I'm just a regular bag lady

So, I seem to be on a Amy Butler bag kick lately. She has created some of the cutest patterns ever, and they are really easy to sew as well! I made my nappy bag in April, and now I have finished the Swing bag and one of the Chelsea totes (those are the names from the patterns by the way). For another look at a cute Swing bag, check out Allie's. We have been rotating patterns, since she enjoys them as well! :) Here is a look at the Swing bag.

It's reversible!



Now, check out the tote. Also, reversible, it stands up on it's own. Thank you interfacing!






Have to show off the tie I bought for Tyson for church! Stylin' just like his daddy!

Makes me want to go back to 3rd grade

This picture just screams fun and something for everyone (even grown-ups) to do to occupy themselves. Just imagine a roll of butcher paper beside it and going to town drawing whatever you can think up. When Tyson is old enough to color I think I will create my own version of it. Thanks, Heidi for thinking it up.
I am slowly allowing color back into my life. I bought two new shirts yesterday and when I was showing Dusty he said "those don't look like you". True, true. They are neither black nor white. But they are fun and it's nice to try something new. Plus, I did end up getting some compliments with them on later :) Thanks, Dust. So for all of you stuck in a rut, go ahead and try something new that you normally wouldn't dare. Maybe a crazy patterned purse, or some giant beads around your neck. It's good to make the world more beautiful!

Skirting the subject

After three days of cutting fabric, deciphering patterns, measuring elastic (forget zippers!), and threading bobbins, I finally have three new cute skirts. I think they are going to be fun to wear around. The first is a cotton vintage pattern. Kind of a light teal with pink and brown flowers. Very light, very summery. :) The second is a peachy orange color (reminds me of my mom) and has tiny sequins and threads running down vertically. I might be brave enough to wear this to church. I've never bought something in this color before. But I like it. The third skirt is a pure white with stitched flowers in the fabric. I know I probably shouldn't even attempt a white skirt with my little boy, but I could not resist. Sewing around here is tricky because my kitchen becomes my sewing central. Dusty handles it very well. Tyson finally does not cry when he hears the sewing machine (he is becoming less sensitive every day, he know longer gets scared when we get ice from the front of the fridge either, but that's another story). On times like this I wish we didn't have a rentor downstairs. Then I could spread out and go to town. But maybe I am more efficient this way as well. Tomorrow is our big yard sale. I think a few other families are going to join us. It should be a rompin' good time. So if you feel like you want some hand-me-overs, come on by! I still have to put the prices on everything and make the signs that will for sure be blown away by the wind after about an hour. Either that, or they will remain up for about a month before the city finally takes them down. :) Just kidding, we're not that kind of people........ Dusty's birthday was big hit. hee hee. Basically I didn't see him all day, but he got to hike up Kanaraville Falls with the scouts, and that's what he's been wanting to do for awhile so he was excited. We ate cake around 9:00 and watched the LOST finale. Talk about twisted ending. Anyways....... I'll let you know what kind of moolah we bring in from the yard sale bash. Probably nothing major. Unless we sell our Honda and Truck. Then we might go on vacation :)

Ten Months

Today Tyson is 10 months old! Can't believe it! While he is still not crawling, he acts like he would like to. He is getting frustrated whenever I set him down, so I hope that's the start of some intiative in him. He is also very close to being able to stand by himself. He can hold himself up on things, he just can't pull himself up. Also, he is finally sleeping through the night. It's been a battle and I finally decided a month ago to stop feeding him at night- cold turkey. Poor boy. But actually he handled it very well. Only a few nights of terrible crying. By that point, I was ready to let him scream away. Sounds like I'm a horrible mom, :), but when you wake up 3 times a night you will do anything to get your baby sleeping better. I think I read somewhere that some babies up to 9 months old still need to eat at night, and so I didn't think that I should deprive him if he needed it. Maybe that's the wrong way to approach good sleeping, but oh well. It's all part of the learning curve. We also don't wrap him up anymore to sleep either. He just rolls around and sleeps away like any other "normal" baby. Dusty and I have thought that maybe the swaddling contributed to his poor sleeping and maybe we just had to wean ourselves off of it because we were afraid that Tyson wouldn't fall asleep without it. Looking at how well he sleeps now I feel bad that we didn't try it sooner. Again, I suppose we are just learning here.
Tyson is also learning how to nod and shake his head. I'm not sure if he gets that yes and no go with it but it's funny watching him shake away. And we blow raspberries back and forth.
Dusty is off on the Elder's Campout tonight. He was soo excited for it. He had a hard time deciding whether to take 2 man (I mean 1 1/2 man) tent or the new 7 man tent we haven't used yet. I think he went with the smaller one, which is obviously the better choice for this situation :) . So, anyways I am holding down the fort here, which isn't too hard considering that Tyson went to bed around 8:30. If I haven't bored you enough already with my crazy parenting methods then you at least feel sorry for me now that I have to go fold all of the clothes that are piled on our bed. What a way to spend Friday night huh? Hee hee. That's the good life though. At least I have clothes. So, over and out, and everyone have a great night, or day, depending on when you read this.

