Cute Giveaway!

For all my crafty buddies, there is a great giveaway on Sew Much Ado's blog. She's giving away her adorable Ruby Lou Doll Pattern, and I totally want one. Head over there to enter!

Our Awesome Christmas

December is always a hectic time for us. It's that special time of year when finals, gift-giving and family events all converge into one big red and green colored mess. This year I had final exams and papers due all the way up to the 23rd of December, so I was a little MIA during some of the festivities this year. Fortunately, Garrett was able to make it to a fun dinner with his family on his mother's side. He had a great time hanging out with all his aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews. Here are just a few of them:



Garrett and I got some great gifts this Christmas. Earlier this year, I gave Garrett his birthday/Christmas present: an awesome classical guitar.


Garrett also got this great coat from Kohl's (Thanks, Dad!). I have never seen Garrett get so excited about a piece of clothing before, though I have also never felt a coat that was so soft before either.


Some of Garrett's other favorite gifts included Season 4 of Batman: The Animated Series from my mom, a cool book from Heather, Scattergories from my dad and Christmas money from his parents and grandparents. He used some of his Christmas money to buy Season 3 of Batman, so I guess we'll be watching a lot of Batman for a while. But I think my Christmas present was hands-down the very best. As my Christmas/birthday present, I got a Bosch mixer! I love it. I've never had my own mixer before. My mom has a similar one that she got for Christmas the day my sister, Heather, was born (which totally explains why they waited to open presents before driving to the hospital). I'd used that awesome mixer my entire life, so when I got married and had only a hand mixer, I had no idea how to use it. I flipped flour everywhere, had a terrible time controlling the speed, and basically gave up on baking fun things. I was just too used to the fancy schmancy one. So now I have this one:


And check out some of the yummy stuff I made! Garrett says the streusel blueberry buckle I made is now his new favorite dessert.


Some of my other favorite Christmas gifts included a beautiful vintage Pyrex bowl from Lanna, some awesome 70s cookbooks from Heather, new boots and cookie sheets from Dad, and Garrett and I are both really excited for the Lion King tickets Mom bought for all of us.

My favorite part of Christmas has always been the gift-giving. I try to buy presents really early, so I don't have to do much shopping after finals. I basically only had one day, Christmas eve, to get everything ready. Garrett and I spent a lot of the day wrapping like crazy, but I also had to put together Mom and Lanna's presents. I had already bought the fabric, but I ended up sewing them both on Christmas eve. Thank goodness all my last minute work turned out so great. When my mom opened her present, Lanna said "You look like Betty Crocker!" It was so cute.


Lanna loved hers so much, she wore it all day. Even playing the Wii. You can see some of her gifts in the background. But the present Lanna loved the very most was a boy Polly Pocket with brushable hair. Lanna told Mom on Christmas eve that she really wanted Santa to bring her a boy Polly Pocket with real hair. Mom told her that sometimes Santa has to shop at stores, and he might not be able to find a boy Polly Pocket. Lanna said that Santa has about 10,000 elves who make the toys, and they could make her a boy Polly Pocket. Sure enough, Santa and his elves pulled through.

After Christmas eve, Christmas morning and Heather's birthday, we were all pooped. Even the animals. Thank goodness I have two more weeks to relax before school starts.

Something old... something awesome!

In my search for amazing vintage Pyrex to add to my collection, Garrett and I have scored some great finds. At first, Garrett was not very excited to spend his Saturday mornings waking up early and driving to estate sales and thrift stores in search of Pyrex. Sleep is very important to Garrett. Garrett loves sleeping more than movies, rocking out on his guitar or playing video games. Garrett can sleep any time, any place, and for any amount of time. So giving up sleeping in on Saturday morning was a big deal for Garrett; however, in our searches, Garrett has found blu-ray movies for $4, "The African Queen" on VHS (for some insane reason, that movie has never been released on DVD), and complete seasons of Seinfeld, The Simpsons and Moonlighting (my favorite). Now that we have substituted an afternoon nap for sleeping in, Garrett is pretty happy to go along and even has a favorite DI.

Last week, Heather fell in love with a beatiful vintage baby bike at a cute consignment shop, but at $150, it was a little out of her budget. Last Saturday, Garrett and I were meandering through DI, and ran into this beauty for $30. And it is in better condition than the pricier one. Heather is thrilled.


Thanks to our early morning trips, my Pyrex collection has expanded beautifully. Most of these pieces were bought at DI, some at estate sales, some at other thrift shops, and a few at consignment shops. Some of my best pieces are hiding in there, but I'm a little too lazy to pull them all out and photograph them for you. I have a few great Fire King pieces, a milkglass batter bowl (which I use to make Garrett waffles), vintage syrup dispensers, a vintage eggbeater, some milkglass vases, and a family of owl trivets hiding in there, too.


