Hi diddley-dee, a pirate's life for me.

Here are some random tidbits of our life.

Ha ha! Isn't that the CUTEST thing you've ever seen?! I went to Goodwill today, and that is the sort of thing I just can't resist for $4. I had to put it on her right away, of course, and it fits really well.

Doesn't Hazel look so grown-up in this picture?

A pincushion I made. I really needed one. I only had the plastic case the needles came in and it was annoying. Pattern here.

On Memorial Day, Brett got to drive a military truck in the (TINY) parade.

Hazel and I wore our cowboy hats. This picture is one Jethro took of us before we left. When I looked at the camera I tried asking him why he didn't tell me it was too close, but he didn't get it.




So, one I took with the timer later on. Not so great, but oh well.

More cute bunny pictures. I have to tell you the story. The picture of Hazel holding Ethne up is right before she just let her go and she fell right on her face. Poor girl. So then Jethro comes and says "Why is Hazel crying?" and I said cause she got in trouble for letting Ethne fall. Then the picture of Jethro holding her is right before HE almost let her fall on her face (and he's usually really good about NOT doing that kind of thing). Poor third child. But TOUGH third child.

This is what Sunday morning looks like at our house.

Latest and Greatest Sewing Project Complete!

So, TA-DAA! I had the apron done for quite a while (except I still need to either make the button hole, or just add ties), but when I made it I thought it looked like a little pioneer girl apron, so then I had to make a bonnet to go with it (and I almost want to make her a real pioneer-ish dress to go under it (another example of the addicting nature of sewing)), and I didn't get it finished until today. The apron instructions are here, but when I first saw the pictures, I thought that the skirt the little girl is wearing was part of the apron, so when I actually made it and realized it wasn't, I just added the lower ruffle myself. I wish I would have thought about it and made the ruffle with the red fabric but oh well. Still cute. This was actually much harder for me than the last little apron I made. It took forever for me to figure out which way to put the shoulder straps on so they'd be the right way out. I guess I'm not much for spatial visualization.
Then, the instructions for the bonnet are here. To actually get the picture of the pattern you have to click on the link called 'image gallery' under the 'Related' tab. Fun fun fun. I think Hazel is SOOOO cute! I hope we take the kids to Nauvoo some time and I can take a bunch of pictures of her by the Nauvoo temple, and by the cabins, and on the wagons, etc. When we went to Nauvoo for our anniversary last year (without the kids) I saw a few different places where they sold bonnets, and I really wanted to buy one for Hazel. Now I have to admit, I'm quite proud I made it myself.
She doesn't like wearing it, however, and tries to get it off within minutes of me putting it on. She says, "I stuck." Yeah---it's tied on. :) Well, I should go to bed (but I know I won't, because Brett's not home yet. He went to Seth's house (a guy in his lab) to help him work on his motorcycle, and it's 12:12 right now and he's still not home.). Night!

13 for Thursday, a day late.

I was going to try out Kristi's 13 things for Thursday, but now it is a day late, so it will have to be something else. Anyway,

1. Brett started watching 'Hitch' last night and so we stayed up too late watching it. So funny. The best part is at the end when he's talking to the girl...babbling, and he's like "There's no me behind the door, saying 'Close your mouth.'" Ha ha.

2. Did you guys get the Friend this month? There is this really scary bear story in it, that was of course the first thing Jethro picked out for me to read to him. I was almost going to try and make it a little less scary, but then I didn't. And it turned out okay of course. Pretty miraculous. I've seen a bear on two occasions at almost the same spot in Waterton Natl Park. Exciting stuff.

3. We have a house ghost. His name is John and he's been around since Brett and I got married. Moved with us. He does all the regular mischievous things house-ghosts like to do, such as knocking things over in a room no one is in, or opening doors. The other night he knocked the mirror off the wall in Brett and my room, thus waking us up to a big crash. Quite alarming. The kids know about him and sometimes play with him. Hazel loves it because it gives her a chance to have someone lower on the totem pole than her, so she basically just yells at him a lot to "Stop it, Don!" (which is how she says John.)

4. I can practice the organ while nursing. Yep. But it's not very effective, so I don't recommend it. Although, much of the time that I am practicing I'm holding Ethne. Which is more effective than you might think, since it forces me to play hands alone with the foot pedal. And I need to practice a lot. Last Sunday I made a mess of things because first I wrote down and practiced the wrong week's songs, so we had to switch them around, and I totally messed up the last song. I told Brett as we were driving home that I was tired...it's taxing playing the organ. And he told me it wouldn't be taxing if I didn't worry about it so much, since no one cares anyway. And I know that that's true. No one really does care, but it's hard to remember that when you're sitting up there playing in front of everyone. Oh well.

