Recent Quilts

I started learning a few months ago about how to make quilting designs on a regular sewing machine and it is SO fun. I love it. My first practice quilt was for my friend, Kat. She just barely had little McLain about a week ago. You can't see it too well but I did a basic stippling. 

 The next quilt was for my sister as a late Christmas present. I just quilted a straight line with green thread and my walking foot 1/4 inch on either side of each seam. I love the way it turned out.

The back of the same quilt.

I hand bound the binding on a trip to California...I'll try to avoid that whenever possible! Machine binding is way easier. 

This is my Utah t-shirt quilt I started before any of these other quilts. I waited to finish it so I could be better at free motion quilting because I wanted it to turn out really nice. There are so many memories in this quilt, it's crazy! I stabilized each t-shirt with an iron on stabilizer, and then pieced it all together. 

For the back I added a strip of red and white fabrics just for a little extra flare. I also used a stippling design over the whole quilt and it is so cute. It gives it a crinkly look even if you don't use cotton batting. 

The binding was done by machine and it was tons faster. 

But really, I love it! 

If you want to know more about how to machine quilt on a regular machine, it is so fun and I definitely think you should try it. I learned how at freemotionquilting.blogspot.com. Just go to Free Motion Quilt Along at the top. You can look at my pinterest page and see a ton of other designs. If you end up trying it, tell me! I'd really love to see what you work on! 

I'm working on a wall hanging for my grandma right now. It's the first time I've quilted based on each block, rather than an all over pattern. I'll have to post picture in a day or two when I finish it. Fun stuff! 

And I have to thank my quilt holder...he's all worn out! 

I always felt like there was way too much for me to post so I just kept procrastinating. Instead, let's just make blogging easy and post a few pictures and call it good. People just want to see pictures anyway, right? 

Weston was stuck. I wasn't ever sure how he did it. 

We went out to Sacramento in February for Ryan's Aunt Patty's wedding and went to the Jelly Belly factory. 

First birthday cakes! Sorry about the blur. They loved it! 

Carter got sick with RSV in March and had to go to the hospital for some extra help. 

Weston joined him a few days later. 

First real haircuts! 

Fun at the park! 

Success! 

 

In the last few weeks Ryan turned 26 and we had our two year anniversary. Ryan's little brother David leaves for his mission to North Carolina in a few days. We'll miss him! And we are spending an entire month this summer in Alaska!!

Phone Pictures

It has been so long since I've blogged and I apologize for that! Here are some pictures of the boys from my phone. A lot of them are of me trying to get pictures of the boys around Christmas and failing miserably. The nativity is part of Ryan's Christmas gift to me. I got the wise men around our wedding and he completed it finally. Woo! And finally the cute hats my grandma made for the boys for Christmas. I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and I promise I'll blog more soon! Much love!

Life Since August

Life has been treating us well. My sister is coming to visit for a long layover early next week which I'm very excited about. The boys had surgery which you can read about at the bottom. They're both doing well and getting so big. Carter weighs just over 16 pounds and Weston weighs 17.5 pounds. They can both sit up for a little while when they're leaning over on their hands and they need to be eating solids but they're not yet. They won't open their mouths which makes it kind of difficult, and feeding two babies with spoons takes FOREVER. Weston sticks his tongue out a lot and his hair is growing long. He is getting a sweet double chin, Mr. Fatty Cakes! Carter cracks up when you dance for him or fake a sneeze or when we do pretty much anything silly. Basically, he makes us feel like comedians, which we are. We're pretty hilarious. I read the Percy Jackson series in about a week which kept me busy. It was entertaining but only for someone to read when they've got a fair amount of time on their hands. I did P90x for a solid month then got burnt out for a week or two. I've started back up again though and it's good to be exercising again. I think I'll only do it three or four days a week instead of six. It just was taking up a ton of time. Ryan got second in his state bagging competition which was so fun to go to. He's planning to win it next year! He'll be reffing high school basketball starting in a few months and I'll start coaching club at about the same time. We'll be busy! Picture time? I think so...