PS: I am doing a pretty good job at finishing the stuff on the list of my last post! Yeah for me!

The extended version

of my to-do list to be accomplished before I go up to Star Valley (which is in approx. 3 1/2 weeks)

In no particular order: (edited: red color means they are finished)

make three skirts (I have three different materials that are oh-so-cute)
weed flower beds ( Dusty got me a nifty weeder-thingy for Mother's Day which will help a lot)
sow annual flower seeds in my beds
make pesto- my basil is finally ready
research photoshop techniques
finish my books: 1776, Covenant Marriage, If it were Easy, Then it Wouldn't be Hard
trade sharing time and conducting with other pres. people
get pictures organized and up to date. Order prints
get a certain special project finished for an approaching event (sorry, have to be vague on this one)
get b-day present for Dusty (already kind of accomplished, but needs tweaking)
host Book Club and prepare questions (plus make refreshments :) )
try a panini recipe that sounds really good
lay down mulch on my flower beds (boy these things are getting a lot of action these days)
update budget
finish going through our copious amounts of crap for our yard sale (it's amazing how much stuff we have amassed in just 4 1/2 years of marriage, thanks mostly to moi)
attend Primary inservice
make it to St. George and shop

if you are still reading this, than you deserve some kind of medal. Probably only my mom is interested in all of this. :) That's what mom's are for right?

finders keepers ...........

losers weepers!!!!

Someone (i'm not mentioning any names) left these stylin', oh so cute sunglasses in my car. All I can say is too bad for them. It seems that fate has dealt me a good hand. These shades just seem to keep finding their way to me. So, sorry, someone. This time you are not getting them back. Plus, I look way better in them. And in case you can't tell in the picture, I am giving you the fingers and the lips. We'll just consider it an even trade for letting you borrow the car.

go figure......

right after the circus pulled out of town.... and you in our circus know who you are. Here's the weather report for Cedar for the next week. Looks a lot different from last weekend ey?

Cedar's weather for the week.

Graduation, sickies, and sunny days

Thanks to all of the family who came down to support and congratulate Dusty on his graduation day. I think it all turned out pretty smoothly and I hope everyone had fun. I know that we did. I only wish we had a bigger house to share with you all. It's always amazing to me how many people we can cram into our upstairs rooms. For the past few days Tyson and I have been "down with the flu". We took it pretty darn easy yesterday. No showers, baths, cleaning...... Poor Dusty had to come home to that. I wish Tyson would just chill on the couch with me on days like that, but not yet. Always has to be looking at something or playing with something :) Today is a better day. Got my house all cleaned and smelling fresh again. For graduation, Allie (and Derek, technically,) gave us a movie made up of Tyson pictures and then a CD of the pictures. Here is a sampling of her photo skills. She rocks. :)

My Newbery Challenge

Because I want to get some reading done, instead of wasting my "valuable" time, I've decided to give myself a litle challenge. I want to read at least half of the Newbery Award books. I give myself a little leeway, that way I won't fall short, and if I happen to read them all, then so be it! :) You can look at the books here. I have already read quite a few, and that is a good starting place too! Maybe I'll give you some feedback as I finish each one. Wish me luck!

Anyone need a trim?

Hair cuts seem to be in season at our house. Tyson recieved one and then Dusty gave himself one. It was Tyson's first time for a full out trim. Dusty held his hands down, and I quickly cut. (except for when he was taking pictures of course) I really had no idea what I was doing, but it turned out okay. Dusty's on the other hand..... just kidding. See for yourself.






it's hard to see. but there's a small mohawk there.