The Life and Times of VK and the Hodgpeople

Pillowcase Quotes

2012-01-25T08:34:00.000-08:00

My friend in another ward (congregation) at church asked me to help her with a pillowcase project for the children in the wards' birthdays.
The Primary theme for this year must include something about Choosing the Right and so she is having me print with my handy dandy sewing machine on each of the cases, "I Can Choose the Right." They will be given to the kids for their birthdays throughout this year.

We decided to use a font that comes with the machine, and so hit set up fairly easily as soon as we figured out just what it was that we wanted it to look like, and its size, etc.

Now I just have to decide which color of thread to use for which color of pillowcase. Such a hard decision I know, but wanting the kids to enjoy the individual case that they receive is a bit of a concern.

Here is my beginning assortment. I'm going to have the gal that requested these do all the thread clipping and ironing, etc.
I'm whipping them out between all my other projects and it's going to work out just fine.
I think I'll make some for my own grandchildren too. Always getting ideas.

Dress-Up Dress

2012-01-21T21:31:00.000-08:00

It is almost our Lena's 4th birthday and she loves to play "dress-up" so I thought I'd make her a cute little non-Disney dress so she can use her imagination as she plays.
It's not that I don't like Disney, or the idea that Princesses always have bad step mothers, or that a Prince type will always rescue you in this life if you are beautiful, or , or, ....., but, .... well, .....I guess sort of.

I had this old pattern from 1993 that I made a Belle costume for my own daughters out of. (See! I like Disney after all.)

And I had some red flowing organza type fabric and some silver lame' so I got it going without going to the store.

I also had some cheap trims that I thought would contrast and make it look quite costumey for a little girl.

Still didn't have to go to the store.

The sleeves have an inner sleeve to keep the top cap all full when it is being worn. It is smaller and is sewn to the bottom part of the sleeve with the fuller upper sleeve into the same seam. This causes it to puff out over the bottom sleeve.

I put the lace and sequin trim all around the peplum of the skirt too, just to give it a little kick.

The back of the dress.

Bottom of the dress.

And the front.

Cute, huh?
She opened the gift up and immediately put it on. I didn't have a camera, but I'll steal a shot of it off of her mom.

……Here it is. The girl is definitely cuter than the dress.
Pretty good for not going to the store. I told the Hubby it was free.

Stephanie - One More Item

2012-01-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

Having my DD around for the holiday, and me getting all my old fabric out to dress the shepherds and angels at Christmas were the two things that led to the number of new clothes Stephanie now has in her closet.
Last on the list was a vest done out of the beautiful purple fabric that I made some Christmas jumper/skirt out of for Katz's little girls.

I lined it with some old gold shiny fabric and I think the lapels turned out great. Again I made some buttons out of the fabric because that's the mode I'm in right now... self fabric buttons. Beautiful.

Can't wait to get a picture of her in this very versatile vest. VVV Voom.
The pattern was again from my stash and you will soon see another from this very pattern for my other DD.

I love having an assortment of different patterns so I don't have to go to the store.

Daughter Apron

2012-01-17T15:56:00.000-08:00

After seeing the little granddaughter aprons, my own daughter really wanted one.

So I told Stephanie that I'd make one for her after she was back in Utah. There is obviously no fitting involved in making an apron, so I didn't want to waste the time she was here with me sewing something for which I didn't need her to be present.

The name and initial were a must in the plan.

And I thought she needed a little food item so everyone understands the use of the finished product.

Notice the red stripe "ticking" from my childhood stash being used again. If I don't watch it I may run out of this sooner rather than later.
Cute stuff.

Good News

2012-01-17T15:25:00.001-08:00

Just click on my Elder Michael (Missionary) picture to the left and check out the VISA news. Still more waiting to come, but at least we know all is not at a standstill.
Go Michael.
Keep praying for the Visa to be expedited.

Vintage Pattern - 1986

2012-01-15T18:46:00.000-08:00

Simplicity 7603 is the next pattern I grabbed out of my stash for Stephanie's wardrobe.
I had some fabric left over from a wool grey pinstriped dress I made last year for Kathryn.

This needed to be fitted quickly because Steph was leaving in a day or two and I wanted to make vest as well.
So I pinned it together and then sewed it after she had left to go back to Utah and her life as a teacher and student instead of a daughter in our household.

This is the 8 gore completed skirt from the front.....

and from the back. The three back pleats with a little belt connecting them really make the back. The self fabric buttons on the belt sides also adds character.
Hope it fits and she likes it.
I love the fabric and it should go with a hundred things.

1970's Jumper

2012-01-13T16:51:00.000-08:00

I purchased some nice tweedy brown wool last winter in NYC and thought I'd make something for Stephanie from it. We went through many old patterns and picked Simplicity 8904 which cost me 85 cents when I purchased it for a drum majorette costume in the 8th grade.

Yep, that's it all right. Now I have to go find a picture of me drum majoretting.

Yep, that's me all right. Do you like the retro look just scanned and all faded?

Or should I clean it up with an automatic color balance button?

This was the first year of a new West Junior High School and I was in the 8th grade. Gail Packard, a 9th grader further away from the camera, is the other shorter majorette leading the band. I wrote on the back of the picture, "The twirlers in back of us are MaryLou Dawson, Ranya West, and Brenda Gordon.
In front of us are the banner girls (not pictured) Sarah (Dufford), Susan (Martin), Pam Motts, Gina Hall, & Denise Pond."
Susan and Sarah were a couple of my best girlfriends.

Here I am on our back lawn at 717 Pacific Drive. The back of this one says, "This is me in 8th grade - 13 yrs. old, and majorette. First year at West Gold and Black 1972."

Here, my mom got a picture of me (this one is a touched up Polaroid) in front of the band who didn't have new uniforms yet with the new school colors.
The outfit I still have is a black velveteen jumper with a double knit gold turtleneck shirt under. I made it all and the buttons were covered with the gold fabric. I used Jan Christensen's old majorette boots and they were too big and I was mad that my parents wouldn't buy some for me.

Man ..... look at those stick thin legs.

Here's my little sister Camille with her french horn in the band. Isn't she cute?

------------------------------------------------------

But, I wasn't talking about me to begin this, was I?

The jumper for Stephanie. Yes.

She wanted pockets on it and I wanted it lined so that it would fit her without any bunching.

All finished. She sent me a picture of it from her iPhone.
Looks good sweets! What a grown up you are in your very own classroom.

Visit from Jonathan

2012-01-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

We weren't able to have our oldest son home for the holidays because he couldn't take time off from the Great Harvest Bakery where he was working in Salt Lake City. Stephanie was able to see Jonathan coming and going to the airport for her trip home. He drove her to and from and then got the privilege of using her car while she was here.
He got up to Mantua and spend some time with GG Hodgman on Christmas day, and actually saw his little bro. all Elder'd out on Christmas Eve., but he missed his other immediates I would like to suppose.

Steph sent this surprising picture from her iPhone

Remember how he looked the last time he was home?

So after the new year started and things slowed down to normal, he came to LG for the week. He also brought his friend Lindsay and they came to the city (SF) to play with me on Tuesday. (I had already made plans to go with John up to SF and spend a few days while he was at a medical investors conference.

Here we are up at Twin Peaks after exploring the fascinating and somewhat odd MOMA.

Momma and Jonathan.

Jonathan and Papa. (what handsome guys!!)

On Thursday we went to Castle Rock and had a nice hike. (As if I needed more hills after walking around San Francisco for 3 days. Crazy.)

It was a really beautiful week weather wise. We are experiencing near high temperatures for the date in the afternoons and near low temps in the morning hours. Real unusual for this time of year when it is usually raining like mad.

Thanks for coming to spend a bit of time with your parentals.

Backyard Update

2012-01-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd post a few pictures of our lovely back yard as the holiday's have past us by.

The general theme of all these pictures of course is, "Find out how many different trenches and types of pipe can be buried in a 1000ish square foot area in our back yard."

Drainage comes in many sizes and flavors.There is surface drainage, subsurface drainage,

irrigation, and the like.

Here he is just destroying the top corner of the shallow end of the pool.

Then they put boards in its place.

Many many pipes around the pool and hot tub are being uncovered and investigated as to what their purposes are.

I'm gonna copy a picture and label all these pipes and trenches in case we ever have a problem with any electricity, sewer, storm drains, or gas leaks.

Gotta have drain pipes behind all the walls and under all the doors??????

Does the cable line have to be in a separate pipe from the phone line? How about the electricity? Low voltage or 110V?

Ummm, interesting looking rebar around the outside of the new pool basin is being constructed here.

Many irrigation pipes going in and out of this one. There will also be one in the little indentation immediately next to the house to catch any excess moisture from the vents and flower pots.

Is this a little crazy, over excessive?

Rebar is forming the structures for stone walls and pool wall/lower pool basin.

Now this looks like its taking shape with the gunite addition to the pool. Lets check out the basin on the other side of this fresh new wall.

Awesome.

There will be a separate filter and water return for this little basin next to the new patio, so there shouldn't be any accidents with water from the main pool overflowing or anything terrible like that. The 3 little indentations with pipes flowing in will be small waterfalls coming into the basin.

Cool, huh?

Just one issue. We got just a couple days of work done during the past 2 weeks because when the inspector came to check out the pool addition construction, he noticed the extensive wall work and thought we needed more permits. The City employees were on vacation, so let's wait. Just because it's December and the weather is feeling like October does not mean we should rush to beat the rains of winter....... or does it?

Not fun.

Expected Breakage

2011-12-29T16:15:00.000-08:00

I have quite a few ornaments and decorations about the house that are delicate, and this time of year, especially, we are bound to have some accidents involving these crashing to the floor and such.

But really, I am not the one that is supposed to do the breaking.
I get the prize for the most expensive accident this year.
There was a worker who was pounding on the outside stucco of my house who also broke another Radko ornament by just coming within 5 feet of its presence. He "pounded" it right off the backers rack that it was perched on.
But I destroyed this beautiful finial.
BUMMER!

Smocked Skirt

2011-12-29T11:12:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make something a bit more grown up for Lexy this Christmas, yet still have it go along with a dress that I had made a couple years ago which Lena was going to wear this year. So... I decided to still use the same type of smocking and have it go along the waist line of a dupioni silk skirt instead of a little girls style dress.
I took it to Hawaii in November and worked on the smocking while we were on vacation.

The smocking matches the older dress beautifully.

Because it is for a little larger child and I thought ruffles in a bustle down the back would be cute, I just had the smocking go 3/4 way around the skirt and then I added the ruffles with elastic at the back waist.

Here is the cute girl now in the skirt with a ruffly black sweater and silky shell underneath. I made a little yo-yo pin out of the silver dupioni to put on the sweater.

And little sister is precious in the cranberry silk dress that the skirt goes well with. I added a couple of grow strips on the dress, because her legs are a little shorter than her older sisters and the dress was too long.

Cute girls all wrapped up in Christmas attire.

The Shepherd's Were Tending Their Sheep Through The Night

2011-12-28T22:40:00.000-08:00

We reinacted and ate supper accordingly on Christmas Eve night and I wanted to simply post family pictures to remember.

Looks like this was before we were interrupted by Santa.

The Hubby, Stephanie and me. Check out the perfect plates.

Here is our shepherd and wise man.

The angel in our house wears a crown and Mary is conversing with her.

We read a few scriptures as we acted out the Christmas story. I am both an animal and a star holder.
So multitalented.

Luke was into the dressing up for a few minutes, but then had enough.
The children and adults all did a fine job at whatever their participation level warranted, and it was a lot of fun for me. Good job guys!

Aprons for the Little Girls

2011-12-27T11:25:00.000-08:00

I like aprons.
I don't wear aprons often enough and I figured last year that if I started making them for people, perhaps I'd remember to wear one when I am making a mess. Maybe it has increased my wearing percentage by 3%, maybe not.
The little helper cooks in my life need some aprons to go with their little play kitchens, so for Christmas I made up a few personalized ones for the special little girls in my life.
Starting with the youngest.

This one is a half apron, which may not be the smartest kind to make for a year and a half old child since there is no waist on a baby, but it was so cute at this point that I didn't want to add a bib. I will if requested by her mom.

The underside of this apron is from red ticking fabric I made an outfit out of in the 9th grade. Pretty awesome right?

