Summer’s recap

I sure hate to see summer end!

JoAnn

Double the fun!

This past week has been pretty busy, but full of fun.

Our two new babies got to meet each other for the first time-and they both showed up in the exact same outfits.  That is Paul on the bottom and Zachary on the top.

I’m sure they were excited to see each other.

 

(Unplanned dressing alike runs in our family, remember this photo?)

Zachary decided to take a little nap, but Paul wanted to play.

They are almost the exact same size!

 

(Zachary on the left-Paul on the right)

It was so great to spend time with our entire family!

 

JoAnn

A stitch in time….

I love quilts!

Homemade ones are the best kind.

A quilt is a work of art, just like a painting or sculpture, and it involves a real talent (and a gifted eye) to pull it together, including finding all the right fabrics and textures, and then choosing the best patterns and ways of arranging everything.  It is critical that exactness and neatness drive the process, yet a little whimsy and fun make it a personal treasure.

Perhaps a quilt involves more effort from its creator than other artistic creations, due to the time involved in making it.  (I really don’t have any idea if this is true, but it sounded good to say that.)

Each quilt has a story that goes along with it, and that story can be a part of one’s family history, culture, interests, or experiences.

This  amazing quilt, made by my sister-in-law, Connie, includes a touching and bitter sweet tale.

(Sorry, I did not get very clear pictures!)

Connie has a great love of our country and has lived in many different states.  She also loves to do embroidery work and probably has the smallest and neatest stitches you’ll ever see.  (The only problem with that is her stitches are so perfect one might think a machine had done it!)

  With that said, she has worked hundreds and hundreds of hours embroidering all the individual blocks, and then piecing the whole quilt together took many more hours.

She had planned on quilting it herself-the only guarantee she had that the quilting would also be perfect- but things didn’t go quite the way she planned.

 

Recently, Connie was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.  She wasn’t given a very long window of survival.  We were all devastated, yet Connie has buoyed us up with her courage and strength.  She refused to feel sorry for herself and her life has gone on in a somewhat normal way.

Connie has been very busy stitching quilt blocks for baby quilts for all of her grandchildren!

Anyway, back to the quilting story….

She wanted to get the quilt finished, but knew her physical strength would not permit doing it herself.  When a good friend asked what she could do for Connie, she asked her if she would find someone to quilt it for her. 

This sweet lady gladly took the quilt and said she would find a talented quilter to finish it.  The cost was around $1,000, but Connie said that she didn’t even care how much money it would take.

The promise was fulfilled and a beautiful quilt was delivered back to Connie. 

However,

Connie’s good friends and neighbors had heard about it, and they all wanted to contribute.  The quilting was all paid for by them.

What a gift of love!

Connie’s husband Steve hung the quilt on the wall so it could be seen and enjoyed by all.  Connie can sit in her chair sewing and look up and appreciate it any time she wants, and people coming to visit can admire its great beauty.

Isn’t that a lovely gift?

We are all hoping that Connie will be around for a long time, but this wonderful quilt will always be a reminder of a woman who made this world a better place-one perfect stitch at a time!

We love you, Connie!

JoAnn

 

Summer storms

We’ve had some really hot weather here in Utah and are even looking at breaking the record for the most days above 100 degrees during the year.  The old record was for twenty-one days and we are now at nineteen.  I guess I can endure a few more scorching days-just to make history.

(Besides, I’ve already given up on any kind of normal hair-do,

due to sweating.)

While it was HOT, we had double our normal rainfall during July.

That meant a lot of beautiful storm clouds.

and a few mysterious ones…

This photo was from Michelle!

I find a good thunder storm refreshing and exciting

(providing I am not in danger of lightning striking me, or planning an outdoor cookout for grandpa Clegg’s ninety-fifth birthday party with thirty guests coming)

and it is nice to get a break from watering the grass.

Besides, don’t you love the smell of the fresh air after a storm?

Or the memory of a picnic under the kitchen table with rain beating against the window panes?

I just love curling up with a good book during a rain storm.

And it’s romantic….

Wasn’t it a heavy downpour that enabled Elizabeth Bennet to stay at Netherfield Park while she tended to her sister, Jane, who was  suffering from a nasty cold she picked up after getting caught in the rain?  And didn’t that contribute to Elizabeth’s falling in love with Mr. Darcy?  And ultimately ending up at the beautiful estate Pemberly?

(Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice)

So, as I sit here at my computer,listening to far off thunder, I’m crossing my fingers and really hoping the dark clouds blow my way.

I’m ready for a cooling storm.

Bring it on, Mother Nature!

 

“Life isn't about waiting for the storm

to pass...It's about learning to dance in

the rain.”
― Vivian Greene

 

JoAnn

P.S.  The back to school countdown has begun. 

Thank you Staples and Office Depot for the good sales and the teacher discounts!

 

What you see, and what you don’t see…

Have a look at our pretty Black Eyed Susan flowers.  They are blooming like crazy.

It’s a good thing you can’t see the grubs in the grass.  Something has infested the lawn and big, ugly spots are still in the recovery stage.  We’ve treated it, but the reversal process is slow.

The beans and tomato plants are thriving!

Remember how this looked back in April.

