Here comes goodbye

Our days in Iowa are winding down and it is sinking in more and more each day.  Just before bed last night I actually shed a few tears with some of the goodbyes we said yesterday.

This evening was spent in the company of friends--good friends.  We all started our Iowa experience with no children, and within the last 3 years there have been 4 kids added to this group.  And they are all girls too.  Such fun.

We had a BBQ dinner at a local park.  Hannah, despite getting a few boo-boos in the process, had a blast with the swings and the slides.

Here are the three blond girls.

Brookie and I were visiting teaching companions for the last 2 years.  I have been so blessed with visiting teaching companions here in Iowa, and I have loved serving with all of them!

These two guys are the best!  Lael and Dave were our home teachers for the last 4 years.  In fact, Dave (on the right) was our home teacher for the entire time we lived here in Iowa!  All I will say is that our next home teachers assigned to us will have VERY large shoes to fill.  Thank you Dave and Lael for your services these last few years.  We will never forget you.

We will greatly miss our friends.

Hannah's latest and greatest

Hannah LOVES animals (she gets this from me).  But since Hannah can't hold real animals without being scratched or hurt, she has come to love stuffed animals.  One morning Hannah wanted to read books but she had to have all the stuffed animals on Nathan's lap while being read to.

And this video here is for grandparents.  Hannah has required a few more words in her vocabulary.  She said bath for the first time on Wednesday, the 20th.

Sewing projects and Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

There are two parts to this post: Sewing projects and Father's Day.  I won't waste anymore time so I'll just get right to the point.

Part I: Sewing projects

I decided to make this empire waste maxi dress because I only have ONE dress in my closet! I thought I would branch out a bit and make a maxi dress since they are "in" right now. I went to go choose my fabric several weeks ago out at a local sewing store I ran into one of my friends, Angela, and she helped me pick out a fabric (see bottom portion of the dress).  Thanks Angela for your advice.  I have received many compliments on it already.

I pretty much did the dress all by myself, but if it weren't for my sewing class instructors I would have no idea how to make bias tape (they have a handy little tool there that is life changing).  I must say that when I wore it to church today I couldn't help but feeling proud of myself (is that a bad thing).

Check it out:

My other little project I did yesterday.  I took about 1.5 hours and made this little purse for Hannah.

She has been playing with a little plastic tote bag that she got from Subway (thanks Mom), but that tote bag has taken a beating the past few days and needs to be retired.  Nathan actually was the one who came up with the idea to make her a little purse.  So I went into our room, grabbed my little collection of leftover fabric pieces and stitched away.  When I finished the bag I gave it to Hannah and she was THRILLED!  Yes, we have a total girl emerging in front of our eyes.

Part II: Father's Day

Today we went to church, and after sacrament meeting the Relief Society presidency handed out M&Ms to the guys in the ward.  Unfortunately, Nathan does not like chocolate and so I got to eat them (yeah for me)!

For Father's Day, I bought Nathan these shoes because his current pair of brown shoes are not in good shape.  Unfortunately, we have to take them back because he needs some clothes for work more than he needs shoes.  Darn it!  Oh well, can't blame a wife for trying.

 And here is the main father himself getting ready to eat lunch.  He is such a goof!

The rest of our day was spent playing with Hannah, talking to our fathers on the phone, taking treats to a few friends, eating dinner, and going on a walk.  It was a nice and relaxing day for us, which is what we really needed with all of the chaos of our upcoming move.

A giant leap and a short walk

Today was a great day.  A momentous day.  A grand day.  Hannah went to nursery for the first time.  It was marvelous.  Thank you to the wonderful nursery workers in our ward.  You made my Sunday great!

On another note, I completely forgot to upload this video that we took a few weeks ago.  The video is of Hannah in the Detroit airport during our layover when we were house hunting.  You have to check it out because it is so funny.  Let's just say that everybody in the airport had their eyes on Hannah for a while (she is such a charmer).