the gift that keeps on giving

Many of you may not know that I sew. I say that as a confession, because, for many years I would not actually admit to knowing how to sew. I suppose that peer-awareness in those fragile junior high / high school years probably contributed to this. I didn't think sewing was cool. Now, I'm thankful to my mom for spending countless (I'm sure, frustrating) hours to teach me all about sewing and 4-H quality.

I've been working on a few projects the last several weeks. Side note: not because the projects themselves are actually several-weeks worth, of course, just because I'm good at dragging them out as long as possible and keeping all my sewing things strewn about the family room, right, Jer?

Anyhow, I've been really thankful for this most-thoughtful gift Jer gave me about 6-1/2 years ago. He went to the fabric store, all by himself, bought this and completely surprised me with this limousine-version serger that I had been dreaming about! It was one of the best surprises ever!

Yeah, the women who were working at the fabric store that day must have been totally jealous of my thoughtful husband! Thanks again, honey! It has made my life much easier! And, not to mention, "4-H quality" that much closer to attainable. hahaha

take-your-wife-to-work day

I was lucky enough to be able to tag along with Jer on a 24-hour layover in San Fran this last weekend. We had a great time, and thanks again to Nan for watching the kids. They had as much fun as we did, of course!

self portraits waiting for CalTrain

out on the pier by AT&T stadium

one of the highlights for Jer - eating at the nastalagic Brasilian restaurant that reminded him so much of Brazil that I thought he was going to start crying! I even enjoyed it more than I thought I would...yummy!

hello again cyber space

Things have been a little crazy this past month or so. Proof - I can't say I have ever reached the point on my digital camera that it said "out of memory" because I haven't downloaded my pictures for so long. Needless to say, when I've had a spare moment to blog, I haven't had another spare moment to download pictures. Solution: no post.

Now that I've actually downloaded the images, here are some of my favorite pictures taken before summer slipped away from us.

Labor Day Weekend

Nolan agreed to ride with us as long as

he could use the fancy goggles!

I love that Macy isn't afraid to get in the water. Late in the afternoon, we were wrapping up our trip on the lake with one last turn for anyone who wanted to get in the water again. When Jer asked who was next, Macy gave her favorite line, "I do!" because she wanted to get back on the tube. She was excited to ride with Aunt Leslie. Check out those goggles! Vogue.

Four-year-old photographer

These are some of my new favorite pics. Nolan has taken to shooting his own pictures when we're not looking. I find all these extra shots (20-30!) when I download the images. No wonder I'm getting the "out of memory" message!

Nolan's first day of preschool

He was super excited but the nerves set in when we got to the classroom. He wouldn't take his backpack off for at least an hour into class, or so they tell me. I thought it was cute, sort of a strapped-on security blanket.

Afternoon just for the kids

We went to Krispy Kreme for free donuts when the "Hot" sign was on then spent an hour or so working on our driveway masterpiece. Nolan had a blast!

Macy only lasted about five minutes with the chalk

then found other things to keep her busy.

Loving the backyard

Inevitably, Macy comes inside with her drawers full of sand and sand practically glued to her scalp, even if she was playing alone. I can't quite figure out if she gives herself a sand shower or what! Maybe I'll have to wire a webcam to catch it live.

And finally, Nolan's latest trick on the tramp!

4-H quality, or not so much

Growing up, my mom was a 4-H leader for my sister, me and a few girls in the neighborhood. We'd work on learning skills throughout the summer and enter our projects (baking, cake decorating, sewing, etc.) into the county fair in the fall. If we did well enough, we were selected to enter in the state fair. We knew what the judges would be looking for: the perfect golden brown and consistent crackling across all four cookies of constant size; the perfectly raised, lightly browned, banana bread with an even crack down the middle; perfectly detailed stitching, evenly gathered, no puckers, all threads neatly trimmed. You get the idea. We called this "4-H quality". If it was going to be good enough to win, it had to be 4-H quality.

