Well, it's been a long haul since I started the So You Think You're Crafty competition. I'm glad I did it (though I've felt exhausted at times). And I'm happy to report...THIS is the FINAL WEEK! Just me and Ashley left.
Our theme this week is Wild Card, so we each chose something that really encompasses us as a designer. I know you're itching to check it out.....so head on over and VOTE!
On December 7th, or little Owen turned TWO! And these past few months he's really gone from being a one-year old, into a little boy.
And I think he and I have grown together. I no longer feel the love-annoyance relationship I did when he was really young and basically whined all the time. He still whines, oh yes. But he also has a cute, goofy, and sweet personality. And he still loves to cuddle with anyone.
And finally over Christmas he really started talking. It's such a better means of communication for all of us!
For his special day we hung out at home, met dad for lunch at McDonalds and played on their toys,
we tried on Dad's hat,
And eventually got tired.
Man, Dad looks tired too.
That evening, we had a small party, just the four of us. As we sang Happy Birthday he just sat there, beaming at us. Enjoying his moment.
He opened a few gifts:
And loved his new animal puzzle,
while Lucy played with the totally cool kids remote-controled Airplane that Grandma gave him:
We celebrated his Number 2 with a No.2 Pencil cake:
(and make-shift birthday candles)
And then I let both kids lick all the frosting they wanted off the cake....until I was too grossed out to eat my own piece of slobbery cake.
Happy Birthday Owen! We're so blessed to have you in our family!
Well, it snowed the other week.
It wasn't much, but it was white and falling slowly! Check out the flurries on Casey's truck:
Lucy didn't believe me when I told her to come outside and see the snow. She said, it's not snowing, the ground isn't white! Once she came out and stood there though, she believed me.
Yep, it may be hot in the summers here, but it's DEFINITELY cold in the winter.
Our good friends, the Laws, in Round Rock are starting a new tradition the day after Thanksgiving each year.....Camping! They'd noticed that every time their kids prayed they would throw in "please bless us that we can go camping again..." So they took the hint and answered their prayers.
There were about 10 families and oddly enough, the campgrounds were just a few miles from our house at Lake Georgetown (comforting for the women to know....should they need to crash on our couches in the middle of the night). And even though it was November, the weather was perfect! It was chilly in the night but not freezing (I was worried about that). We had a great time!
We got there in the afternoon and after setting up camp, we hiked over to the lake.
The sunset was just gorgeous:
There's something about a glassy lake. So serene.
That night even more families showed up for the campfire. It was pure chaos and pure fun as kids roasted hot dogs, mallows, and anything they could find.
We had a fun time chatting with new people and getting to know everyone. Two of the Law kids, Mimi and Katie:
We made it through the night (with a couple meltdowns and cold feet) and we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. My absolute favorite part of camping is waking up in the morning. I have so many fun memories of coming out in the morning chill, watching the boys build a morning fire, and sipping hot chocolate.
And Casey did just that.
He got out his fabulous portable grill:
And got the fire going:
The kids hung around the campsite, eating,
and looking a little tired still.
There were so many cute kids everywhere. Lucy and this little girl immediately became friends.
The sat on that chair together, looked out in to the brush and exclaimed, it's Mickey! haah. That cactus does look like Mickey ears:
Sadly, I can't remember that cute girl's name (or her parents' below) but they're from Irvine and we finally put it all together that we were in the same stake at one point. He knew my other Suman cousins.
Jessica and Scott Law, the camping ringleaders:
their son Luke:
and his cool big wheel:
This girl was just darling:
And here she is with Mimi (who you might recognize from my Turkey Skirt pics)
Casey made egg muffins, sausage, and eggs and it was a huge hit! Food is a sure way to lure friends over to your site.
After breakfast the kids got on their bikes and rode around.
Eventually Jessica organized them into a race and it was the cutest thing.
They lined up....
On your mark, get set.....go!
And they all took off!
except for Owen. He just sat there.
And sat there.
And when all the kids were done, he would go. Funny kid. He did it every time.
Eventually everyone got in on the fun.
Thank you Law family for organizing! Three cheers for camping!
Owen can often be found walking out of Lucy's room like this. And he does it all himself:
The missionaries were over the other night (while Owen was dressed up) and asked, whoa, what's with the cancer patient? Sorry little guy, the hat really isn't doing you any favors. And that goes for the skirt too....
Today while coloring paper full of hearts, Lucy looked over at me and said, Mom, this is the perfect day!
I laughed and replied, I'm so glad!
She then asked, do you want me to say it again?
SURE!
Mom, this is the PERFECT day!
I'm glad we have a cheerful girl.
And on a related note, Owen has started saying Thank You every time I hand him something. It comes out really high-pitched and sounds more like "Theek Oooo!" These are the moments every mom needs.
