Signing Off

When we first moved to Orchard Oriole Lane we thought it was such a cool street name. It didn't take long for us to change our minds. We started making calls to connect our utilities and other calls associated with moving to a new address. It seems that from the other end of the line it sounds like we live on Orchard Oreo Lane! That has been a thorn in our sides ever since.

Tomorrow we sign on our new home and will begin moving. We have made many good memories in this home and it is the only home our children know. Here are some things I will miss about this house and our neighborhood:

• The lake view
• The wildlife-- blue heron, geese, ducks, bunnies, blue jays, cardinals, blue birds, etc. We have even seen beavers, deer, a bald eagle and a swan.
• Neighbors with the same-age kids
• Walking distance to a grocery store, Wendy's and blockbuster
• Living near a good portion of the ward members
• My neighbor Sheila (and Skeeter even though she is in Seattle for another year)
• Close proximity to the mall
• The neighborhood park and other close parks

We have had many people come to visit us in this house including my parents, Chris's parents, Chris's brothers, Kimball and Cameron, my niece Alyssa, the Johnsons, Derek, and many others.

Although we are very excited to move into our new home, we will miss this place. This is my last blog at this home address. Signing off. . . . .

Tristan Michael Turns 1

Today is my sweet baby boy's birthday! Tristan has been such a joy in our lives and I can't believe a whole year is up. It must be because he is the second child but it seems like his first year went by way faster than Kennedy's first year.
Tristan is starting to take his first steps. He has a few toys that have wheels and can be pushed. He loves to push those around the house. I often see him out of the corner of my eye zooming here, there, and everywhere. It's hard to tell, but I think he will be saying a few words soon. He definitely says "mamama" and "dadada". Sometimes if I say "ouch" he will try to repeat by saying "ahh".
I have given Tristan a little bit of milk in a sippy cup the past few days in preparation for weening. He loves it. I think he will catch on quickly. He has always been a fast nurser. From the time he was just a few hours old he could take in a whole feeding in under 10 minutes. I worried at first that he was not getting enough but it didn't take long to realize he was growing just fine. He loves to eat and gets very excited when I start making dinner. He likes the real thing. He doesn't like when I give him a piece of bread. That's just not good enough. I think this kid will be big.
Tristan has such a sweet demeanor. He hardly ever cries. I love to watch him play with Kennedy. She likes to tease him and make him laugh and Tristan has the cutest dimples. He likes to tease us too. When he nurses he likes to stick his finger in my nose or mouth. He loves his daddy and rushes toward him when he gets home from work. Tristan loves to play outside and since we have been going out more often with the warmer weather he has a harder time when we stay inside. I love to take him on walks because he just looks around and is so peaceful.
I'm so glad I have this sweet little thing in my life. I don't know what we would do without him.
Here are some things I have learned over the past year:

• You can love more than one child
• No matter how hard you try, sibling rivalry is just a part of life
• No matter how hard you try, some kids just don't sleep through the night
• There are more important things than sleep
• Boys are just as fun as girls, just different
• Resolve is really good for cleaning spit-up off the floor
• Two kids are better than one (even though one was great for a while)
• I love having my own fan club (of two)

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter!
We had a nice day today. This morning we snuggled in bed with the kids for a few minutes before going downstairs. We let Tristan play on the floor while we read the Easter story to Kennedy. She loves reading about Jesus on the cross and about his resurrection.
My kids were spoiled by the Easter Bunny. When my mom was here a few weeks ago she bought the kids some things from the Gap and Pottery Barn Kids. By the time we supplemented it almost looked like Christmas. We got Kennedy a little CD player and some audio story books. That was a big hit. She has been listening to it all day. Kennedy said she looked like Sleeping Beauty (with brown hair of course) in her pink dress.
When I was a kid it seemed like Easter was always cold. The Easter Bunny always brought a cute shorts set and a nice spring dress but it was usually a little crisp still. Since moving to NC that has not been the case, until this year. Last Saturday was beautiful when I took Kennedy to an egg hunt. The first part of this week we had beautiful weather with the temperature in the 80s. On Thursday we had a swift change and it feels like winter again. However, I couldn't bring myself to dress my kids in anything but their Easter attire today.
We had our friend Nathan over for dinner. His wife and kids were out of town. We had grilled basil shrimp, orange rolls, lemon rice, salad and raspberry cake. If our friend wouldn't have come we would have leftovers.

Finished Quilt

Ahhh, another finished project. I'm on a roll! Of course, I needed my mom's help to finish this one. It's a queen-size quilt and I won't even attempt to quilt one that big on my sewing machine. My mom has become an expert long-arm quilter. Thanks to her expertise this quilt is now finished and will be off to its rightful owner (Kimball and Julie Kelsey) soon.

Last summer Kimball and Julie hinted they would be getting married within the year. In July while I was visiting my family in Beaver, Kimball and Julie came down from Ogden to visit us. I told Julie I wanted to make her a quilt. I took her down to the quilt store in Beaver, where my mom works, and had her pick out some fabrics. She said she had a lot of Americana decor and wanted something along that line. She picked out some blues that I already had scraps of at home. She chose some red and background to go with it. We looked at some patterns and chose this one from Eleanor Burns' Quilts Through the Seasons book.

