Sewing Fun

I decided after looking for a swimsuit coverup in the stores for a while, one that would work for our upcomming cruise that we are going on with my parents, I decided to undertake making some sun dressses. It was my first time doing this all on my own and I was so very nervous but thanks to the help of a friend in my ward I was able to do it. One of them is a sundress that I can wear with a white t-shirt under to church. The purple one sadly because of an error I made while cutting out the pattern, is to short but will work great to wear to the pool. Also I was looking for an easy to make purse and found a pattern on Martha Stewarts website using a pillow case. It was super easy and I had fun making it.. I have included pictures for your enjoyment.

Finally an Update

Life has been a bit crazy for us. I did finally make an outfit for our dog Sophi. Hopefully I am able to load one on here. I found that I had to add a collar on it because otherwise she is able to wiggle out of it..I made one without and a second one with. Its crazy to think that our dog has to have a sweater because she gets cold. Today she has been so cold she was huddled on my lap under a blanket with the sweater on. At the first part of March right after my birthday we went to Oklahoma City to spend time with my family and some friends. As is usually the case the trip wasn't long enough. But hopefully we will be able to make a trip back soon..So the airfare needs to quit going up dang it. While we were there we went to the zoo and took two of my nephews with us because Jackson was sick and Tiffany had to take him to the doctor. John and I had a blast spending time with them. Oh how I have missed them. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. We are greatful for all the help we got from my family friends and Johns dad in helping him get his surveys done for his Capstone Project. This is his final step in finishing his masters, and at the last minute we needed help getting the survey completed.
I have gotten serious about quilting and am working on two right now. One is closer to being done than the other and hopefully next week Im going to make a trip to one of the Fabric stores to get what I need to finish the top of one of them.

Im loving being in Primary. For the first time in a while I look forward to going to church. My class is full of active children but they make me smile every week.
This is Sophi in the second sweater I made for her
My nephew with a bird on his shoulder. His little brother wanted nothing to do with his lol.

New Project

We have found that no matter how hard we try to keep Sophi off the couch that for the time being its a losing battle, especially when we leave her home alone. The advantage is she doesn't scratch up our couch she just likes to curl up into a ball and go to sleep. John suggested that I make a blanket out of fleece for her to lay on. So last week I went to Hancock Fabrics which had all their fleece on sale for 50% off and bought enough to make this blanket and two coats for Sophi. I finished the blanket today. I took two yards of fleece, cut them in have and then just tied the two halves together by cutting strips. It was an easy project and she loves it. I hope to make the jackets this week. Some of you may say why are you making clothing for your dog? Well shes very tiny, lived in Las Vegas for most of her 4 years so shes not used to our colder weather. And its cheaper to make them than to buy them. Espeically since she doesn't like the sweaters. So far the only thing she doesn't fight wearing is a fleece jacket we bought her so I have taken on this challenege and will post pictures when Im done.
Sophi is a wonderful addition to our home. Shes very loving and so far only one accident and that was the first night. Johns working on training her a little more and so far its going good.
Love you all. Have a great day.

Carrot Cake and a New Arrival

So lots of good things going on with us right now. First off, I decided last Sunday that I wanted to try to make a Carrot Cake that was more Diabetic Friendly that the ones you find at a bakery or a store. So I went online to DiabeticLiving.Com ( I think thats the website) and found one. It has about 25 carbs per serving which is a lot but not as much as if you have a regular one. I had a blast and it was very Yummy and Yes I made it from scratch.

