Visiting Family Part 1

This last week I realized that I a big gap in my work schedule so I took Ty and we headed south to see my parents and grandparents. Eric had a big test to study for so he stayed home. WE MISSED HIM!.

I have had a really hard time lately with having most of my family 4 hours away. It is just far enough away that it is hard to take the trip often with a little guy and with our busy lives. I have really wanted to see my grandparents while they are still alive. I really want Ty to get to know them and call them Grandma and Grandpa.

Ty was so cute and opened up to everyone he met. He was not his typical shy self. He ransacked my parents house, getting into drawers, pouring sugar all over the floor and just being his self.

We had such a great time visiting with My grandmother on her farm. She has downsized her farm to only 2 acres, but it is enough for one woman to take care of. She has lots of ducks, chickens, and other animals. I loved staying with my grandparent in the summer when I was a kid. We had to work, but we always found some kind of magical adventure to go on. I miss that time. I want Ty to see what a wonderful and fun place it is to visit and this time was not a disappointment.

Tyler loved riding the tractor that I rode when I was a baby, looking at the turtles, dragging his red wagon all over the farm, climbing and crawling through fencing, and just running everywhere. The moment we got into the car to leave, Tyler fell asleep.
Ty was not tall enough to use the pedals on the tractor, but he figured out how to still drive it.

Ty just loved crawling through this rolled up fencing.

Ty's special red wagon.

Grandma loves turtles. She has a hot house just for a lot of her desert and box turtles, then another hot house for water turtles and more turtles inside her own house. Did I mention that Grandma is Treasurer of the Turtle Club.Grandma and her pet Emu, Abby. Abby will sit and let you pet her.

My grandparents used to run a Cactus Nursery. They had 13 acres and their farm was lined with cactus hot houses. We used to help with the seeds and weeding. Now my grandma has sold most of her land and torn most of the hot houses down. This is the glass hot house that had all the succulents in them. I used to go in this building when I wanted to feel peace. It is still there and I still feel peace when I am in it. I love all the different succulents that my grandmother grows there.

It is always a wonderful adventure when visiting my grandmother.

Please pray for Gracie.

A while back I came across a blog about the Gledhill family with a baby named Gracie who had a rare heart defect. When I first read their blog, Gracie was only weeks old. Now Gracie is 11 months old. She and her family has gone through so much in her life. She has had the wonderful experience of going home to her family, but now she is very critical. Over this last week, Gracie's heart began to fail and within days she was put on a transplant list and had a transplant. Now here new heart is failing. This is such a strong family and the mother is so great and blogging what is happening. She is asking for prayers now for little Gracie and I thought I should pass on the message. It brings me to tears to think that a child has had to go through so much in such a short period of time and my life is a piece of cake compared to hers. So I ask you to pray for little Gracie that she is comforted through this hard time and feels no pain.
http://thegledhillfamily.blogspot.com/

Kelly's New Toy.

This last week Eric came home with a big surprise for me. A sewing machine. I was looking a one online and decided on a cheaper simpler one, but when Eric gets looking he can't stop until we have what he is searching for. This sewing machine is a Pfaff 1471. It is the same kind of machine that his mom has and she has had it for years. Pfaff is a German maker and they make really durable machines, but they are soooo expensive. I was not sure about this machine at first because I do not sew a lot and I just wanted a nice machine that wouldn't break down and make do until I had the time to really get into sewing, say in 6 years when Eric graduates. To my surprise this sewing machine is awesome. It is programmed with over 100 stitches and you can also program your own like your name. It also comes with different attachments or foots. I have been playing with it and get so excited when I sew a new stitch. For an older machine it runs like a new one. We also got it for a killer deal on ebay because the person selling it happened to live 15 min away and so far we have not seen a machine sell as low. I now have all these new projects to sew and try to sew a quilt that does not include yarn ties.There are a lot of fun embroidery stitches.

There are compartments that hold the foots, needles, bobbins, etc.

Some of the fun stitches I played with.

Ty's New Toy.

For Christmas, Tyler received a table and chair set from Ikea. We thought is was a good prep for Nursery since we did not think he could sit still for one minute to eat his food. He definitely surprised us. After purchasing it, we noticed that Ty would have a serious tantrum at every meal when he ate in his highchair and for a couple of meals, he refused to eat at all. So we decided to let him eat his meals at his table and low and behold, he loved it. Since then, he will not sit in his highchair, but runs to his big boy chair for every meal. He also sits in it to watch TV. His favorite thing to do is rearrange furniture. He can spend hours a day just picking up his chairs and placing them in other rooms or in different orders. He now loves to do this at church which can be a little bit of a problem when people are in his way.

Christmas in the Central Valley

Christmas this year was spent at my parent's house and with family in Fresno. We started the day with waking up and opening gifts with my parents. Tyler was a cook. He saw one toy and refused to open another gift until we bribed him enough and most of the time we just opened his gifts for him then he became interested after once he saw the new toy.
We next headed to Fresno for a wonderful formal lunch at my aunt and uncle's house. We had fun talking with everyone, but most of the time Ty refused to sit in his chair, so he crawled under the table and played with the dogs.
Next we headed to our other grandparents house to visit some more family and eat some more delicious food. We opened up more gifts. Santa must have thought Ty was a very good boy, because he was especially blessed with a lot of fun toys. It was a wonderful day and in the end the gifts were not what was so special on this day, but the time we spent with our family.
Ty's great-grandmother in her silky new dress.