This little ruffled bottom job I made for Ellery. Again some of that old fabric ties it all together and makes it look a little vintage 20's although I bought the fabric in the early 70's.

The machine embroidered name is what makes up the bib. Love the dittoed polkadots on the dish rag.

Lena gets a different color wave in the nearly same design. Love the "Bliss" fabric by Camille RosKelly.

The little ribbon tabs on the side of the apron can act as a sort of pocket for keeping things.

This last apron has Lexy's initials instead of her whole name on one pocket, and a cute little cupcake embroidered on the other pocket.

Maybe a little too curly to be legible, but cute anyway.

... and the pockets hold everything imaginable.
"I want one," was heard from Aunt Stephanie.
I guess she is next.

Best Santa EVER

2011-12-26T20:59:00.000-08:00

We were able to share Christmas Eve with our 3 Hodgman Grandchildren this year and we got a real visit from Santa Claus as he was preparing to go out for the night.
Lexy says he visits just 10 good children personally on Christmas Eve and she was very happy to be one of those chosen few.
We were just settling down for our Shepherds dinner when we heard sleigh bells outside and we turned around to see St. Nicholas at our very door.
After freak out tears from the 6 year old Lexy and a very scared Lena, the children actually settled in quite nicely with our very friendly and slightly soft spoken Santa. I think he toned down his high volume and energy for these apprehensive kids and they responded appropriately.

This is apparently the first time all three of these siblings have sat on his lap.

We told him about our dinner and why we were sitting on the ground just like the shepherds would have been on that Christmas so long ago. Santa told us the story behind why he gives out candy canes to good girls and boys, and the shepherds crook theme fit right into our evening.

After a nice visit with Mr. Claus, we sat back down to eat our olives, lamb chops, cheeses, and crackers, but another knock on the door came. Santa had forgotten his sleigh bells and so the reindeer weren't coming to pick him up. We found the sweet sounding, tinkling bells and he was again on his way.

After settling back down to dinner, ANOTHER knock came at the door. Again it was Santa and he asked for GramVi saying he needed to talk to me outside for a minute. (At this point in the post, please have the children cease from reading.)
I stepped out and he informed me that his cell phone was locked in his car and he needed me to call his wife for a set of keys. What terrible luck, I thought. The busiest night of the year and he is stuck at the Hodgpeoples house waiting for his keys.

We totally appreciated the visit we got from Santa and regret that he had to stand outside like a neighborhood prowler for the minutes it took for the wife (actually the daughter came) to get here with his keys.
Thanks Santa. (CH) You are a good guy!

Shepherd's Dinner Prep

2011-12-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

Every year one of our family celebrations surrounding the coming of Christ is having a "Shepherd's Dinner" on Christmas Eve. If you ask each of our children what a favorite Hodgman tradition is, they will include this one in their fond memories.
We have a wood worker friend who heard about this tradition from his sister-in-law and called us up to offer his services in making some wood rustic plates for us to use for the dinner.
Awesome.

He brought them to us last night and they turned out so great. There are knots and cool curves, and they are 6 -7 inches wide by 8ish inches long or small enough not to be too cumbersome as we all take up space on the floor of our family room Christmas Eve.

Each plate is slightly different and will be just perfect for dishing our small dinner (that really has turned into a Mediterranean feast.)
I'm so excited!
Thanks Dana!

Tartan and Wool

2011-12-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

I saw the cutest little Christmas jumper in a Boston store window last year and wanted to copy it's design.
So after taking a picture of it with my handy little IPhone, I set off to figure out just what would work for the baby girl in my life. Her mother and I went shopping in SF last January and we bought this great purple 97% wool/ 3% spandex blend along with a beautiful tartan (representing "Scotland Forever") that includes the same purple color.

The 4 inch wide pleated plaid goes 3/4 around the bottom of this simple jumper. I tried to make it without topstitching around the neck and armholes, for a smoother look, but the size of the garment was unforgiving as it turned towards the lining, so I had to topstitch it.

I also made a little skirt for the big sister using the same fabric. The bottom edge of the swag in the middle is fringed and there is a silver celtic like button to fasten it up. She'll look cute in the ruffles of the skirt too.

Here they are from the back.
I got them in the mail along with some muslin, or cheap fabric models, of a vest and skirt for the mommy of the girls. When I don't have real people to try them on, it makes it a bit difficult for fittings, so I hope these work on their cute little bodies.
I'll post a picture of the girls modeling their togs when I get it.

Home At Last

2011-12-01T16:27:00.000-08:00

Destruction of our backyard has continued at a rapid pace.

Hand digging for the concrete footings. Can you spot the orange lines for the BBQ area?

Tractor work to dig and carry it all out of here.

And lots of hand machinery work such as jack hammers, sanding machines, electric shovels, etc.

Look at this crazy big root from one of the Ash trees. With the wind whipping around our valley like a banchi, I had an awake moment last night thinking about how my Grandpa Kelly's pine tree came down one night on top of his cute, brick house on 2nd South and 4th West in Provo when I was a kid. I was trying not to wonder if the same thing might happen to us even though the pine tree that Grandpa had was shallow rooted and our giant Ash is nice and deeply rooted into our yard (and all the old drainage pipes throughout the large space.)

All the tiles around the pool and on the several benches and stairs are now disassembled and gone.

This pool working guy is digging new areas for the 2 drains that are now standard code for the pool and spa. "You're makin' a mess." (name that movie character)

The poolhouse, outside room, boys room, mother-in-law quarters or whatever you would like to call it, has no stairs and there are piles of leftover gravel strategically placed where the landing is to be. There is also a nick, or hole made by the nice tractor, in the sewer line coming out of said room so no more going in there and running water or anything else until it is fixed. (hopefully tomorrow- I just ordered a port-a-potty for the guys)

...and there are random piles of different materials to be taken to the dump placed all around the yard.

Plants, soil, concrete. You name it there is a pile of it in the Hodgpeople's back yard.
Awesome.

Hawaii with the Fam

2011-11-24T10:23:00.000-08:00

Borrowing my DIL's laptop computer is what I have to do when I'm not at home.
Which is happening right now.
We are in Maui at the Kaanapali South Beach and enjoying every minute.

Watching these two cousin's interact.

Taking this little angel down to the chaise.

Screaming as the big girl gets to go down the big slide.
Woo Hoo!!

Happy Thanksgiving to us!

Fried

2011-11-19T22:21:00.000-08:00

I was trying to be helpful today as I went to a sewing clinic for "Nutcracker" costumes for the Los Gatos Ballet.
As soon as I got there, a nice lady told me I could plug in my sewing machine next to hers, and so I proceeded to unload the 23 year old Pfaff computerized machine that I had brought for the job.
The light on my machine turned on but my computer was down and the machine wouldn't work at all.
The nice lady then told me that she had a European outlet that was working until I plugged in, but I had tripped her unit.
Why didn't she tell me that the plug I was plugging into was converting my current to 220.
Yikes!

My circuit board is fried. I took it to the shop already and it will cost me 600 dollars to repair. I loved that machine. I have another more awesome one, but it was a great second, portable, junk fabric sewer machine.

I guess it's a good thing something like this didn't happen.

Lots of ladies were there sewing all afternoon. Hope they got lots of costumes done. I stayed for about 3 hours and then went to check out my machine hopes. Grim.

Rip It Up

2011-11-18T11:47:00.000-08:00

We are in kind of a our big, noisy mess around our house this week. Well at least I am, 'cause none else is home much.

The first day we saw a few tons of bricks getting broken up and piled up around the patio.

The next day saw the shovel of the little caterpillar tractor was put on and brick being hauled away in the dump truck out on the street.

Luke thought this was a little unnerving, but soon it was AOK.

The break up of the cement was next. Whatever the tractor can't reach due to tight quarters and turns around the house, has to be done with the regular old jack hammer. There are about 3 of these babes knocking on the property at any given moment.

Wait. Where did all the water in the pool go?

Kind of a mess, right?

Don't break any of the windows.

Visit to Utah

2011-11-17T22:07:00.000-08:00

The Hubby and I went to visit our #4 child a couple of weeks ago and were able to take in a couple of her teams last volleyball games. She is becoming a good little coach and it was fun to watch her in action.

She keeps track of many aspects of her players game and the players on the opposing team too.

Here are all of the Senior girls and manager boy that were playing their last game.

Good job Steph!

We were also able to visit with GG and Aunt Toni and the gang while on our little trip. They are doing well and settled in nicely to her new home apartment. It turned out very nicely.

We went up to SLC for one evening and searched Temple Square for our missionary friend Amy H, and then

found some nice homeless guy (not really) to take to dinner. He's our #1 son, and is working hard on a landscaping job up at the VA Hospital. It was great to see him.

I also experimented a bit with my cool camera. Just told it to recognize orange and grey everything else.

Excerpt

2011-11-17T17:52:00.000-08:00

I belong to an email group of missionary mom's that write about questions, problems and solutions for their respective missionaries and I had to share a little doodad from one I just received.

Some of the moms are asking what their Bishops and Wards send to the missionaries for Christmas and one commented that their Ward newsletter has a little exert for the missionaries from the ward. It says, " Every week on the back of our Sunday program our Ward features an exert from one of
our missionary letters and share it with the Ward. They get to know the
Missionaries."

So a few minutes later this email arrived.

"excerpt

Sorry. I'm a scrabble player."

I have a few pet peeves with language usage, but I don't think I'd point them out to someone I have never met. I usually tell my husband when he says or uses something wrong, and I expect him to tell me, but really??? I couldn't believe this.
So funny.
PS: Now you can feel free to correct me when I am wrong. teehee! No... really... you should.

A Little Free Time?

2011-11-15T17:59:00.000-08:00

Yes, my busy, busy, busy Hubby is now just busy, busy. He was relieved of one of his "busy's" this past weekend when we had Elders Higham and Wilson here from Southern Cal and Salt Lake City respectively.

We had received a letter a month or so ago advising him of the change to be made in our Stake Presidency. In our church the Stake President is the one who trains and supports the Bishops of the area. Our Stake (as in a tent stake - something that gives support and permanence to the tent, or church) has 7 congregations in it and each has a Bishop in charge. My Hubby was that guy the Bishops went to for advise, instruction, and help with their organizations, people, and problems.
I have a philosophy that Bishops have to deal with screwed up kids and crazy women. Stake Presidents have to deal with the people who made them screwed up and crazy. (don't quote that)
John was the Stake President for the past 9 years which is a typical length of time for one to serve in this capacity. Most people couldn't hold down this position while still making a good living for his family, being on 3 extra Board of Directors for other companies, being an involved father (Remember 9 years is a long time. We had 4 kids at living at home when he was called to serve.), and an excellent husband, but my Hubby can do it all with seeming ease. He is quite an amazing guy. He now gets to breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy a few other things. Maybe he'll even get a new hobby.
Our new Stake President is Brent Knudsen. He has been our Bishop the past 5 years and he is another busy, busy organized wonder.
Good luck and our prayers are with the Knudsen's.
Good luck to the Hubby too, as he has to fill some extra time with something he enjoys while not driving me too crazy. I have no doubt in his ability to do that. Like I said, "He is amazing!" (You can quote me on that.)

Oh, Halloween

2011-11-14T21:14:00.000-08:00

Another post I need to show off is our Halloweening for the year.

~~Oscar~~ (right - Oscar is a green grungy guy) I meant Elmo showed up at our party. He LOVED his costume and just walked around getting into anything that looked remotely interesting.

He brought his sister the caterina.

A retro clown came with them to the LG Ward party.

...and a scary green witch greeted them all.

Then a couple days later David and Kara showed up at our house with those same cute characters.
Thanks for sharing Halloween with GPa and GramVi.

Where Have I Been?

2011-11-14T17:36:00.000-08:00

Basically I've just been hanging out at home and trying to get some things done. We are headed to Hawaii next week and so I'm sure to get some pictures to post of the whole fam damily for this here blog, and I do have a tractor in my back yard as of a few hours ago, so I'll get a picture of that up soon.

I took a picture of my gardener Panfilo and his son today lifting my huge barbecue off of their truck at David and Kara's house. We are giving the BBQ to them along with a ping pong table and portable fire pit. I have inadvertently deleted the pictures. Oops.

Oh, look. I found it 2 days later.

