Happy XXth Birthday!

We hope you have a wonderful birthday, Melissa. Here area some pictures we like:












1. We think the red dress was made by mom in Alabama. See how shy you were? We were glad you came and we called you our huggy buggy. Chris called you CC. He was only one.













2. Your shrug was hand knitted and the dirndl was from Germany.















3. This was sitting on the front porch at grandma's house in Sonoma.

 

4. The big house in Ridgecrest.

and finally,

5. Go burros!

Congratulations, Elijah!

Elijah was baptized on September 11, 2010. Congratulations!

Memories from the Other Side of the Family

Something we like from Marty's side of the family is how Great Grandma Clift has always written letters and sent them. She does it about once a week, and we have been kept up to date for 30 years that way. Thanks for the letters, Great Grandma, and thanks for emailing them for so many years, Great Grandpa!

Baby Shower Gifts

There seems to be an uptick in the number of babies in our ward. Time to get out the sewing machine. Here's a picture or two:

On the left are burp rags. I sew them like this or with an edge to it. I'll put in a picture of the edged one a little later. I told you about the diaper and wipes cover before. The bottom one is tinkle tents, or pee pee tee pees. Having a little girl first, I was in for a bit of a surprise when my baby boy was born. I didn't know the cold air hitting him would create a sprinkle. Here's the web site where I got the idea (Little Birdie Secrets):

tinkle tents

Start with a circle 7 inches in diameter. Cut out one piece. Fold it in half, sew around except for about two inches (to turn). Clip corners and notch edges. Turn, iron (tucking in the two inches where you turned). Put two short edges together and sew, forming the tent. Turn inside out. I put four in a bag and stapled a tag at the top. (Hmm, better get a picture done of the last part. I'll get back to you later...) Oh, and later for a fleece blanket and tool to put holes in for crocheting, too...

Happy Birthday, Marty

I hope you have a wonderful year. Not like last year where you were in the hospital for nine days!

A robe. He thought it was a dress.

Alex added the paper hat.

Kathy and Joel were there. Melissa, too, but she has forbidden me to show pictures.

Thanks for coming everyone. He said he had a great day.

Lily's New Yoga Skirt, Owl Fabric Picked Out by Katelyn

I found a blog that had a yoga skirt tutorial. knit waistband skirt. That's a skirt with a ribbing waistband and then the waistband is folded over. Katelyn picked out the fabric (hers is cut out and half-way sewn). It was a quick skirt to sew with a serger. I have just realized that the interlock knit fabric from the 80s is now back in style. So I'm also going to dig out my skort pattern and my old interlock fabric and sew, sew, sew! Wish me luck finding a 30-year-old pattern :) I finished the skirt, but wanted her to have a complete outfit, what with her mother a little distractedly busy lately, so I picked up a clearance t-shirt and brought it with me. But Lily would. not. wear. it. She said it looked liked her dad's underwear and that was just not acceptable, and she promptly put her head down into her folded arms. Luckily we found a pink blouse that Aunt Kathy had gotten her last month that sort of matched. Now to finish Katelyn's skirt...

Excuse Me, Will You Rub My Feet?

I was in the hospital when I was seven and eight. I remember I asked complete strangers if they would please rub my feet. The skin grafts hurt bad then and they hurt now. It's not so cosmically great that I have a daughter who got skin grafts, too. What a world. It's hard to wrap my brain around that. Her legs are aching so bad. She doesn't know why, but I do.

So if you see her, would you please rub her legs?

Thanks.