In my family, we still somewhat affectionately refer to this level of perfection as 4-H quality, or, in the words of Mary Popppins, "Practically perfect in every way." It's mostly a joke with my sister and me now.

I've been sewing quite a bit lately, and have been thinking about "4-H quality". I'm slowly but surely coming to accept the realization that pretty much nothing I do is 4-H quality. I've sewn two dresses for Macy, a pioneer trek dress for the neighbor, and bound a few quilts over the last several weeks, and not one of these was even close. As far as baking is concerned, we can't even go there, because cold cereal and mac'n'cheese don't even have a 4-H quality level to discuss, and that's about all I've done for several months! (Much to Jeremy's dismay, I'm sure. I should mention that Jeremy seems to bake all the cookies and banana bread around here, and he hits 4-H quality just about every time! Go figure.)

Usually my comments about a finally-finished project go something like this, "Well, it's certainly not 4-H quality, but it will do." After all, who cares that I didn't pick out all of my basting stitches that held the gathers in place for final stitching? Okay, so maybe I'm settling on the quality, but now I prefer to think that I'm settling for sanity, sans perfection!

tag....6 quirks

I got tagged today, so, thanks to Lisa, I'm supposed to list six quirks about me. I usually consider myself a pretty boring, ordinary person, but when I started thinking about Karla quirks, they just kept on comin'! There are several that I would never reveal to you! Here are a few that I dare, at risk of being considered crazy (or perhaps confirming crazy!).

1. Counting stairs. Yes, I know...weird. I always count stairs as I step on them: at home, at school (okay, when I was in school), and anywhere else (doctor's office, theater, neighbor's house). Up and down. At home I always know what stair number I'm stepping on. When I'm somewhere new, I try to guess how many stairs there are before I climb (or descend). I always remember counting stairs. My habit probably started growing up in a multi-level home: four stairs down to the family room, and ten stairs down to the main basement from there, then three more stairs to the pool table; twelve stairs to get upstairs to my bedroom from the kitchen. Maybe this is not a quirk after all, but OCD!

2. License plates. I tend to remember license plate numbers, in whole or part, of people I see often or know well, like family or co-workers that park in the same lot. I still remember part of the number of Jeremy's red geo metro that he drove in high school (when I had a crush on him): 355 something something G.

3. Phone numbers. I still remember phone numbers of several of my neighbor's growing up and or old numbers of friends or family, some of whom I haven't ever called that much and/or haven't called for years!

4. Fist, Mouth. I can fit almost my entire fist inside my mouth.

5. Rhythmic fidgeting or tapping. Sometimes when I'm either zoned out or concentrating, I catch myself tapping my fingers or shaking/bouncing my legs, but I always subconsciously follow a rhythm or pattern in my fidgeting. You know, like right-left-right-left-right-right-left, pause, repeat.

6. Weird elbows. My elbows bend further than they should, beyond straight. This always caused a problem in dance when we had arm actions like a "V" with both arms up and outward, like the "Y" action in the YMCA dance. I had to be conscious that my "V" didn't resemble something like flamingo legs. (I always thought their legs looked awkward, like they were bending in the wrong place.) I can also twist my elbow to be facing up when I have my arm out in front of me.

Here's the tag: Moey, Lisa D, Erin, Shannon, Jenni Mc, Jennifer D

take me out to the ballgame!

Jeremy and I started a tradition several years ago on a road trip to Denver over the Fourth of July: attending the Rockies baseball game. (Remember? I am married to a baseballaholic.) Pretty much every year since then we have gone to a baseball game either July 4th or July 24th.
After all, what's more American than baseball? This year we hit the Bees game. (Nice pun! I didn't even do that on purpose!) We had a great time with PawPaw, Gammy, Uncle Spence, Aunt Moey, Leini and Whitney, and the kids loved the bopper-noise-maker-thing-a-mabobs they handed out to the crowd.

sunday

We took a few pictures before Church this morning.

So we were a little late for Sacrament meeting...

better late than never, eh?