Mexico with the Girls

I just spent a week on a big boat, going through the ocean of Western Mexico. I guess the term "Mexican Riviera" is the correct one for this beautiful place in the world.
My older (not bigger) sister invited  my younger sister and me nearly a year ago, and I in turn invited my daughters to accompany us in our travels.
The sunsets were phenomenal.

Cabo

near Puerta Vallarta

And the accommodations were comfortable, with plenty of activities for us to participate in at all times of day and night.

Ready to embark

Our very large ship

Main indoor shopping and dining area

We had lots of fun off the boat too. We went to the gorgeous sandy beaches among the very impressively formed rocks in Cabo via a glass bottomed boat. The millions of sardines that we saw along with a myriad of other types of fish near shore was amazing.

The oldest girls in their respective families.

Impressively formed rocks.

We went down the coast to some older cities that also cater to us American tourists. (Isn't it odd that we call ourselves Americans and yet Mexico is also located on this very same continent? Who do we think we are?)

Anywho, Mazatlan was an old city with a heritage and we sure had some great shrimp at the restaurant that "Hector" took us too.

Then we went on some excursions in the countryside of our last stop in Vallarta.

Kathy pressing out a great corn tortilla 

at our cooking class.

Camille zip lining. 

.... and Kathryn, whoo whoo!

Here comes Stephanie next.

A very fun time in the sun with my 2 bestest sisters and my 2 bestest daughters. What could be better for a whole week of bonding?

Young girls with good opinions about the latest makeup application.

Hat night with my girlies and the lavender ladies. 

Kathy's group of friends from Portland had all sorts of 

events planned throughout the week. It was fun to participate.

Notice Kathryn smiling even though her sunburned back is 

killing her, and she has lost her IPhone. BUMMER!!!

I do love to travel, but I missed the Hubby.
Next time, we'll have the men come along.

Costume's Part Two - Little Bo Peep

Another Toy Story costume for the 2 1/2 year old of the house.
After making this, I decided I want to be Little Bo Peep. "Better get crackin'," as my mother would say.
Here is the picture we used to model this cute little dress from.

I had an old pattern from Simplicity (9089).

I found some light pink upholstery fabric with darker pink polka dots at my favorite fabric store.  (Yes, my suitcase was FULL when I came home from my August trip to Colorado/Utah.) This fabric was perfect. Not the usual type that I use for childrens wear, but reminiscent of Scarlet O'Hara's drapes.

I then purchased some peacock blue satin with matching cut chiffon from an online source. This chiffon comes in 30 colors and several widths. I'm going to make some pettiskirts out of it for my granddaughters.  "Such a lot of fun stuff to make, so little time." VKHodgman
So I cut out the pants pattern, and sewed front to back.
I left the inseam of the leg open and then attached 3 rows of 2 inch wide matching chiffon to the lower leg. I used 3x the width of the bottom of the pants for each row of chiffon. (the bottom width of the pants was about 15 inches so I gathered (15 x 3) or about 45 inches of chiffon for each row) Gathering them in the center of the strip, pinning in place, then sewing with a very small zig zag stitch was the easiest way to go about this.

I had to try the pants, and other parts of the costume, onto the wearer at some point, so I made up as much of each thing as I could before taking it over to their house.
Have I mentioned that it is a dream come true to live close to all these little buggers. So fun!
Then I sewed up the inner leg seam, hemmed them up and put one last 2" strip of chiffon on the very bottom edge of the pants.
These little pettipants will go under Bo Peep's dress. Didn't they turn out cute?

Next up .... the actual dress.

First the bodice is sewed up, using some matching satin, some leftover lace that I have had for 15 years, some ribbon from my EXTENSIVE supply, and some sleeve liners to keep the poof from getting flat. I haven't ever used a sleeve liner, but I am now sold on the concept and it wasn't hard. You just gathered the bottom of the sleeve and sewed it to the liner, then sewed the sleeve into the bodice, and finally hand stitched the liner around the shoulder seam while turning under the unfinished edge.
Cool, huh?
Then I gathered the skirt and the peplum, and the tulle skirt underlining, and the tulle peplum underlining so that it would be ultra poofy.

A lot of layers.
Pull it all together and sew it onto the bodice.

Put in the zipper, and go try it on.

It was a little long in the skirt. I think the pettipants wouldn't have poked out of the bottom, and her mother didn't want her tripping, so I shortened it, and then the peplum seemed too long.
I was going to cut the peplum and refinish it with my handy dandy rolled hem foot, (which I LOVE) But, instead I just turned it under and hemmed it to the tulle, making it poof even more.

Woo Hoo, nearly finished.

