Baby quilt

One down, five to go. 

I'm practicing quilting. I'm getting better. 

The quilting shows up well on the back. 

 The triangle shot. 

Little Hudson is almost six months old already. 

Moving really got me off my game. But I think I'm back at it. 

Baking day

We had family coming and so I baked. 

The bread made the house smell heavenly. I throw flax seed to add a bit of omega 3s. 

I saw a recipe for buttermilk pie. It sounded good. 

It looked beautiful, but it didn't set up well. I was very disappointed. 

I also made Mexican fudge. I didn't get a picture, but it was the hit of the night. Yummy! There isn't any left - less than 24 hours later. 

Having dinner outside in February. The Idaho contingent were reminding us what February in Idaho is like. We were much happier to be here than in the frigid north. 

He won't go shopping with me.

I spend time wondering if he would like it, if it's the right color, if he'll wear it. 

But occasionally I am dead on. 

Batman was for him. Van Gogh was for me. 

The shorts work for any shirt. 

Boaz was sad I didn't have shirt for him. I'll have to go back and look for a small. 

Scripture

When I read this verse I hear the music of Janice Kapp Perry ring through my memory. 

I first heard the song in the MTC. It has soaring notes that challenge sopranos. It's from an Eater cantata. The song is about Christ in the Garden and the night of His trial. 

The promise is because He suffered, He can heals us - no matter the sin, sorrow, or pain. 

I came across this scripture today. Hezekiah is sick unto death. He cries and gains a reprieve from the Lord. Fifteen extra years. 

This is also a promise to us. 

He hears our prayers. 

He sees our tears. 

He can and will heal us. 

Scripture

This is one of my favorite stories in the Old Trstament. The story of Naaman the Leper. 

He is a very important man. He has a terrible disease. He hears there may be hope for a cure. 

In his supplication, he still feels he his power and importance. 

I think we all look for great things. We forget that God accomplished great miracles through small and simple things. 

When Isreal cried for deliverance, He sent a baby. 

When the world was lost in apostasy, He spoke to a 14 year old boy with minimal education. 

To preach the gospel to an unbelieving world, He sends teenagers. 

It takes faith to see the small and simple things. 

So cute.

I just love my Brandon. Isn't he the cutest?  

Oopsie

I'm not a great quilter. The actual quilting part. I'm practicing on baby quilts - getting ready for the monster. 

I did this at the beginning. I ran out of thread and ordered new spools. Not the big monster spoils. The pretty quilting thread. 

It came yesterday and I decided to finish up the quilting today. 

This is what I did today. 

I quilted the extra fabric into the real quilt. So irritating. 

Unpicking is no fun. 

Scripture

I have a hard time reading about David. His love of God is so apparent, and his fall so terrible. He lived in a time very far and different from my time. I do not understand the wars and politics. 

I do understand his love of music. I wish to understand his love of poetry. I honor his faith. 

I have read past his story without putting another verse here. I even skipped a week. 

Today's verse is from Soloman. Another difficult character. This chapter is the dedicatory prayer of the temple and the celebration of that amazing building. 

I think about the gold upon gold upon gold and I don't understand how they would want the lack of contrasting color. But they obviously used the very best they had in building His house. 

I like this verse because it states that God does indeed keep His promises. 

In Regional Conference this past weekend, we were reminded of the basics. And perhaps this is the most basic of all. God keeps His promises. 

The Plan is set. We must avoid the plan stoppers that Satan tries to throw in our path. 

The Plan of Salvation. 

The temple with its layers and rooms represents the goal. The inner room filled and layered in gold represents all that the Father hath. We must trust Him and trust in His plan and then be welcomed into His place. Guarded by angels and filled with His glory. 

Wedding gifts

We have a lot of nieces and nephews on Craig's side that are married and getting married. (A lot on my side too, but we have not reached this point yet.) It took me a bit, but I have settled into a standard gift. I make an apron and then give a little over a dozen of my favorite recipes. It's not a big gift, but it's homemade. I go back and forth over how good a gift it is, but I am sticking to it.

These are my latest two aprons.

Craig's nephew got married just as we moved, and it has taken me this long to get into the swing of things. I sent it up north with Craig as he drove to the wedding this weekend.

She likes sunflowers. It's not really sunflower fabric, but the yellow is the same color and the brown pocket is kind of like the center of the flower.

This is the apron for this past wedding.

It's a bright, happy apron.

Happy Valentine's Day

Our lovely neice got married on Friday in Logan, UT. Craig decided to attend, so he left work just a little early on Thursday and drove all night to get there. I stayed home with the boys, getting them to and from school, etc.

He split the drive home. He didn't get home last night until about 9 pm. 

We were waiting for him, he was only gone just over two days, but we missed him.

I went out to say hi, and he pulled these out of the car.