5. I have a tiny bit of poison oak on my arm. I hate that stuff! I seem to get it every year. It's so gross and annoying and ITCHY!

6. Hazel says random stuff sometimes like "They stole our socks again." Who? And when did they steal our socks before? And why are you bringing this up at dinner when neither socks nor stealing had been a topic of conversation?

7. We're going to buy a tent (a cheap-o) and maybe go camping this weekend if it dries out by Sunday night.

8. Jethro was playing with Ethne yesterday, holding her on his lap and bending her around and she was laughing out loud--it was so cute! He can totally make her laugh so well. Of course, he also let her fall off the rocking chair yesterday. That's what happens to poor younger siblings. It's okay...just makes them tougher, right? At least, that's what I try to tell myself when I think about the time I let Ethan fall out a window.

9. I love Brett's beard. It is at the perfect length, where it's not too long, a little bit longer than just scruff. I always tell him not to shave.

10. I like getting pictures back. Even though I've seen them all on the computer, it's still fun to get them printed and be able to hold them. But I'm pretty picture-crazy altogether.

11. That's all I've got. Today it's rainy, so I want to do some laundry, the dishes, finish a sewing project I've started for Hazel, and maybe scrapbook a little. It's been crazy long since I have.

So there you have it. Eleven for Friday.

Two posts in one day...how exciting!

So, many of you expressed interest in making one of the tote bags that I showed earlier on my blog. I was going to get back to you, but then I was talking to Katrina (the one who showed/helped/almost made it for me) and I said she should do an online tutorial, since she had been teaching so many people. And she did! cause she's awesome! So...here you go. Yay! Thanks, Katrina.

And, I have been going to post this recipe for awhile, because I tried it and liked it so much. So the recipe card has been sitting here by the side of my computer for a long time, and I really need to get it put away, so here it is.

Mandarin Orange and Almond Salad
Ingredients:
1 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup sugar
2 TBsp lemon juice
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 cup veg oil
1 head romaine lettuce, torn
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 red onion, thinly sliced

Heat small skillet, melt sugar and cook until lightly browned. Stir in almonds and coat with carmelized sugar. Remove and spread on waxed paper and allow to cool. Combine next five ingredients, beat in oil. Toss with lettuce, oranges, onion, and almonds (break apart). Toss with dressing.

I LOVE the carmelized almonds!! Soo soooo good. Very good summery salad. I give it 3 stars (out of three).

My two latest favorite songs are 'Hey There Delilah' by Plain White T's and 'We Belong Together' by Gavin DeGraw. Just in case you were interested in what I'm listening to.

I must go fix the bread I made this morning. I went out to see if it was ready to make into loaves and realized I had left out the yeast. I *HATE* hate HATE! when I do that. Ruff.

Big news!

Ethne can CRAWL!!!!! It's not a completely-on-hands-and-knees-off-the-floor crawl quite yet, but she does get up on her hands and knees, and then she slides forward onto her tummy, then does it again. Jethro and Hazel and I were putting toys out in front of her and watching her crawl and clapping for her. Jethro was so excited and wanted to give her a prize.

What fun. Soon the days of all the books and toys and everything being pulled off the shelves will be here. Look how proud she is of herself! Sweet, sweet girl.

Jethro is smarter than he knows!

Interview with Jethro:

What are you going to do when you're 19?
Go on a mission.
What are you going to do when you get home?
Ummm, eat lunch? (laugh, laugh)
Are you going to get married?
Yeah.
Where?
The temple.
How will you know who to marry?
I dunno.
What will she be like?
Not smoke, or drink alcohol or coffe.
What else?
She be good at stuff.
Like what?
Making dinner and playdough and juice.
What else will she be like
I'm out of ideas.
What will she look like?
A princess. When I marry her.
What will you do after you get married?
Uhh, eat lunch? (knew he was being funny...laugh laugh) ....turn off the light and go to bed.
Brett and I laughed and laughed and laughed, so then of course, he started saying other things thinking he was being so funny, but really, he'd already hit the nail on the head. :)

Beautiful Hazel

I posted this picture because to get Hazel to smile I will hold up one of my fingers and say "Hi, I'm Hazel" and it ALWAYS makes her smile, but unfortunately, she always puts up her finger too to start playing.

Some of my favorite words of Hazel's are: wissuss (delicious), do in da toyna (go in the corner!), and ma-monie (macaroni...it comes out sounding kindof like Matt Monie, or Matrimony hee hee). When Brett comes home and walks in the door she says "Is that YOU, Daddy?!" It's so cute. She's pretty much the cutest thing ever. Yeah.

