a lovely garden

Anyone remember that song from Primary (I don't think it's in the Children's Songbook), "I Have a Garden?" My brothers ruined it for me a long time ago - I can't remember the words they made up, but it was something awful that boys would think is funny. Anyway, I thought of that song (the real one) as I was looking at the pictures I took of our garden. :) Enjoy!

These ones are from a week or two ago:

The whole garden - about a 2'x6' plot.

Garlic and red onions on the left, red (spicy) and sweet banana peppers on the right.

We're very proud of our little honeysuckle vine. :)

Rose of Sharon and more garlic and onions.

Happy little ice plant!

These ones are from a few days ago (it's been raining a lot):

The ice plant is spreading pretty well. :)

LOVE these flowers! We intentionally got the pink/red/orange ones.

We also have dahlias sprouting up here and there, but I don't have pictures of any of them. (It was an experiment - we just sprinkled seeds wherever there was room left over.) I'll take more when they start getting flowers. The Rose of Sharon has also grown a lot recently, but I was too excited about the ice plant to take pictures of anything else. :) (Brian was excited too - he called me a few days ago and said, "Guess how many flowers we have blooming right now!!" I believe the answer was 12.)

Oh, yeah. We planted a grapes and blueberries on this tiny strip of dirt next to the fence on the other side. They're kind of sad for now, but if anything happens I'll take pictures and post them.

sewing projects

I got a sewing machine recently, as Brian mentioned previously. It was sort of for our anniversary, but I'd been wanting one for a while. I finally broke down and bought one because I had a few mending projects I needed to do that would have been way too hard/time-consuming to do by hand. I finished those right away when I got the machine, but then I wanted to find some other things to do with it.

I decided a baby blanket would be a good first project since I haven't done much sewing before. My sister-in-law, Kate, is having a baby in June, and even though it'll be her 3rd baby/2nd boy, I figured it would be fun to make a quilt for him. (She didn't know I was doing it until I mailed it to them.) I didn't realize how hard it is to pick coordinating fabric! I ended up finding a cute boy-looking polka dot fabric and then just got solid colors that matched with it. (Yes, I was making everything up as I went along.)











L - I sewed the squares into strips and laid them out
R - after ironing the strips, sewing them together, and ironing again (not completely even/straight, but I did the best I could, and it was my first time)














L - blue color for the backing; light batting since they live in CA; cut the backing slightly bigger than the front so I could fold it over and use that as a binding (this is a picture of it pinned together)
R - the finished quilt, tied with white yarn

I know the pictures don't look a whole lot different from each other, but I wanted to document each step (for future reference). I think it turned out pretty cute. :) I didn't want to post pictures until I was sure they had received the package since it was a surprise - I haven't asked if they got it, but it's been about 2 weeks since I sent it, so I think it's a safe bet.

My next project was to make Brian's man's apron, as he calls it. I guess "apron" is too girly of a word, so he has to specify. ;) I got a heavy black fabric (twill, I believe) and made everything from it, including the ties and adjustable neck strap. He also specifically asked for pockets so he can put spices and stuff in there when he's grilling. I decided the easiest way would be to use my own apron as a pattern (my mom and I made mine using my dad's as a pattern), especially since I really like the style of it. Here's how it turned out (I made Brian pose, and he decided to use BBQ tools as props):

L - striking a manly pose
C - being weird with the grilling tools
R - showing off the pockets (it was hard to see otherwise because it's black on black)

I think my next project is going to be bean bags for the Corn Hole game Brian is making. I also need to add a little fabric to the top of my bathing suit. :) More on those to come.

Cleveland

In mid-April, we met the Wessmans (Brian's sister/family) in Cleveland because the National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships were being held there. Mike and Marinda are really into the University of Utah gymnastics, and the team made it to nationals, so it was a good excuse to get together. I love watching gymnastics too, so I was excited to be able to see a meet in person. We went to the semifinals on Friday night, and Utah made it to the finals, so we all went again on Saturday night.

The Wessmans rented a house for the weekend instead of having to get a bunch of hotel rooms which was pretty cool. On Saturday morning, we headed out to Kirtland for a while to see some of the sites. Brian had never taken the temple tour or the tour of the historic sites, and he was almost giddy when he realized we could go inside the Whitney store and some of the other buildings. But enough talking...here are some pictures:

Brian outside the Kirtland temple. It rained a lot that day.

The Newel K. Whitney store in Kirtland. I know pictures are generally more interesting with people in them (at least the ones I take), but I couldn't resist taking this because the light was really cool.

Abby showing me the "pretty leaf" she found at historic Kirtland. I thought it was cute.

Briton at the gymnastics meet. He's such a cute little guy.

Brian and me at the house we stayed at for the weekend.

I'm realizing now that I didn't take any pictures of Mike and Marinda or Hannah. Meh.