Frazier's Big News

 It was a typical Thursday when Paul and I were coordinating our schedules to work at the temple. I would drive to the high school to play the piano for women's choir. Then Paul would pick me up at 12:30pm and we would go together to the temple. This time, Katie was going with us to the temple. Sure enough, Frazier's mission call arrived in the mail, so they grabbed it, picked me up, and then we all continued to the machine shop to show Frazier. I called Br. Edmonds ahead of time to let him know. Frazier was waiting for us.

When he said Brazil Manaus, I said, "No!" We already have a son in Brazil! But Frazier was excited, and I know his Spanish will help him learn Portuguese. He was excited to get out since he is 18, but the visa wait will be long.

Jackson's Birthday

 We enjoyed celebrating Jackson's birthday at The Chatterbox, an Asian restaurant in Stanwood. We've never had a bad meal there. Everything is delicious. On this day, they surprised us and brought out a piece of cake just as we were leaving. So sweet!

Katie is Home!

 Would you believe that we were late to pick up our first missionary from the airport? We had a sign and everything, but traffic was terrible and we arrived to see Katie waiting for her luggage. How awful we felt! But Katie was excited to see us and she looked wonderful. Marnie wore her most appropriate shirt.

Kitchen Remodel

We are almost done with the kitchen remodel. I'm so excited to get everything in place and actually use it. I love the quartz countertops. It's time to get the lighting installed and wheel in the refrigerator. I'm not too worried about the backsplash, but I'm thinking of something like penny tile. We'll see.

Before

Demo

Almost there.

That's perfect.

Union Jack

 Once I had three panels ready, I was able to stitch them together. But they are quite large and a little difficult to handle without tweaking the bias.

The entire quilt is about 70"x 55" and looks quite bright and lively in the living room.

The above is hanging outside in the sunshine and below in the Camano Island Quilter's Show. Note that the binding is not white. There is no possible way to keep such a white binding clean.

Posts from Katie

Katie sends the most delightful letters from her mission to England. She is such a wonderful writer and always attaches pictures of her companions. I am so glad she was able to spend time in London before her mission on study abroad. She reports learning lots from these wonderful sisters and about sharing stories and movie plots as they walk the cobblestone streets.

Check on the Garden

 When I'm busy, I prefer to go out into the garden. I love getting into the soil and pull weeds. I remember when I was little and wanted to earn money, my mom sent me outside to pull weeds, promising that she'd pay me a penny per weed. I earned $8. 

Lamb's Ears

Globe Thistle (Echinops)

Teddy Bear Sunflowers

Hellebore

Clematis

Peony

Rosa unidentified

Dahlia