Matching Monday

Hope you are all having a great Matching Monday!



Hope it is a little happier than these girls! Haha!

grocery shopping and mouse pads

Today we had January family birthdays and we celebrated Momma Gay, Aunt Jan and Brooke. I decided to try to make some projects on my new sewing machine for them! Momma Gay is our family seamstress and I knew she would appreciate it. So, around 11:00 last night I decided to whip up some mouse pads for the birthday girls! Momma Gay and Aunt Jan got linen and paisley and Brooke got a more age-appropriate fabric pattern that matches the cozy cubes I made! I think they turned out pretty good!


When we got there Kinley was in for a fantastic suprise because mom had bought a brand new shopping cart for Kinley to play with. It is amazing! She can push it around and practice her walking and even scan all the items in the cart with the scanner. It is awesome!

Kinley's Rocking Chairs

Kinley has two of her very own rocking chairs, one at our house and one at my parents. Her chair here is pink, personalized, and a fantastic gift from Ben's aunt and uncle, Lisa and Rick. She has just recently re-discovered it and she LOVES it. She loves to crawl into it and rock back and forth. These pics were taken first thing in the morning before we even left her room after getting dressed...she just loves it!







Mom's rocking chair for her (and her other cousins/siblings to come) was made by a good friend from their church, Ed Crater. Let me re-iterate...he made this... carved it by hand out of solid wood, sanded it and put a finisher on it and it is all put together with wooden pegs..no screws. It is pretty amazing. It is heavy, sturdy and low to the ground and Kinley loves to crawl in it and stand up. She has recently started dancing and bouncing up and down in this rocking chair. My mom took this video yesterday. We try unsucessfully at the end to get her to walk to me....but, she is super close! Can't wait for that video soon too! I can't believe she is big enough to almost walk!!

My first sewing project!

For Christmas this year I asked for a sewing machine. I guess I am trying to harness my inner creative, domestic self. I hope it works. I have been so busy taking down Christmas decor after coming in from vacation that I had not even opened the box until 2 days ago! I read through the entire manual and taught myself how to thread the machine, wind the bobbin, basic sewing, etc. Allison got the same sewing machine for Christmas and has done so much on it already that I was inspired to start my first project! So, I bought a book at Barnes and Noble and just went for it! I was able to stsrt this last night when Kinley went to bed and finished during her morning nap today!

The tools!

This Cozy Cube is what I am trying to create! I just love it!

There was a lot of ironing and quite a bit of hand-stitching in this project actually! A long-running blasting stitch, whip stitch and blind stitching were all foreign to me until today!


All done! I am not sure exactly what I will use it for yet....maybe for some of my crafting stuff! Maybe I will make a set of them, one bigger, and one with opposite fabric...who knows!

Creede ski trip!

After a very short time at home on Dec 26th...we hopped in the car for a 14 hour drive to Creede, Colorado for a family ski trip! We grew up going to Wolf Creek to ski and have stayed in Creede at Aunt Jan and Uncle Jimmy's cabin for as long as I can remember. I absolutely love going there...it is one of Ben's most favorite places in the entire world. It is remote and refreshing and fabulous! Kinley did pretty well in the car, as well as can be expected for a 9 month old. Thank goodness for the DVD player and her new Kai-Lan DVD's!!

Skiing was fantastic this year...tons of powder! It was snowing and freezing most of the time..but, we managed to stay warm and cover ourselves where not one part of our body was showing! Wolf Creek is said to have the most snow in Colorado..and I believe it! We can literally drive one hill over from the resort and it is bright and sunny..but, on the slopes it is bizzard-like.


In case you can't tell who's who...Bart, Olivia, Lauren (Bryan's GF), Bryan, Katie, Scott, Amy & Danny!

It was Danny's first time skiing and he did a fantastic job!

On a day off from skiing, (notice the amazing weather away from the ski resort)we found this huge hill on Bachelor Loop up behind Creede that we decided would be a fantastic sledding hill...we might have been out of our minds. It took around 10 years to climb to the top...but, I hear once you got up there...the ride down was awesome! For us watchers...the view wasn't too shabby either!


Mom and Aunt Jan!

Amy & Danny in front of the hill...cute pic of the engaged couple!






Despite all the amazing recreational entertainment...our absolute favorite thing to do is just be in the cabin and hang out with each other!

I love this pic!



Kinley, in her usual sitting position, is very excited about a story she is telling!

Kinley stayed warm in the cabin in this super cute polar bear outfit from Alex & Mendy!

Every night we play games...this trip consisted of Settlers of Catan, 7's, Scrabble, Scrabble Slam and Spinners! Here is a pick from a VERY fun game of spinners!


One of Ben's favorite things is that the deer come up directly to the house every night...probably does not help that we feed them apples and bread :-)

Ben was eyeing this one ALL WEEK!


Ben is trying to bait his buck.

Maybe Ben's favorite moment in LIFE ever!

Our last night there was New Year's Eve and we went to dinner at Blue Creek Lodge...and we sat in the John Wayne room...in case you notice the fab decor!



Kinley was staring constantly up at the waiter...hilarious!

Kinley dressed in her favorite food, and the only one she will eat, GREEN BEANS!

Thanks to Olivia, when it was time to party, we had amazing party hats and decor courtesy of Walgreens!






Kinley did not love the hats...she was also a bit tired.

We got a good laugh at this pic for a while...Ben looks awesome in this hat!


We divided up into 2 tables for a little New Year's Eve spinners games!

Team A pic...plus Aunt Jan

Team B!!

This was such a fun trip! We always feel so blessed to go to Creede and be with our amazing family!

Thanks Grants!! We love you!