Project Revealed!

Remember a previous post titled "Project Under Construction"? Well this is what I ended up constructing. Hopefully you said "Whoa awesome Optimus Prime Transformer costume" and not "What is that?"

It's not those cool transformer costumes that actually transform but Clayton loves it and that was the goal. Clay has a Halloween party in his kindergarten class Oct 30 and they wanted the kids to come to school dressed in their costumes. Yeah right I would love to see Clay try to get up the bus steps in this costume ha, so a quick email to his teacher and I will bring his costume to school and help him in it. He will have fun trick-or-treating but he was concerned about keeping his treat bag open for all the candy. It is quite the Boxy costume but for candy I'm sure he will think of a solution!

Completely home-made but that's what make a costume fun right! You got to love spray paints, hot glue gun, and good ole duck tape!

Polly want a cracker???

Is he not just the CUTEST PARROT you have ever seen?? He So is!

I am still trying to make little parrot feet to go over some shoes, but I think the rest turned out pretty good!

Since Justin is a fun parrot, I better slap some pirate getup on. You can't have a parrot without and pirate shoulder to rest, I am his slave after all he he he

You'll just have to wait for Halloween for those pics!

Green Envy

The work it process. . . . Hayden's Hulk shirt turned out awesome!! It was so detailed that I was really worried that it wouldn't turn out at all, not that I would be out much money with the shirt being a whole dollar an all :) but that I sat there and cut out each darn little piece to make it work! And work it DID! SWEET Hayden is planning to be Hulk for Halloween

Finished product!!

And not wanting to waste and mixed green paint I had...

saw a cute frog picture...free hand it on to freezer paper...Justin gets a new shirt...BRILLIANT!

Antique Tractor and Truck Show!!

Love all the expressions!!

Fall is Nathan's favorite time of year, so it's a little sad that he has to be at school all day long every Saturday now. He leaves the house at 6 drives to the train station and heads downtown to University of Chicago campus and has two 3 hour classes to attend before getting on the train again to come home usually at about 7 at night. The boys and I really miss him on Saturdays so we like to find activities we can go and break up the day a little bit and enjoy the fall season and colors. This activity was to the Antique Tractor and Truck show in McHenry. The Patterson's who have two boys Ethan and Blake came too which made it even more fun since all the boys have a great time together. Machine after machine the boys gave us their best engine sounds and actions to driving. They had tractors, cement trucks, excavators, bob cats, 1957 Chevy, semi trucks, and a horse trailer that Clay yelled out "My Grandpa Ron has one of these!! Just like this!!" So much excitement for a trailer filled with cow muck, love it! There was an old barn as well where the boys each made the letter of their names with glue and lots of different kinds of grains, seeds, and beans.

It's not as fun without Nathan there with us, and I'm sure he isn't doing jumping jacks over going to school to get his MBA but these are the things he does for our family to provide for us and make sure we have all that we need. We are so blessed with such a great father, and husband who thinks of his family first and steps up to the plate. We love ya tons! We won't rub our fun times at ya too much :)

Baby Teeth

I don't think I would like someone pulling on my chin either!!

My babe has teeth!! Just a couple of weeks before Justin turned 8 months old he popped two little teeth! This really suprised me because both Clay and Hayden didn't get any teeth until they were almost a year old. Justin really likes to bite down on things now the little munchin!

Freezer Paper project!!

I have seen this done all over and had to try it! I had so much fun with it. Using the freezer paper as the stencil was great especially since you can just iron it on after you have cut out your design.

I used bleach instead of fabric paint on the spider. Since bleach is so messy it was suggested to use a clorox pen hmmmm don't have one of those so I use an extra AQUA DOODLE PEN. Fill it up with bleach instant bleach pen!! I'm going to raid my boys clothes to see what else I can stencil up!!

Trick or Treat bags

I really love any type of holiday so they have become my excuse to do some craft projects. I have made these totes before but I only used 1 place mat folded it in half and made a smaller tote to carry my set of scriptures in. These were done with 2 place mats sewed together lengthwise to achieve that extra length for all those treats that are going to be piled in. I found the place mats at the dollar store!! We had a Do It Yourself class that made it easy to pin down a time to get these done. Although Nathan being Elders Quorum President had some last minute visits to make and still wanting to go to the class especially since Kelley was the instructor for the night (she really knows what she is doing with a sewing machine!!) I took all three of my boys with me. The other ladies, who each have at least 1 daughter of their own, I think got a taste of an all boy house! First it was the discussion of who's bag would be made first. Then they were being all too helpful and wanted to cut ribbon for me and stick it under the sewing machine or stick their fingers to close to the gears. They used my sewing pins to start a mini sword fight which I quickly ended upon hearing the first HI YAW! Kelley was great to take Justin for me and then told the boys how thirsty she was and wanted to see if they could help her find a water fountain! Kids on suggested tasks are always a good thing, keeps them occupied. The totes only take a few minutes if you don't have any interruptions I got the second tote done the next day while Clayton was at school, Justin was asleep and Hayden was fascinated with Popeye! Much better ;)

I am wondering about getting a new sewing machine or at least getting mine a tune up and repairs but if that is going to add up close to what a new one would cost I'd rather go new, so any suggestions? I won't be able to get the fancy of the fancies in a new machine but somewhere in the middle ground would be great! What is a good sewing machine to look at?

Project Under Construction!!

HMMM What will it be????

8 years ago TODAY!

Eight years ago today Nathan and I were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. To celebrate our anniversary we bought new GPS systems to put in each of our cars. To put them to good use we took a drive to Lake Geneva Wisconsin to do some site seeing. I love going for drives in the countrysides and towns to see different types of properties, businesses, and homes each one with their own style to landscaping, design, and use of the grounds located within their property boundaries. We found a big farm stand on the way around the lake that had a really fun hay/straw bale maze for kids to play on. We took our time going in and out of side roads, subdivisions, and scenic routes. Down Main street there are tons of little shops and attractions that you could spend all day at. To the relief of Nate, we wanted to just continue on our site seeing trip. We ended the day off with an ice cream treat at an all too expensive ice cream parlor but it's fun to splurge a little to make it special.
There are so many adjectives I could use to describe how great Nathan is to me as a husband and a father to our children. The one that does stand out is Consistent.

Nathan is consistent in his:

Work----Church callings----studies (spiritual and for school)----love for me----love for his kids---providing for his family----wanting and striving to always do what is right----an anchor and support to me----friendship----eternal companion etc etc etc I am truly blessed to have Nathan as my best friend and husband. Together we are going to be a consistently strong couple day after day!!! I love ya Nate!!!

Family Photos Fall 2009