This year, instead of joining our extended families in Arizona or St. George for Thanksgiving, we stayed home, in Texas. Some good friends in the ward invited us over to have a feast with them a few other families. Um, you mean I don't have to make an entire meal on my own and I get to laugh and joke around with my girlfriends? YES please!
We ate yummy things like this:
We hung out in their beautiful home, playing games, watching football, and chatting:
We ladies went on an afternoon walk. Here are Tami and Cathy. Two totally fun ladies (not sure why I didn't get a pic of Tiffany? our fabulous host). How cute are these two? Cathy moves to Florida sometime in the next month or so. And I'm already going to miss her and her wonderful dry humor.
The kids sat at their own table, while we adults sat in the living room. Rachel and Bayleigh. Both are in my Achievement Days class at church. Such sweet and clever girls:
The boys, the boys:
And the big kids, who didn't complain about sitting with the not-as-big kids:
and finally the little kids (which in Lucy's mind was sitting with the Big Kids). Jordan, Cameron, and Lucy. Cameron is a couple years older than Lucy but she's so sweet and includes Lucy while they're playing. Just like her mom! Thank you Tami.
And what did Lucy feast on? A bunch of monochromatic carbs.
No way did she try that olive. I was hoping.
Thank you Tiltons, Dyers, and Haslams! We had a fabulous time. And mostly, I'm glad I was there to capture this excitement on his face:
Happy Thanksgiving!
It's been a while dear 88 miles per hour. So we're heading back to November. Time for updates!
For my birthday I enjoyed the simple pleasures. My bday always falls around Thanksgiving and this time around I have to say I was/am genuinely thankful for.....decent cookie sheets (or technically, Jelly Roll pans).
For our Thanksgiving get-together, I was responsible for the rolls. Pressure? People love their rolls. I knew that to make it happen I needed more baking sheets. I used to have 3 of these pans but then I left two behind at our Willard cabin vacation 2 years ago. Ever since then, I've been getting by with just one pan. Duh? Buy another? Well I thought that was easy. Every time I was at Target (and remembered that I needed to a pan) I checked the baking section and all they had were non-stick pans. Same with Walmart. Same with Bed, Bath, and Beyond. In my book, non-stick pans do not cook the same and kind of drive me crazy. Things burn easily. So, I finally found a restaurant supply store (another duh) and ahhhh!!! I walked in and there were my pans, just waiting to be gobbled up. I picked up 5 of them and so...
the pans, along with these cute measuring cups below, were my birthday present. Perfect and actually pretty fun.
That color?! I just want to make excuses to bake, so I can see the 1/2 cup full of fluffy white flour. Thanks Casey for the baking birthday gifts!
To carry on with the food theme, we spent my bday afternoon eating at, yep, Chipotle! The kids love to climb on these bar stools when we're all done eating and watch the busy traffic drive by. (yea, Lucy's wearing her Princess in Black dress in public. Faux pas. I'm sorry):
How I love these little guys:
Across from Chipotle is one of our favorite parks. It's hard to capture all of it in one photo because it's HUGE.
It's all dark brown wood with tons of little cubby holes, hiding places, stairs, ramps, and slides. In the middle is where we adults like to hang and try to watch the kids.
I usually have Lucy wear red so I can spot her easily. Today we had to watch extra closely. It's such a fun place. The kids love to run and jump, act like pirates, and play music:
Me and Lucy on my 33rd year.
Next to the park are fields of grass and baseball parks. Perfect for gathering leaves:
and decorating park benches:
ta-da!
Every year I'm so thankful for a wonderful husband and best friend, and two sweet kids who bring such great energy to our lives. I love you guys! Thanks for a great Birthday!
The trees have finally changed colors here. 
And it's cold enough outside that....we turned the heater on for the first time this week. And wow, it works GREAT! Such a change from our ancient floor heater in the old apartment (which was actually kind of cool).
The heater's almost too warm. Within 2 minutes we feel toasty and Lucy usually complains, Mom, I'm hot! She then goes over and turns on the ceiling fan. Silly girl.
Last week, we had our first visitors! (well, aside from my Mom helping us move out here). Casey's cousin Matt and his wife Becky flew out for a University of Texas football game and we're so glad they stayed at our house.
The night they flew in, we ate at The Salt Lick (which we'd been wanting to try for a while. It's an Austin classic). Yummy stuff! And back home we sang Happy Birthday to Casey. The big 3-6! Now that Lucy understands birthdays, she's thrilled to celebrate Casey's and mine and now Owen's in just a week!
Saturday morning, we walked around the downtown square. 
Matt and Becky were both so cute and great with the kids. I think Owen reminded them of their boys when they were that age.
We played Hide and Go Seek:
Lucy was the Seeker.