Just sitting out on the lawn. (Weston left, Carter right)

I came home to my son looking like this. Hobo, rockstar, gentleman, or Daddy's little all-star? (Weston)

He didn't like the glasses so much. 

Weston left, Carter right. 

Just laying on our bed after waking up. (Carter then Weston)

We tried to have Ryan's mom take some photos for us, but taking photos with babies sure isn't easy. So we have one with Carter smiling. 

And one with Weston smiling. 

With Grandma and Grandpa! 

Carter can hold his head up now!

Carter then Weston. Love these boys! 

They like each other. (Carter left)

I was changing Weston and Carter got hold of his brother's shorts. Tasty. 

Carter told Ryan he wanted shorts on his head. We sure do miss Chief Red Face. Wait...that resulted in his hernias. So no, we don't. 

We went to Cafe Rio with Terra a few weeks ago. We're so glad she got an awesome job with Walmart but so sad she'll be leaving us! 

Weston loves playing with his cousin, Bella. 

Weston loves football.

Weston acted like he knew what he was doing with this cup of water. But he grabs everything and shoves it in his mouth so that's not too surprising. 

Our boys had some pretty minor surgery this week. Both of them were circumcised and Carter had a hernia to be fixed. My three favorite boys.

Carter with Daddy. 

Weston's surgery was first and it took him over an hour to come out of the anesthesia. Carter went in after and they told us they gave him more anesthesia so it would take him longer to wake up. We tried to wake him but the poor kid was zonked.

Thanks for reading! 

July and August!

My long time friend, Shelbe, came to visit from Washington. She feel asleep with Carter. I can't even do that! 

I got to go to my cousin Amber's wedding a few days ago.  It was so good to see a lot of my dad's family.  The bottom picture is my dad's twin sisters, my twin cousins, and then my boys. 

Blessing day pictures. Don't they look so much alike in the upper right picture?

Just some cuteness.

Pictures from my mom's visit. So fun. 

Weston missed the hospital, so we went for a visit.

So both of our boys have reflux. The usually projectile their whole bottle about every other day. We end up just feeding them again, and when you're trying to go somewhere, it can complicate things. Carter is perfectly content as he does it and usually gives us a huge smile when he's done. You'd think he knows he just got us good. Weston struggles. He gets really sad, scared, arches his back, and can't eat for a while after because his stomach is upset. We started him in on reflux medication earlier last week and it sure didn't seem to be working!

Friday was rough. Carter started out the morning by throwing up (surprise, right?) Well then Weston threw up. Then he threw up again. We went to Five Guys for lunch where he totally pooped all over Ryan. Icky, gooey, liquid poop. Yep. He kept throwing up and kept having diarrhea. We went over to Ryan's parents that evening and started playing a game and it was no fun because both boys were so sad. Weston pooped on Bree, then Carter threw up on me, then Weston threw up on Ryan. By this time, Weston had thrown up seven times that day and Carter had thrown up three.

After the last time Weston threw up he was really pale and just acting totally out of it. He wasn't focusing on anything and his fontanelle was really sunken in. So we headed to the emergency room. Carter stayed with the grandparents and we took Weston up to Primary's. We decided he must have missed that place because he's spent more time there than at home in his 5 1/2 months of life! He got an IV and we stayed the night to make sure he had all the fluids he needed and was at least able to keep Pedialyte down. I stayed the night with Weston and Ryan picked up Carter from his parents' at 5 am and slept at home. We checked out around noon the next day. It turns out they just got some kind of stomach bug and Weston's weak system can't handle much after losing so much of his gut with NEC. We have to feed Weston just a little at a time to allow his system to start working like it should again. 

Now everyone seems to be on the mend. Ryan got sick too, so we had a day full of vomiting and diarrhea and feeding every few hours. I didn't have to help Ryan too much though :) Poor boys! 

Finally zonked! This is his favorite way to sleep at home too. 

I always saw the little babies at Primary's in these gowns and just thought they were adorable. And when your own boy is in them? Even cuter...