Unexpected Utah trip

After playing "chicken" with priceline.com, and losing, I unexpectedly made a trip to Utah this week. Here is the best and the worst.....

WORST-

1. the trip home was long and bumby and I got so so sick. I didnt even feel completely better the next day.

2. the visit was too short.

3. my daily headaches came back during the trip. I cant figure out why.....

BEST--

1. I saw all my sisters! First, Karen picked the girls and me up from the airport (big surprize since no one knew i was coming) and took us to Moms. Mom was surprized as well. When Monta found out I was here, she invited Catie down. Catie actually drove down, even though it was only for about 24 hours! YAY. We took pics of all of us together. I also got to see Val, Ann, Dave and Carol, Dena and Ole, Aunt Timmie and Uncle Bob, and spent a lot of time with my mom.

2. I saw Jenna and Natalie's apartments. Helped Nat clean hers up and move in. Helped Jenna a bit, but she moved in months ago. They live just one stairwell away from each other in Alta Apartments. I had so much fun! Even though most of the time I was working hard. Nat drove me around where ever I wanted to go, even to SLC and to the quilt store in Sandy. (Both Nat and Jenna now have cars that they purchased with no financial assistance from us.)

3. All the other great stuff from the trip. Got to see Jodi, Amy and Kathy. Found out Denice is engaged!!!!, Went to Zupas for soup and salad, bought myzythria cheese and a byu lanyard. Talked endlessly with family--at Mimi's, Brick Oven, Sweet Tomatoes, Golden Corral, and Dena's spectacular breakfast table. Went to the quilt store in Sandy and bought some really fun stuff, while staying under budget! I had a snow cone the size of a basketball. Not kidding. I read a Shannon Hale book on each SLC/Chicago leg of my trip. I used my igo charger for my ipod/itouch with perfect results, put together some new furniture and trash picked other furniture for the girls! HAHA. It just doesnt get better than this!

Thanks for Molly and Bryce for letting me go without complaining. And now, one more free day, (Sunday). Then have to report to school Monday morning. Not exactly excited for that.

New relatives, quilting and Nationals tickets

The good--

1. We are related to the Sherrills in our ward. Well, kind of. Trent and Lyndi are here for her sister Anita's wedding. Anita married Michael Bowman (his parents are in a ward in our stake....). Turns out that Michael's younger sister is married to Ben Sherrill. Small world. This was discovered when Katie, Natalie, Jenna and Molly went to the temple to babysit Trent and Lyndi's girls while they attended the wedding. They kept seeing members of our stake arrive at the temple for a wedding. Eventually they realized that the stake members wedding and Trent and Lyndi's wedding was the SAME wedding!

2. I have been a busy beaver at the sewing machine this week. I made a beautiful quilt (wedding gift) for our friend, John Webster and his wife, Ellen. I designed the pattern from some ideas I have seen, figured out how to transfer the ideas drawn on graph paper into a quilt and then did it. This is not a strength of mine, so I am proud of myself. And just because I can, yesterday I decided to make Trent/Lyndi and the girls a quilt--picnic quilt--before they left. So I finished that today. Jean fabric with lots of colors of bandana fabric. Simple but cute. And I stitched each family member's names onto the jean squares. Finally, Bryce and I wrote a poem for the tag.

3. I have spent another 10+hours reorganizing and cleaning the basement, particularly Allie's old room. I dont even dread heading down to the basement any more. I actually look forward to spending time getting rid of more stuff and organizing more areas. This wont last long I'm sure. :o)

the Bad--

1. I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep on Thursday night. And I just cannot seem to recover, even sleeping properly since then. I am getting old. And I feel a lot older than I actually am.

2. I nearly bought Nationals tickets for next Thursday night. The whole family is free and we love going to baseball games as a family, so we thought we would go. But I couldnt get the right combination of price and seats, so I put it off. Good thing I put it off! I forgot that 3 members of the family have Demi Levato concert tickets that night! Now I have to find another night that everyone can go. Wish me luck. It's a nearly impossible task, I fear.

3. We only have one week left with college kids. Monday the 24th, Connor starts medical school. Jenna and Natalie fly back to Utah. The following Monday, I start back to school (long term sub, starting the school year, until Nov.) Summer is about over. I am not ready. I already miss the relaxed pace.

Another week, another post

Best and worst three

BEST-

-Trent and Lyndi and girls came to visit for a week! Those girls are amazingly cute!

-We canned (well, we froze) peaches and made freezer jam. Finished in one day and the same day helped a new family move in, did major house cleaning and dealt with a major computer crisis. We are very efficient!

-I finished organizing my quilting/sewing storage room. I found TWO craigs lists IKEA shelves for cheap, filled them with fabric, machines, tools, patterns, etc. I even found room for the piles of quilts I have. Sometimes I go down and just stare at the beauty of it all. :o)

WORST-

-Dealt with a major computer crisis that seemed to worsen by the minute. But thank heaven we now have a MAC. The crisis was one hundredth less than it would have been with a pc! GO MAC! I will never go back.

-I messed up two quilts while trying to make a quilt for a family friend. I'm hoping the third one is the charm. If not, I may just give up.

-While canning, I went outside to pick up the last box of peaches. When lifting it up, I found a cricket under it. I slightly freaked, shuddered and frantically put the box down. Bryce had to check out the box to be sure that no crickets had climbed into the box. Meanwhile, Trent was helpful by going out and killing the crickets surrounding the box. I had gone inside to calm down in the living room. Trent came in, hands cupped, and asked "have you ever caught a cricket?" while opening his hands right in my face. To say I freaked out, nearly threw up, and screamed, is probably understating the situation. I guess he is now even for the shark in the bathtub when he was 2 incident.

joining the blogging world

Inspired by my 3 girls who have blogs, and my 4 girls who are obsessed with blogs, I have decided to start blogging.  Who knows how long it will last......

Starting by listing the three best and worst things that have happened this week...

WORST

-because we are making major changes in 3 rooms in the house, the rest of the house is a total wreck

-molly is pet sitting 2 HUGE rats for good friends.  These rats are HUGE.  Creepy.  Did I mention HUGE?

-It's so hot that my face/head/hair is always dripping with sweat (now isn't that a picture you love to have in your head?)

BEST

-We are making changes to 3 rooms in the house.  Molly's room is so clean and reorganized that we actually found carpet on the floor!  And Allie's old room in the basement is being changed into my quilting fabric/supplies room

-I bought two IKEA bookcases on Craigs List for 50% off retail!  I love bargains

-We went to the farmer's market and bought a lot of fresh tomatoes, peaches and corn.