Two More Quilts Finally Done!!

Technically, Carter's quilt has been done for a while, but since Carter and Alex arrived into the world on the same day, I felt like their quilts should be delivered on the same day.  Last Tuesday at Liam's soccer game, I was ready to hand them off.

Carter"s quilt is called "Around the Block" and I made it all with polka-dot fabrics.  I saw this pattern a few years ago and decided that the next little granddaughter would have this design with polka-dots.  Some of the fabrics were from other quilts of her brothers'.  I love the dots from the Eric Carle book "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" because Jessica loved that book when she was little.  I backed it in yellow polka-dots because yellow is one of my favorite colors and was also my mom's favorite color.

As soon as I knew there were twins on the way, I asked Jessica's permission to not do identical blankets for them.  Jessica and Elessia were glad about that as they wanted their daughters to feel unique both as individuals and as twins.  So I designed their quilts when they were Baby A (Carter) and Baby B (Alex). 

So it became polka-dots for Carter and "Stripe Quilt" for Alex.  I am not sure what the real name is, but I had some much fun determining the fabrics for her quilt.  When I first saw the flowered print I used for the backing, I fell in love with it, but it was definitely not a "baby or even child" print at all.  I texted Jessica and Elessia and said, "If you want something 'baby-like", let me know or I am buying this amazing fabric in the next 20 minutes."  Jessica replied that I could do what I wanted, so off I went.  And here is the result:

There are Micky Mouse ears, lady bugs, flowers, dots, math and numbers, bright colors, and the same dots from Eric Carle's book.  I love it, too.

Don't you love the flowers--the colors and the designs!

I don't think my grandchildren will quite understand how much I love making their quilts for them, even if they aren't done when they arrived in this world.  Where ever they are and where ever I am, I want them to know that I love them as a unique and amazing people and I am in their corner.

Love you, Carter and Alex and so glad to have you in our family.

Colds, Fevers, and Coughs

The three of us have been passing it all around for the past two + weeks.  It all started because I thought how well we had done this past winter in not having colds or illnesses more than a day or two now and then.  I don't think Jena had been sick all winter, until now.  You never should think stuff like that, because it will come back to haunt you.  Oh, well--poor Jena is sick now and missed out on several events this past weekend including a Race Day at Snow basin, theatre, going to a play at Hale Theatre, and Church today.  I hope she starts getting better or going down to Provo will have to be postponed this week.  That would not be a fun conversation to have with her!!

On the bright side (for me--since I am feeling better but got to stay home on Friday and Saturday with Jena), I was able to get some things done around the house which I didn't think I would get down until I quit work in May.  Nothing major, but little odds and ends but it felt good.

"Limp" Mode

Apparently the error code on our car was so rare and unusual, it required several calls from the dealership to the main office. After a week, they called and said that they were still waiting results from their inquires, but a rental car was being provided.  When Enterprise picked Gary up to get the rental car, they asked what was wrong with our car.  The dealership had rented the car for us for a MONTH!  So we are driving a CRX or something which only had 980 miles on it to start with.  True to form, I am piling the miles on it with trips to Salt Lake everyday and the additional trips to Provo, Magna, or where else we need to go.  The gas mileage is not as good as our car and I am anxious to get it back, but still no news about the fix.  At least, we have a rental, although Gary's mom has been so kind during the prior week to let Gary use her car.  We went twenty years with one car and five kids, but now with just the three of us at home--two cars is almost a requirement on most days.  Ugg!!!

BEST BUDDIES STATE PROM NIGHT

It is always fun to dress up now and then, so on a very snowy evening, these three lovely ladies switched from their theatre casual clothes (in the bathrooms at Centerpoint Theatre where they had been practicing) into their own special version of "Cinderella," and headed down to the Ball in West Jordan.

Jena, Emily, and Sara

Fortunately for us, special hairdressers were there waiting to finish the transformation into princesses.