 But the bonnet.  I couldn't find a pattern that I envisioned looking like I wanted, so I looked at how the baby christening bonnets are made in my heirloom baby book from Sew Beautiful, and I just figured out how to make the brim so it would circle her little, cherubic face.

Wait till you see her in this. It will be so cute.

No wonder "Woodie" looks at her with his big bug eyes. She is adorable.

Halloween Costumes-Part 1 Toy Story Jessie

I have happily enlisted to make several of the grandchildren their costumes this year.
I will show you the first one done here and then later the others.
Lexy is nearly 5 so she constitutes what her little brother and sister might be this year as they will dress up in anything fun.
Because Toy Story - the movie - was such a hit with her this past summer, she decided to dress up as Jessie, the cowgirl toy from the show.

Here is a picture of Jessie on the left. We used this as our model.
I bought real boots off the internet at Sheplers.com

Aren't they cute?  The brown bottom of the boot will show under her pants for the costume, then she'll have some cute boots with a little pink trim to wear to school all fall and winter. I like 'em.

I then found a fake red felt cowboy hat. It was cheap and I punched little holes in it all the way around.
Then I laced 1/8 inch white ribbon through the holes and replaced the main ribbon around the side band of the hat. (I just looked that up ... I didn't know what to call it. The internet constantly amazes me and teaches me very important things)
Looks like I don't have a final hat picture. I did the hat for about 6 bucks plus shipping, so 10 bucks. Then I was over at Affordable Treasures a couple days later and found a perfect velvet velour Jessie hat. I'd have bought it ($19.99 Plus tax) had I seen it earlier, but ours is very cute and it fits her little head perfectly.
Next item is her chaps. I purchased some Minky Cow fabric in Grand Junction at the most fabulous fabric store. Hi Fashion Fabrics has been there since I can remember and always makes me wish there was something like it in Nor Cal.  Seriously, there are a few more people here, yet this small city in Colorado has a MUCH nicer fabric selection. Go figure.

I backed this incredibly smooth and soft fabric with denim to make the chaps have some more body.
The hardest part was figuring out what shape chaps come in. The drawing of Jessie in the movie just has the chaps start at the top of the leg in a straight line. I thought we didn't need to ruin a pair of blue jeans in the process, and that real chaps might be more costumy for her to wear, so I used a McCall's pattern 2851 that goes around the waist and velcro's closed.
The larger leg of the pants started a little too low on Lexy's leg for my taste, so I had to tuck up the crotch part into her waistband and then they were the right length.
We bought a white button down shirt and took off the front pocket. Then I drew in the yoke line that seemed right for a cowgirl shirt and made up a stiffened yellow satin yoke to cover the shirt yoke.

I did the same with some enlarged cuffs, then embellished them with red soutache braid.

The most fun I had was taking a match to the cut edges of the polyester braid. Just melts and seals itself from fraying right before my eyes.
Here is the finished shirt.

I'll add a picture when she models it for us on Halloween.

Next up ... Little Bo Peep.

Important Visits

We had a few reasons, in addition to attending our semi-annual church conference, for our trip to SLC last weekend.
Our wonderful children were being missed at home, so we decided to go see them.  We also used the trip as a catalyst for seeing GG's Hodgman in Brigham City. These two wonderful parents, grandparents, and now great grandparents have been supportive and loving towards family their entire lives and they need a little extra T.L.C. at this time.
Grandpa has Alzheimer's and is needing the extra help that a care center can provide at this point.
Grandma is adjusting to this new element in her life as well as Tim Lincecum did in his 1st post season game against the Braves tonight. She is handling living alone and dealing with the pressures and stress of paying for things all with the help of her giving daughter and her girls.
Her generous son, (My - "the Hubby"), makes sure everyone is comfortable and provided for.
We visited Grandpa in his new digs, and he seemed less stressed than a month ago when we saw him in his comfortable, homey little room. I'm sure this is one reason Grandma is handling it well. That he is settling in a little easier has got to make it less tough on her.

Wow Mom, you should learn how to take a pix.

But aren't the church gardens gorgeous?

After a day up in Northern Utah, we headed back to visit our kids and attend the church meetings.
Jonathan wasn't in town for the weekend, as he had traveled across the west to our neck of the woods for the Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park.  We were sorry to miss him. (Get that phone working, sweets)
Stephanie and Michael met us at our hotel in downtown Salt Lake and we walked to the conference center and to shopping, dinner, and everywhere we needed to be.
It was great to see and hug Michael, he seems to be adjusting like a turtle, and not a snail. He is a positive kid and although he misses his ball, and friends, he is going to do well in college. He has a week off coming up and is going to grace us with his presence once again. (problem is, I'm headed off to the Mexican Riviera on a cruise with my sisters and daughters)
Oh, I forgot, Stephanie got a big tip from her father on Thursday night because she is such an awesome waitress.
Hey kids! SLY. (I'll explain SLY another time.)

