not a 'real' post yet, just a few photos :)
My 'special' bag that I had to bring with me when we went to visit Mark's family last week. It's full of some delicious yarn and 3 knitting projects I'm working on ;)
Ok, I admit, this poor blog has been ignored long enough... I could list a dozen of reasons why, but I won't. Instead I'm working hard on recent photos and hoping to start posting more often again... But then, there's always holiday gift making, so who knows, lol!
I stumbled upon this fantastic photo-editing website, Picnik, and now I'm addicted. Yes, a devoted PhotoShop CS user addicted to a free online service that does quick an easy photo edits and has endless possiblities for making your photos look the way you want them to! I spent some time tonight trying out their features and options and here are the results. I started with unedited, never-touched-by-Photoshop photos ;)
I recently discovered a wonderful [free!] pattern for baby/toddler hats called Sweet Baby Cap (or Norwegian baby cap) and I'm already working on my 3rd one, they are so fun to knit and so adorable when they are finished :) Anya ended up with one too, it was my first attempt and turned out to be too big for a tiny newborn I was knitting it for. Doesn't she look like a little pixie baby in the Halloween post below? I had to borrow a picture of A with her aunt Angie, because they just look too cute together :) And I did add embroidery on Anya's cap, maybe I'll take a better photo some day...
The newborn sized cap:
The pattern had to be readjusted for worsted weight yarn and size 7 needles. For those who are curious, I CO 73 st for newborn cap (0-3 months, my guess) and did 10-10-11-11-10-10 st in places where there 18/19st in the original pattern. For Anya's cap (6-12 months?) I CO 91 st and did 13-13-13-13-13-13 st.
Surprisingly, this year we were more prepared for Halloween than last year, when we had to come with *two* costumes just a couple of hours before going out to trunk-or-treat. I guess we are just not much into this holiday and generally try not to stress out about other holidays either.
By some amazing coincidence, I bought Maya's and Anya's costumes during my one and only visit to Kid-to-Kid since Anya was born. It was a disastrous outing with 3 kids that made me swear off taking them all again when I don't have an extra pair of hands to help me. Still, some good came from that, that's how we ended up with 2 ready-to-go costumes a whole month before Halloween.
Elijah's was a tough one however... It was a toss up between Dalek and TARDIS, but we had to be realistic so Mark came up with a brilliant last minute idea. We got out Elijah's tool box and play drill, then drove to Deseret Industries to find some overalls for him. When we got to the parking lot where trunk-or-treat was set up, I threw the overalls on the ground and did my best to get them dirty. My make-up was in the car so Elijah's face got 'dirty' too with some brown eye shadow. He put the overalls on, took the tool box in his hand and turned into the cutest repair man I've ever seen :)
This year we missed the pumpkin patch. We had one place in mind and on a sunny Saturday we loaded kids in the car and drove to Deseret Village. When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of lines and plenty of parking spots. Once we walked past the gate of the Village, we realized that we came a week too late. Pumpkins were gone and there were very few people walking around...
Bingo! We missed the crowds! Who cares about pumpkins? Being able to let our kids run around freely and play in any child-sized house without waiting for a dozen of other kids to take their turn was the best treat ever. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the trees were still sporting their brilliant colors and the temperature was *perfect*... It really couldn't get any better! Well, actually it did, because we also got to go on a 'train' ride.
We spent wonderful time there, Mark was trying to keep up with Maya and Elijah, I was carrying Anya and taking photos... No hurry, no worry :)
It's been over two weeks since we hiked that trail but I can still remember the cool fresh air and the smell of mud and wet leaves. Mark and I talked about how much we liked the feel of this 'lone and dreary world', complete with pines, streams, rocks and snow. The fun part was getting back to the car with shoes covered in mud. That's when we truly felt like we were taking part of that world with us to where we lived, surrounded by busy streets, tiny houses nestled next to each other, moving cars and people, who are always in a hurry and yet can't seem to find time for all the things that need to be done...
That's with a "y", get it? :) I know I haven't posted in a while so I have a bit of catching up to do...
A couple of weeks ago this was delivered by a UPS guy:
