Kathy's Life

Backpacking May 2010

2010-06-11T10:54:00.002-07:00

After taking our gun class, Veda, Pat and I went backpacking on the Mogollon Rim. We hiked the Cabin Loop Trail which started right at the top of the rim. The trail is 17 miles and we took 4 days to hike it. We found the trailhead with no problem, but as soon as we started hiking, we accidentally took an old jeep trail and got off our Loop trail within the first mile.

I had my GPS with me and we finally found the original trail after a 3 mile cross country hike, up and down watersheds... ugh. So, on our first day we only went 1.5 miles on the trail. The rest of the hike was a little harder than we were anticipating because we had to make up for lost time. The hike was beautiful and there was lots of creeks and springs all along the way.

We passed several places where the snow hadn't melted yet, but the weather was actually very nice and warm. It was breezy the whole time, but stayed in the 70s and 80s. It got chilly at night, but still very pleasant.

On the second day, we saw some elk which was nice since we hadn't seen any wildlife until then.. not even squirrels and not even many birds. Hmm... maybe we made too much noise...

I wore the wrong shoes so by the 3rd day, I was hurting pretty bad. The water in the creek where we spent that night was wonderful. This was our favorite camping spot.

We had such a nice time hiking. We had lunch in Pine before we headed home. Pat had to leave the next day, but Veda stayed another week and did some visiting with friends and even quilted her tree quilt that she had started 2 years ago. I'm so glad my friends got to come visit again!

Defensive Handgun Class at Frontsight

2010-06-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Frontsight for a 4 Day Defensive Handgun class. I went with my friends, Veda and Pat. The class was amazing and we learned so much. I highly recommend this class for ANYONE. Even if you've never shot a gun before, this class would be great. It was 4 days of intense training in handling a handgun and learning how to shoot it and also how to defend yourself if you ever needed to.

The facility was very nice and they have tons more updates planned for teaching all kinds of weapons training. It is located in Pahrump Nevada which is about a 45 minute drive from Las Vegas. The facility doesn't have any hotel facilities so we stayed in a rental house in Pahrump. It was a double wide mobile home, but had everything we needed. We mostly prepared food there so we wouldn't have to eat out and it had 3 bedrooms so was very comfy for staying overnight. It was only about 20 minutes from Frontsight.

Doc is earning his keep

2010-05-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

Doc treed a cat a couple of weeks ago. The poor cat stayed in the tree most of the day. Doc would get tired of barking and go take a nap for awhile but the cat was too scared to try to come down and pretty soon Doc would be back again barking his fool head off. Every hair on the cat was sticking straight out... poor cat. It did eventually get down and run away, but we haven't seen a cat around here since then..

Easter 2010

2010-05-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

Mom had Easter dinner at her house this year. It was a fun family get-together. She had yummy fried chicken.. her specialty. We had an Easter egg hunt, but Shayla was the only kid there so she got to find the eggs all by herself. I think we hid 25 eggs or so. She eventually found them all, but I think it would have been more fun for her if it was a little more competitive. Here are a few pictures of the day:

President's Quilt Idea

2010-02-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

This is my idea for the next President's Quilt for TBQ Guild. What do you think?

Winter Mini

2010-02-17T17:01:00.002-07:00

I finished a little quilt today that I made for a quilt exchange. I will be sending it to a lady in Australia. It's about 24" wide and I think came out pretty dang cute.

Office Makeover Progress

2010-01-27T23:42:00.004-07:00

The office is coming along nicely. Most of the waiting room is finished. We still need to build drawers under the files for vitamin storage. Plus, we're going to put a big screen TV on the west wall for our Power Point lecture and build a cabinet for folding chairs for when we have DOZENS of patients coming to the lectures.

This is looking east toward the massage rooms. Behind the blue walls is a hallway where a water feature will be.

This is looking west toward the kids play room. The angled wall is where the TV will be with the magazine rack under it.

This is the hallway where the water feature will be. We plan on putting some big cactus plants in the spaces between the blue walls.

This is our awesome vinyl flooring. It looks so much like real wood that nobody can believe it's vinyl until they touch it. Love it!

We still have to get some artwork for the blue walls and I plan on hanging a quilt or two around, too. With the new lighting the room seems very warm and cozy, and Alan and I recovered the chairs, too. I also ordered some wooden blinds for all of the front windows. They should be here next week. It's coming along!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-06T18:32:00.004-07:00

Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I suppose it's about time I catch up on my blog posts. We have been very busy around here with the holidays and the office remodel, we haven't had time to do much that didn't HAVE to be done.

We truly had a wonderful Christmas with all my kids and grandkids here. Landon and Tracy flew in from Washington a week before Christmas and helped us get everything ready for the party (2 parties to be exact). They actually decorated the house which was a big help to me since all I had done by then is pull the boxes out of the closet and buy a big old tree.

On Christmas morning, Lain, Kevin and Shay came up from Phoenix and we had a pretty relaxed time of opening presents and enjoying the time. We didn't have to make a huge dinner for all the sisters and families because they didn't come until the next day. So we didn't even have a traditional Christmas dinner. Alan made lasagna!

Here are some pictures of our Christmas:

For Christmas, I got a hanging lamp for over the dining room table. I even got to unwrap it.

Isn't it beautiful??? I LOVE IT!!

The grandkids were VERY ready to start opening presents!

This is the quilt I made for Elaine. It isn't quilted yet.. I just ran out of time! If it looks familiar, I made one just like it for Landon and Tracy last Christmas. Lain liked it so much I had to make one for her, too.

Kevin and Elaine opening presents.

Landon and Tracy... I crocheted the scarf and hat for Tracy. She liked it alot.. :-) I also crocheted some slippers for her but that didn't turn out so well. That's another story...

Damian modeling his new hat.

Alan modeling his new hat. I guess this was the year of the hat. Just about everyone got one!

The day after Christmas my family came up from Phoenix and we had another big dinner and did a White Elephant exchange. It's always so much fun getting together with my family.

A New Baby

2009-12-17T23:54:00.005-07:00

We had an exciting event today. One of 'my girls' had her baby today. Heather had a baby girl, Aubriella Noel. I was invited to attend the birth and got a phone call at about 6:30am saying it was happening. I went to work for a couple of hours and had Sue arrange my schedule so I could be there for the birth. Heather had a home birth and was more comfortable without any extra people in the room during the birth so I didn't actually get to see her bring born, but got to say hello to little Aubriella right afterwards. What a sweetie... and doesn't that look like red hair??? We'll know in a day or two.

She even got her first adjustment at 2 hours old.

Bear Cabin

2009-11-16T20:08:00.005-07:00

Once a year, my quilting group goes to Show Low, AZ for a quilt retreat. Last week was the week! It is called Bear Cabin and it is so much fun. Carol is the best host and makes everyone feel welcome and cared for. We did alot of sewing, alot of laughing and alot of eating! My friend, Julie and I drove together because we both had to work half day and weren't able to leave as early as everyone else. It takes about 3.5 hours to get there. After saying hello to everyone, we set up our machines and started sewing. Here are a few pictures of the activities around the room.
It's a wonderful place for sewing. The light is wonderful and the atmosphere is friendly and warm. The weather was beautiful.. just a little chilly but sunny and perfect.

Maggie, the Bear Cabin Mascot

We took Maggie for a couple of walks out in the forest to stretch after sitting for too long and Carol fed us 3 wonderful meals a day (Carol is a great cook!). Who could ask for more?!?

This is the group. We were there from Thursday afternoon to Sunday noon. It went by so fast, I can't wait till next year!

My Quilts

2009-10-31T14:38:00.002-07:00

I've posted 117 of my quilts on Flickr. Here is the address if you're interested!

New Tree

2009-10-31T12:35:00.004-07:00

We're just full of projects! This summer while Landon was visiting, the boys put steps on the side of the house by the greenhouse. For years, there was just a rickety old board with steps on it to climb that little hill. More than one person fell on that 'ladder'. So, now we have beautiful steps there. A couple weeks ago Damian got a backhoe and dug out an area on the side of the steps for a tree and a little seating area. He planted the tree today and now I can see some real potential for the east side of the house.
It's a mimosa tree so eventually we will have a nice shady area. There will be pavers around the tree and block walls around the dug out walls... some nice flowers and bushes.. I'm lovin' it.

