Apple Tree

As I think I have mentioned before we are living in my parents house while they are on an LDS mission in Peru. They had a large apple tree in the front yard that was half dead. We kept telling my Dad it needed to be cut down, but he is kind of sentimental about his trees. Anyway, he asked us to cut it down while they are on their mission, so we cut it down last summer. It was kind of sad, I grew up climbing this tree a lot. My parents also have a large garden in the back yard. We have put grow boxes in to make gardening easier, they are awesome! However there was still a lot of gardening space so we decided to plant a new apple tree to kind of replace the one we cut down. So here are some pictures of the old tree coming down and then the new tree in the garden............

Z in rubble of apple tree.

M posing on big branch cut down.

We decided to leave the stump as kind of a bench.

The new apple tree in the garden.

Dresser REDO

This dresser is one my parents gave us.........pretty boring. I have seen some furniture painted black and white on some blogs I follow.............I LOVE this look! So here is my before and after. Although I still think it needs something...........maybe a stencil inbetween the pulls??

Final Pre-School Program

My youngest finished pre-school a week ago...............I can't believe she will be in Kindergarten this fall. She did such a great job singing in her program. I recorded it on video but I have no idea how to put that in here, so you will just have to take my word for it, lol. Both of my girls have done pre-school with this amazing lady. She was in our old ward and does a fabulous job! She also teaches swim lessons during the summer, so we will still get to see her, yay!

Curse you for inspiring me!

Earlier this year I started going to "knitting group" once a week at my BFF's house, actually I don't knit I crochet but the rest of them knit lol.......... I tried knitting for a few weeks but it did not go well! Anyway.........my bff was showing me fabric and a pattern that she was making her FOUR daughters Easter dresses! Now generally when it comes to Easter, I either buy my girls dresses, or I am lucky and one of their Grandma's volunteers to make them ........which I of course welcome! My mom is a seamstress (she made my wedding dress!), my 3 older sisters all sew and have sewn their daughters numerous dresses and other clothing....but not me. The only thing I have attempted to sew since Jr. High is pajama pants......and lets face it.....even if you screw those up they are easy to fix! My point to all this is I have been around sewing my whole life. My mom has tried to get me to sew clothing in her sneaky little way a bunch of times, but I always back out quickly because I have this major fear that if I sew anything that has to "fit" somebody it will go horribly wrong, not fit, and I will have stressed myself out needlessly. Plus I REALLY REALLY hate cutting out the dang patterns (thats half the battle!) I also enjoy shopping for clothes.....I would rather find a way to earn the money and shop than make myself crazy trying to sew! I have been avoiding sewing for years!!! Alright....back to my point.....so my bff shows me these Easter dresses she is making. ..............week after week I ask to see her progress........ ........she is lining each dress!...........they all have netting in the skirt so they pouff!!......she is hand sewing certain areas so they "look right"! Curse her! she inspired me! So one day I go downstairs (we are living in my parent's house while they are on a mission) and casually start looking in my mom's fabric...................you know................just in case I find some fabric that I like that might just be enough to make some girls dresses...............oh crud............I found a big chunk of fabric (like 3-4 yards!) of this cute black fabric with white flowers all over. I decide to take a picture of it and email my mom and see if she had plans for this fabric..................well needless to say she didn't........................she was a little too excited that I was even asking about fabric! lol Anyway............one saturday I am up with my sister at Walmart.......she is trying to find fabric and patterns to make her girls dresses (see? its a sickness in my family!) I saw a really cute, but looked really simple dress pattern my girls size.....for like 3 bucks! After all this I am Dang proud to say I sewed my daugher's Easter dresses! Without help! NONE! And they even fit! And they are even cute! Like I am seriously considering trying to sew more! CURSE YOU my BFF! Why did you have to go and inspire me?? Ok, I will quit type-yelling! lol Anyway, here is a picture of Easter 2011 with my cute kids and the dresses that I am pretting stinkin proud of! Oh, and I bought my son's Easter clothes......I am REALLY not attempting to sew those.............I'm not crazy! Oh.................and I made hairbows that match! geez I feel crafty....

Turning 11!!!

Today my oldest turned 11.......man I feel old! He got Lego Star Wars III for the Wii, a new scooter, and a new nerf gun from his sisters. We went out for dinner and then came home to have cake.........he said he had a good birthday....I hope so.