Christmas Cactus

Sydney got the best Christmas present from her dad ever last Christmas, a couple of starts of her Great Great Grandma's Christmas Cactus. I decided to put it on Grandpa Gene's magazine table, and with the sun and Sydney's love it likes to bloom. It blooms a lot this is at least the third time since we've had it. She's waiting for it to get a little stronger to switch it to a new pot, maybe next Christmas.

Syd's New Ring

Sydney received the valentine gift of her life this past valentines day.
Here's a picture what do you think?

Sydney has been hounding me for the past year and a half or so, by holding up her hand and saying,

"look at my ring it isn't symmetrical, wouldn't it look nice with another band?"

She has also been saying that she would love some solitaire diamond earrings. This year for valentines day I thought i could use some of the tax refund to buy her one of the two things that she really wanted. I also needed to make up for the pee funnel birthday present, or so I was told. So I went to the mall on one of my many no work days that I've been having (at least until this week I have 64.5 hrs this week), and compared prices of the two things. They were very similar price, but it was becoming hard to find the same style of band, so I thought that I would buy the one that would stop being made, you can always by diamond earrings. Well the ring had to be shipped in from Indiana or somewhere and the arrival date was the 16th. Being afraid that the ring wouldn't make it on time I put the receipt in the valentine that I made Sydney, and she could tell there was a piece of paper in it and said,

"Why would I want a piece of paper for valentines day?"

Anyway, the ring came on time and I went and got when she was thrift shopping with her family. Valentines day morning I still gave her the receipt and she opened it and looked at and couldn't figure out what the receipt was supposed to be for. Then I threw the ring at her, and it made my Sunday nice because she was speechless for most of the day:).

Remember that bag I made?

Someone was very happy to get it!

Happy (almost) Birthday to my sister Kristy!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

And then I added something special

What do you think? It's on a pin, so it's removable. Should I leave it on or take it off?

Aren't I Crafty???

I made this little combo for someone's birthday, but I will not say who. I was so proud of myself that I decided to post about it. There is also a wallet to go with the bag. Please don't look too closely. My machine wigged out during the buttonhole so it's not the greatest.

And there is a sweet little pocket inside the bag for the wallet.
Aren't I crafty???

Coincidentally, I also had my first accident with my rotary cutter. Don't ask my how I managed to cut the knuckle of my thumb, but I did. I bought my rotary cutter and some refill blades and a ruler and mat for with my birthday money:) I love it, but I knew this would happen sooner or later. I'm just glad I didn't lose a finger;)

My Husband is a Carhartt Advertisment (and other Logan news)

(Here he is pictured in his Carhartt coat, hat, and pants working on his hitch)

As we all know, Logan has a somewhat obsessive personality. When we were dating it was stuff at Cash's house, like the bench he redid, the trench they dug, and Granny's swing. Then there were the Halo days. Then power tools. His TV. BluRays. The list goes on and on. Luckily, his obsessions usually change when I am nearing my breaking point. Anyway, his new obsession is his hitch, Lady Gaga's Bad Romance and Carhartt clothing.

A couple of weeks ago Logan wanted a new Carhartt coat. We went to IFA and found one he really liked, but as most of you know, Logan is worse than a woman when it comes to shopping. We had to go to Sportsmans and finally to Cal Ranch in Cedar City. He finally decided on the original one at IFA in St. George. Well, long story short, we got there just in time to see a lady snatch it up and carry it around the store clutched to her chest.

Logan's favorite present by far was his hitch. Who knew that buying him a hitch would lead to so many other purchases? First we had to buy the ball thing and then the electric stuff (I swear no one actually has the electric stuff in Sevier County). He has big dreams of a trailer and fixing his dad's boat.

About Lady Gaga. My sister was able to find the exact ringtone he wanted but in a dance remix version. This satisfied the need to search for ringtones, but not he need to sing it incessantly:)

This is my life.

Sledding by the Fremont Indian State Park (Christmas post is below)

This video is of my niece Meghan and nephew Jaxon who decided their tubes were "too heavy" to carry up the hill. It's absurd, but it makes for a funny video.

Logan decided to try to film while tubing. This is the result.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning!
I think someone's pile is bigger than someone else's...


Logan's favorite present...a hitch for his car. Now if only we had something to pull with said hitch...

A camp stove for Logan.

A very nice salon blowdryer that dries my hair in just around 4 minutes. I'm in heaven.

I got some adorable Carhartt thermals too. You can see them in the lower right of the photo. Their Carhartt Pink:)

And our big present was A 10' x 10' KELTY TENT!!!! WAHOO!!!

Did you notice a theme? That's because my mom got us a one year pass to all state and national parks. We're gonna be camping hard core in the next year!

There's American Tim Tams

Sydney saw some Tim Tams made by Pepperidge Farm (PF) here at Smith's. She was very angry because she had just purchased 7 packages during her Trip to Hawaii. I was skeptical that the PF Tim Tams would not be as good as the Arnott's (Ar) Tim Tams, or that they would even work for Tim Tam Slaming. I set up a nearly blind taste test for Sydney with some Amretto Hot Chocolate to see if she could tell the difference, I also wanted to indulge in the tasty morsels side by side to see how they compared. The results were that Sydney who didn't know which were which found the Ar Tim Tams to taste better dry, She said, "The PF ones are more sugary." However, she found them to be equaly as tasty during the slamming process. I on the other hand, thought that when eaten dry they tasted very similar, but the creamy filling was a little better tasting in the Ar Tim Tams. I also came to the same conculsion that during a good slam you can't tell the difference. In another note the PF type seemed to have a tiny bit less of a chocolate coating and I'm saying a minute amout here. Over all that the PF tim tams are a good subsitute for the real thing, but here in America we will be just fine Slaming our own.

Twiddle Thumbs This!

After the Grand Canyon rafting trip, I started to look at some Outfitter's websites to see what they had and what we could have used. One thing I saw was a way to air dry dishes by hanging them under the table other than laying them all over the table. On the websites they had mesh dish bags for 60 plus dollars and utensil holder for the same. I thought why not make them I think Sydney can do it. So we did and here is what we ended up with.

This is the dish drying bag

This is the utensil holder drying the dishes

And this is it rolled up for storage.

They're not perfect but that's my fault and mesh is a pain to sew by the way.

I wonder...

Do all PowerRangers wash their suits in the bathtub?

We Made It!

It has always been my mother's dream to visit Hawaii. Last week her dream became a reality. While Logan is away freezing his tush of in the GC, Mom and I took our very first plane ride and had the adventure of our lives.

This is also a special shout out to my good friends Moe and Steve. Without them rescuing us from being stranded in Mesquite, we would never have made our flight. And my awesome bro-in-law Ryan. Without his help, we would still be looking for our hotel...seriously. The man had to practically give me turn by turn directions :) My mother-in-law was also very cool for arranging to have my car not impounded for being left at a gas station and for having it towed to her house. We are so lucky that she has connections. That woman knows everyone, and they all love her!

Here are the highlights:

(Please note that photos of my broken down car are not included in the highlights:)

Update from Logan

I got these pictures from Logan today with the captions:

"Yeah, it snowed."

and


"Here is out my hotel room. I didn't think i would make it back to the hotel."