Creative Friday

Monday was a minimal day at school (oh, joy!). That meant that Jill and Landon were able to get here by 2:15, and Lucas didn't have play rehearsal! It felt like oh so long since we had gotten together. (Remember I lost a good chunk of time in January/early February.)

In addition to bringing me a Sonic drink (such a treat), Jill also gave me giant pink ric rac and the cutest polka dot tape! She totally knows what I like.

Lucas is thrilled to be growing! He is about the same height as me now, and he checks daily to see if he has passed me up. He and Landon had to measure themselves against each other. Looks like a draw to me.

Creative Friday is the one time I can have a hugely messy table and it doesn't bother me one bit. (I have a messy table plenty of other times, but it bugs me.)

I had made some salted caramel rice krispie bars that I found on Pinterest. They sounded delicious and smelled great, but we couldn't decide if we liked them or not. We had to taste a few to determine our reaction. I'm still not sure, but my boys loved them.

Eva went home with a friend that day, but she later came home and joined us at the table to finish working on her valentines for school. We printed them out and got everything assembled over the weekend, so I'm not sure why it took so long to just write the names on, but it was quite the laborious process. She was ready to give up at the end, so Jill and I helped her to tape on the last few treats. But of course she had it in her to make an extra one for Whitney!

Jill made and wrote cards and got some good mail packages ready to go. Always so satisfying. I have absolutely no idea what my claw-like hands are doing in this photo.

I worked on valentines, which I have been sending out in batches this week. I figure belated valentines are better than none at all, right? Also, I love wool felt. So much.

Creative Friday

Last Friday was our school district's Fall break, so Jill didn't have to work and we actually had Creative Friday on a Friday! (It's sad how rare they are these days, and I am always thrilled when Jill wants to spend her time off together.)

She brought Cafe Rio for lunch, always a treat. (I have been really struggling with my diet of late — not losing, and therefore not having much motivation to stay on it, which means it's even less likely for me to lose anything. sigh.)

Landon ate his lunch with us and added his apple to the line-up, which totally cracked me up.

This was the view from Jill's side.

Eva had been waiting for a friend to come over for a couple of hours and then got the devastating news that the friend wasn't feeling well and couldn't play after all. I didn't think she was going to recover.

Shockingly, she took me up on my idea of working on her report for school! She's always full of surprises.

Jill brought her laptop with her so she could work on some computer projects. It was a Creative Friday first!

Lucas and Landon played computer games for a little while, sitting on one chair. This shot shows the part of my cabinets that were finished at the time (it's slightly better now). Don't even ask me how that project is going. (From hell.)

I worked on notes—thank you and otherwise. It had been awhile, and it definitely felt good.

Jill even cleaned out her wallet! If it is productive and/or makes you happy, it's good Creative Friday fare.

I made some progress on my button E. It's not that it's a huge project or anything, just that I put it down for long periods without working on it. (Due largely to other projects, such as the aforementioned project from hell.)

Creative Friday is good for the soul. I sure miss having it every week!

girls' getaway, part II

We played cards one night during our Escalante getaway. We started off with Speed, and Melinda kicked our butts, big time. Amie had never played it before, so her pride didn't suffer, but Jill and I have been fans of the game for years.

At one point, Jill said:

"We're all eldest children. We're not accustomed to losing. We're not fond of it." (or something like that)

It was hilarious.

After we felt we had taken a sufficient beating, we switched to what I have heard called Golf, but I usually call "The Skip-Bo Game" (because Melinda had never played it, ha!).

Then it came up that Melinda has Jason Mraz's song Lucky as her husband's ringtone. Jill and I shook our heads in disbelief, but Melinda honestly could not fathom why we would have a hard time with her unbelievably sweet feelings toward her husband. sigh.

One day we had pizza for lunch in the local gas station. It was good! Just one of many firsts on this trip.