Office Remodel

2009-10-31T11:55:00.002-07:00

We are remodeling the office! YAY! We haven't done much with the building in many years so it's about time some things change. So.. we're adding another massage room and we moved the front desk to the middle of the room. We also made the kids room smaller so we'd have a little more space in the waiting room since we made it so much narrower by moving the front desk. Alan built two small walls on the east side of the room as a divider for a little more privacy for the massage rooms. All the wall changes are done and the drywall and texturing is now finished. We are doing different lights in the ceiling (getting rid of those ugly flourescent lights) and the popcorn ceiling has been scraped. Electrical/lighting is next, then painting and flooring. I'm SOOOOO excited about the changes! It already looks better, doesn't it!

County Fair 2009

2009-09-30T15:56:00.006-07:00

Well, It's that time of year again. County Fair! When the kids were little, we spent lots of time preparing for the fair. We always submitted tons of stuff from artwork to photographs to quilts. The kids always made some spending cash to spend at the fair and complained about having to look at EVERYTHING in the exhibit rooms before I would let them go to the rides. But.. they have some great memories about the county fair.

It really isn't the same now as when my kids were little. The fair has moved to another building that isn't even close to Prescott. In fact, it's kinda out in the middle of nowhere.. probably 15 miles from Prescott but only about 5 miles from our house. Anyway, I think people just aren't as excited about the fair as they were 20 years ago and there are way fewer entries in all the exhibit halls. However, I still enter quilts in the fair and for the last 4 or 5 years, my friend Jennifer and I do the quilt display in the Homemaking department. So, that's where I was today.

We took this pile of quilts......
And put together this nice display of quilts.
I entered 3 quilts. See if you can guess which are mine. They all got blue ribbons.

This quilt won the Rosette for best quilt and I think it deserves it. What a gorgeous quilt!

I made this little quilt and donated it to the fair for them to raffle off for a little extra money to buy upgrades on the displays in the Homemaking department. All of the tables and racks are at least 25 years old and very worn. We donated a quilt last year and they were able to get some much needed poles to hang quilts on this year.

Summertime Mini Quilt Received

2009-09-29T23:06:00.002-07:00

I received my quilt from the Summertime Mini Quilt Swap. It was from a lady in Wisconsin. I think it's very cute. There is another Mini Quilt exchange going on now for a fall quilt but I haven't signed up for it yet. I'm still thinking about it, but I always like fall quilts... the colors, the leaves.. it's such a nice time of the year. Ok... I think I just talked myself into it.

Labor Day on Mingus

2009-09-09T11:12:00.007-07:00

This Labor Day, Alan and Doc and I decided to go on a bike ride on Mingus Mountain. It's only about a half hour from our house, so we just packed a backpack with lunch and headed out.
There had been a fire there recently so there were some trees that hadn't lost their needles yet, but very few dead trees. It wasn't a bad fire and just burned the underbrush mostly.. so still a nice place to ride.

Doc found some mud puddles to run through, too.

After our ride, we didn't really want to go home yet, so we decided to explore an old forest road we'd never been on before.

We passed a really nice view of Jerome from the top of Mingus. You never see Jerome from this angle, so I was happy to get this picture. You can see the red hills of Sedona in the background.

The road started to get pretty bad... no wonder... it ended quite abruptly at a big dirt pile. Good thing though.. because there wasn't a road on the other side of the dirt pile.

There was also no place to turn around so Alan had to back the truck up a LONG ways. Doc and I decided to get out and walk awhile.

We passed this smiley face rock. I SOOOO wanted to bring it home, but it was just too heavy. Besides probably being illegal to take it out of the forest.

Alan let Doc run all the way back to the highway. He loved it..

Almost home and Doc knows it. He could probably smell our house from there.

Quilt Exchange

2009-08-31T23:49:00.005-07:00

I have been involved in a couple of Mini Quilt Swaps. I signed up for them on the Quilting Gallery website here. The first one was a Springtime Quilt Exchange. I made this quilt and sent it off to Corry vanden Broek in the Netherlands. She put some pictures of it on her blog which I thought was very nice and it looks great in her house. You can see her blog here.

Then I joined the Summertime Mini Quilt Exchange. I finished it today and will send it off soon to a lady in Canada. I hope she likes it! I think it came out really cute and it was great fun to do. I've made lots of Mariner's Compass quilts but this one was a little different with all of the different layers in the circle. Here is a picture of it.

Michelle from Canada received my quilt and loves it. She put it on her blog. You can see it here.

I sure do like quilting!!

Landon Wedding

2009-08-12T11:08:00.017-07:00

We made a trip to Washington last week for Landon and Tracy's wedding. We got there a week early so we could help them get some things done before the big occasion. We got there on Sunday afternoon and Landon picked us up in his VW bus. He's very proud of his bus and it's been a long time since I rode in one. I'd forgotten how loud they are when you're sitting in the back seat. But.. here we are riding to Landon's house.

The first project that was needed was building a patio in their back yard. The men started working on it the next morning early. They had to put down gravel, level it, then put down a layer of sand, level it, then set the block in a pattern that Tracy picked out. It took 3 days and was pretty hard work, but when it was done, it looked beautiful.

2009-08-12T11:01:00.013-07:00

The project that Tracy had for me to do was make these cool pillows for her living room furniture. Tracy and Landon had recovered these sofas and did an excellent job. I'm working on a quilt for their living room using the same yellow/orange/red color theme. You can see it hanging over the banister behind the sofa. I'll post a picture of it when it's finished.

Tracy's Aunt Sue was at their house the whole week before we got there and was busy working on all sorts of things preparing for the wedding. She did all of the flower arranging, too.

Two nights before the wedding, the men went out to a bachelor party so us girls stayed home and had a party of our own. We had shots called Chocolate Cake which was delicious and drank lots of wine. Tracy said it was a wine tasting to decide which wines they wanted to serve at the reception, but I'm not sure our input was very helpful. We just wanted to laugh...
They had their rehersal dinner in their back yard. Tracy's mom, Linda, made a yummy vegetarian lasagna to feed all these people. I hardly did any cooking while I was there because Linda and Aunt Sue did most of it. I'm glad.. they're good cooks!

The morning of the wedding, after all of the odds and ends of preparation were completed, the girls went to a hotel to get themselves ready and this is what the guys did.... played POKER!

2009-08-12T10:58:00.007-07:00

The wedding was at a park on the Colombia River. We just set up chairs and put some flowers and tulle along the edges of the rows. It was simple, but very nice. There were about 50 people there for the wedding.

Alan and Landon walked me down the isle. Aren't my men handsome...

Landon, watching Tracy walk down the isle.
Landon and Tracy during the ceremony. I'd say they were pretty happy....

Mr. and Mrs. Landon Beeson

2009-08-12T10:56:00.004-07:00

After pictures at the park, everyone went back to Landon and Tracy's house for the reception.

Landon was very nice feeding Tracy the cake.. but you could tell he really wanted to smash it.

This is the Salmon they served. It is a real fish. They also had chicken and a couple of different kinds of salad. The reception went on until about 3am. I went to bed at 11pm.

Our plane was leaving at 2:30pm so all of the guys that hadn't left yet played a game of disc golf. Then Landon dropped us off at the airport.

You can see Landon's little orange bus driving away from the airport. It was such a fun week but Alan had to go to work the next day. We got home that night around 11pm.

It's been awhile...

2009-07-12T23:27:00.003-07:00

It's been awhile since I've had a chance to post but I finally added pictures from our Zion trip but I put them in order from Day 1 to Day 6 so you will have to scroll down to read about each day.

I have been doing alot and have many pictures to post but I got caught up in Facebook doing a silly game called Farm Town. It's like Sim City but with a farm and you can play with other friends on Facebook. I'll get back to my blog soon.. I promise. :-)

Zion Trip - Day 1

2009-06-10T11:40:00.002-07:00

On May 19th, my friends, Veda and Pat, came to my house. They came here to get ready for our week long backpacking trip to Zion National Park. Pat's daughter, Colleen, flew in on Friday and we left on Saturday morning. Our first night was to be spent at Jacob Lake which is about 40 miles from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We arrived early enough to be able to drive to the North Rim for a nice walk to a viewpoint.

