June Tuck Swap

This month, our theme for Swap group was summer. I decided to do a flower idea I had seen on Pinterest. You can see the original tutorial HERE. It ended up being quite a bit of work; I didn't want to give it away. But I told myself I'd just have to make myself one now that I've done a trial and error version. Its hard to see in the picture, but its just a smaller pillow, I think about 7 inches. When (and if) I do one for myself, I might have to do a larger version.

Here is the picture of the tuck I gave to Angie.

Here is a picture of the tuck I received from Naomi. I LOVE it.

Most every one in the group is big into Primitive looking stuff, so must of the ladies coffee stain their tucks. I loved the tuck, but I also love that it wasn't coffee stained. I also found out one other girl doesn't like that look, so when I have her name I can skip that step.

I got kind of frustrated with my tuck and decided I need to drop out of swap group. But after getting suck a cute tuck, I decided to stick it out for another month. (And maybe scale back to not such a complicated design that takes so much work.) Next month is Patriotic stuff for July 4th, so I'm busy thinking of something red, white & blue.

Book Club - "For Cryin' Out Loud" by Dianne Blaine Hardy

This month, it was my turn to pick the book for book club. I had originally chosen a different book, but then my grandma announced that her book would be coming out in May. Of course I had to choose her book. 1) She's my grandma and I love her and 2) I read a rough draft a few years ago, and loved it!

I could not put the book down. Every time I had even a spare second, my nose was buried in her book. She wrote her memoirs of growing up, as a means to heal from her youth and different things that happened on the inside of her home. Her parents were outstanding members in the community, but inside her home, they were less then ideal parents. For example, my grandma practically grew up on tuna fish sandwiches. Her mother would not cook for her. But to make it worse, when the younger kids were born, she put more effort into feeding them food, but still left my grandma and older sister to fend for them selves. 

In preparing for book club, I thought it would be fun to cook a dinner based on my grandma's favorite foods. I emailed her to ask her what she suggested and this is the email I received back. 

"Thank God  my tastes have grown to include more than the tuna sandwiches I was raised with.  What a creative tribute to me to have you all eating what I like.  Wish I could be with you.  Favorite meal is Clam Chowder with bread sticks, a green salad with the veggies cut up small like your mom makes, and cherry pie or cherry cheesecake.  I also love meatloaf and those funeral potatoes your mom makes.  Asparagus is great.  Hope this gives you a choice.  I love you, Savannah and thank you for all the help you have been in promoting my book.  Grandma".

Because we were out of town the weekend before, time was kind of tight to prepare a meal. I had wanted to make bread sticks, but was at the zoo instead. Monday night, I got a meat loaf put together. Then Tuesday, I got off work an hour early. I raced home to throw the meatloaf in the oven. Then I prepared asparagus and a green salad. I also wanted to do potatoes, but just ran out of time. Dessert was cherry pie (thanks to Marie Calendar). 

I also decided to invite my mother and sister up since they had also read the book. Which was a good thing, because Jessica was the only other person able to come. I knew Jessica loved the book, because a few days before book club, I got this text from her. "Finished reading your grandma's book last night. I liked it! Such a cool genealogy  book for you. Most people don't know much about how their grandparents were raised... including me." 

We had so much fun talking about my grandma's book, made even better with my family adding in other family memories. When I read the rough draft a few years ago, one part reminded me how each summer we would go spend a week at my grandma's house. One of the highlights for us kids was grandma would let us put sugar on our cereal. (Which we of coursed shoveled on!) 

Jessica was shocked to learn that my grandma didn't know what a muffin was until she was in 11th grade! I'm just grateful that after being raised on tuna fish sandwiches, she turned out to be a really good cook. I can remember when she'd come to see us, she would make chicken noodle soup that was to die for! Which I thought about making for book club, but knew I wouldn't have enough time to do. 

Thank you grandma for writing your book and sharing it with family and friends and now every one else. 

You can purchase a copy of her book HERE. After reading it, be sure to leave a review. 

Weekend Fun

This last weekend was a blast. Saturday morning, we drove to American Fork to celebrate my cousin adopting 3 kiddos. But before going to the party, we first had to go to Cabela's. Josh must have caught me at a weak moment because I let him buy a new gun.

After Cabela's, we drove to Heather's house in American Fork for her BBQ. Someone forgot to tell the wind it was NOT invited. Everything else about the party was perfect, except the wind that was HOWLING! I didn't even get my camera out because the wind had me so miserable. The party was across the street from her home in the park. (How cool is it that they literally live across from the park!) 

After the party, we headed to Salt Lake City. My mom had gotten us a hotel room so we could all go to the zoo the next day. Our hotel was only a few blocks from The Gateway, so we decided to walk down there and see what movies were playing. We bought tickets to "Snow White and the Huntsman" but had an hour to kill before the show started, so we decided to walk around and see where to eat after the movie.

