Summer Top 10 Progress

Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by in the last couple of days for the HO-HO-HO blog hop!  I always love seeing everyone else's projects and sharing the positive creative energy.  I try to respond to all the comments, but there are always a few no-reply ones that I can't.  So THANKS again!

That blog hop was on my Top 10 list for the summer, so I though I'd give a quick update:

1.  Lindsay's Baby Quilt. Done and received.  I love the way it turned out.

 2.  HoHoHo Blog Hop.  I posted for this earlier this week--YAY!!

3.  It's A Sister Thing Swap.  I have figured out what to make and am working on it ... almost finished :)

4.  Summmer Breeze Topper.  Almost done with the quilting, only the outside border left, then binding.

 5.  Tetris Quilt.  This is still waiting ...

6.  Flower Patch Quilt Along.  I've gotten a bit more done--4 squares now.

7.  Formal Gardens String Quilt.  Haven't touched this one, either ...

8.  Design Wall.  Still in the dreaming phase.

9.  Work in my yard ...  I've cut down several awful bushes and done quite a bit of basic maintenance--YAY!

10.  Help my parents move.  They have a tentative closing date now and I'm just making final arrangements!!

After spending a few days last weekend back at work helping out, I'm excited to have this weekend free to do some planning for back-to-school and get some sewing done :)  What are YOUR plans?

S.W.A.K.: Reflections on 2012

This year has been a hard year.  But as 2012 comes to a close, I wanted to look back at all I've been able to accomplish.  There have been many drafts of this post, but as saw the awesome collages on some of my favorite blogs, I had to one of my own :)  This post is a bit long, but have fun!

(1.  Mosaic Mini, 2.  Valentine's Day Table Topper with Sarah, 3.  Baby quilt for Jen & Family, 4.  RWB Blog Hop, 5.  Starburst blocks for Stash Bee, 6.  Samantha in SF, 7.  Nicholas, 8.  Chemo caps, 9.  One of my bulletin boards--I love the reverse silhouettes!, 10.  Sarah, 11. Me in SF, 12.  Ruffle Quilt Squares, 13.  the 30-miler, 14. My center block for Quilt U Be Mine, 15.  Heirloom necklace remake for Jenell, 16. Holiday Lane Blog Hop.)

In collecting these pics, I realized how truly blessed I am.  I had more pictures that I wanted to include, but this is a good sampling of me.

 My year started off with finally making my blog public.  That was a huge accomplishment for me.  I wanted everything just so and it took me weeks to learn how to do the backgrounds and do all the little design elements.  The direction that it's taken is a little of a surprise for me, but I'm enjoying it.  Hopefully in the coming year I'll be able to return to the more diverse ideas I had in the beginning.  I want to do more with general ideas and a family tracking/history.  I love my sewing and feel like I've truly found my creative outlet there, but I want to include more of the things I love and love to do.  There is so much more to me and my family than my sewing and quilting :)

Just days after I made my blog public, my oldest came down with an intractable headache that has since been diagnosed as New Daily Persistent Headache.  NDPH is a chronic condition that has taught me more about empathy, patience and compassion than I could have ever imagined.  Helping a 15-year-old struggle with chronic pain is a heart-wrenching, soul-stretching journey.  Just last week, we finished 3 days of injections--her fifth attempt to break the headaches.  As we enter the new year, I fervently pray that we find answers for her and her life can re-normalize.

Just after Sam's first hospitalization, my husband was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis.  He's had pain on and off for several years, but it finally became bad enough that it could no longer be ignored.  When they did the blood test, they started his treatments immediately.  His treatment is low-dose chemotherapy that he takes orally once a week.  The side effects seem to have leveled-off over time, but he is still wiped out for 2 to 3 days each week.  I'm amazed by his strength and perseverance.

Our other two kids are adjusting to the new normal.  They've both had amazing achievements of their own.  Nicholas turned twelve and is progressing well in Scouts.  He loves campouts and archery and is adjusting (slowly) to life in middle school.  Sarah is our social butterfly and World of Warcraft aficionado.  She loves playing with Rhett's guild.  Both of these guys tested for TAG earlier this year and are learning to play chess through one of the enrichment programs.

Because of my blog, I have been able to do many new things this year that I could only have imagined previously ...  First and foremost, I learned how to quilt.  While I am far from expert, I have become quite adept at matching points and creating projects (not to mention picking out stitches & seams.)  I also joined an online quilting bee--the Stash Bee--and am challenged each month to stretch my skills and color theory.  I participated in two blog hops, one fabric swap, and three quilt alongs.  I learned that I don't always need a pattern.  I learned that the online community is so fascinating as well as supportive.  I've won several prizes for making comments and participating in other online events and am amazed at the talent and quality I have been able to learn from.