We had a nice steak dinner planned so after we got our tents set up, we borrowed a BBQ grill and tried to get it started. Unfortunately, it started raining and the tarp we were using leaked so we weren't able to keep the BBQ fire going. Finally Colleen suggested we just go out to eat. So, that's what we did. We knew we wouldn't be able to keep the steaks fresh for another day so we gave them to the campground host who appreciated them. So, our first day was a little disappointing but we did get to see the North Rim before our drive the next morning to Zion.

Zion Trip- Day 2

2009-06-10T11:39:00.005-07:00

We packed up our stuff and headed to Zion. We stopped in a backpacking store in Kanab, Utah and got some last minute stuff. We had to go to the
permit office which was on the west side of zion and we entered on the east side so we got to drive through the beautiful canyon before starting our hike. We got back to the trailhead around noon and started hiking. The trail was sandy in lots of spots but mostly a nice trail.... ALL uphill! It was 5 miles to the spring where we planned on camping.

Home Sweet Home. We found a campsite that someone else had made and it had a firepit, seats and 2 tent sites. It was a great place to set up our tents and we really enjoyed the work that someone else put into it. The spring where we got our water was just down the hill from our site. We slept good that night after eating a packaged meal in the evening and oatmeal for breakfast the next morning.

Zion Trip - Day 3

2009-06-10T11:38:00.005-07:00

The third day at Zion we just wanted to hike the whole day. We got up, had a breakfast of oatmeal, got water from the spring and headed down the trail towards Cable Mountain. The Cable Mountain trail was about 2 miles long and very interesting.

There had been a burn there several years ago and most of the large trees were burned but it made for some very interesting pictures. It was hot that day and we were pretty tired by the end of the day. We also hiked the Deer Trap Trail. We hiked a total of 10 miles.

Cable Mountain was pretty awesome because it was at the top of a very high cliff in the middle of Zion. If you're brave enough, you can get close to the edge and take pictures of the canyon below which is actually the main part of Zion Canyon and an incredible view. We could see Angels Landing, the west rim trail, the Observation Trail and Weeping Rock. We had no idea what the view was going to be like when we started out, but we were so glad we did this hike first. It put the whole rest of the week in the canyon in perspective. The cable was built in the early 1900s to lower lumber to the bottom of the canyon. By wagon it would take several days to get there, but by cable it only took an hour or so.
Angel's Landing is a hike we did later in the week. Yes, we hiked all the way to the top of the mountain.... even me, the scared-of-heights weenie. Pictures from that hike coming later. We also did The Narrows and I'll have pictures of that later, too. You can see the buses in the canyon in this picture. Nobody is allowed to drive their cars into the canyon because there is pretty much no parking so they have a very efficient bus service taking folks into the canyon.

Zion Trip - Day 4

2009-06-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

We decided that we should go back to the main part of the canyon if we were going to get to do everything we had planned for the rest of the trip, so we left the East Rim a day early. We hiked the 5 miles back to the car which was alot easier since it was mostly downhill. We got back to the main part of the canyon by 3pm and went to the campground there. We set up our tents and then decided to take the shuttle through the canyon.

We got off the shuttle at Weeping Rock and discovered that we could see the Cable Mountain from there. That's where we had hiked the day before! We walked to Weeping Rock where the water comes right out of the rock.

After the shuttle ride, we went into Springdale, a small town just outside the west gate of Zion. We wanted to rent wet suits (and a dry suit for me) to hike the Narrows the next day. We also went out to eat that night at the Red Spotted Dog Restaurant and had a really nice meal.

Zion Trip - Day 5

2009-06-10T11:36:00.002-07:00

We packed our tents and everything after eating breakfast in the campground and drove over to where we ordered the wetsuits (and dry suit), picked them up and drove back to the parking area. We parked and hopped on a bus heading to the Narrows. Everyone else wore a wetsuit because the water was 47 degrees. But 47 degrees sounded cold to me so I got a dry suit. Basically, you're inside a plastic bag so you don't get wet, but the water is still around you so it's cold. So... you wear sweats and warm clothes inside the dry suit. I have to say that I never really got cold but it was pretty warm when I was out of the water and in direct sun.

We hiked about 2 miles into the Narrows. It was very slow going because the current was very strong and we were walking in water from ankle deep to neck deep. It was an amazing adventure but the best part was when we came back down stream. In the places where the water was deep and there were no rocks we could float on our backs in the water. It was great fun!

Veda took these wonderful pictures.

That evening we ate at the Spotted Dog Cafe again and it was delicious again. Then we drove through the park again to a cabin that we had rented for 2 nights near the east entrance. The cabin was wonderful and we all slept well.

Zion Trip - Day 6

2009-06-10T11:35:00.001-07:00

This is our cabin. It had two king sized beds and it was perfect for 4 people. We thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in it for the two nights... even though it was pretty far away from the canyon. We didn't mind because the drive through the park was so beautiful. After we got ourselves moving, we drove back to the canyon and headed to Angel's Landing.

The first part of the trail to Angel's Landing was about 2 miles and the last half mile was very steep uphill. In fact, the last part was VERY steep. It's called Walter's Wiggles. As you can see in the picture, the switchbacks were almost straight up. This is looking back down the switchbacks from the top. Makes me tired just looking at the picture. Whew!

The hike out to Angel's Landing was a half mile long. The trail is along this 'fin'. The canyon was a steep drop off on either side of the trail. There were chains most of the way up so it felt a little more secure but still quite intimidating besides being exhausting. Most of this part of the trail was climbing over boulders.

From the top it was quite an exceptional view... and we even encountered some friendly (hungry) chipmunks. We weren't really allowed to feed the chipmunks but occasionally a peanut from our trailmix would fall.

It was a dramatic hike and I'm happy to say I did it, but it was alot of work and kinda scary for someone that's generally afraid of heights. That night we headed back to the comfort of our nice cozy cabin and slept like babies.

Zion Trip - Day 7

2009-06-10T11:34:00.001-07:00

Colleen had to leave the next day, so Pat dropped Veda and I off at the Park Entrance while she drove Colleen to the airport. We caught a bus to a hotel/spa in Springdale and pampered ourselves. Veda got a pedicure (she'd never had one before) and I got a facial (I'd never had one before). Pat met us at the restaurant across the street from the spa and we had another wonderful lunch. The only tables were outdoors and it poured down rain, but we still enjoyed it.

We left Zion and headed back to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We stopped at Pink Coral State Park in Utah and enjoyed the interesting sand dunes, then drove into Kanab and stayed in a hotel called Perry Lodge. There are lots of old westerns that were filmed in the area and all of the film crew and actors had stayed in this lodge so we enjoyed looking at the old pictures in the lobby, then got to watch one of the old movies that had been filmed closeby.

Sewing Room Tour

2009-06-10T11:30:00.003-07:00

On May 17th, my favorite quilting group, In Stitches, did a sewing room tour of four of the members homes. There are 12 members in the group so we will do this 2 more time to see everyone's home. We also did a progressive lunch. The first place we went was MY house. I served appetisers. I had a friut salsa with homemade flour tortilla chips and Mimosa's to drink. I took pictures at each person's sewing room but I didn't take time to take pictures of mine so I took some pictures recently to add to my post.

Back row: Sheila, Julie H., Julie N., Flo, Jamie, Karen, Eve
Front Row: Linda, Carolyn

My sewing room including my HQ quilting machine.

My sewing room. Notice the awesome ironing board that Alan built for me.

Flo's House

2009-06-10T11:20:00.001-07:00

The second home we went to was Flo's. She served a salad and white wine. She has a beautiful home that they've only been living in for a year or so. Her sewing room is one of her bedrooms and she has made great use of her space.

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I have to put a picture of her kitchen. Take a look at that backsplash. It is the same travertine tiles as on the floor. When some of the pieces were broken as they were laying the tile, she chipped them to make them even and used them as the backsplash. She used it in the bathroom around the sink and tub, too. Very cool..

Jamie's House

2009-06-10T11:00:00.005-07:00

The next house we went to was Jamie's. She made the main course.. chicken enchiladas.. yummm.... She has a really cute, small, 2 bedroom house and she's converted her master bedroom into her sewing room. I think she figures she spends more time in there than in her bedroom so why not...

She has a great sewing table. She hired someone to lower her sewing machine into the table so the surface of the table is even with the table of the sewing machine.

Jamie has a pet tortoise. Her name is Sandy. She entertained us for a long time while she ate her lunch. She likes corn, but she makes a mess..

