I'm off to Cali!

Can't wait to miss you all dearly. My family and I off to see my Sister Tina and spend some time with my friend R&R. She lives in Thousand Oaks, and she has her own vacation right in the backyard: pool, hot tub, gourmet bbq.

We are spending Halloween with her family and on Sunday her youngest daughter is getting baptized - I have to give the talk! Plus.....legoland!!!

See you all when I get back. Don't forget to visit www.tomandlucysartshoppe.blogspot.com while I am gone.

Mad Men Finale!

Sunday night was the Mad Men Season Finale. Every Sunday I quilt with a few friends in Pleasant Grove, and I always get home way late: last night 1:30 a.m.


On my drive home I really debated on going downstairs and turning on the tube to satiate my addiction. Alas, reality hit and I knew it would be there in the morning - thank you DVR. I would have all day to mull it over instead of staying up all night doing it. So for one last time, WATCH (meaning since the season finale just aired) on demand, rental, etc.


Mad Men it is fabulous -- the best show on T.V. and the season finale didn't disappoint. Visit http://www.amc.com/ to catch up on everything.

Shirt!

O.K. it is totally missing, I have given up hope of seeing it ever again. I took apart the house, interogated my husband, neglected my children -- all in an effort to try and find it.
But, alas it is gone.

Family Tree Quilt #5

I love StRaWbErRiEs!!!!

So I have set a goal for myself. The top of the quilt must be done by the time I drive to California, next Thursday 10/30. It is almost an impossible task, but if I can get it done, it would be the hugomogogest relief and I could really enjoy my vacation, that and finishing my son's halloween costumes.

This strawberry block is split into two pictures, but actually is one long piece of fabric. This block has already changed since taking the picture. The changed block has all the embroidery of words about growing up picking strawberries. Words:

Spiritual, sunrise, hoods, picking more than eating, good times

Guess who said which one?

German Candle

This is my favorite thing about all my fall decorations. It is an Old German Candle that I found at Deseret Industries for .50 cents. Jealous!!!

That year we had bought tons of pumpkins and thought if we bought some really big cheap candles we could light them for..... blah blah blah

Looking in the candle isle, my husband turns to me and says: "This hideous candle is perfect!"
I snatch it out of his hands and exclaim, "It is not! This candle is beautiful" and it has sat in a place of honor every year since: September through the day after Thanksgiving.

There is a whole treasure trove of goodies at D.I. you just have to be the lucky one to spot them.

Oh, the miracle of cake

For as far back as I can remember, German Chocolate Cake has been the birthday cake of choice for each and every person in our family.

My mom has probably been making this cake for 50 years. She started when she was 14, making it for Sunday dessert. When she was married, she scaled back to birthdays and special occasions. Once I left home, she was making it opnly when I visited, which was only about twice a year.

We'll now that my parents have a condo in Utah, my request is that each and every time she is here. I think she is up to about 8 times a year.

Nothing is more delicious than my Mom's German Chocolate Cake, now I know all of you don't like pecans and coconut, and I've heard...oh it is sooooo rich. ZIP IT! It is delicious and I have the final say!

p.s. if my three year old loves it, you know its amazing!!!

Calling all Handmade

Tom and Lucy Love Vendors

Vendor spots are filling up, getting us excited for our upcoming Holiday Shoppe! There will be lots of original, must have products coming your way. In the fabulous custom home, there's lots of room ready to sell your great products that everyone wants, needs or will love. OR if you have a friend who's been itching to sell his/her great designs, we want to know about them. Art Shoppe has a spot for you. Please don't hesitate to contact us.

Family Tree Quilt #4

All us girls grew up on our Grandparents Farm(s) during the summer. Bammie Roo and Daddy Pa have past away, but there memories live on. This is a map of Idaho with all the important towns. Boise - where our grandparents lived, Idaho Falls - where they were sealed and Moscow - where alot of Bammie Roo's family lived.

This is a list of some of the important places in the Boise area that we went to growing up. Cloverdale is where our brother and grandparents are buried. Black Cat - is a road in Kuna, where our grandparents had a farm, Golden Star is a chinese restaurant that is a framily tradition to have dinner at.

Family Tree Quilt # 3

Here is another fabulous installment of the Family Tree Quilt:

Cathy's Block is as pretty as a "plum". Look closely, there's fruit in the fruit. Very sneaky!!!

and her nickname!


"Life's a peach", nobody loves peaches more than my sister Tina. This is her block.

Notice the nickname!

Once again, this is appliqued by my amazing friend Jeanette!

Rivalry

Everyone loves a good rivalry, my husband and I are no exception. Where I live ,the huge rivalry is between the Utah Utes and the BYU cougars. Now, without going into a long, painful, agonizing, long winded explanation of the bitter 100 + year rivalry dubbed the HOLY WAR, I will keep to my post.

My husband is a Utah fan (alum) and I went to both schools so I sit nicely on the fence, leaning ever so slightly so the Utah side. I gotta keep peace! Living in BYU territory tends to get a little ugly for us. So, every once in a while we get a great big belly laugh out of a Utah fan really getting it right.

Hence the picture above. FYI for those of your outta staters: The Grim Reaper is a Utah Ute, and all the graves are teams from the Mountain West Conference. I Love It.

Shirt Mystery

Shirt is still missing.... I haven't quiet torn the house to shreds. Close! really Close!

