Missionaries, Healthly Meals and More -

Scott Jackson (Jack-Daddy) called Cody on Sunday to say he was coming to visit for a couple days. Scott was Cody's trainer in the CRM (California Riverside Mission). Cody immediately called other friends who served in the mission and they had an impromptu Mini Mission Reunion and FHE on Monday night. After a couple hours of target practice I fed them a Jambayala Dinner.

It was quite fun sitting in the living room listening to the sounds of laughter and reminiscing coming from the other room. After dinner they invaded the kitchen to make home-made doughnuts for dessert.

In no particular order our FHE guests were Mike Clark, John Ryman, Evan Walker, Scott Jackson, and Dustin Clements.

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In other news from the home front, I have been trying to eat healthier. Here is a sample of a breakfast. When I eat this around 7:30 a..m. I don't even feel like eating anything until around 3:00 pm. 

I have almost no aches and pains in my joints now, but I do miss my treats occasionally. The other night I dreamed of eating chocolate chip cookies. I will be thrilled when I finally get one in  20 days. 

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I finished my second practice baby quilt on Thursday. I did this entire quilt using a free-hand stipling pattern .

When I get the third quilt finished and bound I will post a picture of all 3 finished quilts for you to see. Until then - Have a wonderful day and God Bless you!

An Update for Darryl - This is What Your Wife is Up To.

I was so proud of myself when I went on my cruise because I only gained 2.5 pounds in the whole seven days. It was the 8 weeks following the cruise that hard on me. I love to travel and drive places, but I have the worst eating habits when I am on the road. After a couple of road trips, surgery and the Easter holiday suffice it to say I put on a little weight. Cali has suggested I go on the Whole 30 Program to try to get myself back in shape.

I have heard of a Paleo Diet before, I just didn't know what it was. Basically, I am eating meats, seafoods, vegetables, fruits and nuts for the next 30 days along with exercising to try and become a lean, mean running machine.  OKAY.... I just want to fit back into my jeans. :-)

Yesterday I made my very first pan of roasted vegetables and it was delicious if I do say so myself.

Beet, parsnip, asparagus, carrots, peppers, onion, sugar snap peas and cabbage tossed in a little EVOO, seasoned with a few spices and herbs and baked covered at 425 degrees for 30 minutes and then uncovered for 15 minutes. Pretty simple.

Todays Project:

We have a nice antique Oak Octagon table.Of course I can't buy an octagon table cloth and I have one I made three years ago that's getting a little worn, so today I made 2 new tablecloths for my table.

I made the blue and green for when the table is at its smallest. I had enough fabric left to make 4 napkins.

 This little table has two extra leaves for it and will sit 8 when the family is visiting. I have several tablecloths that fit when both leaves are in but not for when I need only one. I made an extended table cloth out the the same pattern in peach, green and gold. I just didn't have enough fabric for the napkins. Darn, I just might have to go back and get a little more fabric.  :-)

That's what I have been busy doing. Hope you are having a great week.

Cody on the Run!

Saturday was the Menan Butte Trail Challenge where they host 3 races on the north butte, a 25k, 12k and 5k. Cody signed up for the 12k race thinking that he should probably train before running a 25k. It was 35 degrees and very foggy Saturday morning when they started. Cody started toward the back then moved up to stay at the front the whole time and was even in the lead for several miles... until he got leg cramps going up the service road.

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Coming off the desert Cody is in the lead.

Heading up the butte trail. I think it is a 600ft. climb that is pretty steep.

 At the finish line coming in 3rd place!

Quick - a little CPR! Next time you should train a little buddy!

Every runner received this cool participation medal which we will have to put on a ribbon for him I guess.

Instead of a 2nd medal for placing they handed out these cool trail signs. 

Congratulations on a great run kiddo! 

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In other Cody news -

 Even though he is finished with this semester of college he still has to go to school every morning. He is a volunteer at Burton Elementary school in the mornings for a 2nd grade class. The school loved him so much they hired him to be a lunch time playground monitor and to help in the Handicapped/ Special needs classes.

He absolutely loves working at the school. After School it is off to Dome to make stickers.

 These last two pictures are for his sisters. He calls this look "Jazzy Funk".... or Junk. Maybe it's just "Fazzy" Whatever it is... that's our Cody.

