12 of 12 - October

This edition of the 12 of 12 was a special treat because we were visiting my parents in Utah!  The first few days were Mom's annual quilt retreat, and my sisters, aunt and I came to help with the food.  I use the term "help" very loosely when I'm talking about myself since Peter took up most of my time and energy.  Then, the day before we went home, we had a party for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  Amazing, right?  I love and appreciate their example, and a big part of who I am today is because of them.  So, here goes:

1 - Good morning, my little pumpkin!  Almost 3 months old.

2 - This is the view from Mom and Dad's kitchen window.  Aren't you jealous?  Storm clouds rolled in and poured torrential rain on the fields of alfalfa and snow on the mountain tops.

3 - Lydia entertaining Peter with her favorite snowman toy from Grandma's toy box.

4 - Tender moment with Grandpa and Lydia.  She loves him!

5 - Grandma and Aunt Terilyn getting some smiles and coos from cute little man.

6 - My sister Terilyn with the kiddos after feeding Peter. 

7 - Oh, how I wish this little guy would take a pacifier, but I've pretty much given up trying.  He'll drift off if I hold my pinky in his mouth.

8 - Grandma holding Peter just the way he likes.  Then he can see everything!

9 - A shot of the quilt retreat.  There were 13 quilters who showed up to eat good food, make a project taught by my talented mom, and enjoy chatting and taking in the wide open beauty of Loa, Utah!

10 - Each year at the retreat is a show and tell for people to show what they've worked on over the last year.  Left to right is Terilyn, me, Gerilyn, and Mom.  We all made a quilt using the same pattern but different fabrics, and here's how they all turned out.

11 - Real men quilt!  This is my dad's show and tell, and yes he did make it all himself!  My mom keeps him busy with projects around the house, now including sewing.  He doesn't have much energy these days because of his chemotherapy, but he manages to keep busy and productive.  What a guy!

12 - My cute Aunt Nonnie is catching the quilting bug too.  Here she is binding a quilt for a special girl (I won't spill the beans since it's a Christmas gift).

Note:  No pictures of Matt and Seth this time since they flew in this day and got to Loa late afternoon.  Things got busy, and I didn't get my camera out the rest of the day.  Shame on me!

A Home

What is a home?  It's a lot of things.

a residence

a place to have your mail sent to

walls and a roof to shelter us from the weather

a refuge from the world

a stage for impromptu games, plays and concerts

a safe haven to bring home new babies, school kids, and hard-working moms and dads

a warm place to lay our heads after a long, busy day

a test kitchen to feed our bellies and our souls

a backdrop for birthday parties, dinner appointments, and movie nights

a sidewalk for countless hopscotch games

a little piece of heaven on earth

After living in our lovely home for nearly nine years, we will be moving at the end of this month.  Being the sentimental person I am, I'm feeling emotional and bitter sweet about it.  Everything happened so quickly that I'm just now able to process it in my mind.

We started thinking about looking for a bigger house that would be our "forever house" and planned on doing it next spring or summer.  When Peter came along, we knew it would be a tight fit, but we would give ourselves time to find something bigger.  Then at the beginning of September, we just decided to start looking and getting our house ready to sell. 

Mostly it was Matt that brought it up, and I'm convinced he was inspired.  I totally trust his instinct about these kinds of things. 

We interviewed a few real estate agents, and before we decided on one, one of them called and told us of a house we should really look at.  It was listed as only a 3 bedroom, and we wanted a 4 bedroom so we could have an office too.  Turns out it was a 3 bedroom, plus an office, plus a bonus (translation: sewing) room.  It went on the market on September 11, we looked at it on the 13th, and it already had an offer on it.  I loved the house, and loved even more the neighbor kids coming over to play with Seth and Lydia outside.  We put in an offer too just to see what would happen, and we got a text the night of the 14th saying our offer had been accepted.  Wow!  Did that just really happen?

Now that the new house was in the works, we needed to high-tail it and get our house ready to sell.  The next two weeks were full of up-after-midnight packing, furniture-moving, painting, carpeting, and cleaning.  We listed our house on Tuesday the 25th, and after a brief bidding war between two buyers, we signed an offer the next day.  We sold our house in less than 24 hours!

Now we have a bit of down time to wait for inspections, appraisals, and financing to be completed.  Last Saturday, dare I say we were bored!  No home projects, no yard work, no pressing timeframe to get something done.  So, I've had time to think.  Think about where we're going and what we're leaving behind. 

This was our very first house.  We'd only been married for a year when we bought it.  It's the home where we brought all of our babies.  It's the ward where we grew and served and made friends that became our family away from our own families.  We learned about home ownership and gardening and working together on projects and asking for stuff for the house instead of new clothes or gadgets for Christmas.

And now we're leaving it behind.

Leaving it for something better where we'll learn new things about home ownership and gardening and working together and watching our kids grow and asking for a new bath mat instead of a new sweater for Christmas.  It will be our new home to love, while passing our current house on to someone who will love it and care for it as much as we have.

Change has always been difficult for this sentimental, non-spontaneous, emotional girl.  But this is a great change, a needed change, and I know this was meant to be just because of the way it's all worked out.  I don't know what we've done to deserve this blessing, but I'll be forever thankful for it. 

And I'm thankful for a home.

Blessing day for Peter

This past Sunday was Peter's blessing day at church.  For our friends who aren't familiar with this, after a baby is born, he or she is given a special blessing by a member of their family, usually the father, or a family friend, or a church leader.  It is similar to a christening but different than a baptism, and it is both an official presentation of the baby's name to the church members and an opportunity to give a special blessing to the baby.

Here is our own little blessing in his dapper outfit.  Mom and I sewed this together while she was here when he was born.  The vest portion is made from the leftover silk fabric from my wedding dress.  Isn't he the most handsome little guy?

"Yay!  It's my blessing day!"

"Yikes.  I'm kinda nervous.  Do I have to do anything?"

"Ooohhh, I just have to lie there?  I can do that."

 

"No one can resist me."'

Matt gave Peter a beautiful blessing, and I'm so thankful for his worthiness to perform this special ordinance. 

We're glad Marianne and John could come and share the day with us too.