Conference Favorites

I always enjoy our churches General Conference. Held every 6 months, I usually listen to it while I am in my own home, but this weekend The Hubby and I went to SLC and listened to several sessions in person.
There are pro and cons to being either of these places. My DD, who was with us on Saturday said, "Sometimes it is easier to listen while we are coloring or playing with Lego's (a favorite old past time of the Hodgpeople), because that way I don't ever nod off into sleepy land."
Something to be said to keeping our hands busy while our minds are otherwise occupied with words or wisdom from the prophets.
Yet, there is something special about being in the huge conference center, surrounded by like minded people and listening completely to the inspired messages.

One of my favorites this time, was an address given by Quentin L. Cook, about the Light of Christ.
You can listen to it here, (look in the Saturday afternoon session) but I will give a short synopsis of it and why I liked it.
"It is by the Light of Christ that all mankind may know good from evil."
It informs every man's conscience, and is in all members of the human family.
He gave two examples of how religion is critical to democracy.
1. Honesty
"People who learn from a young age to feel accountable to God for honesty and integrity, that they will abide by rules and practices, that while unenforceable, promote democratic ideals."
"In societies where this is not true, there cannot be enough policemen to enforce honest behavior."
2. Treating all people as equal brothers and sisters.
The example he gave was William Wilburforce, (of Amazing Grace fame),who in England fought for anti-slavery, and other social ills that when finally ended, were able to eventually bless the entire world.
We need to support people of character and integrity to help reestablish moral values that will greatly bless our communities.
I liked this whole concept, much because I know so many good people from all walks of life, that support good values in their lives. Even though they may not live by my religious views, they are respectful of them.

My other fave that I wanted to mention was the amazing gardens in and around the temple and church buildings.  Such expert gardeners the church employs.

Always a highlight.

Home Safe and Sound

The Hubby and I had a gorgeous week in Maui. The weather was cooperative as usual, and we just relaxed, took long walks, shopped for pieces of art for our home, and tried, unsuccessfully, a couple of methods for healing my neck.
We stayed in the time share we purchased a couple years ago and had a 5th story view of the ocean front.

The corally sand that comes up to the Marriott in Kaanapali leads fairly steep into the ocean where the small waves hit quite forcefully. If you get about 20 feet out into the water, the waves are nearly non-existent and it is a gentle, relaxing ride as the waves go in and out from shore.
The evening brought a slightly cooler temperature and we had to endure about 72 degrees as the night went on. Each evening brought a little fuller moon,

as it shown down on the sparkles of the water.  We kept the door open just to be lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves.
We explored an old volcano flow, and it is amazing how rugged the terrain can get.

Thanks for such a nice trip Hun.

Hummingbirds or Venice?

The Hubby and I have been in Maui this week all by our lonesomes. It is our empty nester celebration trip. Fun, Fun!!!
We never dreamed it could be so inexpensive. Traveling all these past 30 years with children in tow most of the time has never been so cheap.
Well, it ALMOST happened that way.
Then we started looking into the many art galleries in Lahaina. There are a ton of these gems, and we found something that seemed worthy of our greenbacks in at least 50% of the places we ambled into.
The Hubby was originally looking for a great, fairly sizable piece for the empty wall in our bedroom.  I have repeated several times that a wall quilt is in the works in my head, and on my list of projects to tackle, but he knows me pretty well and realizes that the wait may be longer than my list of things to make for the grandchildren, or other people. (ask me what I'm making my mother sometime)
I wanted to get a piece that would finish off our living room that was redecorated, mostly, two years ago.
So we got both. And then some.
Here is one we did not get for the LR. It is an awesome old style oil painting of Venice under a full moon.

Very cool, huh? But we've never been to Venice, and so we decided against it.
Besides, we also found this.

These are the perfect colors for our room. I like hummingbirds, and make everyone around me look when I spot one. The medium of silver and gold leaf on wood, with enhanced painting is really elegant as well as just cool, and it is the right size for above our sofa.

Three years ago when the Hubby and I were down in Laguna Beach at a conference, I spotted a square piece of art in a window along PCH. The next day when I went back to look for it, I couldn't find it anywhere. I am convinced it was done by this same artist, Gabriel Burchman, and it was one of a group of similar works.

So basically I found him again, and wasn't even looking.
I'll post a pic when we get things all hung up in their rightful places.