Picture(s) Perfect

Anyone that knows the slightest little thing about me, knows that I. LOVE. PICTURE FRAMES. I love the old, the new, the tattered and clean, etc. I think it stems from me loving pictures in general, and then loving to display them. Picture frames just add that finishing touch and ties everything that otherwise would have nothing to do with each other, together. I love everything a picture represents and the stories they tell; from where you were at that point in your life, how different you look, occasions, etc. So when I found this tutorial on Pinterest, I was a little skeptical. But I talked myself into it. I thought that even though these (pics)will not end up with an actual "frame" around the edges, it will still end up with a finishing touch; and after all that's all I really want, is the finishing touch. So I was bound and determined to go out of my comfort zone and try something new. (I'm sure if you are reading this post then you are probably one of my friends/followers on Pinterest, so you can find the tutorial on one of my pinterest boards. Because of that I am not going to post the link...also because the "link" button never works for me. I think I'm doing something wrong....) Anyways, here's what I did.
I chose 4 pictures (2 of Clay and 2 of Cody) and edited and cropped them online (at Inkleys/RitzPix.com)
Side Note- I don't know that I should be recommending this site anymore, cause while I've been very pleased (most of the time) I normally pick up my order from the store. But they have since closed down both stores close to me, and now the nearest one is like 25 miles away! I might have to venture out and test out a different picture printing company. :(
Moving on, after making the changes to my pictures-making them black and white and putting a cool transparent overlay over the top-I had them printed in 8x8 size.
Then I went to Home Depot for some wood. FYI, Home Depot sells 1in x 8in x 8ft. You would think that you could just buy the board and have them cut into 8 inch increments, leaving the pieces 8in x 8in. No! Stop! This is not the case!! The 1in x 8in board is not actually 8 inches, it's 7 and 3/4 inches. So I had to bump myself up to the 1in x 10in board. I had them cut it into 8 inch increments, leaving me with 8in x 10in boards. Come to find out, they will cut a board length wise, but not width wise, as it is a safety hazard. Whatever. So I took the boards home to have Chris cut the extra 2 inches off, giving me my 8x8 board that I needed.
Then we found the center point of each board and drilled a hole, for hanging purposes later. I wanted my boards to hang flush with the wall but also not be able to see what was holding it up, so putting a hook or some type of hanging device on the top or back was not an option for me. After that, I lined them all up and painted them black. As you may know, all my furniture in the house is black or has black accents, so I thought this would go best with everything no matter what room I ended up hanging the pictures in.

The next day after the (spray)paint had dried, I put a thin layer of Mod Podge glue on the top and placed one 8x8 picture on top.

Then I put a thin layer of the same glue over the top of the picture.

It had me worried at first, but I soon learned that the glue dries clear and with a bit of a texture. I love it. So after the first layer of glue dried, I added another layer of glue going the opposite direction-to give it a kind of "Canvas" feel. It turned out awesome! And the best part about it? It only cost me less than $25 for four. And I have left over wood, spray paint, and glue to do more if I want.
Wood-$6
Spray Paint-$4
Pictures-$12
The glue I think is around $7 at JoAnn's, but I already had that on hand.
The hardest part about the whole thing was trying to center all four pictures on the wall and get them to hang level with the straight line of the tv. :)

I spaced them out this way so if I decide to do more,, I can offset them either below or above these ones.

Another picture project I've been meaning to get to is our 16x20 family portrait. We had one taken when Chris's whole side of the family had pictures done. But I didn't order it through JCPennys. One reason is because they wanted to charge me $185 for 1 16x20, and that didn't include getting it matted OR the frame. And two, because we all went in on it together and bought the cd and all the rights to any picture we wanted. I think this was a much better value. The cd was like $150, but split 3 or 4 ways and it was definitely more cost efficient. So again, I had Inkley's print my 16x20. (The first one got destroyed in the mail-but after calling and explaining that I was not happy, they sent me another one for free.) It was $20.
(this was the one that got ruined in the mail-you can see all the creases on the photo at the top)

Then I paid $1.69 for a matted poster board. I'm not sure that that's what it is really called, but I can't think of a better way to describe it.
You can see the thickness in between my fingers.

