Hooray For February, Part 1

February is off to a great start.

Hailey and Makayla agreed to read a hundred books each if we all went out to breakfast together when they were done.

It seemed like a good idea.

Unfortunately, that breakfast resulted in food poisoning symptoms for all of us for the next three days.

Hailey timed her sickness so that she needed to take a break from school and hang out with me while she recuperated. She's sneaky that way.

We like to live dangerously. We've started a new readathon. 

And we've started planning a new reward.

Schools love to mess with the schedules of working moms and busy grandmas, so they gave Hailey and Makayla 2 1/2 days of vacation this month around President's day. 

 We headed right over to In Good Glazes.

For a wad of money, you can paint ceramic Objets d'Arte you didn't even realize you needed.

It was great. These two happily painted for hours

while we chatted about color combinations,

world peace,

and who should be the next president.  We get to pick the finished product up in a week or so, after its been through the kiln.

We tempted fate by stopping for another quality dining experience. You'll be delighted to know we dodged the food poisoning fun this time.

Finally, we ended our vacation time Paparazzi-ing Amy at her new job. She loved that. Kind of. Amy took a big step forward in her life this year. She was hired by a home care franchise that newly opened up in town. The new job uses all of the skills she learned from her job at the non-profit business she previously worked for, pay$ considerably more, and as Makayla likes to brag tell everyone, "she's the boss".  Amy's title is "Staffing Coordinator".

Way to go, Amy!!!

One boring Saturday, Hailey and Makayla wandered over to my house. I pulled out some supplies

and these two started gluing.

I believe I see a heart.

I dug out some appropriate frames from my endless supply.

Makayla felt sure her frame needed to be painted.

A picture almost as cute as the picture-holder.

We went to our ward's dinner and open pinewood derby car contest.

Makayla consoled Grandpa when his car didn't quite make it across the finish line.

Meanwhile, Hailey amused herself taking a dozen pictures of me

and practicing her selfie skills.

In hip hip hooray news, I finished Baby Pearson's quilt. 

My original version had no sashing or border, nine blocks, and was waaay to big. 

It also had an unfortunate whole bunch of other random colors. Busy AND big. Not good. I cut out the majority of different colors, subtracted some blocks, added sashing and a border, and viola! 

The finished quilt is about 42" square, backed in flannel, and a less-is-more improvement. I like it, and I'm comfortable that Baby P. is going to like it, too.

Okay, Ashley, the quilt is done. You can have that baby now.

January

Now that I have unburied my house from weeks of clutter that accumulated while I was sewing and/or enjoying company, I've found a few treasures. These are December pictures, but they somehow slipped under my cutting mat.
We went to Fudd's one day and got these lovely professional pictures done.

These sisters were not about to be outdone by their kids.

That last picture has been giving me nightmares. sheesh.

When January rolled around, I started looking for reasons to avoid my mess of a baby quilt. Sometimes it helps to bury a project in the back of the closet and go do something pleasant. Then one can see it with fresh eyes. Hopefully. Or maybe forget about it completely.
This picture doesn't begin to convey how not cute this quilt is.

I realized the only thing to do is head down to visit Myla and Krew.  It's been almost a month since I've seen them after all.  I got there in time to say good-bye to Jorden, who had to be in sunny California for a business trip. Poor guy. Utah was shivery cold the week I was there. Who would pick sunny California over freezing Utah?

One of the many things I love about Utah is the opportunity to eat out at fun restaurants, something sadly lacking in Billings. 

We may have eaten out a lot while I visited. I'll take Utah's Zupa's any day over Billings' wide selection of casino restaurants with very marginal food.

My visit timing was a little early. The new Provo temple was done but not yet open for viewing.

We consoled ourselves with ice cream.

We might have needed consoling a few days I was there.

We talked Megan into joining us before she started her new job. She didn't know it yet, but she was about to be hired as a post delivery nurse.

We had a great day in SLC, eating at Siegfried's 

and checking out City Creek Mall.

Another eat-out place I love: Cubby's.
I'd love it even more if they kept the restaurant's temperature above 0.

Megan, can I borrow your cute dimples sometime?

Did I mention we went out to eat? A lot? Well, we went out to drink, too. Swig is a place that makes fancy soda drinks, like raspberry puree mixed with Spite Zero. I'd weigh 300 lbs in no time if I lived around here.

I think Myla got a little sick of eating out, but she never complained.

Jessica found Dad and me this little cottage just across the valley from her house.

It may look like a hotel, but it is a house. I'm almost sure it's in our price range. We could have some grand family reunions here, guys! Just don't make me shovel the walk.

Krew missed most of our adventures, something about needing to be at school all week, blah, blah, blah. 

Looks like King Krew Tut was having his own fun.

We drove down to Payson and stopped at a few important sites.

After a few days, Myla just bypassed the sandwiches and went straight for the sugar. 

You go girl!!

We managed to find an evening we were all free to have fun eating out with David and Bonnie at the Galilee in Orem.

I got to watch Krew at ball practice one night.

Krew was one of the younger boys on his team, but he takes after his mom: he's a really good player. 

This is Krew shooting a basket. He made several while I watched--one of the few players that could actually make one.  When you're six, that basket is pretty far away. You have to do this crazy twisted arm technique to throw a ball that high. Apparently.

Myla had a noisy case of the giggles during Krew's practice. I called her "Pumpkin" and she said "I'm not Pumpkin, I'm Wheat Hart!"

 I'm pretty sure she means "Sweetheart". Either way, she's a gem.
Myla, could I borrow some of those lovely natural curls?

 Finally, I needed to go home. We made one last stop

in the rain and dark to a seedier part of SLC to have one last delicious item. 

I got home just in time to see Hailey

get an award for her good grades.  This is an assembly for all 4-6 graders. That's her teacher in green on the right,

 and this is her principal.

I'm so proud of you, Hailey!

In the meantime, this other first grader in my life hit an important milestone in her schooling, too.

Onward to February!