 And off to the dance---

 They met up with Megan who came from Utah county.

Jena and Emily---

This was Jena when she arrived home about 10:30 pm.  She said they had a great time.

 Her cute hair...

Thanks to Sara's mom who provided transportation to and from the event in the snowstorm.  They loved it.

Happy Anniversary, Gary!!! 41 YEARS!!

I had to catch up on the blog so that I could write this post on our actual anniversary.  March 3rd---because I refused to get married in February and Gary didn't want to wait any longer, so we settled on the first Friday in March.  Gary said it was because 3-3 was easy to remember.

Seriously, I can't imagine a better partner for me than Gary and I really think he had no idea what he was getting when he asked me to marry him.  I didn't know what I was going to become either.  And we certainly didn't imagine the life that we have had.  We were planning to settle in Missouri and live our lives there because that is the model we saw with our own parents.  I wanted five kids and at least one that was adopted.  Gary was open to that but thought four kids was good as well.  I think the one thing that we did include in our plans was to build our lives around our testimonies, service in the Church, and service in the community.....we just had no idea what adventures were in store for us. 

Then:

Now:   

 

Looking forward to the next 41 years......................

A "funny" thing happened on the way home...

Sometimes, weird things happen and you just have to believe that someone was watching out for you despite yourself.  One of those things happened Friday afternoon.

I attended a conference in Salt Lake all day.  (In fact, I ran into two people from my social work cohort who were there as well which was fun.  Here is the picture of us--Lori Neil and Amber Sagers.)

But that is not the story---

I was heading home about 4:00--tired from 8 hours of very informative lectures--when I started having this conversation in my head.  "I could stop and meet Gary at theatre and then he could go home and I could bring Jena home."  "But I am tired and he will already be planning to stay and has a book or something to do already.  I don't have a book or anything to read."  "I could go shopping."  and so it went back and forth in my head.  "Gary had already left to bring Jena down to theatre so I wouldn't be able to save him a trip, so maybe I will just go home."  I really thought I had convinced myself to head straight home as I was so tired....but when I got to the exit for the theatre, I took it and decided to at least call Gary and make the offer.  I knew he had a busy day as well and maybe he would appreciate some quiet time at home.

I pulled over in a gas station and called.  He indicated that he was good to stay with Jena and bring her home, so I turned on the car to head home--feeling like a good wife because I had made the offer....but as I pulled out of the parking lot, the car felt odd and then a light began flashing and a bell began dinging.  I pulled over into the nearest parking lot and called Gary again.

So the long and short of it was that we ended up having to have the car towed to our preferred car repair shop  (so Gary waited at the theatre for the tow truck while I took Jena home after all.) and then after they determined that they couldn't fix it, we had to have it towed to the dealership where it is sitting at the current moment.

But the funny thing is.  The car was driving fine when I pulled off a very busy freeway to call Gary the first time.  However, if I hadn't pulled off, it is likely that I would have lost power on the freeway  (the car had gone into "limp mode" Gary said.) and that would have been a much bigger problem than dealing with it in Centerville by the theatre.  So not what we planned, but a blessing in disguise and I was grateful--except for the whole breaking down to begin with.  But like much of life, we often only see the blessings and tender mercies in the middle of the hard (or simply annoying) stuff!

Bowling Tournament 2019

Yesterday Jena participated in the Knights of Columbus Bowling Tournament which is a great event held each year in our area for Special Olympic bowlers.  Jena did well with a total of 296 in three games.  Her high was 117.

Here are the bowlers on her two lanes.

I don't want to forget to mention that one thing that makes this tournament great is all of the work Gary does to get the computer set up for the tournament and to keep the lanes running throughout the day.  He and Jena were there all day for both sessions.  Jena bowled in the morning and then helped in the afternoon. I headed home to clean house instead, but enjoyed watching Jena bowl.  Fun times!

A new benchmark in grandmothering.....

