summer garden

Summer weather is upon us.  I love peeking out the windows as the beautiful sun feeds everything green around us.  I love the smell of the warm air, mingled with fragrances from plants and flowers, as we spend time outside, soaking it all in.  I love to see the kids play in the hose outside, run game after game of tag or basketball, ride bikes all day, and then come in tired and sweaty and ready for a good, cool bath and some reading time indoors.  What a glorious time of year!!

First harvested garden greens, made into a yummy arugula pizza on whole wheat flatbread with melted aged gouda cheese.  Yummmm!!

herbs.

french heirloom radishes.

spinach, swiss chard, kale, cabbage.

lettuce, arugula, mixed greens.

We are enjoying fresh salads every day, and look forward to eating more home-grown foods all summer!  One of my favorite things about the season.  Love!!

whirlwind!

Hello friends!!  Wow.  It's been a whirlwind around here!

We've had out-of-town visitors for a fun-filled, busy three weeks.

Here are some highlights:

A trip to the Big City.

My in-laws came to town, so we took advantage of their superb babysitting skills ;) and I tagged along with Brandon on a quick business trip to NYC.  While Brandon went to his evening board dinner and morning meetings, I rested at the hotel, and then hit the streets of Soho for some shopping.  It was cool and rainy...but magical, as always!  

I found some cute sandals and a couple of spring sweaters at my favorite clothing store, Madewell.  I bought my Mother's Day gift (to myself from Brandon) at JCrew...a new watch.  I wear it every day, and think of our fun get-away to NY whenever I check the time!  

But the highlight of my shopping day was, of course, spending a couple of slow, thoughtful hours in the lovely Purl Soho.  I always read their blog, and drool over the darling projects posted there.  But to actually be in the shop and see all of the products and project samples first-hand is such a treat!  I bought two skeins of gorgeous, hand-dyed yarn for these baby bonnets, and lots of luscious Liberty of London fabric for bloomers, bibs, and baby blankets.  It was all so beautiful, I couldn't decide on which prints to take home...so I bought a variety of small cuts for making lots of tiny baby items.  Can't wait to start sewing with it!!  I also bought a felt bundle for these booties.  Hannah is excited to sew them up for our little girl.  Lucky thing...won't she be darling all wrapped and clothed in such beautiful fabrics?!  ;)

Oh, and of course, I can't mention a NY post without gushing about the FOOD.  I love eating in NY!!  I think my favorite spot this trip was Le Pain Quotidien, a darling little French bakery full of freshly baked breads and pastries, and delicious fresh entrees and salads.  Love!!  We also loved the pastries at Bouchon Bakery.  So delicious!!  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!  And we had to visit Magnolia Bakery as well...and Rigoletto Pizza next door.  Heavenly pizza, I tell you.  We ventured over to Chelsea Market this trip.  Such a darling collection of great shops and food.  I loved my shake from Ronnybrook Dairy.  Oh, and I can't forget to include Shake Shack among my faves...see me below, scarfing down a shack stack burger...mmmmm!!

Always among my favorite things about NYC is the architecture.  Everywhere.  I love walking the streets of the city and seeing so many amazing old buildings with meticulous European details, towering overhead in every direction.  Simply stunning.  Upper west side is my favorite.  

Here I am below, in our cozy little hotel room, ready to go to Ghost the musical...a great show, with cool special effects!  Six months preganant...only three to go!!  

We had a great time.  It was so good to reconnect and spend time together, just the two of us.  We only had a couple of days, but it was worth the long flights in order to get away together!!  

Thanks for taking care of things at home, Nana, Papa, and kids!!

Other excursions over the past few weeks:

BYU Women's Conference.  

Brandon's Mom, Aunt Cathy, and sister flew in from SC to come along.  We had a great time.  I felt inspired to be a better wife and mother...and relieved to not be presenting this year.  :)

TJEd Family Forum.  

An amazing educational conference that I try to go to every year.  Taylor and Romney enjoyed the youth forum, while I listened to some wonderfully enlightening presentations by seasoned educators.

Historic Temple Square.  

