A Little of This, A Little of That

Ok, so here's a little update of the last of our summer vacation and some miscellaneous things. First of all, here is are the pinwheels for the quilt. There are 72 of them. Not all perfect, but they are done. Now, the next time I sit down, I will begin assembling them with the other pieces. I'll keep you posted (no pun intended)!

About a week before I went back to work, John, Arden, Gabe and I went on a day trip to Bear Lake, stopping in Brigham City, Tony Grove and coming home through Huntsville (whatever that canyon is -- I don't remember).

In Brigham City, we stopped at the Tabernacle, which has always been one of my favorite buildings. The Brigham City Temple is being built right across the street from the Tabernacle, so we got some great pictures of both buildings.

The blue sky really outlined Moroni on the top of the temple just beautifully!

At Tony Grove, we had a picnic and then wandered the hill down to the small lake. If you've never been to Tony Grove, it is a pretty, quiet little lake. No motor vehicles are allowed on it. Only rowboats, rafts, etc. The hillside was covered with wildflowers that the camera just couldn't pick up all the colors!

When we got to Garden City, we stopped at LaBeau's for their famous raspberry shakes. We also bought 2 flats of raspberries in Laketown (they were cheaper there) and spent the following Saturday making freezer jam. We''ve really enjoyed that!

It was great to see Bear Lake full! I haven't seen it that full since before I left school at USU! We went to the State Park and let Gabe wade in the water.

Random picture of a full moon.

Finally, we have harvested our beets -- huge beets! John and Gabe spent a good hour digging and pulling off tops.

Beet greens, anyone?

Here is what John and I did yesterday: from 9:00 a.m. to about 11:30 last night -- 57 pints of beets!!!! We're taken care of for the next year!

There is something very satisfying seeing the fruits of your labors set out in such pretty rows.

My New Project

So here is my quilting project for the next several years. Gabriel's quilt will probably be done somewhere around the time he goes on his mission. Anyway, this is a pattern from one of my grandmother's old quilting books. I thought it looked doable for a beginner. The most daunting task was just beginning to cut out the pieces!

Gabe's favorite colors: yellow and green. John said this looks like someone's school colors, and now all I can see is Notre Dame. Oh, well.

Here's what the pieces look like. The yellow and green stacked ones are for the triangles. Thanks to Jennifer's blog, I learned how to put the squares together for the pinwheel pieces. My, what a time-saver!

Here's what the basic layout will look like. So far, all I've sewn together are the squares for the pinwheels. I'm almost done there, so then I can start putting those together. I'll continue to show my progress as time goes on. Wish me luck!

p.s. If you haven't read the blog about Gabe and Arden's piano recital, keep going. It isn't long, and worth the look.

Recital and Little Cottonwood Canyon

(Sorry this first picture is out of focus) Gabriel and Arden had another piano recital on the 16th of June. (Yep--Arden's birthday). They both did a great job! Gabriel really showed he could perform with a few distractions: there was a little boy (about 3) that kept running around, and even up on the stage while Gabe was playing! At one point, the big sister, about 8 or 9, chased him onto the stage. Gabe was in the middle of one of his songs, and she realized that her brother had just run back off the stage. She stopped in her tracks, right behind the piano. All you could see was her legs below the grand piano, and Gabriel, continuing to play, glaring at her! The children were obnoxious, but Gabe was so funny to watch!

(I have a video of Gabe and Arden doing their duet, but I had problems with the download. It is actually at the end of this post).

Arden's high heel shoes were so high, she couldn't get her knees under the keyboard! So, she took them off! It didn't affect her playing at all. Her performance of Fur Elise was so beautiful! It was breath-taking. I've heard that piece played inexpertly so many times by students of varying degrees of proficiency over the years, but Arden just had the right touch for it. She was the culminating student at this recital. Perfection!!!!

During the week that Arden was at camp, we decided to take a ride up Little Cottonwood Canyon to see the waterfalls. Whitney and Leslie came with us to enjoy the short outing. It was raining, again, and the waterfalls did not disappoint! They were huge! As were the snowfields at Alta and Snowbird. As far as I know, both resorts were still open for skiing right up until the 4th of July.

That's it for this time. Now let's see if this system will actually let me post this! I've been having problems for some time. Nope, problems again! I have to use the other computer! Frustrations!!!!!!!

This was my attempt at the video, but it doesn't work. Never mind! It does work! Once I posted it, it worked just fine! Enjoy. . .

Arden's Graduation

Just a few pictures of one of our 3 graduates this year. Arden Elizabeth Jorgensen graduated from Olympus High School on the 2nd of June 2011.

There were close to 400 students down on that floor!

Can you see Arden? I wish I had one of those arrows to point her out. I was quite upset at the camera when it came to her getting her diploma. Just as she got to the point where they were taking pictures, I snapped the perfect shot -- the the camera shut off! So, these are the best I got, AFTER she came down from the stand.

About 2 weeks before school graduation was Seminary Graduation. Here's Arden with President Young, Bishop Colby and her dad.

Arden was utilized quite well that evening. She played the piano for the hymns and prelude/postlude music, and she sang alto in a quartet that Sis. Blunt only had a week to put together for this. Arden did a grrrrrreat job!

Here is just a bit of randomness. These flowers are in our wild-flower space in the back. They were really pretty this year.

This is Shelley's strawberry cake recipe. I tried it one weekend, and Grandma liked it so much she requested it for her birthday. So, here it is. Beautiful -- and delicious!