Pillowcase Dresses

I've caught the Spring/Summer cleaning bug and have taken

to organizing my sewing closet (basically just tubs & boxes of fabric). I've made lots of fun summer pj's for the kids, but I've been wanting to make a summer dress for Berlin. I found some pillowcase dresses on etsy.com that I loved and so I tried my hand at making one without a pattern. I just took her measurements and went from there. Honestly, it turned out to be the EASIEST sewing project ever - and I was able to finish the dress in under 30 minutes (which is about all the time I have these days for stuff like this). It was so easy, that even beginning sewers with little to none experience can do this. And they are so cute. Of course, doing it without a pattern was tricky at first (the armholes are a little bit big), but I learned a couple things and will do them a bit differently next time. All I can is that I am hooked on making these and I'm already digging through my other fabric to make her more - lots more!!!

5 years ago today

Ryan and I got hitched in the Salt Lake Temple.

As we were sitting in church a few months ago, 3 different newlyweds got up to bear their testimony. Each person kept saying how the last few weeks/months had been the hardest in their life and how rough married life had been yadda yadda. Ryan and I just looked at each other and said, "Really?" When we got home we both had a good laugh because we were both thinking how our first year was so easy and awesome. We loved that first year of marriage - just the two of us hanging out, going to football games at the U, playing video games, going to movies, still going on dates and all that. Not that the last 4 have been bad, just different. With kids now in the picture, the alone time just isn't there like it used to be and though we miss that alone time, we wouldn't trade our current life - kids and all, for anything. When I look back on the past 5 years I have to say that I have no regrets. I love being married - even with all it's ups & downs. I love Ryan more now than I did then. I probably don't show it or tell him enough, but I do. I'm so grateful that we chose to love each other for eternity.

Here we are 5 years ago:

Here we are today (last month actually):


How are we are celebrating our special day? We went to SF last month, but we had to cancel dinner & movie plans tonight so we could nurse 2 kiddos sick with the pooks (vomiting & diahrrea).

Spring Soccer review

Finley's Spring Soccer is officially over. His team, the Spiders, had their last game on the 31st of May and it was a blast. Finley started off the season off rough (lots of tears, crying & tempertantrums) but finished off the season strong. He was kicking the ball, running, throwing it in, and basically having a ball the last 3 games. So we are a bit sad to see Spring Soccer end. But, not to fret, Fall soccer starts in September so we'll definitely be registering him for that this August. Hopefully he'll be able to pick up where we left off and avoid the whole tough start again.

The above slide show is a review of the season. My favorite of course is the team photo where Finley was crying so hard that Laney, the little girl next to him had to cover her ears as she said, "he's too loud!" Priceless. In his individual photo his face & eyes were also all red from the crying fit he had. I tried to take my own individual pics as you can see somewhere in the slide-show, but he just wanted to be silly so they aren't any better.

Starstruck

I have no idea where these star sunglasses came from, but from the moment Berlin pulled them out of the toy basket, she's owned them. Here she has paired them with a princess headband and Finley's hat. All I can say is way to represent girlfriend! She's definitely my little SUPERSTAR!!!

Rainy Day Play

The past week has brought us lots of rain and cooler temps which for us means lots of indoor play. Yesterday was no exception but I didn't mind as I had decided to let the dishes ccontine to pile up, forgo the vacuuming & mopping, and ignore the quickly multiplying bags of laundry so that I could instead get down and play with my children (I've been feeling a bit guilty lately for not devoting more 1-on-1 time with them). So after I put Berlin down for her nap, Finley and I played grocery store together. I got my shopping basket and bought some yummy fruit & bread from his market stand. Then I prepared us a nice yummy lunch which we sat and ate on the couch. Finley even offered a prayer on our lunch and I had to giggle when he clarified what it was, "Heavenly Father, we are thankful for this food - I mean pretend food, to make us strong - I mean pretend strong and safe outside." Then he proceeded to shop for and prepare lunch for his favorite dolls. I thought it was cute how he lined them all up. Rudolph and Domo got the most lunch (2 platefuls) and when I asked him why he said Rudolph needed more because he had to fly and because Domo was bigger than the rest.

While he was feeding Bob he noticed that tools were on his belt. This observation took him to his room where he returned with all his tools shoved in the waistband of his pants. After a few steps they started falling so he asked me for a belt like Bob's. Just as I was about to tell him we didn't have a toolbelt like that, I remembered some fabric scraps sitting in a box in his closet. So I got the scraps and he chose the fabric and in less than 10 minutes I had whipped up a toolbelt for all his tools. He wore it the rest of the afternoon including to Costco and would have worn it at the park while we watched Ryan play Volleyball but I made him leave it in the car. As soon as we got home he put it on and would have worn it to bed had Ryan not put his foot down and made him take it off. The whole PJ-Toolbelt is reminiscent of the Village People - sweet!