Monday, April 30, 2012

Friends

One of my favorite things about not working 8-5 is that I can meet up with a friend for lunch.  It is nice to be flexible and be able to connect up with people I haven't seen in a long while.  Loved seeing Allie at BYU before she graduated last week.  Way to go Allison!  
And we had graham canyon to celebrate :)  
Caryn and I are due about a week apart, so we got a pedicure and pizza the other day.  So much fun.  
Well, here's to another day of waiting.  Im about to get all set up in Adobe Bridge.  I'm determined to have organized baby photos, so wish me luck!  Any photo organization tips are welcome!

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Indian YUM

A few weeks back we found ourselves at Bombay House with some friends.  

It was even better than I remember.  I always get Chicken Tikka Marsala to ensure that I like at least one of our dishes.  
Then Scott likes to try every crazy thing you see on the menu.  Since this meal, he has spent his free time planning his order for the next time we make it to Provo for dinner.

Last time we ate here was on Scott's birthday 2.5 years ago, the day he proposed!

The naan at Bombay House is far superior to that of Kohinoor or India Palace, the other windows to India we frequent.
Do you know what is weird?  Neither of us really want to go to India.  I think maybe Cambodia fulfilled that longing for us.  Same genre, you know?  

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure we will make it to the Taj Mahal one day, but for now, Machu Picchu or even a trip back to Indonesia (our FAV!) would trump India.   

But Indian food sure is delicious.  I never knew I would learn to love food so much.  Scott has really helped me to appreciate a wider range of ethnic foods, and trained my tastebuds to know elevated flavor and delicious pairings.  It is a lot of pressure to be his full time chef, but luckily this boy likes tacos and spaghetti on weeknights :)

Friday, April 27, 2012

Fire Time

Last weekend we headed up AF canyon for a little fire time.  We're not sure if babies should be exposed to all the smoke and such very early on... so we made sure to eat a tin foil dinner and roast some mallows before she comes.  
There was literally NOBODY else having a fire that night!  It was the craziest thing.  Springtime, great weather... idk what the deal was because usually we have to fight for a spot.  
Josh, Katrina and Ryker joined us for our night in the woods.  We always have a good time with them!
I read up on how to make tin foil dinners better before making these... one trick I liked was to put cabbage at the bottom so the meat doesn't burn at all!  It flavored everything nicely too!  Also, use more cream of mushroom soup than you think- makes it more juicy and delicious!
Can you believe it is watermelon season?  Yum!

If the baby doesn't come on her own soon, Scott has Plan B all worked out...
(It seriously looks like a basketball under my shirt, right?  Wow.) 

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Car Seat Canopy and Burp Cloths

Here is the final product:
I really love how it turned out.  I read a few tutorials, but I seriously can never follow a pattern or tutorial to save my life!  I just get going and I get over patterns so fast... I would probably have less complications if I could follow directions.  But hey, I have fun sewing and I usually like how things work out in the end.

You can see how I gathered the fabric in the back?  I don't want things flopping around.... 
I just decided to do thin strap ties.  
And then, the underside!  I've been looking for a way to incorporate chevron into this baby's life. I think the underside of the car seat canopy was the perfect way!  Classier on the outside, party on the inside :)  I also like that I will be able to use this for a boy one day.  I may just redo the whole thing when that time comes, but if the budget it tight, I could be really happy with this.   
The elastic in the back pulled the cover kind of weird, so I did these hook and eye straps to keep it pulling forward.  Too bad I didn't have black elastic on hand... oh well!

Those straps on top make it truly reversible, but my friends tell me they are good to have on the underside anyway so you can attach toys or tie things inside to entertain the baby.  
And a little detail for good measure:

Now for the burp cloths:
The perfect project for scraps!  These were quick to whip up.  I'm kind of alarmed that I didn't have any burp cloths until yesterday.  I hear they're kind of important. 
 I think I'm in for a a lot of changes/surprises.  
But until then, I'll just keep sewing.  
Next project:  Pinterest inspired embellished pillow covering.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Our Last Day

Saturday we woke up and Scott told me this is our last day together.  Like, forever.  (Assuming the baby came this week...)  He seemed kind of okay with it, like it was a good change.  But I had this weird emotional response and proceeded to treat every part of the day like it was my last day alive.  

So anyway, we went for a morning walk before it got too hot.  Then we headed to a local nursery to learn about plants.  We came back and I took a bath, rested and got ready for the big outing.  It kind of takes a lot to get me going these days... 

We went to Harmons and debated on cheeses for a long while.  We ended up with a loaf of french bread, and this aged brie.  It was DELIGHTFUL!  We want to make a habit of trying various cheeses so we can find out what we love!
We took our picnic up the canyon and spent a few hours just relaxing in the sun.  It was awesome :)
Strawberries were the perfect compliment!

