Kimberly's Quilt

Clark's niece got married last week, and the girls all got together to make her a quilt.

To save on money we did the quilting part ourselves. It's pretty rough, but considering it was our first time and on a queen size quilt, I'd say we did pretty good!

 Only Roxy was brave enough to attempt the quilting with me. 

We embroidered her new last name and year in the corner.

 We finished it in less than a month. It was fun to make, but I'm glad it's over.

Mesa Temple

Yesterday I had 2 sister-in-laws over to make these photos/paintings. This was the one I made. It was fun to hang out and make these. I can't wait to get furniture so I can find a place for this on our wall. In the mean time, it will end up in our storage room with all the rest of our things...

I made this one for my sister-in-law Krystal last week. She was sealed this past weekend to her husband and two babies. I wanted to give her something to remember the day. I am so happy for their family!  

A few tips for anyone who ever plans to do something like this:

     •The paint looks more natural if you paint over the modge-podge, not under it. When I   
     went back and made touch-ups after I finished, I realized that. 

     •It's easier to glue the picture if you cut it smaller than your canvas.

     •For a more "antiqued" look, paint a splotchy black pattern coming off of the canvas and 
     onto the picture. (My sister-in-law Roxy did that and it looked AMAZING!)

     •Use the darker paint around the edges and gradually get lighter the closer you get to   
     the temple.

My Life

I find I have nothing to blog about lately. My computer died and so my mom gave me an old laptop which died from a virus 2 days later. Then my sister gave me her old computer and my sanity has returned! So far so good. I'm so lucky to have family give me free computers! Right now I'm not working. People always ask, "What do you do all day!?" Well, not much. Here's a run down of my relaxing life: 1. Wake up and take Roxy to work. 2. Come home and eat breakfast, usually oatmeal with fresh peaches, fresh butter, fresh milk, and eggs from Sunny's farm. (I love my connections!) 3. A morning bike ride around my block which is almost exactly 1 mile around. I usually go about 6 or 7 miles. (I find riding a bike is easier than walking) 4. Then I come home and turn up the music while I do the dishes! For those of you who haven't seen my place, it is sans dishwasher! 5. I then get out the old notebook and watch some french educational videos from good old PBS. I write down anything new I learn and then use them all in sentences. I usually watch 3 videos. About 1 1/2 hours. Then I read a chapter in Paroles de Poilus. It's pretty difficult reading but very interesting-a must. It's letters french soldiers in the front wrote during WWI. Very touching. Sophie gave me the book as a present before I left Le Vesinet. I'm only sorry I'm just now taking the time to read it. 6. Then I clean our apartment. It gets very messy very fast. It's a tiny place crammed with all of my stuff (I have a lot) and with 3 people living in it....It's scary. By the way, my sister-in-law Roxy lives with us. She does a lot of the deep cleaning (things that are hard for me to do). 7. Then I start cooking dinner. I usually cook at 3 or 4 o'clock because I have to go pick up Roxy. She is without a vehicle since just returning home from a mission. She's been saving though and hopefully soon she'll get a car! 8. Then Clark and Roxy come home and are either studying for their G.E.D., exercising, or reading. Clark is reading Brisingr, Roxy is reading These Is My Words, and I am reading The Phantom of The Opera. Not the most exciting book, but strangely enough I still like it. I am also reading Les Miserables. Actually, I was reading it about 5 years ago and the book mysteriously disappeared....Sorry Mom (I was borrowing it and I still never replaced it) I was about 3/4 of the way done. So I went to the library and I'm picking up where I left off. I'm reading the unabridged version so there's no way I'm going to start from the beginning to refresh my memory. This is my daily routine. I've sent my resume out to plenty of companies but I haven't had any luck. I signed up with an employment agency and they said right now no company is hiring in the HR department. I'm not too keen on taking a receptionist position because it would be a drastic pay cut. (and who likes answering phones anyway?) I really want to go back to school next semester so I'm studying hard on my own to get my french back where it used to be. I have about a year and a half to graduate if I went full time. I'm crossing my fingers about finding a job so I can enroll.