Semi-Annual Post

I obviously have a difficult time getting around to posting.....maybe it's because my 2 readers are people I talk to frequently.  ha.  Oh well, here's a little recap of the last few months.

October
Happy Halloween!  We took Andrew and Eric to the Utah Symphony Halloween Concert.  They did so well...and it was fun to see the costumes and hear the great music.  Here Brian and the boys are standing in front of a glass sculpture in the lobby of the venue.

For a neighborhood party we had a prisoner, ninja, and rock star.  For Halloween night we had a prisoner, ninja, and Diego (so many great costumes passed on front he older boys and this little vest is what he chose.)  He's already planning to be an "Umpire for Happyween" next year, or in other words, a Vampire for Halloween.

November
I took exactly 3 pictures in November.  Hmmm.  We did have a nice Thanksgiving with my Provo siblings.  And I'm sure there were plenty of holiday preparations.  I did get this one great shot of Tanner -- our super cute preschooler getting off the big bus after school.  He always gives the bus driver a great big smile.  And his speech has improved dramatically.  Yeah!

December

We have had plenty of snow this year.  Tanner had a great time.  And the boys all made a great snowman that only lasted about 20 minutes due to some rambunctious friends.  It was kind of sad to see him smashed so quickly.  But glad they had fun!

Christmas Eve we got together with my Provo siblings.  We had a Christmas lunch, gift exchange, and a very professional Nativity play -- with only very willing actors (ha. ha.)  The boys were the 3 Wise Men.  

 Mom and Dad actually came for the Christmas Even event, then they came and spent the night at our place.  This meant we got to have them for Christmas morning chaos too! (:  I guess I didn't get any pictures of the adults.  We were just focused on the very excited kids.  Here they are in their Christmas Eve Pajamas.

 Christmas morning -- playing with toys -- Legos, Scooters, and Zorro.  It was such a nice day -- hardly any of the usual "I'm bored" and bickering.  If only we could give them new toys every day.  ha ha.

 Over New Years we went to the cabin in Idaho to be with my family.  It was great to see Grandma and Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles, and cousins.  It was really fun to see the frozen lake too -- I have never been up there in the winter and it's pretty spectacular.  The boys loved the snowmobiling of course -- our cabin neighbor has a dog sled he hooked up to the snowmobile and the kids had a great time.  And after years of hearing the men's ice fishing adventures, I actually got to see it in action.  And in the famous words of Eric "I know one thing.  It takes a long time to catch a fish!"  I didn't see them pull any out of the little holes, but I still enjoyed seeing the ice tent, and being out there on the ice I could see why they enjoyed the quiet stillness of the wintery lake.  So different from a cabin with 5 families inside!  (;

September Birthdays

September is a busy month with birthdays -- Tanner, Brian, my sister Karen, a couple of in-laws, and my best friend, Krystal.  Not to mention it was our Anniversary this month too -- our 10th.  Every year I think I'll plan something really fun for Brian and I, but as usual, we just went out to dinner.  But it was still really nice.  And it rained that day which is one of my favorite things.

I have been sewing a lot lately.  I love it.  But I can't seem to find a balance between enjoying my hobby, cleaning my house, and taking care of my family.  But when I'm making something for someone else it at least makes me feel a little better about that time spent!  (:

I made this quilt for my sister, Karen.  It was made from two "Simply Color" charm packs, plus some yardage for the border and back.  It's very colorful and when I got those charm packs I knew I wanted to make something for Karen and her new house.  The pattern is called "Ritzy Cracker" from the Moda Bakeshop.

I also followed a Sew Along on "Ellison Lane Quilts" to make these halloween bags.  They look okay -- first bags I've ever done, and I think they'll at least hold the candy. (:

 I just purchased a generic darning foot...my sewing machine didn't come with one.  So I did my first free motion quilting.  I was thinking my wonky loops looked pretty good on this halloween fabric.....

until I finished the whole thing and looked at the back!  Oops!  Loose strings everywhere!   It looks ridiculous, but since it's on the inside of a bag that will soon be holding lots of candy, I don't think my boys will care.  (:

Tanner turns 3!

