our 4th of July celebrating

My paper crafted vintage decoration in honor of the 4th, so this is on display probably for the summer months. The postcard in the middle is very old, and the red ribbon is vintage also. Hope all my friends and family had a wonderful 4th of July weekend.

My sister came for the long weekend with two of her daughters. Kinsie who is 11, My sister Margaret, and 15 year old Brinn. we also had Jacob and Kelli for the weekend. Margaret was here for 3 days and 4 nights. We also played many games and watched fireworks, did some projects with the girls, and we were so very lucky that we had great weather for it all.

We made lots of good and nutricious things to eat, but we did make one cake and Kinsie and Kelli made rice krispie treats in the shape of stars.

All About Babies!

Have you noticed that my blog in the last few months has been all about Babies. Even baby horses. I just looked over my family blog and thought how lucky and blessed we have been in our family to have all these wonderful little spirits come into our growing family in 2010. WOW!
Two down and 1 to go! Tara's little Lyla will be coming on July 15th (it is a c-section) and I can't wait.

Sailor's Blessing Day

Sailor Anne Morris in her Blessing Dress, on her blessing Day. . . June 20th 2010

Sailor and her mommy Kendra on her blessing day. Aren't they both beautiful?

We went to Logan, for the specific reason of Sailor's Blessing, (on the 20th) by her father, Sterling Morris. It was also Father's Day. What a great thing for Sterling to have the honor of giving her a name and a blessing on his first Father's Day. Here are some pictures from that special occasion. Sailor Anne Morris is two months old and I had much fun making this dress for her to wear.

Every Blessing dress I have made for my daughter's daughter, has been special and all different.

It has become my tradition, one that I cherish very much!

Funny camera story

The stars must have been alligned just right in the universe.

I believe it was a freak accident.

Nature chose to take my camera.

I was walking along a trail, beside the 350-400 ft drop off straight down, when a small branch slipped right into the strap of my camera, like the one above, and yanked it out of it's case which was across my shoulder and neck and hanging to the left side of my abdomen, and threw it right over my shoulder, and I turned to see it hit the ground behind me, roll down the slope and go right over the cliff. That dang branch!!!!!!! All I could do was watch in unbelief. There was no
way to recover it. I at least did not have many pictures on the camera card, and I had just put all of the pictures of baby Maddox's birth on my computer before I left. Needless to say I have purchased another one (refurbushed) and it is on it's way. I just can't be without a digital camera.

Announcing the newest Giveaway honoring the birth of my 10th grandchild.

It is the WELCOME BABY MADDOX BLUE GIVEAWAY, and it is happening over at Something Special which is my creative vintage blog. Come say hi and enter to be in the drawing which will be on July 3rd, when the baby will turn 1 month old. Isn't he just adorable.

Little man Maddox is here!

Here he is! Maddox Kale Dowse. Kylee and Clinton's first baby and beautiful little son. He is such a calm little guy. He was 7lbs. 11 oz. and was 20 inches long. Looks a lot like his daddy. What a wonderful day June 3rd turned out to be.

I was there along with Clinton's mom and Elliah made it there in time for the birth also. We were all so proud of Kylee, and what she went through to get him here. Congratulations to the both of them. Kylee just can't stand it and loves her little baby boy so much and will be the best little mommy and Clinton will be an excellent Daddy and they just adore little man Maddox.

Evelyn's 2nd Birthday and Grammy

My adorable granddaughter Evelyn came and stayed for her 2nd birthday. I even got to babysit one night while Mommy and Daddy went on a much needed date. It has already been 2 years since her birth and she is about to be big sister to Lyla who will come on july 15th.

We exchanged kisses. She is a little doll, and has some of the biggest dark brown eyes I have ever seen.

My gift of an apron

Every vintage apron that I make, I have made for a special gift for a friend, or family member. This one was made especially for my friend, and Tara's mother in law, Camille Leavitt for her Birthday.

Ty goes to his first Prom

His group rented a Limo, since the dance was at Treasure Island in Las Vegas. It was a big night!
We told him, he had better have a lot of fun. And they truly did!

Another Prom Picture!

Ty and Shannon Tuttle. They made a handsome pair, and had a lot of fun too.

Amazing pictures of my Grandchildren

The past couple of months have yielded some great photos of all of our grandchildren. Some of the photos were taken by me and some were not. It doesn't matter though, what matters is that we have these pictures, and that we love love love each one of them! Nolan, Evelyn, our 5 week old Sailor, Cameron, Carys, Caleb, Breya, Ella, Afton (Bubba)

Shower Refreshments

Very chocolaty cupcakes and grasshopper pie. I will post the recipe later. But I wanted to post the way I displayed it all. I thought about cupcakes, and there are so many cute cupcake holders now out there, but I do not have one. I just decided to use what I had and I think it turned out into a lovely dessert display.

I used my candlesticks, and attached plates to the top with glue dots.

No-Bake Grasshopper Pie: Prep time 20 minutes

Crust:
1 bag (7 oz.) oval chocolate and mint-filled sandwich cookies.
1/2 cup slivered almond
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
Filling:
8 oz. mascarpone cheese, softened
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup creme de menthe syrup or 1/2 cup mint jelly
2 Tblp. powdered sugar
1 1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup heavy cream
Garnish:
mint leaves and chocolate curls

1. slice 1 inch off one end of each sandwich cookie, Pulse these pieces in food processor with almonds until crumbs are formed. Add softened butter and pat in bottom of glass pie plate. Arrange all the rest of the cookies around the entire edge of the plate, and chill.
2. Filling: Beat mascarpone slightly with hand mixer until smooth. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup water in 1 cup glass measuring cup. Let soften 2 minutes, microwave 15 seconds until gelatin is dissolved. Cool slightly.
3. Gradually beat mint jelly into the cheese and add sugar, beat. Then add gelatin and beat until all mixed. Then add 1 1/4 cup
heavy cream. Beat until soft peaks form. Pour into prepared crust, swirling top Refrigerate 4 hours before serving.
4. Once pie is set, beat remaining 1/3 cup cream to soft peaks, dollop on top of pie. Sprinkle with chocolate and garnish with mint leaves,
optional

This pedestal was my Mercury glass candlestick stuck to my beautiful big milkglass platter on top. It worked out really great and I love the way it looked.