When I got home the red I had did not go well with the other fabrics I wanted to use in the quilt. I pulled out some red scraps and figured I had enough for this quilt. I started right away. The cutting instructions were very easy and the piecing went quickly. I had the blocks done in no time.

I did put the quilt away for a few months to work on other projects but finished it after the holidays. I couldn't have been more pleased with how it turned out. I hope Julie and Kimball enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Conference Weekend

Another busy, but fun, weekend. I started off Saturday by having my hair cut and highlighted. My roots were only about 4 inches! I felt like a new woman. After I got home I took Kennedy up to the park for an Easter egg hunt. Some of her friends from church were there and they were able to play after the hunt. There weren't many kids there so Kennedy filled her basket.

After lunch Chris took Kennedy to the veterinary school in Raleigh for their open house where they had some activities for kids. I stayed home with Tristan, who slept most of the time, and quilted. I finished another baby quilt this weekend. I wanted to post a picture but it seems that some of our things have been packed away in boxes and the cord I needed to download will not be seen until we move into our new house in two weeks--you'll have to wait to see the quilt.

We went to see our new house this morning and were excited to see that we have several dogwood trees on our lot. The dogwood is the state flower. It comes out in spring and it's like lace for the forest. It is my favorite bloom here in the spring.

We also went to Duke Gardens. It was a beautiful, overcast, spring day. We have been having lots of pollen the last week or so and everything has been covered in a yellow powder but we had some rain the other day that helped wash some of it away.

We enjoyed listening to conference, well as much as we could. We have to listen in the office on the Internet. Gone are the days of relaxing in front of the t.v. At least we don't have to drive to the church to watch. I love listening to conference and always feel renewed and dedicated.

Well, back to the grind tomorrow. Now that I have this quilt finished I have to do something constructive, like packing.

Three Reasons to Blog

This is one of the reasons that I wanted to start a blog. I wanted to record my quilting experiences. I have a quilt journal but it's all filled up. This way other people can see what I have been working on.
I love to quilt. It has been a journey for me but I am comfortable now doing larger projects. I started out making small wall quilts. On occasion I would attempt a baby quilt. The first baby quilt I made took me three years to complete. It was a scrappy quilt, no two blocks alike and I hand quilted it which took me a really long time. I would get tired of it and put it away for several months. I finally finished it and there was no way I would let it go to anyone else. I'll have to admit, I haven't even used it for myself. It's beautiful but it's in my hope chest.
This quilt was made out of Moda fabrics from the line "Faded Memories". My friends found them on sale at a local quilt store but the sale was a 1-yard minimum cut so four of us pitched in a bought the whole line and each had a fat quarter of each of the prints. It's a very pretty line of fabrics.
The pattern is called "Twin Sisters". The pattern looked fun to me so I thought I would give it a try. I really enjoyed making this quilt. I even machine quilted it myself. I haven't decided who will get it. I might just hold on to it for a while.

This is the second reason I wanted to start a blog. My kids are growing and changing so fast I wanted a way that I could keep their grandparents updated.

Today I was on a walk with the kids in a stroller. Kennedy, aka Sweet Pea, asked me to let go of the stroller and push them into the busy street. I tried to explain to her that that was dangerous. "Why?" is always the next question. I explained to her that a car might not see them and run them over. "Then what would you say, Mommy?" I explained that I would be sad and that I don't like to see my babies hurt. Here's the kicker--"Then you wouldn't have a "P" and a "Q" anymore?" Then she pointed to Tristan and smiled and said that he was a cute little "Q".

Here is the third reason I wanted to have a blog: Recipes! I love sharing recipes and finding new recipes. This one is my sister's recipe and it is really good. Today I substituted the chocolate chips for Andes Mint Baking Chips. The cookies were heavenly!

Double Trouble Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups chocolate chips or Andes Mint Baking Pieces

Cream together the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Add the dry ingredients and beat on a low speed. Add the chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until set.

Note: For high altitude, cut the baking soda to 1/2 tsp. and add 1 Tbs. flour.

This 'n That

I have been so lazy about blogging lately. I often think of something to write about but when I get a moment to myself there are so many things I want to do.
One of the reasons I feel like I have not had much time is because Kennedy has given up naps. Or, rather, I have stopped offering them. It has been so difficult, with her taking a nap, to get her to go to sleep at night. This is much sooner than I thought she would be ready but her night sleep has improved so much and she doesn't make a fuss when I put her to bed at 7:30. Now if I could just figure out what I could offer for quiet time that would keep her quiet and entertained for an hour!
We had the missionaries over for dinner Sunday. They are always so complementary on my meals. They are good guinea pigs too. I usually try a new recipe when they come over because I don't feel too embarrassed if it doesn't turn out ok. Here is a recipe I tried:

Sweet Raspberry Muffins

2 cups biscuit/baking mix
2 Tbs sugar
1/4 cup cold butter or margarine
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup raspberry jam
Glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tsp warm water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl, combine biscuit mix and sugar. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in milk just until moistened (batter will be thick). Spoon about 1 tablespoon of batter into 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Top with 1 teaspoon jam. Spoon the remaining batter (about 1 tablespoon each) over jam. Bake at 425 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in pans for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine glaze ingredients until smooth. Remove muffins to a wire rack. Drizzle with glaze.