Honduras 2009

We took this trip to Honduras a long time ago(at the end of June), but I just got the pictures off my camera today. Here are a couple shots from our trip to the Mayan ruins. It was so interesting to be there.
Leah enjoyed being carted around by her dad so much that she decided to catch a quick nap. Thank goodness - as I recall, she was pretty cranky at this point.
You must know that it was very very hot at the ruins. So hot that Mee-shell decided Leah (after waking up from her nap) should continue the tour sans clothes. I'm not sure why he thinks taking your shirt off is the solution to all problems. I could barely keep him from stripping as well.
Mom and I on the tour. I'm so glad we were all able to visit Mark and Keyla at the same time. We had a great time!

Miss Polly and her dolly ... and Leah

I've been singing this song about Miss Polly and her dolly since Leah was very very little. We were so entertained the other night when I sang it to Leah and she decided to shake her head along with me. Ok, so she weighs almost the same as some 3 month olds (ahem, Holly) and she can't walk yet, but we think she's doing just fine. Sorry about the bad singing - I usually only torture Leah with it.

this one is for you, Mary

Here are the latest photos of Liahona with a bib that belonged to her Daddy a long long long time ago. I think she enjoyed the meal even more with this bib on!

I had to include this photo of the pink pants so you could tell she's a girl.

And apparently Leah wanted to show us what she's eating - literally.

who wants a camo baby sling?

I know you're amazed right now - amazed at the beauty and wonder that is this baby sling. Let me tell you how it came to be. It all started one innocent Saturday morning while I was sitting at a craft show, minding my own business while trying to sell some of my most treasured handmade crafts. This very nice gentleman approached the table and I proceeded to convince him that his daughter, a new mom could not live without one of the beautiful baby slings that I had lying across the table. He agreed with me, but then in trying to select a sling, he asked if I had any in camo. I told him I would be happy to custom make a sling for him, and the story goes on from there. A few interesting things I learned during this custom job:
1. there are many many different kinds of camo patterns out there. And I'm not just talking about the pink or blue camo. Who knew?

2. Those who love hunting love camo and anything made out of camo. It's a beautiful thing.

3. Our town has many very nice people that I am glad to become acquainted with, from customers at craft fairs, to other vendors, to salespeople at the fabric store.

The other side of this reversible sling. It's scary to say that at first, this nice man wanted two different kinds of camo for the two sides of the sling. He decided after thinking about it a couple of days that perhaps his daughter was not quite so enamored of camo as he is and that she might like something different. I got to choose this pink print myself and I loved it so much I made dresses for Leah, and her cousins Jordan and Emily (well, Emily's is almost done..).

dinner in 30 minutes or less...

So, we all know I'm not much of a cook, but here is a picture of dinner I made a few weeks ago with only 30 minutes of prep time. Mostly because Michael called and said he was coming home and he was hungry. So I kind of threw something together. Doesn't it look delicious (the white washed out things are slices of bread toast)? Unfortunately, it wasn't. Apparently the pork that you buy that costs 57 cents for 8 pounds (or almost that cheap anyway) doesn't taste very good. Even if you put curried mango grill sauce on it. Michael was a good sport and finished his. I did not...

Look at me - my name is Leah and I love big bows.

Or maybe my mom loves big bows. Just a few new pictures of Leah. The longer I live in Texas, the bigger the hairbows (or flowers) get for church. This one was taken Sunday morning, a few weeks back.

Show me your teeth!!

And see my latest tricks! Do you think it's time to baby-proof the house??

on my way to being a real pioneer

My very own Wondermill

So, in my quest to be a real pioneer, I recently purchased a wheat grinder. I also got many many buckets of wheat. Because that's what pioneers do. Anyway, I actually grinded (or do you say ground here? I think it's ground...) some wheat. It was amazing. And when I served whole wheat pancakes to the missionaries for dinner a couple of weeks ago, I think they were pretty impressed to hear it was freshly ground wheat.

I know Leah looks a bit like a demon here, but I wanted to demonstrate how excited she was that her mom was grinding wheat.

My beautiful bucket of wheat. I've got lots of these - stuffed in all the closets in my house. If that isn't pioneer-ish, I don't know what is!! I think my pioneer training is almost complete.