Karen's House

2009-06-10T10:30:00.006-07:00

The last house we went to was Karen's house. She lives in a duplex and has a large double car garage that she uses for her sewing room. She has huge tables and cutting areas and sewing areas and tons of storage. It's amazing how much stuff she has in there! No wonder she can make such a huge variety of quilts. She served dessert.. Rhubarb Pie and ice cream.

We had such a great time that day. We started at 10am and finished around 5:30pm. We can't wait till our next sewing room adventure.

Mother's Day

2009-05-13T22:36:00.005-07:00

For Mother's Day weekend I went to Phoenix to go to a Mother's Day Luncheon that my mom's church was putting on. My sisters and I met Mom at the church and enjoyed a nice meal and some fun entertainment.

Carla, Rhonda, Kathy, Helen

On Sunday, Mom, Lain, Shayla and I went shopping at Kohls. We went to help Mom pick out some nice blouses and she found several she was happy with. Then we went to Carla's house and ate the leftovers from the luncheon.

Busy Busy Busy

2009-05-06T08:43:00.003-07:00

I have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to update my blog. Besides the fact that I don't have any new pictures to add. But, here is what is happening in my life:

In the next 4 weeks I have way too much going on and I'm feeling kinda stressed over the whole thing! This coming weekend is Mother's Day and I will be going to Phoenix on Saturday to a Mother's Day luncheon with my mom and sisters. Then on Sunday I'll stay down there to visit with my folks and with Elaine.

Monday is my quilt guild meeting and the last meeting of the quilt show committee before the show on June 5th and 6th. I am the publicity chairman and am feeling very much lax in my duties. I have been trying to keep up with stuff, but I still have several things to do before the show (and almost no time to do them). I spent the entire day this past Monday putting posters up around Prescott and Prescott Valley.

Then on Tuesday evening after work, I have a meeting with another quilt group and I'm supposed to teach a class on making the Seven Sisters quilt block. For this class I haven't done one second's worth of preparation... yet.

On the 17th I have a group of ladies that will be coming over to my house for a 'sewing room tour'. We will be going to 4 people's house for a progressive lunch and to see everyone's sewing rooms. We will be doing this for 3 days, spread out over 3 months. It will be fun... but mine is the first house and I have to make some kind of appetisers for the ladies, plus clean up my messy sewing room before they get here!

The next day I have a lecture at the office, and then the next day Veda is getting here! She and Pat and Pat's daughter, Colleen, are coming here before we take off on the 23rd to go backpacking for a week in Zion National Park. We will be back on June 1st and then the quilt show is the 5th and 6th.

No wonder I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and it's amazing that I feel like I have the time to sit here and write all this!

Seven Sisters Continued

2009-05-02T10:38:00.003-07:00

I finished my Seven Sister's quilt top and I think I like it. The red background fabric seems a little busy to me and the border, too. But... everyone that's seen it likes it so I guess it's ok. I'll quilt it soon and maybe even get it in the quilt show that happens the 5th of June.

Take a Look...

2009-04-25T13:20:00.002-07:00

I found a video that I that was pretty cool and I want to share it. Because we don't get too much British television in this country, I'd never heard of the show called Britain's Got Talent. It is just like the American version of the show, but obviously, it's about Britain. I've never really liked the American version mostly because I thought the judges were terrible. But, the British judges were interesting. Here... Watch for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

It's about 7 minutes long so watch the whole thing. I think you'll enjoy it.

Horseback Riding Weekend

2009-04-19T11:48:00.009-07:00

This weekend we went to George's house and the kids got to ride horses. They all had a great time and got REALLY dirty. They rode, played with the duck, climbed in the hay loft, fed the horses and generally had a good time. After the horse back riding we went over to a field away from the ranches and shot guns for the afternoon then went back to George's house and had a BBQ. It was a long but enjoyable day. And I got really sunburned!

Savannah, Jacob and Jocelynn riding horses.

Damian being a cowboy. He wasn't very good at it because his legs got too tired trying to hold him on the horse. It's alot different riding bareback.

Ginnifer showing how it's done.

And showing us how to fall off without getting hurt, too.

This was the baby, born only 1 week ago. So cute and tiny.

Ginnifer's kids got a kick out of the goose. They eventually were able to get close enough to pet it, but I don't think it liked being touched too much. At least it didn't try to bite them.

Alan shooting.

Kathy shooting.

Jacob shooting. He was the only one of the kids that was interested. The rest of them were busy playing with the cow bones they found.

Pay It Forward

2009-04-07T22:42:00.002-07:00

I have joined up to Pay It Forward.

This concept is like the movie called Pay It Forward with Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment in it. The 12 year old boy has a school assignment and he comes up with the PIF concept. PIF is where acts of kindness are done without expecting anything in return, just passing it on, hoping that the recipients will do the same and pay it forward, like a never ending chain of kindness. How to proceed? I will make and send a handmade gift for the first 3 friends who post a comment to this post, requesting to join this exchange, and promising to pay it forward to 3 other persons, etc.... I don't know what my 3 gifts will be, but I can promise I will send them within the next 365 days. What YOU have to do in return then, is "Pay It Forward" by making the same announcement and promise on YOUR blog.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt

2009-04-03T19:16:00.002-07:00

Here is the drawing of my Double Wedding Ring Quilt.

Cool.. eh?

My next quilt

2009-04-03T16:22:00.004-07:00

I'm very excited about the quilt that I'm starting....even though I'm not finished with the last one I started a couple of weeks ago. I just got some fabric so I can finish that one so now I'll just have to decide which one I want to work on next. Anyway, the new one that I've started is a double wedding ring. It's an old traditional pattern but not the easiest thing to make because every seam is a curve. This is a picture of a traditional double wedding ring quilt..... however.... This is NOT what my quilt will look like... that's why I'm so excited about it. It will be turquoise, orange, purple and black... Woohoo!! I will put a picture of my design up that I drew in my Electric Quilt program, soon. I'm only going to make it wall hanging size because I don't need a bed sized quilt. This is gonna be fun!

My latest book

2009-03-29T22:32:00.002-07:00

I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is about an island in England during WWII. The entire book is made up of letters written to and from people on the island after the war is over but written about what happened to the people on the island during the war. It has the same feeling as a Jane Austen book, which I love. So... if you like Jane Austen and historical fiction... here ya go!

We've had some wind.

2009-03-28T14:44:00.008-07:00

We've had some wind lately. Uh... we've had ALOT of wind lately. Now usually in the winter time our yard gets neglected alot and looks pretty scraggly about this time of year. But, the wind has blown some tumbleweeds around in the yard and it's looking especially bad. Take a look:

This is just outside the front door.

This is next to the spa.

This is between the yard and the front drive.

This is the front yard next to the kids fort.

This is my poor porch swing after the big wind.

This is all the tumbleweeds I had to sweep off the driveway before I could get my car in the garage.

I asked Alan if we could burn them today and he said that it was supposed to be windy again tomorrow and that these would be gone and new ones would take their place so... we left them. Attractive lawn ornaments.. dontcha think?

Sunday Adventures

2009-03-16T20:26:00.007-07:00

This weekend I went to Phoenix to see Mom and Dad on Saturday. Mom and I went to a quilt show in Mesa and I thoroughly wore her out but we had a nice time and saw lots of beautiful quilts. Then on Sunday, Lain, Shayla, Amanda, Varity and I went geocacheing and to the zoo. Well, at least that was the plan. We wanted to do just a few geocaches at Papago Park then go to the zoo afterwards. Lain had a new GPS and had loaded hundreds of caches onto it so we just expected to use it and find some. As it turns out, the area we were in didn't seem to be loaded onto her GPS. So, she used her phone and found a couple caches and we used my GPS and headed out. We just parked on the side of McDowell Road and started walking on a trail into Papago Park where we thought the cache was. After we got close to where we thought it was, Lain looked it up on her phone and it said it wasn't there! So, we tried to go to a different one but it was almost a mile away from there. We all got discouraged and decided to go to the zoo instead.

The desert really is pretty in this area and the day was warm and sunny.

Shay and I when we first got to the zoo. We're not tired yet so we're still smiling.

I actually got some nice pictures of some of the animals. I guess they were enjoying the weather as much as we were and most of them were out so we could see them.

Otters... always so cute.

Monkeys... did I mention that I hate monkeys?

Varity enjoying her drink.

Shay making friends with a goat.

