Q.I.P. (Quilt in Progress)

I have had this fabric since February I think. I had wonderful plans for it, but it hit around the time that pregnancy really took it's toll on me. I lost all motivation to do anything with it, it had even been months since I'd been to the fabric store. I recently took my Mom to my favorite store to buy my fabric and left completely motivated to finish it so that I could start a new project with all the cute fabric I found. For Mother's Day John remembered a line of fabric I really loved and bought some for me, so I went back and finished buying what I would need to produce a new quilt. So, this morning I finally finished the top of my other quilt and I'm anxious to go buy fabric for the middle and back so that I can finish it. I am really in love with it, it is bright and springy and I can't wait to sit and look at it when it's finished!











And then I'll finish one more quilt before I get serious about baby girl things. I also am trying to dream up new patterns to make some cute dresses for my little girls out of all the cute fabric out right now. So hopefully there will be more pictures to come!

Spring is here ...

This week we finally mowed our lawn for the first time, took down the Christmas lights, I pulled all the weeds, we cut all the long grass around the house, and we put up our trampoline. I think (hope) that Spring is finally here! We bought this trampoline for the kids for Christmas, isn't that a dirty trick?? We told them we'd put it up when Spring came, but the temperatures have still been cold up until recently. If you're looking for good motivation to do homework, clean rooms, read, and be kind to each other- a trampoline is a great answer! The kids have had such a fun time and have spent HOURS on it. What a great investment. We are especially grateful to Spence & Micki for their help. Can you imagine just John and I trying to figure it out by ourselves???

The Big Three-Oh

My birthday this year was spread out over a few days. It started on Monday night, we went to Brick Oven with the kids since I wouldn't be with them on my birthday. It was so fun to have Mom & Dad Livingstone and Micki & Spencer come with us. The highlight was the guy that makes all the balloons, what a treat!















Tuesday we drove up to Idaho because John had to be in Rexburg all day on Wednesday.
Mom Livingstone came and stayed with the kids while Johnny had State Testing all week, which was so nice of her!
That night we took Tyra to Fiesta Ole to celebrate Cinco de Mayo while my Mom and Dad went out for their anniversary.
My birthday was on Wednesday. It was fun to spend it at my Mom's while John was gone for the day. I got to sleep in a little, my Dad took me out to lunch, I ran some errands by myself, and my Mom made me a birthday cake! John got home in time for us to go to dinner and celebrate my parents' anniversary May 5, my birthday May 6, and Tyra's birthday May 8th. It was fun to have Jorine come with us, but we missed Scott because he was out of town.















Last night I got to go to dinner and celebrate with some friends. I seriously have the best girlfriends ever! THANK YOU, I LOVE YOU!! Anyway, one of my friends gave me this cake which has been an excellent breakfast and lunch so far:
















I got spoiled as usual and thank you all for the cards, messages, e-mails, phone calls and gifts!


It's going to be a great year and I'm looking forward to what lies ahead this year!

Johnny's New Look

Earlier in the school year Johnny's teacher mentioned that she thought he needed his eyes checked. I've put it off for so long, but got really ambitious last week and made us all dental appts. (after three years!!) and eye appts. His eyes aren't terrible, but glasses will help him in some aspects-- especially school. I let him pick out the frames himself, pat on my back-- so unlike me! He did a great job and I've learned to really like them. He looks so grown up! He's taking very good care of them and I've been really impressed.

We had our ultrasound appointment on Friday. Everything is looking great and we found out that ....

We are so excited!

Maggie

Maggie lost something yesterday ...

















Her 1st tooth!

Easter 2009

We spent Easter on vacation, hard to have it be a very big deal, so we were grateful that Grandma postponed the Easter celebrations until after our trip. We had a hunt at Jessica's in St. George the Sat. before Easter, and then another at Grandma's with our cousins the Saturday after Easter. We had a great time and we were grateful for the sunshine and to see Honey and her family!

Spring Break 2009

I'm going to turn 30 next week. When John asked what I wanted to do for my birthday, Disneyland was top of my list. Where else can you go and indulge in childish things and feel like you're 12 again? I was able to talk my parent's into letting us take my sister, Tyra, with us-- and we are so glad we did! We started our Spring Break by driving to my sister, Jessica's in St. George. We left from there to Las Vegas. We ONLY told the kids we were going to Las Vegas, they had no idea beyond that! We stayed at Circus Circus and we had a fabulous time. They saw amazing things and we enjoyed the heat and sunshine and ate lots of good food. My sister and her husband, Jordan met us in Las Vegas and we are so glad they did, and they spent the rest of our vacation with us. We left from there and drove to Disneyland. When the kids recognized where we were, they were in shock, it was a complete surprise! We spent time at Downtown Disney, and then the next day spent the day at the Park. We had the best time and made such great memories it was worth every penny, and fighting all the crowds, and it was wonderful. We drove back to St. George after that and home from there. It was a great Spring Break and we all enjoyed each other's company ... but I realize that after packing 4 kids around-- now I need a VACATION!

