Knitting 24/7

While picking up some more knitting needles on Saturday, I came across this perfect little book: Knitting 24/7 of course the title jumped out at me (because this is what I do-knit 24/7) but often titles are better than the contents. In this case, I was pleasantly surprised- I browsed through the book and had to buy it because every single page had something I want to knit or a pattern I've been trying to find.

Most of the patterns are fairly quick and the patterns are easy to memorize so they can be taken wherever you go; the doctor, dmv, carpool, whatever. I love a good knitting book and am excited to start on a few projects from the book, as soon as I finish my current knitting project: a baby cocoon blanket for my sister in law.

Norwegian Pancakes

My father in law is a great cook and baker. He has a bunch of recipes from the Mother-land stored in his head and not any written down. Getting recipes from him is a little bit tricky too because his measurements are a bit different than what anyone is used to: instead of cups and tablespoons he says to add about a scoop of this and a shake of that and to whisk it until it's the consistency of paint. So after years of practice, I am pleased to announce that I have now mastered his famous Norwegian pancakes. I tweaked them a little bit: he adds heavy cream and I add a bit of vanilla protein powder, but all the other ingredients are the same: flour, vanilla, buttermilk. They are a lot like crepes but much better. My kids love them and it's a tradition that if we go to Grandma and Grandpas house any time before noon, he's going to make them for us.

We all like to eat them in different ways: Olivia loves them with raspberries, Simeon and Jayda like them sprinkled with sugar, Petter likes them all ways possible, and I like them with either a few slices of brown goat cheese, or a few fried eggs.

Served with some fresh-squeezed orange juice- it makes a great meal!

The next recipe to master: his Birthday cream cake.

Yesterday, Olivia went to Liberty Girls. It is an amazing little group of homeschool girls who read books and get together to discuss them and learn things from the book. This semester they have been reading about Josefina (An American Girl) and learning some skills or things from the time period of the 1820's in New Mexico. Yesterday was Olivias favorite day ever- they learned how to spin wool into yarn on a spinning wheel. She was really into it and can't wait to knit something up with her new yarn that she spun herself.

Sweet Jayda had a great day with my mom riding horses. I feel so lucky and blessed to have a mom who loves the outdoors and animals, and loves to share her love with her grandkids. Last week she took Olivia on a big long all day ride, and yesterday she took Jayda. Jayda was so excited to go and didn't complain a bit on the ride and kept the other ladies on the ride entertained. Growing up I did a lot of riding and I'm so glad that my kids get to enjoy it as well. When it gets warmer we will all go together, after making sure Simeon has plenty of Benedryl (he's allergic to horses). Maybe someday we can get horses of our own, but for now this is a pretty great set-up.

I finished a few knitting projects while my camera was out of commission. I finished several hats for friends' babies. I absolutely love this pattern for baby hats- it's easy and quick to do, I can put whatever pattern I want into it, and it has the cute little top. It's a Debbie Bliss pattern (I love her patterns) and I bet over the past few years I've made at least a hundred of them.
It'll be soooo cute on a little boy. Last week at Young Womens, we had a huge Personal Progress Party so the girls could get a bunch of things passed off in one night. I brought some needles and yarn in case anyone wanted to learn how to knit and do it for one of their projects. I think I ended up teaching 8 or 9 girls and moms how to knit- it was great! Made me want to start a knitting club or something... we'll see.

We finished the second book of the Little Britches series, Man of the Family. These books are amazing. They teach lessons and are very entertaining, about a boy and his family in the early 1900's. It is the #1 book series that I recommend to moms wanting to read something fun to their kids. The first book, Little Britches is a definite must read, and the others are icing on the cake. We will start the third book on Monday, and I can't wait. My hubby got me the whole set for mothers day last year- perfect present!

I rarely make things for myself (I'm working on improving this) but I actually did make myself a big, chunky, cozy scarf. It was knitted with chunky yarn on size 17 needles so it was a pretty quick knit. It has fun little bobbles on it and I'm trying to decide if I want to add fringe on the ends or not. I wear it around the house when I'm a little chilly and I get compliments on it when I wear it out- I'll make some more maybe in the fall/winter for gifts.
Homeschool is going smoothly, we have a few little recitals coming up: violin, piano and dance. Spring is in the air, I'm excited to start working in my yard, planting and weeding, and I'm starting a new book group. Petter and I are training for a 1/2 marathon, I think we will do the one at Bear Lake in the first part of June. I'm excited for warmer weather and time at the park, I love living in such a beautiful, amazing place.

Customer Service Rant

So, I have been without my camera for what seems like FOREVER!! I've been just as patient as possible and finally, today, I decided to call the camera shop and see how much longer it would take. The lady on the other end of the line said that my camera is there and ready to be picked up- I of course was thrilled until I asked her when it got finished. She said that it's been finished and ready since February 9th! That's almost a month, and not even a word from them! Grrrr, I'm frustrated and can't believe that they didn't call me! Deep Breath.