Panfilo's crew are such crazy workers that I had to get the picture to remember them lifting the very heavy (like 500 lbs heavy) BBQ but when I was opening up my new picture program "Aperture," I erased a few items.

My computer is working better (it was sluggish because I had it completely FULL of pictures which have now been moved off of the hard drive) so I should be back blogging as usual.
My list of things to blog about include 2 little trips, a couple of birthdays, a couple of quilts, the Hubby's release from being Stake President, visit from 2 General Authorities, & good food and decoration.
Fun times were had by ALL.

Early Christmas Present

2011-10-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

I was so careless with my old awesome hand-me-down camera that I absolutely lost it. I canvassed several different airport lost and founds' for several months and no one has been able to locate it for me, so me and the Hubby decided that an early Christmas present was in order.

NIKON D5100 You bet!!

Costco has these babies for sale and there are so many great features revolving around ease of operation, color and light changing, videography (I've never had a camera that does both still and video pictures, let alone a great one), large screen that gives multiple types of information, light weight so I can carry it without bothering my neck so much, and so many other cool features.

Isn't it pretty?
Thanks Hun. You are the best.

Bitter/Sweet Day

2011-10-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

The Hubby and I took Michael to the airport this morning early. He is off on the biggest adventure of his life. It is really an amazing opportunity in this 21st century to be able to serve others and take time out of his life to grow up, educate himself, learn love, learn the Gospel, and decide what manner of man he wants to be.

As I watched him ascend the escalator in San Jose International Airport on his way to the MTC (mission training center) in Provo, Utah I did get tears streaming down my face. Michael waved a hardy goodbye and gave an easy big smile and then he was gone from my view for the next two years.
I tear up again as I write this down, but I am truly excited for him as he embarks on this mission to Sao Paulo, Brazil. The blessings he will receive over the next difficult two years will be unmeasurable, and we that are left behind will also be covered in blessings as we will witness his growth and read about his trials, challenges and faith promoting experiences.
I can hardly believe it is here, and now I am again alone in my home thinking about my sweet little boy and the happiness he has brought to me and his entire family over the years.
He is smart,
he is beautiful,
he is funny,
he is a lot of fun,
he is strong,
he is competitive,
he is athletic,
he is good,
he is a virtuous man,
he is protective of me,
he is right,
he is stalwart,
he is wonderful
he is Michael
and I will miss him terribly.

General Conference Weekend

2011-10-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was spent with family, and making memories for Michael to carry with him for the next 2 years.

We listened to conference, spent time with the San Jose nieces and nephew, had Jonathan as a visitor from SLC, played freeze tag and basketball, and the boys went out to their traditional dinner after priesthood meeting.
Lena and Lexy like to make baskets, and this time they had TWO uncles helping them score.

Luke is getting his sports all mixed up. He watches his sister play soccer so I think that he knows what to do with a volleyball on a basketball court? Not really.

Uncle Jonathan, Lena, Uncle Michael

Michael did change out this net before he left on his mission.

I should explain the dinner tradition. John takes the boys out every 6 months after the Saturday night session of conference, and they try to be in the same city if they can. However, Jonathan hasn't been to conference with them for 3 years and he generally doesn't go to church. He made and exception for the tradition and they seem to all have had a great time. David was working during the day, so he met them at Priesthood meeting and I didn't get a picture.

The boys went to visit their favorite Inger Sandberg.

Swinging in GramVi and GPa's apple tree. Wheeeeee!

Cossette Family Home

2011-10-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

After a lovely week of travel and exploration with The Hubby, we headed back to Boston for the plane ride home.

On the way we detoured through Dracut and Lowell, Massachusetts, in order to locate the home that John's mother grew up in. She lived her whole childhood in the home along with her 10 brothers and sisters, and John wanted to see if it was still holding up.

The neighborhood looks great and we were able to talk to a few people that lived in and around the old family house on 40 Dean Street
Dracut, MA

Here's a shot of the back yard and the trees beyond. When we called Mom to tell here we'd seen the old place she asked if the creek was still running behind it. No picture, but I walked back there and thought it would've been the place for kids to play and record their memories. Her parents planted the old trees and some of them are dead, a long tree life spent. I'm sure there was no chain link fence when the Cossette's lived there.

We saw a cute little old lady walking along the street and stopped to talk to her. She was 2 years younger than our Grandma Hodgman, but had grown up a few houses away and remembered the family well. She had a french last name as well said her sister Pauline was one of Muriel's friends and she herself was Paul Cossette's age. Both of their older sisters had been nuns. She talked on and on about the 2 families and their similarities.

She told us where the old grade school was so we went to check it out. What a beautiful school. (Ecole St. Lois)

The old church has been renamed and we'd have never found it without Mom's old friend.

This stop was a highlight for The Hubby and we were very glad to have taken the time to stop in Dracut.

Other New Hampshire Tidbits

2011-10-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a random smattering of some of the other things we did last week.

We were able to have some yummy hotcakes and maple syrup at various breakfast places.

These were some of the mushrooms that we found along the damp trails of the White Mountains. They are stacked in the small little crevice of this mossy rock.

Looking for moose in the boggy areas at dusk and dawn. Well, just dusk. You didn't really think we rose up early enough to explore before the sun?

The Hubby sort of enjoyed our boat ride on Lake Winnipesaukee. I really liked it though, so he went along because he is nice like that.

More neat little growing stuff. This time on a log.

We rode the tram up to the top of the ski mountain and explored around for a while. Another beautiful day for viewing 60 miles out into Vermont, Maine, and almost to Canada.

This seat on the Cog Railway shows us how long people have been obsessed with Mount Washington.
It is the highest on the whole east coast of the US of A.

We walked all the way to the top of the mountain ..... from the train drop off 50 yards below.

The trusses and cogs were pretty interesting and the new biodiesel train pushes up the steep slope in about 25 minutes.

There were old resorts to see along the highways showing that this has been a popular tourist destination for many many years.

Do you see a moose? We saw one dead one along the side of the road. Good thing I saw 6 in Utah last month.

Little white churches along with turning leaves is how I originally visualized the small towns of New England. We did see several.

This cute little Canadian lady was a very good cook. Baguettes and macarons were the order of the day.

I don't know why they need these signs. Did I mention that we saw no live moose?

Seriously very cool trip. Sorry that my blog has completely turned into a travel log.
Only one more to come and it'll have a different genealogy type twist. I'm sure you are going to wait patiently.

Covered Bridges

2011-10-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

These were unique but traditional bridges. The Hubby and I really loved them and looked for them all over the Mountain region of New Hampshire.

There were two bridges along the Kancamungus Highway and so we got a good look on our first day of exploration.
Most of the bridges are built with arches and a long truss system. Like the one shown below.

This one was built in 1858. It is 100 years older than I am. Pretty crazy.

Some are painted, some are rustically wooden.

Here's a newer one that is used along a very busy highway. We found it on our way to church.

Blair Bridge here is not being used because of the floods last month.
Hurricane Irene went through and dumped all of its rain right onto Vermont and New Hampshire causing all kinds of flooding and 28 bridges were either destroyed or damaged greatly.
One called Turkey Jim's that we looked for was totally gone.

This bridge is along the Flume trail in Franconia State Park.

... and this one is a footbridge along the Flume trail. I have no idea how they built this bridge across a deep canyon in the middle with no roads going in and out of there. Engineers are amazing.

Sometimes I feel like they are stupid as well. Just look at how they planned the power lines around this old historic bridge. It would look so much better without them.

Anyway, the covered bridges are very cool and we were lucky to be able to go see them.

Waterfalls Down the Granite Slabs

2011-10-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

One of the most beautiful attractions of the White Mountains of New Hampshire are the many waterfalls.

We hiked a short distance to several falls and a bit longer distance to just two. There were many more to see, but these were the ones that we afforded the time to see.

Sabbaday Falls just off of the Kancamungus Hywy. was our first stop. Here the granite rock has held up pretty well over the 10 million years of its creation. The basalt rock fault that was interspersed through the granite has broken down and has created a separation that is beautiful. Nice little swooshy pools are formed at each decent, creating a clean beautiful affect.

Another day we traveled up to Franconia Notch (or Pass as we in the West call it) where there are several spots to view.

This one is called the Flume and it too is a granite rock/ basalt rock formation too. Almost making a tunnel in the forest, the water decends quickly down the 800 foot long narrow fissure in the granite.

The granite walls go straight up on both sides of the creek that is cutting away slowly as the years pass.

This top of the flume waterfall is called Avalanche.

The Hubby artfully takes a picture of the water flowing nonstop over the rock.

We also got some new found friends to take a couple pictures for us.

Another discovery just up the road and in a mile from the "Flume" is the "Basin".

Here the granite rock is smooth and wide across the forest with streams trickling down, or falling fast depending on the direction you happen to be turning your eyes.

I was trying to get the perspective of how large the boulders are, but pictures don't quite capture the massiveness. This solid bedrock granite is at least 40 feet wide to as much as 80 feet I'd guess, and I'm going to estimate that it goes at least 1/2 mile. That is just the area that we could ascend while wearing our regular shoes and being in our mid 50's. I'm sure a larger section could be reached by the younger set.

Everywhere you looked was another picture to be taken. I didn't want to miss anything, but missed it all the same.

It really was pretty cool.

Yet another hike was taken in Crawford Notch.

This was probably our most difficult hike, as the roots of trees, and large rocks had to be navigated around as we made our way up to the falls. It wasn't even 2 miles in, but it took nearly an hour. The result was a 200 foot fall that veiled over the whole rock.

What a cute hubby!

Again, pictures don't do it justice. It was very pretty nevertheless.

New England in the Fall

2011-10-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

The Hubby and I went to New Hampshire this past week for a little vacation, just the two of us. We had not realized when we made the reservations clear back in March that we would be leaving our Michael home alone with just 2 weeks left until he leaves for his mission. He is still working full time at Men's Wearhouse so he did have a little to do, but we felt guilty anyway.

But just look at what we found when we got to the beautiful White Mountains. The leaves were changing just for us

...and the water was flowing higher than most autumn's in New England because of their ridiculously wet wet summer.

So we were able to see many spectacular water falls, go on many beautiful hikes, see many really unique covered bridges, and watch the gorgeous changing leaves of maples, birches, sumac, etc trees.

Our weather was terrific as we drove through the forests and discovered some of the treasures of this abundantly beautiful ~~Untied~~ United States where we live. Sometimes I wonder if it is untied, but we still keep holding on don't we?

I'll show some of the water features in tomorrows post.

Brazilian BBQ

2011-09-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

Michael said we didn't need to have a party before he leaves, but he also said that Jonathan/David's party was one of the best memories he has of his big brothers and missions, so I didn't want him to be left out of the experience. (I'll put that other party on my list of posts to post.)
We had a good turnout on Saturday evening as the ward had a campout the night before and our party was talked about. Therefore ... everyone from the campout, plus, was at Michael's party.
I was a little overwhelmed with all the people, and although I'd been cooking nonstop for 2 days, I had no time to take any pictures once the party started.
Our home teacher and his dear wife were taken up on their offer to help us out and we put Doug (Pulley) behind the grill for a couple of hours, and Kathy (wife) in the kitchen chopping and doing dishes for at least 2 hours. I felt bad, but grateful to have such service on my behalf as the large group of party goers was a little out of my hands.
Our sone David showed up at 5:00 and said, "Put me to work."
He too worked for the next 3 hours solid. Making salads, straightening tables, cutting meat, stocking food, showing people where things are, and various other helpful things. He was my right hand man as his father, the Hubby fixed things around the yard, and made sure the guests were happy.
Next time I'll hire a couple of people to help.

...and maybe I'll get a new camera for documentation. So frustrating.

Menu?? For a Brazilian BBQ?
I looked things up online and found a plethora of great recipes by just typing in "Brazilian food recipes."
I found Feijoada which is black beans and probably the biggest staple food along with flavored rice, and collard greens.

I made many kinds of meat and like the typical Brazilian, just used a salt rub for flavoring. Our assortment included Beef New York roast style, Pork loin roast, Portuguese sausage, chicken thighs, (although tongue and feet are common), and we also added regular hot dogs for those picky Americans that may show up at a party.
My other favorite was the cheese bread or Pao de Queijo. It was made with tapioca flour, and farmers cheese and eggs. It was quite yummy if I do say so myself.
We purchased Brazilian flags for the tables and a large one for the flag pole on a large tree in our back yard. We also had several dozen balloons placed strategically around the yard for a party atmosphere.

