Summertime Quilt

I wanted to wait until it was a little sunnier, ya know to get the full effect, but you can't be picky around here when it comes to sunshine--you take what you get!

So this was a little project I've been working on this summer. It was A LOT harder than the baby quilt. Do quilts get exponentially harder as they increase in size? Maybe I should just stick to baby quilts....

But either way, I think it turned out pretty good( as long as you don't look too closely!) and I LOVE the colors! It really reminds me of summer. I love bright happy colors that remind me of happiness :)

Pioneer Trek 2011

This past weekend I had the awesome opportunity to go on our stake's pioneer trek with the youth. What a great, fun and downright incredible experience! I was so dang proud of my girls, doing everything with good attitudes, staying upbeat and even enjoying life without all the makeup and cellphones and stuff.


I had two responsibilities while I was up there: I helped with the activities on Thursday, specifically quilt tying( which I myself had never done before but that's the beauty about you tube tutorials!), and then on Friday I was responsible for the vignette on Native Americans. Basically I did some research about Mormon pioneers and Native Americans on the trail and I gave a 5 minutes shpeal  to the youth when they passed my station with their handcarts. The fun part was that I got to dress up like a Native American! I wore a feathered headdress and bead and moccasins! I told them I was from the Sioux tribe and explained how the Mormons and Native Americans got along pretty well for the most part. Then I proceeded to give them "directions" on how to get to their next point since I was acting as their scout. Except I didn't do it in English--I spoke in Romanian and had Sister Rice, who had been hanging out with me, "translate." It was pretty funny because some of the youth actually thought I was Native American and that I was speaking some form of dialect! HAHA! Yay for Romanian being a very unfamiliar language. :)

I was especially proud of the girls when they did the womens' pull. All the men and boys had to leave and the girls had to pull the handcarts for a little over two miles. They were such troopers! There were some parts that were really hard, but they kept pulling, even those who had severe blisters or twisted ankles. I felt like I got a little glimpse of how Heavenly Father must feel when we work through our trials and challenges, and do it with a good attitude.

I'm so glad I went on this trek, even though I was freezing most of the time ( it dropped down into the 30s at night) and even though I'll probably have dust coming out of my nose and ears for the next week!

We had such good food!

Crossing the "river" It was actually just a little muddy pond

The Womens' Pull

Despite the cold, we pioneers are happy!

Happy Fourth of July!

Yesterday we had an awesome Independence Day! I lounged around most of the day, except for when I made a mean pasta salad ( thank you Crystal!), and Jason worked on his little project. Then we went over to the Boushleys for grilled burgers in the evening and hung out with them for a bit. Afterwards, we all met up with Fernanda and Daniel and walked over to the park in the middle of downtown Bellevue for the firework show. I thought it was pretty good and they even had a live orchestra to accompany it. I've never seen that before. Not too shabby! I am so proud to be an American and I am extremely grateful for the liberties I enjoy! God Bless America!!!