Lots to update!

I realized yesterday that it has been about a month since I last updated my blog. So sad, I don't think I've ever lapsed that long. Nothing too exciting is going on here, but I do have pictures from the last month.
Here goes:

This is Maggie all ready for a princess party she went to. And just so you know, if your earrings don't "dangle" they aren't very fancy.


















My parents came down one weekend and we took the kids to get new clothes for their build-a-bear. This is what Josie chose, with no help from me. All she wanted when she walked into the store was "Archuwetta", and that is what she got.







Next, we have St. Patrick's Day. I thought the kids would be totally grossed out by the green milk on their Lucky Charms and green butter for their toast, but I won Mom Of The Day, because they thought it was awesome!
















Johnny had to make a Leprachaun trap for school, this is what he and his Dad came up with, it's pretty clever if you ask me!

















One HIGHLIGHT of the month is that we headed up to Idaho to see David Archuleta. He was AMAZING, I really love him! We had a great time and it was fun to go with my mom and sister. My little sister, Tyra, went with her friend and waited in line for us ALL DAY so we could get great seats, and they did their job well because our seats rocked!












That about brings us full circle. I am going to try to do better! I've been so tired that even pulling the card out of my camera to put into my laptop seems like such a chore! I think I'm getting over it, the sunshine helps.
We'll have lots more pictures and more to update after next week...

Expecting a Delivery from the Stork

We just wanted to announce that we are expecting a delivery from the Stork on September 28! We've waited a long time for this baby and now that our families know, and I can't hide it any longer, it's time to share our good news!

Bread Update

I have made this recipe now 5 times, I love, love, love it! I've had many ask for the recipe, unfortunately I can't give it to you. I think it is copyrighted or something. What I can give you is the website and blog address where you can order the DVD (so worth it), or sign up to attend a class, which is what I did.
Website: www.pantrysecrets.net
Blog: www.howtomakebread.blogspot.com
One thing I should mention is that the recipe uses ALL food storage items that keep for up to 5 years. It really gives me peace of mind to know that if we had nothing else, at least now I know how to make bread and we wouldn't starve.
This is really worth your time to learn, I have enjoyed it so much, and I'm always amazed that it works EVERY TIME!

Developing Talents

I went to this amazing class last week with our ward that teaches how to make bread, from all Food Storage items, in less than an hour.
I left totally motivated and inspired, and wouldn't you know it-- it actually worked!
It was my FIRST time making bread EVER, so I was amazed and the kids loved the smell. Johnny thought I was pretty amazing and kept saying he'd never smelled anything so good!
The first time I made it, I made 2 loaves of bread, a strawberry cream cheese braid (so yummy), and some rolls. They were gone the first day!
The next day I made a stuffed crust pizza (also so yummy), cinnamon twists, and another loaf of bread.
I'm finding that I'm enjoying becoming more domesticated. I really am excited about this because it really, truly is easy-- and if I can do it, anyone can do it!

Valentine's Day 2009

We had such a fun Valentine's Day. I really should have taken more pictures of all the fun things we did that day. We spent Valentine's Day in St. George at my sister, Jessica's house. My parents & sister drove down from Idaho and we always play hard and have fun spending time together. The weather was beautiful, and we enjoyed the warmth and non-snow covered grass and roads!

Valentine's Hair

I sure love my girls' hair! This is what we did for Valentine's:






More practice next year to get it better!

John's Valentine

I'd been dreaming this one up since right after Christmas. I was thrilled when it worked out how I'd hoped! If you've ever been down to the little J-Dawgs shack in Provo, you know their BBQ sauce on their Polish Dogs is to die for! I knew where they bought their buns & dogs, but I NEEDED the sauce! "J" was nice enough to sell me a whole bottle of it-- bless his heart! John was super surprised and we've been enjoying that sauce ever since!

Happy Valentine's Day

Spread the Love today!!

Valentine Projects

I feel like I mass-produced Valentine Table Runners and then got all Valentine Fabric'd out. I even made one I forgot to take pictures of! Don't you love that I have more pictures of my crafts than I do John's birthday?? I downloaded a bunch of patterns for crocheted hearts, but I have yet to get to them. Anyway, the table runners turned out cute, and now I'm ready to start a new quilt. I have all the fabric, it just needs to be cut and sewn. It may take a while, but it's bright and spring-y, and I'm happy about it!

Basketball 2009

We have loved going to Johnny's basketball games. He is really developing some good talent and he got to play with his coach from last season and has a bunch of friends on his team. We especially love going and seeing our friends!

John is getting old ...

We celebrated John's birthday on February 6th. I didn't get any pictures, I'm turning so lame! Anyway, we had a good time and I *think* he had a good birthday!