Problem was ... our missionary Michael had a sore mouth from having his wisdom teeth removed last Monday.

His dorky smile is hiding the very slightly puffy cheeks. Most people wish they recovered as well as my children do from wisdom tooth removal.
A little soreness while eating and a few worried moments when he feels something is stuck in his holes in the back of his mouth are about the extent of his discomfort.
He only had 2 third molars to begin with which is the same number I had and one less than 2 others of his siblings.
Good job tough kid!
And wait'a socialize with the party goers too. I know that was difficult for you.

Elements of a Wedding Shower

2011-09-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

Last month I hosted a bridal shower for a friends daughter. I was in charge of the invitations and this is what I came up with. I got the colors from a Lenox tableware pattern that the happy couple had chosen to go with their new home. They are fine musicians, and the bride is a singer from the word go, so I used two little love birds as the accent on the invite.

This is a backdrop that I used for the serving table and it turned out okay, but didn't get hung very well.

I'm always trying to do too many things at the last minute, and this was one of those times. I hung this up without enough time to adjust the height and it looked quite mediocre.
Live and learn.
My lost camera has the main pictures from the party in it. Cindy Harmer made a great cake, decorated with singing birds and such. Susan Lucas made some great food to go with the things I had made.

Oh, my favorite other part was the lemonade served in small glass bottles with striped turquoise and red colored straws, and red raffia tied around the top of the bottle. It was cute.

Home Again, Home Again Jiggedy Jig

2011-09-14T04:47:00.000-07:00

We tried to get the pool warm enough for a late summer swim with the grandkiddles, but it seems our solar just doesn't do the trick by the end of the summer. The sun position in the sky keeps the pool shaded by our large Green Ash trees, and it always bugs us that the solar can't keep up with the heating needs.
Maybe after we redo the pool this year the new equipment will be more efficient. We shall see.
So ... the grandkids were entertained by the sprinklers in the back yard quite well.

Beach ball/soccer ball. It kicks very ball like anyway.

The kickboard makes a nice shield for the spurting water.

This kid finds the dirt where err it may be.

At least he has fun doing it.

The girls concentrating on the trajectory of the water.

"Really GPa it isn't very cold, can we just play in the pool for a little while?"

"As long as you have floaties on your arms."

Now let's see the different levels of comfort in the water environment.

Here's the #1. She was "being" a shark in the hot tub and is totally comfortable under water as long as she can touch the bottom.

Here's #2. This is as far as her face goes into the H2O. But she is loving it more and more.

#3 just wants to participate and doesn't realize he needs to think or worry about turning upside down in the rubber duck intertube that he sits in.

Cute kids all around.

Thanks for the pictures GPa.

Jamestown

2011-09-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

Everything we visited on our trip to the east coast was named after the queen or king of the year.
When the settlers first came to America to actually establish homes there, King James just happened to be the English King of the day. So ... everything from that first period is named after him.
James River, James Island, Jamestown.
What a well done museum and living museum.

Ellery is the helpful big sister.

She is also interested in what the Native American (Indian in my time) lady is doing.

The inside of the houses in the Indian Village were quite spacious. They used skins for clothing, sleeping blankets, tables, and many other things.

Let's crush some corn for bread and much other food.

Onto the English ships. These are exact replicas of the ships.

Ellery offering her hand so her Mom can get down the stairs better.

Oh, thank you.

"Hey, there's GPa."

Walking up and down the boatway. (I don't know what to call it. A jetway gets you onto a jet, so maybe a boatway gets you onto a boat. I know there's an actual name for it.)

Aren't those legs just to die for? So cute.

The family that rows together ....

The settlers had few nice things, but the workmanship on this piece of furniture is magnificent. We were getting done at this point so the English settlement got a little sort changed with our time. It was way cool though.

More Williamsburg

2011-09-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Virginia continues with a day in Williamsburg learning about how the colonists lived 200-300 years ago. (Wow, I can't decide if that was a long time or a short time ago. Depends on what your perspective is when you are thinking about it.)

These ladies taught us about spinning wool and cotton into yarn. They also told us how the men dyed and wove the yarn into cloth. Of course this shop was one of my faves.

And the cobblers shop was amazing. It was actually cheaper to import from England than to have shoes made here because the supply was so limited.

Austin thought the magazine house was interesting. This soldier told us all about the ammunition and musketry.

I mentioned the wonderful brick work. I was intrigued by it as we walked through town. Wait till you see Kathryn making bricks.

Everyone wore wigs, and these women told us all about wearing horse or human hair, and the advantages associated with each.

Silversmiths were important to the 17th century population. They did amazing, intricate work.

These woodworkers still do everything the old way. Kathryn thought it would be too tempting to not just run out to "Ace" (hardware store) once in a while.

This Cooper was nice to me because I was SSOOO smart.

Getting muddy while mixing clay for bricks.

K had a fun time trying to get some elevation without falling. The kid next to her fell right into the mud.

Bricks can be made any shape and these are the forms.

They are fired for 5 days and the inner bricks get darker and stronger than the ones on the outside of the pile. There are 3 fires on the base of this. One fire for every 3,000 bricks.

More picket fences and a handsome father with his cute daughter. The SIL and grandchildren are in the car having naps. Actually the SIL is not napping, he is probably watching an iPod movie or something. Nevertheless, he is a good sport to go to the car with the kiddles.

The Hubby with the phone at his ear. Not an uncommon site.

I asked this colonist if he was supposed to be a beggar and he took great offense. Nice guy. They all have terrible looking teeth. They must have a protocol to chew herbs or something before coming to work.

All in all this was a fun way to see and hear how they lived lives 200 plus years ago.

Williamsburg

2011-09-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

The power was coming back to most of the southern Virginia area by the time we investigated Williamsburg the first time. Michael had flown home and The Hubby had some business calls to do and so we decided to wait on paying admission to see all the best sights for another day. This way we could leisurely walk around to shopping dining and checking out where we might want to spend more time when we obtain tickets.

My version of window shopping. Take a closeup so I can duplicate it in another life.

Coco's version of how to down a corndog. YUMMMMY.

Gardens are in fashion again.

Better ideas for white picket fences than anywhere I've ever seen.

Colonial attire.

Cool rooflines, and architecture.

Cover thy head always.

Ells loves the old fashioned stuff. I think the new stuff mixed in (bike racing past) adds to the uniqueness of the place, don't you?

Do you think they should smile when their heads are about to come off?

Soda pop in amazing.

She'd never had root beer and didn't want to let it go anytime soon. People were walking past taking her picture and laughing as she downed the sarsaparilla.

Playing with MM

2011-09-08T21:29:00.000-07:00

Michael Michael is such a cute Uncle to the kids.

Woooo, this is a bit chillay.

Here, I'll get you warm.

Look, GPa's taking a picture.

The parents of the cute kids are pretty good participants too.

Now that's sacrifice. Click on that to see Katz face. Awesomeness.

The water playground was pretty terrific.

Don't ever let MM tell you its ALL about the kids.

GramVi doesn't participate except to assist out of the pool. (It was cold, are you kidding me?)

Finally we get a shot of GPa. He's just the best photographer, so we let him be.
Now here goes MM down the slide with Ells.
"Really, it'll be great, just come and go down the slide with me," he said to the trusting 2 year old.

Woowoo, here we go.

Yikes

Are you kidding me?

"Well that was such a fun activity. Let's never do it again," says Ells.

Yorktown

2011-09-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

Of the many places we were able to explore after braving the hurricane (Irene) and it's aftermath, the first is Yorktown.
This Chesapeake Bay coast town was where the revolutionary war basically ended as the Americans and their allies the French were able to overpower the English, and force surrender.

This Lady Liberty is a beautiful marble statue with informative quadrants all the way around it.

This is the definition of toddle. What an excited and adorable little toddler.

E was being adventurous in her climbing until she looked down. Then she had to be coaxed/coached down incrementally by her Mom who had her do it by herself. Good Job both daughter and Mother!

Cool old houses, churches, and walls all around this 18th century town. The colonists did amazing things with brick. I'm wondering why I'm getting rid on all my back yard brick at this point.

Here is a handsome lad who is wearing much more comfortable clothes than colonists wore. It is raining cats and dogs the Monday after the Saturday hurricane. Michael braved the torrential rain for this shot. BOOM

Going back to our resort we pass much more devastation.

But the brick bridges along the way are still standing strong. Probably done in the 1930's by the Civil Corp of Engineers. (CEC)
Very cool.

Mica Mine

2011-09-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

When I was in Grand Junction a few weeks ago, I was able do do a new little hike with the little sis, her Hubby, and a couple of her cute kids.
We drove up Little Park Road a ways and found a few trails that were ready and waiting for us to take up track.
I'm always amazed at the number of trails around GJ that are close to town and easy to access, yet I've never been to them.
We went up to Bangs Canyon.
This particular area is an old Mica Mine from pre WWII that I'd never heard of. I brought home some Mica that is interesting rock with flaking off capability. You can actually peel back the very thin layers and pull the rock apart as you make it thinner and thinner. It is sparkly and was used for mirrors years ago. It has many uses including heat resistant properties, and paint spreading uses.

Surrounding the mine and along the trail was also a lot of white quartzite.
Amy suggested that this could've been the rock that the brother of Jared asked the Lord to make into lights for his submarine type boats.

I think she might be on to something here. What do you think?
Of course I have no pictures because ..... my camera...... BOO HOO.
I always enjoy exploring in the high desert and areas around the Colorado National Monument.

Male Family Trait

2011-09-07T05:07:00.000-07:00

My studly youngest son was asked to speak with the High Counselor in a neighboring ward at church last month. (this means that it wasn't our congregation, but he was accompanying a man who has various responsibilities in other congregations in our area)

Because Michael has been asked to serve a mission to Brazil and he has to wait several months to leave due to difficult VISA requirements, he has time to prepare and help out here in many regards.

This speech, or talk as we refer to Sunday sermons, was going well and he apparently was discussing our Morman pioneer heritage and how we can learn and grow from these men and women from the past. When all of a sudden there arose.... such a clatter.

He fainted. Right there in the middle of his talk from the pulpit.

Down he went. The Bishop of the Ward (who was a brand new called Bishop) tried to catch Michael with the help of one or both of his councilors who were sitting next to him next to the podium. The story is that Michael took them both down with him as he fell. I assume he tried to stand as long as he could, so by the time he fell he was completely out.

He has never fainted before, but I used to do it regularly when I was in pubescence, so I know to sit down before it is too late. Such an experienced fainter wouldn't have landed so hard.

Now there was an experienced emergency response fan in the congregation that morning. Our friend Dale immediately called 911 when he saw our sweet son go down in front of the audience.

But after a couple of minutes of fanning face, talking softly to wake him up, and getting him up to standing, Michael convinced the Bishopric and folks on the stand that he was AOK and got right back up to finish his talk. He thought the drama was over, but when he was finished and comfortably seated back in his chair while listening to the High Councilor give his talk, he got a wave from the back of the audience and motion to him to please come back and get checked out by the .... paramedics.

He reluctantly left the chapel and was checked out by the arriving team of paramedics. They took his vital signs, did an EKG to make sure his heart was acting appropriately, and called his Dad who was in another church that morning.

When Dad and I talked to the paramedics per phone, we told them that if Michael checked out okay, we would prefer for them not to take him to the hospital. He probably just stood too long with locked knees on a little sleep and an empty stomach. So they let him go back into church and finish his day without any more problems.

I told him in the afternoon about my brother doing the same thing when he was giving a talk as a newly wed, probably in his early 20's. We found out later that 2 of my nephews have done the same thing too.
They must get stressed and not realize it as they are standing up in front of a big crowd. Locking their knees causes the blood in their bodies to pool in extremities and away from the brain, which loses oxygen and then shuts right off. What a great family legacy.

Later on when I was talking about the morning to Michael and our lunch guests, I stated that the friend of ours in that ward is "an ambulance chaser." Michael had never heard that term and inquired about it.

