Hoodie Style

So the little guy is 4 months old now.
Growing like a weed and cute as a button.

He smiles on demand.

And apparently sleeps better than his seetors did at the ripe old age of 1/3.

I finished his hoodie, and it turned out very cute. It is supposed to be a 12 month size, but

I received a picture by email today and it looks as if it was made for a 4 month old growing boy.

I also made my first stuffed animal to go with the sweater.

I got this book at a "Stitches" convention. Very cute kid patterns and stuffed animals. As you can tell by the cover photo, I was very imaginative when I chose the colors for Lukies sweater.  They were just such perfect colors. (I say with a little whine in my voice)

Coat/Sweater

I realize I posted a picture of this sweater in a previous "things I need to get off my plate" post, but I thought she looked so cute in it that I had to show and tell.

This shows the back of the hat and all the pom poms on the front,

which she perhaps will not leave alone, and will pull them off. She was obsessed.

"Oh, Hi."

I'm now working an the pink and yellow one for the #1 girl. I am moving quite slowly because I only work on my knitting these days when watching TV in the evenings. If I have any other pressing project that can be worked on while sitting on the couch, that is taking a front seat to my knitting. (although I'll show another finished baby project tomorrow)

Are We Kidding Here?

I picked up my CSA food on Wednesday and decided that I'd like to try the fava beans to the excess. Typically there is enough of one vegetable to feed about 4 people for a good meal,  so I thought I'd get double of them and trade out another of my vegetables. That way we could all try them out on Sunday when I have many family visitors for dinner.
I had heard that they are tender and mild tasting, so this is my opportunity to try them.

PRODUCT PROFILEFAVA BEANS Season: April to June    Fava beans have been cultivated for millenia and are an integral part of the cuisines of Asia, Northern Africa, and Europe. Fava is derived from the Italians, where they are featured in pastas and salads. The Chinese ferment it with soy to create a rich bean paste. Egyptians consume it as a fast food dish called ful madumas, cooked with salt and cumin. The easiest (and most social) way to eat fava beans is to shell them from the pod, parboil them for a minute in their skins, take them to the table with their skins on, and have everyone sit around popping them out of their warm skins, and eating with thin shavings of good parmesan. These legumes are also known as broad, field, horse, or windsor beans. The long flat pods grow up to 18” long and yield 3-12 beans per pod. These beans contain about 25% protein, 2% fat and 50% carbohydrates. While fava beans are good for human consumption, they also provide a beneficial role in agricultural production. Fava beans are frequently grown as cover crops, to prevent erosion of soil and increase nitrogen fixing in the soil. (Nitrogen is one of the main elements in industrial fertilizers). They also produce a lot of organic matter to enrich soils, leading some farmers to consider them “green manure.” You can enjoy these beans year round in dried form, but for the next few months, fresh fava beans are readily available. They are best consumed when young and tender; choose with firm pods with bright green hues. For a taste of spring, try them in this pasta dish

So when I got to my car with my new produce,  I handed  Ellery one of the beans from inside the pod. She didn't want to try it, so I stuck it in my mouth and  chomped down on it. Yuck!! Bitter!! Now, I typically like just about anything, so it is rare for me to react like I did. I have to find out how to prepare these  puppies. It is obvious I'm gonna have to cook them or  something. They are not supposed to be eaten raw. So I went to the website to figure it out. After shelling the beans you have to cook them and then  shell each individual bean again. Seriously.  I have other things to do. I haven't got Michael's memory board done, organized the BBQ for Grad Night, made his t-shirt quilt, or a miriad of  other things for other people in my life. Plus, I was  expecting guests in a few hours. Here I am shelling beans for an hour. Then I have to blanch them.

Then I have to shell each individual one again.

Amazing.

So I spent about 2 hours of my precious time in the name of nutrition and organic food, which I semi don't think much of, in order to eat dinner.

(Do you like my new Fiesta Ware?)

It was pretty good, but .....

SERIOUSLY???

Onesies

This next month my buddies and I are throwing a baby shower. The grandmother of the new baby-to-be is one of our "walking buddy" friends and this is their 1st grandchild on both sides.
So EXCITING.
I, being the invitation guru of the group, opted to do the invites and asked if they all thought a onesie theme for the shower was okay. We could have the guests decorate onesies, make onesie cookies, and best of all I could make the cute onesie invitations that I found on the internet.
They all agreed, and the new grandma even said she and her daughter had attended another shower where they decorated onesies and both would love for us to do that for their new baby.
So FUN.
First, we had to figure out the color scheme, and Laurie, the real hostess of the party because it's going to be at her house, said the yard should lend itself to orange and lime green by mid June. We stuck purple (lavender) in there with the mix because it's going to be a girl and we thought it would be less gender neutral with lavender. Don't you agree? Hello??

I found great papers by basic grey. I won't use some of the more pinks and reds, but these papers are quite beautiful. I'll mix them with ...

these Bazzil papers. The Scrapbook Island store in San Jose has about a million colors of plain card stock. You can find a match for nearly everything.

