Quilt Show

I submitted a quilt this year to the annual Winter Quarters Quilt Show.  I submitted Juliette's quilt that I made her before she was born.  I know it isn't the fanciest quilt, but it is my first and I hand quilted it so I thought I'd show it off.  I had one of our Senior Sister Missionaries, Sister Wright, turn it in for me.  The submission time was 3 weeks after we left, and ended a week before we got home from Idaho.  She had one that she had made and was turning in as well, and was more than happy to do that for me.  Her and her husband served in our ward and left for home while we were gone as well.  I miss them.  They were an amazing couple.

Anywho, here it is:

They also showcased the back of it nicely, too.

The one behind mine is Sister Wrights.  I wish I had gotten a better picture.  It has a map of the pioneer trail from Winter Quarters to SLC with hand stitched flower squares that each of the Trail Center sister missionaries did.  It was so pretty.

Me with my work.  On the paper, it has a little write up about it and they spelled Juliette wrong.  They spelled it Julietter.  Oh well.  hopefully people recognized that it was a typo and that I really didn't name my daughter "Julietter".

Walking out, Dex wanted to push JJ.  She is enamored with her brother and was pretty tickled that he was pushing her.  Dex had been sick and had a window of feeling a little better.  That's why he isn't smiling in the picture.

I wish that I had submitted my Great Grandmother's quilt as well, but it needs a good washing and I'm nervous to do it in my machine and didn't have time to take it to dry cleaners before we left.  It would have been special to have it hanging in the Trail Center.  Who knows, maybe I'll have another chance to, and maybe not. 

Pig Tails

Jules' hair finally got long enough to attempt:

PIG TAILS!!!

At my first attempt, they are a tad lopsided and the part is off, but oh so cute!  Who knew she had that long of hair!   

 So what did Little Miss think of all this?

She thought it was impressive!  

And funny, and couldn't figure out what I was doing back there.

How about one more for your viewing pleasure!

Oh, and no worries, I have since perfected them and added a headband for the front.  So sweet! 
She isn't much of a baby anymore.  She is my little toddler girl.  Love you Miss!

Wheat

One cold day, shortly after we got home,  Dex and I decided it would be fun to make bread.  Whole wheat bread. With freshly ground flour.  So that is what we did.  We made bread.  Whole wheat bread.  With freshly ground flour.

I was actually excited to grind the wheat with Dex.  I thought he would enjoy seeing the process.  He didn't appreciate the noise, but he loved pouring in the kernels and watching the bin fill up with flour.

He kept his hand over his ear and loved helping me out.  He especially loved to help me dump the fresh flour into a different container.  He was so surprised to feel how soft and warm the fresh flour was.    

We made our yummy bread.  He smelled every ingredient that I put into the bread and helped me mix it, but in the end he refused it eat it.  JJ loved it though.  She and I enjoyed our warm, homemade bread immensely.

Catching up with Friends

I'm having a hard time getting the rest of our Idaho adventures up.  Don't worry, they'll get posted, I just wanted to get started on our current happenings to help get out of my "writer's block".  

When we got home, it was so sweet to see Dex with some of his friends, and to see them with him. I don't have pictures of all his friend reunions, but these ones I do:

Dexter's reunion with RJ was sweet.  Dex had been waiting for a long time to get to play with him, and they both light up when they finally got to play.

We swung on the swings and rode bikes for a long time.

Then with Lainey, we first saw her at church going to nursery.  Our nursery is so big they have split it and they are in different classes.  When Lainey saw Dex, she ran up and said Desser! Desser! Desser!, and refused to go to her class.  She wanted to play with Desser!  His little friend Garret was cute, too.  We sat down a couple pews ahead of them and Garret looks up and says "Dexter's back!  He's my buddy, my friend.  My friend is back!"

We went to the park with Lainey and I snapped a couple of these pictures.  It was cute to see these two enjoying playing together again.

JJ even enjoyed seeing Lainey again.  She really likes her and gets excited when she can play with her.

Geocaching with the Jenks

One evening, we went Geocaching with the Jenks.  It took us on a walk along the canyon.  It made Dex nervous to be near it and for a while after, he didn't even like us driving towards it.  He has the most amazing sense of direction.  I could spin him around blindfolded and he would still know what was where.  He  is just Amazing!

Our view:

We also walked along the canyon rim trail.  We didn't go the direction of  "Mr. Guess' Summer Home" (where we got engaged;  maybe next time out we'll make it there), but it is still just as magnificent and sent me reminiscing.  

As much as I have grown to love Iowa, I have missed this canyon something fierce.  It always make me feel at home.

Loveless Family Reunion

My mom did a Loveless Family Reunion while we were there.  We were supposed to ride the Thunder Mountain Railroad Line, but do to smoke and health issues, we decided it would be best to not go.  What did we do instead?  So glad you asked.  We went to breakfast at Golden Chorale   Gross, I know.  Twin definitely needs a better breakfast restaurant.  After that, we went to a fun new arcade place right next to Kurt's Pharmacy.  It's name escapes me.  We played their black light golf and arcade games.  The kiddos were spoiled with prizes and we had a good ole time.

After that, we went to Rock Creek Park and found a lovely little spot, where we took some family pictures.    I haven't edited these yet, so they are in their raw form. 

For the family picture, we just did a tripod.  Only took 3 shots!  

We hung out at Curt and Crystals and ate lunch then parted our separate ways.  It was so fun to get to hang out with my siblings and their sweet families.  We don't get to do that enough.  

Ahhh,  I just love family!