May

May seemed to fly by. We spent a lot of time playing in the backyard--  I am really going to miss our back yard when we move in a year.

I've also been working on a handful of custom quilt orders.  For this one, I made a bunch of half square triangles and sent the client a bunch of different layouts to choose from. (She chose the pinwheels)

Ellie's preschool did a sweet mother's day program:

I made some last-minute teacher appreciation gifts... I think I want one for myself! (Ellie has two teachers)

I had a nice Mother's Day:

Abbie and Ellie wore matching clothes:

Ellie rode her FIRST big roller coaster at Magic Kingdom... I wish Garrett had been there to see that!

We went on lots of walks around the neighborhood:

Ellie held a little "baby school" one afternoon. "I want to teach them Chinese!"

We went blueberry picking when the local farm had their "free day":

We ate a delicious low-country boil over Memorial Day weekend:

Followed by blueberry cream cheese pie, of course:

I got a custom order for a heart quilt.  Olivia still loves to help me take pictures!

101 in 1001 - Final Update

Well, my 1001 days are up.  They were up on the 19th, actually.  Back when I made my list of goals, I counted out 1001 days and it happened to end on my 30th birthday.  So yes, I'm 30, and my time is up for this project!  I completed a lot of things, missed the mark on others.  Some I decided consciously not to do (just changed my mind about their importance); others, I just didn't get around to, unfortunately.  I may include them in my next list (there WILL be one, soon!).  Here's a final update on things I did or didn't do (these are items I have not addressed in other update posts):

3. Donate blood
I did not do this.  No real good excuse, although for part of my 1001 days I was pregnant or nursing.  I tried to donate blood a few times in high school but it never really worked out... they either couldn't find a vein at all, or my blood didn't pump out fast enough.  I will probably include this again on my next round.

5. Take the girls to Disney World
Done!  blogged here. 

6. Updated family picture (with Olivia), hang it up somewhere
This did not get done.  I will definitely include it on the next round!

7. Make this beautiful pink birthday cake
Nope, didn't happen.

8. Start (and keep up with) memory books/journals for my kids (probably in private-blog form, and they can be printed and bound into books every couple of years)
I did start this last month.

16. Make bread and deliver it to 5 people for no real reason
Nope. :(

21. Read "Gone with the Wind"
Nope

22. Make a rack of lamb for dinner
Nah, too expensive.

23. Organize our pictures on the hard drive (delete copies), and back them up somewhere else besides the hard drive (discs maybe?).
Didn't do this.  I think I will back them up on Dropbox though.  Next round?

24. Create a will with Garrett
I tried to start this but it didn't get done.  Next round for sure. It's important!

25. Read the Book of Mormon in 1 month
Sadly, no.

26. Frame at least 4 pictures of ancestors and hang them somewhere in our house
I have 2 up....

27. Have complete 72-hour kits for all of us
No... wow I'm really starting to feel bad here.

28. Host two themed dinner parties (holiday, or a country)
No. meh.

29. See Abbie M., somehow! (meet up in NYC??) :) (Or maybe Palmyra?)
This didn't happen but it's likely to happen this summer!!

30. Make a cleaning schedule and stick to it for at least 2 months
No

33. Have at least 4 of Garrett's fellow radiology residents (& spouses) over for dinner (not all at once)
Did this!

35. Play Jon Schmidt's "All of Me" on the piano for an audience (at least 6 people, nothing formal)
I came so close to being able to do this when we lived in Virginia.  I was pretty darn good at it.. and I played it for my piano students once.  So I'm going to count it!

36. Make an "organization wall" to keep papers/coupons/keys/etc from cluttering up our counter tops 
We got some bookshelves to help with this so I'm going to count it.

37. Make oversized envelopes like this and write love notes to my kids every day for a whole month
I actually did do this a couple of years ago, when I was pregnant with Olivia.  I made them felt envelopes with their names stitched on them, and every night in Feb I wrote them a note or left them a little gift (I was making felt food at the time, so I left those as gifts).  It was a lot of fun.

39. Organize my spices... replace the ones that are old and get rid of the ones I don't use (I still have some with my initials on them, meaning I had them when I had roommates at BYU)
This sort of happened...

40. Make this homemade memory game (or something similar) for something quiet for the girls to do at Church
Didn't happen.

43. Paint my pantry door
I was so burned out on painting after we moved in (I painted every room in the house, two coats, by myself) that I never got around to this.  Now were are moving in a year so it's not worth it!

