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).

House hunting

We spent our Memorial Day weekend house hunting.  I must say that (for me) it was a stressful and overwhelming weekend.  I am very glad we went as it was a productive despite how hard this weekend was.  But it was money well spent.

I will start off by saying that we have put an offer on a home and that is all the information I can give for the time being.  While we were house hunting we were flabbergasted at how people staged their homes.  The majority of the homes were not clean, were not de-cluttered, and a few of the times the current homeowners were there while we toured the home (which is a major no no)!  Plus, some of the homes didn't have AC, which was awful as it was already 94 degrees at the end of May.  Can you sense my why I was feeling stressed, discouraged, and overwhelmed in buying a home?

Hannah went house hunting with us and she did pretty well.  It could not have been easy for her to have taken naps in the car, only to be interrupted by waking her up so that we could be shown the inside of a home we were looking at.  But, she made it through the weekend and survived and we are very proud of her.

Despite the difficulties in house hunting, there were a few funny things that happened during the weekend.  First, Nathan forgot to pack all of his shirts except two -- the shirt he wore on the plane and his pajama shirt.  He even forgot to pack his suit for church.  So, on Saturday we ended up going to the mall to purchase a few shirts for Nathan.

This is what Nathan wore to church on Sunday, and he HATED it because he was not wearing his Sunday best.

After church and Hannah's nap, we drove around and Nathan showed me where he would be working on campus at Willard Hall.

This building is Old Main.  I actually think this is the back side of it.  Oh well.

And this is Beaver Stadium, where the football team plays.  Apparently, this is the 4th largest stadium in the WORLD!  Yes, it is huge!

The funniest part of the trip (and I literally mean that) was the airport.  I thought that the Cedar Rapids airport was small, but the State College airport takes the cake.  After we got all checked in we went over to security so that we could go through that wonderful process, but we found this:

Yep...the security check point was gated closed.  Apparently, they only open up security an hour before the flight departs.  I couldn't believe it!

After we passed through security (which went really quick) we went to our "gate" and waited.  There really aren't any gates in the SCE airport.  It is just one big waiting room.

This was my favorite part of the airport.  They had books that you could use and read while waiting for your flight.  So funny!

Hannah loved the books of course, and she made instant friends.  She kept taking books to other passengers and showing them her new "treasures."  I tell ya, this kid is a charmer!  In fact, she became friends with pretty much everybody in the waiting room and on the plane.

Again, to show you how small the airport was, this is how you board the planes there in State College.  Yep...there are no jet-ways/air-bridges.  Just the good old fashioned way going up on the steps up to the plane.

Well...that pretty much sums up our trip to State College.

Bonehead

Today marks the 5th anniversary of when Bonehead passed away.  Bonehead was a childhood pet bird our family had, and we enjoyed him for 15 years.  He had such a fun personality and we just adored him when we were kids.

Bonehead could:

Mimic laughing (see beginning of the video)

"Talk" with himself (0:20)

Wolf whistle (0:47)

Whistle the chorus of the BYU cougar fight song -- yes it is true! (1:16)

He also could whistle the charge song (you know the one they do at baseball games), and "here kitty, kitty, kitty," though he doesn't do it in this video.

Bonehead was a perfect pet.  Every time I go back and visit my parents my heart is saddened by not seeing his cage or playground, and hearing his random whistling.  We will forever miss Bonehead.

My latest project

For a few months now I have been wanting to make a "Sunday bag."  I have wanted a bag that was large enough for me to carry Hannah's Sunday toys and books to keep her busy during church, along with my Sunday materials (scriptures, manuals, pens/pencils, etc).

I bought this sewing pattern for large tote bag at a local sewing shop.  I saw the model there in the store and saw how big and sturdy it was so I decided to make it.  I am happy to report that it is REALLY easy to make -- and for me to say that as a beginner must mean that is will be a cinch for experienced sewers.

The first time I made the bag I did not use the interfacing and that turned out to be a mistake.  With no interfacing the bag turned out to be flimsy and floppy, and it couldn't stand on its own. I just wasn't functioning for a Sunday bag so I turned it into my sewing bag to put all of my materials in for storage.

Being back at square one with wanting a Sunday bag, I decided to make a whole new bag.  I also decided to make extra pockets inside with my let over material.  Check out the finished result.

Here is what the outside of the bag looks like.

Here is the inside with all the pockets.  It originally is supposed to have 2 big pockets, but I added 5 more smaller ones for my phone, sunglasses, sippy cups, etc.

And here is what it looks like with all the necessities inside.

I must say I am pretty proud of myself.  A few years ago I would have never guessed I would have made such a thing.