A little Mod Podge...

...and you can't even tell the difference from my $185 family portrait done last year...

...and my $20 one that I just "matted" myself. The finished product.

Love it when I get what I want for a fraction of the cost. :)Go Me!!

Another Quilting Project

After going to Phoenix and learning some new techniques from my Aunt, I decided to take on the task of making a "Dr. Seuss" baby quilt for my new little nephew. (anxiously awaiting his arrival in late September-early October) My Aunt showed me a tutorial on making a very simple "Rag" quilt, with top stitching. Now when I think of a rag quilt, I do NOT think of top stitching, because if you think about it, the top stitching would "hold down" or smash the "ragging". I know to some of you I am speaking gibberish, but just hear me out. This was the EASIEST. QUILT. EVER! The ONLY reason it took me so long to complete was because of my dear sweet 20 month old, Cody. You try staying focused on a project with a walking disaster mixing up all your fabric squares, finding your scissors (and the last of the only fabric that you NEED), whacking the dogs with your plexi-glass fabric rulers, and unraveling spools and spools of thread. It's very distracting. It seems he likes to "help" when Mommy is most focused. Sigh.
Here's my version of the "Simple Rag Quilt" Tutorial.
I cut all my fabric into big squares(7in x 7in) and little squares(4in x 4in). I cut double the amount to account for the front AND the back. These are just a few of my Dr. Seuss fabrics that I used.

Then I cut big and small batting squares.

After arranging everything in the pattern that I wanted (and numbering them to make sure they stayed in that order) I began top stitching big X's over the top of each (big and little) square. I used varigated thread through out the whole quilt, to showcase all the bright colors.
After finishing the top stitching on all the individual squares, then I sewed all the 4x4 squares into sets of two; and then each set of two sewed to one big square, making a new set of three.

Then I sewed the groups of three into rows, and then sewed the rows together.

*Normally when sewing, to make the seam invisible or unseen, you sew the fabrics "front to front" so that when you open the fabrics (like a book) the seam is on the inside and not seen. With this technique though, you sew the fabrics "back to back" so that the top side of the quilt has the seem showing and the backside is smooth.*
See? Front (seem showing)

Back (smooth)

Then it was time for the border. Again I followed the same technique from above, (1) 7x7 square paired with (2) 4x4 squares to make set of three. Sewed into row and attached on each side of the quilt.

When the border was finished, I sewed along all four edges of the quilt, twice. I did it twice to mainly just to reinforce the edge in case the "ragging" got out of control. :) I also added my own little "touch", a "Made With Love" tag.
(you can see the double stitching around the edge in this picture)

The last step was to snip/cut into the seems. You go along all the seems (on the top side and around the edges) and snip about half inch to inch apart into the seem. After washing the quilt, these little snipets will become the rags. But be careful that you don't cut too far down into the seem and cut the thread holding the squares together.
Here was the finished product BEFORE washing.
Back

Front

...And after washing it twice...(trying to get it to fray)

In the words of little Agnes (from the movie "Despicable Me") "It's so fluffy I could die!!"

No really though, it turned out so cute that now I'm not so sure I want to give it away. At least it's staying in the family.

"For Everything there is a season..."

Well everyone, I've spoken too soon. I got WAY too excited when I found out I was expecting that I just wanted to shout it from the mountain tops, and what better way to do that than to post it on your blog? (Well and then there's Facebook, but I wasn't quite ready for that.) This past weekend, Chris, the boys and I went camping. I wasn't feeling great but wanted to go camping so badly. What's a little morning sickness and body aches? Nothing I couldn't handle. Over the weekend, the aches got worse and I started cramping. By the time we were headed back home from our little stay-cation on Sunday late afternoon, I was in pain. I realized that it was possible that I was having a miscarriage. So I called the Dr. and Monday I went in for them to draw my blood and check my HCG levels. They asked me to come back on Wednesday morning to check it again. If I didn't miscarry then my hormones should have doubled. As you might have guessed by now, my hormones did not double.
The news is definitely saddening, especially since I have wanted another baby pretty much since I popped Cody out. But I know that "For everything there is a season..." And that if it's meant to happen, then it will. This is merely just paving the way for the right little spirit to come into our family. It also makes me feel very grateful for the two perfect and special little spirits that I already have.

