Another year page to the book of adventures

2010 came and is gone.. But as I look back, it amazes me how busy we have been at times, how much the kids had grown, how many miles we had traveled, how many changes has our little family made in just a year.
Let's recount.
Chronologically speaking would have been like this:

January - lots of snow, no job, cooking with daddy, church ball, Mavericks hockey game.

February - more snow = sledding, still no job, reading with daddy, church ball, Valentine's, baby news = vomiting.

March- little snow, no job, road trip for family funeral (WY) and best friend's wedding (UT)= road sickness, birthday, baby growing, more morning.. all-day-sickness..

April- Easter egg hunt, Samuel's first kite flying, museums visits, little vomiting, got a job but too late because we are returning to Dominica.

May- Enjoying Dominica, Samuel's first school, loving playgroup, little dermatitis, no more vomiting!

June- too much dermatitis = flying back to NE sooner than planned, cute beach family pictures before leaving.

July- family reunion (SD), enjoying AC, dermatitis getting better, enjoying summer, belly really growing, missing hubby and daddy, enjoying summer with lots of time outside.

Aug- enjoying summer weather, little dermatitis, Jay's visit x 2 weeks, first time sewing (Relief Society activity.. jean quilt).

Sept- posters for welcomes = my mom (Colombia), my sister-in-law (ID), my brother-in-law coming back from mission (Germany) all in the same week! adjusting to more crowded house.. but loving the extra help!

Oct- no snow, belly is too big to sleep good, anticipation.. Jay is here for 8 days, induce and 4 hours later with no drugs Daniel got here! Bye daddy, hello baby, trick or treat.

Nov- no snow, little sleep, recovering, enjoying abuelita.. thanksgiving, black Friday, bye to my mom.

Dec- little snow, abuelita withdrawls, enjoying Christmas time, baby sleeps through the night, Jay's here for 3 weeks, sister-in-law's here for a week, brother-in-law's engaged, Santa was very giving and generous (I have a feeling because is at Grandma's house), 30-hour-trip to Nauvoo, IL, family pictures, bye sister and brother-in-law, a week later bye daddy..

Ladies and gentlemen, that was 2010 and a lot of adventures and we hope to have a lot more this year.. It broke my heart to have decided with Jay for the kids and I to not return with him to the island.. but this time, my health came first.

From mending to quilting!

My mom is an amazing seamstress, but I never learned how to actually sew (just like cooking). I always have know how to mend, but only by hand. I have never even touched a sewing machine. However, I made my first quilt back in August 2010. This quilt taught me how to sew.. And how to mess up, redo stitches many times, put threat in the needle (machine) many times because i didn't leave enough threat in between pieces.. It also expanded my English vocabulary! It started as an activity in the Relief society back in August 2010. We were supposed to use old jeans and they gave us different styles for the design of the quilt you could choose to follow. I verily had enough material for the one side and few little pieces on the other side where the jean pieces were. Such material (stars one)was given to me by my mother-in-law. Since she couldn't remember where she got it from or how long ago, we went to Joans to look for something to match it with so I could finish it. For three weeks with my big pregnant belly I spent sitting on the floor (because it was the right height with relation to the table in the family room in the basement) every night working on it, because I knew that if I didn't finish it before baby's arrival, it would be one of many unfinished projects to continue moving with us and not using. So I did my best to meet my goal, which was to get it done for the quilt exhibition they Mormon Trail Center was having at the beginning of September. There were amazing quilts shown.. Just take a look (ton of pictures by the way, too much time to make collages).

Even though, my quilt wasn't that great or creative, or colorful, I was sooooooo proud to have accomplished my goal and on the journey to develop a new skill that I am sure will become handy later on..
Now, I have a new project in mind, which I already cut the pieces but haven't done any sewing yet till baby gets a better schedule. My mom is an incredible crafty woman. She does painting, works with wood, sews, etc.. When I had Samuel she made him a whole set of bedding for the crib. She even did one for the bassinet I borrowed. However, after the island I fell in love with pack and plays (almost as much room for baby, easy to move, easy to pack and store, especially since we are not done moving). In June, I gave away my crib to a couple in our ward expecting their first child. So here I had all that bedding set that I couldn't use.. yet don't want to sell or give away because of all the months my mom spent making it. So, I decided to turn it into a quilt. Here is a better picture of what it looked like (since by then our new camera had flash), although the picture is more of Samuel than the bedding, but it gives an idea. Did I mentioned she made it reversible? Amazing skill. So perfect for a quilt, except it is already stitched and filled but I will figure out how to make it work overlapping the pieces.. that is why is a project. So we will see how will it look when is done. And hopefully by then Benjamin will sleep more "normal" under his covers and can actually use it.