For The Wee Ones

I finally finished Rylee's dress. I had put it away for a while because I ran out of fabric. I think it turned out pretty well considering I didn't use a pattern. Maybe I'll be regretting that come fitting time if it's totally wonky, though.
Here is the baby Gracie's dress and Rylee's dress. And of course I had to make a matching purse. And you can't really tell but the round things are fabric flowers...for who knows what...maybe sew them onto flip flops??
And I didn't want Cole to get jealous of the ladies...so I made him this reversible superhero cape.

Another Weekend Come And Gone

Wow the weekends sure fly by!

This weekend I finally got around to making our house ready for fall. Out with the light summer blanket...in with the thick down comforter. Out with the open toed shoes and flip flops...in with the boots and uggs. I also dusted and re-organized some shelves that hadn't been touched in over a year. It's about time!

Brendon studied hard (he's taking the GMAT very soon) all day Saturday...and to reward ourselves we gussied ourselves up and went to a steak dinner at Ruth's Chris. I think the waitress was kind of dissapointed because we stuck to somewhat frugal items, and I had a $25 off coupon. :)

I had not sewed/crafted in at least a week because of B being sick...and real estate after work...so Sunday evening I had a few quiet hours to watch a "Heroes Season 1" marathon on tv (I've always wanted to get into that show...how convenient there was a marathon on)...and I worked on Rylee's dress while I watched. Now I just have to make a few finishing touches on the dress...add the buttons, etc. I hope hope hope that it actually fits.

Sorry this post is so boring. Geez...my life is boring sometimes :)

When You Have a Gratitude Attitude...

When we were young my mom had these tapes - the "Brite Tapes" (OH MY GOSH...I found them online). They were supposed to be punishment when we did something wrong. I think Cody had to listen to the "work" one a lot - ha ha. I remember the "gratitude" one the most...maybe that says something about my disposition as a child. They were never really a punishment for me. I loved listening to the catchy tunes and coloring in the books...it was my idea of a good time.

Anyhow...today I am chock full of "gratitude attitude". I am especially grateful for our health. Brendon was very sick this past week. One night while he was getting water in the middle of the night he passed out and I woke up to the sound of breaking lamps, dropping glasses, falling guitar, and dropping books and candles. When I came out to see what was going on I found him unconscious and I was quite scared. He woke up after about a minute and the story ends well, but I laid in bed the rest of the night thinking how quickly things could go wrong in life and how very much I love my husband and don't want to go through life without him. We really take our healthy bodies for granted until we get sick. It makes you think "Wow, I'm really glad I don't feel like this all the time". So...that's my rant and rave for today...I am so grateful for my health (and for my husband's health).

GHS Homecoming

Yay Tiff! You look great. Nice zebra dress you've got there! :)

Milestone

A few weeks ago I added a counter to the bottom of our blog. Just out of curiosity. I really didn't think very many people frequent our blog...but yesterday we passed 1,000. Three cheers!

Now my curiosity leads me to wonder who you all are. I know about some of the friends and family reading it that comment often, but lately I've had people tell me they follow it and I had no clue! We would love to know who you are, so please leave a comment and say hello.

Short And Sweet

It seemed like our trip to Utah required more traveling time than we actually spent being there - we had about a day and a half there. But we did squeeze in Cafe Rio, a little jaunt on the BYU campus, a tour of Cody's apartment, and a full day of wedding! The wedding turned out beautiful despite having to move it inside due to major rain showers. Rissa was a beautiful bride! Hopefully I will have better pictures of the wedding to post soon, because none of mine really turned out.
Brendon, Taryn, Mom Leishman, and Cody - Brendon said this is where every BYU students shoots their engagement photos. Since we missed out on that cliche we snapped a family pic :)
Mom Merkley and Rissa getting ready for the nuptials.
Brendon & Cody chillin' at the wedding
Taryn and Mom at the wedding.
We love Grandma Bum!

Steamed Milk

Pumpkin Spice lattes are back (at Starbucks). Hmmm...maybe I don't mind the arrival of Fall so much afterall.

Beehive State Here We Come

Tomorrow morning (EARLY!) we fly to Utah for Brendon's sister's wedding. I am so excited!

Things I am looking forward to...the wedding!... seeing all of the Merkley side of the family...seeing my mom and Cody...missing a day of work...Cafe Rio...seeing the mountains...

Okay, so not a ton...because we will only be there a day and half so we won't have time to do much...but the things we will have time for will be amazing!

Good Mail Day

Yesterday my beautiful new Heather Bailey "Freshcut" fabric came in the mail. I love it. I'm going to do a 9-patch quilt with it. Last night I got it all washed, pressed, and cut. Yay for mail!

Baby Clothes

My niece Rylee called me while I was driving to the fabric store on Thursday night. She told me her puppy shadow sometimes poops in her brother's bed...but he can't reach hers because she sleeps on the top bunk. She also asked if I had a web cam so we could talk to the computer. She was cracking me up...I can't believe she's become so talkative!

Since Rylee was fresh on my mind while I was at the fabric store I wandered to the kid's pattern sections and picked out some fabric and patterns for matching dresses for Rylee and Baby Gracie (due in one month). I whipped out Gracie's dress Friday night while I was watching tv with Bren. It is so fun to sew baby clothes...they are so little!

A Little Story...

Preface: This dramatization isn't really very funny AT ALL. Just don't have big expectations. And don't say I didn't warn you.

Act I Scene I: 6:00 pm at the Merkley residence. Brendon is standing stage left serving his dinner. Taryn is sitting at the couch sewing in front of the television.

Brendon: Do we have a ladle for the soup?

Taryn: I usually just use a cup measure to scoop it out.

Brendon: A cup measure? Don't you mean a measuring cup?

Taryn: Whatever! (rolls her eyes).

Epilogue: How has it taken 26 years for someone to tell me that I've been saying "measuring cup" wrong my whole life?

The point of this non-funny story / dramatization / one act play / biographical incident / anecdote /et al is that I am hoping you will share your stories about words you have grown up saying incorrectly. The stage is now yours...

Homecoming

I found out yesterday that my little sis was chosen as a Homecoming Queen candidate. So immediately I started searching for dresses. There are some UGLY formals out there. But I found this dress that I love:

Not "love" for me to wear...but for a 17 year old girl I think it's perfect! Besides the fact that it is designer (and thus $$$$)...it's also a little immodest. So I pumped my mom up and told her we could make it (with a little less skin showing). And by "we" I meant her. I so wish I lived in California so I could help!!

I googled around and found some zebra print crepe gorgette and sketched out a couple of alternate bodice patterns. I think it's going to look stunning! Everyone cross your fingers. Good luck mom!

Now I'm off to look for shoes. Thank goodness for online shopping!

Skirt Saga

Remember how a while ago I posted about the 'skirt that tried to kill me' because it took me such a long, frustrating time to finish it? Little did I know when I wrote that post that there would be another skirt that would try to kill me...and would get as far as to send me to the ER. This is the skirt I was working on when I swallowed the dreaded straight pin:


(front view)

(back view...fluted)

I would definitely say the skirt was not worth all the hassle. And when we get our benefits statement from our health insurance, I dare say Blue Cross would not think it was worth it (oh the amount of designer skirts I could buy for the price of 24 hours in the emergency room). But putting emergency room visit aside, I do like how the skirt turned out. I made up my own pattern for it (psuedo-copying from a skirt I already own and love) and thankfully it turned out just fine.