Halloween Birthday Party

I read a statistic that Halloween is now commercially bigger than Christmas. I don't know if I can quiet believe that but, I DO LOVE HALLOWEEN. Not the scary stuff, but defiantly all the ghosts, devils, pumpkins , garlands, black cats, candy!!!!, witches and ghouls, crows, and spiders. What is their not to love?

My son's birthday is in November, right before Thanksgiving and it never works out to have a party, the weather is too unpredictable. So the last couple of years we've done a party in October - Halloween themed. It is so much fun and easy with costumes, Halloween games, treats and of course decorations!!!

Above is a picture from our Halloween Birthday Party a couple years ago. I have always loved this picture. The kids are on a treasure hunt and they are looking for a clue on the door. (I am on the inside taking the picture.) Minnie Mouse is priceless and so is Cinderella. My son is in the purple with the yellow hair.

No!

"NO!' That what my little 3 year said this morning when he looked out the window. He can't say his "s" sound very well and that's what I heard in my sleepy slumber. I know everyone in Utah will be blogging about how it snowed yesterday...and lets face it ,it is something noteworthy. Most people are just starting to get pumpkins on the front porch - let alone thinking about snow shovels.

Since my camera broke, I can't take any current pictures of the snow day, but I thought I would put up some from last year '07. We got tons of snow last winter, a skiers dream, our yard was covered with snow from December ,when these pictures were taken, to March. That makes for a very long winter for Moms when you don't even see your grass. The kids don't mind as you can see they love it.

Favorite Shirt

Random thought: I have a favorite shirt, it is just my size, fits me perfectly and I think my husband threw it away. Yes, he hates it, jealous. I am actually really freaking out.

WAIT HERE .... I am going to look for it.

BACK and shirt still missing.

Crap, it is gone. Really this was a fabulous shirt. Totally thread bare, and really really really soft. It was from 1990 - how do I know? Because it has the date on the shirt.

Sunday to do list: find my shirt, tear the whole house apart til I find it - unless my husband threw it away.

Fall is in the Air!

Here in American Fork, fall has arrived. The sun sets early, a chill is in the air, and I am craving warm sunday dinners. But, with fall comes Halloween and Thanksgiving and that makes it all worthwhile. I am trying to save my tomatoes from the frost, by covering them at night- they just need a few more weeks.

My husband took a great trip last fall to Southern Utah and got some amazing pictures. Wish I could have been there. Southern Utah is amazing anytime of the year, but last fall it was breathtaking. I hope to take the boys, when they are old enought to hike the distance.

Tom and Lucy's Art Shoppe

Welcome! We're a brand new Art Shoppe opening up just in time for the HoLiDaY SeAsOn. With so many local artists and crafters in Utah, we're providing the community with a shoppe to obtain artist wares.

We've acquired a beautiful home in Lehi, Utah as our venue, centrally located between Highland, Alpine, Lehi and American Fork. Come shop in an cozy home atmosphere where shopping will be easy, fun, and creative.

With Christmas lists getting prepared, you'll want to find the perfect gift for someone special. So mark your calenders. November 21st 9:30-7:00 & 22nd 9:30-5:00 (weekend before-Thanksgiving). Bring a friend and shop, laugh, chat, and have some fun.
Check back often to see what will be for sale, as our blog will be showcasing our vendors and their creative ideas. So please browse our blog and check us out.

www.tomandlucysartshoppe.blogspot.com

Mad Men

For those of you who don't know or have never watched this show check it out:

Mad Men -AMC, Sunday nights 9 p.m.

Basis: New York, Madison Avenue in the early 60's, big time advertising agency .

Oh it is dreamy. The characters and storyline, you'll hold your breathe the whole hour. Betty, Peggy and Joan - i'll do a picture of them next time are spot on (or at least thats what my mom says and she lived through it) Other than the smoking, this show is totally superior to any silly show on the CW. (p.s. comcast offers the whole 2nd season -on demand- so catch up)

New Computer

So, about a year ago....my three year, then two year old, decided to have some fun with my home laptop. He proceeded to pull all the keys off the keyboard. Mind you - laptops are very hard to use after this happens. And what does every good mom do when this happens to her only connection to the world wide web....she goes without. Adam would randomly bring home his work laptop and I would get on and check things - bank account, gmail, on-line stores, mapquest, really staying in touch.

But - da, da, dA DA!!!! We got a home desk top computer. Funny after being without it for so long, there are a lot of things I really do want and need to do on my home pc. Before, if I thought of something I wanted to check or see about, I might write it down to check when Adam came home, but more than not I would just forget. Now, if I want to check something out well, la-tee-da I just held down stair and behold the information!!!

Camera Broke

sad story: CAMERA BROKE. the end
I think my little three year old had something to do with it. So for now, I will have to be interesting enough.

Here is a little shout out to my sister, Catherine, she has a very funny blog, that she doesn't write in enough called http://www.downtownperks.blogspot/. Check her out. Whenever she does write, I always laugh.

Warning, Danger: Boys!

The Dangerous Book for Boys by Hal and Gonn Iggulden is a must in any boys library. We were the lucky recipients of this book last Christmas. The recommended age for the book is 10 and for a boy to do these projects on their own, I must agree. But my boys are a little younger and are totally enthralled just looking at the pictures, asking questions and begging me and my husband to help them do the projects. Projects include: invisible ink, building a tree house, making crystals, paper airplanes, smoke signals, famous battles in history, and secret codes just to name a few. This book is great for summer projects or a rainy saturday. I hope you will enjoy this book as much as our family has.