This man that called 911, I told Michael, has an interesting hobby. He has police scanners in his home and listens to emergency response personnel quite often. I wasn't being rude about him, I was merely stating the facts when I called him and ambulance chaser.

Michael piped right up and said, "Well I'd do that way before I'd knit for a hobby."

Ouch.

Great Idea

2011-09-06T16:48:00.000-07:00

Although the plan didn't start out with this in mind, it was a "Let's go to Williamsburg and meet the kids," type of a plan, this is how it came to fruition.

"Let's just fly right into a hurricane."

The Hubby and I went into Norfolk, VA the Friday evening before the Saturday that Hurricane Irene came to visit Virginia. We checked into a hotel that was completely full of "Outer Bankers" because they had to evacuate their homes, and then the next day as the storm was approaching we went to our resort and waited for our Kathryn's little family and Michael who had been visiting them to drive their little Honda into the terrific storm and meet us there.

As we weathered the tumult that first day, playing monopoly and watching the weather channel nonstop, we thought, "This isn't so bad."

Katz in "banker" mode
(okay, actually she kicked our trash)

Then the lights, internet, 3G went down or were spotty and we went to bed during the worst of it.

This big tree totally missed the homes around it.

This home was not so lucky. Look top right and see the roof damage.
See the man walking past the root of the tree with a small section of the canopy?

Next couple of days were spent driving around to see the downed trees in the area, finding restaurants with power and food to feed us, sleeping, getting through traffic that had no stoplights working, and spending some good time together.

E organizing some good ol' trail mix

C playing with with shampoo & kitchen utensils

Good job family!!
You are all wonderful, and if I had to be in a hurricane I'm glad I was with you. (I'm also glad that we didn't have any dangerous issues arise. PTL)

"I Love Lucy" Dress

2011-08-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

We have been seeing many full skirted dresses with fitted bodices this season, and I thought it would be a good school dress for the new teacher in my life.

So when I was in NYC in June, I took a little side trip to Mood fabrics and looked around with Kathryn, Austin, and the 2 cute little ones (not that the parents aren't cute, but ...)

We found a couple of fun light weight fabrics to use for dresses and skirts and this is one of them.

It is a light blue and white stripe and I lined it with plain old white cotton.

Pictures got lost from my beautiful camera that I just left under my airplane seat and walked away from, so my DD was kind enough to take a few and send them my way.

It looks like it needs a belt. Maybe I'll make a belt out of the fabric.

Steph must've thought it needed a belt too. I think a skinny one would be good. Maybe I need to move the waistline up just a bit too. Oh, the joys of sewing long distance. I'll just make the waist seam bigger and adjust the zipper out of necessity while I'm at it. (Next time I'm in the same time zone with it.) But only if it is long enough to afford taking it up an inch and a half.

I do like the tie at the neck. Finishes it off nicely.

Also notice the piping at the middle and princess seams. The stripes that are in a sort of herringbone pattern meeting at the middle and going up from there and then meeting at the princess seam and going down to the side seam then up, then down all the way around the bodice. The skirt has big pleats in the front and then they are smaller all the way around to the back. The fabric on the skirt is on grain and the stripes run up and down.

So this is my attempt at making a dress that I think Lucy Ricardo and my mother would have worn for everyday type clothes in the 1950's.

Happy 100th (belated) birthday to Lucy.

Hungry Caterpillar II

2011-08-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

Ellery was seen at her baby sisters birthday in this. But what did the birthday girl wear?

How about a white pinafore over a bright green dress?

I found a perfect hungry caterpillar to embroider with my new machine and it brought the color to the bodice of the pinafore.

Should I use white ties on the side of the apron?

Or colored caterpillar bites for ties?
I choose colorful ones.

A Peter Pan collar?

Or a pleated small collar to match big sis's blue pleats on her dress?
I choose pleats. I do love my pleater attachment.
If you want to see Cossette in the dress along with some cute shoes that her mommy found, go here and see the whole party.
Looks like fun, huh?

Guardsman Pass

2011-08-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

I am home at last for at least a couple of weeks. I'll hopefully get some pictures of projects that I've been up to, but for now I'll show some pictures of a hike/drive that Jonathan, Stephanie and I went on yesterday.

Here is our tour guide and oldest child. Seems that Jonathan knows more places to go in the Utah mountains than even Grandpa Kelly or Hodgman. The names of rock formations as well as the science of all of those rocks is always right on the tip of his tongue.

The clouds this time of year are white and fluffy for miles up into the sky during the day, and then often turn grey and ominous in the evening. One of the nights I was there we experienced a loud thunderstorm and high winds. I had forgotten about these storms and was happy I was safe and sound inside Stephanie's cute little house.

Stephanie was able to come with us between orientations of her new teaching position, and volleyball practice with the AF girls who are already in love with her.

I have NEVER seen the mountains of Utah with so much green, and the flowers were full and fabulous. I suppose it has something to do with the wet spring and summer that the western US has experienced.
It was gorgeous. Really.

You should click on this picture to better see the Indian Paintbrush, Lupine, & Skunk Cabbage

There were also at least 3 kinds of Daisy's, Bluebells, 4 kinds of berries (we weren't sure if we could eat one of them and Jonathan smeared some of one berry juice on him arm to see if he'd get an allergic reaction which he did not), wild Delphinium, and other flowers that I didn't recognize.

This is approaching Mary Lake at Brighton (ski area) up Big Cottonwood Canyon east of Salt Lake City.

Overlooking the Guardsman Pass road that we have just ascended.

Down on the other side of Guardsman, headed to Park City. Can you see what I see????

I wish I had a different lens. The Hubby let me use his camera which was brave of him after what I did last week.
There were 6 moose. SIX! At least 4 males and 1 female. We didn't see the head of the other one, but I suppose it is mating season and they herd a bit during the early fall when they are mating.
I was so excited that I spotted them far of and Stephanie u-turned her little Honda around so we could get a closer look.
Very pretty day and fun kids I have.

Embarassed and Upset

2011-08-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

I have trotted across the western United States once again to Grand Junction, Colorado. My mother had surgery and I came to see if I could help out a bit and throw some TLC toward my parents for the week.
I have gone on a hike with sister and family, swam at brothers house, revisited 1st ward, eaten some great meals, etc and all without my handy dandy camera which I LEFT ON THE PLANE or in the airport.
I am sick about it and can't quite believe how I could do such a thing. It's not a little itty bitty camera. It is a nice big camera and I am praying that when the lost and found(s) open at the airlines and in the airports at 9 am tomorrow morning I will somehow be able to recover my lost, unmarked D-200 Nikon.
Please pray with me for the honest people out there.

Hungry Caterpillar

2011-08-03T21:29:00.000-07:00

DD decided to have a Hungry Caterpillar birthday party for her most darling one year old baby girl.
I was enlisted to help decorate the children for the event.

Katz helped me choose the border fabric at least a year ago, and this b-day made me act on the promise to sew it up.

The older sister received a cute little sleeveless summer dress made from some material that goes with the borders of food that the caterpillar is ravaging. The different colored dots are representative of his bites of yummy food. I trimmed it with some cute blue pleated ruffles and of course ... a bow in back.

Ellery looks very cute in it.

Smiling for GPa who is following her around the wax museum with a camera.

Aptos Gold

2011-07-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

I have not disappeared off of the planet, but I've been doing a few non blogging things. I'm trying to figure out if we should/can redo our backyard along with refinishing our 36 year old plaster in the pool, and digging new drains for the patio so that we don't get flooded in the winter.
We have these wonderful huge ash trees in the yard. They provide cool ample shade in the spring, summer, and fall so we put up with the leaf, pod mess in the winter.

My closest guess is that they are Green Ash trees and should live 50 more years in the urban setting that is our back yard, so we sort of want to plan around them.

We do really need to fix a few things that are falling apart, so as long as we have a tractor back there, we have to figure out what else we can/should do.
I have never liked the bricks as pool decking because it can be so gritty and dirty when lying wet on the red bricks. They are super hot to the feet in midsummer, the grout in some areas is sandy, and the brick wall around one of the Ash trees is cracked. So should we replace all the brick for stone? or stucco?
The main patio off of the house is aggregated concrete circa 1975, is uneven and lifted up because of the root system on the Ash tree, so ... should we just repair and have it look patched? or actually replace it all. We have to dig up a good portion of it to replace the drainage pipes anyway.
These are some of the questions we've been trying to find answers to. How much $$$$.
Should we just re-plaster the pool, or use the newer Pebbletec? If we are changing the decking can we reroute the solar pipes through it? How 'bout the irrigation pipes?
Do you like this rock?

It is called Aptos Gold. It's from Arizona.
Or this?

More for the walls and fireplace. Or this?

Should the wall rock and the decking be different?
Should we use concrete?
How about coping around the pool?
Replace the pool tiles?
Put in more lighting?
What about a new sound system?
Electricity?
Maybe consider natural gas line to the new outdoor kitchen?
I always like fireplaces outside?
Natural gas to that?
Built in heat lamps for cool California nights?
We could spend as much as we bought the house for. Maybe we should try to spend something like we bought our last house for. Maybe we should spend something like we bought our 1st Portland house for in 1981. Oh, but then we couldn't re-plaster the pool.
Decisions, decisions.
I'm going to go make some cookies.

Barelegged or Hose?

2011-07-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as I was perusing my followed blog list, I ran across a survey that I had voted on last week. I usually don't make a comment when looking around, and if I do comment is is a very short snippet of conversation because I am too lazy to spend much time on comment forms, but I will often take the 3 seconds to check a voting box and SUBMIT key.
Anyhow, now is the time that I have to admit I have started following a blog called "What Kate Wore."

I am slightly intrigued that the now famous Princess Kate is wearing dresses that are generally modest and classy, and I really like that because perhaps the fashion world will begin to make lower priced modest dresses for me and mine.

Well the poll was all about her hosiery, or as the English call them "tights" and whether or not people might start wearing them again now that they see them on her.
All the comments were about being a throwback to the 80's and I thought,
"It was way more than a style of the 80's that we were referring to."

I remember my mother talking about drawing a line down the back of their legs when nylon's were hard to come by during WWII and that they tried to fool people by making a fake seam down the back of a womans leg with eyebrow pencils. Apparently nylons made, out of the miracle new fabric, had just been on the market starting May 15, 1940 and were quickly a huge success selling 64 million pairs within the first year.

Women started wearing the far more comfortable panty hose in the 60's. Spandex had been introduced in 1959 and the extra stretchy bounce of that material made nylons fit much better and being able to lose all of the other undergarments and just wear nylons up to the waist was a much more comfortable fashion.
Skirts became shorter probably because of the new pantyhose. (I had never thought about this before, but it totally makes sense to me)

I have 2 personal childhood stories about nylons.

1. When I was in 6th grade my mother bribed me by letting me buy nylons if I would choose the lower healed dress shoe. I gave in and felt older even without the higher heel.

2. When I was in 7th grade, the same cute mother let me buy a garter belt and 3 pairs of colored opaque stockings to wear with my various school dresses. I thought it was really cool to be able to wear an old fashioned garter belt that had hooks on it to attach the thigh high stockings, but now that I think about it, perhaps that was to prevent me from hiking my skirts up too high as the fashions were very mini in 1970.

That Joyce Kelly was one smart (or tricky) mother.

Okay, now for the purpose of my post.
As I was polling about nylons, I was reminded about an older woman at my church now, who is prone to ask me inappropriate questions from time to time.

Example: "Did you know that that style of skirt makes your back side look wider than it actually is?"
Yes, she really said that to me a few years back.

Another time she asked, "When was it that you decided it was okay not to wear stockings to church?"
(I should have answered with, "When was it that you decided that tacky and rude were going to be part of your personality?")
This is the question I was thinking about as I read the article. Apparently I was not the only woman who had decided it wasn't necessary to wear "stockings" to church.

FYI, I have modified my stocking wearing the past few years. During the cooler months I wear them and the warmer months I don't.

I am unsure what the rest of the fashion world will do, but for now that is my decision, and I'm sticking to it.

The Met

2011-07-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

When we were in NYC a couple of weeks ago I made the Hodgpeople gang go to the Metropolitan Museum to see the Alexander McQueen show that is there until next month.

Austin and the little people went to other areas of the humongous museum and looked at armor or something because there weren't any strollers allowed in the overly crowded McQueen display.

