Our life and other things...

  Seems like we are always so busy!  Kyle started his LAST semester of his undergrad on Monday.  I am so excited for him.  It looks like he has a good schedule this semester, and it's really nice to have him home more.  Last semester he had a lot of group projects with multiple groups and it always seemed like he was working on something on campus.  This semester, he is taking mostly classes to have credits ready for his grad program.  We're still working on that application so hopefully it'll be in soon.

My life is always exciting.  One of my workout buddies of semesters past is back, and it's been nice to get to the gym more regularly.  I had a hard to getting to the gym on a regular basis in February and March, and I'm already feeling better for my efforts.  

On Thursday, I went with a friend from work down to Idaho Falls to Joann's Fabric store.  I have been wanting to get some knit fabric to make maxi dresses.  When I told my friend at work about it, she offered to help me make some patterns.  I brought my two favorite dresses in one day, and she quickly laid them out and made patterns, which was pretty awesome (she'd taken a class in college).  So then I was super excited to get to the store.  I bought 7 different fabrics and have plans for 5 dresses. I cut out one pattern last night, and I'm hoping to start sewing on it soon.  Pictures of completed dresses to follow.

On Saturday, I threw a baby shower for one of my good friends, Marilee.  She's expecting a baby girl in June and I had fun planning and preparing for her shower.  She wanted strawberry cupcakes with vanilla frosting and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.  So yummy!  I also decided to do a diaper cake, which another friend helped my make.  So cute.  For the activity, we designed onesies.  It was a fantastic idea, again from a friend, and anyone reading this who may in the future throw me a baby shower, I want to this for it!   Here are a few pictures of the event.

 And that is Kyle in the background.  He helped us set up after he got off work, and he even helped blow up balloons.  Yeah, he's awesome like that.  :)

Problem --> Solution: my newest creation!

This year for Christmas, my mother and father-in-law got me a sweet mp3 player.  I love it.  It's so small and has a clip on the back, making it great to use while working out.  But I had a problem.  It really is so small that it got lost quickly in the bottom of my bag.  And I was worried about it getting all scratched up.  Automatically, I thought of making a cover for it, but it really is so small that I felt that to make a cover that was snug and fit would still mean it would get lost in my bag.  My other problem (I realized all these problems on the 28 hr train ride home from Iowa) was that my headphones got tangled up in everything.

Solution! 

I decided to make a little pouch/bag for my headphones and mp3 player.  And, of course I had to make one with an owl on it.  I found a super easy pattern today for an owl applique.  Here it is!  My little owl pouch for my music!  I think it's going to be just perfect.

NEW Shoes!

I know what you're thinking... 'she already has a bazillion pairs of shoes!'  Not running shoes!  So back in 2006, Kyle bought me a pair of New Balance running shoes.  They were on sale, I was poor, he loved me, so he bought them for me.  I then proceeded to wear them several days a week for the next 7 years.  I even took them on my mission and really ran in them!  Recently I noticed that they were getting a little thin on the bottom.  When I mentioned this to one of my workout buddies, she informed me that it's really not good on your body to wear worn out running shoes. Here's a couple pictures of the poor dears.

  As you can see, they really are very worn out. (Those grey triangles used to be all the way across the ball of the shoe and they even stuck out like the one on the upper left corner.) So I started shopping. I've had a few different kinds of running shoes and I usually end up with shin-splints.  My New Balance pair have been so awesome that I haven't had any pain.  The only problem was that they no longer make my model, so I was stuck.  I even emailed New Balance and asked what model they have that is closest to mine. I wasn't impressed with the model they told me about, so my search continued.  I had some money left from Kyle's parents on Amazon, which totally helped with the cost, but I couldn't bring myself to spend much.  Kyle kept telling me that for good shoes, I should just spend the money.  If anyone knows about my shoe fetish, they also know that I spent a max of $5 on every pair. Finally, I decided on these beauties, that look surprisingly like my old pair.  So far, I am loving them, but I haven't had them long, so hopefully they'll be exactly what I wanted.

Blast from the Past

This was a favorite of Kyle and I's in college.  We haven't had it since then.  We used to make it together on Sunday after church.  We had been talking about it and wanted to make it again, but were disappointed when our local grocery store didn't carry it.  Later we found it at our Wal-Mart, and were eager to make it.  As I was making it this week, the smell alone brought back so many memories.  It's truly amazing how smells connect to memories.  Anyway, we loved it and we'll have to have it again soon.

So... I love dresses...

Here in Rexburg and in other various cities in Utah and Idaho, Wal-mart carries a brand of clothing called Bella Bird.   The clothes are super adorable, and usually very modest.  Every time I go in I check out what they have, and if anything is on sale.  Well, I had been eyeing a dress for a while, but was unwilling to pay the $22 for it.  Then it went down to $11, and I was super excited.  Yet, since we're pinching pennies,  I decided that I didn't need it.  I have a lot of dresses. Like a lot of dresses.  I've recently realized that any figure can pull off a cute dress.  So I keep getting more.  Well, anyway, Kyle and I went to Wal-mart yesterday, and low and behold, the price had dropped to $5.50.  Say hello to my new fabulous dress!

It's even super modest, has sleeves that go almost to my elbow.  And, there's an owl necklace there that I bought several weeks ago that just happened to match perfectly!  Love it!

Made me happy...

This is going to sound a little crazy, but here goes.  This week when washing our bedspread, we decided that it was warm enough that we no longer needed our electric blanket.  Since we hadn't actually turned the blanket on for a while, I thought this was a good idea, except I still wanted another lighter blanket to add.  I suggested an afghan that my dad's cousin, Doris, had given us as a gift.  We've never really used it, but I thought it would be nice and the perfect weight.  Kyle wasn't super thrilled but I convinced him.  I am loving it.  Not that it's super warm, but I love how it looks and the fact that Doris made it for us.  It makes me so happy to see it everyday.