OCD

I've been planning and praying about quilts for my girls for going on a year. I've never spent money decorating or coordinating their bedding, well, because I didn't see the point (or the money that needed to be involved). It hurts my heart to admit this, but when we moved Emory to a big girl bed 3 years ago, we bought the dreaded dorm room "bed-in-a-bag" from BB&B. Yuck. I've finally saved enough to do it right, and wanted to document the craziness that's in my head.
1 YEAR AGO: First, I knew I wanted to use HB Pop Garden line. Then I heard she and AB were coming out with new lines, so I had to wait and see what they looked like. (Months of looking, and looking, and debating and looking.) Finally I came back to my first love, and - voila- the fabric was chosen. Now to the pattern. I'd seen some I liked, but kept coming back to this. I couldn't find the pattern anywhere! So, on a whim, I emailed Joel (because we're on a first name basis now ;) and he sent me the pattern. What an angel! Now on to the planning. The Madison Park Quilt has 18 fabrics involved, and I had only chosen 7. Mix and mingle, and make a mini-paper quilt, and 18 1/2 hours later . . .Yes, that is right, I made paper fabric (to scale) and painstakingly cut out each piece, moved them around a little, glued them together and died. It was a happy death though, full of knowing that I'd love the finished product, when I'm done in 14 years.

Something in the water

Emory and Tessa got these Valentines in the mail last week . . .Emory read it and looked at me confused. I told her that it meant that Kellie and Adrian are having a baby. She squealed and started jumping around saying, "I'm going to have a REAL cousin! And it's going to be a boy named Stewart!" She is constantly talking about "Stewart" and I don't have the heart to tell her that Stewart is their last name. Thanks guys, now she'll get off my back about having another baby for awhile. I better get started on gifts, since that's our 4th relative/friend that is due in August.
We had a fun dessert fondue party with some friends, and learned many fon-don't lessons about burning chocolate and turning caramel into . . . well, I'm not really sure what it turned into, but it was hard and crystal-ish. All that aside, it was super yummy, messy, and fun. We found out a new favorite though - pineapple dipped in chocolate!
Sadly, the YW organization was reorganized last week, and I was released as the Beehive Advisor and Camp Director. I'm sad to leave my girls, we had so much fun, but I'm also glad to have my Tuesday nights back. They gave me a "Heart Attack", and informed me that I am no longer awesome. I'm now the Relief Society Pianist, and excited for an easy, peasy next few months. Cory also got a calling. He's a Gospel Doctrine teacher! I know he'll do great, and he only has to teach every three weeks.
This is my cute little "Helping Robot". She loves getting into weird positions and chillin'. This is where she likes to be when I'm doing the dishes. The "Helping Robot" comes from a new interest in robots for both girls. They talk in this crazy monotone voice, walking around stiffly and helping! I don't know many 2 and 4 year olds like these creatively funny girls.

Anthro-

-pologie . . . I've been addicted to browsing their website for the last few days. I can't take my eyes off this. Oh, oh and this. But most of all . . . this. I guess I can dream, because the interest on my back payments from Cory will get me a house at the least ;) Unfortunately, Emory wishes he was a Fire Fighter, since her trip to the fire station. I quickly told her about all the cool things that her dad does/can do and she reneged and said she wants to be a doctor too.

Luchadores, Chicago, and 72 Hours

We went to a surprise party a couple of weeks ago for a good friend of ours. Little did they know, when thy invited us to a super hero dress-up party that they'd get this . . .

Senior Calabaza and Raquel el Reptil

Senior Calabaza has the power to control all gourds, and Raquel el Reptil has a lizard-like tongue, which is handy in many sticky situations. (Yes, my mom is amazing, I know.)

The whole hero crew.

As you can see, there were a few lame people, but for the most part everyone looked amazing. The best comment of the night was when Lance (Superman) came around the corner for the "Surprise," Cory was right in his face and fired a popper off over his head. When Amanda, Lance's wife, took him away to change into his costume he asked her, "Who's the naked guy?" I love that my awesome husband is confident enough to be silly once in a while!
Having this party made me realize how close to thirty Cory is. It was a fun night, but I mostly loved just being around Cory; he'd gotten home from his audition rotation at 2 am that morning. We've been able to spend some awesome quality time together, and it feels surreal to have my wing man back. He helps in every way! We even squeezed in a 4 day trip to Chicago. We ate like we were dying of starvation.

Don't mind the cat eyes.

(Gino's- The Spinach Artichoke Dip and Meaty Legend Deep Dish or Death by Meat as we called it, Garrett Popcorn- I loved the Mix, and my favorite Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab- It's the sister restaurant to the Joe's Stone Crab in Miami that they talk about on Food Network all the time.) I also walked around and shopped like I'd never seen a H&M or Tiffany before. Here was Cory's gift to me for not needing a diaper bag anymore, now that both my kidlets do their duty in the bowl!In other news, Vanhin Christiansen made it to Finland! We're praying for him, specifically for the Gift of Tongues, for the Gift of Culinary Delights and for the Gift of Un-thawing. It's been a punch in the face of newness, but he'll be amazing- I have no doubt.
The girls and I made some cool bird feeders. Too bad the tree that had literally thousands of birds in it 2 weeks ago, has yet to have a winged visitor since!

Oh well, we had fun, aside from the fact that I almost vomited from the smell of lard. P.S. I couldn't find it anywhere at my grocery store. I asked and the guy said, "By the Velveeta." Of course, it's with the rest of the NON-food items.
I have also spent 100 hours updating our 72 Hour Kits. After all this scariness in Haiti, it was high time.

We matched . . . well, sort of!

After a little bit of drama (caused by a sleepy Cory's misread/misunderstand) we realized we'd matched to a DO traditional rotating year. It was a little surprising, since Cory didn't even interview there, but none the less, we're excited. Now we wait for a few more weeks till the MD match, to see where we go for the rest of residency. Some clues as to where we'll be spending our rotating year are: it's out of state, within 14 hours driving distance from Salt Lake, it's at a Good Samaritan Hospital, the weather's fairly mild, and only and hour and a half from the beach! One of our friends from AZ also matched to the program, so it'll be nice going there knowing at least 2 people.