Not much longer......

Do you remember about 2 years ago when I wrote a post about our son Mark, leaving to go to Uganda to serve a church mission?

Well, he will BE HOME in just 2 short weeks!

I know that the people of Uganda and Ethiopia will be sad to see him go, but we are sooooo excited for him to come home.

We have missed him, but have been so happy about the hard work he has been doing. We are also as proud as we can be of him!

So as the day get closer to his return, I have been staying very busy with a few things.

First of all, we have been PLANNING A WEDDING!

Our oldest daughter will be getting married after the first of the year. Makenzie met a wonderful young man and they have decided to get married.  He is so funny and very sweet to her.

He fits in the family perfectly.

They have been engaged since October but I just recently got the green light to blog about it. :):):) However, she has written this post on it!

I have also been doing quite a bit of sewing....mostly Christmas gifts, so I can't really share at the moment.

But, I finished up a few little cute things that I CAN share!

Quite a while ago, I found two sets of brand new receiving blankets at the Goodwill store. I am not really a fan of the store bought receiving blankets as they are so thin and flimsy, but bought them anyway.  I thought I would put two of them together with some batting and see how they turned out. I just machine quilted the whole thing and then bound them with some more flannel fabric.

They are so cute and cuddly!

I think they will make cute little tummy time mats.

We sort of pulled out the stops in our Christmas decorating this year.

We have a lot to celebrate with Mark's return and with adding a new member to the family.

Here's a quick photo of my Santa collection.

Funny thing is, I didn't really know I had a Santa collection until this year.

I hadn't ever grouped them all together in one place.....  :):):)

Happy December, folks!

Stay warm and be happy!

Happy Easter Morning

Jesus has risen,

Jesus, our friend.

Joy fills our hearts;

He lives again.

Praises we sing to him, This Easter time.

Jesus has risen,

Savior, divine.

Jesus has risen,

Savior divine!

I woke up this morning with these words going through my mind. The words are from a song that I learned in junior Sunday School many, many years ago.

The words touched my heart as I sang this little song in my mind.

I am so very grateful for a Savior who was willing to die for me so that I have the opportunity to live again.

I am thankful that he took upon himself all the sins of the world that I could have the opportunity to repent and be forgiven.

Happy day!

And so it goes....

There has been a feeling of melancholy around our house lately. All of the Christmas has been taken down.....

....and put away.

There is always such a void for me when it's all gone every year. Hence the melancholy. As I have been puttering around this last week, I have had many opportunities to not only reflect on the last year, but also the past decade. There have been many, many changes in my life. There have been lessons learned, joys and disappointments, heartaches and happiness and so very much to be grateful for.

With that thought, I am looking forward to 2010. I believe that it will have much in store for all of us.

Be safe tonight as you bring in the New Year. (I will be a youth dance for our church--YAY me!!)

Oh Christmas Tree.....

Oh Christmas Treeeeee......How lovely are thy branches......Hmmm Hmm.Hmm.Hmmm.......Hmmm Hmm.Hmm.Hmm...... Pardon the singing. I just can't help myself these days. I look forward to Christmas carols ALL. YEAR. LONG. I really enjoy listening to them while I bake or sew. Or in the car, doing the dishes, folding laundry....You get the picture, right?? :) Well, I thought I would share a couple of little art projects that we did here at preschool this last week. Now that school is about to be over until the first of the year and all the kiddos will be home (anxiously awaiting Christmas morning), maybe you can keep them busy with one of these projects. First of all, I found these fun little craft foam trees on clearance at Micheal's this summer. There was a stack of 30 for about $2. This might be something to be on the look out for when you are shopping the after Christmas clearance sales. (Just the other day I spotted some gingerbread men shapes, some stars and snowflakes and several others that I will snagging up when they go on 75% off!) Punch a hole in the top for a ribbon hanger.....

Apply glue in any way desired...........

Add sequins......and WHALA! You have a shiny, shimmery ornament for the kids to hang on the tree.

Another fun idea is to invert a sugar cone on a paper plate into a glob of frosting. Let the children cover the sugar cone with green frosting using a plastic knife......

Add candies and sprinkles to "decorate" the tree.....

See Bailee's gumdrop star??? (So adorable!)

Here is one of the finished products. This activity is fantastic for developing fine motor skills. Of course, if you do make these, just know that there will be a lot of THIS going on..........

:):):):):):):):):):):):):):) You know you smiled!

The postman brings some Christmas Cheer!

I recently joined a Christmas swap with Mary at Gettysburg Homestead. My original swap partner decided not to participate and Mary graciously agreed to be my partner, even though she already had a swap partner. I was secretly so excited because Mary makes some pretty fantastic stuff! :) As a part of the swap we had to find a Good Will bargain, re-do it, and sent it to our partner. I think this is what Mary found, buy I am not sure because it looks brand new! I have already used this wooden bowl. It is so cute!!!

We also had to send a yard of fabric to our partner and they had to make something out of it. I sent a yard of Christmas homespun. You won't believe what she made with it......