THEY ARE MY WHOLE WORLD!

(don't mind the food in my teeth)

It May Be A Little Early...

...But we have exciting news. Conger Baby #3 is on it's way. It's so early that we aren't sure what the sex is. My calculations predict I'll be due sometime in April. But my first Dr. visit isn't for another few weeks, so we'll see what they say.

We sure are excited and crossing our fingers for a little girl. However, should it be a boy? We'll love him just the same. Little boys happen to be my area of expertise. :)

Oldie But Goodie

When Clay was about 1 and half he got a wagon for Christmas. It has been through hell and back and it was very obvious. We use it for EVERYTHING. We use it around the yard when we're pulling weeds (who wants to lug around a garbage can, or a plastic bag?). We used to take it camping and tie it behind the four wheeler.

We take it to the lake to haul all our "beach" necessities (cooler, towels, toys). In it's younger days, and Clay's for that matter, we'd take it to outside bbqs, fairs, festivals, the zoo and even to the pumpkin patch to pick out our jack-o-lanterns.

(Look at how little Clay was!)

Cody's turn!! You can totally see how bad the paint was chipping on the side.

We've for sure gotten our money's worth and lots of good use.

Now, Clay has pretty much lost interest in it, but to Cody, it's like the best thing in the world. Well pretty much anything that has wheels on it, Cody loves. So I thought, why not refinish it? It could definitely use some tlc and I love doing that kind of stuff anyways. And while refinishing it, why not customize it bit?

This is what the sides were looking like. The paint was chipping horribly, and some of the screws were stripped and coming loose (two of the screws BROKE IN HALF while I was trying to unscrew them).

Took the sides apart, and sanded them down.

Decided to go against the original "Radio Flyer Red" and make it stand out a little. Clay chose the colors....if you can't tell. I think it's fun though cause we all know how I feel about bright colors. :D

Some bright new shiny screws, and voila! It's as good as new!

Then I used my Cricut to do Clay and Cody's name on the side.

What do ya think?

On another note, as I post this last picture I can totally hear my mother's voice saying, "if you keep doing that, your eyes are going to stay like that!" I know mom, I know. But isn't it hilarious that my 20 month old son can do this on command?! He knows it makes people laugh so he does it all the time!

So Thankful

Ok I know I promised pictures of my wagon "redo", however this post is way more important, takes precedence, is close to my heart, whatever you want to call it.

Sunday, August 5th, Chris left for his motorcycle trip. He left way before the sun was even up, so I hardly remember him kissing me goodbye. I do remember telling him twice within a 30 second time span to be careful. Little did I know that I either jinxed him or it was foreshadowing his future of what was bound to happen anyways. Sunday was a good ride for him. They rode all the way to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where they stayed for the night. (Below) One of the places they ate at....?

Early Monday morning, he called to say they were getting back on the road but that they were riding into a storm so things were going to be kind of sketchy. He assured me he had on all of his rain gear on top of all his normal riding gear and that he was being extra careful. By early afternoon, they had passed through the storm into clearer skies. They were going through Yellowstone National park which is where he took and sent me the pictures of Old Faithful and a video of two bears. Yes I said TWO bears!!! (I tried uploading the video but it wouldn't let me....sigh...whatever)

Traffic was very bad because there were lots of Buffalo in the road that refused to move. Everything was fine but just kind of at a stand still.

A couple hours later, I was getting off work, rushing to pick up Cody so I could still make it to Clay's daycare before they closed...and I got the call. I was already frazzled. Moments before, Cody's babysitter gave me her two week notice, Clay's daycare was giving me issues. So after just unloading on Chris, he calmly said, "well not to make your day any worse....but....I laid the bike down.."

