Japanese Strawberry Fabric

If you follow my blog you know I am obsessed with Strawberries. I love them. Everyone who knows me -- knows I love strawberries. My Sister-in-Law recently moved back from Japan and brought me the most wonderful of presents: Japanese Strawberry fabrics. For the last couple years I have been planning to make a strawberry quilt; theses amazing prints will only add to my growing collection!!! thanks Erika.

1, 2, 3 Preschool

When my boys picked out their backpacks for school they went with simple gray. Seeing their plainness, I thought it might be fun to jazz each bag up a little bit. My third grader scoffed and said "No, thanks" but my five year old was all over it!! My second son, has a summer birthday so we are putting off kindergarten one more year and he is attending preschool again.

He and I had so much fun decorating his Preschool Backpack. He decided to put his initial "T" on the front pocket. He picked the green fabrics and came up with "star idea", and got a little help from Mom in the sewing department!! (Most of it I could do on my machine and the last bit I had to sew by hand.)

He loves his school backpack. He is so proud of have designed it himself. In about 20 minutes, we had a super cute personalized bag for Preschool.

The Persian Pickle ~ A quilt book

Remember the little quilt club I am in: The Pink Pickle? My quilting club was inspired by this book, and I finally read it. The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas is a great summer read. It is narrated by Queenie, a pickle member, and she tells the story of Depression Era Kansas and what the "Pickles" do when a dead body is found!! For anyone who loves to quilting, friends or even a good mystery this is a quick enjoyable must-read.

Tomato Sandwich ~ Mid Week Munchies

Tomato Sandwich: how I love thee, let me count the ways.

1. Toasted Bread
2. Red
3. Juicy
4. Mayo
5. Salt and Pepper
6. Summer Harvest
7. Garden Grown
8.  Big Boys
9. August
10. One sandwich is never enough

Nemo Hat

When I realized my due date was in the FALL I asked my friend Jeanette to make me some warm knit hats for the baby. In typical Jeanette fashion she didn't disappoint!!! Check out this adorable Nemo hat she made, she even included the lucky fin. Homemade goodness like this, just makes me smile and internally giggle with glee. I can't wait to have him wear it. Thank you Jeanette, I love it.

Tahoe = Terrrain

At the beginning of the summer I was given the opportunity to test drive a GMC Terrain for 2 weeks to go on a summer vacation. Instantly, I was happy with glee and then secondly I thought of our annual summer trip to North Tahoe in late July. Being 7 months pregnant riding in a new, roomy, sporty SUV sounded like a great way to spend a vacation.

About 15 miles East of Wendover, Nevada

The Terrain has many excellent/innovative features that made our trip so easy. Just to name a few:

DVD Player

Navigational system

Adjustable back seat

Camera view for assisting in backing up

Remote control liftgate ~ hands free

Large trunk for storing cargo

Touch screen for radio, dvd and GPS

Amazing on Gas

We were so spoiled traveling in our GMC Terrain. To start off, GMC delivered the Terrain to My Driveway (I repeat, my driveway!) with a full tank of gas. Getting ready for our trip...shopping, packing, cleaning, organizing (you know the drill!) with all that to do having the Terrain delivered was so hospitable and accommodating of GMC. Thank You!!! (I should also add they picked the Terrain up from my driveway as well)

Two Thumbs Way Up from my boys.

Favorite Features:

DVD Player: In my everyday car (also, our vacation car) I do not have a DVD player, so the kids and I loved having this feature in the Terrain. It was so nice to sit back, relax and have an adult conversation without the kids butting in saying: "Are we there yet?" They were fully occupied and happy putting in a movie and passing the time. The headphones were a quiet bonus.

Remote Control Liftgate:  Just today my eight year old asked "Why can't our car have a remote control for the trunk (liftgate)." I couldn't agree more. Our next car definitely needs to have this feature, maybe we will even get a Terrain! With all our "stuff" we take on vacation it was so nice to have the liftgate open and close at the touch of a button.

SUV:  I miss our old SUV and having one again for this trip was fun. The GMC Terrain could take us anywhere and get us everywhere. I loved being higher off the ground, which made it easy for getting my big belly in and out of the driver seat. I loved the big tires and great road/sand control while driving. Even though the Terrain is big and tough it had great handling and was easy to maneuver.

Gas: In my everyday car, I get exceptional gas mileage and I was really worried about spending alot more in gas this trip with the Terrain BUT, it couldn't have been more the opposite. The Terrain gave us great gas mileage whether we were running errands around town or zooming down the highway. In North Tahoe gas is quite a bit more spendy then lets say Reno (closest major city), and I was afraid the around town miles would have us guzzling gas right and left, but the Terrain does so great on gas, stopping and filling up never crossed my mind.

Are you as Tough as the Terrain?? Yes!

parked behind the Char Pit in King's Beach

Thank you GMC  for letting us test drive your Terrain for a few weeks. We loved the experience and we loved the Terrain. With baby number three almost here....we have considered getting a bigger car. If so, the Terrain will definitely be added to the list of possibilities.

33 Weeks

My sweet friend Ella offered some weeks ago to take some pregnancy shots of me. Since this is my third baby and I don't think I have one single photo of myself pregnant, I took her up on the offer. I don't have any idea why I don't have pregnancy photos, other than simply, I am the photographer in the family and I am the one behind the camera.

We met in the middle of our two little Townes at on old, totally cool, abandon house. It was a relaxing setting with the wind blowing and the sun setting. After a few shots I eased into it. With only 7 weeks to go I really need to get the after burners going on all my projects: quilts, nursery, clothes and other essentials.

I just keep telling myself with this hot summer weather....hey, the Mormon Pioneers did it, why can't I!!