Off to Camp KoHoLoWo!

Several months ago we were asked to be camp hosts at KoHoLoWo. We have done this in years past but this year would be different. There would be no girl's at camp! What? No girl's at Camp KoHoLoWo. We have always done it with the girl's of our stake. It is the off season right now but they still need hosts. We loaded the trailer and off we went. We spent the whole week in peace and quiet. I must say things are different when we don't have the company of all the stake leaders and the girl's. I missed them! The drive up Payson Canyon was beautiful, the leaves on the trees were sporting their new fall colors.

My favorite time of the year is fall so it was really nice to be in the canyon all week and watch the changes in the leaves over that time.

Almost there!

Kira and Kaitlyn, Thayne and McKinley drove up on Wednesday. We spent the morning cutting out our bags for our get away next weekend.

The two little ones played on the picnic tables and loved all the wide open space they could run around in. We had the whole lodge to ourselves.

We went back to the trailer and fixed sandwich's for lunch before they headed back down. We had a great time, didn't we kids?

Most evenings we watched the deer in the meadow. I think these are the camp pets. They don't go very far from camp.

Stuart found time to sit and relax. He took his gun to get it sighted in for the upcoming deer hunt. I stayed in the trailer while he was shooting. Just a tad loud for me. He did offer me ear plugs though!

Friday evening we had a group of Relief Society sisters come up for the night. Some of them chose to stay the night. They all stayed in the lodge instead of using the dorms. Kira, John and the kids drove up with their trailer and stayed the weekend. Karas helped us make cupcakes for the birthday party.

On Saturday night we were celebrating two birthdays. Mine and Kira's.

Did you know they even have boy stuff at camp? Hatch and Thayne really liked the small tractor. They went with Grandpa and Dad(John) to clean out some of the ditches around the camp grounds.

The guys did a bit of service work in the lodge. They worked on a few odds and ends that needed some repairs.

Did you know Jacob has a hidden talent? He played the piano with Karas and Thayne. It was fun to have him join us on Saturday morning.

Yum, the first chili batch of the season. It was cool enough to enjoy chili and scones for our birthday dinner.

Wouldn't you love to have a kitchen this size?

Meet our server Hatch, he came up with this idea. I dished, he served.

The Carter Clan

Jacob and Hatch lovin the scones with lots of honey butter.

Happy Birthday to two of the cutest girl's at camp! Don't you think?

We had a great time as hosts and spending time with the family. I bet your wondering what I did all week aren't you. Stayed tuned.

"PURE" & Simple!

As promised, here is the quilt I promised to show you as soon as I got it back from the quilter. Isn't it adorable? I am so happy with the end results of this quilt. It's made from the "Pure" line from Sweetwater for Moda. I have named it "PURE" & Simple Pinwheels. This little baby quilt is perfect for a little boy. In fact it belongs to Baby Mitchell that will be joining our family in December. This is a fun new technique for making pinwheels. I used the mini Twister ruler and 2 charm packs. We have these in kits at the shop if you think you can't live without one. We do have the rulers in to. They have been on back order for quite some time now. We also have the big Twister ruler that you use on layer cakes. I need to post about my latest layer cake twister quilt. I am teaching this technique in a class on Oct. 30th. Come twist the day away with me!

"PURE" joy for a baby boy!

A close up of some of the quilting. The whole quilt is done in swirls, but I especially like the outside border. If you want to see a close up of this quilt it's on display at the shop.

Things that excite a quilter!

We got a new line of fabric in the shop on Thursday. As I was folding the fat quarters this is how one of them turned out. Never in a million years would this happen again if I tried. I even had eye witness' that this really happened. Look how Boy is centered right dab in the middle. What are the chances? Things that excite a quilter! This deserves a raise don't you think? Or just call me the Fat Quarter Queen!

It's birthday time!

Myrna and Verna (Mary Ann & Shannon) are celebrating birthdays this week. Mary Ann's is Sunday and mine is on Tuesday. If you remember from one of my previous posts we were known as Myrna and Verna, twin sisters during the shop hop in June. On Thursday we celebrated at the shop by ordering take out from Art City Trolley. They have the best salad in town and the most delicious carrot cake. We also had cupcakes from the Sweet Tooth Fairy. I think we were on a sugar high all afternoon. We had a blast celebrating another year together.

This is the gift Mary Ann gave me. Isn't it the truth, we have so much fun working and sharing many laughs together. I am so glad that I have such a friend as Verna! If I were to get in trouble she's the one I would want to do it with, just so I could say "WOW, that was fun".

Our cupcakes,

and carrot cake.

And excitement was in the mail today. I received a package all the way from the Netherlands.

Who else could it be from but Yvonne. She was so thoughtful in remembering my birthday.

Everything was wrapped so cute.

I couldn't even wait to get cleaned up before I opened my gifts, that's how excited I was. Yvonne just celebrated her birthday on the 1st of September. She sent me a birthday favor from her big 50th birthday bash.