Our next bit of news is that we adopted a new dog. We have named her Sophi. John and I talked a lot about whether or not we wanted to get another dog. In the end I told him I would love another one but it was up to him as to when and if we got one. On Saturday morning he went online and found a dog that caught his interest. She was a bigger dog, slightly smaller than Cheyenne was but he decided he didnt want to go look at her on Saturday. Well yesterday he said he was going to "go get a paper". Well 20 mins later I got a text with a picture of one dog and then a few mins later he sent another with one of Sophi. He then called and said I needed to drive down. So I did and we decided she needed to be part of our home. Shes 4 and came up to Reno from Las Vegas. Shes a Fox Terrier Jack Russell Mix. So far shes very mellow. We have to work on her not eating our food and getting her to tell us when she has to go potty but so far shes wonderful. She is potty trained its just knowing when she has to go out. We have found that she is small enough to get threw our front yard fence so we have to watch her carefully. Below are some pictures of her.

Cheyenne

As some of you may have heard, last night (Wednesday January 19th) John and I had to make the difficult decision to have our beloved dog Cheyenne put to sleep. John has had her since she was about a year old and she was a dear pet to both he and his first wife Katrina. I had grown to love her as well in the year and a half since she has been in my life. Tuesday night we took her with us when we went to the gym. She would ride with us and then wait in the back of our truck. When we got home and had her go out to go potty before we went to bed. As she came back in she slipped comming in the door. It took a minute but we got her in the house. That night she didnt sleep and was very restless. I woke up at 3:30 am and let her out again and then took her out at 6:30 when I got up to get ready. When I got home John gave her a couple of her favorite treats. At around 11am she went out did her business and then came in and had a big drink. For most of the rest of the day she slept. She had a look like she didnt feel good and wasn't really acting herself. When John got home from work and when we couldnt get her to eat what we knew she would normally eat we called a vet that lives in our ward and he said to take her to the after hours animal hospital. We did and after the Vet looked at her she said more than likely she had a brain tumor and because she was 17 years old the best thing was to put her to sleep. I will miss her dearly and so will John. She had a way to make you smile when you were down. Rest in peace baby girl. We love you and will miss you always.

Exciting News!

Before anyone jumps to conclusions NO I am NOT Pregnant! LOL. John and I are comming to Oklahoma City and will be there March 5th to I believe the 9th. We wanted to stay longer but to do that would have cost us about $300 more. I miss my family and friends dearly and have been bugging him for a while for us to take a trip back. And since things at work have been beyond crazy and stressful for him, we decided a few weeks ago to go ahead and take the trip. I may have done some major arm twisting but after the stresses I have gone through the past few months I need family time.
In my last posting I indicated that I had a new calling in Primary. I am now a Co-Teacher for the CTR 5 Class. Sister Laster and I will trade off weeks that we teach. Im super excited about this change. I have no stress and have found joy in a calling for the first time in a long time. Our ward has a very small Primary but we have some very special kids.
The other fun thing is that I am going to get practice being a mother of a two month old and a three year old for the next two weeks. My friend is having to work this month of January in order for her insurance to cover the recent birth of her daughter. And since Im not working she asked me if I would mind watching the kids when her mother in law went out of town. So we will see if I have it in me LOL. Seriously I have been around her kids and they are both a joy to be around so im excited about it and a little extra spending money won't hurt either.

Changes

As many of you know back at the end of September I was called to be the First Counselor in our Wards Relief Society. At the time I was very overwhelmed but I jumped into it head first and worked very hard. I prayed for guidance and made every attempt to serve to the best of my ability. The last few months have been very challenging for me. My poor mom and husband have had been my rock and sounding board. For that I am truely greatful. Today after many months I was released and put into Primary. There are those I worked with who think they know the reason why, however what they think is not the case. The reasons are not important but I know I did my best.
I would like to share what I learned. I am a much stronger person than I thought and I have learned to stand up for myself even if it means stepping on toes along the way. When I have prayed for answers and guidance and I get the answer DO NOT try to tell me that my answers are wrong. Second, ruling those you are serving with an iron fist, can smother their spirit. This is what happened to me. Those of you who know me well know that me not wanting to go to church is not who I am. Sadly this had become the case. I didnt like the person I was becomming and I was miserable. I hope the President I served with learns the lessons she needs to learn, I hope she is able to grow in the ways she needs. Sadly I cannot be the person to help her.