101 in 1001: Update #1

It's been the first 100 days of my 101 in 1001!

Here's what I've completed so far and what is in progress:

Completed:

7. Get a digital copy of my patriarchal blessing.

Did you know that you can request a digital copy for your phone/computer? It's nice to have one that I'm not quite so afraid of losing. (This explains what a patriarchal blessing is.)

25. Write Gerrit a love letter.

I wrote him a note with 34 things I love about him for his recent birthday.  Gerrit writes me sweet notes several times a year and I always want to be better about writing to him!

28. Go to a PTA meeting.

I dragged Molly and Elliott along.  It turns out that they basically formed all of their committees in August, but it was good to know what's going on.  I've also tried to volunteer with some things like the school carnival and the Christmas teacher appreciation group.

30. Buy Christmas presents for a giving tree

Yay!  The community center put one up.  Very easy.

41. Replace the broken glass on the side table.

Molly smacked her head on the side table this summer.  The glass shattered...thankfully it didn't hurt her at all, but we did have a bunch of broken glass to deal with.  I got a custom cut mirror from the local paint store and Gerrit glued it in for me :)

46. Invite people over for dinner or games. (1 of 5).

We had some friends over for a game night.  Gerrit loved getting to play some of our larger-group games, and they brought some fun games too.

49. Bring dinner to a friend.

One of my friends had been on my mind a lot because she has a very, very difficult schedule, and I felt like she really needed dinner.

58.  Cook something from each country in The Best International Recipe

Previously blogged here.

73.  Go to a play.

Gerrit and I went to Misalliance and Beauty and the Beast, both at BYU.

91. Try ten new restaurants (4 of 10)

We tried Aubergine & Company (healthy and kind of mediterranean), Sweeto Burrito (burritos with french fries in them are not my thing, but the kids' menu is great and so are the drinks), Cocolito's (our downtown Mexican place...fine), and Galilee (Middle Eastern...I'm so excited for shawarma and falafel nearby!).

97. Try a brand-new exercise class at the rec center.

I started going to cardio kick on Thursdays...tons of fun!  I've also started going to Pound on Fridays.  It's a little different...you use drumsticks as part of your workout.  You wouldn't think that sounds heart but you have to do a lot of squats and lunges and jumping to get the sticks to hit the ground!

100.  Wear high heels.

I bought these shoes and I love them!  I won't be wearing such high shoes on a regular basis but they are fun for church and for special occasions.

101.  Start using moisturizer.

I bought moisturizer.  I wear it sometimes.  I should get better about it because winter here is really, really rough on my face!


In Progress:

1. Read the Standard Works.

I just finished Nehemiah in the Old Testament.  It really had been a long time since I read the Old Testament since I was teaching Sunday School the last time it got covered, so I've really enjoyed this.

5. 100% Visiting Teaching for 6 months.

I just finished month #5!

8. Finish the second round of Personal Progress

I am about two weeks away from finishing up Divine Nature and Good Works, and I'll blog those once I finish.

11.  Read 5 childhood favorites to Miles.

We're in the middle of Bunnicula right now!  We tried a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book but he wasn't really into it.

My Day Job

Mornings here are crazy hectic.    It feels like I am running around like an insane person just trying to get everyone dressed, fed, and out the door.  Evenings can get a little crazy, too.  We're trying to balance dinner with picking up Gerrit from work and then with Scouts, work meetings, and anything else.

Thankfully, there's usually a few hours in the middle of my day where I can just play with these two sweet kids and go at their pace.  I love being able to just take that peaceful " down time."

New Couch

I have been wanting to replace our family room couch for about four years now and we finally did!

Problems with our old couch:

1) It was badly made and broke very, very easily.  I think that it was broken in at least three different places by the end.

2) It was horrifically uncomfortable. There basically weren't any comfortable places to sit on it.

3) It was very easy to lose things inside the frame.  Molly had been missing all of her ponies for a while.  I finally realized that they had fallen inside the frame...not just under the cushions, but inside the main body of the couch.  I had to cut a small hole on the bottom and tip it down...you have no idea how much stuff was inside there!!!!

4) It stained very easily.  I will never buy a light tan couch again.  Thankfully, the cushions were machine washable, but the same cannot be said for the frame.

5) It has that loose pillow back.  That is A) uncomfortable and B) very easy for your children to throw around the room.

6) It just wasn't big enough.

We looked for a new couch for a very long time.  I knew that I wanted a fabric sectional in a neutral color.  For some reason, they were all super-expensive, so we just kept looking and looking.  Finally, we stopped in at a small new furniture store on the 4th of July and found this beauty for about half of what I was thinking I would just need to end up paying:

I love it so much!  It is sturdy, very comfortable, and dark enough to not stain easily.  It fits our whole family plus any guests that we might have.  The bottom cushions attach with Velcro and don't come off easily, and the back cushions don't come off at all.


The pillows it came with were terrible...plain tan with a bunch on names for different types of tea on them, so I made some new ones.  And of course, if you get a new couch and pillows, you'll need some new curtains to go with it :)

Close-up on the curtain fabric

Tis the Season

December is just massively hectic, and I have to fight so hard for balance.  For Christmas activities to make the cut, they have to be something that we really love.  Here's the ones that have happened so far this year:

*Miles and Molly made this service tree while we watched the Christmas devotional.  It was all Miles's idea, and then he ran around making sure he and Molly did enough nice things to make the whole tree.