First, there was this runner. Fabulous. She painted these trees. Did I say fabulous yet?

This is a little ornament that we put on our tree. How sweet of Mary to include Craig in the swap! We were also to include a gift that we chose for our partner. This is a SUPER YUMMY smelling candle complete with a vintage label.....mmmmmm! Next, I found a homespun dishtowel (you all know my fondness for dishtowels!! ha ha!) wrapped in a bit of the homespun with a couple of candy cane ornaments tucked in..... And when I reached in and pulled THIS out, I was so happy!

Isn't it sweet?? A little Christmas dress made out of the homespun. It's completed by the muslin apron with the stitched holly berries..... Thank you again, Mary. Your creativity continues to amaze me. All of this has found a place in our home already. I love it!!!!

I hope you will like all the goodies I sent your way!

We also received a surprise package from Mark. If you will all remember, he is serving a church mission in Uganda. I found it in the mailbox as I left to go pick up Ragan at school. As much as I wanted to open it right then and there, I waited until we were all together. It was a long wait, too, because I had a church meeting that night and Makenzie had to work late so we actually didn't open it until about 9PM. OOOOooooo! It was so exciting. He sent a little coin purse with money inside of it. There were some Chiclets (seriously, do they sell that gum in EVERY country??). On one side of the package it was labeled in English and on the other, it was in an African language. (Not sure which one....apparently there are several) He sent some paintings that we will most definitely frame for him. Can you see Ragan smelling it? She was trying to see if she could smell Mark.....LOL. She couldn't, by the way. He sent the girls some beads, a bracelet and some necklaces. I just love all the Christmas mail. I hope there are things being dropped off at your house, too!

Hanging dishtowel tutorial

I have recently been asked about these little hanging dish towels that I make and thought that a tutorial might be in order. This is my first tutorial....so be patient with me if it isn't the most informative....;) This is not an original idea, but the ones I made in the past have had a pot holder for the hanger, and they were just so bulky to sew. I decided to try making one with a fabric hanger instead of the pot holder and I like it so much more. Anyway...here goes!!! First, pick a coordinating fabric that goes with the dishtowel you would like to use. Next, cut two 8" squares from the fabric and one 8" square from a piece of batting. I use the Warm and Natural batting for these but any low loft batting will do.

Make a little sandwich with the fabric squares right sides together and the batting on the bottom.

Cut a matching piece of ribbon approx. 4" long. Pin the ribbon in a loop between the two layers of fabric.

Sew with 1/4" seams all the way around, leaving a 2" opening for turning.

Turn square right side out. Your batting should now be on the inside and your ribbon loop should be on the outside. Pin 2" opening shut and top stitch all the way around.

Are you still with me? Are you confused?

Place your ruler on the inside of your square matching the side corners. (the loop corner being the top) Mark a line from corner to corner. This will be your sewing line as you sew the towel on.

Press your dishtowel in half.

Along the pressed crease, sew a basting stitch. You can also use a gathering stitch if your machine has one. You can also do this by hand if you want.

Gently pull the loose ends to gather your dish towel in the middle.

Lay your fabric square on top (with marked line up) matching the corners to each side of the gathered towel.

Taking care to make sure the towel is laying straight, sew across your marked line. (don't forget to change your stitch length back to the normal setting)

And, WAH-LAH! There you have it. Easy peasy, lemon squeazy!

These make great neighbor gifts for Christmas. Add a little tag that says, "May the Christmas Spirit 'hang around' all year long!"

**Yes, that is some sort of splatter on my oven door. Funny how I didn't see it until I took the picture!

Happy Sewing!!

Done, done and done.

Since being without the suburban, I have been spending a lot of time at home. It's a total bummer to be sort of home bound, but the good thing is I have been able to cross a few projects off my list. Besides our faithful dogs, my little sewing machine has been a constant companion these past few weeks. ;) When we were in Utah this past summer, we went on a camping trip. There is a little quilt shop in Mountain View Wyoming that my sisters-in law, my girls and I always make a trip to. It's called the Valley Fabric Shop. They had this cute little pattern and charm pack there so I bought it right up. It was very easy and quick to sew up. Now that it's done, I want to get the rest of the Christmas decorations out! But, alas, I will wait until the turkey gobbles....but then it is all coming out! I tried my hand at one of these baby tag blankets. Apparently, babies love to pull and play with the little tags around the edges. I wouldn't know since nothing of the sort was available when my kiddos were babies....(that could explain many things!! haha!) This has 5" squares so it's not huge. Since there is never a shortage of babies being born in our church family these days, I thought they might be fun for some shower gifts.

These are some Christmas gifts for my girls. I can't say what they are since there will undoubtedly be some blog snooping going on here. Ragan just informed me, and I quote, "The funnest part of Christmas is the snooping!" What a cheeky little thing!! Santa just might quit coming after that comment! :):):)

I have also been making some of these for some little gifts. They are crayon cozies. I just think they are so adorable and can be made for colored pencils, markers and many other things.

They roll right up into a convenient little bundle. So easy to toss into your bag to take with you to church, the doctors office, or in the car.