Varity and Shay posing with an Orangutan. Don't worry... he was friendly. Till they stuck their fingers in his nose.

We all had fun at the zoo and we were pretty tired when we got done. Lain and Shay and I even went shopping for awhile after we left the zoo. Then I still had to drive home! Needless to say, I took a nap the next day.

Just Finished This Book

2009-03-11T23:15:00.003-07:00

As you may have noticed, I post books that I am currently reading and books I've read over the past couple of years. I actually listen to these books on my Ipod so I can do other things while reading.. like quilt!

Anyway, I finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and I just have to say something about this book. Usually I'm pretty picky about books I read because I hate stopping in the middle of a book so if I'm going to read the whole thing, it better be a pretty good book. Well, I finished this book... and I'm sorry to say, it really stunk. I kept reading thinking it was going to get better and maybe have a great finish, but I can't believe how disappointing this book was. The dog training methods mentioned in the book were interesting. And the relationship that Edgar had with an older man he met after running away from home was interesting.. Ok, that's about all I can say positive about this book. Anyway, if you pay any attention to the list of books I've read, please don't pay attention to this book. It's not worth the time it takes to read it. AND... I just found out it was a Oprah Book Club book! AAK!

My New Room

2009-03-04T23:07:00.005-07:00

We've lived in this house for 13 years but I've never really felt like we've completed very many rooms. All of the rooms are still the original white walls and the same carpet. I'm tired of it! So.... this weekend we started working on one of the upstairs bedrooms. I wanted to make a room sort of an office/exercise room. We tore up the disgustingly dirty and stained old carpet, had a "wood" floor put down and I painted the walls. It's not done, but it's well on its way and I really love the color and the floor. Take a look:

Before:

After:

Alan needs to organize his desk and I still have some things to put in the closet and I want to hang some stuff on the walls. We're also putting a Murphy Bed in there so we can still use it as a guest room. It will be a busy room!

Plaid Quilt

2009-02-23T15:21:00.003-07:00

This is the quilt I've been working on lately and I finished it today. A friend gave me most of the blocks about 8 years ago because she made a quilt just like it and I quilted it for her in exchange for all of her left over blocks. I like the finished quilt but putting it together was no picnic because all of the blocks are on the bias and they're all made of very light weight plaid fabrics that ravel easily. I did a feathered border and I think that came out pretty good, too.

The only reason I worked on it is because it was an unfinished project that one of my small groups decided I should finish. I had to be done by the March meeting, so I'm right on schedule. Ok.. maybe I'm about 8 years late, but at least it's DONE!

The Fort

2009-02-22T23:29:00.004-07:00

Damian had the kids this weekend and on Saturday he decided he needed to do a project with the kids. It was a nice warm day outside so they decided to build a fort. He built it between two of the posts that were already there in Alan's arbor but he built it on the outside of the yard so it wouldn't be in the grass. It was a good idea and when it's all done I'm sure the kids are going to have a great time in it. He's talking about building another one just like this and putting a rope bridge between them. He's got lots of ideas so I hope he stays motivated to do more with it... it needs a roof, at least.

Savannah can't stand to NOT jump.

It's about 10' by 8'.

The ladder will be changed so it doesn't have to be in the grass.... Probably just a wooden ladder going up the side. He was even talking about making a trap door so they can get into it from underneath.

I just liked this picture..

Damian's Flowers

2009-02-18T11:15:00.003-07:00

For Valentine's Day, Damian made a bouquet of flowers for Ginnifer. He doesn't have much money until he's able to find another job so his expenses had to be minimal. He used copper pipe left over from some air conditioning jobs he had and cut each petal out of it and hammered it flat and shaped it to the right shape and welded them all together. He made the vase from a sheet of copper he found in the 'materials yard'. This is pretty amazing for what he had to work with, but it came out absolutely beautiful and he was proud of the results. I didn't know I had such an artist for a son! Ginnifir loved them! I tried to get him to leave them here, but he wouldn't do it..

We Got Snow!

2009-02-16T12:22:00.003-07:00

Guess what! It snowed! It hasn't snowed this much in many years and I have to say that we enjoyed it.... at least to look at. Schools were closed and the roads were pretty icy for awhile but I still went to work and didn't seem to have any cancellations because of snow. It looked so pretty until we let Doc outside, then the front yard looked like this:

I don't think he had ever seen snow before and he thought we had put it there just for him.

As I was leaving for work, Alan got into the spa. I was jealous that he got to enjoy the snow more than I did from work. The good part is that it's supposed to snow again! Although, the forcast is for snow tonight and, guess what... I have to work tomorrow. Dang...

Shayla Turned 9!

2009-02-02T11:48:00.008-07:00

Last Thursday was Shayla's birthday. So... this weekend was the big birthday bash at the ClimbMax Rock Climbing Gym in Tempe. Everyone had a blast. Alan and I went down to Phoenix on Saturday with Damian's kids and on Sunday morning we all met at the Rock Gym. After everyone harnessed up and the belayers learned how to belay, the games began.

Alan and Elaine were first.. They raced up and made it look easy.

So then Damian and Kevin were up.

After that we all split up and helped the kids. Jocelynn, Jacob and Savannah each had a turn and decided they weren't that crazy about the whole process.

Jacob liked the swinging part better.

Savannah decided that the balancing rope was way more fun than climbing. Maybe we should put her in the circus!

Damian had been climbing before and was doing the hardest climbs after a little practice.

Shay was always game to give it a try, but most of the time she gave up about half way up.

With help and encouragement, she kept trying until she finally made it to the top!

YAY, SHAY!!

Our littlest climber was Varity, Amanda's daughter. She is 2 years old and so cute in her harness.

Go Varity!!

Amanda was a great climber, too.

After everyone had their fill of climbing, we went into the party room and had some yummy

Birthday Cake and Shayla opened gifts.

Not a cake wreck! Thanks, Bashas.

Hmm.... Did she eat that whole cake???

After the climbing gym, we all went to NYPD Pizza and had some lunch. Alan looks a little guilty about having a whole pizza to himself, doesn't he?

It was a fun day and we even had time to see the Super Bowl after.

Miscellaneous

2009-01-28T09:21:00.008-07:00

Yes.. I know... I haven't posted in awhile but there hasn't been too much going on here since the holidays. I'll just put a few random pictures of things around here since Christmas.

I've been making some quilt tops, but can't quilt them because Mary has been here working on her own quilt and it's HUGE. It's almost done and I will be able to work on my own soon.
Mary's Beautiful Quilt

Alan was digging something in the yard and uncovered this little king snake that was hibernating. Isn't it cute?

Damian's kids were here last weekend. I let them play games and draw in the computer when they're here. When I got back to check email the kids had drawn this scribble on Paint and I thought it was pretty cool so I saved it. I'm not sure who drew it.. probably Jocelynn or Jacob.

Anyway, like I said... not much going on lately. This weekend is Shayla's birthday so I'm sure I'll have some pictures to post after that. They're going ROCK CLIMBING!

Trikkeing

2009-01-07T08:53:00.003-07:00

For Christmas I got a Trikke. It's sort of a 3 wheeled scooter that you power yourself. It's alot of fun, but there's definately a learning curve. You can't just get on it and make it move. Alan and Shayla and I went down the street to where the pavement begins and tried to learn how to use it but there is a slight incline right there and it was HARD making it move uphill! We came back home and watched the video that came with it and I think we could do it now. It always helps to have some instruction... eh? We haven't had a chance to try again because it's turned pretty cold outside, but we will probably do it again this weekend. Here are some pictures of us (trying) riding the Trekke. If you're interested, you can see any number of videos of people riding this thing on YouTube.

The pictures where we're actually moving is going DOWNHILL.

A Unicycle Christmas

2009-01-03T15:19:00.003-07:00

For Christmas, Lain got everyone unicycles! Damian, Landon, Tracy and I got one. Alan already had one but had never learned how to ride it. Lain, Kevin and Shayla have all been able to ride one for awhile and were so excited to give us ours so we could be part of the 'circus'. So, after we opened them on Christmas morning, we all tried our luck outdoors. However, the cold, rain and wind kept us from being out there very long.

Lain riding her unicycle!

Shayla riding hers!

Damian and Landon trying to ride theirs.

