The Wedding Reception

Denton and Taylor dance the first dance - after the cake fiasco. Taylor and Denton, Sonja and Kemp Arrilla, Taylor, denton, Sonja, Kemp, and Bethany - The reception was well-attended. Many friends of both Taylor and Denton made the trip to the reception, as well as family. Happy occasion for all concerned. We traveled to Boise on Friday to attend the reception that evening. What a challenge to be setting out on one of life's biggest adventures - better faced when young and optimistic. Life to be lived to the fullest.

Sawtooth Star for Denton and Taylor

The quilter very kindly sent me pictures of the quilt I've made for Denton and Taylor's wedding at the end of this month. I took it to Sue yesterday, and it's finished this morning. That means that if I get the quilt on Monday, I'll be able to get it bound in time for the wedding. I'm not too worried about Denton's seeing it on the blog before the day, because he's probably way too engrossed (twitterpated?) to think of looking on this blog. Denton told me that his bride-to-be liked pink and red, so I went with the pinks - Sister Louise sent me her book on construction of the quilt, and I began - only to be constantly interrupted by other responsibilities and a couple of cataract surgeries. The quilt was supposed to be simple, but didn't end out that way. Good experience? Always a joy when a quilt is finished, especially in time for a special event. Now, on to the big celebration in Boise later this month.

The Interminable Winter

After snowing light fluffy snow all night Thursday, the weather really got to work all day yesterday, leaving us with plenty to close out the month of February. This has been an extraordinarily long winter - the sundial above wears its cap of compacted snow with resignation. (The inscription under all that pile of snow is the old "Grow old along with me, The best is yet to be.") I took the pictures in the blue-cast gloom of the early morning light. The only slight break we can see in the gray sky is the little glow to the west. Even the yard light wears a little cap this morning. The house at the end of the cul-de-sac and across the street looks closer because I was loathe to put on my boots and get closer. Hurrah for telescopic lenses! Will the snow begin to melt? Did the groundhog see his shadow on Feb. 2nd? Will BYU win the ball game today? (I just threw that in, because that's how we'll be spending the middle part of the day - watching the game and eating homemade chicken noodle soup and maybe even popping popcorn.)

Forecast the Weather!

This weather globe was a gift from friends who purchased it in Billings, Montana. They forgot to give it to us for Christmas, but found it a little while ago. Ron performed the trick of filling it, following directions carefully. Now, we can tell when the weather is about to change. Lots of fun to look every day and watch the green water go up and down in the tube. When we had the bad wind and snowstorm on Tuesday afternoon and evening, the water was pushed clear up to the little fat bulb on the top of the tubing. Today? Cloudy overhead, and rising. (Remember, Mark Twain said something about people talking about the weather, but never doing anything about it.) We just watch - always a topic of conversation. Who would think that we would get so much fun out of a little object.

Does a Christmas Cactus Bloom at Christmas?

This plant bloomed the first part of December, and the show was over by Christmas. Now, it's chosen to bloom again. The plant is in a room where it is much neglected - only gets watered occasionally. It does get filtered light from the east, which it must like. So, now, when the days are often dull and gray and very cold, we have this bit of beautiful color to lighten our days. I'm so glad that God made flowers for us on this earth!

a Typical Night at Home

A typical night with Rylee involves us playing around, chilling on the floor (so I'm at her level, she hates it when I choose to sit on the couch I have to sit on the floor or she'll start screaming). Tonight I pulled out the camera and took pictures of us, she was extremely chill and mellow, it was kind of nice!

She's Growing Up to Fast!

Rylee has just been growing and growing, and it seems to be too fast. She is already walking, not very well but it is walking. She loves wearing her tu tu. Shes a lot of fun and sure keeps me busy! Wish her luck she gets tubes in her ears Friday Feb. 4th :(

Happy Birthday, Ron!

This has been a very fun birthday for Ron (and me, too). First came a box in the mail which was full of Snickerdoodles for Ron from his sister, Evie in Washington. Celebration continued last night, when we went to a friend's house to watch the BYU-CSU game. (Our satellite carries CBS-C and Versus sports stations, and they have MTN, so we trade off - our house or theirs.) Our friend, Leo, had baked Ron a birthday cake - chocolate with icing, so that was the first treat. At Church this morning, the Priesthood brethren sang "Happy Birthday to You" to him. We had a special steak dinner at home, and then the fun began. We have three families with little children in our cul-de-sac. First came the green-iced sugar cookies with the fun card that you see above. Clayton, who is the next-to-smartest boy in his first grade class(by this own admission), made the card with his little brother, Cayden. Next came neighbor Carolyn with a plate of iced cinnamon rolls with a candle in the middle and a card written by her two boys. Friend Nancy dropped by with two pieces of chocolate cake, and the neighborhood trio of Jayden, Logan, and Kennedy, brought a fantastic plate full of chocolate-iced cupcakes stacked like a cake, with a candle on the top. Oh, and the home teachers brought a plate of cookies. Wish you could all drop in and help us eat these treats. Cards and remembrances were all much appreciated. We are grateful for the warm feeling that family and friends brought to this special day!

