Easter Dresses in Action

Alright, back by popular demand are the Easter dresses, in action. You'll notice (this is so funny to me) that Breanne is actually the only one wearing a sash in these pictures--everyone started out with one, but I didn't have enough time to measure and cut and *sew on* anyone's sashes, so they were just tied around them like a belt. Of course this meant they were falling off everywhere, so Janey's and Cailin's ended up in my bag. Breanne was the only one who kept hers on all day. And she was the one who chose the satin ribbon (not as thick or bright a white as the grosgrain, but I ran out... sashes are LONG!). Sigh. :)

I love how the dresses turned out, and I love even more how much the girls liked them. Breanne was begging to wear hers for the two days it was finished before Easter, and couldn't wait to put it on on Sunday. I love reactions like that. :)

And now, for your viewing pleasure, I give you a video clip... so you can see how Cailin pretty much destroyed her dress (not really, it's in the wash and doing fine, but it sure looked bad after this). It was all my fault, really, since she didn't want to come outside and take pictures after church (she desperately needed a nap). I may or may not have told the girls to bribe her with her Easter basket of treats. That girl loves her some treats. Maybe someday I'll be able to just get pictures of them all smiling and happy... but for now, I'll take what I can get (and do it in video so you can see that they're actually happy). :)

Easter Dresses

Now this is why I sew. I love, love LOVE when a project in my head actually comes out looking like I want it to. I'm not sure I've ever made something I like so much. So... one down, two more (partially done) to go!

Close-up of the fabric:

It's hard to see it not in real life, but the shirring caused the embroidered flowers to gather up as tight little puffy flowers... love:

There is some debate about whether or not to add the ribbon (Breanne doesn't really want it), but I think it looks better with it. What do you think?

To give credit where credit is due--I based this dress off of images of Made's Summer Vacation Dress, with a lot of help on the sleeves from my wonderful friend e. over at pinksuedeshoe (this is almost the same as her Turtle Dress). I love the look of the shirred bodice, and it's so easy to do! I changed it up from both of those, though, with my own addition of a circle skirt. I love me some circle skirts. Minus the hem, but that's a different story. :)

First Decoration!

So... since we've moved in, I've been trying to figure out how to decorate this house. Those that visited my Provo house know that I'm not a big decorator in the first place, but add to that the massive wall spaces I've got here, and well... let's just say the walls are still bare.
BUT.
I did make something for my front door over the last few days (as a reward to myself for working so hard to get our taxes taken care of). I gave you a sneak peak yesterday, and today I'm ready to show off the final project. A new wreath!




If you've hung out here on the blog long enough, you know that I have a slight obsession with felt. So when I saw these wreaths in a couple different places, I knew I had to try one. I fell in love with the cream colored one, but when I went to my felt stash, I realized I didn't have enough of it to make a whole wreath, so I started layering other colors. I love the way the browns blend (in real life that is, they look a little funny in the pics, sorry). I didn't really realize until I was nearly done though, just how fall-ish the wreath kind of is. So, I may be making another, more springy one. I just love the look of it. What do you think?

Sneak Peek

Because a girl can only take so much of working with tax numbers...

On Souls

A story, but first, a preface: Are you familiar with the song All These Things that I've Done by the Killers? Well, I happen to quite like that song, so Cory put it on a mix CD for me. The girls listened to it in the car, decided they liked it, and now regularly ask me to play the "not a soldier" song. Janey went through a phase back when we were moving where she sang it as "I got soda, but I'm not a soldier," which was, of course, adorable and hilarious. Anyway, on to today's story:

Today, we were sitting in Sacrament meeting, listening to the prayer on the bread. In part of it, they mention souls. Breanne turned to me after the prayer, and said "Mom, he said soul! I'm not a soul!" I said "Everyone on earth has a soul, it's in our bodies." She accepted this answer and started to turn away, when Janey, with an excited look in her eye shout-whispered "Mom, I've got a soul, but I'm not a soldier!"



Maybe you had to be there, or maybe you just have to be her parent, but I thought it was hilarious. I love that look in Janey's eyes, and her ability to tie things together. Moments like that just make it all worthwhile.

A Present for Mom

Yesterday, Breanne disappeared for a while. I called up the stairs to her to make sure she was ok, and she yelled back, "Yeah mom, I'm fine. I'll be down in a minute. I'm making a present for you. You're going to just love it! I know you will." A few minutes later, she came down with this:


How did she know that having my pins all organized by color was just what I wanted? :)

Piggies and a Cookie

What could be better?

I'm back!

Well, we made it! We're in CA, and finally starting to settle into our new house. The girls and I have been here for almost 3 weeks now, Cory for 6, and for the most part, we LOVE it. I'm finally feeling like things are put together/away enough (and I finally have a little energy to put toward it) that I can take the time to blog. So hopefully, I'll be able to pick this neglected bit of a blog back up and start writing again.

Many of you have requested pictures of our new house--I am happy to oblige you now, at least for a couple of rooms worth. :) I don't have the whole house put together yet, but I can show you a few of my favorite things about the house.