Tanner turned three this month.  I love birthdays at this age -- present buying is easy, dinner making is easy (carry-out pizza and grapes) and the cakes are fun.

Tanner is into Superheroes and Soccer and the band "Journey."  Yes, you read right.  He loved Journey -- well, just one of their songs.  He has watched this old 80's video many times and knows all the moves.  I've tried to videotape him because it's darn cute, but he performs much better without the camera.  Wish you could see it!

Although he's not that into Pirates, that is the cake he chose from our Family Fun "Birthday Cakes" book.  Arrrrh!

 Tanner helped set his own birthday dinner table.  When I turned around to see how he was doing I discovered that he was putting the filled water glasses outside.  I guess he wanted to eat on the patio.  Nice!

 A few days after his birthday there was a get-together with Brian's family to celebrate September birthdays.  3 adults and Tanner -- so of course everyone let him blow out the candles.  It only took about 10 blows.  (:

We love our Tanners!

Flashback - the Family Reunion

The weekend after school ended we had a Frankman Family Reunion at Heber Valley Girls Camp.  My sister suggested the location and took care of arrangements, but brother and his wife came up with the schedule.  In addition to some good meals and visiting with cousins we rarely see, we also had several activities focusing on Family History.

Here is Tanner playing peek-a-boo with Clark.

Andrew was the only one in our family brave enough to do the giant swing.  

Tanner followed Max around most of the weekend.  Here they are, with Lexi, playing pirates.  Arrrh!

 On Saturday morning the children were divided into groups and assigned to go to a variety of family history classes.  I taught one on my Great Grandfather and Grandmother.  3 other cousins taught classes on other ancestors.  Here are pictures of the 4 groups I taught -- holding up the props that I had made regarding different aspects of my G.G.'s lives.

 

I'm so grateful for a good and kind family.  Even though I rarely see my cousins, it's always a pleasure being amongst them.  I am reminded of the importance of parenthood and family.  Good times. 

The House

After a bit of a stall with our house project, we're finally almost done.  Yeah!  They were supposed to be done before we left for our vacation, but of course that didn't happen.  They ended up finishing up the rock work while we were gone, and also extending the porch.  It was fun to pull in from our vacation and see the new place.

Before: here is the house as it looked when we bought it a couple of years ago.  When we bought the house we really didn't like the lava rock.  So it was always in our plan to refinish the outside.  We still struggle with our lawn, but seeing these pictures reminds me of how much better it looks now!  Good job, Brian, for working so hard on that.

During:  It was interesting to see the wood paneling that was beneath the siding.  You can see it here about the garage.  The rest of the house is covered with materials to adhere the stucco and rock to.

After:  So here you have the new and improved version of our house.  Yippee!  I do like it.  The lava rock is GONE.  Yeah!

Sedona Arizona Vacation

Yesterday we returned from a week long vacation in Sedona, Arizona.  The drive was about 9 hours, and the boys did great.  Phew.  They really are good little travelers.  But when we pulled in last night at 8:00 PM it sure was nice to be home!

Unfortunately, our hotel reservation was from Sunday to Sunday.  We headed our Sunday morning, stopped in Cedar City to go to Sacrament Meeting, and then continued on our way.  We stopped briefly at this Historic Navajo Bridge.

The first two days was a bit of a let-down for me -- mostly due to the heat.  I hate the heat, so why would we plan this for the first week of July?  First, because it was available and the kids were out of school.  Second, because in February I forget exactly how much I hate to sweat!  This part of Arizona is actually about the same temperature as home, so I guess it wasn't worse.

Anyway, at the end of the second day there was a nice, cool rainstorm.  We drove up to the Holy Cross Church which had spectacular views of Sedona.  This ended up being one of my favorite activities.  Short, sweet, and not too hot!

Tanner, for the first few days was wearing his blanket as Superman.   Are you familiar with the Superman/Dad art....the picture below kind of reminds me of that.

After the church, we went to check out some shops -- we didn't actually do much shopping (as is expected with 3 boys.)  They did have these cool xylophones to play with.

