What a Weekend

Well, we had a little bit of a scare this last weekend. Lachelle ended up having some pre-term contractions. The doctors were able to get it stopped, so no child yet. At 33 weeks, we don't want him to show up yet. So, after a day in the hospital, Lachelle is on bed rest right now. It doesn't take much to get it going again.

Sunday is Gavin's B-Day. He is turning 2! It is hard to believe that he is that old already. We are not doing anything big to celebrate. We have also been "celebrating" colds the last couple of weeks. He already acts two (his tantrums have gotten worse in the last month). We haven't gotten to the fist pounding on the floor yet...though maybe we should keep it that way.

Ben's B-Day is on Wednesday. He will most likely spend the day at work...not too exciting. It is the start of the year-end for the government, so work will be very busy these next couple of weeks. For some reason the government decides the year 2008 is over on September 30. So, Ben will officially start 2009 before the rest of you do!

"Cabining" in Island Park

We haven't done a whole lot in the way of vacationing this summer, but we did sneak away for a long weekend. A few weeks ago Ben, Gavin, and I spent a few days in Island Park camping (if you can call it that) in a pretty nice cabin with all of Ben's family. We went up Wednesday night and stayed until Saturday.

While there we celebrated Daron's 25th birthday, and ate cake (with almost as much icing as cake) and had homemade ice cream (always one of my favorites). On Thursday we hung around the cabin and relaxed until the afternoon when most of us (Josh and Ben decided to stay at the cabin and nap) went over to Henry's Lake. I know it's windy in Idaho, but it was sooo windy that we felt like we were on the coast. Daron read while Jacob, Jonathon, and Kiana climbed rocks and got wet. Gavin enjoyed all the rocks and spending time with Grandma Ann. Kevin got out and inflated a raft, eventually convincing Jacob he wanted to come along for the ride. By the end of the afternoon both were quite soaked.

On Friday we spent our day in Yellowstone. We went to see Old Faithful, stopped at a few hot pots, had a fun pinic lunch by the river, and went swimming at Firehole. We then came out into West Yellowstone and went to the Playmill. It's pretty much tradition that we go once a year. Two years ago, we saw Joseph and the Amazing Techinicolor Dreamcoat. Last year, we saw Footloose. And this year, we saw Hello, Dolly! Even Gavin really enjoyed the show. Only the last half hour or so was a little hard because he was tired of being confined, but he loved the singing and dancing.

Saturday, we packed up and bailed out. All three of us were tired. Gavin slept in the same room as us, and needless to say we didn't always get as much sleep as we would have liked. We drove and all crashed for a nap! What a great weekend we had spending with family.

Sew Easy.... Well, sort of.

Well it's been way to long since I've written a post. The month of August ended up being quite busy. I'll have to write several posts to get things updated again, but for now, we'll start with a short post about the sewing project I took on last week.

Last week Gavin had double ear infections and a nasty cold to go with it. (Of course, this week I've got the nasty cold...) Anyway, he took some nice 2 hour long naps in the afternoons, so I decided to work on making a dress that I didn't have to squeeze into. I have two maternity skirts, but all my dresses are just barely fitting these days.

I found a pattern I liked in a box of patterns I got for free from a friend in my ward. It's not technically a maternity dress, but with a bigger size the style lent itself the option of being one. I worked on it all last week and was able to have it done to wear on Saturday to a sealing for one of Ben's cousins. I was happy with how it turned out, and it wasn't too difficult of a pattern... (though there were a few bumps in the road ;) ) So now here are a couple of pictures of me with my pregnant belly sporting my new dress!

Our latest project

We received a dresser for free from Freecycle.org. I love this site. It's through Yahoo! Groups, and you can sign up for your local chapter, I guess you could call it. Then people in your area post things they are giving away, and occasionally, you can request a need too. So anyway, that's what I did. I asked for a sturdy dresser, and I got one! I sanded the dresser down to the wood... I had to take off three layers of paint, and then Ben and I (mostly Ben) stained and sealed it with polyurethane. We now have a really nice dresser for the baby's room. Here's some pics of progress of the dresser from before to the final look.

What do you do in the summer time?

Around here in Idaho, they just don't really do pools. It just doesn't stay warm long enough. When it's hot, it's hot, but then the rest of the year it's pretty much down right cold. So to give Gavin a little water time, we bought a sprinkler. (We spoil him too much I know ;)! ) Ben and I have enjoyed watching him play and becoming a little more brave about getting water in his face. I just thought I'd share a video and a few pictures of the Idaho version of a swimming pool!

Art Show

On Saturday, Idaho Falls had their Art Show at the Greenbelt. The Greenbelt is a walking/biking path that follows the Snake River in downtown Idaho Falls. They have several community activities there through out the year. This past weekend was the art show. Ben and I took Gavin and walked around for about an hour. I love looking for a couple of reasons: 1) it makes the artsy side of me want to do something, and maybe someday sell it 2) I enjoy seeing what local artists are doing 3) there is just a lot to see. We saw a glass maker making a unicorn in front of the crowd, there were some really cool metal sculptures, lots of paintings and photographs, and just all kinds of things. Even Gavin was entertained the whole time!

Our favorite little booth was a pottery one. It is a husband and wife team that creates the pottery, and it's absolutely gorgeous. And the part we liked best was that they do personalized pottery: weddings, baby births, etc. It is a little pricey, but Ben and I are thinking we might save up for a wedding one. Interested or not, here is the sight that this couple can be checked out at: www.masakpottery.com It's worth a look!