Then we stopped to get some Sushi for Scott (LUCKY dog!) and made our way to Thanksgiving Point for the tulip festival!








It was 3 years ago at this tulip festival when Scott was trying to win me back. I had just come home from Jerusalem, and was pretty hesitant to get into this relationship again.  We ended up holding hands as we walked through the gardens and I remember having a really fun time :)  I am so proud that when he tried to kiss me, I refused.  Scott says that was the only time in my entire life when I have missed an opportunity to kiss him.   Hahaha, what funny times!  Who knew we'd be back to the tulip festival in 3 years, with a baby coming any day!  

Monday, April 23, 2012

Babyland

Okay, here are a few projects.  After months of working on these things, I'm finally posting!  Here is the contoured changing pad cover.  This took about 2 hours because it was my first time, it would go much faster to do again.  The only tricky part is the contouring:
Then I just put some elastic in the corners and called it good. 
I did the crib sheet in the same fabric.  But since I will wash the crib sheet often, and since I wanted to learn a new skill, I did french seams on that.  It turned out really nicely!  2 yards was barely enough!
The crib bedding took a year and a half!  When I saw people charging like $300 on etsy for custom crib bedding I thought "What a rip off!" but after making it myself, I would never do it for less than $300.  Granted, I did do piping (See the teal along the edges of the bumper?) and fit it specifically for our crib.  Using that minky-like fabric on the inside of the bumper proved to be my best choice ever because the fluff covers any mistake or uneven line I sewed.  As for the crib skirt, it just takes a while to ruffle that much fabric, but I think it was well worth it!

Huge kudos to Scott for painting this crib and fixing it all up!  We paid $50 on ksl and we love it!
I love the valance!  My friend Kristen made that for me and refurbished the curtain rod too!  I love the gathers and I like that it will fit (hopefully) future windows too.  

And here is the bow board!  I got a frame for $5 with a Hobby Lobby sale + coupon, and then painted it white with the leftover crib paint.  Then, just used lace and started making bows like crazy!  I will post some close ups of my fav bows, and then some headbands soon!  I am in LOVE with some of the headbands, and I'm kind of going crazy with ideas for more :)

Stay tuned for my latest projects: ruffle bum/bow photo prop, nursing chair pillow cover, pom pom mobile, and the car seat canopy!  The nursing chair will hopefully arrive Wednesday, so I hope to do another Babyland post later this week.  So fun to build a nursery, it has really been a fun challenge to do on a budget!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Langfords


We have the sweetest landlords.  They are really our adoptive grandparents.  Here is a picture from last Sunday when they stopped by to deliver several outfits for baby girl.   She gave one for every season according to what age she will be.  SO generous!  Thank you Barbara!  
And look, the best part of this picture is Les in the back, fiddling with the blinds.  He loves to come over and fix anything or make something better at the drop of a hat!  So lucky to have these two as friends!

Saturday, April 21, 2012

36 Weeks at City Creek

So, this photo is from 2 weeks ago... pretty darn big at 36 weeks.  I need to beg Scott to take some more this weekend.  When I ask him to take belly shots, he says "Didn't we do this just like 2 weeks ago?"  And every time I tell him, "Yes, that's the whole idea..."  So anyway, we'll see if I can get some new ones up here.  But, I'll be pretty happy if she comes today, so we don't have to see that belly grow any larger!  
We went to City Creek in SLC- that big new mall. It is prettty grand, let me tell you!  Here we are on the overpass.  Scott loves to grab our little girl and make sure she knows his voice.  Whenever he comes home from works he says hi to me, and he always says hi to my belly.
We had lunch with Sue and Christina at City Creek... it was such a nice warm day!
And last but not least, a picnic in the park!  We got some roasted chicken from Maceys and brought our things to the park for an evening out.
Have I mentioned that navel oranges are in season and DELICIOUS?  I can't get enough!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Q1 Adventure: Moab

Scott is doing a thing this year he calls "Four Quarters of Adventure." Basically that means he does a really awesome adventure once every three months. Adventures that require planning and preparation, not just like a Saturday drive to snowshoe in Heber or something... So anyway, Quarters 2 and 3 will be sunny and nice, but it was kind of hard to get the first one going. He ended up biking slick rock and rappelling Corona arch in Moab with his friend Josh.







Looks pretty fun to me!



Unfortunately, Scott took a little spill... Luckily it was nothing a few Tylenol couldn't fix :)
I think this trip was perfect for a boys only weekend.  But, hopefully the baby and I can go along on the Q2 adventure!