Going to the Olympics!

Well, I'm not, but my good friend Noelle Pikus-Pace is! I seriously love this girl...

She and Melynne and I were on the track team at UVU together, and she and I did some of the same events. I always looked up to her as a competitor, because she was so mentally tough. Not much has changed- a few years ago when she was looking towards the Olympics, she was hit by a bobsled and seriously injured. She picked herself back up and now she's going to the Olympics in Vancouver. This girl is AMAZING. Multiple times my mom and I have commented on her "can-do" attitude. I love that about her. And she sat through my wedding at like 8 months pregnant.

Read about her here...

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-features/news/newsid=260409.html

Good luck Noelle! We love you!

Alias

I need more hours in the weekend.


So I can watch more episodes of this:



For the third time.



I call it an interest.



Paul calls it an addiction.


I figure I can watch 2.4 episodes in 2 hours.



I have to be up in 9.5 hours.



Maybe I'll get 10 more episodes in...

One more and one more in the making...

It took me a LONG time, but after some late nights at the sewing machine, I FINALLY got Larissa's birthday/Christmas gift done. Good thing she is such a good friend that a late gift doesn't bother her. She and her husband just moved back from Hawaii, so I thought it was only fitting to make her a Hawaiian quilt. (The material is straight from Hawaii- my parent's picked it up for me on their 25th wedding anniversary. Thanks Mom!)

And... I've decided to make a quilt for myself. I know. How selfish. But I'm loving the colors. Here they are getting prepped. I don't know when I'll have time to start this one, but I'm thinking Spring Break might work nicely.

McKenna

McKenna let me take some pictures of her with my new lens... here are a few of them. She's almost 13!

The year of quilts...

If I were Chinese, 2009 could be called the year of the quilts. Observe:


Bridger's quilt

Alex, Ruby, and Bennett's quilts... that's right...3. As in triplets. Emily told me that making 3 quilts might have given me insight into caring for 3 babies. On a good day. :) They are absolutely darling and I was so lucky to be able to spend some time with darling sleeping babies:)
As a side note, it was wonderful to see you three ladies + Julia, Gabe, Alex, Bennett, and Ruby. We missed you, Jill!

Morgan's Christmas quilt- During the summer I was teaching her how to make a quilt. Halfway through, we needed more fabric, but Joann's was out. The quilt project stopped there. Fast forward to drawing names for siblings. We keep it a secret in my family. Paul and I drew her. She made the announcement that whoever had her, she just wanted her quilt finished. Easy enough. This one was probably my favorite one to make and worked up the quickest and with the fewest mistakes. Probably because rag quilts HIDE all of the mistakes:)


Gabe's quilt. His was the first quilt I actually finished.
See Gabe now.
Probably one of the most darling babies I've ever seen.

I have one more I'm working on, but it definitely won't be finished before 2010.

Happy New Year!

The best ideas...

It seems I get my best ideas for Christmas gifts 3 days before Christmas. It also turns out that those best ideas tend to be very time consuming, crafty ones. Ideas that I'm determined to make come to fruition and will stay up all night every night until Christmas to make sure they do...It seems this is my curse every year.

The run, the quilt, the papers...

This weekend was a busy one! It started off with me finishing my sweet nephew Bridger's quilt to give my sister when they buried him. That was a big project, but I'm so glad I got it done in time!


Then, on Saturday, my mom's swim team sponsored a 5K run called the Fish Out of Water. It was SOOOOOOO cold, but we had fun as a family. Check out our awesome t-shirts. My father in law did the design, and it turned out so cool!


Finally, my little brother McKay signed his letter of intent to swim at BYU next year! We're so proud of him and his hard work. He is one talented swimmer! We're happy that he'll still be close by so we can continue to watch him swim.

I'm sure glad there are only 2 school days this week!