DC Road Trip... rEaDy-sEt-gO!!

Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

We Drove to DC Friday night to spend time with our buddies from our SVU days, Matt and Misty! We spent the night at their place on Andrews Air Force Base! super cool!
Here's C & W getting ready to get in the car... wearing their early Valentines gifts from Mom and Dad... New Rain Boots!

Saturday Morning Matt and Misty offered to watch our kiddos for us so we could meet up with my sibblings and a few of their friends at the Washinton DC Temple. It was really wonderful to be with my family in the Temple!! Something I know we'll try to do often.

I absolutly LOVE the DC Temple. Justin said... "Whoa, here we are in DC... Driving to the temple... with VA licience plates." ha. It was just another one of 'those moments' that we suddenly realize we really living in a new and different place.

We came out of the temple to about 3 inches of snow! Crazy-there was snow and people every where! The men went to go get the cars awhile the women waited inside the Temple.

It was pretty busy at the entrance because of all the snow falling... plus a wedding party was crowed under the port. Justin pulled the car forward and got out... and I saw a big smile on his face... he looked over and said "TRAVIS BOWEN!" (Travis is another SVU buddy of ours!) Turns out-Trav's wife's friend had just gotten married!! It was SO great to see them for the short 30 seconds before we had to move our car. It's such a small world!

We got lunch at Chilies (SO FUN!) parted ways and headed back to Matt and Misty's place... an hour and 25 minutes later we got to their house. (a trip that usually takes 30 minutes.)

So, we decided we didn't want to go back out in the crazyness and try to drive back to Richmond... and we stayed one more night with our friends! Being snowed in has never been so much fun... and here's the proof that I was having the time of my life because I didn't even have time to take pictures... which is SO not like me. but we did get a few....

Ooh. I fell in LOVE with their cat! He was SO sweet and SO soft, almost like he was part rabbit or something. (they also had a kitten... and watching these two play was SO FUNNY!)

Matt and Misty also have two kids, Carolina (Caitlin's age.) and Landen (Will's age!) Boy- did they have fun!!! I tried taking their pictures a few times, but they just didn't stop the whole time we were there. I love it! so this is the best i can do.

Here are the kids cleaning up before bed...

Even Boomer knew it was time to hit the sack!

Sleepy little Brinners....

This was taken right after she woke up... she's such a

happy little baby! Poor Caitlin wasn't feeling good on the way home. She had a 'little bug' in her tummy. (She is 100% better today!! It's good to have our Caitles back after a rough 24+ hours.)

Brinleys face says it all-- we had a GREAT weekend!

S..N..O..W..

Brinners...

This video clip cracks me up. I've been camped out by Brinley's side for the past few days trying to capture her in action. and as soon as i do... Will jumps in. you'll have to watch it once watching Brinley... and then again watching Will... he just makes me laugh. you might even hear Justin in the background answering questions to Jeopardy. Enjoy.

Healthy Snack of the Week!

Granola and Yogurt

Here is a new granola that I picked up at my local grosery store, in the health food isle... it's amazingly delicious, and was voted one of Fitness Magazine's favorite Natural snacks! (you can get it at Whole Foods and Target if your grosery store's health food isle is limited!)

Yogurt selection for today is Dannn Lite and Fit, Vanilla! Mmmm.

6 oz of yogurt ............60 cal.

1/4 cup granola.......120 cal.

tall refreshing glass of H2O

a delicious and satisfying snack- that gives you energy and cofidence to face anything!

Eat Healthy...Be Happy!

Quilt for Mama Sue

Choosing the colors for this quilt was fun... I LOVE Blue... esp teal... I know it's such an early 80's bridesmade color... but I can't help it... its just beautiful... and what color goes better with Teal than Brown!! (Just so happins that these colors go well with my mom's living room and new kitchen. Hum...)

laying out my 'bricks'

stacked in 'ready to sew' position!

This is a great way to stay organized... clips found at office supplies stores and lable with numbers-- helps you keep your rows in the right order even if you have to put your quilt pieces away for days or weeks at a time!

finished strips. :) I LOVED seeing this quilt come together!

Beautiful finished product!

Panda trademark.
Done! So proud... and then... I washed it.

Oh... I guess some lessons you have to learn the hard way.

I'm just grateful I washed this BEFORE sending it to my mom... I would have felt bad if I sent it and it fell apart on her. What happened was I used 11 fabrics 100% cotton! then I found this one fabric (homedecor fabric) that looked AMAZING with all the rest of the colors, had a bit of a shimmer to it... so i thought... cool. i'm gonna use this... BUT when i washed it... it frayed...

(if you look above Caitlin's head in this picture you can kinda see they fraying... this is the best picture I have of it.)

Yes. I cried. Wouldn't you? All that work and then... Blahhhh.com

SO...I gave myself a pep-talk and grabbed my seam ripper and started to take out the binding... i got maybe 2 inches and set it in the 'time out' corner. I was NOT about to undo all that work... the thought of ripping out ALL 18 'Bricks'... and then sewing more in... blah.

So I headed off to the fabric store to get new fabric... I thought that would be better than trying to rescue the old one... and this is what i came up with...

ahh. it just wasn't the same...I temporally went insane... and made this AMAZING cake. (shared half with my neighbors of course...) but it really helped me. Mmm.

After eating a slice of cake... i decided to just suck it up... and finish the project I started. "all this is for your experience"... I kept hearing this in my head. And i've always had the moto...If your gonna do a job... you might as well do it right!! I'm SO happy i listened to that voice... because it was a long hard road... but it sure payed off... here is the REAL finished product... a true labor of love...

the old quilt had a dark blue back... i decided to spice it up with this festive quilters fleace...nice and cozy!!

I saved the panda...

Wahh-Laah!

Merry Christmas Mama!

Pattern for this quilt can be found by clicking HERE, Amy Butler Design. Click on bottom right side bar... FREE PATTERS--> SEWING PATTERS. Free downloads should pop up... scroll down to the bottom to AMY'S LOTUS BRICK PATH QUILT. Enjoy!

Tea Party...

Craft Swap...

My buddy Mary and I swaped crafts... it was fun to share the talent and get something in the mail! Thanks Mary this was a lot of fun!

Hand Woven Crafty Headbands for Caitlin and Amanda, made by Mary:
Bag for Mary, made by Amanda:

This fabric is SO cute... it's from a line called August Fields... Love it!