Salt Lake City

We were able to take a trip out to Utah this summer. It was a family reunion of sorts for us. It had been eight years since my siblings, our spouses and children had all been together! And five years for Ryan's side. It was SO good to see everyone, watch the kids play with their cousins, and meet some nieces and nephews for the first time.

Our first Monday there we visited Temple Square.

The first stop was at the Conference Center

Next was lunch and we got to see the cubicles my parents work in for their part time mission.

At lunch we ran into one of our favorite Sister Missionaries. She is serving on temple square but was able to come out our way for a while and serve at the sites next to us.

Then we went to see the temple up close

These girls cracked me up! They wanted pictures of "just" them, everywhere! I didn't post all of them though

Can you find the hiding, pouting boy?

The last stop was the Church History Museum

There was a wonderful exhibit geared towards the kids. They had fun trying to lift the gold plates.

Dancing! They could have done this all day!

There were a bunch of other centers which is didn't get pictures of. If we lived closer I think we would definitely spend more time there.

The exhibit next to the children's one had quilts! Of course I had to stop and look at these.

Grandpa's 90th Birthday Celebration

My Mom and Grandma put together these posters for the party. 

Me, John and Miriam

Me, John, Mom, Dad, and Miriam

Aunt Gale and Mom. Gale is actually my mom's second cousin but they grew up together like sister's. 

Mom and Grandpa. (This is the Grandpa Reuben is named after)

All of the blood relatives to my Grandpa

Grandpa and Grandma Betty, My Mom's mother died before I was born and Grandma Betty and Grandpa got married before I was born so she has always been Grandma to me! I think this picture is so cute of them!

A little blurry but Grandpa getting ready to blow out his candles. I love this man! He pretended to blow them out before actually doing so. He has always had the best sense of humor, I love that about him.

My Mom made this quilt for Grandpa. It is an underground railroad quilt.

I love you Grandpa! I can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you!

Unfortunately that was the end of my trip. I have to fly back to see my kiddos and Ryan. I feel blessed though for the time I was able to be there and all the help from friends, by watching my kids! 

Quilt Show 2009

On Saturday two friends and I went to see the quilt show down in Columbus.  It was a fun girl's day!  Get ready for picture overload! :)  I look forward to this show all year long.  They have great vendors and the quilts are always amazing!

Amy Butler!!!!

Yes, That is Amy Butler in the orange shirt!!!  There is a tiny quilt shop here named Stitch Cleveland and they somehow were able to get Amy to come tonight only for a meet and greet.  Amy was SO nice!  She just acted like we were old friends and showed My Mom, friend Tanya and I a bunch of her new things.  There weren't very many people there so it was so nice to be able to walk right up to her and chat!  She even signed my pattern for the nappy bag which I made as my diaper bag for Lincoln with Amy's fabric line.

Challenge

Here's what I decided to applique on the border for this month's challenge for my guild.  I ran out of time.  I was really hoping to do more, but here it is.  Here is a link to what it looked like when I picked it up at last month's guild meeting.

Challenge

In my guild we are doing a round robin challenge.  This is the quilt which was in the brown bag that I chose.  This month we are to add a five inch border with two of the corners having something appliqued in them.  Any ideas?

Thank You Quilt Guild Ladies!

On Thursday my quilt guild had their monthly meeting.  After the meeting Sue and Barb came up to me to tell me how much they miss "Franky" (Lincoln).  When I started going to the guild I was pregnant with Linc and have been there since.  Well, Sue and Barb made "Franky" a quilt and thought that I needed one too!  These ladies touched my heart!  Thank you so much!

"Franky"

Challenge

My quilt guild started a challenge for the year.  We had to come up with a block that was 12-14 inches square and bring it to our next meeting in a paper bag.  This is the block which I did.  Every month the bags with blocks will be passed around to a new person to put on another border around this main block.  This month our task is to put on a four inch border with some kind of corner squares.  We won't be able to see our quilt until June.  I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Columbus Quilt Show

On Saturday I was able to go to the quilt show in Columbus with two of my friends.  We left super early because we live a couple of hours from Columbus.  The quilts were breath taking!  It is so inspiring to see these quilts and all the creativity in them!  There were over 400 quilts on display!  Here are a few of my favorites.

Best of Show first place winner

The quilting on this quilt and some others was truly amazing!

What a find!  We went to North Market for lunch.  It reminded me of a farmers market that I've been to in Philadelphia, but smaller.  They had lots of yummy things to eat and groceries, like specialty meats and cheeses and much more!  I wish that we lived closer so I could go more often!  Here is a photo of the four of us.

This is the yummy pasta I had for lunch.  The homemade pasta had an artichoke gorgonzola sauce served with bread and garlic and chive butter. 

From this booth we split a yummy strawberry ice cream sandwich.  It was surprisingly light and oh, so yummy!

He was so good all day!  All of the ladies had to pinch his legs and cheeks, but he was great through it all!

Jackie. Lincoln, me, and Janeen.

More beautiful quilts!

This one had sparkles all over it !

Believe it or not but these were all different appliqued pieces of fabric!

I love this one!

It was such a fun girls day out!  Now I am ready to quilt!  We ended our day with a trip to one of the best ice cream stores, Graeters!

We are already on planning to go back next year!  That was such a blast!