On Wednesday we went to "Red Rock Crossing" -- a shallow river where the kids could play.  Very nice.

That evening we went to Blazin M Ranch for a few activities, dinner, and a show.  (This was similar to Bar J Wranglers in Jackson.)  The kids really enjoyed the music.  Andrew tried the lassoing.  Tanner, unfortunately, kept having a bloody nose.  I thought it would never stop.  (Check out Tanner's "picture face" in the second picture.  Also, he seemed to think he needed to prop his leg up on most of our pictures.  ha.)

On the 4th of July, Brian, Andrew, and Eric went on an off-roading adventure with "Sid Vicious."  The boys thought that was great.  Sid told them all about the rocks, plants, and history -- and took them on some bumpy rides in the red jeep.

They don't do fireworks in dry, hot Sedona.  There was a laser light show, but we opted to avoid the crowds and stay at the resort and swim.  Swimming was definitely Eric's favorite activity.  And we all enjoyed the cool water.

Friday morning Brian, Andrew, and Eric went putting at the driving range.  It was their first time at a real golf course.  They had a good time, Eric already suggested that the go every Saturday morning.  

We were considering checking out early and heading to the Grand Canyon on Saturday.  But we decided the boys were enjoying the pool so much that we'd avoid the extra driving and just stay another day.  So Saturday morning we headed out to "Slide Rock."  We'd heard great things, and knew it would be crowded....but didn't know it would be THAT crowded.  The parking was full and cars were lining the already narrow road.  So, we turned around and headed back to town.  We took our picnic to "Mormon Hill" where the local chapel is.  It was a quiet, beautiful spot where we could enjoy a little grass.  

Sunday we drove home -- the kids did so well, we were able to drive 6 hours before stopping for lunch (with one quick stop to use the bathroom at a chapel on an Indian Reservation.)  And, when we got home.....we finally got to see the almost finished exterior of our house!  It's looking much better.

Oh, and my favorite quote of the trip comes from Eric.  We were standing outside of a bakery waiting to leave.  Eric said "I like Sedona.  It's a lot like Japan."  When I asked him why, he said something like "I don't know, I just like it."

Handicrafts

A month or so ago I picked up another quilt from the quilters.  This is probably my favorite yet.  It's from a book -- Simplify by Camille Roskelley.  (Of course, as I spent all this time sewing, I thought, "Is this really simplifying my life?  No, but I enjoyed it!)  I started it a couple of years ago but ended up unpicking several blocks because I didn't like the color combinations.  That's not what I usually do -- usually I'm too impatient and keep on sewing the quilt.  But I'm glad I did, because I definitely like it now.

And here's Eric's quilt for his birthday.  He chose the military fabric.   It's a little busy for me, but he says he likes it.

I just wanted to share this little project I did this past week.  I got the idea from the book Young House Love.  It's some simple stitching on cardstock.  I have these three frames in my entry and thought it'd be fun to do a patriotic theme.  It was very easy and fairly quick.  And free since I had all the stuff.  I think I may do this for every holiday!  Such an easy holiday decor idea - and it hardly takes any room to store the papers afterward.  They look so much better in person, though.  You'll have to come visit to see them.  :)

Eric's Birthday

So I just realized that I forgot to post anything about Eric's Birthday.  Instead of a friend bday party, Eric chose to go to a trampoline jumping place.  He is such a funny kid -- he had a great time, until the last 5 minutes when he could find Brian for a couple of minutes.  Therefore, he will now tell you that he doesn't like trampoline places.  We're working on the whole 'cup half full' concept, but boy it's hard for him.  So despite what he'll tell you now, he did have a good birthday.

Eric's favorite thing year has been Minecraft.  He can just go on and on about the different "mods" and what he wants to create next time.  Because of this obsession, you will find that he has a pretty advanced understanding of rocks and other natural resources.  :)  He's a sensitive guy who likes to be home -- sometimes I wonder why since he has such an impatient mom.  He's a great spontaneous hugger, laughs hysterically with his brothers, and does his best in school.