Amie's daughter Jessica was up on the bulletin board for hunting and fishing successes! (Lower right corner with the orange vest.) Apparently she loves hunting. Huh. That is all so far outside my own experience.

Amie took us to the Hole-in-the-Rock memorial.

(Incidentally, covered wagons are far narrower than I pictured! I was thinking they would be about as wide as a twin bed, but no.)

The memorial has placards explaining the story, and two large paintings depicting the event. Remember when they talked about this in Conference? I was stunned by the description, and even more so when I saw the paintings. Those pioneers had such amazing faith.

As we were driving along, we would sometimes ask Amie to stop so we could take pictures. I love that Jill and I share this passion, and I think it goes without saying that I love to take pictures of her taking pictures.

I think this is sagebrush in bloom, but I could totally be wrong.

just a lovely scene

I love these old little barns and outbuildings.

Those arrows pointing to major cities in the world gave me a chuckle.

Amie brought us all Sudoku books, Reese's bars, socks, pencils and gum. I did one Sudoku puzzle, the first I've tried since Max and I did some on a plane ride about 5 years ago, and I was distressed that it was hard for me, even though it was marked "easy." Am I not smart enough for Sudoku?! (I'm happy to report that I did two more puzzles while waiting for Lucas at the dentist's office. Shakaka!)

The giant vat of gel in the background is Amie's—she kindly let me use it every time I fixed my hair so I could see how I like it. She is one curly girl who seems to have come to terms with her hair, and she has all her tricks down. Impressive.

One afternoon, Melinda and I watched Persuasion, the most recent BBC version with Rupert Penry-Jones. Mega sigh. I had planned to work on my button E project, but I was so wrapped up in the movie, I didn't get anything done.

I hadn't seen it before, and it seriously hurt my heart. Even though I know things always work out in the end with Jane Austen (of course I couldn't remember the story line), it was still positively painful. And oh so wonderful in the end. I'm telling you, I will watch anything with him in it! (Fell in love with him in MI-5, another great BBC show.)

Jill and Amie were working on projects in a table in the room, laughing at me all the while.

On our way home, Amie took us to Devil's Garden (I hope I'm remembering that right). It was only 13 miles out of our way, but they were the longest, bumpiest 13 miles of my life. We don't have cars equipped for that kind of driving!

It was so cool. Jill and I were speculating on what could have possibly caused those interesting rock formations, isolated in the midst of normal desertscape. Jill thought it must have been under water at some point. Amie and Melinda found a placard and told us that that was indeed the case! (Maybe she missed her calling as a geologist?)

Obviously I didn't have my rock-climbing shoes on. (Not that I have any.)

Devil's Garden self-portrait.

It was a fabulous day—no snow, thankfully!

Love. I am such a fan of these red rocks. I really want to go to Bryce Canyon, Arches, and back to Zion National Park. Even though I'm not much of a climber, it's a photographer's paradise!

Check out that reflection!

Amie indulged us by pulling off at many a scenic turn-out on the way home.

How cute is this tiniest post office in Boulder, UT?

Amie showed us where her husband and kids were camping and hunting on the mountain. It was totally snowy, and apparently they love it that way, it makes for good hunting. Just one of the many reasons I don't camp/hunt.

Apparently there are 1,000 lakes on Boulder Mountain!

There was one narrow pass we went over that forced me to close my eyes in order to avoid panicking. A tiny road with steep drop-offs on either side—and no guardrails, even! I thought Amie was very composed to be able to drive that stretch. I'm pretty sure I could not handle it.

landscape shot through the window of the moving car

To sum up: Escalante is terribly picturesque; we stayed in a very nice, comfortable home; we talked and laughed a lot; we explored; we relaxed; we read; we ate out; we had no responsibilities. It was wonderful.