*I love sending out Christmas cards!  It's fun to compare them from year to year and then to get cards in return from friends and family.

*We made six different batches of Christmas cookies this year to give to friends.  For our neighbors, though, everyone got a Redbox gift code and a packet of microwave popcorn.  I learned my lesson from last year that I really can't bake for 20+ families and still enjoy that.

Chocolate orange slices

Molasses cookies

Maple-glazed carrot shortbread (like carrot cake)

Snow day cookies.  These have oats, pretzels, potato chips, chocolate chips, and M & Ms and they were Miles's favorite by far.

Salted pecan shortbread squares...these have caramel, chocolate, pecans, and shortbread.  They were clearly Gerrit's favorite.

Peppermint meltaways.  Molly likes them, probably because of the pink frosting.

My little helper had a flour incident!

*I just really love the city's toddler Christmas party.  It had the cutest Polar Express theme this year and I can't believe that this is really our fifth year going!!!!  They had the kids wear pajamas to go with the book.  We also had hot chocolate and Molly got to keep the cutest little polar bear mug.

I was so glad that Molly got to see Mrs.  Santa to make up for the earlier unfortunate vomit incident at the library.

I'm not sure which she liked more, the graham cracker train or eating the leftover frosting!

* I volunteered at Miles's class party and we made jingle bells out of styrofoam cups.  It was maybe a little too involved for a ten minute station, but the kids still had fun!

Latest Sewing Projects

I was really tired after sewing the My Little Pony costumes...those were intense!  I needed my next sewing project to be something simple.

This pattern is called the Linden sweatshirt.  I was walking through Jo-Ann fabric one day when I saw this quilted teal knit fabric.  I have a rule that I don't buy anything on impulse, so I went home and slept on it.  I was still thinking about the fabric a week later so I went back and got enough for this sweatshirt!

I love this shirt and wear it all the time.  The only difficulty was that this fabric isn't quite as stretchy as a standard sweatshirt knit, so my first neckband was not long enough.

Next up was a sewing project for Miles.  He complains when I only make things for Molly :)  I wanted to make something that he would really get a lot of wear out of so I picked this field trip raglan and cargo pants pattern.

The shirt was really simple and came together in just one naptime.  Those pants, though...I LOVE the way they turned out, but they really took a lot of time to get that way.  They have piecing, tons and tons of topstitching (that's the red lines you see on top of the denim), pleated knees, pockets, and tons of other great details.  They took a lot longer than I thought, but it is the details that help it look really nice at the end.


Molly sprouted up recently and needed a new dress.  I fell in love with this moon bunny fabric a long time ago, and then paired it with the purple-pink chambray because I knew Molly would love it.

 The pattern is a hide and seek dress.  I love the welt pockets, the sleeve cuffs, and the cute buttons in the back.  Molly adores this dress!

 This one is my favorite!  She is really a very fun little girl :)

Molly has no real concept of standing still, but she does love getting her picture taken!

And last up, we have a parachute polo and sweats for Elliott.  The hardest thing about the sweatpants was finding drawstring!  I really wanted gray but no one had it, so navy it is.  That green fabric is french terry and it is the softest thing in the world.  The pants ended up a little long, but I'm okay with that.

A polo shirt, though, is relatively complicated.  I had never made anything before with a partial placket (that's the part of your shirt that the buttons go on), a collar, or the split vented hem.  I love all of those details because it looks just like the polo shirts from the store!  I'm also very proud of my pattern matching on the pocket, and this worked a lot better than the last time I did buttonholes on a knit.

 See...it's kind of like "What pocket?"  It is there on your right, though.

I just really love this darling boy!

Sibling Events

We were able to spend some time with my siblings over the Thanksgiving weekend and it was a lot of fun!

On Wednesday, we headed to the zoo for the free day.  Up until the night before, I was certain the weather was going to be awful.  I checked the weather that morning and found out it wouldn't get bad until the afternoon, so I called up Emily and thankfully she was able to meet us there!

We got there a little before Emily and Joel, so we had a great time looking at the gift shop, climbing on wooden posts, and eating cookies in rocking chairs until they got there.

It doesn't matter what fun activities we do... they will always love climbing on rocks!

The charm of sticking your head inside a lion never fails.

 We had never been to the small animal house before because I thought it was all snakes.  Turns out it has tons of different animals and they are all really easy to see for little kids!

 Elliott was just the happiest kid all day at the zoo.  It really comes out in this cousin picture :)

On the train!  We'd never done this, either, but Will loves trains!

These two are only about ten months apart and I just want them to be best buddies :)

We spent Thanksgiving day with my brother and both of Gerrit's sisters, but I took no pictures.  I'm always too busy trying to get all of the food on the table to take any pictures!  We did have a great holiday, with lots of delicious food and dessert and good company.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we had our Stuart sibling gift exchange.  Everyone else is going out of town for Christmas so we just exchanged presents and had chili early on!

 These two have a lot of fun playing with each other.  The snake is a particular favorite addition to their games :)

 Sibling picture!

 My happy boy!

 We have been having lots of fun with our new Qwirkle game!