color me happy

I love happy colors, LOVE'em. They can turn an ordinary item into a drool-worthy want-to-frame-it piece of art. At least that's what I think :) I never considered myself a type of person who'd enjoy crocheting, probably because I never considered it challenging enough and I didn't think it had that 'refined' look and feel that I get from knitted items. But after reading this blog for a while, I simply realized (yet again) that the above statement regarding colors applies to crochet pieces as well (duh!). Don't you agree?

these are my first ever crochet hot pads and while I still need to work on more seamless joining, I just adore the texture and fun cheerful colors! And the unexpected bonus of crocheting is that it's one of the few headache-friendly things I can do on a day like today :)

Recharging

Last Sunday afternoon, as we were walking home from church and I was so not looking forward to spending the rest of the day in the house, I completely surprised myself by hearing me saying to Mark that maybe we should go visit his parents that evening. And I was even more surprised by the fact that such an idea made perfect sense. Really, kids were begging for a nap (I could just feel their brain waves getting all scrambled up from being tired, yet I knew they would refuse to nap at home) and an hour long drive would've been perfect for that.
In addition, I was also starting to feel tense from the stale city air, heat and the lack of open space. Yes, I got spoiled during our vacation. Or maybe it just gave me a taste of how much I'd really love to live in a place where I can't stick my hand out of the my kids' bedroom and reach neighbour's camper that's parked in their drive way. (Incidentally, that camper gets randomly turned on almost every day and heavens forbid our windows are a crack open. The fumes give me an instant headache and sometimes send our carbon monoxide detector into a seizure) It would also be nice to have, for a change, a backyard that's bigger than our living room...

Yet, here we are, living in the city, which I used to enjoy much more before the amount of seats in my stroller got outnumbered by the amount of kids. Sure, Maya can walk, and Anya can stay on my back, but what if they get tired, or refuse to follow my perfectly planned out 'seating arrangement'? Then I'm stuck with cranky kids, wherever we are, trying to keep my cool and hopelessly failing. That doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it's nerve wracking enough to scare me away from any future attempts to go on another walk with all 3 imps by myself.

So yes, as much as I love many aspects of living in a city, it just doesn't make much sense to me any more, and I do feel bad for Maya and Elijah who are so painfully familiar with every weed, stick, rock and snail shell in the back yard, that they don't jump with excitement any more when I offer them to go play outside...

So what was this post about? Oh yes, us going to visit Mark's parents. I failed to mention(or remind) that they now live on a farm and if you stand close enough to their new house, all you can see is hills and hills of wild plants, sagebrushes and grass. And the air... oh, you just have to be there, so fresh and incredibly recharging...

Yes, the drive was well worth it and we even scored extra points for having everyone take a nap (even Mark, but not while driving :)

Family vacation :: part three ::

Snoqualmie Falls, WA

Did I ever mention how much I loved Seattle weather? I honestly couldn't get enough of it. Turns out we got lucky with timing because now they are suffering from extremely hot temperatures, which would be normal for us in UT, except they are not prepared for this kind of heat, no spriklers, no air conditioning in most places. Can't imagine... You have to read Lisa's post to get a better idea of the situation (how's the weather, Lisa?)

But my post is about our vacation in July, when it was cool at night, wonderful 80s during the day, with a few rainy days in between.

:: Snoqulamie Falls was a beatiful place for a hike (if you don't count the power plant that we had to pass on the way). Those tall mossy trees reminded me of the time when Mark and I went hiking in Grand Tetons, back in the days when we only had one child that could be easily left with grandparents for a few days ::

:: later that day we went to the Ballard Locks ::

one of my personal favorites from vacation. yes, she was frowning because we wouldn't let her go past the gate.

work in progrees. or not.

Since I can't really think straight right now, being as tired as I am, here's what I'm up to this week...

:: making this bag that inspired me to pick up my crochet hook (which up until now I've only used for biding off my knitted pieces and making random flower accent for knitted items) ::

:: trying to unbury my neglected craft room. I wish I could hire someone just for the sole purpose of folding all the fabric that I unfold and dig through while looking for a perfect project piece ::

believe me, the actual mess is much much worse. I just don't want you to break down in tears feeling bad for all that wrinkled fabric, while petting your nicely folded color coordinated stashes.


sewing desk is buried too. with stuff unrelated to sewing. how unfair.

Family Vacation :: part two ::

This was day 3 of our vacation (first two days were spent on the road), which consisted of a trip to the Farmer's Market (previous post) and taking the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry back across Puget Sound, after which we stopped to spend some time at the beach.

Elijah, being his usual self, was having the ride of his life on the ferry, after which he declared that when he grows up he wants to be a ferry driver and transport Grandma's car on it. Ironically, I didn't get any photos of Elijah having the ride of his life and dreaming about being a ferry driver because Lisa took him on the upper deck while I stayed with Mark and the girls. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to do it again some day...

:: and then we all enjoyed cool breezy beach ::

:: and even managed to get a semi-decent family photo at the end, the only one of all 5 of us ::

We had a long full day, and unfortunately for us, Elijah decided to take a nap on the way back which translated into him not wanting to go to bed at the normal hour. He stayed up with grown ups in the living room for a bit, trying to find a comfortable spot and at some point he finally got quiet. We peeked out of the kitchen and saw this:

doesn't he look cozy sleeping on top of the power strip, covered with yoga mat? :)