45. Learn to use coupons better and lower our grocery budget by 20%
I don't care what they say... coupons are mostly for junk food!  We don't eat a lot of prepared foods, so it's hard for me to save much money.  In fact, since moving to Florida, my grocery budget increased by at least 20%.  Food prices are crazy here.  I don't know anyone else who pays $4.19 for a gallon of milk??  (For real, our kids are only allowed to have milk at breakfast!).  I have come to accept the fact that our monthly grocery/household budget is the same amount as our mortgage payment.

46. Read the "Little House on the Prairie" series out loud with Abby
I started this last year but I think it was a little "old" for her.. I had to explain a lot so we stopped.  I definitely want to start it up again soon though!

50. Send letters to 5 people who have influenced me in my life
No, this would have been nice though!

51. Go camping
Does the back yard count?

52. Make at least $300 selling stuff on Craigslist/eBay/yard sale
We made about $250 from what I can recall.... but I definitely want to add this to the next list since we will be moving TWICE during our next 1001 days!

53. Back up the blogs
Whoops

54. Make some reusable shopping bags and use them regularly
I reuse the Trader Joe's bags.. that counts.

55. Make an authentic Taiwanese dinner for Garrett
Didn't happen

58. Make a growth chart to hang on the wall, track the kids
I really wish I had done this, I still really want one.  I helped my brother-in-law make on in December so maybe I could figure out how to do it on my own.

61. Learn how to fold a fitted sheet
No one sees those anyway.

63. Learn how to use Lightroom better (it's like Photoshop but more user-friendly, in my opinion)
I feel like I can use Lightroom pretty well now, but I don't have the "workflow" down very well.  I'd like to work on that.

66. Start recycling more
Did this

71. Buy a necklace with my kids' initials stamped on it
I probably won't do this until I'm done having kids... then I can just get them all at once!  That's my excuse.

78. Re-do my 3-month-supply menu plan and make a shopping list (food storage)
Just reading that practically put me to sleep.

79. Learn how to use the weed-eater
I tried to do some yard work last summer but I put the wrong kind of gas in the mower.  I give up.

80. Go to a Red Sox game (vs Tampa Bay?)
Yeah, like Garrett had ANY time off last year!

83. Do Jillian Michaels's Thirty Day Shred all the way through
Started it... found another workout I like much better though.

84. Grow a successful herb garden
I would still love to do this.

85. Learn how to use Garrett's Nikon better
Still a goal...

88. For two weeks straight, get my workout done and be showered and ready for the day by 8 a.m (must work out at least 4 days each week)
This just doesn't work for me, for several reasons.  For a while I was working out with friends in the evenings.  Then, I was walking in the evenings, or going for runs in the mid-morning with my friend.  My schedule changes so much that it doesn't make much sense to plan something like this. I wish I could, though.

91. Go to a fine arts performance at UF
Sadly didn't do this

94. Be in bed by 10:30 every night for two weeks (not reading... lights out)
I was pretty close to this a few months ago.  I'll count it.

95. Meet with a financial planner
Garrett and I did this last December.  We met with a fantastic financial planner, mostly just to get to know him and his philosophies.  He was really good, and very successful, but then we found a different group that specializes in doctors, so we will likely go with them instead.  (It's weird to say they "specialize in doctors", but that's really what they do!  Dr lifestyles are really unique because of the massive amount of debt they start out with, the huge liabilities they have hanging over them, etc.  It will be nice to work with someone who is very familiar with our situation).

101. Make another 101 in 1001 list... Round Two!
Working on it!!

Growing Up

My beautiful little girl is growing up!  I'm SO glad that I took these pictures of her pretty smile one morning, because not a few hours later....

...both of her teeth got knocked out!  Ellie and Abbie went to a birthday party and were playing musical chairs.  Apparently, Ellie started walking the wrong way one time because she head-butted Abbie and both of her teeth were knocked right out!  One was already pretty loose, but the other was not.

She was pretty excited about it.  I'm still a bit sad to see more of her cute little baby teeth gone, though.

Epcot

 We took the kids to Epcot one day in March.  It was SO fun.  My friend Stef was our tour guide (again), and she's amazing.  I know I've said this before, but she knows Disney like the back of her hand, so she knew when to do what, when to go where, etc, so that we got the most out of our day.

