Dutch Oven Cooking

Today is Christmas Eve and we're hopefully starting a new tradition. Dutch Oven Enchiladas for dinner. My only problem is Stanley usually does it and he might not be home in time to do it! So I need to plan on doing it - lighting the briquettes, putting them on the dutch oven and cooking it! Wahoo! Don't get me wrong, I've done it before and guessed at it! Found a cool site - I'm sure there's lot's out there, but it was the first one I looked at and loved! It has a handy-dandy calculator that tells you exactly how many briquettes to put on the bottom and top for temperature based on size! So cool! You can find it HERE  The dutchovendude has lots of advice, scroll down to about the middle of the page and you'll find the calculator there. Stanley told me what he'd do and he was spot on! Can't wait to eat dutch oven Sour Cream Enchiladas tonight with the family! Will post a picture later! Merry Christmas! 

Catching up! Babies, surgery and a concert!

 It's been awhile since I last updated! Sorry! In October I went to OK to be with Emmee and her family when she had her little baby, Grant on the 10th of Oct. He's a cute little man and it was fun to be with them the little time I was there! Can't wait to go back!

 Emmee's boys are good little boys and we had some fun together!

 Just before I left, we got a picture together! I'll be back in February for another baby!

 In November - the 2nd Sunday and the day we had stake conference Stanley ate dinner and got sick. We thought he had food poisoning.  He was in a lot of pain and was given a blessing by his sons and was able to go back to work the following week, still in some pain but not as bad. Well, Saturday it reared it's ugly head again and this time we decided to go to the hospital to find out what was going on. That's when we found out it was his gallbladder. We received many tender mercies from the Lord - the 1st was when we walked into Banner Gateway and found NO ONE in the emergency room. We got right into a room and the 2nd was the PA who saw us. Dr. David Zimmerman was very kind and answered all our questions and was a great help to us. Turned out he's a former bishop, he knows several people that Stanley works with and knows and his son was in a video done by the church called "Dayton's Legs". His son took a handicapped young man on a triathlon - pulling and carrying him for every event. It's a beautiful little story and one that Stanley saw at a council meeting with Elder LeSueur. Everyone who had anything to do with Stanley was very nice and pleasant to be around. Dr. Zimmerman gave us several options after talking to the surgeon cuz yes they recommend you take it out - and we decided to stay and have the surgery Sunday morning. We got to the emergency room about 2:45 and we were in a room by 7:00 that night. Once he got settled, he wanted me to go watch the rest of our stake roadshows. He was really sad to miss them and wanted a report back on them. I brought two of my sons back with me to give him a blessing before surgery and gave him a report on how the roadshows went.  The 3rd was our nurse. Turns out the woman who would be on duty all day Sunday was a member of our stake! She was getting off duty and happened to pass by our room and look in when Stanley was getting hooked up. She took excellent care of Stanley and all his needs. The surgeon was the best she said and put our fears to rest. The surgery went good, but he had a hard time waking up - these guys don't know how much to give someone with pure blood!  Clinton came with me in the morning and stayed all day until about 4. Stanley was discharged and ready to go home by 6. He's recovering nicely and was back to work the next day - taking it easy of course! Kadee brought her kids Saturday night to see their grandpa. Chloe was so concerned when she saw him in the hospital bed and was asking questions with her concerned look on her face. So sweet!

 We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with all the kids that live here. It was supposed to be our off year, but everyone wanted to come anyway! Happy Day! Everyone but Natalie and JT went to their in-laws in the afternoon for 2nd dinner and they left around 3 so we had a nap and rested the rest of the day. That night we went to the temple to look at all the work Stanley and the boys have been doing. It was nice to walk around without a big crowd, looking at the beautiful Christmas lights and the weather was perfect - not too cold! A week later, we went to see Donny & Marie Christmas in Arizona concert at Gammage. It was a fun night of music and jokes! Marie can sing opera! I think she hit a high A in one number! Amazing. They did some stuff from their show and previous hits and broadway tunes as well as Christmas music. They played old video's on a giant screen they had on stage. Donny can dance like he was in his 20's again! They played a video of "Just Like a Yo-Yo" and he did every move! Couldn't sing that high anymore, so they lowered the key and he sang and danced again! Then he collapsed on the floor, lol! What a work-out! We had a great time with Kadee who went with us and the Quist were in the seats next to us! We saw Pres. Whimpy down on the floor with his wife but he had too much hair for Marie to leave a lipstick kiss on his head! They went in the audience several times to give handshakes and hugs to people. As we came in they had these cardboard cutouts and we stopped and took a quick picture! Nice little reminder of our night!

