Monday, September 27, 2010

My recent crafts

I know I know, 2 blogs in one night...don't worry this one's not gonna be nearly as much as the last. I just have to show off a couple of my projects that I've completed.


This first one is my VERY FIRST QUILT!!!! Yay!!! When I started this one I had every intention of it being a big warm quilt to curl up under. While buying fabric I did not read all the directions and failed to notice that the quantities were for a wall hanging. What a dissappointment. And since I'd had the fabric for months before starting it I couldn't go buy more. But that's ok, turns out a smaller wall hanging is better to learn on than a huge quilt. Now this quilt is far from perfect, and I've since learned a few tricks and techniques, but for a first quilt I am really happy with it.



I machine quilted most of it but I did hand-sew around each of the 13 stars. That took a lot of patience let me tell you. And since I'm blind at night I only had a few precious hours on the weekends to do this.

I even signed and dated my quilt :D


This next one is one that I whipped together yesterday evening after church. The legs on this witch are toilet plungers (yes, you could say I'm my father's daughter) the body is an upside down flower pot, and the arms are wire coat hangers (Marc failed to bring me home wire so I improvised). I even cut up some of my socks for her. I think she turned out super duper cute! She still needs a broom but believe it or not craft stores no longer sell the mini craft brooms :( So everyone keep an eye out for me and let me know if you find one!


Labor Day

So I was talking to my mom the week before Labor Day and she was saying how the family was going to be heading down to Zions for the weekend to hike the Narrows. Marc and I love to hike and we love Zions....so we figured why not join them? Thursday night after work we rushed home, threw our bags in the car, fixed a dinner plate to-go, and raced off to the ferry (all this in about 30 mins) We got off the ferry at 8 pm and proceeded to drive all night to Utah. Talk about a long drive. We arrived in Utah at about 10:30 which is when I phoned my mom. (Did I mention that my family had no idea we were coming?-with the exception of Sky) After a little prying, I learned mom was just getting in the car to run some errands before going to work. I was just getting to the neighborhood as she was pulling out and the rest of the phone call went something like this..

Jes: (as we pass cars) Hi mom, hi mom...Bye mom

Mom: What?

Jes: Um, I think you missed something

Mom: What?

Jes: I think you should turn around

Mom: What?!? ..... Am I turning around?

Jes: (by this time I've turned around and proceeded to get behind her at a red light) No..., your light is green so you should probably go

Mom: ARE YOU IN UTAH?!?!?

Jes: I don't know, am I?

Mom: Jes how are you in Utah?

At this point she has seen me and is heading back to the house. Instead of lecturing me on the dangers of driving 14 hours straight thru the night, she starts chewing me out for not telling her I was coming so she could take work off. Luckily after a few phone calls the nice ladies she works with told her not to come in and to go play with her daughter instead.

After unloading our bags and taking a nice long shower and a couple more phone calls with Dad and Tay they went very similar to the one above, Marc crashed on the couch and mom and I headed out shopping.

After a family bbq with all my siblings in one room (that hasn't happened in about a year) we all piled into the excursion and headed to St. George. Yes Marc and I spent a grand total of 19 hours in a car.

The next morning we again piled in the car and headed into Zions and hiked the Narrows. Here's a few pictures from our day. There's not too many cuz we had the camera packed in a water proof bag most of the time, and it was quite the ordeal to pull it out.


That's deep water cuz these two are over 6 ft tall!







Jordan (Sky's girlfriend) had some issues with "bubble pants" :D


My attempt to get a photo with no sunglasses, my goofball brother refuses to cooperate


When we got back to the house Sunday we had my cousin Tanner come over and snap a few family photos. Here are the results, remember we are not professionals.



Thumbs up to Tanner! Trying to get this group to focus is no easy task.
We also snapped a few photos of Sky with his motorcycle and the shirt mom made him for his birthday.


Then of course a few of Seth and Cinnamon goofing off.



Bright and early Monday morning Marc and I got back on the road and headed home. Other than being super tired and exchanging colds (Marc started the trip with one and I ended with it)we had a great labor day weekend.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

cont..






















I finally caved...I am starting a blog. Don't expect lots of stories, or even lots of posts, mostly I'm doing this just to share pictures with family cuz it seems easier than emailing. So here goes...



This weekend Peggy and Katie are out of town and Tim invited Marc and I to go hiking with him. We went to Mount Rainer. We took a back door in and hiked about 1-1/2 miles to Lake Elenor. From there we went about 3.3 miles up to Grand Park near the base of Mount Rainer. All in all we hiked just shy of 11 miles. We had perfect weather and the only complaint we had was all the bugs. We were seriously eaten alive. But it was all worth it. The Park was beautiful, and I've never seen so many butterflies in my life. Here's some pictures I took with the awesome camera my dad left with me. (Thanks dad!)














































It would appear I have reached my limit on photos and I've got a few left so I'll have to add them on a separate post.