Christmas Snow Vacation.

Our family spent the first part of our Christmas vacation at Eric's parent's house. We had a relaxing and fun time. We ate great food and spent a day in the snow up at Big Trees.
A nice family let us borrow a saucer for Ty to ride around the parking lot. He loved it! We must get one of these!


Daddy and Ty look so cute and so cold.

On our way back to the car, Ty finally got into the snow mood and played in the snow.


We also met a very nice snowman.

The true meaning of Christmas.

During this time of year, it is so easy to get stressed about what gifts to give and caught up in all the sales and lights, but every year during this time of year I always have a moment where the true meaning of Christmas makes it appearance into my heart.

Through church, I have a great calling of teaching Faith in God or Activity Days. Let me tell you, it has to be the greatest calling ever. I help conduct a class two times a month with girls ages 8-11. We work on service project, talents, articles of faith, and learning about the gospel and trying to feel the spirit. Sometimes that classes are just wild with activities and sometimes they are just sweet, but everytime I come away feeling so thankful that I have the opportunity to get to know these sweet girls.

Last year we started the tradition of going Christmas caroling as our last activity for the year. We make special gifts the previous meeting to give to the people we carol to and decide on the songs we are going to sing. We go caroling to 2-3 homes then at the end of the night, one of the girls mother invites us to her gorgeous Christmas decorated house for hot chocolate and treats where we sing some more Christmas carols and the girls get all their giggles out before going home.
This year we made cute raindeer ornaments out of popsickle sticks and decorated candles.
This year we decided to focus on caroling to two widowed sisters in our ward who have in some way or another made an impact on our ward and on our own families. When we arrived at their homes, immediately when the door opened, you could feel the spirit and the tears filled their eyes as these sweet girls sang with the purest voices. And afterwards, the smiles on each womens faces and the girls faces were priceless.

These are the type of services that show the true meaning of Christmas. During this time of year we should be celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ by being like him and serving others. I can tell you the simple act of going Christmas caroling brought the spirit and enough joy into my heart to last for a long time and I know these girls felt it as well.

Our New Desktop Accessory

Who knew that our new desktop accessory would be so cute. He is really great at rearranging all the pens in the drawer and pushing every button on the computer and printer. Now I will never be bored while blogging.

Little Mr. Energy.

We have noticed as parents lately that we might be failing to entertain Little Mr. Tyler. He seems to have become quite an energetic boy and his attention span is getting even more shorter. So we have had to come up with some ideas as to entertain this little guy. Here are some of our ideas that have worked.Piano playing is always a fun past time for Tyler and he feels it he is the next Mozart in our family.
Turning on and off the TV is also great entertainment for Tyler, especially when you are watching a movie and your are really into the exciting scenes then all of a sudden the TV goes blank and you hear a loud shrill of laughter from a little short person.( Notice all the fingerprints on the TV. Can you tell how often this event happens?)

Can't forget the remote. Tyler is great at pressing all the buttons.

If all else fails, just bring in the good old swimming pool. I have to give credit to Daddy for this one. It's a great way to fill your living room space and can also be used as a toy box or ball pit.

Swimming pools would not be fun without a Tyler and a Daddy in it.

Crotchet Time.

Recently I have indulged myself in my love for Crocheting. It is a hobby that I just love to do. I can crotchet just about anywhere; in the car while Eric is driving, in the car while I am waiting or procrastinating going into the hospital to work, or while watching TV. Recently our Beagle, Daisy, has been having trouble getting out of bed in the mornings. She keeps getting here head caught in the one of many holes that she chewed in her favorite afghan. This was the first afghan that I ever completed and it was my favorite too until we brought Daisy home as a puppy and she indulged herself with the blanket.Recently Eric had been nagging me to make another afghan for Daisy because she prefers it to the other four blankets that are on her dog bed. So I gave in and made her a blanket.

The process of crocheting the blanket was quite funny to many people. While crocheting at work on my breaks when someone would ask who I was making the blanket for I was honest and said it was for my dog. Their immediate reaction was to laugh. I would then explain my pathetic story how Daisy's head was stuck in her blanket every morning and how pitiful she would looked and how she just had to have another blanket. They would then understand, but still think I was crazy for spending so much time and effort for my dog. Now anytime they see me crotchet they ask if it is for another dog.

I feel I have almost become obsessed with it. There are now so many patterns and fun things to crotchet and they make great gifts. I think that I have given away at least 8 blankets in the past that I have made. I have made a goal now to not use the same pattern more than once so as to improve my skills and challenge myself. Here are just a few of my project that I have completed or am working on.
Daisy's blanket. She really loves it. Every night she crawls under it and wiggles around.


This is my latest project. It is called a Zen Spiral afghan. I have never made a circular Afghan and so far I am really loving how it is turning out.

Here are some unfinished projects. Some blocks for an afghan and a baby boy blanket which I will crotchet a pocket on and put a crotchet dog in it as a gift.