picture dump

it's been a while since i've dumped random pictures of the girls that don't really belong in any particular event. so, here they are from the last couple months.

madeleine often asks to hold diane and, almost always, once she is holding her says, "please you take a picture of these two girls?" and who can resist that?

"please you take a picture of these two girls?"

eating a carrot from our garden. we are starting the slow harvest season from our garden and i am anxious for it to pick up soon.

a trip to wendover

on monday, we all took a trip out to wendover to visit my sister's family. i've been out a couple times with the girls, but randy hadn't been out there yet. with his flexible summer schedule, he was able to make this trip with us.

the whole drive out, randy was mesmerized by the salt flats, so we decided to stop at the last rest stop before wendover and get out to walk around a little. randy walked way out and tasted the salt. he said it was extremely potent. i took his word for it.

madeleine followed him out. i love these pictures. they capture the feel of the salt flats.

once we arrived in wendover, we had lunch with the hanks and some of their new friends and then in the afternoon, headed over to their friends' house for some time on a big blow-up waterslide they had.

(the rest of the pictures from here on out are stolen from audrey's superior camera. very jealous.)

after the time in the water, audrey and i took elizabeth and diane and drove around town for a grand tour, which i haven't gotten previously. the boys and the oldest three kids took a less conventional approach to the town tour:

joseph took them up to this peak and pointed everything out to randy. you can also see the curvature of the earth from this peak, which randy said was very cool and i will have to go see some time.

randy had to restrain madeleine much of the time on the peak, as she tried to hurl herself off the edge.

heading back down. after our tours, we met up at chepinas, a local mexican restaurant for some really excellent mexican food. really excellent. by the time we finished there, it was time for us to head back home. we had such a great time visiting the hanks and will have to make it back to wendover soon.

music to my ears

madeleine: i want to sing songs, mommy.
me: what do you want to sing?
madeleine: beatles.

first swim of the season

yesterday, our ward and two other wards in our stake (geographic areas of our church) rented out a local pool for a few hours. it was the perfect way to kick off the swim season. the pool had great areas for kids and adults alike and madeleine thought she was in heaven. diane didn't last the whole time, but did well for about half an hour in the water, which i thought was impressive.

all dressed up with no place to go in the parking lot while we waited for the pool to let us in.

can you hear the teeth chattering? despite her being frozen, we still had to do some major coaxing to get her out of the pool.

looking forward to more of the same this summer.

sisters' weekend 2010

every year, my sisters, my mom, and i get together for a long weekend, appropriately dubbed, "sisters' weekend" (although i think it could also be named "mothers appreciation weekend"). this is a tradition started my dad's family. mom, sisters, sister-in-laws and nursing babies only. the weekend is spent doing whatever we want to do. with my family, that involves games (hand and foot), food, and projects.

it also involves the annual gift exchange. this year, my mom gave us aprons and the caldecott and newbery books from this year. audrey made us perpetual birthday/anniversary calendars and washer necklaces, beth gave us a dessert spatula and i gave everyone large red mugs. thankfully, my mom and sisters share my love for all things red.

here we are, all wearing our aprons.

i loved the time that i got to spend with my mom and sisters, without the distraction of chasing after children. it is amazing how different the dynamic is when it is just us. what a wonderful family i have.

with only diane in tow (still nursing), i was able to finish my quilt that i have been working on for a year and also got to sleep in a little bit extra each morning. it was a nice break from the daily grind of mothering. randy did great taking care of madeleine for the weekend, and we were all very happy to see each other again come sunday.

my first quilt

well, sort of. i actually finished randy's christmas quilt before this one, but this is the first one that i started. my mom bought the fabric for me for my birthday last year and i just finished it this last weekend. such is quilting with small children.

as with all of my crafting projects, this quilt has a little character, but i am really happy with how it turned out in general. most of the character comes from the fact that none of us realized that i was quilting without the walking foot on the sewing machine until about 80% of the way through the quilt.

when i was picking out the fabric, i was pregnant (read: incredibly indecisive). i was not sure how it would all come together, but i really love it. i have seen this quilt pattern made with several different fabric combinations and i am surprised at how different they all feel. i have to say, i think i like mine the best so far. could be that i picked out the fabric.

an unobstructed view.

i have to say, i think that it goes pretty well with my parents rocker. it seems a shame for them to be apart. don't you think, mom and dad?