We window shopped:
We had a few moments like this:
and this:
And we found a little museum on the street and peeked inside. Weir, Texas. Becky's maiden name!
Museum dress-ups:
At the end of our tour, we were asked to be Extras in a student film happening right there in the square. Sure. Payback for all the projects we've done in the past?
It was a narrative about two mimes....having some sort of Mime-Off.
Um, classic.
Mime #1 getting in character:
and Mime #2 getting in Make-up:
We were pretty cold standing there.
But fun to be a part of silly things.
And the rest of the day was filled with UT football and tons of roll baking/testing, in preparation for Thanksgiving day. The house sure smelled delicious.
Matt and Becky it was great fun having you here! Please come visit again!
Recently, the kids learned to do somersaults. And they're both pretty good at it! I can't wait for Lucy to start her gymnastics preschool in January.
If you ever say to Owen, do a somersault! he'll drop everything and hit the ground:
nice form!
tuckered out.
The other day at the park, two teenage girls were doing round-offs and cartwheels in the field next to us. Owen looked over and saw what they were up to. He got off the park toys, ran over to them, dropped to the ground, and performed his best somersault. When he finished, the two girls stood there and applauded him. It was the cutest thing.
Back in October I found this little dress at a local thrift shop. Though it was a bit FLDS, it was just Lucy's size and just what Lucy would call a Cinderella Dress! No question. She loved it.
And danced around for a couple hours.
I love this shot.
Oh, commoners. They have no idea the cat fights I've won to get to where I am.
and this little video sums it up perfectly. Here's Lucy's rendition of Cinderella, in 90 seconds. The video jumps-in to the middle of the story, where the mice are making Cinderella's pink dress. My favorite moment being, "and cinderella cried, cried, cried"
There was a time when all we had to say was, Owen do you need a time out? and he would walk right over to the wall and sit himself down.
Those times are coming to a close. But the little guy still gets his fair share of time outs. His 2 year old manners are already creeping out.
Who can resist this though? Once a cuddler, always a cuddler (I hope!)
During our Girl's Week together, Lucy and I took a road trip up to Waco (an hour north of us). Like most Americans, you're probably thinking of David Koresh and some cuckoo cult. But Waco is also home to the Dr. Pepper museum! And a very cool zoo. So we checked them both out.
Guess who took this picture? Yep. Lucy.
It may not seem like such a feat. But just picture the little girl, holding my large SLR camera, having to look through the eye piece (you can't see what you're shooting on the LCD screen like point-and-shoot cameras), and pushing the proper "click"! button. Oh, and adding a nice angle WITH the Pepper word in it. Good job Luce!
The museum was actually ho-hum. Casey always jokes that my blog posts sometimes make the outing look way cooler than it was. And that's exactly what this was. But there were tons of old retro cans and bottles:
Vintage coolers and vending machines:
and we got to watch a medley of old Dr. Pepper commercials. "Wouldn't you like to be a pepper too? Be a Pepper...Drink Dr. Pepper...."
Next up, the Cameron Park Zoo.
This zoo was much cooler than the LA Zoo. For some reason the LA zoo has been under construction for the past 6 years. Hmmm....sounds kind of like the 5 freeway. This place was clean, colorful, and actually had animals!
Lucy's favorite, always:
One of my favorites....especially because it was African, with cool ears. The other ones look so circus-y.
And this guy kind of freaked me out. He stared right at us for minutes. That wire is pretty strong, right?
We found some cool exhibits near the monkey cages, where Lucy could ride,
jump on chimes:
and swing from ropes. She figured this one out all on her own and loved it:
Overall, a very fun day. But my assessment of Waco: it's exactly the place I would expect a weird cult to well, cultivate. The city is very strange. It feels, forgotten. But not in a cool ghost town way. It's a strange forgotten town, still sporting the not-so-cool aspects of 80s life. And there's no one there. No one walking around downtown. No one in the restaurants. And just a few people at the zoo. Weird. You can all check Waco off your list! We've seen it for you.
She paints. She sews. She cooks. She sings and dances. She's a mom and a teacher. And she's a babe. Did I marry Mary Poppins or Martha Stewart? Both, maybe. For looks, a little more Mary Poppins. But for talent, kind of a mix of both.
Today is Dana's birthday, a day that always gets lost in the throws of Thanksgiving and traveling. Thanks for being a great wife and mom, we love you!
A month ago, Casey went to LA for an entire week to work in his office and check-in with everyone. So, he took Owen along with him and they both stayed at his parent's house. That meant it was just the girls at home! 6 days of Lucy. The one-on-one time was great fun. But at the end of the day (or week) I really, really missed our boys. Let's hope that there's never a reason we all have to be apart like that for a long period of time.
So what did the girls do all week?
