Ok, so they were actually baiting the fish with bread then catching them with a net and putting them in a bucket with water.

We spent most of the time out on the lake. While on the lake we saw several bald eagle nests, some with babies in them. At one point when David was skying one of the babies (the size of a really large hawk) flew out of the nest, down tword the ground then out over us on the lake. So cool!
There were other boats on the lake with teenagers and they were blasting nasty rap songs. We had seven kids and were rocking out to High School Musical. No we did not get beat up (if you were wondering).

Ruby tried skiing, but her loving parents forgot to tell her to let go of the rope when you fall, so she was dragged through about 6 feet of water. She did not want to have anything to do with it after that.
Haley tried skiing and got up the 1st time. I think the longest she stayed up was about 15 feet, not too bad for her first time waterskiing.
I tried out wakeboarding. I was kinda surprised how much easier it is then water skiing. The kids wanted me to do a 360. I tried...seriously I did and I have a 12in bruse on my right thigh as a result.

This was a hot guy I met at the lake. I ended up bringing him home with me.

My Sister and I stealing the tube away from the kids for a ride.
We did get off the lake a little. The Dads golfed at Saddle Creek and then we all ate lunch there. They had sweet potato fries- my favorite! The food was really good, but the best part of lunch was when they brought out a brownie with ice cream for Jacob's Birthday. He did not want to take the mint (one of several he stashed in his pockets as we walked in the door) out of his mouth to eat the dessert. Ruby quickly siezed the opportunity, slid his plate over and inhaled the entire dessert in a matter of minutes. Jake could not have cared less. He just sat there happy to suck on his mint.

After Lunch we took the kids to the driving range. I think more grass was hit then balls, but they had a great time.


The adventures of Ali & Lulu really could be a sepparate blog, but here is just a taste of what they were up to this weekend. My Sister found them "spying" on someone that they believed was "peeing in the lake!". I'm sure this is something they are completely innocent of.

The first morning at my Sister's house Eric found them sitting at the kitchen table eating Cheetos for breakfast. This photo is a few days later of them dusting off a bag of "burritos" (some would call them Doritos) just before dinner. Seriously, where are their parents?

Busy hands

I love seeing other peoples projects so I thought I would share what I have been up to the last few weeks.

I made this Mini quilt as a thank you to Eric's Mom and Step Dad for watching our girls while we were gone and "keeping all the pieces together". I did three rows to represent my three girls.


I saw a pearl nest ring on Etsy.com that I really wanted, but it looked like it was easy to make... and it was. I love the fact that it has three eggs for my 3 chicks!


My Sister asked me to make a pillow for her from some fabric that she ordered. It is a raw silk with 3 dimensional embroidered dragonflies on it. Pillows are usually easy to make, but this fabric was so expensive I was seriously sweating when I cut it. Luckily it turned out well so hopefully she is happy with it.


I finally figured out what I am doing for my Civil War block exchange. We have each been given a specific block to make 20 of. I am doing the log cabin block and decided to keep it very traditional with brown to represent the "logs" and red to represent the brick "chimney". 19 more to go!



I have been working on a couple other projects too, but I can't post about them until I have given them away.

Happy Birthday Suzanne!!!

Here are a few of the things I love about Suzanne:

She remembers EVERYTHING.
She converted to quilting only two years ago but can totally out quilt most of us.
She is very reliable.
She is a great Mom.
She doesn't eat any sugar. Any, at all. I have not even caught her looking at it.
She is a great friend, she forgave me when I lied to her. :)
She will always be older them me.
She is super smart but never makes you feel dumb (even if you misspell everything).
She taught me about BC earrings and how to buy a house on sale and with a coupon!
She seems like a normal person, but she is just as crazy as the rest of us!

Happy Birthday!

Charity

I am writing a talk for this Sunday on Charity, the pure love of Christ. I remember hearing this quote(below) for the 1st time and being changed by it. I have a tendency to be too honest thinking that honesty is always best. I need to remember that often holding your tongue is best. I really need to read this everyday until it becomes part of who I am.

“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended. … Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other” (“The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword,” Ensign, May 1992, 18–19).