Grape Festival

So, every year, Nauvoo has a Grape Festival during Labor Day weekend. This year Kady was able to go on some of the rides. Here are the pics of her enjoying herself on a train and the bouncy house. She also went on the giant slide with Kyle, but I took a video of that and you can't see them very well, so I won't put it up. Anyway, to the pictures!

Alright, so I don't know what is with this computer, but it won't let me put up any more pictures, so you'll have to wait for the bouncy house ones.m

A great joy is coming...

So, I have a friend, Hannah, due in October, and I found these fabrics, thread, and buttons, and I knew I had to make something for her little girl, who will be named Dinah, something special.


















SO....here they are! A reversible carseat cover,


















And, as you can see in the first pic, a reversible (matching) carseat blanket!















































Here are two other ones, the red print is for Hannah's sister-in-law Silipa, who is due just a few weeks after Hannah, and the other is for my friend Erika, who is hoping to have her baby any day now!

This week in Nauvoo....

Well, I haven't really taken any pictures this week, cause not much has happened picture-wise besides Kady still being unbelievable cute.

However, this week I placed my first order with Avon, and I seemed to have done an okay job of filling in all the information, and sending in the right amount of money, because I'm now waiting (anxiously) for the packages to arrive.



Like I said, Kady's still cute.

I Love You, Mom!

Better late then never, here is my Mother's Day present for my maja. She is a wonderful woman and example to her children, and I'm glad she is my mom.

I used this tutorial for the wreath: http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/01/felt-heart-wreath.html

I know I posted a bit of a teaser with my last post, but I was just so excited about this! I found a book called 'Making Children's Clothes' at Hobby Lobby on Saturday, and I looked through it a bit, and all the clothes looked so cute, and some of the patterns even looked like they could be easy, so I got some flannel from Kristy, and yesterday I started this dress. Then, just when I was getting near finishing it, my machine started acting up, and I couldn't find my machine manual, and so I couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I just left it. Then this afternoon, something Kyle said made me think of a place to look, I found it, and I didn't really do anything and the machine for some reason started working again. So, in about an hour, I had the dress finished, and I went and found Kady. So here she is in her nightgown! She really likes it, and I'm really happy she likes it.

What have I been up to?

Crochet is all I wanna do all day

So, I've been thinking. I need to do more posts. So, I'm going to try for once a week. We'll see how that goes, and maybe try to bump it up.

Anyway, here are some projects I've been working on...

First, the Cowboy booties:

These are the five colors that I'm going to sell the cowboy boots in. These will probably be the same colors I do the sandal booties in.

Second, are the Roller Skate booties:


Last of the booties, the Pioneer booties:

Not the most attractive, but I think they might sell here in Old Nauvoo.

Last, a little project for myself. It's a pattern I found awhile ago, but I wanted to see if I found something I liked better. Then I forgot, then I looked again for patterns for crochet hook cases, and I found this pattern again, and I liked it more this time. The original pattern can be found at http://www.hookandyarn.com/Free_Crochet_Patterns.html

Anyway, I just made it 1 stitch longer, wish I had made it 6 though, I did the strips, I did two buttons instead of one, and I crocheted around the edge to give it a nicer finish. I don't know if I'll add the daisy, but we'll see. Anyway, here is my finished case, already in use:

The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo

So, the Relief Society had it's birthday this past month, and as I've been dying to make a Beehive cake for a year now, I volunteered my services to make the cake for the party. However, the Beehive cake wouldn't have been enough to serve everyone, so I decided to make a chocolate cake to accompany it. The Beehive was really easy, cause I just used the Wonder-Mold pan for the top, and to get the beehive shape, I made an 8-inch round cake for the bottom.

For the chocolate cake, I tried doing a silhouette of Emma Smith, but it didn't look good at all, so I made it a little bigger, and did a cut out with paper and stuck it on top and put a giant 168 above that, because the RS is 168 years old!



Also, since I live in Nauvoo, I got to be in the Relief Society Re-enactment again, and once again I got to be Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy.