They are lovely and smell wonderful. I didn't think he would have time to get me anything. He also brought chocolates in a lovely red heart.

I made a chocolate pie.

The boys smelled something last night and searched the kitchen for what I just had made. they looked in the cold oven and anywhere else they could think of. I just laughed at them and told them it was for Sunday - Valentine's Day.

Craig has teased them all day that he was my Valentine and the pie was all his.  

I didn't get a picture of the whole pie, but Craig snapped a picture after he had taken a few bites.

It was delicious.

I'm happy my homemade offerings are met with such enthusiasm.

Trophies

I love crime drama. I like to see the good guys win, and in TV land, the good guys always seem to figure out the who, what where and why of grizzly crimes.

My boys (including my husband) have little to no desire to partake in my macabre fascination. So I record and then watch while I am quilting or crocheting or cleaning or just watching.

One of the things I've learned from watching my murder shows is that sometimes the bad guys take trophies or souvenirs to remember their crimes.

Today, I added to my trophy stash.

I keep trophies, although in a much less sinister fashion.

I keep empty spools of thread.

Yes. Spools of thread! 

But not just any spool. Spools that hold 1000 meters of thread.

Behold the thread.

True, this is a larger than life picture. It does fit nicely on my machine, but it holds an incredible amount of thread non the less.

These are my trophies. I keep them for no other reason than to remember how much thread I have used up in my endless sewing projects.

Really in all the purging of junk and sentimental knick knacks from our frequent moves, I have never even considered getting rid of these now useless tokens. I keep them purely to revel in how many meters of thread I have used. How many spools of thread I have killed.

Rather impressive.

A kind of longing

We are happy in California. School for the boys is settling into a routine and a good place. We are involved in the ward and making good friends. Craig's work is going well. I am excited about what I am finding at the Family Search Library.

But . . .

We are so far away from our families. We have missed missionary homecomings. We have missed missionary farewells. We have missed new babies. We are missing participating in a wedding. We miss Sundays with Dawn. We miss birthday lunches. 

A lot of these are my misses. My boys would list others. My husband would list still others. We all miss good friends.

Today, I wish I could be in two places at once.

Today I am missing family.

And perhaps a bit, today I am missing snow and winter weather - just a little.

Good luck to Jessica and Keith getting married tomorrow. All of our best wishes as you begin this new forever.

Felicidades a Hermana Oswald. We missed your lovely farewell and final (temporary) good byes. Suerte en su mision en Chile.

Welcome home Cody. I miss your face and all the stories you have to tell. I wish I could practise my Spanish a bit with you.

Congratulations to Brandon and Kelcey. We love seeing pictures but are so sad to have missed your beginning of forever.

Welcome home Cooper. I have enjoyed reading about your time in Peru and now I miss the regular updates. I'm a bit envious of you being at BYU. I loved my time there.

Congratulations to Jake and Bethany on your baby who is probably 6 months old, if not older.

Congratulations to Tyson and Cindy on your expectations. Well wishes as your family grows and your lives change forever.

I need to get to work on the quilts waiting for me.

Time to turn on the music and get out of my head.

Saturday in February

Before Stake Conference, the boys decided to head to the pool. I wandered after them with a camera.

Loving the hot tub.

Daring each other to jump into the unheated, and very cold, pool.

We were a bit sad. The pool is supposed to be heated until April.

Boaz's face shows the pain of the cold water.

And back to the hot tub to warm up.

A beautiful day and just enjoying the weather.

Scripture

I have favorite scriptures in 1st Samuel. I love the scriptures about obedience. I love the counsel given to Saul, "when thou wast little in thine own eyes" (maybe a paraphrase). But those scriptures tell of the down fall of a chosen man. I wanted to have a more happy story to ponder this week.

So I chose this scripture:

The Lord prepared David for his fight with Goliath by sending a lion and a bear to bother the flocks. 

David trusted the Lord when he faced down the wild beasts. I think a lion would be much scarier than a man - even a giant like Goliath.

David's experiences as a shepherd defending his father's flock were more meaningful than all the training in the army for his brothers or the soldiers. David learned that God would fight his battles. He just had to have faith and step up to the challenge.

So what are my lions and bears? What are the previous challenges that have prepared me for my future Goliaths?

Last summer Josh read a book called David and Goliath. I read it too. It talked about how perceived weaknesses can actually be strengths. David changed the rules of hand to hand combat to suit his strengths.

When we face challenges we do not have to let other people frame them for us. We can turn to the Lord and use the strength and talents He has given us to make our stand. A profane reference here, but Harry Potter (yes, I love the books and I think they have a good faith based message) changed the rules when he faced the dragon. He called his broom to give him the needed edge.

We can ignore the culture of today and face our trials with faith, being steadfast and immovable, because we know that the God of Israel will fight our battles for us. We just need to stand in holy places.