The Week In Review

These little monkeys have been keeping me on my toes of late.

Ryder was never one to be too adventurous as he learned to walk, 

so keeping up with Lynden has been a learning curve for me.

There's something pretty fun about two mischievous boys though...

With it being baby shower season around here, 

I've finally gotten around to a few more little sewing projects. 

I'm absolutely loving my new sewing machine!

And Lynden hasn't quite figured out how to model my creations successfully yet, 

but we're working on it.

 And then on Friday we packed enough snacks to feed a small army and headed to our church campout a couple of hours away - just for the day.

Ryder had a blast swimming with his little friends. 

 Lynden kept me company nearby...

...and opted for no nap, even in the comfort of the hammock. 

Our day ended with dinner and s'mores.

And these two were asleep before we even made it out of the campground.

Here's to a few more fun summer adventures before Baby #3 arrives!

This Is How We Do The 4th

We're so happy to have Pop & Mimi visiting for our 4th of July weekend.

These boys are spoiled with the best of the best. <3

Off to church on Sunday in our patriotic colours.

Then looking forward to our small group and some church friends coming over for smoked BBQ.

And of course, a few games of Mafia.

Our Monday began with red, white, and blue breakfast scones.

Thank you, Pioneer Woman!

After an early morning wake up to catch todays Tour de France stage.

 Then off to the Fallon 4th of July Parade.

Happy Independence  Day!

My Latest Project

Sometimes it takes having my hubby out of town for a 

few weeks to motivate me to get started on a new project. 

Especially something as time consuming as a new quilt.

So, with quiet evenings, minimal meal prep, and clean up, 

I got to work on Lynden's new big boy bed quilt.

From cutting and piecing to assembling - it went pretty quickly.

Especially thanks to my beautiful new Bernina sewing machine.

Happy birthday to me from my sweet in-laws!

Now all that's left is the actual quilting.

But first I need to decide on a fabric for the back. 

I'll be sure to show off the finished product once it's complete.

But with my honey back home and family coming into town this weekend, 

I think it'll take a back seat.

How else do we entertain ourselves on these sunny summer days?

Daily walks.

See?

There's my baby bump!

We're always keeping an eye out for lizards, rabbits, and 

any other fun desert creatures we might encounter.

Here's a little lizard friend. 

You could see exactly where his tail had come off and was regrowing.

How's that for a natural science lesson?

 And these two cuties just can't get enough playtime with each other.

So thankful for brothers who are best buds. 

It always helps to cool off with popsicles too!

Finishing Up Home Projects

It's 81degrees outside and I'm sitting in the backyard soaking up this beautiful Nevada sunshine. 

The boys are both napping after an active morning at the gym and I'm taking advantage of the peacefulness to catch up on a few things. 

On my to do list:

Keeping up with you, friends and family - through this post

Writing a love note to my man - he works so hard!

Researching a new vacuum 

(Yes! The budget says we're ready to go ahead and pull the trigger)

And, if I get to them, 

A Better Homes and Gardens & Martha Stewart Living magazines. 

Catching up on magazines is truly a sign that I have too much time on my hands. 

Well, except for my Food Network Magazine. That's my current favourite and I classify browsing it's pages of scrumptious recipes as 'work' since I'm always looking for dishes to feed my family. :)

But first, 

let me catch you up on a few small projects around the house that we've finally finished. 

1. The Stool

Braden picked up the wood for it about a few months ago and then during some time off recently, designed and made it. 

Not only is it beautiful, it has changed our lives.

Now Ryder can reach all of his drawers and dress himself in the morning. 

He can take care of going potty and washing his hands on his own. 

And, I don't have to lift him all the way up onto the counter when he helps me in the kitchen daily. 

I'm sure I'll appreciate this even more as Baby #3 continues to grow!

Ryder affectionately calls it his 'stood'.

Here he is playing in the oatmeal (making toad in the hole) while I prepare dinner.

2. The Measuring Ruler

The vision for this project dates back a little further. 

We used Christmas money from grandparents to get this wood and it truly was a labour of love. 

Braden made the ruler to replicate a real ruler as accurately as possible and even burned in the numbers in the right font by hand. 

Next we just need to decide how to record the boys' height.

3. The Book Wagon

Being married to a woodworker is awesome. 

Being married to an unemployed woodworker would be awesome too.

Too many projects and not enough time is always the quandary.  

The problem is that we all love books. 

As our family grows and our children develop, we just collect more and more awesome books.

But, you can't buy bookshelves when you're married to a woodworker. 

So, in an effort to organize the books our boys have in their room, I turned to Pinterest.

And, thanks to some birthday money for the boys 

and a local antique store, we were able to solve the problem. 

They love their book wagon!

And that's what's new here.

The Never Ending Project

About 6 months ago I started thinking about what to do for Lynden's first birthday. 

I wanted it to be special and one of a kind.

Many hours on Pinterest later I settled on making him a quiet book.

I found tons of ideas and templates, 

I found a local small business to buy my supplies from, 

and then I got started. 

And now, over 100 hours later (and nearly two months after Lynden's birthday) I'm still at work.

My first two pages took the longest. 

Everything is sewn by hand.

This barn houses 5 different finger puppet farm animals.

The accompanying page gives a space for them to play and have a story told. 

Next was the rainbow.

The colours can be unsnapped and reattached and the cloud is a pocket to hold 

everything when not in use. 

My most recent page has these shoes. 

Everything needs to be sewn down still, then

I need to run out and grab a pair of laces for them.

 And now that I've put all this work into it (with only 4 pages to show), I've come to the conclusion that it's really more Ryder's level than Lynden's. 

 Ah well, I guess that will buy me a little more time to finish a few more pages. 

This truly is a labour of love.

 I'm not sure why all of my projects seem to have this unending quality - but already I'm thinking ahead to the next one:

a new quilt for Lynden once he's promoted out of the crib. 

I'm thinking the next 3 months are going to keep me pretty busy!

Saturday At Its Finest

Growing up, Saturday was our day to get things done. 

I still love Saturdays for that reason.

So, after a yummy breakfast of our favourite Belgian waffles with fresh strawberries 

and a morning music practice at church, 

we got busy.

Braden had a friend over and the two of them were out in the shop working on a change table for their new little baby coming soon, so I had the house to myself.

My first project was a Pinterest-type craft that I've been forming in my mind over the last week.

These days it's rare that I don't have a helper close at hand.

And here it is.

My new burlap Easter banner. 

That's what Easter's all about anyway, right?!

Here I have to pause and tell you a little story about what happened yesterday.

I had been working in my sewing room and Ryder was sitting next to me playing with a calculator. 

He pressed the plus (+) sign and was so excited to show me the 'cross' that showed up on the calculator screen.

"Look Mama, it's a cross. 

Just like where Jesus died."

Little conversations like this make my heart to happy.

I finished up the productive part of my day by preparing my garden bins and two big galvanized metal tubs for spring planting.

Fertilizer is in and the soil is turned and ready for planting.

Now if only I could find those herb seed packets that I bought last week...