Fare Thee Well Good Buddy!!!

It's official, The Jeep is gone...sniff, sniff :( After 5 months of sitting out in front of our townhouses, motionless, we finally had to get rid of it. The parking violation we got this week just made us actually do it! Even though the Jeep didn't work, it was nice to see it there and to let Carson play in it every now and then. He loved that thing to the bitter end (now, let's see if he notices it's gone). So, the violation said it would get towed last night, but we talked to our community people and they gave us till Tuesday. So, Dan quickly put a listing on a few Jeep sites in the area and within a couple hours had an interested guy. Dan gave him the specs and he said he'd take it and pick it up today....wow, that was way to easy! So, last night we took Carson out to the Jeep and had one last time playing in it and taking LOTS of pictures. It was a sad time. Then today the guy came to tow it away. Fortunately we really felt like it was going to a good home. The guy that bought it was a BIG-TIME jeeper and was buying it to fix it up with another old jeep he has to make a rig for his 16 year old daughter. He said his daughter has been buggin' him for a long time for a jeep, so we feel she will be super appreciative. And this guy that picked it up was soo tough looking and super nice. He even had a cool prosthetic arm with a metal hook (probably from a serious jeepin' accident...j/k). So, we really, really felt like it was going to a perfect place and a nice family. Okay, so you're probably wondering why I am acting so sentimental toward the jeep, b/c most of you know that I usually just make fun of it. But, it has lots of memories and it means a lot to a certain someone of mine :) When the jeep was finally loaded up on the trailer and driven away, that certain someone couldn't control his emotions...and neither could I. Who knew a jeep would mean so much to us. It has been Dan's "baby" longer than me...or Carson...and now it's gone....sniff, sniff. Here are a few memories and facts about our beloved Jeep.
-Dan bought it in Helper, Ut in March of 1998. It is a 1991 Jeep Wrangler.
-It originally had pink and blue pinstripping, which Dan quickly took off as to not have it look too "girly"
-It has been REAL jeepin' in Moab over a dozen times and has a fine layer of red dust on everything inside to prove it.
-Dan thought it would be a great "chick magnet" and was so proud of it when we first met.
-When we first met, I didn't care that he had a jeep.
-In less than 3 years it went through 3 mufflers.
-Dan was the first in his family to buy a Jeep, after him 3 others in his family bought one.
-Carson LOVES Jeeps and can spot one a mile away.
-I was the second girl Dan let drive his jeep.-The Jeep had 4 bumper stickers on it....MOAB, U of U, "God Forgives, Rock's Don't", and (my personal favorite...j/k) "Don't touch my Jeep unless you're Naked".
-I always wanted him to remove that last one and he never did :)
-It has a 4 1/2" lift and 33" tires.-I could barely get into it b/c it was so tall.
-JEEP stands for "Just Empty Every Pocket" and this jeep was no exception. Dan estimates putting over 10K into it in repairs and upgrades.
-It was definitely part of the family.

I'm not ready for this.

Well, today starts the love/hate relationship that we have with seminary. Today was the first day of seminary, and since Dan is the seminary teacher, he was awake bright and early at 4:30AM this morning....ugghhh!!! He is such a trooper to wake up so early and hardly complain. He actually really enjoys teaching the youth, it's just the other stuff that comes along with it. Like planning a lesson every night, and going to bed early, so you can wake up early. I try hard to be supportive, but sometimes its really hard to go to bed at 9:30pm when I still have energy and want to do other things. Plus it doesn't help that I sleep in 3-4hours MORE than Dan does every morning. That will probably change once I have the baby though...ahh! We'll see how we do once that baby comes around. So, here we go with another school year full of early mornings and early evenings...wish us luck!

On a different note, we went down to Bealeton, VA to hang out with our good friends, the Pugmires. We spent the night friday and then hung out all day saturday. Then saturday night they drove up here and spent the night at our house and went to church the next morning. Tami was Young Women's president right before me, and one of our girls was getting her Young Women's Recognition Award...Go AMY!! It was nice to hang out with them and let our boys spend some times together. Also, Tami gave me the cutest swimsuit for our baby girl...just look how cute it is........... Thanks Pugs, you guys are the greatest!!!!

A few pictures...