We went to a ton of Thrift stores, ate out for lunch, visited the zoo, bought Lucy a new bed and some random toys, and most importantly.....I let her jump, prance, and dilly-dally as much as she liked (holding my breath back, wanting to say, come on! let's go!)
I just let her do her thing, without a time-line or agenda.
We hung out in downtown Austin:
Rode the cool glass elevators to the top floor of the Hyatt:
We also rode the escalator a few times (which we rarely do, so she thinks it's an amusement park ride):
We went "fishing":
and met friends along the way:
And then, of course, we did something Mom wanted to do....checked out the beautiful homes in downtown Austin. When I saw this home I thought, certainly it must be the Governor's Mansion. Nope! Just a house! Just an 8,000 sq foot house, priced at $5.5 million.....and a mortgage payment of only $21,000/month.
It's pretty spectacular.
But I'd be willing to downsize to any of these.....
Can't wait to see their Christmas Decor!
It was one of those days when whatever I said, Lucy wanted the opposite and was adamant about it. There were a chain of time-outs and many moments when I just had to walk away or I'd break down in tears of frustration. How can a person so tiny drive me so insane?
Later that afternoon I let the kids help me make banana muffins and when they were done, we sat on our front porch, eating, and watching the sun go down. Little Lucy, who had made my life miserable all day long, came over, put her arms around me and with a squeeze said "I love you mom."
Thank you, I thought. It was just what I needed....That reminder that somehow she recognizes the things we do for her, as her parents. It seemed to be her way of saying sorry for the horrible day Mom. Thank you Lucy. I love you too.
I made Lucy a fort today. And while I was at the computer, I noticed it had been quiet for a real long time. I went to check on her and she was laying there very still. I asked if she was okay and she said, "I'm just sleeping."
While Owen ate lunch at the table above her.
I hate double-booking the blogs here. But I never know which readers check-in on what. So I'm plugging it here too. Just some recent sewing ventures.....
I'm participating in an online craft competition called S.Y.T.Y.C. (So You Think You're Crafty). Basically, there are 10 crafters. Each week we come up with a "craft" based on a theme. The winning crafter that week gets to post their tutorial on the site and the losing crafter is eliminated. Last week was the first week and.....MADE won! (with the Harvest Dress and Dinner for Two, above). The competition has definitely kept me busier than I planned for the holiday season. But I'm having tons of fun.
We just started WEEK TWO and the voting ends this Friday. So head over and vote for your favorite (the crafts are anonymous). The competition is tight this week, which is really fun. I tell Casey it's like a tight-scoring football game for sewers.
In other sewing news.....I was featured in a UK based publication called: SEW Magazine. So fun! When they asked if they could feature me, I couldn't respond quick enough with, Ummmm, YES! Please! You can find all the details here.
I'm really having a great time with MADE and I try to think of it like my part-time job. It keeps me energized, I'm in contact with a great network of crafters/sewers, and the readership continues to grow (which is really exciting). Of course the trick is trying to find a balance between doing my craft and making sure I give enough time to the kids. Lucy is going to start preschool when we get back in January and that will help (the guilt) a bit. I still don't know exactly where MADE will take me but there are some paths I hope to walk down. And of course, I'm still amazed at how the internet makes this all possible. How else could I become penpals with sewing moms in Denmark, Australia, Canada, even Italy? It blows my mind.
Here's to another week of SYTYC!
This weekend a few girls in the ward and I headed to one of their parent's cabin on Lake LBJ (Lyndon Johnson. He's from here). The views were just gorgeous.
and the cabin was the perfect "cabin", inside:
and out:
As with all cabins, I couldn't stop admiring the kitchy decor. I spotted a totally rad lamp:
matching mug:
bizarre ottomon with pillows attached:
fishing poles in the corner:
a gnome, keeping watch over the dock:
and very cool 70s brown potholders:
It was the perfect setting for a bunch of girls to sit around all day while we chit-chatted, scrap-booked, worked on projects, listened to music, watched a few movies, and never even left the house (except to relax on the deck).
Chris and Tiffany:
Me and Tami:
Lori and Cathy (sisters FOR SURE):
Carri, Heather, and Tami:
Michelle:
With large windows looking out on the lake, I loved watching the sun change throughout the day. Morning:
Mid-day:
Dusk:
For lunch I made my favorite Potato and Corn soup:
with braided bread (and real butter on top):
everyone loved it when I took pictures of us eating....
I got some good hours in on my felt hairclips; which means I should have enough inventory for a craft show this Wednesday night. And when dusk rolled around, I sat on the deck for an hour watching the trees turn gold and listening to the water. Very relaxing.
At some point, most of us checked in at home:
Everything seemed to be fine.
And I couldn't get over this cute cabin next door....and probably only because it was mint green.
Thanks ladies for a very fun weekend! It was so much fun getting to know you all better.