So then I set to making my cute little onesie invitations.  I didn't have a 1 3/8 inch round punch as called for, but my 1 1/4 punch worked just fine. It left a good amount of space between the larger scalloped punch so the collars look cute.

A couple more added touches, giving a little glitter to the snaps at the "crotch" and purple writing for the

invite itself, 

and then I was done. The lavender ones will be sent for invitations and the others will be used as hanging decorations for the shower itself.

A bit of a long process, but they did turn out ...

So CUTE.

College Grad #3

What a fun and filled weekend we had.  Our Stepher graduated from the U of U.
All Complete.
Fine.
El Duno.
She is a happy camper.

Mom, Dad, and Michael flew into SLC for the big event. Sister Kathryn, (Kiki) who was in Idaho welcoming her brother-in-law home from his mission in the U.K., drove the 3 hours for the ceremony and lunch with the family.

Everyone is all smiles I'd say.

We are on the second concourse of the Huntsman Center, but Dad's camera takes it all in.

Look, look!!! Here I am. Can you see me????

This is the first of our children to actually walk in the college graduation. We watched our son-in-law walk and David says he will for his masters next year. It was very nice.

Jon Huntsman Jr. was the speaker for the main commencement. He is a very impressive man and speaker. He is former governor of Utah, and is currently the ambassador to China for our country.
I'll sum up his speech briefly.

There are no times when you should ever get an "F" in your studies, but today I'm going to talk about 5 F's we should all have if we want to succeed in this life.
1. Find a Cause
2. Follow your Heart
3. Face Failure
4. Find someone to Love
5. Find Meaning

He encouraged the graduates to learn from their failures and to become stronger and wiser because of them.  Quite an impressive man and talk to everyone in attendance.

Here is Steph explaining that the red bandelo around her neck was for the purpose of showing gratitude. The new grad presented it to her Daddy as a token of "Gratitude" to him and his help and support through the arduous process of college.
"Thanks, Dad."
She also wrote a very nice note of thanks on the inside of the satin fabric for him to look at and remember forever.

We then all went to lunch with extended family.

Top picture is Janney my cousin, my parents, Steph, Michael, Nichole, Jake, Vicki (proud mom), Kathryn, Hillary.
Bottom picture is Jonathan, Nate, Andrew, Kelly, Alison, Kathy, Don, Aimee, Dane, Megan.

Thanks for coming folks!

Next day we drove down to Brigham City for another lunch with the other side of the family.

Good times were had by all.

Resealed Driveway

I realize that most people would never care enough to try this, but I have to write about our project of a couple weeks ago.
Our driveway/front sidewalk is 2 1/2 years old and is intended to be a brownish concrete with colored stone strips. It, however, did not turn out the way we envisioned. It is several lighter shades of tan, and basically looks like a sick grey concrete. I suppose we should've not had it colored in the first place, but I wanted it to match the house, blend well with the landscape, and look classy. It kinda doesn't.
I thought if I cleaned it really well and put a sealer on it to make it appear wet, that it would perhaps brighten it up a bit.
So I went out and bought some of this stuff.

Then I rented one of these.

Then I woke up this guy.

And made him work for a few hours.

And the murky driveway looks a little better. Not much, but a little more definition of color was a good thing.

Here is a shot of the front walkway from the entry towards the drive.

Only thing is .....  if he did the work, why did my feet turn out like this.

I had very swollen and red toes and feet. After the first day at least I wised up and added a little sunscreen all the way down to the toes. They have just finished peeling now, two weeks later, and I had a nice pedi today.

On a sidenote, we now have a very clean garage. A power washer on the premises makes you think of all sorts of things to clean. 

Look at that amazingly clean epoxied floor.  (It has rained a few times since this beautiful picture was taken, so the floor quickly became soiled - albeit  still looks quite nice, I may say)
The car in the background .....

... now center, is never very dirty.  The Hubby makes sure of that.

Fun Weekend With a One-Year-Old

Ellery stayed the weekend with GPa, GramVi, and Michael.  We all had a great time.

She just talked our ears off with her cute little jibber-jabber.
I have a video or two taken on our i-phones but I can't figure out how to put it in the blog.
Anybody care to help me????? Comments are encouraged in this regard.

This little doll of ours is SUCH a good sleeper. Goes about 10 or 11 hours at night and then takes a couple 1 - 2 hour naps each day.  I didn't feel tired at all after the weekend. We did great.

Of coarse it helps that she falls back asleep after having a drink of milk on some mornings.  Yes, I can be a lazy girl in the morning. (Thanks GPa for making sure this got documented)

Ellery also helped us in the yard, paying attention to everything we were doing. We were gardening, washing cars,

fertilizing roses,

and putting air in car tires, and her stroller tires as well. We went on long walks with my friends, shopping for plants at the nursery, shopping for food at the grocer, going to church, visiting her cousins, uncle and aunt, going to 2 wedding receptions in one night, and dancing to the music all the while.

This picture doesn't show how well Miss E truly eats. She tries nearly everything and chows down. This girl gets all her vitamins and will be a healthy specimen.
Thanks to her parents for allowing us to care for this cute little cherub for a few days. She missed them, but is well adjusted enough to handle them being away and not have a meltdown in the process.