 

What you don’t see are all the cucumbers growing at the base of the beans.  We’ve been eating cucumbers for breakfast, cucumbers for lunch, cucumbers for snacks, and cucumbers for dinner.  We’ve given some away and we still have about eight more sitting on the kitchen counter.  Our house has a permanent vinegar aroma from the ones we pickled (soaked in vinegar and salt).

 

My Mothers’ Day geranium shopping (I got a little carried away) has given a lot of color to the yard and the front of the house.

It’s a good thing they look pretty, because the inside of the house is “under construction”.  With our son Robbie moving out we have boxes of his things in one room, another room is getting a new ceiling and flooring, and a bedroom is emptied,waiting to be painted.  I’ve organized two storage bins full of music into categories so we can actually find what we have, too.  Those files are waiting for the newly painted closet to “cure” before they can be put away.  Add in a few school organizing projects and you can imagine the chaos in the house!  Oh, and did I mention the smoky kitchen ceiling from our burned dinner today?

Be thankful you can’t see all this clutter!

This gorgeous sky cooled things down today.  It was a pleasant change from the 100 degree plus weather we have been having.

 

You can’t see the rain that pelted parts of the valley.  I’m still waiting for our neighborhood to get showered.

Andrew and Irene’s new home has a yard!  Joshua and Olivia have a fun place to play.

You can’t see all the labor that has gone in to hauling rocks, moving sand, building rock walls, and planting trees!

Our oldest grand daughter, Maddie, started first grade this week.   Last week she broke her arm and had to have surgery, so we were excited and grateful that she was even able to start school.  Look how much she has grown up since kindergarten!

(kindergarten on left, first grade on the right)

What you can’t see is little Brooklyn peeking out of the blinds (in both pictures)! 

Well, I hope you are enjoying your summer.  Mine is flying by much too quickly!  If you have a crazy desire to organize chaos or eat cucumbers, come on over!

♥

JoAnn

 

Kid Spaces and a Pottery Barn Giveaway

One of my favorite decorating blogs, Emily A. Clarke is having a Pottery Barn giveaway and a kids’ space link party.  If you want to check out fun spaces decorated just for kids and maybe win $500 you should check out her blog today.  Who couldn’t use $500 from Pottery Barn?  I’m adding my playhouse to the link, too. 

Here is the link to our playhouse if you missed it.  You can also see the page by clicking on the playhouse button on my side bar.  Our  grandchildren are enjoying it so much.  They think it’s our “Best Project Ever”,  and we all love it.

Do you have a fun kid space at your home?

JoAnn

P.S. See this dog? She showed up on our front porch with a little note asking, “ Am I too late?”  (She is a well traveled dog who gets passed around between Robbie and his friends as a joke.)  Wonder where she will end up next?

 

Out of Control Blessings…

Sometimes life can be pretty dull and mundane, with daily routines that are repeated over and over again, kind of like in the  movie “Ground Hog Day”.

We do something one day and the next day we do it again, hopefully, better than we did it the day before, but quite often just the same as always.

Well,

Would you think I was crazy if I said I was craving some of that simple routine?

While I’m not complaining about the events, this summer has been an unusually busy one.  School has been out since early June and I am still not feeling in control of my summer.

 

A  few years ago I went on a road trip with some of my lady friends.  We were having such a great time chatting and laughing as we were driving along, that is until we looked at the speedometer and realized we were driving way above the speed limit (much faster than our “senior” abilities ought to allow).  The odd thing was that a lot of cars were passing us at even faster speeds and no police cars were even interested in us.  

To read this post click on this link.

To make a long story short, somehow the speedometer had gotten flipped over to metric.  It only looked like we were driving one hundred twenty miles per hour!

I know I’m not really moving faster than I normally would either, but it sure has felt like a wild ride.

While life has been quite busy, it has been full of blessings for which I am very grateful.

Here are some short updates on why I’m feeling very blessed:

#1.   We had a beautiful wedding and welcomed a lovely girl (Brittany) to our family.

#2.  Cute little Paul arrived healthy and strong.  His mama had endured two miscarriages and a year long cancer treatment/waiting period  following the second miscarriage, so he was truly a blessing! 

(His parents are doing well and they are excited and proud.)

#3.  Sweet baby Zachary arrived one week later, healthy and without any trouble for his mama.  Now, all she needs to do is figure out how to keep all four kids happy without losing her mind.  (I say this after only a few days of baby sitting and remembering all the work young mothers have to do!)

#4.  Miracles really do happen.  Our grand-niece Kenidee, who was in the terrible auto accident, is now overcoming some real obstacles.  She suffered traumatic head injuries, including brain swelling, one broken cheek bone, one shattered cheek bone, a broken jaw, a broken eye socket, a broken collar bone and ribs, and punctured lungs.  For a while, it was even uncertain if she would survive. She was covered with tubes and kept in a medically induced coma.   Look at her now!  She’s walking and talking and making improvements every day. 

She and her family also appreciate all the prayers!

(The last two photos were “borrowed” from Facebook.  I don’t know to whom to give credit.  Thanks!)

So there you have it.

Life has been busy, but in a good kind of way.

Cleaning, yard work, and summer projects will just have to wait for now.

I’ll probably be rocking babies instead!

JoAnn

P.S.  My previous few posts were done on my i-pad with a Blogger app.  Not the best way to edit, but it worked while I was away.

P.P.S.  Thanks to everyone who helped pray for our family!