Janey and Cailin's Room:

Breanne's Room (which was clean when I started taking pictures of the house... but the girls love playing in there, so by the time I got to it... well... it looks played in):

Cory's and my room (why yes, it is huge and EMPTY... After living in 4 different tiny and packed master bedrooms, I LOVE the open and bare space):


Our ridiculous closet and bathroom (keep in mind that we've never even had a bathroom counter in our marriage... now we have our own huge bathroom, and the girls have their own as well... plus a bathroom downstairs--talk about crazy and frivolous!):

Hazel's favorite spot:

My favorite spot (a built in desk in the loft at the top of the stairs, with plenty of fabric storage space... :))

I love having this lock that keeps the girls safely in the house even if someone knocks while I'm taking a shower or something:

And last, our front room/formal dining area:


I know there is a lot to be said about living in a smaller home and making things work for you, but right now we are really loving being able to stretch out and enjoy some space finally. We are SO blessed to be able to have a home like this right now, even if we are just renting it.

I'll leave you with this video of the girls (mostly Cailin) enjoying our completely fenced, very private back yard. There's grass back there, too, you just don't see it in this video.

Just Girls

So while Cory was out of town for his interviews this morning, the girls and I went and had a few pictures taken. I'm thinking, if Cory's leaving us here, he ought to have a decent picture of us there. So my awesome friend Rachelle took a bunch for us. You can see them on Rachelle's blog, LaRee Photography. Cailin had a really rough night last night, and wanted NO part of being out in the cold, and screamed pretty much the entire time. Janey was just cold. And Breanne was complaining about the sun being in her eyes (sounds strangely like some guy I married). And yet, I still feel like we got some good shots. Rachelle is just that good. :)

STOP FREAKING OUT

Ok, so apparently my cryptic-ness isn't appreciated. But I've been sitting on some news for nearly a month now, and it's kind of killing me. As in I think I've lost 5 pounds just from thinking about it. So, here it is.

We're moving. To California. Cupertino. (It's at the base of the SF bay, if you don't know where that is). (It's also Apple Headquarters). Do you see where I'm going with this?

That's right, Cory's taking a new job, working at Apple. Whether he actually works *for* Apple, or with a contract company there (TCS, who has already made him an offer) is yet to be decided, as he has one last interview at Apple on Tuesday. The decision we make after that is what I was waiting for to tell you all about this, but (in case you haven't noticed), I'm not a big fan of crazy, and not everyone knowing what's going on was causing a bit too much crazy for me. So there it is.

This post is making me sound angry and bitter. I should change my tone, because honestly--we're pretty darn excited about the whole thing. I'm scared out of my mind at the prospect of leaving Utah (I've never been out of the state for more than 2 weeks) and my family, raising my kids in a place like California, and learning to navigate a non-grid-system area, but I'm SO excited for us to have our own adventure. In a new place for all of us. It will be OUR time, as our little family. And of course anyone is more than welcome to come visit whenever they want. :) Driving through the redwoods to get to the beach... yes please. And 70 degree weather... I can handle that, for sure. (The cost of California is a different story, but the salary in the current job offer is such that I'm trying not to worry too much about that. Yet. The numbers all work out in our favor, so it should be good). Also, Cory's parents gave us a GPS for Christmas. It's like they knew I'd need it or something. Anyway, the real reason that we are taking one of these jobs is simple. If you know Cory at all, you know that this has been a lifelong dream for him. How many people actually get to live their dreams out? And how could I ever even consider saying no? I am so, so, so excited for my husband to get to take a chance to do something he's always loved. He is so good to our family, and he truly deserves this.

The real reason I haven't told many people about this yet is just because there are still so many variables, so many questions, that we don't have answers for. We don't know if we'll have an actual job offer from Apple yet, we don't know which offer we'll end up taking if there is a second, we don't know when all our family will move, we don't know what we're going to do with our current house in the current market, etc. We do know that if Cory takes the current offer he has, he'll start working on the 21st, possibly the 22nd. Of February. Yes, next week. Crazy, right? But also, we know that the girls and I will stay here at that time, until Cory finds a nice place for us to all live, and we're able to pack everything up and move it. It'll be a few weeks at least. We're guessing in the ballpark of 6, though the thought of being here on my own that long kind of makes me cringe. I seriously look forward to when Cory comes home for lunch every afternoon, and when he's done with work for the day. So do the girls. I know so many women can do it all on their own, and I will be able to, too, but I am positive we'll miss him. Immensely. So I'd like to keep our separation as short as possible.

There are so many things that we are going to miss about where we currently are. We love our house, our neighbors, our ward, our friends, our activity groups, the area in which we live--so while this current situation is very, very sweet, there is a lot of bitter in there, too. Thankfully, we still have blogs, facebook, and Skype and iChat to keep us all in touch with everyone. This is going to be a great change, but not an easy one.

And that is the story. You may all stop freaking out now. Thank you.