Girls Camp 2012

Scrapbook design created with Smilebox

Karsen's shoulder bag

Karsen is a - well he's a funny kid! His brain is always thinking of stuff to do, stuff to make, stuff to figure out. One day he handed me some drawings. And told me he'd like a over the shoulder bag like this.

 And this was the kind of material he wanted it made out of. 

 Well, I didn't think much of it at first, but then my brain started working and I started looking! And here's the finished project. I got it cut out and ready in OK while I was there and as soon as girls camp was over I started sewing! This is the front of the bag.

 One side. Don't know if you can see it very well or not, but I found this thick gear to put in the middle of the gear fabric. It's sort of peeking out there. He saw that and said, "Cool! It's a gear!"

 This is the inside. I put a pocket along one side for pencils and stuff. The only thing different I did was put the bottle holder on the inside. That's what that black stuff is.  Can you believe I found fabric that looked exactly like his drawings!?!?

 This is the other side, before I put the handle on. And before I took those middle gears off and glued them on instead. Didn't like the way it looked stitched on.

I think it turned out pretty good and He couldn't wait to have it finished after I took it over to get the strap length figured out. Of course I had to take it home and put all the finishing touches on it and finish the handle and the strap. "Mom, go get my bag - why didn't grandma bring her sewing machine over and finish it here!?" He's too funny!

Summer Fun

Personalize your own free scrapbooking design

Frame project

 I bought this old frame to put my grandparents wedding picture in. It was very dirty, so I did a little research and tried to clean it first. This is before it was cleaned.

 After it was cleaned. I wasn't real happy with the way it looked and really wanted a different darker look.

 The whole frame after it was cleaned.

After it was painted a nice dark brown.

 This is the finished project. I love the frame! It even came with the convex bubble glass that they use to use back in that day! Picture looks better on the wall where it use to be instead of in her book.

Odds and Ends

A little bunny lives in our neighborhood and loves to munch the grass in our back yard!

 Love seeing creatures in the window too!

Stanley mentioned in his talk at stake conference a story about being a little boy and wanting a Ladmo Bag. Well, someone brought him one! It made his day! Who ever did it, THANK YOU!

 One day Levi came over and was just chillin' on the couch watching Elmo I think. He loves Elmo! I love his legs resting on the pillow!

 I had just gone outside about a month ago and 5 minutes later Burton went out and when he came back in asked if I saw the snake outside! I didn't see him when I went out there! Good thing too! He was right by the steps! Don't know what kind he is. Stanley got him and put him over by the new gopher hole! Hope he get's the gopher!

 I got to watch Kyler for a couple hours while they went to see Elsie! He's getting so big! I tried getting his face when he was pouting, he was not too sure about seeing me instead of his mom!

 Kensi got a Lalaloopsy doll for Christmas and I found a wig in clearance and gave it to her for her birthday in April! Isn't she cute! Looks just like the doll! 

Upholstery fabric lined temple bag

Using the guide from my previous temple bag instruction post, cut out all your pieces. The only thing I did different  I measured the bag 19 inches across instead of 18 and measured the part that folds over the zipper at 2 inches instead of 2 1/2.  Instead of leaving the fold, I cut it to make a seam on the side opposite the zipper. Make the same measurements and cuts with the lining, but you won't have to cut lining for the straps. I used a plain white cotton broadcloth or muslin type material.
Sew the pocket piece's with the lining, leaving the top open on the flaps and the side open of the pockets where it will be sewn up with the long edge of the bag. The recommend pocket is different of course and the flap that connects the two folded parts of the bag when folded up, as well as the straps which do not have a lining.

 The strap is folded over like the previous bag instructions.

 Top stitch the top of the pockets and bottom edges of flaps

 Here you can see all the pieces sewn and ready to assemble on bag.

