Quilting

I’ve written about six jillion blog posts in my head since January 1st while driving, showering, vacuuming, etc., but unfortunately for you, gentle reader, you are not in my head and haven’t been able to read them.  I have often thought that I should get them on the blog but life keeps intervening and when I’m on my computer I’m answering email, keeping up with political stuff on Twitter, reading other blogs, and occasionally glancing through Facebook.  So I know about your lives, but you may not know about mine.  So I’m going to start at the beginning.  Warning: reading marathon ahead.  Now, who remembers January?

January 2 was Brian’s 22nd birthday and he got some presents, then the gang was there to celebrate at Tucano’s.  Mark, Lauren, Jack, and Scott (plus me and Brian) all gorged ourselves on yummy food.  Oh, how I love that grilled pineapple!

 

Two days later was Mark’s 24th birthday and we went with him, Lauren and Brian to the India Palace for lunch and had breakfast food at home for dinner.

 

Mark got a Tres Leches cake made by me and Brian and decorated beautifully by the fiancee. 

I returned to the Utah Legislature this year in a completely different role and it was super fun!  I was asked to write some guest posts for the influential blog, Utah Moms Care, and had myself a grand old time writing about whatever struck my fancy.  I also continued to tweet about political stuff under my own moniker.  I went up to the Capitol once or twice a week, and the other days I listened and watched at home with my feet up and commented like crazy.  It was so fun to be able to say what I wanted, hang with my political friends, and stay in the fray without the stress.

Scott’s been working a bazillion hours all year and hasn’t had time for much of anything else.  He gets up at 3 am, so by the time he rolls in at 7 or 8 pm, he’s pretty darn tired.  I lobbied hard and the first weekend in March we made a trip to Springdale for his birthday.  We went a couple weeks late, but it was the soonest we could go.  We’ve done this two years in a row; does that make it an annual tradition?  I hope so, because going down for hiking in Zion NP and relaxing in the sun during our cold Alpine winter is glorious and rejuvenating.

Mark got to play at “The Wall”, the new venue at BYU for local bands to perform, so we went on down to see him do his thing.  He played in a friend’s band on electric guitar, then played his original music with some friends helping out.  The fiancee was engrossed.  😉  On a personal note, their Italian sodas are super tasty!

Lots of time has been spent in planning and preparing for the upcoming wedding.  We are doing an Open House in Alpine, so there’s some decorating to do.  In an effort to save money I spent some time in April scouring second-hand stores for mason jars, cotton doilies, and candlesticks, all of which will be re-purposed and decorated.  This should be fun!  We’ve also been testing lemonade and flavored popcorn recipes and have almost settled on the finalists.  Suits and dresses are ordered and purchased, but we’re still working on shoes.  Lots of packages have arrived this week due to my internet shopping, like pink candles and pink and white striped straws.  So things are coming along nicely and Scott and I are adhering to the timeline in true Carey fashion.  Go us!  Also, my book club BFF’s are going to help at the Open House and my visiting teacher is helping as the wedding planner and waffle bowl maker.  Thank goodness for true friends!  (I do everyday).

April brought a little gardening between rain and snow storms and lots of seedlings going under the furnace room lights.  Last night I set up the “theater greenhouse” in the garage (you can read about that here) and so some trays are out and now more Jiffy pellets with germinated seeds can be transplanted to pots and put under the lights downstairs.  It’s been so cold here overall that I’m way behind and there’s no way stuff is going to be hardened off and ready to plant in the next couple weeks.  I’m trying to grow lots of calendula in trays and Shirley poppies outside from seed to cut at the Open House.  We’ll see how that goes-don’t know if they’ll be blooming by then with the cool weather.

I’ve gotten some Christmas projects done which makes me really happy.  My cards and neighborhood gifts are all finished, and I have a stack of crafts ready for the Festival of Trees gift shop.  This is called thinking ahead, something I do occasionally.

I finished the hand-quilting on my Tall Tales quilt but haven’t done the binding yet, and I’m 2/3 done with the hand-quilting on my pinwheels quilt.  My sewing machine is all tied up with a secret project that must be done by June 1, so I’m hard at work on that, although not hard enough because it isn’t finished yet.  I’ll have a reveal with pictures when that’s all through.  I think it’s going to be awesome.

Mark and Brian finished the semester and are both out of the country.  That seems so weird to say that.

Mark is touring China with the BYU Young Ambassadors and will be gone for three weeks.  He’s in the middle of the front row in his techie black at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.  In related news, Brian made the 2013-14 Young Ambassadors as a performer and we’re all very excited about that.  Prior to that, however, he is spending the summer in Cardston, Canada appearing at the Carriage House Theater doing three shows in repertory.  We’re hoping for a trip there after the wedding and we need passports.  In case you’re wondering.

So that’s the news from the first third of the year.  I managed to get it all in one post and I’m sure you’re totally exhausted from reading it.  Thanks for sticking it out.  I’ll try to do better about writing more often and keeping them shorter.