Reuniting...

monday night was fantastic!!!



chuck reunited me with daniel & josie and his wife dorothy

at the age of 14, i got a job working at josies mexican restaurant.
i LOVED daniel and josie. it was a wonderful experience and i learned a lot working for them.
i remember the day josie told me that they were closing the restaurant and moving. i cried and cried.

{me & dawn at work...age 15.}

25 years have gone by and one day chuck was in my front yard talking to my father in law. i think he was surprised to see me and even more so that we remembered each other after all this time. we exchanged email addresses and he connected me with josie.
i was beyond happy to see them.

there will always be those people in our lives that make such a large footprint on our heart and i am grateful for the opportunity to be in touch with them once again.

i love you daniel and josie!


...now, if i could only be reunited with that 15 year old figure...haha!

polka dots, candy canes and quilting

saturday was the first of the three little ben's quilt class.
my theme was polka dots and candy canes



i got lucky that michaels had some of their christmas merchandise out.
the glittery picks and polka dot ribbon made for a good cupcake topper.

just a tip. i always put my cupcakes on a cooling rack over the sink to decorate them.
this way ALL the sprinkles go into the sink instead of all over my counter.

i made candy canes out of red and white chenille stems twisted together and soaked in a coffee bath.
i laid them out on the lawn to dry. if it wasn't so sunny and hot i would have put them in a warm oven to dry.



i {heart} candy canes...

clustered in groups of 3, and tied up with ribbon and pine

it was simply christmasy.
i'll definetly be making more of these.

Baked Beans

are a great gift for any man.



my favorite recipe is one that came from my mom.
(i've tweaked it a bit, and i've never really measured, so these are approx. measurements)

1 lrg. can of bush's baked beans
1 can each of pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans and white beans (drained)
1 package bacon (cooked and crumbled)
1/2 of a sweet onion (cooked with the bacon)
1/2 cup of your favorite bbq sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
cap full of vinegar
1 Tbls of dry mustard

i simmer it in a slow cooker for a few hours and it's delicious.
always a favorite.

{Eighteen} Months

our rosie posie is eighteen months!

and it's my favorite age...



i could have dressed her up, made her hair all pretty with bows, and got some great photos but i'm not going to {at least not today}... today i want to capture her just like she is. everyday.
mostly smiling, unless she's not getting what she wants and then she's yelling at me or biting nolan.
she's fiesty. really fiesty.

she's curious and smarter than the other kids at this age. she understands and insists.



she's independent



she's stinkin cute, even though she HATES anything in her hair.



she LOVES to pick all the flower buds off my plants and give them to me.
is a horrible eater.
is our only climber
loves her blankie
she loves to lay on our bed and watch tv
she loves the bath
and diet coke {it's a problem}
loves animals & dolls
takes off her diaper when she pees {that's a bigger problem}
and you can set your clock by her
she refuses to give kisses unless your lucky
she "shh's" everyone
her favorite thing to say is "help" and it's so cute
she's super loud and i'm pretty sure all the neighbors are tired of hearing her yell "mommm"

dad is her favorite. i LOVE it when he comes home. the minute she hears him you can hear her little feet running from wherever she is and when she gets close, she starts to giggle. melts our hearts everytime.

she's bubs favorite {for now} he loves her spunk.

and speaking of, i have a little story.

when i was pregnant with her, shawn had gone to the temple one night and when he came home he said, "we're going to have a girl and we should name her rosie". i objected and said if we had a girl, we would name her evyn rose.

now. shawn is always right, {even though it kills me to admit it} and i should have listened to him.

she is our rose. we all call her rose. gavin calls her rosie posie, but for the most part she's rose or rosie.

i always tell people that she is definetly our rose.
she is beautiful and sweet
with a thorny side...

and we LOVE her to pieces!

{Third} Grade

masyn started third grade today.
mrs silvester is her teacher.

she was sad to go back {so was i}
summer just went too fast.

dropping her off was harder than usual. we both got teary eyed as we said goodbye.
but at pickup she was all smiles.

looking forward to a great year and lots of time to get some w.i.l.l.i.n.g. {waiting in long lines} projects done!!!

Chimneys are for Santa!

are you wondering why my living room is covered in sheets?



we are caring for 2 cats while their family finds a new home.
one of the cats got scared and ran into the fireplace and climbed up into the chimney yesterday!
oh my gosh, gavin and kelsey were laughing, the little kids were crying, there was talk of fireworks and pebbles, i may have freaked out a little bit...

we thought it was stuck in the flue. it was in there for almost 4 hours and i was getting very worried that i'd have to call a chimney sweep.
in my state of {panic} i mean worry, i failed to think of what was going to happen once the darn cat got out of the chimney. thankfully my smart friend told me to cover everything that was dear in my living room.



with some coaxing {a bowl of tuna} the darn cat finally came out.

and just as we thought, little black paw prints, everywhere!

Opa {a year's gone by}

a year ago, sunday, opa went to his heavenly home.



when we moved here, there were many flowers and plants that we removed, moved, and cut back.
i moved many of what i thought were agapanthas.

i later found out that they were naked ladies. naked ladies that opa had given to inka.
i thought i had killed them and i felt really bad.

imagine our surprise when last week out of nowhere pinkish stalks shot up out of the ground.

and how appropriate for them to bloom on sunday!

hi opa. we love you too!

LOVE this!

don't you love this rug from garnet hill!!!

this is on my want list.

A Photo Holder

that i know a few of you are going to make!

i know i am...

tiffany from lemon tree creations made this to go along with her pinwheel party.

so cute!

Quilt Answers...{edited...thx katie!}

thanks for your comments and emails.



these quilts above aren't really a "pattern".
the americana one is a combination of two different quilts (america for me & lady liberty) in jan patek's lady liberty book. i'm pretty sure you can find it on amazon. the weathervane quilt was made from a panel that is no longer available and is no where to be found. the pattern was made up by sheryl johnson of temecula quilt co. i fell in love with it while touring her home. she might still have the applique pattern available. you can email her.

this quilt is a pattern by Linda Brannock and Rita Briner called "those are not weeds" i found it here.

Did you know...

that flour has an expiration date???



well actually it's a "better if used by" date.
either way this is what happens when you use it after the date.
{my poor zuccini bread}
i didn't believe that it was the flour, i thought i must had forgotten something, so i tried again.
and yep, this is how it turns out.

BUT, if you overcook it and grab a spoon, it's not half bad!