So Aust sacrificed and stayed with the kiddies.

......And got to see cool things like Medusa's head in the hand of Perseus?

Anyway back to Lee Alexander McQueen.

This English clothing designer who first designed for his sisters and then the theatre, was best known for his controversial catwalk shows, low riding jeans, skulls, fantasy, and dramatic influence on the fashion world.
He was the head designer for Givenchy design house int he 90's and left for his own company in 2001.

Looking at this Met show entitled Savage Beauty, it becomes apparent to the viewer that, "He was a troubled soul," as Katz would say as she roamed through the display with The Hubby and me.

This piece is from his 2006 "Widows of Culloden," show. I actually kind of like this one, maybe because of it's name and my affinity for Diane Gabaldon's books about Scottish history, or because I just like tartan. Such an eclectic mix of fabric.

And his shoes were out of this world.

What would you say if you walked past someone with these on the end of her legs?

This particular dress caught my fancy, because there was a McQueen quote next to the dress that stated he used live flowers because they die, and he wanted to show that everything dies. Weird.
Most of the mannequins showing the clothing were faceless, or their heads were covered in odd hats. My cousin tells me he influenced her hats and costumes for the dance shows she has done.

He lived 40 years, then ended his own life last year. His brand will live on as celebrities and princesses wear it today.

Crazy world we live in.

#4 is a Busy Girl

2011-07-11T14:12:00.000-07:00

Our Stephanie is gearing up for quite a busy fall semester. Here she is showing off her New Teacher Handbook received for her new ~~job~~ internship that will last all of next school year.
Steph is to be teaching 2 sophomore American Literature classes and 2 junior British Literature classes. The assistant principal of American Fork High School let her choose her class room a couple weeks ago and she chose the one with greater light coming into the windows.
In addition to teaching and getting her student teaching done while getting partially paid for it, our organized girl also is going to be the head volleyball coach at the HS. She hired the 2 other coaches and is working out 3 days a week with the team. The team is also doing a week long camp and getting prepared for the fall season and tryouts in August.
As she takes masters classes during the summer, and has another night class for her masters in the fall, she is trying to get her HS teaching lesson plans underway, so she can take some of the load off of the 4 crazy months coming up starting September.
Go Stephanie!!!! You can do it!!!
WOOOO HOOOOO

Red, White, and Cute

2011-07-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

This little babe is showing off a new dress that GramVi made for her.
I guess I always revert to the smocked items when I'm looking through my books for ideas.

This is a little sundress that has just a few rows of smocking under the round yolk, and then some flowery type circles at the junction of the up peaks in the design. The blank areas between the obviously smocked ones are back smocked from the wrong side of the garment so that the pleats stay put.

Then a couple of red ribbon widths are used for detailing and waalaa, you have a dress for the 4th of July.

And her moms toenails even match. Bonus!

3 Hour Tour

2011-07-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

The weather started getting rough, but we were undeterred in our trip around Manhattan Island last week.
The Hubby took some great pics.

Photographer needs to give the memo about no glasses in this pic. Sorry.

Should probably change camera lenses if we want the city and the visitors in the same pic.
"Oh, you wanted to know (see) where this picture was taken?"

The rest of the week Ellery call her "The Lady" without even being prompted. Very appropriate.

So many bridges, so little time.

This tour gave me many ideas for subsequent trips to the big apple.

Megan's Wedding Deux

2011-07-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

We have little mini reunions whenever a cousin gets married and this time was no exception. Out of the 19 grandchildren, we are down to the last few singles and so we are going to have to come up with other means of getting together. Many were able to come for the wedding including 9 big boy cousins. A couple of second generationers were shooting around at the beginning and were enjoying the scene.
This particular day following the wedding luncheon which was held at Kathy's church building, the big boys all played some hoops while they were killing time before the reception.

You will never see as intense a game of cousins basketball than exists in my extended's. That is a FACT.

Some of the rest of us shopped and played in other venues for the afternoon, but these boys had the most fun.
Thanks Megan, for providing a little cousin bonding time.

Nieces Wedding

2011-07-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

We went to Portland for a wedding a couple of weeks ago. This seems to be turning into a habit. Every year we have been heading to PDX for a wedding.
Well Megan, one of our girl cousins (we only have 2 out of 14 on my side of the family that are female), found herself a nice man and they went to the Temple and got married.

I've been a little reluctant to post about this because apparently there aren't a lot of pictures out there for this fine event and I wanted to make sure I got ours to the bride before jumping all over it.

But ... it looks as if they apparently like one another, so this is a good thing.

I like this pic

And the father helping out his adorable last child.

The cute mother of the bride.

Nice cousins abound.

Happy and unhappy nieces and nephews.

Proud grandparents,

and siblings.

Thanks Hun for always being there to take great pictures. The hired help is always so slow and not nearly as fun.

Memphis the Musical

2011-06-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

My good friend Laurie told me this was the play for me and she was right.

The music, voices, dancing and costuming were outstanding.

This is an interesting piece of history being retold in a fun way. How out of the oppression of black people came this white man who loved their music and wanted it to be heard.
I loved seeing the dresses and suits that were popular during the decade of my birth and I'm copying one dress right now for my DD to wear. It's an "I Love Lucy" dress, so hope it's not to old fashioned for her. I do think she'll look great in the style.
This play is going out from Broadway to a city near you, and it is worth buying a ticket. The Hubby, DD, and Her Hubby liked it a lot too.
Thanks Laurie.

Yankee Stadium

2011-06-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

My DD Kathryn and her little family of 4 met The Hubby and me in NYC this last week for a fun experience. We did many touristy things as Austin, Her Hubby, had never been to this great city. I'll do several posts about the vacation but this one is about our baseball game.

We went to the brand 2nd year new Yankee Stadium to watch them play the Rockies. Who should I cheer for??? I'm not a Yankee fan at all, and I am from Colorado, but don't keep up with the Rockies like I do the Giants, so I'm not really their fan either. The event was still enjoyable as could be.

The Hubby always gets us the best tickets. Great seats huh?

The MLB always puts on a good show and we got to watch Jason Giambi hit an RBI immediately in the first inning for his former friendly fans of NYYanks, then come in for a score himself in the same inning.

We also got to see A. Rod hit a nice double and make a great play.

Before the game began there were several troops of the US Army introduced. All were missing at least one limb, and many were missing several. They all waved and were cheered on proudly as the fans of baseball happily remembered for a brief minute, who it is and what it is that is truly important to us all in this free, democratic country of ours.
My favorite grandchild moment of the game came when the crowd all stood and sang/danced "The YMCA," by the Village People. Ellery, who had danced it with me teaching her all the right moves, turned around to her mother and said, "Mommy, we sang the ABC's." With as much enthusiasm as she could muster up. Very cute.

My other favorite grandchild moment came at the close of and following the game on our subway ride home.

Yes, this is Cossette. Sleeping face out and standing upright on her daddy's chest. She looked so funny, I couldn't stop laughing. If only we could sleep so easily, we would never be grouchy again. Why does my neck hurt? I always make sure that I sleep perfectly sideways on a nice medium soft bed.

Big Apple

2011-06-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

I'm off with The Hubby to visit and enjoy New Your City this week. We are meeting our middle child and her little family for a great summer visit and we are going to have fun. The Hubby will be in Boston for a day, but the rest of the time we will have him close by and ready to go to a play, baseball game, museum, boat ride, or whatever else we all come up with.

Here we come.

Baby Blankets

2011-06-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

My lastest craze is putting the babies name on my gifts for baby showers. I guess my new sewing machine has made me more aware of monogramming and so it is now my standard operating procedure when going to a shower. This particular blanket is out of the flannel that is in the Moda line called "Bliss" that I made all my grandchild Easter dresses out of. I just love it.
The embroidery is done in an applique style where just the edge of the design is sewn around a fabric letter.

I edged this blanket in matching satin blanket binding, which I like but I can't always match.

This blanket is done in red Minky fabric (that's the really soft stuff you want to keep petting 'cause it feels like my Abby dogs ears) on one side and red t-shirt knit fabric on the back. It is embellished with different cotton quilting fabrics around the edge and so it looks more like a typical quilt.

Here is one where I just got a new applique font from Planet Applique I think they have a lot of cute designs. I used this old bug fabric and lower case letters. two of the letters are just zig zagged around which is the first step in the process and then I moved on to the next letter.

I also added some looped ribbons for baby to play with on this one.

The back is again done in minky fabric, which I love for soft little babies.

Tangent time:
When Abby was a new puppy, our son Jonathan was the one who got to pick her out and help name her. Jonathan was 10 years old and he loved her ears because they felt like velvet. She was from our neighbors litter and their last name was Abbot. So our black lab/retriever mix was named Abbot Velvet Hodgman. Now you know the rest of the story.

Garden (really)

2011-06-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, I started talking about my new little vegetable garden last week, but got off on a treehouse tangent. So now I'll show off my new garden in a sunny spot where 40 foot trees used to shade and root away.
It's been a few years now, and so I'm slowly incorporating a few more goodies into the soil in this little back yard spot so that more and more things will grow, and less and less roots will be fought off.

My expanding vegetable list now includes chard, celery, and onions.

In addition to the tomatoes, squash of the summer as well as winter varieties, eggplant, and basil that I also planted last year.

These two pictures above and below caption were just taken (15th June), whereas the previous 2 pictures was on the 10th.

How quickly things grow.
I chopped down some boxwood bushes (2nd photo) before we went out of town for the weekend just so the sprinklers could water my precious garden. They were beautiful bushes, but we are removing them at the end of the summer for a backyard redo project. Stay tuned.

Now in the front yard is this.

Which has been very prolific in providing us with these.

Aren't I quite the little farmer?

Changing Hair Style

2011-06-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

I'm unsure if you've been paying attention to (or if you care about) Michael's hair style evolution the past few months, but I'll just show a few pictures of the ever changing boy/man at our house and let you judge, or snicker for yourself.
First, here is a picture of the Michael we came to know and love the last 2 or 3 years of high school. I (along with the Hubby) was always bugging him to grow it out a little bit, especially on top, so he could have a bit of fashion to it, but he never wanted to. Just kept it buzzed every 3 or 4 weeks.

He seemed to keep this style as he started college last year and during the b-ball season as well, but then decided to change things up a bit in the spring.
By doing NOTHING at all.

When I picked him up after his freshman year in college he looked like this.

After he got his mission call he was instructed to have his picture taken for his missionary VISA, so he asked me to cut it for that. Now we were bugging him to cut it shorter. He felt like we were just never satisfied with the way our son looked.

He was going to the temple next, so a little trim around the ears and neck and even if Dad wasn't thrilled with it, the hair could pass.

Nice bowl cut.

Then Michael reverted back to 2nd or 3rd grade for a couple days.

Luke's hair is just right.

And finally the fauxhawk type cut. This is where we are stuck right now.

The barber could do a better rendition of it, but alas MM is a little too cheap, so I, Mom, am the designated clipper. I am assuming that he will ~~cut~~ buzz his own hair while he serves a mission, but we shall see.

2011 Garden - AKA - Our TreeHouse

2011-06-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

Last year I planted about 6 plants in my vegetable garden plot. It is a relatively new spot for a garden and used to have 2 very large Monterey Pine trees with a terrific tree house above the now sunny area.

I guess I'll tell that story now.

When our family moved to this little Town of Los Gatos in 1994, the big kids started plotting and planning to make the little kids a great tree house. This double decker house was to be located in 2 very large pine trees that were located in the back northeast corner of our property. David enlisted the help of Jonathan and Dad and within the year the treehouse was built.

1995 Kathryn (9), Stephanie (7), David (13)

The first year of the houses existence there was a 2 x 12 leading up into the branches. We had a couple of mishaps during that period of time making the mother of this little family insist on some safety rules.
One accident happened because there were nails sticking out of the ramp, and Kathryn's derrière was injured as she was sliding down.
Another problem was that this loving mother couldn't see the side back yard from my kitchen window. For some reason I thought that my children were more intelligent than other peoples kids, but I soon started to catch these very smart kids jumping from a different 2 x 12 between the the branches of the two trees down onto our trampoline below. They would move the trampoline across the lawn just so they could jump from the tree above (probably 15-20 feet or so) and land right in its center, bouncing them back into the heavens. We were lucky to not have any broken bones. I realized fun and smart don't always go together.