Just a Little Birthday Trek

April is a wonderful month with many special days - Aprils Fools Day, Tax Day and several family Birthdays. This year my brother John turned 60 and my sisters and I decided to travel to Independence to surprise him. What a wonderful time we had and it was the first time in 3 years that the five of us were together. 

4-12-13 Friday Night Pizza Party with the whole family!

 SURPRISE!!!

Never fear.... your sisters are here.

L-R: Patty, Cindy, Birthday Boy, Sandy and Michelle.

John, Nancy and their adorable grandchildren.

John and his children and their spouses. John Wayne, Brandy, Hannah and Aaron.

Johnny and his kiddos.

Time for Cake and after the cake a special presentation. Michelle, Patty, Sandy and I put on a little show..

This is Your Life John Wayne Eppert III

4-13-13 Saturday included sight seeing, delicious dinner and then fun at John and Nancy's.

 FYI - John and Nancy are wonderful tour guides and can really fill you in on the history of the Independence / Kansas City area.

The Lewis & Clark statue.

They camped on the point across the river... Lewis and Clark, not Johnny and Nancy .... right there...
Yep, that's the spot.

The food was wonderful at the Cafe' Verona on the Independence Square.

Trying to figure out something on the IPad.

I think Patty is in disbelief at what she sees!

I love my family! Best siblings in the world! 

I guess that picture is pretty funny!!

This birthday trip was supposed to be a quick one. Leaving on Thursday, arrive on Friday, party Friday & Saturday, Leave Sunday to return to Idaho on Monday. Instead we found out my Stepmother was in the hospital on Friday so on Sunday I drove over to Terre Haute to see Louise. I also visited my Aunts and Uncles, Nancy, Bob, Peggy and Ronnie, spent the night at Michelle & Kevin's, dropped in on Patty Tuesday morning then left for Texas as the snow storms in the Rocky Mtn's was closing down the interstates. Tuesday night was spent with Sandy and David in Texas, Wednesday night with Cami and Jacob in Gallup, NM, Thursday night with Hillary and baby Gabriel in Springville, UT and I finally arrived home at 7:00pm. on Friday. 

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I had planned on traveling around 2383 miles in 5 days and ended up driving 4071.2 miles in 8 days. It was a fast but wonderful journey! I love being with my family!

18,848 Stitches

This morning I finished practicing on the blue fabric with my new Handi-quilter and decided to try and quilt a small baby quilt. I bought this fabric on Thursday just for practice. I put it on the quilter by myself and realized I need to get more straight pins if I am going to do larger quilts. That took me about 45 minutes.

I decided to stitch around all of the little squares but I only did detail stitching on the blocks that had flowers on them.

Above you can see where I stitched around the outline of the printed design and below you can see where I did some very small 'stipling' stitching on the blocks with multiple flowers. 

I looked at the back and I think it looks pretty good for my first attempt. I do need to adjust my bobbin tension tomorrow as I had a few RR tracks on the back of the quilt.

When I finished I had put 18,848 stitches in this quilt in around 2 1/2 hours I can't even imagine how long it would take me to hand stitch 18,848 stitches! I think I will bind this in a pretty pink and then it will be ready for someone's sweet baby. 

What do you think?

It's Here! It's Here!

It was terrible weather this morning with snow and cold then the wind started blowing about 30 mph. Perfect day to stay inside. 

  I made my very first quilt in the fall of 2001. Since then I have made quilts for each of my grandchildren, my sister Patty, and Darryl. I made Cami and Cali quilts for their weddings and one for Shiloh and Jason, but as I travel I find it harder and harder to get the quilting done. I have had Jesse and Skye's and Cody's quilt tops done for more than 3 years now but can't seem to find the space or time to quilt them. Poor Hillary... I bought her fabric 3 years ago and still haven't put her top together. It seems I always had another baby quilt to do. With this new arrival I hope to catch up on my quilting and maybe make a little money. 

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At 11:00 Lucas and Jenny from Gary's Sewing Center arrived with my new Avanti 18 Handi-Quilter!!  I am so excited. I took pictures of the assembly process so we will be able to take it apart and put it back together if needed.

Once the quilter is on the tracks the tracks must be tightened from underneath,

I am sure they thought I was crazy taking so many pictures.

Finally ready for me to start practicing.

Then I spent most of the rest of the day learning how to use this mechanical marvel! 

 It's going to take a little time to become precise with this machine but I am going to have fun learning. In a couple of weeks I hope to have my first finished quilts.