 Now comes the tricky part - the zipper. I wanted to do the zipper similar to how you'd put a zipper in a dress. It was tricky figuring it out and there might be an easier way of doing it, but this is how I did it. I used a 36" zipper, so it's not going to go the length of the bag. Which means the bottom part needed to be sewn up first. You have two pieces, the top which is 19" across and the bottom which is 21" across. The top piece will be on the bottom, right side up, the bottom piece is measured 1 7/8" from top piece edge, right side down, the seam allowance is 5/8" using the bottom piece edge. As you can see the seam should be 2 1/2" from the top piece edge.

 Stop where the bottom of the zipper ends. I left about an 1 1/2" at the top before starting the zipper. 

Open up and iron folds in place, 2 1/2" for top piece and 1" on bottom piece. When you get to where it's sewn together you'll notice the bottom piece will be about 1/4" over the seam creating a sort of flap that will be sewn down later after putting the zipper in. Sew the top piece to the zipper on the left side of the zipper.

 Turn over and pin right side of zipper to bottom piece, matching edges

  Sew right side down. I stayed on the wrong side, but if you're brave you can sew it on the right side.

 Turn right sides out and match edge on opposite side of zipper. Your zipper should not be on the side, but in toward the center as pictured.

 Top stitch across the bottom of the zipper and continue down to the bottom, sewing down that little flap.

 Measure where the pockets need to be placed. After pinning in place, fold the bag up to make sure they are okay and don't need to be repositioned. Sew the inner bottom pocket first. The pocket won't match the edge. Any excess will be cut off when it's all sewn together. Place the pockets according to the directions in the previous temple bag instructions and sew in place.

 Place the flaps right sides together about 1/4" from the top of the pocket. Sew, using 1/4" or smaller seam, fold over and top stitch 1/4".  Fold the bag up again and measure  and pin the straps and recommend pocket and flap for closing on the other side. Sew in place. Cut off the excess pocket pieces along the edge and sew the long edge and bottom of the bag using about a 1/2" seam.

 Now it's time for the lining. Sew up the outside edge and bottom. Turn inside out so seam is on inside.  When I cut my lining pieces out I just made the lining piece 21" on both sides. Not a good choice, but that's what I did. So I had to be pretty accurate as far as making sure there wasn't too much lining on the inside or two little lining causing the bag to pucker. So I turned the bag outside in and pinned the seam over and against the seam of the lining like below.  Then pin by pin I would fold the lining over and take the pin out and repin on top after folding it over. Tedious and hazardous.

 So the outside looked like this when I was done. Sorry for the blur!

 Then I carefully laid the bag flat on my table and folding over the edges to match the zipper, I pinned in place. After pinning, I opened the zipper and made sure I didn't catch the piece underneath. I put the edges together near the bottom and when I got closer to the zipper I opened it up like you see below.

 Here's the top. After getting all pinned in place, I whip-stitched it in place.

I cut the top of the bag at the beginning before sewing and realized afterward I should have just marked it and cut it after I got it all sewn together.

 If you look closely you can see at the zipper where the material under the zipper won't be caught in the top seam like it should be. Good thing there's a lining to cover that up. That's why I'd wait to cut it till after the zipper is in place. Then you could cut the lining and the bag at the same time and it would be even! Lesson learned! But since I didn't do it that way........
Sew the top of the bag together, leaving the lining free to sew in later. Make sure you leave an opening for the hanger to go through. Use your hanger to measure that hole.

 You can see how the top looks at the zipper area, after being sewn together 

 Top stitch the hanger opening.

 Now you can see I like to do things the hard way! Lay the bag flat again and fold the lining to match the open seam on top. I probably should have hand sewn it in place, but I just wanted to get it done! Make sure you catch the bag seams under the lining. You won't be able to start at the very edge, that part will have to be hand sewn together and make sure you don't catch part of the bag underneath.

 Here it is all sewn together at the top.

 Turn right side out and add snaps and buttons or whatever embellishments you want to make it your own creation. I did use the fabric to make the buttons for the pockets. Again it's your choice. These pockets get folded up on the inside so I wouldn't but flowers on them unless it was a flat kind like the rolled roses here.  I tried making them once and was all thumbs! Practice makes perfect! And I'm not willing to practice very much right now. Maybe later!

I found this cute sage colored flower pin/hair clip in the clearance section!  Fold the bag up to get snap placement for the closure flap. I love these magnetic snaps! 

 Here it is all folded up and ready to go.