SHHHH!! IT'S A SECRET !!

Once I had written my title, I realized I needed to put a few more spaces between the SH and the  IT'S or people would be doing a double take.

To move on, I wanted to share with you what I made Evelyn for her birthday coming up in July.  since she can't yet read, I feel safe sharing it with you.

I am really disappointed at this photograph, it is ten times cuter in person. I saw these crocheted rugs on Pintrest, and thought I would make one in the colors of Evelyn's room to put on the floor next to her bed.  It is made from Tee shirts.  In fact all the white in the rug came directly from Chuck's closet.  When he heard I was making it for Evelyn, he wanted me to incorporate his shirts so that the gift could come from both of us. He is hoping that it will become a family "heirloom".

29 YEARS AND COUNTING !!

Today is our 29th wedding anniversary.  Where has the time gone?  I still remember that April day in 1985 standing in front of the Los Angeles Temple trying to keep my veil from being blown off my head by the wind while having wedding pictures taken.  Chuck has his hand behind my back holding down my veil in every picture.

The years have flown by, but one thing remains constant- Chuck just feels like "home" to me. I know that I have his support and encouragement for anything I want to try or who I want to become.  The kids come and go, even our own 3 biological ones, but Chuck and I are a team. We are our own nucleus, which others, at times, wish to orbit for a few months, a few years, or a lot of years, but we are the steady center upon which everyone else can lean.

Why are we that solid foundation?  Because our home is Christ-centered, which gives us purpose and structure and most of all love.  Love for ourselves as we transform ourselves through the atonement of Christ, love for each other as we learn repentance and forgiveness through His gospel.

Our daughter Rachel once remarked in her blog that she never knew two people who were more different than Chuck and I. It is true- we are polar opposites, but that doesn't mean we're not compatible. President Henry B. Eyring said that married couples can use their similarities to understand each other and their differences to complement each other. Chuck and I have done our fair share of complementing over the years. We have come to appreciate, embrace and actually be thankful for our differences.

There is no one else I would rather spend the next 29 years with.

CHAIR CHANGE #2

This is a chair change of a slightly different ilk.  That's your word for the day- ilk. Now that I see it in print, it is a weird word, but the one that I want.

Frequently I post pictures of my "garden art" chairs.  These are old chairs that I find at thrift stores or garage sales that I remake into garden planters.  I tend to show off by posting every time the seasons change and I replant.

These chairs are different- they are inside chairs.  Chuck and I have had these two wooden oak counter stools for nearly 29 years.  In fact they were our very first furniture purchase after we bought this house.  Well, 29 years later, 3 kids and 30+ foster kids they have been trashed. They wobble, they creak, and they made me nervous to sit on because I thought the chair portion was going to snap right off the legs when I sat down on them. 

Long story short- I dumped 'em.  I found another set of counter swivel stools at the Goodwill for $15.00 for the pair. Unfortunately, the upholstery on the seats was a little worn. I recovered the seats and now I have counter stools that should last another 29 years.

Chuck thought the upholstery fabric I picked was old-fashioned, but I intended for my kitchen to be decorated in a "Tuscan" theme, so I thought the tapestry look fit right in.  You decide....

APRIL CRUSH

Our family seems to be organized into multiple events.  October is a busy month for us with both Jared's (4th) and Rachel's (31st) birthday, made even more fun because Rachel's birthday always falls on a holiday- Halloween.

April has Chuck's birthday (11th), Becca's birthday (20th), Chuck's and my wedding anniversary (27th), Easter, and the NBA Playoffs, which in our family is a big deal. Frequently, as happened this year, Easter lands on either Chuck's or Becca's birthday.

I was odd man out with a birthday in July (19th). It was feeling pretty lonely until Evelyn came along and joined me on July 12. And Grandma June on the 14th.  Now July is just as cozy!

Becca likes traditions and celebrating her birthday has become an example. She always wants to spend the day at Pike's Place market in Seattle, to be followed by dinner at her favorite vegetarian Thai food restaurant "Jhanjays" in Wallingford, then a short stroll down 45th brings us to "Molly Moons" ice cream shop for dessert, where she gets her favorite honey lavender ice cream in a waffle cone. This year, her special day was ended by going to the Village Theater in Issaquah to see a musical called "The Tutor".  Chuck had given her tickets as a birthday present.

Our trip to Seattle started with brunch at a bistro called "Baccos" which had Nutella hot chocolate.

Then the obligatory stroll through Pikes Place to enjoy the profusion of tulips available this time of year.

Since tulips are my favorite flower,  Becca has to convince me that we have enough pictures of them, then she can drag me along to discover other treasures. The market's fruit and vegetable stalls always have new delights:

Like rainbow carrots-

 

I really wished I had gotten a picture of whatever Little Green Balls of Death were........

 

 

Then there were Rambutans! Read the instructions!! You must spit the seed to the person on your right (????)

 

 

And scampi larger than my hand...

 

Once we passed the produce area, we browsed the arts and crafts booths where we happened across these adorable Bernese Mountain Dog (sniff) pins...

 

From the open stalls we meandered deeper into the market into the crush of little stores. One of our favorites that always merits a visit is the tea and spice store.......

 

From this tea store, we moseyed across the street and down Post Alley to the "Perennial Tea Shop" for a chance to sit down, rest our feet and have a cup of tea.  There we tried a new spring offering called "Caramelized Pear Tea" which was actually an herbal rooibos and was delightful. I ended up buying 4 ounces of it to bring home, and Man, is it Good!!

 

The marvelous thing about Pikes Place Market, is that it is always the same, but at the same time, ever changing. Every single time we go we discover new shops buried in the labyrinth underground, like the Afghani shop where Becca purchased a silk scarf, and the Indian shop where I saw silk yarn recycled from silk Saris. Even shops that we are familiar with produce things we have never noticed before.  I mean, really, where else can one go to find an 8oz package of rendered duck fat?

CHAIR CHANGE

Time to refresh my outdoor décor for spring. My Valentine's Day and St. Patty's Day decorations were a FAIL because of freezing temps. All my plants either froze or just went dormant.  Now that temperatures are warmer I decided to give it another try.

My Easter decorations came out of the closet as well.

And when you put them all together they kinda look like this....