I've also picked up some cute vintage Tupperware, a brand new in box fondue set, and a red "You Are Special Today" plate at DI, among other things. My fun vintage Pyrex is definitely my favorite find, and a great backdrop for my knitting. I made these cute little monsters for my sister-in-law's sister (try saying that ten times fast!). I love how the dark pink turned out. Knitted toys look so cute, even though they are so much work! When Garrett and I finally buy a house, I would love to decorate it with vintage pieces. I suppose while we're in this bitty apartment, though, I'll have to be satisfied with my cupboard full of retro goodies.

Lanna's Baptism

My sister was baptized yesterday, and I am so proud of her! She chose to have our grandpa baptize her. She looked so confident and happy in her white dress. After her baptism, she got her very first set of scriptures from my parents.

I can't believe how fast she has grown up. I spent so many hours of my senior year of high school waltzing with baby Lanna to get her to stop crying, reading her Hamlet and driving her in circles around the temple trying to get her to fall asleep.


When Garrett and I started dating, Lanna was about 9 months old. She was already walking with one hand against the wall. Her first word was "Spongebob," but my favorite memory of her talking is when I would ask her where something was, and she would turn around, shrug one shoulder and say "Not know." At this age, we all had to avoid laying down on the floor because as soon as we did, Lanna would toddle over and try to bounce on our heads with her cute little diapered bum. I don't know why. We certainly didn't teach her that, and I think she trained us because now we still hardly ever lay on the carpet.


When I got married, Lanna was my bittiest bridesmaid at just one year old. She was a pro at walking by then, and she ran all over my wedding reception in her cute little dress. She loved being tipped "Upside down!," and reading "Moo, Baa, La La La." And she still loved Spongebob. Almost all of the presents from her first birthday had Spongebob on them. Garrett bought her a Spongebob ball that was just her size, and Mom bought her a Spongebob pillow that she could cuddle when she went to sleep.

Over the next year, she spent a lot of time at our first apartment. One of our wedding gifts was a box that looked like a treasure chest. We filled it with toys for Lanna to play with when she came over, and we still have it full of toys for her. I remember her helping teach Garrett how to change a diaper, and getting her ready for her preschool pictures.

On the day before her third birthday, Lanna spent the day with me in a daycare class I taught. Then I brought her with me to my friend Ayrial's house. Ayrial was in labor, and would deliver her oldest daughter in the wee hours of the morning on Lanna's birthday. Lanna was so interested and adorable as she explained to my mom what was going on.


When she was four, I took her to a Halloween party for my Salt Lake ward. She was Cinderella, and she loved it when I pulled her hair up just like Cinderella's and sprayed it with glitter. When she was about five, she was a flower girl for my cousin's wedding. As she walked down the aisle, she carefully picked one flower petal from her basket at a time, and placed it on the ground.

When she was six, she was Florence Nightingale for Halloween. Garrett picked her up to take her trick or treating at the law school. She had eaten too much chocolate, and threw up in Garrett's car and all over her costume. Fortunately, I had her black leotard and tights, kitty ears and tail, so she was a cute black kitty for trick-or-treating. That year, her school performed Romeo and Juliette. Even though Lanna only had one line, she had memorized the entire play, and would recite the whole thing, act by act.

At seven, Lanna and I spent a lot of time at Kangaroo Zoo. Her favorite thing to do there was to run to one of the inflatable toys, climb up it, go down the slide and run all the way back to me while I time her. My favorite thing to do there was playing miniature golf with her. She has great mini golf skills.

Now, at eight, Lanna is just as fun and adorable as ever. Last week I found two boxes filled with chapter books that Heather and I read when we were Lanna's age. Lanna looked at all the books and said, "You really read all of these?" I hope she'll enjoy them as much as Heather and I did. She is growing up so fast, learning so many things and making good choices. We are so proud of her!

Why I hate sewing... and love it at the same time.

My mother taught me how to sew when I was little, just like her mother taught her. Sewing has always been a source of great frustration for me. Most of my sewing lessons involved me getting upset and ended with me unpicking massive amounts of stitches. I hated unpicking the very most, and unfortunately, since I was impatient, chose difficult patterns and fabrics, and tried to rush through every project, I ended up unpicking a lot. Whenever my mother told me that I would have to unpick something, I got so angry. I don't know how she put up with my crankiness.