How did my little baby get so OLD!!! I think he looks so much older lately, especially in his shirt and tie. I hear when you have your next baby, that your first child looks so big...I can only imagine. Here are some pictures from the pool this summer. Carson absolutely LOVES the pool and was very comfortable "swimming" around with his water wings on. I hope we can get a few more days in a the pool before it closes. The other pictures were taken last Sunday before church.

Hospital Tour and Movies...

Thanks to Amy and Michelle for watching Carson, we were able to go take a tour and see a movie afterwards. We are delivering the baby at the same hospital we had Carson at, Holy Cross Hospital, in Silver Spring. It's a pretty nice hospital and they've done some construction since we had Carson, so we thought we would take the tour again. Most of the couples were having their first baby. It was nice to not feel stressed about the whole thing. Going to the hospital actually made me really excited to have the baby...only about a month left! It was a nice tour and I'm glad we went.

After we went to see the Bourne Supremacy. It was a good movie. I remember the first two being much more violent than this one. It was still full of action, and farely violent, but they just didn't show it all...which I totally appreciate. It was a good show overall.

It's always nice to get out. We also talked about baby names some more. I think my two top ones at this moment are...Reese...or....Brynlee. The name saga continues....

Updates...

I haven't blogged in a week...I'm slacking! Things are going great and I'm keeping myself super busy. Here are some updates:

*Crafts for Claire is off to a great start. We have had several orders and I have been sewing like crazy...if only there was more time! Thank you to all of you for your support!

*Carson is doing great with potty training. The first week was a little rough, but it just got better and better. Now he pretty much is accident free around the house and although in a pull-up when we go out, he has been telling us more and more that he needs to go when we're out...and then he does, yeah! Go Carson!

*I'm now 35 weeks pregnant and things are looking good. This pregnancy has flown right by and I'm getting super excited to meet our little girl. We're still working on her name and it is driving me crazy...any suggestions?

*My Young women's calling is going great and Dan starts teaching seminary for the 2nd year on Monday. I don't think either of us are ready for that!

Well, that's about all I can think of right now. I think I'll go sew now :)

Introducing.....

...Crafts For Claire!

Hello Friends and Family!

As many of you know, my niece Claire has been diagnosed with a rare seizure disorder and continues to be tested for a myriad of other illnesses. In a month she has been in the hospital four separate times and is quickly racking up expensive medical bills. She seams to be a difficult case for even the most experienced doctors. My family and I have tried to come up with some way that we can help Claire and her family. I’ve come up with one idea. I’ve started an on-line shop called “Crafts For Claire” and am selling some of the things I have made. Most of my things are for babies and children. I have combined my love of sewing with my desire to help baby Claire. The proceeds that I earn from this will go directly to Claire and her loving family. I really hope this will be a success and prove to be somewhat of a help to Claire’s family.

I have also set up a blog for “Crafts For Claire” where you can go check out even more of my projects. If there is anything on there that you would like, or want a special order, just contact us at craftsforclaire@gmail.com. Please check out the on-line store and blog and please feel free to let your friends know about it too! If you want to put a link to “Crafts For Claire” on your own blog, that would be great too!

Most of you know how much I love to sew, but I hope you see that this project of mine is dedicated to my niece. Hopefully this will help in some way. Thank you for all your support!

Sincerely,

Lynette

On-line Store: http://craftsforclaire.etsy.com/
Blog: http://craftsforclaire.blogspot.com/
Email: craftsforclaire@gmail.com

More sewing....

Well, as if you're not sick of all my sewing junk, here are some more things I've been working on lately. I've totally been having fun with the little pants. They are super easy and fun to come up with fun new ideas to do with them. I think my little girl will have plenty of pants! The fake "hooter hider" is fashioned after the real "hooter hiders" or "Bebe au Lait" that you can see here. My friend Ruth had one and she said it was great. The strap goes around your neck and then there is a foot of stiff boning at the neck so you can see your baby and she can see you. It's also made out of just one layer of cotton, so it's not hot and heavy. I'm really hoping it will work great to keep me decent while nursing the baby. The next couple pictures are of a baby blanket I made, I may keep it for my baby girl, I'm still deciding. It was super easy, but has some fun quilting on it. The middle part says "baby girl" over and over. Next is a picture of some more carseat blankets. Then the next few pictures are of a dress I made for my little girl. The pretty white skirt material has white embroidered flowers on it. My friend Tami got that material in Mexico and gave me some...it looks so pretty as a dress! I was really excited about how this dress turned out and I can't wait to see my little lady in it. I'll have to wait about a year though :) And the last few pictures are of a baby boy quilt that I just finished. Sorry to bore you with all the explanations.


