More Snow after Christmas!

Cecil thought the snow was a blast. Unfortunately, it was up past his legs, but he didn't mind. We did lose some plants due to bending and breaking, and no, the trash wasn't collected for 3 weeks.

Christmas is Here!

Marnie celebrates her 10th birthday and then Christmas is upon us. Grandma sent a great present for all the birds at our home starving from the snow. Marnie built it on Christmas afternoon and the birds were eating before we were.

Jack Gets Set

After two weeks in a temporary cast and sling, Jack moves on to a real cast. He ended up choosing blue, just like Frazier did a year ago.

Willards and Huffs at Temple Square

With both families visiting Utah for Thanksgiving, we figured it would be nice to meet up and have fun together. So we headed for the Christmas Lights at Temple Square on Saturday. It was packed with people, but that just made it more exciting. Paul was in the temple, working with his dad, and we were outside, enjoying the sights.

Cousins!

We enjoyed some fantastic pie at Cousin Rick's home in Salt Lake. This is Katie with two of her cousins, McKenna and April.

Outside Helaman Halls

We were waiting for Katie in her dorm when the boys catch sight of a trough of leaves and must attack! 

Off we go to BYU

We are spending Thanksgiving in Provo and Salt Lake so we can see Katie. Calvin here is modeling his new BYU sweatshirt as we wait for Jack's name to be embossed on his new scriptures. Katie had to work so we are enjoying a tour of the campus and remember what it was like to be students.

Jack Breaks His Arm!

That just doesn't look right! The Skagit ER was great to Jack and they fixed him up in about 5 hours. He was retrieving a basketball from some unopened bleachers when they shook and he fell off. He will be in a cast for 6 weeks or so and learning to write with his left hand.

Midsummer Night's Dream

Calvin, Tiffany, and Alex pose at the close of another performance of Midsummer Night's Dream. Calvin is doing his interpretation of Nick Bottom, sometimes with donkey ears, Tiffany is one of Oberon's fairies (you should see the light-up wings), and Alex is Moonshine in the play within a play. The troupe of players is the most hilarious thing ever! We were crying with mirth.

Barn Chickens

 I have been teaching this quilt class at Cotton Pickins' and have been enjoying immensely. Buggy Barn Quilts in Eastern Washington has created many quilts like this. There is an element of slack-and-slash to them. Once I finished all my chickens, I stitched quilted messages in the borders. "Did You Remember to Feed the Chickens?" is one of the phrases used frequently in my house.

Friendly Beasts

There is nothing like catching animals getting along together. Cecil, the chickens, and Chuckles (the silly kitty) are enjoying some fall sun. They just didn't know I would catch them being so nice.

Busy Saturdays

Last Saturday was so busy, it took me until Tuesday to recover. The Primary kids had a pre-Sacrament meeting practice beginning at 9am and Frazier had band practice at 9am. That would have been fine if we didn't run out of gas 100 ft out of the driveway. Paul came and saved us and we were off. I was supposed to set up our tent for the Quilt show raffle quilt at the Harvest Jubilee by 8:45am, and you can guess that didn't happen till 9:30am. It was pouring down rain so we worked fast. 

Later in the day we rode the little train running around the parking lot. Frazier enjoyed the warmth of the local library. Calvin performed on the outdoor stage, but I was playing for him on the electric keyboard so I don't have a photo. After the 2pm performance we goofed off at the thrift store until we needed to pack up the tent and go home. We all got home at 5pm and collapsed. Wouldn't you know, this Saturday is beautifully sunny at 70 degrees.

Reliving My Childhood

While visiting my parents in Temecula, they mentioned a new Bob's Big Boy had opened downtown. Mom and Dad were so nice to take us there for lunch and it was wonderful! I couldn't believe that the boys actually were full when we left. Here is Papa and me in my favorite spot.

Goin' to the Country...

Jackson, Marnie, and I canned peaches on Wednesday. Of course, it was difficult to keep from eating them, and we ended up with 11 quarts out of 45 pounds. We did make a couple of pies and cobblers, but most of them disappeared out of hand.

Back to School

It's time for the kids to head off to school. That means 5 children in 4 different schools. With Katie away at BYU, we have a little more room for the spiral bound notebooks and bottles of glue. Marnie moved into the boys' room and everyone settled down.

Howard is working on his music while at school. He will be auditioning soon for the school play. It looks like Midsummer Night's Dream. He's also participating in some auditions for an 80s band. He sure knows a lot of vocals, so he may be singing. Yesterday he played the drums for the first time, and now wants to meet up with his Uncle Tad and learn to jam.

Today is Marnie's field trip into the corn mazes of Snohomish. It is a perfect fall day and being a little height-challenged will be fun for her!

Katie Settles in at BYU

She's a Coed! Katie is all settled into her dorm at Heritage Halls and enjoying 5 roommates (and 1 bathroom). Combining honors government and writing with organ and voice class can only mean: She's going to be busy.

With her half of the room set up, Katie gets right to the work of finding her financial aid. It did take about a week to work out the kinks, but she made it happen. I only hope her room still looks this nice!

She needed a quilt, of course. Be Attitudes was the perfect pattern for a college coed. Good Luck!

Collecting Granite

 Paul took Calvin and Jackson up to the cabin in Baring to gather some granite. The fireplace that Grandma and Grandpa Willard had built in the 1960s was falling away from the structure. So Dean had it torn down and replaced. This left a great mound of granite rock to be gathered and brought home.

I used them to border the garden beds and the fire pit.

Buchart Gardens

 For Katie's graduation, Nana, Papa, Katie and I went to Canada to see Butchart Gardens. It is a reclaimed quarry that has been transformed into a family-run garden for over 100 years. There are many lessons to learn here: creating rooms, pathways, height, water features, and color design.

Katie's Graduation

 We were so excited to watch Katie graduate from Stanwood High School. Both the Willards and McKays were in attendance so we needed a lot of tickets. After graduation Nana, Papa, Katie, and I took a trip to Whidbey Island and to Butchart Gardens in B.C. We had loads of fun!

Maple Leaves

 This batik quilt is based a pattern with a lot of 3-D triangles. It's fun to play with, but hard to quilt. My hopping foot kept getting caught on them. After I quilted it, I was unsatisfied with the amount of quilting, so I reloaded it and worked more with different colored threads.

Fiddler on the Roof

 Months of practicing culminated in two weeks of performances at the PAC at Stanwood High School. Katie was cast as the Matchmaker, Yente, and Calvin performed with the ensemble throughout the show and in the Russian bottle dance. They were fantastic!

Calvin's Birthday

 Calvin had the opportunity to invite friends over this year. It's a bit tricky to get kids all the way down the Island, but they arrived and we had a great time. Adam, Nathan, Jacob, Ammon, Alex, Taylor, and David came and celebrated.