Summer Flashbacks.... The Highlights, rather than the lowlights!

As some of you may know this summer hasn't held very many fabulous events or memories for us. Yes, there are going to be memories, but not the ones you actually want! August has definitely been no exception... the whole month has involved lots of tears & stress. Thankfully to the human mind it is mostly a blur & I would like to keep it that way. I have spent the majority of the week recouping from the latest & not so greatest event of the summer. I keep thinking about posting, but just felt August wasn't my month... so I was going to wait until September & start that month off with a bang! Then I realized there was some good from the summer that I never got to post about!! So I will to a nice little re-cap of some of the highlights since the 4th of July (that seems to be my last HAPPY post. That way I will have a place to find fond memories from this summer, although in all honesty I know I will not look back on this summer with fondness & that's okay, because there is a lifetime of other summers!!

The kids loved playing in Mimaw & Grumpy's backyard in the little swimming pool.

The Days of '47 Parade in downtown Salt Lake. Despite their faces, they all had a good time.

The Escort didn't survive the accident & wasn't worth fixing. We got a great deal on a 2004 Toyota Avalon, it was my step-mom's & thanks to her generous offer & Jeff's parents for help with the financing. We love it! It's such an upgrade for us! It worked out as we were already planning on going to Salt Lake for a visit. We just had to rent a car a little longer here,

& Jeff drove the new one back.

Here are a few pictures

of the interior.

Before my arrival in Salt Lake my sister-in-law told me about these great books she was reading. So I read the first 2 of the series while in there & pre-ordered Eclipse. I got it a few days after I got home & spent a nice day & a half reading it.

Some of my projects from the summer....

I made new matching bed skirts for the crib & Hannah's bed.

There is a shelf in the kids room that is flush with the ceiling & spans one entire wall. I love the shelf, but have struggled to find something to put up there. I have rotated different things, but everything looks so small once up that high. Thanks to my sister-in-law we came up with the idea of these blocks. We went to The Wood Connection in Salt Lake & picked them up & then to get some scrapbooking paper, paint & Mod Podge to complete the project. I do like them, but we had a hard time finding the "Right" colors of paper... & they too are light enough in color that they too lose themselves a little up on the shelf.

These are the quilt tops I made for Hannah & the baby. I wanted them to be similar & match, but for one to be for a girl & one for a boy. They are just vertical stripes running the length of the quilts. I am VERY happy with how these turned out. Now I just need to get with a friend who has more quilting experience than I do to finish them up!

**I think Jeff is even shocked to see how many of these projects have been completed.**