Pants, pants, and MORE pants!

"Hooter Hider" bag

Fake "Hooter Hider"

Baby Girl Blanket

Soft back of blanket

More carseat blankets

Black & White Dress front

Black & White dress back

Baby boy quilt

Loops and stars quilting

Back of quilt

Blogging addiction

So, Rebecca thought that I would be in the high 90's for how addicted to blogging I was...but I was only in the 60's...and I answered totally honest!!! I guess I'm not as addicted to blogging as one may think. I still think I'm addicted to it b/c I think it is really fun and I totally do want everyone to have a blog so I can keep up to date with friends and family. But, I guess I'm not THAT addicted to it. I definitely check my blog and friends blogs daily, sometimes several times a day, but I don't spend hours blogging or reading them and I honestly don't think about what I'm going to post. I post stuff pretty frequently, but I usually have to think about something fun to post about, it doesn't just come to me. Anyway, I'll still fully admit that I'm addicted...maybe I should take the quiz again?? How addicted are you??



61%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Dating Site

Potty Training

Dan and I decided to give one good effort to try to potty train Carson before the new baby comes. We weren't going to try till afterwards but when we were at my sister's house for 2 weeks, Carson was really interested in her 3 year old going potty. So, I thought we would give it a couple weeks to see how he does and if he really wants to do it now. So, we started a week ago, and so far he is doing alright. We pretty much are just letting him wear "big boy" underwear or go around the house naked (I never thought I would do that, but it makes it much easier to be "ready" to go). I tell you though, this potty training stuff is hard work! I have been in the bathroom for hours and hours a day (at least it feels like that). We read books, do puzzles, sing, play with play-dough, etc. while he's trying to go potty. After a day, he was already getting better telling us he had to go, although it sometimes was while a little drop was already coming out. But he recognizes that he is going at least. The problem is that when we do go to the potty, he just goes a little bit. Then we'll sit and sit forever, finally be done, then he says he needs to go again....and it's just a little bit again. I'm glad that he says he needs to go and actually goes a little, but how do I get him to just let it all go? I guess that will come in time. I think he is doing pretty good for only a week into it, but I think it's also a little overwhelming for him. A few times at the beginning of last week he was a little scared/overwhelmed by the whole rushing to the potty and when he actually tinkles he would get this surprised/scared look on his face. But he's doing pretty good telling us he needs to go and he's also gone #2 twice on the potty too...yeah! So, I think we'll keep sticking with it a little bit longer and see how he does...wish us luck!

Fun Night.

Dan and I had a great time last night on our Anniversary Date. One of the young women from the ward watched Carson and she is absolutely awesome! She is so good with Carson and he absolutely adores her. It's so nice to leave and know that he will be fine. While Carson was partying with the fun babysitter, Dan and I went to a dinner theater called Toby's in Baltimore. We both really enjoy musicals, but had never been to a dinner theater before. It was a lot of fun. They have a nice buffet for dinner with lots of scrumptious food. We were seated with a mother and her 11 year old daughter. They were great people to be randomly seated with...they were so fun to talk to. After dinner is all done, they start the performance. The show they were doing this time was Grease. It was really good! The part about the evening that surprised me the most was that the actors/actresses did ALL the work!! They were our waiters for dinner, then went up and performed the show, then came back down during intermission to collect the bills, etc., then back to the stage to finish the show! Now that's what I call hard work...wow! It wasn't exactly a cheap evening, but it was something different and we both had a really good time.

FOUR YEARS!!!

It's our 4 year anniversary! Of course I think I married the best man ever...I love you Dan! Here's my top 10 list for reasons why I love you:

#10: You cook and clean without being asked.

#9: You have a great "joker" smile.

#8: You are so easy to talk to.

#7: You are always willing to help.

#6: You are good with Carson.

#5: You have a great sense of humor.

#4: You are frugal.

#3: You are smart and always figuring things out.

#2: You are kind and loving.

#1: You are my best friend!