So, how was YOUR day?

Several months ago Heidi grew out of the high chair.  She still fit inside, but she grew enough so that she could escape.  The high chair is now in the closet.  

Tonight she grew out of the booster seat.  She grew so much that she discovered it was super fun to rock back and forth while simultaneously cheating death and making her mother freak out.  The booster is now in the closet.  

I decided to let her try dinner in the regular chair.  She kept getting up and running around.  (Was this, perhaps, due to the sugar cookies we made this afternoon?) Finally I had HAD it.  

Tonight I tied Heidi to the chair during dinner.   

With yarn.  

Because that's what I had in the kitchen already.  

 

At least she is still smiling.  

Cousin Sleepover!

On Friday my girls had the most exciting night ever (according to Emily).  Their cousins got to sleep over!  

Everyone started out so nicely but sadly, they weren't so excited to go to sleep. I told them you're supposed to SLEEP on a sleepover!  (They didn't believe me.)  In case you're wondering, Heidi had to go to the crib soon after this photo was taken.  It was just way too much to jump out of bed and slam the doors.  

Finally, at 11:30, when everyone was asleep, I went into take some photos.  It looked like a crime scene!  

Scott always tells me I shouldn't worry when the house looks like this.  If any robbers come in while we're asleep they'll know the house was already robbed and the good stuff is gone. 

Do Savannah and Carolina look like sisters or what?

At least Molly was reading her scriptures when she passed out in the six inches between her bed and nightstand.  

The Reason

I'll admit.  I've been a little out of it lately.  I've been tired during the day and a little bit, well, scatterbrained.  I can finally break out of that!  The reason is that I've finished the quilt.  

I didn't know any quilters.  I always thought quilts were something that old ladies who collected Precious Moments figurines and love going to DUP meetings did while sitting by the fire in their rocking chairs.  These quilts were always flowery, boring, and always, always Kountry Kolors.  Ewwww.  

Then I went into Elaine's Quilt Block in SLC.  It was a revelation!  I'd never seen anything like it.  The quits were colorful, fun, not sissy and I didn't see any Precious Moments figurines in the whole store.  I had a new respect for quilting but still didn't want to do one - ever.  Well, that was until I saw the pattern for what I ended up doing.  

Ta dah!

It took almost the whole time I wasn't pregnant between Molly and Heidi (so really, not very long) and was an extremely hard first quilt.  It's pretty big too.  It fits a twin size bed.  I was really proud of it and thankful that I finished my one and only quilt.  

Then I went to Elaine's again - to look at fabric for fun.  I was helping my mom and sisters pick out fabric for projects when I saw the most amazing book cover with a photo of the most amazing quilt.  Uh oh.  

So this summer I while the kids were asleep I watched a few seasons of Project Runway, a whole lot of Jay, Conan and Dave, Flight of the Conchords, a bunch of documentaries (Bigger, Faster, Stronger was my favorite), the entire Tour de France, most of the Olympics (Can you QUIT showing the divers!  I am so sick of diving!), and a whole lot of other stuff I made

157 squares

in 6 sizes

with 5 to 22 pieces in each square

for a total of 1660 strips of fabric

ranging from 1 to 2.5 inches

made from 20 different kinds of fabrics

that LUCKILY I had most of in my scrap drawer

or else I would be poor.

I finished Saturday morning at 1 am.  Life can begin again.  

Now I just have to add the backing and batting, get it machine finished and then sew on the binding, so what I'm saying is I'm not reallllly done, but the hard part is over.  Oh man.  Come see it at Christmas time.

Rarotonga

Scott and I just got back from our kid-free vacation to Rarotonga, a tiny island that's part of the Cook Islands.  We didn't know much about Rarotonga before we went (just that we got a steal of a deal), so in case you're heading there soon, here's a quick run down.

They give you a lei when you get off the plane.  I thought they only did that on made for TV movies and so I was very excited.

The Cook Islands has GIANT fruits.  That starfruit I'm eating is the size of a brick.  Also, it was free since it fell off a tree and onto the road.  (Just kidding.  Some missionaries we met gave it to us.  They probably got it off the road.)

The Cook Islands is a self-governing nation with free association with New Zealand.  (Thanks to Wikipedia for that explanation.)  This means all the stuff in the grocery store is Kiwi made.  Look at the delicious haul we bought for dinner one night!  The smoothie with spirulina was especially good.  We had to look at up when we got home to find out what we drank.  (Thanks again Wikipedia!)

Hardly anyone drives cars.  Most people have scooters, so I was right at home. Since I have a motorcycle license I didn't have to take a road test.  Scott's license hadn't arrived by the time we left so he had to take a test given by a really grouchy cop.  I was worried he wouldn't pass him.

But when your country's main police station is missing letters in its sign I guess they aren't too picky about missing a turn.

I look a little scary in my photo.  I told them my birthday was wrong hoping that they'd retake my photo and give me a different license.  They just changed my birthday and gave me the same photo.  (Foiled again!) I think Scott looks a little seasick.  

You can actually see shipwrecks there!  This ship landed in January, we were told.  I guess they're cleaning it up on Island Time.  (I love Island Time, and Island Hair, by the way.)

Even the cemeteries have a great view.

If you remodeled your kitchen recently and have credit card points you might be lucky enough to stay a night in this bungalow hotel.  We were only lucky enough to stay there one night.  Next time we'll remodel the whole house!  This was the view from our deck.

And this was the view from the beach.  No tourists!

And this was the view of the sand.  Coconuts just fall of the trees when they feel like it and no one gets hurt because no one is on the beach!

And finally, the view from our rental car on the way back from the airport.  We were going to have an 9 HOUR layover in LA so we pretended we were on the Amazing Race.  We got on standby to San Francisco and when we realized we wouldn't make it onto another standby flight for a few more hours we rented a car and drove home.  We got home 6 hours earlier than we would have otherwise.  Phil, we're creative.  We're adventurous.  Can we be on the show now?