Eventually, we had 3 levels of a tree house. The first level being a short 9 foot distance up a ladder from the ground and a resting place for the way up.
There was a nice window in the main level of the house, as well as a balcony off of that same level. This level was big enough to put down five or six sleeping bags. Stephanie made a trap door to cover the hole into the room so that no sleeping child would fall through. The kids also carpeted this level and put in some draperies, and everything but electricity.
The top level was a rooftop deck and had fencing all around.
In this picture taken in 2005, the dead trees are ready to be cut down and we are beginning our mourning of the loss of our beloved tree house. (Normally, when the trees were healthy they covered much of the house better than these pictures show.)
Our neighbors Fran and Bruce would talk to the kids from their driveway which was down below the side of the trees, just on the other side of the fence.

The shed down below was added to the yard in about 1998. Jonathan had replaced the fence in 1995, but had to do the side fence over again after we destroyed it for the placement of the shed.

Michael would like everyone to know it was the best tree house on planet earth.

The lousy bark beetles killed the trees, just as they have been doing all over this Santa Clara Valley, and within just a few weeks they turned almost completely brown. They had to come down, and with them our beloved tree house.

I'll actually post about the garden later.

Our Latest Graduate

2011-05-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

I better hurry and post this most important family event before tomorrow, or else I will be wrong in my headline.
Yes, tomorrow our 1st granddaughter graduates from preschool...... but I digress.
Last weekend we watched our 2nd baby boy receive his MA. He was given his Masters Degree in Geography with an emphasis in G.I.S.

YAY David!!
Woo Hoo!
Good Job!
He has been able to accomplish this task while working at Men's Wearhouse and being married for 7 years and having 3 children during it all. Kinda crazy, but all done is all done.

Just look at his accomplishments!! Aren't they cute?!?

The proud parental units,

and supportive little brother participated in the festivities.

Nice hood in the Cal State colors.

Now, we are all praying for a specific job he has in mind. They'd be lucky to get him.

Decoration Day

2011-05-30T05:12:00.000-07:00

Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations, that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of a free and undivided Republic. - John A. Logan

Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan
General Order No. 11, May 5, 1868, mandating Memorial (Decoration) Day
www.jalc.edu/loganmemorial.php

We forget what this day is all about. Thanks to all who serve(d).

Neglected Yard

2011-05-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't spent more than a few hours out in the garden this spring. Several reasons for that.
1. Precipitation was ALWAYS happening.
2. I was sewing in most of my free time.
3. I was traveling and exercising, and having my bum neck worked on in my "other" (as in out of the house) free time.
So .... because of these very valid reasons, our large yard looks like it has just been mowed and blowed but otherwise neglected for several months.
I have a semi reliable employee who shows up at our house every week or two and makes it look somewhat presentable.

Here is Panfilo, who does odd jobs easily when asked and when he understands what it was that was asked. In this pic he is in the process of cutting down my cool gnarly wisteria tree/vine. (Yes, he was asked.)
This vine turned tree trunk, of beautiful green leaves and 1 - 6 flowers annually has been tried and tested in pruning techniques, fertilizing techniques, and just general patience techniques over the 18 years I have known it. We tried anything we could to get it to flower. We let it grow up into a huge ash tree nearby, we cut it out of said tree and pruned it neatly, we root pruned it, we fertilized with flowering non-leafing fertilizers, we starved it, we babied it. Nothing worked. This promising purple flowering vine never performed.
I thought it was I that was the negative influence in it's life as this was my second attempt at having a beautiful wisteria. While we lived in Portland, Oregon I planted one to go all around our hot tub gazebo. It too never bore any resemblance to the magnificent vines I saw all over the city. Everything grows in Portland, Oregon, but I couldn't get flowers on my wisteria. My inferiority complex was being fertilized every time I looked out the window.
About 6 years ago I bought another wisteria plant while it was in bloom. I had heard that some of them just are duds and I wanted to test out the notion of my blame.

Well, for the past 5 years this originally small plant has bloomed along over 30 feet of our side yard fence. The Hubby and I enjoy it from our beautiful bathroom and I take pictures in front of it each year.
So, now that I had tested my theory that my thumb had not turned black in regard to just one type of plant, I RIPPED out the old wisteria in our back yard. Long story, eh?

In other flowering news, it appears that the Cineraria that was planted in a partly sunny area of the back yard a few years ago, has reseeded itself into a much more desirable shady spot in the brick work or the patio. It looks pretty cool.

And this flowering sedum is such a beautiful chartreuse color flower against the burgundy leaves makes me want to plant a lot of this type when we redo the back yard.

Here is our "Cossette" rose that is really healthy and beautiful outside of our bedroom door.

"Cossette" close up.

There aren't any flowers whiter than a white azalea.

And lastly, the "Sweet Peas" reseeded themselves X 400%. They are everywhere around the pool equipment. They smell sooooo good and are beautiful as well.
Moral of the story is that Mother Nature tends to continue to produce beauty even if left to her own devices.
She also lets the weeds take over, so I better go augment Panfilo's work and get myself and Michael out in the garden for some organizing and recovery efforts.

Easter Sewing (11) - One More Dress

2011-05-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

Last of the "Bliss" fabric line dresses coming right up. This one is not really an Easter dress, because it is more casual than churchy. But the fabrics are again so cute together and the whole little family will now match.

Check out the headband as well. I just used round pieces of felt folded into quarters and sewed them onto a hard, fabric colored head band.

There is 1 inch wide red grossgrain ribbon loops all around the dress near the bottom with 1/4 inch wide tan matching ribbon sewn over the up-to-down loops. The bodice is trimmed with white rick rack and the halter style dress is finished with 2 big red buttons in back.

Here are the 3 cuties in our San Jose crew all dressed in their finished items of fashionable attire.

He doesn't want to stay still and his big sister is holding him tight while keeping her perfect smile all the while. Pretty funny.
Good job kids!!

Easter Sewing (10) - A Tie

2011-05-15T23:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am still sewing with that fun Bliss line and have a couple more items to show off before I'm finished.
This one I sewed for the little guy. I haven't sewn anything for the grandson. Just a little knitting to date, but this tie just might be a habit I get used to.

I found the pattern on this website. It is a very good tutorial so I just will add a few suggestions.

First: The pattern was kinda hard to download, so I improvised. For the 18 month size I cut (on the bias - or diagonally) fabric 21 inches long and shaped it roughly as a men's tie on the ends.
With the seam allowance, a 5 inch fat end was about right.

Second: Cut out a lining the same width as the main fashion fabric but 1/4 inch shorter overall to allow for the right sides showing a little toward the back when finished.
I then sewed the two short, flat "V" ends with right sides together and then turned it to the right side and ironed the points flat.

Third: I think the interfacing is too much weight for a quilting cotton, so I don't think I'll use interfacing in the future.

But ... aren't you all jealous? Don't you want one too? I'm not talking about the tie.

Second Cousin's Wedding

2011-05-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

We didn't get pictures of me and my ol' cousins, but the day was very fun for me, and the bride was beautiful, happy and radiant.

We went to the Sacramento Temple yesterday afternoon and attended the wedding of my cousin Cindy's daughter Sabrina.

The Hubby was a trooper and indulged me staying into the evening to chat it up with my Chipman cousin's Kerry and Todd. These, along with the mother of the bride, were my closest cousins as I was growing up. Their mother was my special Aunt June, who always made me feel like I was just amazing and was my mothers only sister. Kerry and Todd both had their cute wives with them to inform me of many going ons, and I met 3 more of their children. These little second cousins (of my children that is, they are actually my first cousins once removed) who never remembered meeting me several years ago, were very nice and engaging new family members.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Congrats to Sabrina and her love Jared.

Mothers

2011-05-10T18:34:00.000-07:00

I didn't even talk to my mother on Sunday. I tried, but she is off gallivanting in St. George and didn't pick up her cell. No internet access while they are down south either, because they aren't staying long enough to set it up.
I do love my smart phone!
So I got to talk to her last night, and she (and Dad) is doing quite well, (else how could she and the papa disappear like they did). Apparently her heel is still really hurting, but the rest of her including her new shoulder is feeling AOK. As for Dad, his knee replacement is healing better and so he's up for activity too.

I was able to have 2 of my boys here for the day plus David's little family.

My girls sent me home from my trips to see them last week with some cute little items to commemorate the day as well.

Aren't these Anthro measuring cups just adorable?

This Kitchenaide vinyl art fists me to a T.

The Hubby bought me some great flowers that were enhanced by my own sweet peas.

I feel loved. I hope my Mother does too.
Thanks ALL!!!

Michael's Call

2011-05-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

In my previous post I was just back from DC and heading to SLC to pick up our baby from his freshman year in college.
Well, he had started packing,

and his messy room quickly converted to a clean empty room with the help of Stephanie and Mom.
Then I shopped with Stephanie (more about her news later), located the oldest brother Jonathan, so he could go to lunch with us and say goodbye to Michael, (JG showed us a pretty authentic German deli in downtown SLC called Siegfried's that was very good and unique.) and ate dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square. (this restaurant hasn't changed since the 70's and was okay, but too ordinary for todays highly developed palate)
That night, Michael and I headed off to Brigham City to be able to see Grandma Hodgman the following morning.

He got to spend a short time with her and say goodbye and then we headed out to California in the old pickup truck.
By Reno, we received word that Dad had gotten the mail and Michael had a big white envelope in it from the Office of the First Presidency in SLC.
HIS MISSION CALL !!!
Dad said he would set up a conference call with any of the relatives who cared to, or had the time to listen in that evening when we arrived home. Michael then called a few friends who are home from or attend college at home, to come over and participate in the letter opening. It was very nice of these 3 good boys to come to our home for this occasion when they don't even get why when or how he is doing this mission thing.
There ended up being nearly 20 people on the conference call. In addition to those, we had 3 of Michael's friends, David's whole sleepy family (well behaved for 9:30 at night I might add), as well as Dad and Mom on the homefront. Stephanie was "skyping" on Michaels computer, while Kathryn and Austin were "Face timing" on our Mac in front of the missionary to be. Quite an entourage.

Doesn't he look like an awesome missionary.

So ... he is going to Brazil Sao Paulo North Mission.
Leaving October 12. This is still 5 months out, but there are Visa arrangements and other things that have to be taken care of before he goes, so I guess he is off to find a job in the am to make a bit of money before he goes.

Congrats to my fine son.

Where Do I Begin?

2011-05-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

I've had an eventful past week in Alexandria, VA and have half a day now to ready myself for another eventful weekend in Salt Lake City.
Just a short recap.

I got to see her .....

.. and spend some quality time with her ....

... and be amazed at how many of these ... I saw.

It was extremely hot and humid about half of the time, and for April into May I think that is unusual.

So we were in our skivvies much of the time, because the new air conditioner is on order.

We rode on the DC Metro.

Enjoyed the Smithsonian.

Especially the butterflies. (pronounced bublefie)

And .... the butterflies liked us. Especially the flowers in our hair.

We hung a few pictures, and shopped for home accessories.

We also planted a bit of a garden for them to enjoy this summer.

Now I best go unpack and regroup so I can go pick up MM from Utah. One year under his belt.

More on the news front for Michael coming soon.

Lick Observatory Drive

2011-04-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

I noticed in our paper "The San Jose Mercury News" yesterday, was an article about great freebie sites to see in the bay area. Just the previous day, The Hubby and I had completed their #1 choice of adventures to do. Yes, we had driven the 20 ish serpentine miles up the tall Mt Hamilton and through some very beautiful canyons and scenery to the Lick Observatory.

Looking back toward San Jose, we felt like we were way out of the city,

Yet we were just over a hill or two.

And around some gnarly old oak trees.

Driving a skinny, winding road,

and sharing the road with noisy biker dudes, and intense biking enthusiasts, we thoroughly enjoyed the drive. The observatory was closed, and I don't know if they just use it to view the night sky, but maybe we'll investigate that side of life on another day. For this day we were not concerned with going into the big domes. I also can't imagine driving that road in the dark, although at that point it wouldn't be shared with bikers and scenic observers.