Remember once a while back I blogged about seeing an ADORABLE cowboy hat at Gymboree but I was sad because it was too expensive to buy? Well, they had it marked down about 1/2 off, so I bought it. I love it. I also got Hazel a blue jean jacket from Once Upon a Child that is SOOOO cute on her, I just have to hug her every time I see her. But when Brett saw it he said, "I thought you were against dressing little girls like they are grown up." So, what do you think? I think it's fine. And cute. But I said that before.

Today

I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny,
But we can have lots of good fun that is funny.

Merry Mom's Day

Hi everyone, I hope your Mother's Day was smashing. Mine was very nice. So here are some recent "mother" pictures...the one with all the kids Brett took yesterday for me.

Then, of course, there are some new adorable pictures of Ethne for your viewing pleasure. I don't know what I did, but they all turned out looking really really blue, so I tried to fix the color temperature in Picasa, but some of them are still off. Oh well, she's so cute anyway. Do you ever wonder what your kids look like through other people's eyes? Because, everyone thinks that they have the cutest little kids, but in reality not every kid is really the cutest kid. Just kidding. But isn't there an Aesop's Fable about that, where a crow helps out a fox and in payment he says he won't eat her babies, and he asks her what they look like so he can avoid them, and she says, "Oh you'll know because they're the cutest babies of any," and then he eats them because they didn't seem at all cute to him. Whenever my mom watches a movie with a baby in it, she always says "They really should have used one of MY babies...mine were really cute. Not like this baby." Always makes me feel loved. :)

But anyway, I don't have much else to say tonight. I made Puffed Wheat Squares for FHE treat, and they hit the spot. I haven't made them forever. Tell me, who(m?) of you know what Puffed Wheat Squares are? I'm guessing all the Canadian readers will know, but not the Americans. Brett says we should call them Canadian Delight, sorta like Turkish Delight. Yummy and chocolately and cheap. Ethne grabbed a piece I was eating and started munging it. I just let her eat it because by now I'm just happy if she's eating anything that is real food. Little stinker. Cute little stinker.

Oh yeah, I forgot, now that my present has reached my sister, I can show you what I made for her (I took pictures of it on Ethne before I sent it). It's her first little Latin Dancer outfit! Very cute, but will be EXTRA super-duper-cute on little dark-haired half-Latino Elena. Actually, the whole reason I made the skirt was because I made the flower barrette and thought that it was so cute, it deserved a skirt to match. ---I told you sewing is addicting. Kami said she'd post a picture of Elena wearing it, so check back to her blog. Fun stuff.

And here are the moms to whom our tribute goes out to today. First, here's Brett's mom with her children (Brett's the middle sized boy on the right in his treasured camo hat). And then, hugging Brett when he came home from his mission. She is wonderful and amazing and we are so lucky to get her!And I couldn't find a picture of my mom with me (mainly because I didn't want to go into Ethne's room and risk waking her up by getting photo albums), but this one is special because this is her singing to me at my wedding reception. She sang "Turn Around" which I had asked her to sing at my wedding when I was a little girl. (Hey, I was just looking up that song on iTunes, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang it. Interesting.) I love my mom.
Okay, I'm really done now.

Sweet tag

Kami wins a big prize because she tagged me to tell where I'm going to live, what house I'll live in, and what car I'll drive, and this is the FIRST time BRETT has ever contributed anything to this blog. Woohoo...what a treat for us.

First, where we'll live. The views to the North, South, East, and West of course. (That's me riding my horse on the bottom (we'll have lots of horses, of course). Then, here's what our cozy cabin will look like.

Then, Brett's car, and Jethro's car. (Jethro's is the race-car looking one, as you would know if you knew Jethro AT ALL (he's WAYYYYY into racecars.)) These are all diesel, of course, including.... Brett's motorcycle. (which hasn't been built quite yet, but don't worry about that.)

And our winter villa (because it's COLD in the mountains in winter!!):

And to get from one home to the other, our turbo prop plane (which, of course, runs on biodiesel):

And we can't leave out Brett's dream shop, of which we could not find a picture adequate enough, so picture this: bi-level, 10,000 sq. foot expansive custom tinkering facility with a CNC mill and lathe, engine dyno, TIG welder, hydraulic tubing bender, biodiesel production plant, and foundry and misc. other tools of every trade imaginable. Of course, it will also include a 10 ton vehicle lift. (Kayli's note: and maybe a mini fridge.) Brett also wants you to know that we will own something like this for toting sundry items from the grocery store.

And, while this has been VERY enjoyable, it's time for us to get to bed. But I hereby tag all of you to tell me all about where YOU'll live, and drive, etc.