Denton and Taylor

The picture was already on Facebook, so I purloined this picture of our grandson and his fiancee. Nice to look at - we know that Denton is special, so we assume that Taylor is, too.

I forgot to post this picture. I had taken clear back in August up in the bighorns, enjoy!

New Year, New Quilt, New Challenges

I am working on a quilt using the pattern called Sawtooth Star. A very simple star is formed in the block, with the corner squares being in a light color. When I copied the fabric in the catalog, and duplicated it many times to have enough paper representation of the fabric to make a dummy block, I was very pleased with the block. When I sewed the first block and hung it on my design wall, I could see that the edges of the star were often lost because of the large white spaces in the packed roses. I had three choices - to have a disappearing star (which is very "in" in some quilting circles, but which I don't like), to purchase other fabric, or to alter the rose fabric. Liking the third choice best (remember, it's still cold outside), I got out my Polycolor pencils, and began coloring each little square that will make a flying geese. Eureka, it works - and I can do it while I sit at my ease, using my lap desk and thinking about other things at the same time. Now I can't finish sorting out the stacks of filing I still need to do (my usual New Year's job), but it will make some busy work for some time, and should result in a more beautiful quilt. There is always a solution of some sort to the problem, even if it's one that results in a little more work. (This was supposed to be a fast quilt.) Wish me luck. These are the same two blocks - the top one untouched, and the one below, the colored one. Quite a difference.

Time to Celebrate

Today, we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. (We will have to live into our late 90's to reach 50.) Obviously, this picture was taken in younger days - about 20 years ago. We spent our wedding day in typical fashion for those of us who are more mature - I had a doctor's appointment in Logan, then Ron sat in the car at JoAnn Fabrics, we went to a book store and browsed, and then went to lunch at our favorite Logan restaurant, The Coppermill. And, one good thing about eating out when you have lived longer - you usually end up with as much as you ate to take home and make a second meal out of it.

There were many remembrances of the day we got married in Bellevue, WA. The day began very early - I had been staying with Mother and Dad; the children had already moved into Ron's house in Tumwater. He went early to the post office, pounded on the door, and explained that the wedding ring he needed for the day had not been delivered, so they found it for him. One hurdle overcome! Mother, Dad, and I got to the his house, and we proceeded to drive to Seattle. This was the short period of time that Mother's cancer seemed to be in remission, we were so happy to have them present at the temple for the ceremony. I haven't found the pictures that were taken that day - but I know that Judy and Bob, Julie and Mike, Andrea, and many others were there. Were you there, Ann? Where is that picture???? It's supposed to be in the album, but I've neglected them for years and can't find it. I remember that the pansies were blooming, and the day was warm enough to walk around the grounds without a jacket. This was during the time of the ERA, and there were pickets outside the temple grounds.

When we went back to the car, after being in the temple, it wouldn't start - a door had been left slightly ajar, and the battery had run down. Fortunately, there was help, and a man came with his battery charger. We had lunch at the Tyee in Tumwater with family and friends, and then proceeded to load Andrea's things in the car to take her to the airport to leave for the MTC in Provo. Part way there, Julie and MIke caught up with us with Andrea's coat, which had been left behind. When we got to the airport, I stayed in the car, and drove around and around and around so that the battery would be charged up, while Ron took Andrea into the airport. What a day! Memorable in all aspects.

Rylee and I

Here are some pics of Rylee and I that were taken today. She has been having a fever all day at 103.3 poor girl, she just keeps getting sick. After giving her some medicine she was back to herself though. We took some goofy pictures together, she has such a fun personality! oh and she loved wearing her new tutu skirt!

Pics of Rylee

Rylee is so much fun. Her personality is sure coming through. She's such a flirt and growing so big. Yesterday she turned 10 months old! She's a big healthy girl too, hitting the scale at 24 lbs and 29 in. long. Enjoy the pics!

The Birches on fabric

A muslin base with crayon drawing and coloring plus a little thread-painting with the sewing machine is all it took to compose this picture from a photo that I took in the fall. Double click on the picture to look at it more closely. The finished size of the center is 16 1/2 x 16 1/2.