I still have so many other projects to finish. You should see my sewing table...it's the biggest mess you have ever layed eyes on!

Happy sewing!

Welcome, 2009!

Happy New Year, all my Blogging friends! May 2009 be filled with wonderment and many, many blessings for you all! It's a little strange to think that Christmas is over already. I have felt a little like I missed it this year. I am sure it is because of Mark's leaving so close to the big day! :) We left the tree up for awhile this year. In fact, I took it all down this morning. I am sure my family is wondering what's gotten into me since I am usually putting everything away the day after Christmas. I will miss seeing this tucked in amongst the branches of our tree....... Our little family has enjoyed a relaxing break from all the hustle and bustle of life. We sort of hunkered down here and didn't leave the house for a few days. Craig enjoyed several football games on TV and I sewed to my hearts content. We also ate ourselves silly. I am quite certain my calorie intake numbers in the millions! (Darn that caramel corn!!!) Sweet Macy, our Labrador lap dog, snuggled with Craig during a football game.

She was so fast asleep here that she was snoring. I do believe we have the worlds most spoiled dogs.

Well, I for one, am looking forward to 2009.....I am anxious to see what it has in store for the Carter Clan.

May we keep the spirit of Christmas in our hearts throughout the year.

Best wishes to you all!

A Wonderful Day!

To tell you the truth, I was a little worried about how Christmas day was going to shake down here at the Carter home. After all, Mark had only been gone for about a week and the sting of missing him was still prevalent. We also knew that we wouldn't be seeing Cameron and Crystal again this year and that tugged on the old heart strings pretty good. In addition to all that, Craig and I had decided to really scale back with the gifts this year. The main reason being that after getting all that Mark needed, we just simply didn't have the money for a lot of gifts. All our family and friends received mostly hand made gifts this year. We thought the girls might be a little disappointed with their gifts. But, thankfully, all the hoopla was not missed by the girls. In fact, before Christmas, I repeatedly asked both of them what they wanted and each replied with the same answer..."I don't know, I really don't NEED anything." Makenzie went so far as to tell me to take the money that we would spend on her and give it to someone that really needed it. (Such sweet girls!) It truly was one of the best Christmases we have ever had. Ragan found some nail polish amongst her gifties. Here she is giving Macy a manicure...... I made each of the girls a quilt this year. I sewed that binding on in record time! :):):) They each knew I was making one for the other but never thought they would EACH get one! I do love surprises!!:)

We were able to call Mark in Africa . I was nervous that he might be home sick and I had rehearsed in my head what I was going to say to him should he say he wanted to come home. Thankfully, he was so upbeat and positive. He sounded happy and not at all home sick.

He told us that they are in class about 9 hours a day. There are only 19 missionaries at the Johannesburg (or JoBurg as the locals call it) Missionary Training Center. He told us that they were able to sleep in an hour on Christmas day and they had a wonderful devotional by the area Seventy (a leadership group). They were told that the Uganda, Kampala mission area had just been increased. The lower Sudan has just been opened up to the missionaries. The Elders in Marks mission would be the first to enter there and that there were 3,000 "non-member members" waiting to be baptized. They told them that the missionaries going into that area would be "pioneers" in the organizing of the church there. Mark was so excited about it he can hardly wait to get going.

Here is Mark with his room mates. The Elder to his left is his companion. His name is Elder Onen. He is actually from Uganda but going to the Cape Town mission. The Elder to his right is Elder Davis form Thatcher, AZ, and finally, Elder Buthelezi. We were able to speak with Elder Onen when we called Mark. He was so sweet and soft spoken. He said some very kind things about Mark that just made us so proud.

We were invited to Justin's parents house for dinner Christmas night. It was so fun!! They brought out their Wii Fit and we all played for hours! I will have to put the video up of Craig hula hooping. I have never laughed so hard!

And miracle of miracles, it SNOWED yesterday in Tucson!! It's true. Now, I will admit it was a not a snow storm by, say Utah standards, but it was snow. A very wet and slushy snow. Nothing stayed on the ground. It's so funny, though, because all the kids in the neighborhood were out riding their bikes in it. We also had a little giggle at all the people suddenly bundled up to the hilt. I am talking scarves, hats, gloves, snow boots, parkas...the whole bit. I looked out of place in my capris and sweat jacket. (it still was 45 degrees) This morning we had to scrape the ice off the car windows. Of course we no longer own an ice scraper and had to use a credit card. (we learned that handy suggestion from the weather man on TV!) haha!

I have so enjoyed reading your blogs lately. I haven't had much time this month so I have been doing a lot of catch-up. I haven't really made a lot of comments, but I have popped by and absolutely loved all the pictures and recipes.

I have tried to email many of you back for making comments on my posts, but I know I have sadly missed some. Please forgive me! I sincerely appreciate every comment that is left here!

So, I am off for now.....I have a little project in the works that I have wanted to finish up for some time now. Craig has a couple of football games he wants to watch so I will be sewing the day away while he does that! Have a wonderful day, everyone.