Concert Pianist?

I've just discovered that Owen knows what it means to "smile". Silly momma, he probably could have done this a long time ago. And by the way, this kid loves music...

Ode to Nana.

I have been meaning to sit down at my sewing machine for ages now. I even got some encouragement from Andrea to just do it. So, this week I stayed home from Indian Valley for several reasons, one of which was to get caught up on many, many things. I did get caught up and therefore had a bit of extra time to sew.

Years ago I received a big load of fabric from my Nana, along with several unique hankies. When I was a little girl, I used to wear these little aprons at Nana and Papa's and thought I might make some adult-sized ones for me now with the materials she had given to me. It is very crude, but so meaningful to me and I just had to share it with all of you. I have one more to make, so we will see if I can't keep up on things and find some extra time while Owen sleeps.

Can you tell what is on the hankie?

What Not To Wear.

I love this show. In fact, I have it set to record any shows that play that I have not seen. I am not finding much time to watch what I have recorded, but occasionally I get to sit and view them after Owen goes to bed. The other night I was watching Vandy get transformed and through the whole show I kept thinking she reminded me of someone. Then finally, it dawned on me, can anyone guess? AMANDA MARBLE! It wasn't until she was all pretty and sophisticated-looking, so no worries, Amanda;) So, those of you who know Amanda, watch this episode and tell me if you think she reminds you of Amanda too. The first picture is Vandy and the second is my friend, Amanda. I shamelessly stole her work pic from Pepperdine's website.

Delicious Goodness.

I was the selected recipient of these wonderful, delicious snickerdoodles handmade by Andrea. And, I must admit I ate two right off the bat (and it was only 6:45 in the morning!) and they were go-ooo-od! Needless to say, they didn't last long. THANK YOU, ANDREA!!

Andrea's post (highlighted above) got me thinking... I have always had to wait for about 15 minutes (or more) for my oven to pre-heat and, even though frustrated by it, just thought that that was normal for my oven. I took Andrea's advice and bought an oven thermometer to just make sure that my oven reading was as accurate as I had believed it to be. So, after spending $3 on an oven thermometer, I discovered that like Andrea said, my oven was not "pre-heated" when it said it was. It still had 100 degrees more to go. AND, after that, the temperature was no where near where I wanted it. I was baking french fries for dinner the other night and turned the oven on to 400 degrees. It said that it was pre-heated at 250 degrees-ha! Then I waited another 5-10 minutes and it only got to 300. I ended up taking about 45 minutes of adjusting and waiting and finally got my oven to 400 degrees by setting the knob to almost 500 degrees! Can we say-Need a new heat coil? Ugh! I am amazed how I have worked with this oven and not gotten us sick in the last seven years! Maybe that can be my excuse for not making cookies very often ;)

Busy.

Owen has been a busy boy since he turned one. Okay, maybe WE have all three been busy since he was BORN! But, I did capture a few pictures of some of his (our) latest happenings.

Owen is starting to "help" us do things now. This is where my extra dose of patience needs to kick in. I also need to resign myself to the fact that "Yes, this will take twice as long, but it is worth it to him to let him help." Here is Owen "helping" Byron mow the lawn.
His current favorite things are putting his basketballs into the kid basketball hoop Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Terry got for him for his birthday, taking a bath or being in any sort of water (more on this in another post), being outside (no matter how hot it is-Indian Valley is practically desert), and his daddy, his daddy, his daddy...
Here is a shot of him covered in dirt in Indian Valley (where Byron and Anthony are currently building a house and where we are spending the majority of our summer days).
Alli and Owen in the motor home in Indian Valley. They were stripped down to their diapers to keep them cool in the hot summer weather. Thank you, Lord, for air conditioning!
We will be in Indian Valley during the weekdays and home on weekends-for those of you wondering where we have been. Any prayers for safe travels, work going smoothly, and the ability to tolerate hot weather would be greatly appreciated!!

My Talented Nephew.

Parker has embarked on t-ball this summer and I had one of his fellow t-ballers take our picture at one of their games. This is just a little shout out to my nephew who we think so much of and are glad to call him our nephew.