By the next day, the sun was out and they were at it again. Damian and Landon got better and better each time they tried and pretty soon were able to go across the driveway. Tracy, Alan and I didn't even get past the garage door. Since then, Landon and Tracy have gone back to Washington, but I don't know if they've been practicing. Alan and I have been sitting on them at least and traveling across the front of the garage, but still not letting go. I would really like to learn and I'm sure I will, but I don't want to have to tell any horror stories about how many times I got hurt while learning!

Damian on the unicycle, but Tracy and Alan still in the 'holding on' stage.

Woohoo!! Look at em go!

GO LANDON!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-02T09:39:00.008-07:00

Well, Christmas has come and gone. It feels a little like a whirlwind Christmas this year. Landon and Tracy were here from Washington for a week, but I'm sure it didn't feel much like a vacation to them, as busy as they were. Lain came up from Phoenix with Shay and Kevin and got here Christmas morning WAY before anyone was awake! Damian got here on Christmas Eve but wasn't able to get his kids until 10:30am on Christmas morning. Landon and Tracy had Christmas on Christmas Eve at Tracy's mom's house and them came over the next morning. So, after everyone got here and settled down, we opened presents. I was sneaky this year and wrapped each of the grandkids gifts in one box so they thought they were being cheated to only get one gift each. I'm sure each of them will think the best present they got was a box of MORE presents! The rest of the day was full of playing games, eating, cleaning up messes and just generally having a great time.

We had a couple of lights out in the fan so we had a group effort to get some new bulbs in there. Lain finally volunteered to climb the ladder but wasn't able to get the bulb unscrewed so we just lived with a dimmer light.

Jocelynn, Savannah and Jacob

Tracy got a vegetarian cook book for Christmas. This was Landon's reaction to it:

Lain opened her cuddle quilt, but I had a feeling she wouldn't like it.. uh.. maybe because it's ugly. I'm going to make her a different one.

Jocelynn

Shayla

Savannah

Landon and Tracy opened their quilt. Even though Tracy knew about it, I still think it was a surprise for them. They're pretty excited about it and the prospect of designing their bedroom around it.

Savannah

My parents were supposed to be here on Christmas day this year, but Dad had to go to the hospital with a dangerously low sodium level and much confusion and disorientation. He ended up being there for over a week until they got his sodium levels up and he felt ok again. He is still walking with a walker just for security, but he is much better. We're just sad that he missed Christmas with everyone.

On Saturday, my sisters and their families were supposed to come up for dinner and our gift exchange, but everyone decided it would be better if we went to Phoenix instead so we could be closer to Dad in the hospital. So, I went down on Friday and everyone else came down on Saturday and we had a nice dinner, that Alan put together, at Mom's house. We had a fun gift exchange after all the grandkids opened their gifts from my Mom.

So.. it's over and everything is pretty much back to normal. Dad is good and my house is devoid of Christmas crap. We're ready for the new year to begin which happens today. We're opening the office again today and I've already gotten a phone call saying that I need to come in early because there were so many messages on the answering machine asking if patients can come in today. And... so it begins...

Civil War Ball Pictures

2008-12-24T23:06:00.007-07:00

I received these pictures from Veda of their Civil War Ball. The ball was a success and, obviously, they were all very beautiful. Veda photographed everyone and, as usual, did a wonderful job. I wish I could have been there, but having the opportunity to help some with the dresses was such a treat. Enjoy the pictures!

Veda's Family (unfortunately Aron couldn't be there)

Veda

Alyssa

Sara

Ana

Noami

Tomas

The Finished Quilt

2008-12-19T22:58:00.002-07:00

By popular demand, here is a picture of the quilt completely finished. It's on my bed so doesn't match my wallpaper very well, but I'm sure Landon and Tracy will create a beautiful room around the quilt.

Christmas Presents

2008-12-18T14:57:00.004-07:00

Ok... I can't stand it anymore not to share what I've been working on. I can't post the finished quilt because I'm at the office now and my pictures are at home, but I snagged a picture of the unfinished project off of my quilt groups website. Now.. you have to be quiet because this is a gift for one of my kids.. Landon to be exact. But, the chance of him seeing it between now and Christmas is pretty slim because he and Tracy will be driving here on Friday, so I'm going to put it on here now. I'm so sneaky!

The finished quilt is king sized and came out pretty cool. I finished quilting it yesterday so now I can move on to other things that need to be done before Christmas. It's fun having so many projects!

The Polar Express

2008-12-17T23:13:00.002-07:00

I have been very busy lately working on quilts and Christmas presents but I still have lots of shopping to do. However, last Friday night was the Acker Night in downtown Prescott. It's the night where all of the downtown shops have musical groups playing or singing and folks are invited to listen and shop. We haven't been there in several years so we thought we might go this year. Damian was here and we had his kids. The night turned cold and windy and it's always very crowded at Acker night so we had to rethink whether we really wanted to go with all the kids. I don't think it's really something that kids would enjoy because of the crowds and we figured if we didn't carry them the whole time they wouldn't see anything except other people's backsides so we found another event going on in town.

At the Barnes and Nobles in the mall, there was a reading of The Polar Express. We went there instead and the kids enjoyed it. Afterwards we went out to eat and got to avoid the nasty weather and even get a little shopping done in the mall.

Quilt Show Graphics

2008-12-07T22:15:00.005-07:00

My eyes are all bleary and tired but I had to show what I've been doing today. I'm the publicity person for my quilt guild's quilt show next year and I was asked to design the logo for the show. I didn't really volunteer to do it so, of course, I put it off till the last minute. I have to present it to the committee tomorrow so I worked on it all day today. I sure hope they like it because I'm really tired of doing this. The theme for the show is "Prescott's Gone Quiltin'".

If you don't live in Prescott, you may not recognize these buildings. They are the famous Whiskey Row buildings where all tourists go when they come to visit. The building on the right is the Hotel St. Michael and the one in the middle is the Palace Bar. I drew everything up in my graphics program, Xara. This is the picture I used as my sample.

Famous Whiskey Row

I also was asked to design the show pin graphic. Keeping with the theme, I drew up my idea using Thumb Butte Peak that is west of Prescott and a landmark for the town. In fact, my guild's name is Thumb Butte Quilters' Guild, so I thought this was appropriate.

The pins will be 1" square when they're made so this will be quite a bit smaller. I sure hope they like it... Ugh.. I'm tired.

Mary's Quilt

2008-12-05T23:52:00.005-07:00

My friend, Mary, came over to use my HandiQuilter. She had a little quilt she wanted to finish so I told her she could borrow my machine for a day. She's done a couple of other quilts on it so she didn't need much instruction from me and she got it finished in just a couple of hours.

How Pretty!

While Mary was at my house, I hit my foot on the wood stove hearth and thought I had broken a bone in my foot. So.. after she left I went to the office and x-rayed my foot. It hurt so bad! After 5 pictures (I didn't want to believe it wasn't broken), we decided there wasn't a broken bone in there and I came home to ice. After icing and elevating my foot the rest of the evening, my foot was perfectly fine by the next day. How could something that hurt so bad, get better so fast??

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-29T19:25:00.003-07:00

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and the Christmas season has officially begun.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at my sister, Carla's, this year. We're all into a traditional dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries and pies. Then we sit around for awhile behing miserably, happily stuffed. Then we split into groups to play games. We had Damian's kids for the holiday and they had alot of fun at Carla's playing outside with the dogs and a nice, grassy yard to run around in.

Alan and Mom showing off stuffed bellies.

Carla and Dad playing Wii. I think Dad decided that bowling with the Wii was alot easier than bowling in real life.

Rhonda, Brenna, Joel, Mom and me played a fun game called Whoonu. It was the hit game of the year.

Later, we inticed Alan, Elaine and Carla to play with us.

For the past 3 years, at some point in the day, we stuff socks with goodies for a group of underpriveleged kids that Carla knows about.

We stayed and played until 9pm then went to Mom's house to sleep. The next day we split into groups again and went shopping. Elaine, Shayla, Jocelynn and I went to Paradise Valley Mall and battled the crowd. I have to say it was not a productive shopping day. The crowds weren't as large as they have been in the past and we weren't very impressed with PV Mall. So.... we still have alot of shopping to do before the big day.

Visiting Veda

2008-11-22T15:49:00.020-07:00

I recently spent a week visiting my friend, Veda, and her family of 6 kids... 2 boys (both are in the military and weren't home) and 4 girls.

