baby gifts

a dear friend in Minnesota had a July baby right before a dear cousin in Colorado had a baby! I have delivered one gift but I'm sending off the second gift today! Before she grows out of it! I made two of these sets with a onesie, double tiered skirt and rolled flower clip for a headband.  I fell in love with the fabric and was thrilled for an excuse to buy some! :)

 I love a good twirlie skirt!

 I hope she loves it! 

Halloween so far

I love the age when kids think they are actually transforming into the character! 

She danced around the clinic, singing, I'm Jessie the cowgirl! yodle-a-ee-hoo!

 I love that we are starting to branch out a bit.  Hermione isn't even a princess! gasp!

However, I think lulu thinks Hermione's name is more like her-mine-ee because she keeps calling her mine-mine-ee! :)

 We have had fun at the church trunk-or-treat (above) and the library character walk (below with the witch in Hansel and Gretl!)

 I have wanted to make bags for trick or treating for a few years and whipped these up yesterday. sorry the picture is so horrible!

Next up! party tonight and the official day on Monday!

butterbean

I have a new sweet niece. She is beautiful!

 So I made her a doll. I have had this pattern from Bit of Whimsy for a few years but never done anything with it. 

 It was late, fabric stores weren't open, so I had fun with a few scraps I had on hand and I love how it turned out.

 I will be making more butterbeans in the future because I almost didn't want to give this one away!

bluebirds

a friend asked me to make two gifts for sisters who had recently experienced a tragedy.

they lost their father at a very young age.

he called them his bluebirds. so i made bluebirds for them.

 my mother is much more talented with embroidery so she helped me out on the names.

 i hoped they are loved and of comfort to those sweet girls.

a MN trip in pictures

we had a delightful trip to Minnesota.
we accomplished MOST of our list! :)
we drove through a long night to get there. the girls were troopers!

we rested Friday.
I had a lovely lunch (no pics, shoot!) with my dear work friends.
we spent the next afternoon at the zoo.

we visited with wonderful friends at church on Sunday.
we went to story time and showed Miss M where her middle name came from.

we tortured our children like our parents before us by dragging them around to our old haunts.
this was my uptown apartment building.  W and I went on our first date across the street.
our infamous first kiss was inside this building.

the girls crafted and played and read and snuggled with grandma all weekend long!

we drove a long day home, complete with carsickness, a potty accident, and restless legs...but hey, we didn't hit a deer this time!

road trippin'

I hit a deer outside of Bella Vista at midnight.  holy crap, that was scary! The car is fine, we are fine. Not so sure about the deer, but we kept driving until we could find a gas station to check out the car. 

Hands down best part of the trip? Lu needing to go use the potty in the middle of nowhere-super windy-Iowa! What did we do? Pulled over at the state patrol office, pulled out the mini potty, sat her down, covered her with a blanket, and stood around her to block the wind.  I so wished I'd taken a pic of this choice moment!

And now we are off to have a great weekend!

what is a "late-over" you ask?

Miss M has been desperate for a sleepover.

I'm not sure we'll ever be ready for one!

My Mother always said, nothing good ever happens after midnight. 

So I convinced her that a late-over was just as good! And I think I was right! 

All the fun, silliness, late night goodness, but they all went home at 9:30 to sleep in their own beds!

Miss M and the fabulous four! These four are best buds and sweet as can be...most of the time! :)

 We also added two siblings to the fun!

 We ate pizza!

 We dressed up and had a fabulous fashion show!

 We painted nails and watched movies with popcorn and colored pictures!

 They had a great time and were a delight to have over...but boy, were they loud! :)

my Minnesota bucket list!

We are going to Minnesota tonight!!  We are visiting W's parents and visiting our old home.

I can't explain it, but I'm so excited to be going.  I had a very hard time visiting Minnesota with the house fiasco.  With all of it unresolved and so very stressful, I had a hard time facing Minnesota. I'm thankful for God's timing that has made all this come together at the same time.

And we're going!

We are going to see beautiful leaves at the arboretum-or what's left of them!
We are going to the Cheesecake Factory! It's a must! I may even go twice. gasp!
We are going to soak up grandparent time!
We are going to the zoo! Minnesota has a great FREE zoo!
I get to have lunch with my dear work friends!!
We are going to church to see friends too numerous to count!
We are going to eat cheese curds!
We are going to walk around the University of Minnesota and Lake Harriet!
We may even go to the Mall of America! (been there, done that but it's a good stop)
We are going to buy sales-tax-free clothes!
We are going to drive by our house, cry a bit, collect our lawnmower and snow shovel and sigh a huge sigh of relief.

House {fore} Closure

A year ago, I sat with my dear friend at our Halloween party, and I confided in her that something had to be done about our house.  We were continuing to lose thousands of dollars renting, and there was no end in sight.

We decided that we would raise the rent at the end of their lease so that they would finally be paying the mortgage and we wouldn't be caught with a shortfall each and every month.  We were nervous, worrying that such a hike in rent would send them packing.

Luckily for us, they were transferred to Georgia, somewhat solving our problem.  We immediately put the house on the market.

Three short sale offers and rejections later, we are finally coming to the end. The last short sale was rejected last week.

Our house in Minnesota is being sold at auction tomorrow morning.

It is truly a relief.

I never, ever thought I'd say that, but it's so true.

I'm relieved that we can stop dreading the mail.
I'm relieved that we can stop feeling guilty about bills all the time.
I'm relieved that we can move on.
I'm relieved that we can start saving again and start over.

It was a good home for us.  I will always treasure memories of bringing home Miss M to it, sitting on the couch watching the Olympics and watching the snow fall while I nursed, planting a garden with my mother, and turning it into our first home.  I wish that it had ended better.  But we were meant to move to Utah.  In all the things I've second guessed about the house and worried about all these years, I know that we were supposed to be in that home, and I know that we were supposed to leave it to go to Utah. Just like I know that we are supposed to be here now.

I am so ready for it to be over.  And I'm thankful that it will be very soon.

Our weekend

Miss M finished a good week off at school. She has some great friends...when they get along. :)

General Conference was enjoyed.  Sticker books were well used and well loved!

Crisp fall mornings called for yummy french toast!

I love catching my girls reading :)