Our new "neighhhhh"bor

Dillon wanted his picture taken with "the neigh".

Our next-door neighbors use their house as a vacation home, so they are only around on selected weekends. This past weekend, they came and brought a horse to their back lot (which is right next to our back lot). I'm assuming that their Dad, who also takes care of their yard, will care for the horse. The kids love having him there. Rico (our dog) is still making up his mind.

Charity quilt for Cancer research

In the midst of probably my busiest month ever since starting my
quilting business in 2003, I quilted my first charity quilt.

My visiting teaching partner, who is a former Las Vegas Quilt Shop owner, holds a quilting retreat (right here in Loa) every September. She had all the ladies bring their pink scraps to put together blocks to make this quilt to donate to "Relay for Life".
It will hang in Christensen's (the department store in Richfield) until June
when they will raffle it off to raise money for cancer research.

Since it was pink, I went with the whole "breast cancer theme"
and quilted it with pink ribbons running through it.

It might be easier to see the quilting from the back.

Ever feel like something's missing?

Which Part Is Mine?

Does anyone else feel like this???

As I was struggling to balance my time last night, I was reminded of a song by Michael McLean called "Which Part Is Mine?"
I'm NOT a big Michael McLean fan--most of his stuff is a bit too cheesy for me, but I do love this song because it bears such a striking resemblance to my life.
The first time I heard it, I had just turned 14. My dad was a dairy farmer, and I was learning to sing alto for one of my Young Women goals. The first verse caught my attention immediately because the girl in the song could have been me.
Now I'm living the second verse of the song almost to the letter. Here are the words:

She was only a dairyman's daughter; She was only a child of 13.
But the stars on the radio brightened her nights with a dream.
So she called up her best girl friend Jenny,
'cause she thought they would make quite a pair.
She said, "Let's you and me, try to sing harmony at the ameteur night at the fair."
But she only had the range of an alto, so the part she knew best went to her friend.
And when Jenny's soprano drowned out the piano, they'd have to start over again.
And the dairyman's daughter would then say, "Which part is mine, and Jen, which part is yours? Could you tell me one more time, I'm never quite sure. And I won't cross the line, like I have before, so please help me learn which part is mine, and which part is yours."

She grew up and got married to Toddy
(okay, the song really says Bobby, but Toddy works too);
Kept him working on his MBA.
They had two little red-headed children and one on the way.
Everybody said she could work wonders
And she wondered what everyone meant.
She played so many roles it was taking it's toll,
And she feared that her time was misspent.
So she opened her heart to her husband;
They discussed everything on her list
From the kids, to the job, to her feelings for Todd
But what it really boiled down to, was this:
She said, "Which part is mine, and Todd, which part is yours?
Let's review it one more time. I guess I'm not sure."
And I won't cross the line, like I have before,
If you'll just define which part is mine, and which part is yours.

Every sleepless night knows many mothers,
Who are wondering if they've done alright.
And the dairyman's daughter knew more than a few of those nights.
Had she given her son too much freedom?
Had she smothered her two teenage girls?
Did she spoil them too much, or not trust them enough
To prepare them for life in this world?
So she opened her heart to the heavens, and she spoke of her children by name.
And the prayer that she prayed that her kids would be saved,
Had a very familiar refrain:
Which part is mine? And God, which part is yours?
Could you tell me one more time, I'm never quite sure.
And I won't cross the line, like I have before,
But it gets so confusing sometimes.
Should I do more? Or trust the divine?
Please just help me define which part's mine, and which part is yours.

Anyway, that's how I'm feeling today. I'm in the wrong season of life to have a hobby like quilting. All the ladies in my quilt guild are older and they're kids are grown, so when we got together for our meeting last night, and they were all two months ahead on our block-of-the-month project, I started to get frustrated (I'm two months behind, and found out that one of those months requires five blocks). I'm debating whether to keep trying or just give up on it now.
I learn so much from every quilt I make, and it helps me with my job (doing machine quilting for other people), so it's a hard decision for me. I wish I didn't have to work...but I do. I just fear that my kids get the raw end of the deal sometimes.

So, anyway, thanks for listening to me. I'm quite certain I'm not the only one who needs a few extra hours in her day. And now I better get moving so I can try to do some of the things on my list.

Don't you love this Mormanad, though? It's my favorite.
Oh, and just to clarify, I do NOT have "one on the way". I have three kids....two of them are red-headed. I guess the second verse is not exactly accurate.

He's not a puppy anymore...

Brayden just lost one of his two front teeth; the other one is pretty loose, so I'm sure it won't be long before he's missing both of them.
He's just growing up way too fast.

"First, it was just a real egg.
Then, I painted it into a BEAUTIFUL Easter egg!"
-Caleb

Hmmm. Who's been playing with my camera?

These pictures are what I found when I picked up my camera this afternoon. And I thought that having one arm would slow him down...