We loved our time walking through downtown Salt Lake City with our visitors.  We checked out City Creek Center, the new downtown mall.  Beautiful!  We discovered a new favorite restaurant there called Blue Lemon...yummy and fresh!  Brandon's aunt, who is Jewish, loved seeing our Church headquarters for the first time.  Did you know Brandon's mom is Jewish too?  She converted to the LDS church with her Methodist husband (Brandon's dad), when she was a new mother, almost 40 years ago.  They have an amazing story of faith and conversion to Jesus Christ.  I admire them both for the many sacrifices they made in order to follow what they believed.  They are wonderful people!!  

Truffle-making.

My MIL and I attended a wonderful truffle-making class with our Relief Society.  Yummy samples and fun new candymaking skills learned...I could really get into this!!

State Testing.

The boys took their first state tests, and they felt pretty good about it.  When I picked them up, Sam said, "that was actually kind of fun, Mom!  When do we get to do it again?"  Um...wow.  Hope he still loves taking tests when it's time to take the ACT in a few years!!

A Birthday.

My oldest turned 15 last week!  I'm officially OLD.  I can't help but think about the limited time he has left under our roof before leaving for college.  It feels like a deadline...like I have to teach him everything he needs to know while I have him in our home.  I know that's not necessarily true...that he'll keep learning and experiencing and growing throughout his life, but it is a daunting thought for a mother!  Taylor is a good boy, and growing so tall and noble.  I am thankful to be his mom.

Mother's Day.

We had a splendid Mother's Day.  Brandon grilled some delicious chicken and steaks for me and his mom.  We had such a feast...he even made bread with the kids!!  I enjoyed our church meetings, relaxed, took a nap, and completely relished not having any responsibility for a day.  Why can't we have more than one Mother's Day in a year?!

Mother-Daughter Date.

Hannah and I had a Mother-Daughter Activity with her friends at Church.  We played the newlywed game, and she knew everything about me!!  It made me happy.  I didn't do so well at guessing her favorite movie and color, but we are happy to be great friends and have so much in common.  And we agreed that we're thankful to spend so much time together during our days.  What a blessing!!

BYU Creamery and a trip to Grandma's.

We made a trip down to Springville to visit my mom, and took a detour to drive around BYU campus, stopping at the Creamery to enjoy some delicious ice cream.  Such nostalgia!

And also:

Soccer.

Basketball.

Violin.

Cello.

Horseback riding lessons.

Children's choir.

Midwife appointments.

Gardening.

Laundry.

Cooking.

Cleaning...

Yes, we have been busy indeed!!

Fun, fun times.    

make something

When my kids come to me bored and ask,

"What can we do?"

my response is always the same:

"Make something!"

I love to look around the house and see kids creating works of their own.  I see their wheels spinning, as they gather up materials and look for a quiet spot to "work."  I watch as they try to put something together, and sometimes fail a few times before getting the materials and structure just right.  It's an interesting process to observe, especially when kids are left alone to hammer out details and make things work.  I like to be present and available while they work on projects or inventions, but I really believe in letting them go at it alone, with as little intervention as possible.  It's amazing what they can do on their own.  And they need to find this out for themselves.  

As parents, we all tell our children that they can do or be anthing they want...if they set their mind and heart to it.  But when they begin to create works of their own, they really begin to believe in themselves.  The seeds of real self-worth are planted, and begin to grow as children work to accomplish more and more, in order to get another taste of that sweet feeling of satisfaction they have experienced in creating something of their own.

Hannah has been making friendship bracelets and doing lots of art work.  She is teaching her sisters to do all of the amazing things she likes to do.  She always has a knitting project going, and really turns out more finished projects than anyone else in the house!

This cute 4-year-old sat and embroidered this entire little sketch of a bunny all by herself.  I untied a few knots in the floss, and threaded and re-threaded her needle when necessary.  But she worked so hard on her own!  The entire project was her own idea.  Now she wants to turn it into a bunny apron for spring cooking.  Cutie!

She also raids my fabric stash regularly, along with her sisters, and makes all sorts of cool creations from colorful scraps.  While her big sister sews up some pretty things, she uses scotch tape and bobby pins to make her dolly clothes and blankets stay together.  Clever :).