There are many aspects of my every day life that are not shared here.  For one, I am an avid volunteer.  Most of my love and energy are spent working with the Young Women's organization in our church.  I love teaching, organizing activities and doing things with them and for them.  I also volunteer in several capacities at my kids' schools.  I discovered a love of bulletin boards and hallway decor.  My favorite place to be is in the classrooms and libraries, so I hope to get back to that, too.  In addition to volunteering I enjoy the outdoors.  This year I went on a 30-mile hike with the YW and it reminded me how much I enjoy hiking and camping.  I certainly live in an ideal location so near to so many natural resources; I need to take more advantage of that.  I also have other hobbies that I dabble in from time to time.  I enjoy crochet, toll painting, reading and baking.  Hopefully, I'll be able to squeeze more of these into the coming year, too.

Looking back, I know that I am so blessed.  Rhett teases me about using that term too freely--but I really feel like I am.  My kids are older and pretty self-sufficient so I can take a break when I need to and and not worry about everything falling apart before I return.  Rhett works hard to provide the necessities in life and I have a job that allows him to be home when I'm not.  I have a great relationships with my immediate family as well as our extended families even though they're far, far away.  I could go on and on.

Thank you for being part of my journey in 2012--I hope to see a lot more in 2013!

S.W.A.K.: I'm ho-ome ...

I spent the majority of this week hiking along the McKenzie River.  I haven't done anything like this in years and I had a super fun experience!  I served as a back-up adult for the just-in-case scenario.  My original plan was to stay at camp each day, but I ended up hiking about half of the 23 miles that the others completed.  We started up at the trail head above Fish Lake Creek on Tuesday (July 10th) and ended down by the Hot Springs on Friday (July 13).

http://mckenzierivertrail.com/mckenzie-river-trail-map-

The first day I was driving down and hiking up to meet the group at a couple of different points. I figure I probably hiked about 3 miles or so.  I got to see beautiful Clear Lake and Sahalie Falls.  Unfortunately it was too much for Sam and I ended up driving her home that night.  I drove back early on day two and hiked the whole day with the group after settling into the campsite we were headed to that evening.  Thank goodness for two cars!  It allowed me to store some gear and also for us to have one car at each end of that day's leg of the trail.  We hiked from Ice Cap to Trail Bridge which is 5 to 5-1/2 miles.  It was 3/4 of a mile just from the trail down to the campground.  The next day I hiked about 3/4 of a mile down before I had to go back up to my car at the top of where we started due to serious blisters.  I got the spend the day at Olallie camp with two of our YW.  They were totally bummed not to be hiking but we had a good time playing card games and exploring right along the river.  That last day most of our group packed up to go home, but one of our super-leaders wanted to do another leg, so three of us packed up and hiked from Olallie down to the Belknap Hot Springs which added another 5 miles to the total.  Even though I only walked that one day with my full pack, I ended up with about 14 miles under my belt.  I'm so proud of all of us!

It was amazing to me how much a backpack can really slow things down.  What would normally be for me a couple of hours on a day hike became a day-long ordeal with a couple of longer stops to take the pack off and rest, eat and filter more water. The trails are very well maintained and shared by hikers, campers and trail bikers.

Really, there was NO reception!  We couldn't check in at home in the evenings.  We relied on prayers for our loved ones back home.

 Each day along the trail was so very different.  We had everything from lava fields to lush, Jurassic-looking water inlets.  So much of the water was clear and inviting ... even if it was FREEZING.  I've never drunk straight from a river before.  What a treat to have fresh-filtered water.  That's the life!

 We have a very small YW group with awesome, supportive leaders who rearrange thier lives to let us have amazing activities like this.  We started with three girls and five leaders and had quite a range of experience represented.  Our priesthood leaders would shake thier heads at us in the evenings ... table cloths and green salads apparently are not roughing it enough :)

I didn't get too many pictures because Sam had our camera on the first day and she used up almost all of the battery, but here are some that we had (she took most of these posted here--THANKS!)  I am so grateful to live so close to several wilderness areas and be able to bask in nature's beauties.  I had some amazing time to reflect and meditate and recharge my spiritual energy.

Hope your week was as awesome as mine has been!  Next week I'll be out of it again since its finally time to drive down to San Francisco for Sam's specialist appointments.  Hopefully we'll have some time to have fun and take more awesome pics of that trip.

Daughters of God

Last night's activity went really well.  I was nervous because it felt like another lesson, but all the girls participated and got into it.  Here is a very rough outline of what we did.