She lives on 30 acres and has all sorts of animals to keep her and her family busy. They have horses, sheep, rabbits, chickens, dogs and lots of cats. It seems like that should be enough to keep them all busy, but no... they also home school and always have lots of other projects going on.

Veda's beautiful home in the forest.

Feeding the cats...

and the chickens.

Whenever I go there, we try to get in a quilting project, which all of the girls enjoy.. or have enjoyed. This year though, there was another project going on. Sara is having an authentic Civil War Era Ball to celebrate her 16th birthday. So, this years project was making ball gowns (think Gone With the Wind) which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Veda and I did a quilting project early in the week, but then worked the rest of the week to get the gowns finished. Sara's passion is historical clothing and had already made the younger girls, Ana and Noami's, dresses.

Noami and Ana in their dresses.

Alyssa was in the process of making her corset, so I made her hoop skirt and started the bodice of her dress.

Alyssa in her hoop skirt and the trial version of her bodice.

Veda was making her own dress and had it almost finished. She completed it while I was there but I never got a picture of it.

Sara working on the trim of her bertha.

Sara was working on her bertha (that was a new word for me). A bertha is the wrap that goes around the shoulders over the top of the bodice. I think she was designing it as she went and it is going to be very beautiful with her dress. The ball will be December 7th and they still have lots of work to do for it, but I'm sure it will turn out wonderfully.

Alyssa with Lovie, the dog.

The girls had to practice their dance steps. They were very good and had so much fun learning and practicing.

Noami and Ana practicing

Sara and Noami practicing

Alyssa and Noami practicing....

but it soon was reduced to this. They are sisters, afterall.
(I hope this doesn't happen at the ball.)

Veda and me

Veda and I always have a good time when we're together and sometimes stay up half the night talking. She came to St. Louis to pick me up from the airport this year (3 hour drive one way for her). So we had lots of extra talking time this year, which I think we both needed.

Bear Cabin Inn

2008-11-10T12:30:00.009-07:00

I just got back last night from my yearly trip to Bear Cabin Inn. It's a little bed and breakfast type place that's just for quilters. It is in Show Low which is about a 3.5 hour drive from here in the White Mountains. We left Thursday and came back Sunday afternoon. I go with the ladies from one of my quilt groups, In Stitches. Our website is: http://www.in-stitches.us/. We had a great time with lots of laughing and sewing and eating. The place is quite amazing with a huge room set up with a dozen tables for sewing and ironing stations and every wall is covered with foam board and flannel for hanging up projects. Everyone works on their own thing and the host, Carol Webb, takes good care of us. We get fed 3 meals a day with wonderful desserts and anything else we need, she takes care of it. There are 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, so everyone is comfortable and relaxed. Going to Bear Cabin is definately one of the high points of my year. Alan stays home and I think he enjoys the time to relax without me asking anything from him. Here are some pictures of my weekend.

Bear Cabin Inn - The original building is a large double wide mobile home but a large room was added onto the back of the house.

Sewing Room - This is the room that was added on with a deck on the back side that looks down into a pine tree valley.

The dining room seats all 10 of us easily. And the food is wonderful.

My friends, Chris and Jamie, having a laugh. We laugh alot...

Me, snuggling.

My friends: (standing, from left to right) Sheila, Carolyn, Karen, Jamie, Chris, Eve, Kathy, Julie
(seated) Sandy and Linda

(no, those aren't antenna on my head... it was windy!)

Kite Flying and Other Stuff

2008-11-02T12:42:00.007-07:00

This weekend we had all the grandkids here. The weather was nice on Saturday so we spent the day outside. The kids had discovered that we had a couple of kites that were still in the packages. Someone had given them to me and I had forgotten all about them. There was a little breeze so it really was a good day to try them out. It's funny... after the kites are in the air, there really isn't that much to do, but all the kids had great fun just flying the kites and we did it for a couple of hours.

Jacob was in charge of the bat kite and kept it up for a long time. Until one of the cross pieces collapsed and it came down over the top of the greenhouse, of course. It got put back together a couple of times, but I'm pretty sure that's the end of the bat kite.

Shayla started with the purple kite and I don't think it came down at all until we were ready to put the kites away. They just passed it all around and each kid had fun with it.... even Damian.

Maybe Jocelynn wasn't quite as interested as the other kids.

The kids also had fun riding bikes. Jacob had never learned to ride a 2 wheeler, so we took him down the street to a flat road and he took to it pretty quickly. He'll need more practice before he's able to just hop on the bike and go, but he's learning.

Damian and Alan had to do some practicing of their own.

After dinner on Saturday (Damian made BBQ ribs.. yumm), the kids decided it would be fun to go sledding. This is something I NEVER approved of before, but Alan was in charge of catching so the kids had a great time and, amazingly enough, nobody got hurt. Sheesh.. where do they come up with this stuff.

Ahh... It's over

2008-10-29T23:39:00.002-07:00

Well, I finally did it. Many years ago, I used to give lectures at my office but just simply got out of the habit of doing it. We decided about a month ago, that we should start doing lectures again so I've been writing and rewriting my lecture and practicing and creating a new flip chart so my lecture would be up to speed with current issues and new information. Tonight, I gave my first lecture to about 15 people and it turned out really well. I'm so happy it's over and people were very interested in it so now I will be doing this lecture every other week or so and hopefully, inspiring people to refer others to our office and understanding why they are really there. What a huge relief to have that behind me. Yay! I'm feeling good..

Trip to Elko

2008-10-23T23:33:00.005-07:00

Last week I went to visit my dear friend, Debby in Elko, Nevada. Debby's sister, Julie (another dear friend) lives here in Prescott Valley so we drove to Elko together. Normally, it's a 10 hour drive but for some reason, it took us about 13 hours to get there. It probably had something to do with getting lost in Las Vegas, and having to sit for an hour in road construction. But, we got there at 8pm and had dinner, then talked late into the night with Debby and her husband, Mike.

Julie and Debby

The whole weekend was a wonderful girl time. We laughed, we cried and we just enjoyed each other's company. We sewed, we ate, we shopped and generally just had lots of fun... mostly we talked and talked and talked. I wish I had taken more pictures but here are some of the few I took.

Joy and Alex

Debby's daughter, Joy, and her husband, Alex, came over several times and we had dinner and played cards. We played Acey Deucey and I won! I think I won $9.00!!! Woohoo! That'll buy a whole yard of fabric!

Debby and Kathy

The funniest thing that happened was that I thought I was supposed to leave on Sunday so I got all packed and hugged everyone goodbye and Julie took me to the airport. We got to the ticket counter and the clerk couldn't find me in his computer. Guess what! My plane didn't leave till Monday morning! We were so happy to have another whole day together. What a treat.. I was so blessed by my dear friends, Debby and Julie. I hope we can do that again soon.

Damian

2008-10-13T16:43:00.009-07:00

Today, it's about Damian. He's my oldest at 29 years old. Scary to think I have a child that's almost 30. He will be 30 in December, so I better get used to the idea soon. He was born in Georgia while Alan and I were going to school. We moved to Arizona when he was 2 years old so I don't think he remembers too much about Georgia. I'm just glad he never developed a southern accent.

Wow... another cute kid, eh?

Damian is living in Phoenix and, temporarily, he is staying with my parents so he can save a little money and to help them with things Dad isn't able to do anymore. He is working in the heating and air conditioning field and really likes his job. He works for a small company and enjoys all of the responsibilities of his job and the hands-on aspect. He was always a hands-on kinda kid so this job fits him well.

Still cute at 30.

He is divorced and his 3 children live in Prescott Valley so he comes up every other weekend to be with them. He's a good daddy and loves his kids. I'm glad we get to see them so often, too.

Savannah (4) and Jocelynn (8)

Jacob (6)

Damian has lots of interests including: hiking, bike riding, volleyball, disc golf, and lately he's been working on hydrogen fuel alternative ideas. He also helps Elaine and Kevin at their shop when he has time.

So, that's my kids. They are all good, friendly, thoughtful, hard working people and I'm very proud of all of them.

Landon

2008-10-10T11:18:00.011-07:00

Today is all about Landon. He is my middle child. He was born in Phoenix and is 27 years old now. He's the most extroverted of all my kids and everyone that knows him, likes him. He's just one of those likeable people. Always happy and has interesting things to say.

Is that one of the 3 cutest kids you've ever seen in your life?

