Teenager Vehicle Sold

We no longer have teenagers and yet it took us a while to actually get our hiney's in gear and get rid of the 4th vehicle in our driveway, which is exactly the car our last 3 children drove all through high school.  

Kathryn wanted a yellow jeep for the couple of years before she learned how to drive. When Kathryn wants something she talks about it a lot and soon whenever the Hubby spotted a yellow jeep he gave it a second look.  One day in early 2002, just before her 16 birthday, he came home with this fairly new 2001 jeep from the dealership across from the Jiffy Lube where he was getting another car serviced.
It had a simple interior, but when Michael started driving it we added a nice sound system and this helped bring up the desired value to a high school boy.

It was the manual transmission, which helped its moxy with the daughters, 'cause they thought it was pretty cool being able to teach their boy friends how to drive a stick.
Stephanie and her friends drove it over the hill to Santa Cruz often and it really got around town with all 3 of the kids. Lots of people knew who it belonged to.

 NorCal stickers and the Jumpman symbol made it theirs.

The Hubby and I will miss the Jeep and the reminder it gave us daily of our great kids. 

Random Happenings

I've been trying to finish up some little things and get them out of the way.
Here is a random list of things I've been up to.

 Knitting Christmas ornaments for next year. I'm planning on an advent banner over the fireplace.

 Tiny sweaters, hats, mittens, and other wintery knits.

 Baby blankets for new little additions. Isn't Lincoln a cute name?

 Invitations for an upcoming bridal shower.

 Another blanket. I also made a turquoise one for a little "Evelyn", but I failed to take a picture. Congratulations to Brett and Jessica. The great grandchildren of Joyce and Sam (my parents) are really multiplying. They must have about 35 now. Crazy.

Checking on Michael's Visa finally shows some advancement. Go Elder Michael!!

A Valentine purse with a cute little embroidered birdie with a love letter.
More embroidered pillowcases for a primary in our stake, as I finished the initial 44 that we ordered. I'll get to the others later on in the year when we figure out how many of which gender we need in the end.

Choosing tile for our pool surround.
These 1" x 1" tiles are beautiful glass. We've also ordered a fireplace insert, all our BBQ equipment and various other things that are above and beyond our contract.
Ouch!

January Yard Progress

I thought I'd  make sure I keep the pictures of our backyard up to date each month and it's been more than a month now, so here are a TON of pictures.

Delete me now if you couldn't care less.

 Gas lines, electricity conduits, sewer hook-ups. There is still a lot of digging going on in this yard.

 The largest 2 trenches went straight down the center of the old lawn. Everything connects into these trenches.

Gas lines and solar lines for the pool.

 Around the pool there are pipes running everywhere.

 The pool basin is coming along with light, drainage spaces, and 4 cute little steps.

Rebar placement for the walls and BBQ area.

 The initial concrete pour.

 Wooo woo, fancy kitchen area.

 The beginnings of a new wall.

 A wall height cinderblock. More to be added for the counter.

That's it for January. I can't wait for February to take shape.

Kathryn's 26

My middle child is really getting up there in age.

She even acts like it. Kathryn has really grown into a great wife and mother and she continues to increase in intellect, spirituality, physical prowess, ;-) and style.

She is a real gem!

She loves both her new immediate family and her old immediate family and lets them all know it.

One of Kathryn best talents is creating beautiful baby girls. They are also quite well behaved and easy to be around. I think it is because they are taught well even though I know they came with sweet personalities too.

I usually just sew things for the little girls, but for her birthday I made the big girl a cute skirt. It matches the jumper and skirt I made at Christmas time for the tots.

Then with the remainder of the plaid I made a vest to go with it all. Check out the matched plaid. Gotta match it all up before you cut out a piece like this. I found some cool vintage 1930's buttons to go on the vest too. 

Hope it fits, since she lives far far away. I did make a mock up out of scrap fabric and sent it to her when I sent the girls togs, and hopefully I fixed the sizing from those trials without seeing them on her.

Here is a SILLY IPhone picture.  (Kathryn's fave word is silly) The skirt fits perfectly, and the vest is a tad large through the shoulders. She says it is AOK.
Happy Birthday.