I found Eliza in my studio last week, working at some fashion designs on the dress form.  Dolled up in all varieties of trim, including fur, bias tape, lace, ric-rac, and her own embroidered creation for an apron, I think this dressed-up lady has substantial style...especially for having a 6-year-old stylist!

And she's finally caught the knitting bug!  I can hardly get her to turn out her light at night...she's up in her bed knitting away.  Just like her mama!

Taylor made these delicious homemade flour tortillas for dinner yesterday.  I wasn't even around to offer a hand.  All he needed was some inspiration from a friend who just did some traveling in Central America, and a little help from good ol' youtube.  He even cleaned up his own mess...what a stud!

 Everyone loved the tortillas! 

(especially our now toothless Eliza!)

mmmmmm!

The boys have also been working at perfecting their bow and arrow design,

and making plans to fix up an old treehouse in one of the big elm trees out back.

Honestly, it amazes me what these kids can do.  All they need is some basic skills, and a little free time.  

Sometimes I worry about them.  Are they learning enough?  Are they responsible?  Are they caught up in math?  Are they going to make it in the "real world" someday?  Do they have clean socks on?  

Etc., etc...

And then I look around and see what they have created.  I see them invent and play and work and make.  I see them gather and function in teams in order to conquer a task or game.  I see them settle differences and come to agreements.  I see them do hard things.  

And then I get the feeling that they'll be just fine.

Easter and pink dresses and springtime love

Hope you all had a fantastic Easter weekend!!

We had a lovely time celebrating together.

On Saturday, the kids enjoyed a giant Easter egg hunt with the neighbors.  (Oh my, the quantity of candy that entered this household was unprecedented.  Seriously...like Halloween in April!  It will take everyone a while to detox from it, for sure...but they had a blast, and that's what holidays are for, right?)

We also had violin and cello lessons, had a visit from some out-of-town friends, pulled weeds at Grandma's house, and took her out to dinner.  Oh, and I made three Easter dresses!  (With so much going on, and so little energy, I tried to talk myself out of it...really I did.  But to no avail.  It's a tradition, and surely those three sweet girls wouldn't let me forget that...)

I found this awesome pintuck-stripe fabric lying around, still on the bolt, in my studio. 

I had made a couple of jumpers a while ago out of some identical blue and white fabric (copying a dress my friend Mindy made...thanks, Mindy!).  I knew the jumpers would look just as cute for spring in pink!

The girls wore the new dresses over these white summer dresses, which acted as a nice slip layer, and a darling top.  Oh, and Eliza lost a tooth, and has another loose...can you tell?  :)

I didn't use a pattern, I just drew up a bodice similar to other jumpers I had made, and then held it up to the girls to see if it would fit.  I cut two fronts and two backs, and sewed them all right sides together to create a lining, attaching straps as I went.  The skirt is just the width of the fabric, cut to a long, pretty length, gathered at the top, and attached to the bodice.  I used fabric-covered buttons, and had to read my sewing machine manual one more time to remember how to make a buttonhole.

On Sunday, we attended our church services to hear beautiful music and words of worship.  Then we had a big Easter feast.  I ate so much, I'm still full!!

I also spent some time reflecting on memories of my dad, and other loved ones who have passed away, feeling gratitude for the Savior of mankind, whose resurrection makes it possible for all of us to live again, after this mortal life.

The blossoms and buds of nature, springing up on every tree and plant, echo these sentiments perfectly.  Newness and life surround us, after a season of still, colorless rest.  It's as though the creator of Heaven and earth is proclaiming once again that life is beautiful and eternal.  Springtime is indeed glorious!

backyard picnic and spring days

It's time to enjoy this lovely spring weather!!

We had a family picnic outside on Saturday,

with kite-flying, trampoline-jumping, soccer, football, and lots of yummy food.

Today we'll be out working in the yard all day.

The kids are rushing through chores and schoolwork, so we can get outside.

We'll pick up the millions of branches and sticks that have fallen from our giant elm trees during the windstorms this past week.

We'll pull weeds, clean out the barn, and lay fresh straw in the chicken coop.

And we'll tidy up the beds and plant the first seeds of our summer garden.

All while enjoying that glorious sunshine!!

Have a great spring day!