He went to NAU and got his teaching degree. It is in English Literature and he would like to teach at the High School level. He loves to read and he's very creative so he'll make a wonderful teacher. His students are going to love him!

Landon and proud Mom and Dad at NAU Graduation ceremony.

After graduation, he and his fiance spent 6 months in France to learn to speak French. Then lived in NY for a year, and now (as of August of this year) lives in Richland, Washington. He will begin his teaching career this year and is pretty excited to be starting his 'life after college'.

Landon & Tracy

The love of his life is Tracy Meyer. They met going to NAU, but actually grew up only a few miles from each other. She is from Chino Valley. She has a degree in lighting design and that was why they went to NY for a year, so she could get her masters degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). She then got a job working for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, where she is working in research for daylighting design. Landon is waiting for paperwork to go through for a teaching job. He will probably be substituting at first, but then hopefully will get a regular classroom by next semester.

The yellow house

They just bought a house in Richland and are VERY excited about it. Even though the house was beautiful when they bought it, they've done alot of renovations. While Landon has been waiting for his paperwork to go through, he has painted some rooms, redone some ceilings, worked on the yard and painted the epoxy finish in the garage. Landon and Tracy have a website and have put up pictures of their life in France, New York and now Washington. The address is: http://www.landonandtracy.com/. They also have a dog named Colmar.

Colmar and Doc looking cute

He learned how to be Dog Whispered while they were visiting this summer. So, now I have a healthy, happy and balanced grand-dog.

Elaine

2008-10-08T08:55:00.012-07:00

I have 3 awesome kids. I want to brag and show off about each one, but I think I'll take them one at a time. I'll start with my daughter, Elaine. Just because she will be most likely to see my blog before the other two. Hi, Elaine... it's all about you today.

Elaine is 25 years old. She was born here in Prescott Valley but moved to Phoenix a few years ago to work down there and be a 'big city girl'. I grew up in Phoenix so I don't see the draw, but I guess everyone has to find out for themselves.

Look what a cutie she was.

And what a beauty she grew up to be.

She has a beautiful daughter, Shayla, who is a real sweetheart. We get to see her pretty often, especially when she has a break from school and can stay with us for a week or two at a time. We enjoy having her here and always look forward to her visits. She is 8 years old now.

Elaine lives with her boyfriend, Kevin.

Together they own a business called 'Grunion Fabrication'. They build custom cars. Kevin is very good at what he does and Elaine takes care of the business part of it. She built them an amazing website and runs the showroom. Their website is: http://grunionfabrication.com/

Here are a couple of the cars they've worked on. The purple one belongs to James Hetfield from Metallica. Kevin did the suspension on it for Rick Dore who is famous for his custom cars. The 1955 Buick belongs to Elaine and Kevin and is a work in progress.

1953 Buick Skylark

1955 Buick

They love what they do and work very hard. They go to lots of car shows to promote their business. They just moved to a new location with more exposure and are hoping their business will continue to grow.

Doc, the Dog

2008-10-06T21:22:00.012-07:00

If you know me at all, you know that I'm not a big fan of dogs. Why anyone would want a dirty, stinky, hairy animal in the house is beyond me. But... we have a dog. About 6 months ago, Alan decided that he NEEDED a dog and he came home with a 3 month old golden retriever. I didn't take it well at first. I screamed and hollered and pitched a royal fit, then the stinky dog licked my toes and pretended he liked me. Alan explained that he wanted a companion to be with him while he worked around the house. I gave in, with stipulations. He had to stay on the tile floor when he was in the house. He had to get a bath regularly and he had to be well trained and obedient. I don't think he'd ever even been inside a house before, so he had to quickly learn to do his business outdoors.

The biggest challenge was to stop him from barking when he was in the outdoor kennel that Alan built. Yea... we fixed that. He just doesn't stay in the outdoor kennel anymore. He mostly lives indoors now, but I have to admit that he's pretty good about staying on the tile floor. His name is Doc and he's 9 months old now. He is not aggressive, but he shows minor tendancies towards being protective. He would never bite anyone because mostly he just runs away from strangers, but he does bark when he thinks it's necessary to scare away things like kids walking to the bus stop and a plastic grocery bag blowing across the yard.

He got 'fixed' a couple weeks ago and just got his lampshade off this past weekend so he's a happier dog now. He loves going on bike rides, although he doesn't quite reach the pedales yet so he has to run along side the bike. I must give many thanks to Ceasar Milan 'The Dog Whisperer'. It is one of my favorite TV shows. It is on National Geographic Channel every Friday night and I highly recommend watching Ceasar for his people training skills. Dogs don't need training. They already know how to act like dogs. People need training to learn how to treat dogs like dogs. We watch it every week. Anyway, here are some pictures of Doc.

Doc - 9 months old. Savannah asks why he always looks so sad. That's just the way he looks.

Ok, ok.. he is a cute dog (when he's not licking his butt)

Kid's Weekend

2008-10-04T12:53:00.001-07:00

This is the weekend that we have my grandkids with us. Damian's kids are Jocelynn, Jacob and Savannah and Lain's daughter is Shayla. We get to see Damian's kids every other weekend because that's when he comes up from Phoenix to see them and they all come here. It's actually a beautiful day, even though it's cloudy and chilly. It's in the upper 60's and the kids are loving it. They go outside and play and get all cold then come in and snuggle up and watch TV for awhile, then go back outside again. Damian brought Shayla with him from Phoenix this weekend, too. Tuesday and Wednesday are Jocelynn's and Jacob's birthday so Damian baked them a wonderful chocolate cake. Saturday was just a play day, but Sunday we went to church then to Target to let the kids pick out birthday gifts and then out to lunch.

Savannah (age 4) watching TV

Jacob (age 5 , soon to be 6) building a car.

Jocelynn (age 7, soon to be 8) swinging on a rope.

Shayla (age 8) picking flowers.

It might become fall.....someday

2008-10-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

This time of year in Prescott Valley has all the appearances of becoming fall except for one thing. We don't really get a nice colorful array of leaves on trees.... mostly because there aren't many trees to speak of... living on a prairie and all. The weather is cooling off at night and the late summer flowers are starting to bloom. The county fair is over and people seem a little more relaxed now that the heat of the summer is over.

I always feel more like starting a quilt project this time of year. My sewing room is upstairs and during the summer it gets pretty warm up there. I'm always involved in a quilt project, but it seems more productive when I'm not wanting to escape the heat. I just finished my P.I.G. Challenge quilt. Ok, I'll explain that: My quilt guild, Thumb Butte Quilters' Guild (http://www.tbqguild.com/) has a challenge every year. It is our Project In a Grocery bag Challenge. Everyone that wants to participate brings 3 unfinished projects that they have begun and shows them to the group. The group then votes on the one that they want to be finished in one year. The quilt they picked last year was a hand appliqued queen sized quilt that I'd been working on for about 10 years. I have to admit that I probably wouldn't have finished that quilt except that I had to do it for my P.I.G. It's finished now and beautiful. Here is a picture of it:

This is a picture of my 'before' quilt.

This is a picture of my 'after' quilt. Alot better.. huh?

So, that was last year. This year my P.I.G. isn't as impressive. It was a group of blocks that a friend gave me. She won the blocks at our Quilt Camp several years ago. They are a class that was offered called "The Girls". You'll see why it was called that. It's just a hodge podge group of blocks that have girls on them. I added some house blocks and some flower blocks and put it together with a sashing. It's cute, but not a wow quilt like last year. Here it is:

This year's P.I.G. before

This year's P.I.G. after

Ok.. that's the latest on what I've been working on. Next time it will be a different topic!

Welcome!

2008-09-29T17:09:00.003-07:00

I'm Kathy and I just want to talk about stuff. You know, the 'stuff' that life is made of. I don't know if anyone will be interested, but here goes......

Sometimes I look like this:

And, occasionally, I look like this:

If you couldn't tell, I'm a quilter, a very amateur computer nerd and occasionally, I like to ride bikes. If you check back often, I'm sure you'll hear all about these things in my life.

Oh yes, I'm married to Alan. He looks like this (the guy in the front):

We've been married for something like 33 years this November. That's a long time, but we're still happy so that says something.

I have 3 kids and 4 grandkids. I'll put pictures of them up later. Don't worry, you'll get to see lots of things about my life soon enough. Well, this is a good start. I'll write more soon.....