This is what I got to say:
The Relief Society was organized with 28 original members, some of whom were not in attendance at the first meeting. In the second meeting, 48 new members were added. I, Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy, was blessed to be one of them.

Eight subsequent meetings of the Relief Society were held in this room. Sometimes Brother Joseph would come and instruct us. At one time in particular I remember of Emma bringing him in, and he prayed at the opening of the meeting. He was full of the Spirit of God. His whole frame shook and his face shone and looked almost transparent. (Pauses thoughtfully, then adds with gratitude) Oh, so many great and glorious instructions were given us here in this room.


So, if you ever have the chance go to the Women's Retreat held here in Nauvoo every March. It is incredible, and the speakers amazing, and it's a wonderful bonding experience. My mom and some sisters were able to come last year and it was wonderful to get to share the experience with them.

My Eternal Valentine

At lunch today Kyle told me he had a few things planned for our Valentine's evening out, so I was excited. Kyle's not a huge celebrator of holidays like I am, so I figured he just meant going out and maybe catching a movie. We haven't been to a movie together in awhile.

So, after lunch I did my normal(Thursday) activities, watching my shows and catching up on my sites. Then, at about 3:30, as I was about to go take a shower so I'd look nice for my husband, I heard the door opening. Looking out the window, I saw that Kyle's truck was back. What was he doing back? Why'd he take off work 1/2 hr early? So, I went into the kitchen, and what did my eyes behold, but a big red bag with roses and a monkey sticking out! But there was more! And here it is:



My giant bag was filled with a giant heart pillow, a stuffed monkey (which we gave to Kady, and she loves), some lemongrass aromatherapy from Bath and Body Works, a beautiful card with a gift certificate to get my nails done, Twilight candies, red roses (my favorite!), and a gift bag from Kays Jewelers, where we got my engagement ring! Inside that bag were two boxes: one with a gold chain for a necklace piece he'd given me for Christmas, and some gold earrings with lovely diamonds!

I love my present, but I love my husband even more! I tried telling him that I was sorry my present wasn't as good, and that I was planning on doing more housework and everything, but he stopped me and said "If you're happy, I could have nothing and be happy." Isn't he the best? He's more then made up for his past gift giving fiascoes.

So, all in all, I think Elizabeth Barrett Browning sums up how I feel about Kyle:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Here is my darling little girl at my niece Sierra's !16TH! birthday party a month ago. I've been meaning to blog, but Kyle got himself a nice new(ish) computer, so this one got moved to the living room, and the printer hasn't been networked yet, cause we need some cabled or something.



So, this is pilfered off facebook, which I should do more often.

Anyway, updates: Kyle still likes his job, and is still a fantastic fellow all around.

Kady, however, is in her SECOND year of life. Which means what you think it does. She's a temper tantrum throwing princess. And her favorite people in the world are Daddy and Grandma. She gets pretty excited when I start getting her jacket and hat(which looks like grapes, btw) out, because she knows we're going somewhere, and if Daddy's coming too, then chances are we're going to Grandma's. Sometimes she doesn't really care, but once she realized we're at Grandma's, she's all smiles. She's also changed her schedule. Last year, when we had church in the mornings, she took a morning nap. Now, just in time for us to change to the afternoon shift of church, she now takes afternoon naps. But then she smiles, and it's usually all better.

As for me, I've just been doing a lot of crocheting, and the past week I've been trying to walk more. Kristy got herself, Saren and I pedometers, so now I know how much I walk. Which isn't a lot, but I've been getting myself up in the mornings to go on little walk around our driveway/property, so that's really helped stack up the miles. And later this month I'll be going back down to MO, so I can do a birthday thing with my friend Whitney, and I'll be there for Tara/Jerica's birthday celebrations, so I have to figure out what to do for a cake, so that'll be tons of fun. And when I come back I'll be bringing my friend Tiffany with me, so we'll enjoy planning a bachelorette party for our friend Audrey, and putting together stuff for that. And we'll be using each other as crutches to exercise and eat better.

So, that's about all that's been going on since my last post.