I attended my first soccer (or any sport) game for a grandchild.  In this case, indoor soccer with Liam!  He loved it and I loved watching him.  They do a 25 minute practice followed by a 25 minute game.  Very smart for these little 3 and 4 year olds.  Liam loved it, I think, and he loved having me there to watch him. Zander was very discouraged that he couldn't climb into the soccer field and play as well.

And because we are talking about grandchildren, it is time to add a picture of everyone else as well.

Ava:

 Alex and Carter

Zander:

Niki with Ava:

Cooper

James--got to love that smile and those dark eyes!

Scarlett and Chantel--This was from our trip to the Ice Castles.  I love the personality that Scarlett shows in this photo.  She might not love it when she is older, but that is her 4 1/2 year old self.

A "Business Trip to AZ"

I am not sure if you can count it as a business trip if you paid for the trip yourself, but whatever reason, I made a 4 day trip to Mesa from February 19 to the 23rd.  The purpose was to visit a facility called First Place with three other parents of individuals with cognitive delays.  We are thinking about MAYBE starting something like it in Utah somewhere.  Gerald Nebeker had made the arrangements and invited me and Kent and Deborah Bowen to join him.  We have been having very general discussions and been doing our own research into options but this was the first time we had met together and started discussions.

First Place is an apartment complex and program designed for young adults with autism.  It was amazing, but I didn't take many pictures except this one below which was in their main offices and was the amazing flow chart of their vision and mission statement.  It was a work of art and served to remind each employee what they are trying to accomplish.

The next day, I went to see another program called Treasure House which was designed for individuals with cognitive delays.  Both of these programs have just opened in the past year and have state of the art facilities.  They include apartments and then community living spaces for the residents to be involved in to prevent social isolation which is common among those with cognitive delays as they age.  They also have support people to help them with jobs, volunteer work, and other community engagement.

I admire the passion of these people.  Both of these programs as well as most across the states were started by groups of parents.  We are slowly moving down this path, although I still am not sure how far down this road I am going yet.  There is so much to learn and it is such a huge topic that it is overwhelming.  Just one step at a time.....

As you can probably guess, I stayed at my sister, Valerie's home, and in-between her life and mine, we got some talking in (although as she commented in a text after I got home: "there is still much to talk about.")  I was able to read a few books in my down time, including an older biography of President Nelson before he became prophet.  He is brilliant and an awesome example of obeying God with exactness.

I enjoyed a walk in between rain storms which pelted the ground for a few of the days I was in Mesa.  I think they said that they had more rain in those few days than in most of their winter months.

But to prove I was in Mesa, I got the pictures of the sun and the palm trees in front of Valerie and Lance's house.  I got to see some of my nieces and nephews as well which was an added bonus.

Saturday, I spent with my good friend, Katie Hillam, and her family.  It was so good to catch up with her.  She and Brad are one of those couples that we have loved for a long time.  And spending time with them brings back all of those memories and also make it seem like we just saw each other last week.  Glad that I had the chance to see them as they are off on a new adventure to Madison, Wisconsin as Brad takes a new job.  Not sure when we will see them again.

We are so lucky to be blessed with friends!  (But despite my intent to take a picture, I forgot.)

Not a fan of snow

but it can be stunningly beautiful from the warmth of your home looking outwards.  I was actually standing on our covered porch when I took most of  these photos.  It was just as the sun was rising over the mountains in the east and the combination of the snow, light, and blue skies was breathtaking...really nothing more to say.  Just think of your favorite music as you view these snowy scenes in our yard.

These were taken a later in the day after the ice began to melt on the rain chain.  (You know I had to include a rain chain picture--every year!)

If you look closely, you can see how the ice around the little buckets have slipped into the one below as they melted.

Seriously, I don't know why everyone does not have one of these in their yards---well, except those who live in Arizona and Texas.  :)   And even there on rainy days, they would be amazing.