I was speechless. A million and one things were running through my mind. Was he ok? Was he wearing a helmet? Was he ok? Did anyone see it happen? Was he alone? Was he ok? Was it his fault? Was anyone hurt in the accident? Was he ok? How bad was the bike? How was he going to get it home? Was it even drivable? WAS. HE. OK? Obviously, because he was talking to me, he was ok enough to call me. After hearing the story, Chris is physically fine. His hand was badly bruised and swollen but not broken (thanks to the x-ray results from today's dr. visit). He scraped his knee, but it didn't rip his jeans, and he has a huge black and purple bruise on his hip. Nothing serious or life threatening. But mentally and emotionally he was not ok. And I knew EXACTLY what he was going through.

With Chris, on this motorcycle trip, were 6 or 7 of his buddies. Moments before thhe accident, everyone was on the side of the road looking at the two bears from across the river. Shortly after, everyone was ready to go, but Chris wasn't, so he waved them all ahead knowing he wouldn't be far behind them. Chris was fumbling to put his camera away which was holding him up. When he finally got back on the road, he could still see his group up ahead. They were following a truck that was pulling a trailer on a two lane highway. The truck wasn't going the speed limit-due to a van that was in front of it. But nobody knew about the van because the truck was following it too closely to be seen from behind. So they all decided to pass the truck/trailer going about 45 mph. Everyone passed the truck and then it was Chris's turn. As Chris was passing the truck, the van decided to take a left hand turn right in front of him. In a split second, Chris's choices were A) hit the van straight on and be thrown several yards over the van or B)lay the bike on it's side and pray that he didn't go under the van or be hit by the truck behind it, much less oncoming traffic. In that split second he saw the eyes of a child in the back seat of the van. He knew that if he hit the van straight on he would surely injure the child in the back seat, so he chose B). From the time Chris slammed on his brakes to impact, he had 20 feet to make that decision. And thank goodness he did, because it saved his life-along with the fact that he was wearing his helmet, leather jacket, boots, etc. He was ok. REALLY shaken up, but ok. The cops and everyone that came to help were flabbergasted saying he should be alive, much less walking away unscathed. Truly a miracle.

At first glance his bike was not great but not totaled. Closer look? It's pretty bad and is going to need alot of work. Thank goodness for full coverage insurance and (only) a $500 deductible, right? After calling a tow truck, the boys rode to a near by town outside of Yellowstone and got hotel rooms where Chris could assess the damage and figure out what his next step was. He was restless that night, replaying the accident over and over again in his mind, GRATEFUL that he was alive but not knowing how. So by morning he was exhausted. He wanted to be home with his family. So he rented a U-Haul truck and towed the bike home. By 9pm Chris was home. He sat and hugged and kissed me and the boys over and over again and wouldn't let go. It was extremely emotional for all of us.
Cody was so excited Chris was home. He is definately a Daddy's boy.

I needed to "document" this story/experience as a reminder, to me and my family how truly blessed we are. Talking with my Mom Monday night, she was telling me about her bi-weekly ritual of putting all of her children on the temple prayer list. Last week she had a few minutes to spare before having to be somewhere so she called to put her kids and their spouses on the prayer list, as usual. For some reason she didn't have enough time to put everyone on the list, but surprisingly one name that DID make it was Chris'. I couldn't believe it. I knew right away why and how Chris walked away from that accident. I am so, so, so very thankful for the power of prayer. It works and I have proof.

Funny side story.
Monday after telling me about the accident Chris was telling me that his ear was hurting really bad. Tuesday when he got home, he asked me to look in his ear because it was hurting so bad. I didn't see anything. Wednesday morning he again asked me to look because it was still bothering him. I looked again and found nothing, but suggested he ask the dr when he went to get his hand checked out. He forgot. I came home for lunch and he was laying down. His ear was bothering him alot so I got a flashlight and looked inside and THIS is what I found/pulled out...

When Chris got in the accident he was wearing ear buds. His helmet pushed up against and broke the ear bud off IN his ear!!! Crazy huh?

Pictures Previously Promised

Clayton likes to "salute". Not sure why or what inspires him at those certain moments, but I still think it's pretty cute.

Cody, fresh out of bed-half dressed-complete with full diaper, waiting with Brother for the bus to come.

And he's off!!