Baby Shower for Kylee

We had a baby Shower for Kylee on Saturday the 24th. I had lots of fun getting ready for it, and Elliah made adorable invitations and planned the games. We did not know how many we would have, but there was a good turn out. I needed a reason to get my front yard in shape and my flower boxes planted. I really worked hard on cleaning things up out there, and buying flowers for all my pots and boxes. I can't get enough of flowers right now. I am thinking about many more for the front yard too, and hope to work on my secret garden. Anyway, Kylee looks great and is due to have baby Maddox in about 6 weeks. We love you Kylee.

New Life, New Changes

New change in our life, especially forTodd and that is because he is the new Bishop of the Logandale 6th ward. This picture was taken Sunday April 18th and we were lucky to have half of our children home for the event and a great family dinner. We had a great weekend with those kids who came, even though one side of our air conditioner went out so some of the house was quite hot. We handled it and had so much fun anyway, and we all know that Dad and (Todd) will be a great Bishop for the next five years. Boy, I sure love this man!

Early this morning I took these pictures of a brand new little baby across the street from our home. How wonderful it was to see this wobbly legged little creature nursing on it's mommy. It was a wonderful sight.

I took this picture after one of my blogging buddies who happens to live right buy our chapel and this wonderful alfalfa field, let me know in a comment on my blog, that there were hay bales bundled in the field. I hopped in the car to get a picture of it at 8:00 this morning. I am not sure why, I guess it comes from my childhood, but this is one of my favorite sites, and I just feel like such a proud American when I see it. I JUST LOVE THIS! And I just love living out in the Moapa Valley, where we have such a rural feel. Elliah commented as we walked down our quiet street on Saturday, that she had forgotten how very slow paced it was out here. She lives in Santa Clara, Utah and it is really active there in the St. George area. She used to think it was boring, but now she appreciates it so much!

First Hours

Here is some very cool photography of Sailor's first few hours from her own Daddy.

Introducing the newest addition

This one done by her Daddy, he has one one of those big cameras.



This picture was taken about 2;40 a. m. Grammy and Sailor. I love her very much! She comes from the first pregnant daughter in 2010. 1 down and two more to come soon. The picture below is of Kendra's profile, Thursday morning just before getting induced.

We have a new addition to the family. Her name is Sailor Anne and she was born on Friday, April 9th at 2:00 a.m. after a long labor. Her parents are Kendra and Sterling Morris. I got to watch her be born and was that ever a special experience. She weighed 8 lbs. 2 0z. and was 20 inches long. Today we took her to the Dr. and she only weighed 7 lbs 3 oz. so the Dr. said she needs to eat more often. She also is jaundice and has to be on the bili lights. Poor little girl, that is not that much fun for her, in these first few little issues will take care of themselves, and since she is so cute, that makes up for any of it. WE LOVE Sailor Anne.

missing in action!

I just returned from being up in first Cedar City, and then Provo area, waiting for my daughter Kendra's baby to come. Todd wanted me to be closer to Logan since it is about 7-8 hours to get there. He said go spend time with the family. So I did and I had a blast for a week and a half, but alas, no baby. I came home late Friday night because although my daughters give every indication of going into labor and having their babies, they in fact do not. The waiting gets really crazy. And I have decided, as has Kendra also, that Sailor likes it in there.
I am very glad to be back home, but I will have my phone handy and my car loaded up. I am really
happy to have a little bit of time home. While I was up there, I . . . . . . .

1) spent time with Kylee and Clinton.

2) went to DI and Roberts which is going out of business so everything was on sale.

3) ate Kelli's really good homemade pizza at a dinner at their place. They are so busy, it was good to get together for a short while with them.

4) Went on my first ride along with my son in his patrol car for an hour and a half. It was really really cool, until he had to actually arrest someone. I became invisible at that point, but he is truly a great cop, and a really nice and fair one too. I was so proud of him.

5) Saw the house that Isaac and Tiffany are building in Enoch, Utah, and spent quality time with Caleb and Ella. She is one cuddly squishy baby and they are so adorable.

6) Headed to Tara and Trent's house and slept there and got to babysit Evelyn a couple of times and she is just a cute cute little thing.

7) Hit antique shops in the Provo/Orem area, and also hit the DI there.

8) Went to Heber to stay with Josh and Courtney and play with the girls. Courtney and I looked at many antique newspapers and books that she had. We also went to the catholic thrift shop in Heber. I found treasures where ever I went.

9) Went to Carla Morris' house and stayed a couple of nights there. (Carla is the coolest) and that is Kendra's mother-in-law. I felt like I was staying in a nice hotel there.

10) Got to spend quality time with my best friend Linda Liddle, and some of her family members. I had dinner with them one night. We had fun going through antique buttons and looking around at antique shops.

11) Finally decided to return home and wait it out here. Wish me luck in getting to see the birth of the baby. I hope I make it there whenever it is!!!!!