After the movie, we went to Tuscano's. It was DELISH!  Our movie ended around 10:20, so when we got there, it was pretty quite. Our waiter was awesome and the food was amazing. I told Josh that the pineapple was so good, it did things to me I thought only he could do. We were so full after dinner, we didn't even have room for dessert.

The next morning we headed to the zoo to meet up with my family. Unfortunately, Valex woke up with a fever that morning, so he wasn't feeling completely like himself. I think he had a good time, but you can tell in all of his pictures that he wasn't feeling well.

  Waiting out front for everyone to show up. Josh had found some pennies for him to throw into the water.

Watching the train drive by. We decided to ride it just before leaving the zoo.

Valex did NOT like the lion water fountain. I did NOT like that it was the only lion in the zoo.

I have wanted to go to the zoo for YEARS. I have such fond memories from when I was a kid. My family went just about every summer, but I hadn't been in YEARS (like even a few years before I was married.)

Going with the boys was the only magical part of it. I was actually really disappointed in just about everything else. The first thing we saw when we walked in was..... a free roaming chicken. My in-laws have those too. Then the rest of the zoo felt like 60% monkey's and 40% everything else, with only like 10% of that being cool. For me, that was the bears. I was going to take a lot of pictures,  but then it was "oh, its just more monkeys and look, they are sleeping, just like the last monkeys." I guess the zoo is one of those things that is cooler as a kid. Although, I told Josh that I would still love to go to a HUGE zoo, like San Diego. Maybe someday....

Riding the carousal with Daxsen. 

Valex riding with his uncle Alden, next to his mom.

Okay, maybe it was 15% cool. I also enjoyed watching the sea otters, as seen in the picture above, and the seals, which I didn't get a picture of.

The polar bear was really fun to watch. His living habitat was one of the biggest in the zoo and he was very active. From the seal habitat, we could get glimpses of him diving in the water. Then when we got close, he was putting on his own personal show. He would swim under water and come out right at the glass. Then he would fall on his back and back peddle for a bit. Then he would dive under water and go to the glass again. I think he likes all the attention. 

Here he is back peddling away from the crowd. 

Then he would swim back for his close up. 

They also had a grizzly bear habitat that I really liked. It had three bears. One was inside the enclosed part, but the other two were outside "playing". It might have looked like fun for them, but I'm pretty sure if one of them had "kissed" me like that, it would have taken my head off. 

Just as we were finishing up, Heather arrived with her three kiddos. So we decided to all ride the train together. 

After that, we all parted ways. Josh and I stopped at Red Robin for lunch then headed home. It was a busy, but also very fun, weekend. 

40 Bags: Week 4 (The Man Cave)

I now know why they call it a "man cave." Cause that is exactly how they live in there, like they live in the wild. No sense of order. Thinking of this room filled me with dread. You couldn't step two feet into the room without getting lost in piles of stuff. Thursday night, I was going to just relax. But suddenly decided to start on that room. I didn't keep track of bags this time (I didn't want anything to distract me), just know that I was just as harsh in that room as I was in the rest of the house.

I worked the first night until the garbage was full. Then I took four bags and one box and took them to my Relief Society President. The box was full of fleece and yarn. One bag was full of blankets I had started YEARS ago, but never finished. One bag was full of various fabric, some of which was even cut into quilt squares. The last two bags had 18 pairs of old, holey jeans. I told the lady to turn it all into quilts for humanitarian stuff. 

Today I got Josh to help me finish. Since it was mostly his stuff in the room, I had several piles of stuff I didn't dare throw away until he said it was ok. We quickly filled the trashcan. Then he went a step further then I thought he would by going through boxes and organizing even more. 

We were both amazed by some of the stuff we found. I found a CD that I bought in high school and didn't even know I still had. Then later I found some other "missing" CD's. Josh found other stuff he thought was lost and stuff he didn't need anymore. We need to deep clean more often. 

I did find one gem: a gun contract Josh signed YEARS ago. 

Yes, I did hold him to it and it was pure torture since he wanted to buy a gun just a few months after signing it. 

I have another pile of stuff to take to the DI or yard sale. I have an aunt that is putting together a yard sale to raise money for Relay for Life. I hope to take some of the stuff to her. I just want to be rid of the stuff, but if it can help a good cause, that is even better.

The thing I am most proud about is after cleaning that room, I decided to haul ALL the totes from the attic down to that room. I hate that attic and now I never have to go up there again. Its a little crowded in that part of the room, but in an organized way. I've walked in that room 3 times now, just to look at it and grin. 

Project 40 bags feels near complete. I still need to clean out my closet, but that is mostly shoes since I've gone through my clothes several times as I've lost weight. Then I probably could get rid of some stuff in the kitchen, but I don't expect to find much since I went through it real good last summer. 