And then I talked to my grandmother. Apparently great sewing frustration is an inherited trait. My grandmother told me that during one sewing lesson, my mother became so frustrated that she threw a spool through the basement window. After hearing that story, I knew why my mom was so patient when she taught me to sew. She knew exactly how I felt. Even though sewing was frustrating at times, my mother became really great at it. She made matching outfits for us, amazing Halloween costumes, and cute things for herself.

When I got married, I really wanted to be able to do the same thing when Garrett and I had children. After I finished my B.A., Garrett and my mother bought me a beautiful, brand new sewing machine, and I put it to good use. My cousin is getting married in a couple weeks, so as a shower gift, I made her an apron using this adorable pattern. The pattern has three adult sizes and three child sizes, so I decided to make a cute little apron for my niece's birthday (I hope toddlers don't read blogs!). About halfway through that project, my thread started getting stuck in the machine. Ugh! I felt all that old frustration come rushing back. I looked through the manual, I took the machine apart, cleaned it, and put it back together about 5 times without figuring out how to fix the problem. I was going crazy! All of a sudden I heard a loud CRACK and I landed flat on the floor. The old wood folding chair I was sitting on had chosen that precise moment to give up the ghost. I started bawling. It was horrible. Garrett consoled me and took care of the chair while I called my mother to complain. My mom's advice? To take it apart and put it back together. So I did it one more time. And magically, it worked!

There is just something special about a finished project that makes me love sewing despite all the little frustrations that go with it. Mostly I'm just grateful that my mom taught me to hang in there, because the end makes it all worth it. Check out this lovely, toddler size, reversible apron!

I'm in love!

My sister introduced me to vintage Pyrex, and it was love at first sight. In order to start my collection, Garrett and I decided to devote Saturday morning to Pyrex hunting. We got up at 6:30am, went to one antique sale, one yard sale, two estate sales, two D.I.s and one consignment shop. Sadly, the only place that had any decent Pyrex was the very last place we went, an adorable consignment shop on 9th East. Happily, the Pyrex they had was BEAUTIFUL! As you can see, I bought two casserole dishes and one lovely Cinderella mixing bowl. I can't believe they don't make this stuff anymore. I think everyone would totally buy it instead of the plain boring clear glass stuff they make now. Just look at that Cinderella bowl. It is the perfect mixing bowl, with a round shape, a spout and a handle. Why would they stop making such a perfectly designed mixing bowl?


This little casserole dish, for me, is the belle of the ball. When my sister first showed me all the vintage Pyrex patterns, this was the one I immediately fell in love with. I couldn't find any listings for it on Ebay or Etsy, and I thought that this would be the one item I would always love and never be able to find. Lucky me! Isn't it lovely? The pattern is called Crazy Quilt, and it was a promotional item so it only comes in this size.


The morning prior to my amazing Pyrex discovery was not a total bust. I picked up this pretty green bowl and silver-rimmed glass coasters at the antiques sale for a song. The coasters need to be polished, but at $1 for the whole set, I'm not complaining. All in all, it was a very productive morning, which Garrett and I promptly made up for by taking a well-deserved nap.

Trapped in Florence

Yes, I am supposed to be driving home today. It seems that the desert has taken me captive. Picture a very dark Thursday night. I was cruising down the highway with two coworkers. We were on our way back from having dinner in Tucson, making the 1 hour and 15 minute drive back to Florence. Everything was fine. Until suddenly a giant jackrabbit* darted out of the shadows and right in front of my car. There was nothing I could do. The jackrabbit made a big sickening thud as the car hit it. There was nowhere for me to pull over. It was the middle of the night, and the highway had no shoulder, so I kept driving all the way home.

When I woke up the next morning, I went outside to survey the damage. My front license plate holder was broken and hanging askew, the front bumper was broken, and the grill. There were tufts of hair all over the bottom of the car. I drove the car over to the town mechanic to see if he could patch things up so I could drive it home without losing anything on the way. Turns out, not only is my front bumper and grill all busted up, that darn rabbit hit my radiator, pushing it back into the engine. Bottom line, I'm stuck here until they fix it. Great. Hopefully I'll be back next week. In the meantime, keep me in your thoughts. I really want to come home, and I'm sure that was quite apparent to the mechanic when I burst into tears at the sad news. This already feels like the longest week of my life.

*Everyone has asked me if I am sure that it was a jackrabbit and, yes, I am 100% sure. But it was a really big jackrabbit. I've never seen such a big jackrabbit. The lady at my insurance company is from Arizona, and she said that on her property they have jackrabbits as big as her dogs. The trainer at the gym said she saw a jackrabbit down here that, when it was standing up on its hind legs, was taller than her child, not including the ears. In the words of the insurance lady, "We grow them big down here."