One would think Yvonne was sending back her Utah quilt, but she took the picture of the quilt and used it for the cover of a book that she put together. In the book were pictures we had taken when they were here in August. I had a hard time holding back the tears. It was a "picture" perfect gift to remember our meeting and all the fun times we had while they were in Utah. I will cherish this always. She also knows I love jewelry, she sent me a really awesome necklace as well. She really spoiled me. Here is an example of some of the pages in the book. These couple of pages are from the quilt show here in Spanish Fork, where I presented her with the Utah quilt I made for her. It also has the article which appeared in the Spanish Fork Press telling of our blogging relationship.

These pages are from our adventure to the Strawberry valley. We stopped and let Alex and Yvonne shoot. They loved every minute of it. I am so glad I have something to remember these fantastic outings by. Thank you Yvonne and Alex for such a special birthday gift. You just made my day even happier.

It's a Date!

Last Saturday night Stuart and I decided to do some relaxing in the trailer. We ended up wathcing the Nascar race and popping some popcorn for our treat. What a fun time we had. We haven't really gotten to use the trailer since we got it so we even decided to sleep out there.

There's nothing like cozying up in front of the fireplace on a cool, crisp autumn night.

Camping in the drive way, there's nothing quite like it!!

"8" is GREAT!

Am I really old enough to have a grandson that was just baptized? Over the Labor Day weekend we had the privledge to witness this fine young man's baptism. We are so proud of Hatch for making this decision. He is such a good boy, he is always looking out for Karas and Thayne. He is considerate and loving to others and is always willing to help people out. Especially both his grandpa's and his neighbors. Congratulations Hatch for being baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Such a big decision when your eight. We couldn't be more proud to call you our grandson. We are so lucky to have you in our family. I thank my Heavenly Father for sending such a sweet spirit to your mother and dad. They have done a fine job teaching you right from wrong.

Hatch and his dad, John getting ready to enter the waters of baptism.

A couple of weeks before the big day, I got a phone call from Hatch. I wondered what he wanted, he rarely calls just out of the blue. He was calling to ask me to give the talk on baptism. What an honor, but it's been a very long time since I was in the Primary. Why would such a small task make me so nervous. Of course I said yes. I couldn't turn down this cute kid and heck you only get baptized once in your life. Right? So the talk went on without a hitch.

Afterwards we met at the Carter house for a nice luncheon. At Hatch's request we had brisket with all the trimmings. Everything tasted delish.

Kira had the bar all set up with a western flare. She had a picture of Hatch as a newborn and on the other side she had his present picture. My how he has grown.

Dosen't he look older in this picture. He almost looks like a missionary. The way time flies he will be doing that too.

Of course, Grandma Thomas' potatoe salad. I know it was the same salad but where was the yellow bowl she always makes it in. Kira can make a mean potatoe salad. I am so glad she spent the time with mom learning the secrets of making it. Miss Angie made cupcakes for dessert (another blog post later). She really has gotten into the cupcake making business. They were totally awesome.

My two favorite "big" boys, Hatch and Uncle Jacob.

Hatch with the proud grandparents.

The proud mom and the hostess of the day. Thanks to the Carter Clan for such a wonderful afternoon. Next it's Karas' turn, oh my!

Nedra is "WONDER"-ful!

I have been a follower of Cactus-needle.blogspot.com for quite sometime now. The host of this blog is Nedra Sorenson from St. George and she is a wonderful person. She does the most amazing things. She happens to work at Quiltedworks, one of my stops I have to make while I am done there. Back in July she posted about the neatest thing that some of her sewing friends had gotten together to make. It's called the Wonder Box or a Cooler/Cooker Bag. I knew I wanted to make one of these amazing things right off the get go. She is going to be teaching it as a class in September but it was on a day I wouldn't be in the area. Rats!
I stopped in the shop the last time I was in the area and Nedra happened to be there. I was so glad to finally meet her. She was so pleasant and was so willing to get me a kit to make the Wonder Box on my own. Even after all of the hastle of getting things ready for my kit, I left the shop without my pattern. Nedra tracked me down to let me know or else I would still be waiting to make mine. She was so nice to take it home with her. I just had to pick it up at her home before I left St. George. Thank you, Nedra for taking such good care of me.
This is the wonder box that all the hype is about. It kind of reminds me of a miniture bean bag chair or a very plushy pillow!

It has a top and a bottom. This is a bag that can keep foods cold or hot for hours. Yes, they really work. The bags are feeled with polystryrean beads, the kind used for bean bag chairs. They are made from mid-weight fabric. This is Nedra's bag that's on display at Quiltedworks. This is my cute Amy Butler fabric that Nedra helped me pick out and then we went to work measuring the beads for my bag. Kind of a messy job, but it was well worth it. The beads come in a huge, huge bag.

Sticky little things, they cling to everything, even your hands!

Nedra doing the measuring. It takes about 40, 4 cup scoops to feel both the top and bottom. Now that's alot of beads.

Here's my finished wonderbox. Isn't she a cutie? So simple to make, it only took about an hour and a half from start to finish. Now that's the kind of sewing I like to do. This box will hold large bowls, lots of small bowls, gallons of milk, casserole dishes or just about anything you want to keep cold or hot. If you want to see more on this fun project you can visit this website, www.iwillprepare.com. I think this is a must class at the Corn Wagon. Thanks to Nedra for sharing this unique fun project.