These purses were for sale in Norway, I knew my mom would like them! :)

Two more "Norway" shots:

Oh I really wish I had gotten more pictures but I was wearing a skirt without pockets, so my phone wasn't with me very much.  It was such a great day.  Ellie rode on some fast rides that I thought would scare her, but she absolutely loved them.  Abbie had a great time too, and Olivia was pretty good too, despite having no nap all day.  

As you can see from these tired and sweaty faces, it was a very successful day.  Epcot is one of my favorites so far, definitely!  Can't wait to go back!

Little model

As I have finished my quilts, I photograph them before listing them for sale.  Olivia always takes the opportunity to pose for the camera, every single time.  She's my little Vanna White!

What we've been up to

Garrett attended a boards review course in early March, which was hosted by his program here so thankfully he didn't have to travel anywhere for it.  His schedule said he would have a dinner break each evening, so I told the girls we would meet daddy for dinner on Monday night, but unfortunately the schedule changed at the last minute and he didn't have a break.  So, I promised them we would go Tuesday.  Again, it fell through.  I felt so badly.  Ellie was pretty upset too.  Thankfully at that point I stopped promising anything, which was good because it ended up that he never had a dinner break the whole week... instead they just pushed straight through until 8pm each night.  I'm not sure the girls saw him at all that week!

I just can't get enough of Olivia cute little arm rolls....!

This black snake was creeping around our house one Sunday.  I almost stepped on it on our sidewalk as I was walking out the door to the car to go to church.  It started shaking its tail, pretending to be a rattlesnake, then slithered into the yard.  After church it was chilling on the driveway, and Garrett chased it around to the side of the house where it unfortunately slithered up our dryer vent.  Freaked out, I ran inside and turned on the dryer, and thankfully it slithered back outside. Garrett then chased it into the woods behind our house, but not without it lunging at him a few times on his way out... it was so scary!

Just a cute girl...

I was so excited to find these girls' tee shirts at our TJ Maxx!  They had a dozen of them!

Planning the layout for a future quilt...

The girls did soccer, this is a pic of all of us "soccer moms" on the sidelines.  A stay-at-home dad in our ward put it together and it was a lot of fun -- mostly just kids from the ward.

Garrett went out of town twice in March.  Once for a 4-day physics review course in Houston, and then a trip to Baltimore for a 5-day radiology conference (for upcoming chief residents).  I'm not sure which trip this was, but I took the opportunity to watch some of my favorite chick flicks!

Another cute shot..

Ellie being silly..

We got a ton of yard work done one evening.  This is only about half the bags!

Finally invested in a huge roll of batting for my quilts.... I like this SO much better than buying the bags!

We went strawberry picking a few weeks ago. Olivia loved it!

Rob & Haley came down to visit for a few days

Me and some of my "mom friends"

My friend Stef rented a bounce house for her son's birthday party, and then later that day invited a bunch of families over to enjoy it more and have a BBQ.  It was SO much fun!  I only wish Garrett had been able to come, I think he would have enjoyed seeing the kids fly down the slide, it was huge!!

Hmmm... I'm thinking Olivia?

She loves to dress up-

.. and climb, and eat apples.

After General Conference, we had a big "Cafe Rio" potluck with some friends from the ward.  Not a bad turnout for throwing it together only a few days beforehand!

Abbie & Olivia hanging out in the "kids' tent" at soccer

Easter Sunday

We had a nice Easter Sunday.  The Easter bunny came, brought WAY too much candy.  The day was very nice.  Garrett had the day off, which was so lovely.  He worked last year, so this was a really nice treat.

Church was nice.  Olivia has finally started going to nursery.  She cries at first but is fine after about 5 minutes, thankfully.  We have some really great nursery leaders, I am so thankful for them!

We splurged this year and bought a real spiral ham, which was a nice treat (every year I'm scared off by the $30 price tag, but this year we sucked it up and now we have tons of leftovers!  I'm excited for those.).  One of my good friends came over with her two kids, since her husband was working a 24-hour shift at the hospital, so it was nice to have company for dinner too. (Oh and I also made these incredible deviled eggs with candied bacon... they were SO good.  I have always loved deviled eggs, and these were a real winner!)

I'm so thankful for Easter and the special reminder of our Savior's sacrifice for us.  Because of Him, we can be together forever as a family!  What a wonderful, priceless gift.

(#18. Make matching dresses for the girls)