Here's to a great first year of elementary school!!

All Over The Place

If you can't tell already by the title, this post is going to be a little "All Over The Place". First off, last time I wrote about my quilt I was contemplating ripping out the top stitching and redoing it. Well I did. I never did find a "free motion foot" for my sewing machine, which has only reassured the thought that I should invest in a brand new sewing machine of my own...with all the parts. Any who, because I couldn't find a free motion foot, I decided to keep my lines straight...diagonal, but straight. It took so many painful hours picking out the top stitching, but it was so worth it. I left in a few of our little swirls, but this is how it turned out.

I am so proud of how it turned out.
This is what "Luck" looks like...PURE LUCK.
I had this much thread left after finishing my quilt's top stitching.

As if I don't have a thousand different projects going on at once, I started a "Rag Quilt" for my new little nephew who's scheduled to make his big debut sometime in late Sept/early Oct. The quilt is Dr. Seuss themed. So it's very colorful and busy, perse. But I love how it's turning out so far.
Just piecing and pinning together

This is after top stitching over each individual square (big AND small) and then combining to make groups of three (one big square to every 2 little squares)

Then this is after combining all my groups of three.
Back-Smooth

Front-"Rag" Style ( I just hadn't cut the excess seam into "rags" yet)

More to come on this baby quilt. I'm either needing to add another row or two, OR add a border all around. I'm a little undecided, so this sits on my dining room table and waits while I brainstorm, and work on other projects of course.

Moving on....Did I tell you Chris bought a Harley?
Chris has been bugging me and bugging me about getting a new bike, so finally I told him-"well we have no room in the garage, so if you are going to get a new bike, 1) you have to sell 2 of the four motorcyles that are in our garage right now, 2)use the money you get from the selling of those 2 bikes for a down payment, and 3) stay within a said amount of $$$". I told him all this thinking there was NO WAY he was going to sell his BMW OR his dirt bike, and there'd be no way he could get a nice bike in our budget range. I was SO WRONG. Chris has a friend named Kelly who works at Harley Davidson. He was selling his Harley so he could get a new one. So Chris jumped on it. Everything on the bike is custom except for the frame. Chris is IN LOVE. And I guess it helps that we got a steal of a deal on it.
Chris sold his dirt bike AND his Beamer. I know I was beside myself too. The dirt bike was on KSL for like an hour and it was sold. The beamer sold within a day or so. That's when I knew he was serious. And that's when he came home with this.

I have to admit, it's a very nice bike. And Clay loves it too. Don't ask me what the model is though, I have no clue.
Currently as we speak, Chris is on a 7 day motorcycle trip with his buddies riding up to Glacier, Montana.

He sent me these two pictures this morning of "Old Faithful" erupting, at Yellowstone National Park. I am so jealous.

Lucky Duck.

Clay's first day of Kindergarten was Thursday, August 2nd. His teacher's name is Mrs. Loeffler. He has a few kids in his class that also go to Daycare with him at Mother's Helper. But his most favorite part of it all is "packing a lunch" and "riding the school bus". He catches the bus at the next door neighbor's house in the morning, has a half day at Kindergarten, and then Mother's Helper picks him up (with another bus) to take him to daycare.

Chris currently has my little point and shoot camera on his motorcycle trip with him. So I'll have to post the pics when Chris gets back of Cody waiting with Clay at the bus stop and then one of Clay getting on the bus.

Cody playing hide n' seek in my couch cushions. If he weren't so darn cute, he would be in BIG trouble! :)

And finally, two weekends ago (July 27th thru July 30th) Chris's sisters-Jessica and Brianne were in town, so we decided to get family pictures done. The last time we had family pictures done with Chris's side of the family, I think Clay was one and Cody wasn't even thought of, so we were long over due.

We also snuck in a few of just our family.

The Grandkids

JCPenny's did a great job, huh? I think I'm going to get our family pic done on canvas this time, but I haven't ordered it yet cause I'm a little bit chicken. I am so obsessed with frames, so what if I don't like it? What if it looks too "bare"?

So that's my totally random post. Stay tuned for my post regarding my wagon project.