And then I came home to a sick family and a house that looked like a bomb had gone off in it. I was ready to turn around and go back. I hate it when I feel like I need a vacation after my vacation.

girls' getaway part I

Last weekend I went on a girls' getaway to Escalante. Amie's parents bought a second home there, and she invited us to escape for a few days. She warned us to have low expectations, but I thought that was just silly. What could be better than a few days of getting away from it all and having no responsibilities?

(I am posting about this in two parts—I have enough photos for more than two posts, but with the way blogging is going for me lately, I figure that's more than ambitious!)

The weather was definitely weird for our travel day on Thursday. Rain, snow in the mountains, and then even snow on the ground!

We stopped for lunch at this funny little restaurant that had model trains running. Some of the cars had baby pumpkins!

Amie realized that she had Jimmy's elk caller (is that even right?) in her car, and Jimmy was taking the kids hunting, so she stopped at a truck stop and left this envelope for him. The employees were a bit sketchy on the plan, but we found out later that Jimmy did indeed get his package. I thought that was pretty smart, I don't know that I would have thought of this plan!

The truck stop had a petting zoo, with a zebra! We thought it was amusing that there were no pets allowed, and disturbing that there picnic tables set up right by the smelly animals. As if.

We stopped in Panguitch so that Amie could show us this cool quilt-walkers memorial. I loved the way the metal looked just like a quilt being shook out, it has such movement.

Did you know this story? I had never heard it before and thought it was pretty interesting.

The road to Escalante goes right by Bryce Canyon. Now I want to go back to check that out.

Love those red rocks.

Escalante is a tiny town, with a population of about 500. This is Amie's parents' home, isn't it cute? Her mom thinks it's too far out of town, but the town is so small, it's not very far at all.

It's a nice big home, and we each had our own bedroom—what a luxury! The whole time we were there, I couldn't stop thinking about how difficult it would be to outfit an entire second home.

Amie's mom is a quilter and there were quilts everywhere. I love the colors in this one (I don't think I would have thought to add black, but it's perfect!) It reminded me of how much I want to make quilts for my own home (most of the ones I've made have been gifts).

These are the combined snacks we all brought. I totally fell off the diet wagon.

Amie took us to see Jimmy's grandmother's house. It was totally like going back in time. I swear it's a museum!

Check out the cool turquoise in this back entry! I was in love. (I'm thinking of repainting my front door in a similar color.)

Look how she stores her dishes and glasses! Holy moly, I can't imagine what a pain it must be to get things out and put them away. (But it sure does look cute.) And her cabinets are very close to the color I'm painting mine!

Her flatware is engraved with an E for Evadean. Love it.

We were all quite taken with this framed note from her father. Don't we all wish we had something like that? (I love that he signed it Mr.)

Just a building I liked in town.

Escalante has 3 restaurants, one grocery store, one bank, one thrift store, etc. We went to the thrift store. I had to buy these books, just because they are so cute! (Totally thought of you, Charlotte.) I also bought two silver lamé dresses for Eva to play dress-up. (I originally bought one, and then Jill suggested I was being short-sighted. I bought the second one for one of Eva's friends to wear as well!)

I had Amie stop the car so I could take a picture of these cows for Max (he loves cows). Don't they look like they're posing?

It was delightful to not have any plans. Jill and I both spent a lot of time reading, such a delight. Here she is on the back porch with her Kindle.

And me on the couch reading my book for book club. (A truly fascinating read.)

I brought some projects to work on, but never really got to them (other than a little knitting). The other girls set up their projects on the kitchen table.

Jill worked on a photo book on her laptop, and Melinda made tons of cute hair accessories for her daughters.

Amie worked on scrapbooking.

I made this delicious-looking mix from Our Best Bites for a treat one night. Sadly, it looked and sounded better than it tasted to me. (It was pretty good right after I made it, but then it got hard and crunchy. Less than ideal.) Fortunately, Jill's mom had sent us with a big bag of her famous caramel corn! It never disappoints.

Here Jill is holding a clump that looks like Africa.

more to follow...