Rachel and Martha

***Update***

I had a little dyslexia and typed the link in wrong... should be working now. If not, it's rachelandmartha.blogspot.com

It's been a long time since my last panic-stricken post and thanks for all the support! We made it to Tucson safely and are doing well. Haven't found the camera cord and such yet so no pictures but soon I promise! In other news, I have started a new blog called Rachel & Martha. I like followers... :) Love ya'll!

Panic

I'm taking a moment to post this whilst packing up my car. I have been alone for the past several weeks, packing up our entire house with a toddler under foot. I have had a couple sweet friends watch said toddler which was a lifesaver. We are moving today/tomorrow. But we aren't cleaning up or anything yet because we still own this place until the end f July which is nice because that's one less thing I have to stress about. Stress. That has been the word foremost on my mind these past few weeks. Nate came up yesterday and helped pack up some stray things. Today a few guys from the ward helped us load up our U-haul and then Nate headed back down to Tucson, while Gabe and I stay up here one more, lonely night because I made a commitment to play for the Young Women in Sacrament meeting and I'm the only Nursery leader tomorrow. We are going to leave right after church. A very large forest fire broke out this afternoon about 3 miles away from our house. The air around you in eerily orange and there is smoke everywhere. They have been evacuating neighborhoods around us. We have no TV, no radio, no way of hearing these evacuation warnings. Nate is gone. I have no one to help me load up the rest of our belongings into the car. I called the police station and asked if our area was evacuating and the officer said our area was on stand by. "Get all your things together and get ready to go." People keep telling me that it's ridiculous for me to be up here with all this going on. But I would feel horrible if church wasn't cancelled and I just flaked out of all my responsibilities. To make matters worse, we have officially been switched to our new ward in Tucson so the lds.org website doesn't let me look up anyones phone numbers for this ward here so I can't know if church is likely to be cancelled. I have no ones phone numbers. I am hot and sweaty and smell like campfire. The police officer took down my info and said she would call if anything changes. I can't wait to just get out of here.

My Very Own Anne Geddes Baby

I have always loved Anne Geddes. I used to have journals, notebooks, address books and calendars. Love her. On a side note, did you know she has a store? There is one in Disneyland and it is.... drool. Go look. I encourage you. Anywho, last week when we were in Mesa, Grandpa Dwight was pulling these big pots of dirt on a wagon to the front of the house to plant flowers. Grandma Rene and I decided to have an impromptu photo shoot. So darling.

Now picture them with graham crackers and no sunflower heads. Exactly the same, right??

Final Verdict

We are moving to Tucson.

Pros:

Big city= restaurants, stores, malls, movie theaters

doctors/businesses we trust

Northwest Hospital, I heart thee and want all subsequent babies to be born there

friends we love

familiar

Cons:

HOT

car thieves

mourning doves

cockroaches

HOT

no grass

no trees

HOT

serious crime

car/baby seat/stroller thieves

mourning doves

You get the idea.

But Nate got a great job working for our good friend Derek at the bank and he is so excited. We are excited to be by friends again. We are also excited because we are renting this 3 bed 2 bath house down the street from Derek, Pam and Haley. I'm so happy to be in a house!! No more apartments!

Not a very stylish kitchen but as long as I can make dinner, I don't mind.

Living room

The best part is this great backyard! Gabe will be in heaven with all those rocks and the swings!

The tough thing is that we have a contract at this apartment until July 31 and Nate has to start work June 1. We can move into our house June 7. To break our contract we would have to pay about $4,800 that we don't have. So, there is our pickle. Nate has to move to Tucson and crash on someone's couch for a week but Gabe and I have to stay in Flagstaff and pack and clean for 2 months. Alone. Packing. With a toddler. Alone. Yuck. And then Gabe and I will be in Provo for the month of August. I will be playing the role of parental guardian for Emma. I'm helping her move in to her dorm and get adjusted to things, go to orientation, buy twin XL sheets, etc. So 3 months away from husband/dad and paying two rents. Not fun! But we got a house! Wahoo!

Crotiques

A few people were wanting to know where I found the cradle purse pattern. Her site is called Crotiques. Really easy project. It took me a day.

Just Like Grandma. Almost.

When I was very, very little, my Grandma crocheted me a little purse that turned into a dolly bed. It came with a little doll and she would sleep in the cradle. I still have it and I'm relly impressed that is had held up so well after 20-odd years. I was thinking about it yesterday and googled to see if there was actually a pattern or if it was just a creation of my grandma's. I found a pattern and had a big ball of yarn I have tried using a couple times and could just never find the right project. So I made one myself! It's definately not as cute as the original but it's a start. The next time, I'll get some cute yarn and the right size crochet hook but... it's a good start.

The Original

The Replica

Have you sentimentally kept anything from your childhood like this? Or what about trying to remake or buy things that remind you of childhood with your grandparents? When my grandparents passed away, Emma really wanted a little keyboard that my grandpa kept in his office closet. It was Emma's favorite thing all growing up and it played this addicting demo song on it. I love those memories. Grandma also made me a couple crochet necklaces with flowers on them. She always had homemade cookies ready whenever we came to visit and when we came to visit, she would let us each get a special cereal for the stay. They always had Honey Comb cereal in their pantry but it was such a treat to get a fancy cereal! Anyway, it was really nice to make this and think about my childhood with my grandparents.

New Blue Pants

I have a thing for Gabriel wearing blue. He has very blue eyes and I like to play them up. Maybe it's from my mom... she always bought us clothes in the same color. I was always in blue because of the blonde hair/blue eyes thing and Emma was always in pink because of her red hair/rosy freckles. Or maybe it was the reverse... I can't remember now. Mom pretty much only wears blue. And doesn't wear any variation on pink/coral/salmon. Doesn't look great. I read a book in high school called How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents where the mother of the four Garcia girls assigns each a color. I don't remember the colors, I think they were blue, pink, yellow, and green, but mother buys four identical outfits all the time in each of the colors. So the girls are always matching but in their respective colors. I have always thought "what a streamline concept for laundry..." Anyway, back to Gabriel and blue. That was a really lengthy opener for a very simple event: I made him some new pants.

They are just simple pants made of blue linen I found in the remnant bin at JoAnn's- R.I.P

But of course I had to snazz them up a bit...

Embroidered patch on the rear

Leg hems

Thank you for you patience. :)

Cross 'Em.

Your fingers. It's a long story for a later time but Nate has just applied for 7, SEVEN!, Service Manager jobs in Tucson, two in Seattle area and four in UT. Brigham City, two SLC and one Smithfield. We are really hoping for the Tucson or any of the UT ones. Seattle is kind of wishful thinking for now. So cross 'em people! :)

I love this kid

Oh the shame...

Today in Sunday school, Gabe was on the floor playing and pulling stuff out of the bag. I was just listening to the lesson until a lady next to us tapped me to bring my attention to the fact that Gabe had found my "For Emergencies" tampon and was waving it around in class. I yanked it away while she, her husband and Nate all laughed and Gabe hollered because I took his toy away. Humiliating. Now I'm sharing it with all of you so that we can all laugh together and it won't be as horrendously embarrassing as it was earlier.

Thank you.