The back side of the mountain is equally winding and beautiful. (the word windy BTW is confusing to use in this situation, because it was not a breezy, blowing windy day, but rather a turning, twisting, curving, windy road. Can someone tell me if I'm wrong to use windy?)
There are huge pinecones on the sides of the road, more majestic oak trees, fields of flowers, and many small ponds left over from our wet spring rains in the back country canyons.

We stopped in the beautiful downtown area of Livermore at the back side of our adventure, and had a great Greek lunch at Demitri's.

Great way to spend a Saturday morning. I can't believe it took us 17 years to drive that road.

Happy Easter Sunday

2011-04-24T07:46:00.000-07:00

Enjoy your day and keep the reason for it in your heart and mind.
I received a cute little email from my friend about the Easter bunny. It starts and ends with the Savior, but the middle is all fluff. I like it anyway.

All I need to know

I learned from the Easter Bunny!

LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART!

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.

There's no such thing as too much candy.

All work and no play can make you a basket case.

A cute tail attracts a lot of attention.

Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.

Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.

Some body parts should be floppy.

Keep your paws off of other people's jelly beans.

Good things come in small, sugar coated packages.

The grass is always greener in someone else's basket.

To show your true colors, you have to come out of the shell.

The best things in life are still sweet and gooey..

May the joy of the season fill your heart.

AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU!

Happy Easter!

And 10

2011-04-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

I saw a similarly designed dress in a catalog as the one I wanted to make for my 5 year old GDaughter, so here is my attempt to copy this.

When I made all the girls tutu's last winter, I ordered an extra roll of mint chiffon to use for this dress.

Then I made a basic yolk dress with the neckline cut down lower than usual so she can put it on over her head.

There is a lot more color on this particular dress, so I just added a white sash instead of a mint, or pink, etc. Hopefully that will make the dress not be quite so loud.

TERRIBLE picture taken out in my garden, but you get the idea. I lined the whole thing with white double knit fabric, so the colors in the floral pattern would really stand out and also that the chiffon itself would have something to give it some body.
She loves the ruffles and flowing fabric of this new dress. I will admit it is a pretty fun item to wear.
I hope her li'l sis doesn't feel slighted with the classic lines and slight boringness of her Easter dress this year. (previous post)
Pictures of the girls in their dresses to come. Honest.

Easter Sewing (9)

2011-04-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

Mentioning a different dress for Lex made me think it's okay do do these posts out of order sometimes. I'm not quite finished with Lena's less casual dress, but the actual Easter day dresses for the two older girls are complete and so I will show them off now, one by one.

I went way off the cotton prints on this one. It is a linen with a fancy jacquard ribbon around the base.

Surprise! The colors are my new favorite combo of turquoise and red. (and pink, tan, sage)
Isn't that just the coolest ribbon you ever did see? I purchased it while in SF at The Ribbonrie.

There is also a turquoise ribbon tie in the back of the dress that matches

the hand stitched trim around the neckline,

and the waistline,

and the collar of the

matching jacket that can be worn with this simple, classic, little dress.

Easter Sewing (8)

2011-04-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

Next in the Bliss fabric creations is a cute little number for the 5 year old.
This is actually not her Easter dress, because it is quite casual and she should be able to wear this skirt to school and for less formal occasions.

It is a pattern sold for the benefit of Nie Nie (a blogger who was in a small plane accident nearly 3 years ago and is still undergoing extensive treatments for burns.)
This little skirt has 6 layers of ruffles, and I did them in several Bliss types with a checked neutral thrown into the mix.

I then cut out 6 triangles of one flower in the floral fabric (called fussy cutting) and fused them onto the front of a ready made t-shirt for a cute match.

BeDazzled Hearts

2011-04-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

When I was in GJC in February, I was fabric shopping (imaging that if you can) with my li'l sis and we found these cute heart panels to make into a quick wall decor quilt.

Mine is for Valentines Day and hers matches a bedroom in her home that needs a little something on a wall.
The fun part of this project was that we bought a heat tool for applying jewels to fabric and such. I never thought I'd have much use for such a hokey purchase,

but it really does add a little needed sparkle to certain projects, and was pretty simple to use once I realized that all glued jewels are not created equal. Some 4mm jewels fit the metal heated tool designed for them and some 4mm's did not.

So I used a pin inserted into the provided slot on the tool to disengage the non fitters and went on my merry way.
I also tried out a new feature and attachment on my sewing machine (BSR - Bernina Stitch Regulator) to quilt free hand around all the flowers and hearts in the fabric. I was not so good at the movement of the fabric in the machine at first, but I got the hang of it by the end. No one is going to look that closely at the stitching anyway, right?
Hearts, Hearts, Hearts. (Can you tell I'm stalling on finishing up my Easter Sewing projects, in favor of non urgent posts.)

Easter Sewing (7) - The "Bonnet"

2011-04-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

For the past posted dress I made a big flowery headband that I thought I'd pass off for an Easter Bonnet. The traditional bonnets that we used to wear in the 60's were usually of the straw variety and white. This fun, long established custom was probably a left over from the Catholic church and having all women's heads covered when attending.
I still have a couple of Camille's and my hats from our childhood somewhere up in my most uncomfortable to crawl into, probably rat infested attic.

They look something like this.

I couldn't find a picture of myself. I think my parents have all of them still, but this is how we all looked going to church on Easter Sunday.

Move ahead in time to 2011 and here is my updated version of this ritual a la stuffed bunny.

I made up 4 different types of flower bows and attached them to a felt base with needle and thread, then I placed them on a headband and glued the felt to the headband with another slightly smaller piece of felt on the back side of the headband.

The red ribbon is tied in a traditional two sided bow with a small gathered ribbon and button in the center.
The turquoise bow is a 2.5 inch double sided satin ribbon that is sewn (basting stitch) in a running line down the long center of the ribbon and then pulled up tight and made into a ruffly flower.

The pink felt bow is 7 or 8 same sized cut out circles. The bottom one is flat and all the others are folded in half and then halved again. The center points are then sewn onto the bottom one at a time filling out the entire carnation type flower.
Lastly is the fashion fabric that goes with the dress, and it is ripped into a 1.5 inch strip by the width of the fabric (45"). This strip is tied in a knot in the center and then the strip is folded around the knot and turned every half inch or so to make an interesting flower. Tutorials for this abound on the internet.

Easter Sewing (6)

2011-04-17T22:40:00.000-07:00

Moving on to the second youngest little granddaughters dress, I am still using the Camille Roskelly and her mom's designed fabrics called "Bliss".

Here is the main floral fabric pattern of the dress.

This dress is smocked on the entire bodice and is a typical square yolked dress. Using a white pique for the collar and sleeve cuffs gives the dress a little flare.

The baby cord piping around the collar and cuffs is a sage green/white checked fabric

and I also put a little ruffle of the checked fabric around the bottom of the dress.
There is a built in slip with an eyelet edge on the very bottom.

The smocking is done in aqua and red with a few rows of blank pleating that is back smocked (smocked in straight rows on the wrong side of the fabric) so as not to lose the shape of the pleats on the front.
Notice also the little red flowers hand stitched on the collar.

The double sided satin bow is the pretty aqua color and ties in the back.

Here is the finished front.
Happy Easter "E." Send me a picture!!!! Go here to see the girl wearing the dresses.

Easter Sewing (5)

2011-04-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

Moving onto another person's dress. This one is for my DD, the mother of the baby from the previous posts.

We saw a very cute dress in the Anthropologie window and so thought we'd try to copy it.
I can't find it now because it was in the fall line and apparently it has disappeared from my knowledgeable view on the internet.
This striking dress that you can't see, was a cream colored lace over a light tan base fabric. The bodice was fitted and the skirt gathered into soft folds at the waist for a full skirt and 50's type of style. Somewhat casual for a lace dress, DD said she would like something like it to wear during the spring and summer.
So ... Katz and I went to Britex fabric store when we were in San Francisco one day and looked for lace and ideas for a similar dress.
Now Kathryn is not a fabric shopper by trade like her mother is, but she had to admit that this is a fabulous store. It is not a store to buy sale fabrics, and so I was prepared to just find great fabrics that usually aren't available from my national fabric chain store. I was looking for some wintery plaids for next Christmas and found some amazing wool tartans. They are authentically made for Scottish family kilts, etc, and are quite expensive, but I bought enough for a little jumper, a childs skirt, and an adult skirt for Kathryn's little family of girlies.
We also found some grey stretchy lace that we both fell in love with and I thought I could make a spring dress for her out of it. The stretch was something I was worried about in the finished product, so it did make me a little nervous to sew up into a dress. We switched gears from the original light weight lace dress found at Anthro, and I bought an underlining fabric that had more heaviness than I normally would've so that the lace would have some body and not just stretch out into a big mess when being worn.
I decided not to make it gather around the waist, because the thickness of both fabrics together may not gather well, so I made the waistline fitted and then the skirt goes down in an A-line to her knees.

The bottom 1 foot is slightly gathered at all 4 seams so that the lace edging is even all the way around.

The underlining did what it was supposed to do and I then added a lightweight slip with a little tulle for some added fullness at the bottom of the dress.

Here is the slip under the underlining. (Underlining is supposed to act like it is part of the fashion fabric when making up an item. Sometimes it is even fused or sewed together before construction is started.)

The sleeves are placed on the edge of the lace so that the cute little edging shows. I gathered in the center of the sleeve base to mimic the base of the dress.

I do like the look of an invisible zipper in a dress such as this. And it was easy peasy to put in with my new zipper attachment #35 on my Bernina.

Back of the dress with pink sash. You could wear a belt, or any color ribbon around the waist.

I also sent a 4" wide brown ribbon that has a self covering wrap in the center. Pictures of actual daughter in dress to come. She says it fits her PERFECTLY. (Which is A main reason to sew.)
Not a casual dress as originally intended, but a neutral color and classic almost 50's style that will be able to be worn for many years.

Easter Sewing (4)

2011-04-14T05:55:00.000-07:00

To see the dress on the baby go to this site.
Finally a dress to go with all the accessories. This is a size 6-12 month dress.

I used one fabric throughout the dress and did just 4 rows of smocking with some loops of cotton floss to put diagonal rows of ribbon through.

This is a basic square yoke dress with little cotton white pique collar.

The back of the dress is the same except the placket that runs down from the buttons is out of a contrasting fabric that the panties were made from.
When we receive a picture of the baby in the dress (and booties, bonnet, & panties,) I'll be sure to post it here. Thank you for your cooperation.

Weekend for Family

2011-04-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

We were able to have a very nice weekend and funeral for our beloved grandfather.

All of our children in one place, with Grandma Hodgman in the center.

Kathryn with cousin Tressa's daughter Madison.

David stitching up Uncle Rod's dress pants for the funeral.

Beautiful Mantua from Aunt Toni's front room.

St. Joseph Catholic Church in Ogden, Utah

The Hodgman Family

Jonathan, Michael, Stephanie, Vicki, John, Kathryn, David

21 gun saluters

Grandchildren as Pall Bearers

All of GG and GPa Hodgman's posterity

Gracious Grandma Muriel

After the graveside service.

(Thanks Stephanie for the pictures)

Easter Sewing (3)

2011-04-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

The next piece of the babies outfit is an "Easter Bonnet."

I'm not sure what this generation of moms thinks of such an item, but a bonnet traditionally had to be part of an Easter ensemble because any female's head had to be covered while worshipping in church, so I thought I'd make up a cute quick one.
I found this rectangular shaped easy one to make on the "Sew Beautiful" blog and it whipped up as easy as meringue (which is way easier than making a pie I might add).
All there is to it is:
Cut out 2 different fabrics in rectangular shape (I think this size was 9" x 14") and sewing them together right sides together with ties on each side of one long edge about 1 1/2 inches into the piece. (Use any ribbon, fabric, or anything that'll make a cute little bow.)
Last step is sewing a 1/4 - 1/2"casing on the other long edge to pull a ribbon or small piping/cording through so that it can gather up into a small 2" circle at the back of the child's head. Sorry, no picture of the back.

My model moved away so next time the teddybear will have to suffice.
Boo Hoo Hoo

The 2 fabrics make it reversible and I added a plain white cotton lining so the fashion fabric wouldn't show through to each side. I also added a little trim fabric, but you can use lace or ribbon or nothing at all if you desire and make it uniquely yours.
Fold the top 1 1/2 inch section back for a brim and tie it on.
SEW CUTE!!