Matching Shirts

About a month ago, I went to see Vanessa and the boys. Vanessa got all excited when she saw me because of my shirt. That night, after she bathed the boys and dressed Daxsen for bed, I understood why.

I'm convinced it is the cutest picture of me and Daxsen EVER!

Formspring question answered - Wine

How was the wine on the cruise?? I didn't know you drank alcohol.

The red wine was, well, not my favorite. Before going, I had asked a friend what she suggested for a newbie like me, and she said white wine. Which is what I ordered. But somewhere a mistake was made, and red was delivered to our room. I thought about asking for white instead, but decided to just try the red.

Until about a month ago, I didn't know I drank alcohol either.

Ask me a question on Formspring.

Alaska Cruise - Day 8: Seattle

Early Sunday morning, we arrived in Seattle. Earlier in the week, we had signed up for the BAGS program. The ship would take our bags off the ship, to the airport and make sure they were on our plane. We didn't have to deal with our bags until we landed in Salt Lake City. It was well worth the extra money.

Looking off the ship towards Mount Rainier.

Looking at the space needle from our ship.

The BAGS program was great for two things. 1) They took our bags to the airport for us so we didn't have to haul them around with us. 2) It made it possible for us to get off the ship when we wanted to, rather then wait for our turn to check off. We saved ourselves 2-3 hours of mindless sitting on the ship.

Of course we had the option to keep a carry on for essentials and pack it around while we were in Seattle. I didn't even want to do that. So the night before I packed up everything but our clothes for the next day, my make up, my kindle & Josh's book, and our flight paperwork. I will admit, the next morning I missed my hair straightener and hair spray. But after walking all over for most of the day, I decided it was well worth it to have gone without. 

We got off the ship around 8:00 and decided to walk to the space needle. The weather in Seattle was gorgeous.

I think the elevator at the space needle was the only one we rode during our entire vacation, but Josh would have taken the stairs if they would have let him. I was just proud of us for sticking to our goal of no elevators on the ship.

Standing at the top of the space needle with our ship in the background.

Seattle had a "Color Me Rad" 5K that day that ended right under the space needle.

After the space needle, our group split up. We decided, along with Randi and Todd, to walk back to the ship and then on past it to Pike Place Market. That place was so cool! It was Mother's Day and they had flowers everywhere. I bet they stretched for a mile.

Josh & I decided to each buy a peach.

After exploring Pikes Place, we walked to the light rail rode it to the airport to meet up with Jessica and Andrew. Our flight was right on time and we were on our way home. When we had flown to Vancouver, I got a a little sick. This time I didn't. Instead, I got paranoid. After we took off and flew over Mount Rainier, I fell asleep. I woke when the pilot announced we were starting our decent into Salt Lake. I looked out the window and all I could see was sky and I was convinced we were falling. Josh knew something was up because I had a death grip on his hand. After about 5 minutes (of shear panic on my part), I happened to look backwards out the window, and I could see the wing. After that I was calm. When we flew out, the wing was right outside my window, but on this flight, we were in the very front. So if I ever fly again, I just need to make sure I can see the wing.

Our vacation was amazing. I loved having Josh to myself for a solid week. I loved spending so much time with our friends. I loved seeing new country (I regularly joked I was NOT excited to come home to the desert).  It really was the perfect week.

Alaska Cruise - Day 7: Victoria, British Columbia

One thing we had really wanted to do, but hadn't yet, was karaoke. It always seemed to fall on the nights we had dinner reservations. By the time we finished dinner, karaoke was over. We had finally decided we wouldn't get the chance, when on the last day, we noticed they were doing it in the middle of the day.

Josh sang two songs, Andrew sang two songs, and I trembled through one song.

The day before is about the time we started to miss home. Especially after being herded through Ketchikan with no time to walk through the town. I loved our excursion, but it was so long we had no time to just wander, and that really bugged me. That night, we decided to cancel our excursion in Victoria and just take a stroll through town. I said something to Randi, and she said her and Todd were thinking about doing the same. Jessica and Andrew decided to keep the excursion, which was a horse drawn trolley ride through Victoria.

We arrived in Victoria in the early evening. Then we spent a few hours just walking around. Victoria was BEAUTIFUL. I wish we could have spent a full day there. I can tell by this point I was getting home sick because I didn't take very many pictures. I wanted to take pictures of all the pretty yards, but didn't want the owners to feel like I was breaching their privacy. So instead we just enjoyed all the gorgeous flowers and the nice weather.

Our last stop before heading back to the ship was the fish market. It looked like it was pretty new and they are still building it. Also, Victoria's official tourist season hadn't started yet, so most of the shops weren't open. We decided to eat dinner there and then Josh and I went and got an ice cream cone from another shop down there. It really was a perfect and peaceful way to end our cruise.