This week is the deadline for two Flickr swaps I'm in - first is the Spicing Up the Kitchen Swap that I co-run with my friend Darci. We wanted a low-key and fun place to swap handmade goodies for our kitchens.
My partner wanted bright colorful fabrics for her kitchen items - this is the stack of fabric I pulled out for her. I can't say much about what I'm making because her requests were pretty specific and I don't want to spoil it!
The other swap is the Pillow Talk Swap, round 5. I've been in the 4 other rounds of this swap & I couldn't bear to say no to this 5th quickie round, I've loved all the pillows I've gotten & can always use more bright accent pillows in my house!
My partner here wanted something simple with just a pop of color - I'm taking a calculated risk here and doing mainly linen with just a few prints, hopefully I'll create something that she'll love.
I'll be sure to share the finished items when they're completed as well as the great stuff I know I'll receive back in the swaps!
Also - see in that bottom picture the little GO! logo? And my perfectly cut linen half-square triangles? I met the fun Carolyn from Accuquilt at Quilt Market last month & was so excited when they asked me if I wanted to review & giveaway their GO! Baby fabric cutter - I am loving using mine so far & can't wait to share with you what this little puppy can do. And you'll have a chance to win one! You can also sign up for their newsletter and get some free patterns.
On Monday I blogged about how it was awesome that it was finally summer weather & how the temperatures had been so nice. All day Tuesday it rained and thundered and was black skies. What the what?!
Tonight it was back to being nice - so Marc and I decided to take Grahm on a walk in our neighborhood to get some dinner and take a walk around the lake. Mason was getting to spend the night up at my parents house - he loves to "camp out" in their motorhome in the driveway!
We walked over to Wabi Sabi first since we were starving. Marc & I both love sushi but we weren't sure what to expect taking Grahm there. We got a few rolls & then decided we better get something kid-safe so got some Udon noodles with chicken and veggies. This kid. He grabbed at the rolls the second they were set down on our table & proceeded to chow down on my tempura shrimp, avocado and lemon roll. Maybe it was the bright orange caviar that was on top? It was hilarious - our waiter was cracking up, he said he had never seen a kid as young as Grahm gobbling up sushi like that.
He did end up eating some noodles too & wanted his own little bowl of soy sauce to dip them in just like us.
When we left the restaurant the boys walked over to the swings & I ran into the bakery next door to get a mint brownie for me and a peanut butter rice krispie treat for Marc. So delicious. :]
Grahm was loving the swings and I had to join in with him - what is it about swinging on a warm summer night that just makes you feel so carefree?
Then we walked over to the lake to burn off some of those calories from dinner - such a nice night! There were so many people out biking, kayaking, running, canoeing, fishing, walking, chatting ... a couple was there taking their engagement pictures ... little kids were out riding their bikes with training wheels ... I seriously felt like I was walking around in Pleasantville. Or a real-life commercial for our neighborhood, which, incidentally, was pretty true to life tonight:
How can you not be a little happier when you look around and are surrounded by this beautiful view?
One thing's for sure, summertime in Utah is just the best! This is going to be a great one!
P.S. See that awesome hat I'm sporting in the picture up there? It's my official Salt Lake City Summer Crew hat! A small group of local bloggers was chosen by the Visit Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau to do fun activities this summer and blog, Facebook, & tweet about them and I was lucky enough to be included. I was already a huge enthusiast about Salt Lake City and now you're going to hear about it even more. :] Learn more about the Summer Crew, meet my fellow crew members, and see my little bio & picture at our Facebook page here.
It seems like summer might finally, FINALLY be to Utah. The past 2 weekends have been really nice & we've been able to spend lots of time outside and enjoying the weather.
Last weekend we worked in the backyard and got it all cleaned up from the winter. We bought some new outdoor furniture which is so fun and makes a great little living room out there. We somehow ended up with 2 fire pits which is great for roasting lots of these guys:
Stackable marshmallows! What a great idea. They are the perfect size for me since I don't like tons of marshmallow in my s'mores.
I changed out all the sheets in the house - putting away the flannel ones and getting out the lighter summer ones. Mason and Marc spent some time poring over Marc's old biology textsbooks from his undergrad - Mason could read through those things for hours.
We tried out a new BBQ place - Sonny Bryan's if you're local. Apparently it's a well-loved Texas place who's first location outside of Texas is in Sandy, Utah. Who knew?!
Grahm liked it so much he was stuffed and in a food-coma on the way home. :] Always sleeping with his arm behind his head, that one.
I hope you had just as good of a weekend! I've got a crazy busy week this week - lots of sewing deadlines and getting ready for my in-laws to come into town.
If my blog is ever looked at by my boys when they're older then Grahm might have cause to do a little complaining - Mason was the first born & he is definitely featured and pictured more often then his younger brother is.
(about six months old)
So I thought Grahm deserved a blog post all of his own. Get ready for lots of pictures!
The thing about Grahm is he's SUCH a happy boy. But as happy as he gets, he gets equally as angry.
When he's upset or doesn't like something - he'll let you know. And you'll know by the grumpy look on his face. Right now he's almost 2 and I just know that his "terrible twos" are going to be so challenging for both him & I. He's so strongly opinionated.
A funny note about Grahm's name. Marc and I were deciding on names for our 2nd boy, and both really liked Graham. But I kept joking that I didn't like the word "ham" in one of my sons names, because I've always hated the word "ham". (LOVE actual ham, though!). So we decided to switch up the name and spell it G-r-a-h-m instead. Come to find out, there was a Grahm College in Boston and there's also another cute little boy out there that spells it Grahm who's just a little older than our Grahm.
Grahm was only 2 months old when Marc had to go to Hawaii for work - so him and I tagged along to Waikiki and spent a good week on the beach just the two of us while Marc was in meetings. I love that we had that week alone together when he was so little.
Grahm is the funniest little guy who is up for anything. He's trying the best he can to keep up with his older brother, too, who he adores, and will do anything and everything Mason does.
And you can see that the adoration has been shared pretty much from day 1.
May was an absolutely insane month. I took a ton of pictures but wasn't good at uploading them to Flickr in a timely manner so today it took me forever going back and forth with my calender trying to remember which picture I took on which day! I got them all - with some especially fun ones in there from Quilt Market, Cinco de Mayo, Mason's preschool graduation & some fun at Lagoon. Here's a few of my favorites:
date night at the symphony | Mason's preschool graduation | Grahm playing in the puddles | Marc's 32nd birthday
an Honorary Yam at Quilt Market | chocolate covered strawberries for Mothers Day | Grahm is suspiciously quiet | handmade quilts for fort-building
![Love that almost all our fort-building quilts are handmade :] #thisiswhyisew - 122.365](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5187/5682168502_9c5a2bca30_m.jpg)