So my camera is ready! I'm very excited to get it back and feel like I can properly document my family and our goings on. We have a little violin concert coming up and I'm glad I will have it for that!

Note to self: don't be patient when you have something being fixed- call and bug them!

Wild Swans and Carl Bloch

I finished my book Wild Swans about a week ago and have been in my usual post book depression (which is where I don't want to start a new book or project for about a week while I process the book). This book touched me in a way similar to Uncle Toms Cabin, opening my eyes to things that I never even conceived of before. The author of this book is amazingly honest and open about her own life and the life of her family and those close to her which gives the book a beautiful and sad authenticity. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about China and anyone who enjoys biographies. Although I devoured the book, I had to watch when I read it: too close to bedtime it gave me bad dreams. I loved the book but also loved when I finished the book because of the harsh realities it contained.

Today, my family went to the Carl Bloch art exhibit. It was breathtaking!!! He was an artist in the mid to late 1800's who was criticized in his time of painting women and Christ in the same setting and showing Christ as a loving empathetic being instead of more like an idol. You can see his website here. The paintings were amazing and showed moments of Christ's life that I had never seen before. I love, love, loved it! It will be at BYU for a few more months and is definitely worth the time and the free ticket. My favorite paintings were "Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane" which shows an angel comforting him, and "Christ after the Crucifixion" showing some of his followers kindly wrapping his body in cloth after just removing the nails and the crown of thorns. Beautiful!

Henry and Ribsy

As a family, we are always reading a few books at a time:

-An audio book in the car

-The scriptures

-A fun reading book for family reading time

-Several other picture books for smaller kids

Right now we are reading the second book in the Little Britches series, Man of the Family, by Ralph Moody. If you haven't read the series, it is a must! It is so entertaining and has so many valuable teaching moments. We are almost finished with The Book of Mormon and are in the book of Ether.

The absolute highlight of the week though, was today while on our weekly Friday treat run to the gas station. We have been listening to Henry and Ribsy by Beverly Clearly, and just finished as we pulled into our garage. I know it's a good book when my kids are begging me to turn it on and shushing each other so they can listen. When I was younger I read most of Beverly Cleary's books, but this one I never read. My kids laughed out loud several times, and even cheered and clapped at other times! Yay for books!!!! Even my 3 year old little boy was engaged and interested, and using his imagination! Love it! Henry and Ribsy is a definite thumbs up!

I am feeling in such a mood for Beverly Cleary (and feeling a bit under the weather, I'm supposed to run 6 miles tomorrow- might have to put it off till Monday) we stopped at the Redbox and rented "Ramona and Beezus" to watch and lay around the rest of the day. Thank Goodness It's Friday!

I can still have fun without a camera...

I have been using my iphone's camera since mine is out of commission and heres a few of the events I captured:

My little angel is really into permanent markers lately.  He decided make himself look more like Daddy and draw a goatee (that's how it's spelled- I looked it up) and some eyebrows- what a little jewel he is.

The girls and I had a fun time doing this little art project one day during homeschool last week.  I saw the idea in a magazine and decided to do it ourselves.  We got a few different kinds of wrapping paper and I drew love-birds and hearts and the girls cut them out.  This is one of my favorite wall hangings now because it makes me think of my sweet girls and their effort to cut it all just so.  I love the little imperfections when I look up close- I think this might be a keeper year round instead of just at Valentines.

Simeon wore the tie I made him to church last week and I got a cheesy picture before we went out the door.

My wonderful Father-in-law painting the island in my kitchen- I adore the color!

Here is the finished product from the other side- it looks so clean and nice now!  We do have a drawer issue though- somehow we can't get that one drawer to straighten up- I think it must be in the wrong place- hubby to the rescue!

We got to go to the most wonderful night at the Symphony.  We felt so fancy- we got to go to a reception before the show and the Hotel Monaco and eat some goodies.  Then in the lobby they were auctioning off these amazing painted violins- the front and the back of all of them were decorated with amazing artwork.

We had AMAZING seats! 1st tier, 2nd row- we could see everything so well.  It was a great date with Olivia in tow.

The Symphony was fabulous and we all really enjoyed every minute of it.  There was  a cute couple sitting next to me- they were probably in their 70's and being so sweet and affectionate with each other.  I of course (if you know me you won't be surprised) leaned over to them and mentioned how cute they were and asked how long they had been together (beforehand I was imagining that they had this romantic relationship over several decades or something) "two years" was their answer!  I was a little surprised and said "Well, you're keepin the love alive!" If only we can all be that way after 30-40 years- that's my goal.